A little journal to capture some of the interesting, fun and unique aspects of my business trip to Hong Kong. Family and friends can keep updated on my experience here. This blog will not contain any information about work, it's all play and leisure!
I hope you are all enjoying the time with loved ones and enjoying way too much food, drinks, and American football! Unfortunately, I had to work today (and late for that matter!). I must admit, it was very strange, but I actually had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner tonight.
Our coworker and friend, Jen, has celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house over the past two years. Tyler, the host, is actually from Cape Cod! He was gracious enough to invite us over for dinner and we had a FANTASTIC feast. We enjoyed appetizers of cheese, scallops wrapped in bacon, stuffed mushrooms, and cheese dip. The turkey was ordered from the Mandarin Oriental hotel and it was incredible. I don't know if I've ever had juicier turkey breast! It really felt like Thanksgiving, we even had all the fixings - cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. We went through several bottles of wine, of course, and made room for pumpkin pie and Mississippi mud pie. Not to mention we spent time with some really great people and the hours just flew by!
Thank you to Jen, her fiance Jamie, and to Tyler for including us in such a wonderful tradition. It really made the evening special and helped me appreciate the time I've had in Hong Kong and the friends that I've made.
Here we are with our host who is representing New England and sporting the Tom Brady jersey. I know I look like hell, but c'mon people I had to work and it was a LONG day!
Canned Meat. We all know about SPAM and we have it in the US, but other than that, there are not a whole lot of canned meat varities. I mean, sometimes it would be great to have a wider selection, right? Well look no further! I've never seen so many varieties of canned meat in a grocery store!
Just wanted to give you a snapshot of how up close and personal we get on the MTR during rush hour! I can't imagine what this is like in the middle of a hot sticky summer! As it is, I was getting whiffs of not so fresh people. It's actually not this packed if you get on between 8-8:15 or after 9, but 8:30-9 is packed! I am usually getting off at Central and everyone, literally the whole train clears out, at Admiralty which is the stop right before mine. So, for one stop I get a little relief!
PS - can you tell how short the train is? My arm is up taking this picture, but I can actually touch the top of the train. Look at those handrails, they're in reaching distance! I am seriously a normal sized person in Hong Kong and I love it.
Oh, also wanted to share this with you since I mentioned it in a previous post. The Campbell's Soup ads at the Admiralty MTR station.
Just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know I am going home to Boston this Saturday, November 28! I am excited to return to my home, my Mike, my family and routines...and my bed! I'm looking forward to going to Celtics games again, enjoying the holidays, and seeing my friends. I am not excited about the cold I am returning to, planning my wedding, or the fact that I'll have to get my butt back in the gym!
I am really going to miss Hong Kong, it's been a great experience! I have made a few really good friends and it will be sad to leave them. I have enjoyed so much of this city and I know I will be returning to Asia in the future. Next time with Mike!
It's official. Americans eat the most boring chip flavors. When Mike and I were in London we tried chips that had the flavor of an entire meal in them - pot roast, roasted chicken, curry, etc. In Hong Kong there are like 20 million types of shrimp flavored chips. I've had shrimp chips before; I actually like them and used to buy them occassionally at the Asian market. Nowadays I can't have that, but besides shrimp they have tomato, seaweed, BBQ Curry, and some that I can't even tell...maybe sausage or dried scallop!
Yes, Hong Kong has the tallest and most skyscrapers in the world. Yes, it's a loud, bustling city with millions of people, cars and pollution. But, did you know that only 25% of the land in Hong Kong is developed? More than 70% of Hong Kong is made up of reserves and parks. Hiking is a favorite past time for a lot ob people living in Hong Kong (not that I've had a chance to partake). Lots of parks are scattered all over the city and it is a great place to take a stroll if you need a break from work. Many people have lunch, bird watch, take pictures, etc.
Hong Kong Park is near one of my work locations (Citibank Tower). It is a really peaceful park with lots of ponds, streams and waterfalls. I took a nice walk the other day and grabbed some lunch al fresco with my coworker Jen. It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect! Here are some of my favorite shots.
I've noticed a common theme among parks and architecture in HK - streams and waterfalls along steps and walkways.
How crazy are these buildings? Hong Kong architecture is so fascinating!
How nice is it to just step out of your office building and take a stroll around this park?
Turtles everywhere! And frogs and birds and fish...
See the little flagscape on that far building? :) No Bank of America associates actually work there. Weird.
Hanging Meat. I'm not sure there is much more to say here. It pretty much speaks for itself. I will say one thing, this is common not only in markets, but in restaurant windows as well. People want to be able to see what they are getting; like an advertisement I guess. That second picture, I don't even know what that is. I tried to communicate with the store owner without much luck. I'm thinking it's the livers or hearts or something of a duck or chicken. Maybe a goose. Who knows?!
Doesn't exist. People get all up in your space and face all the time. It's not an issue for them to have personal space. It's nothing personal or confrontational either. I first thought it was weird when people got on the MTR and someone would just come up and stand right next to me or right in front me. Literally, just stand facing me, our feet just a couple inches from each other.
Here's a good example. This is the HR floor in Citibank Tower where I work twice a week. This isn't even a trading floor, but it looks like one! There are no dividers or barriers and these are recruiters. They're on the phone all day! Needless to say, I get very distracted and usually work at our other offices in Devon House.
I was walking home from dinner tonight and these caught my eye. They are the size of a New England lobster, but didn't look like one. My coworker said they were prawns (shrimp)!!! I've never seen them this big before. I forget the name of them, but they are massive. Literally the size of an average lobster in New England.
Speaking of lobsters...
Check out this Chinese variety. So some obvious differences, these are not dark or red. Instead they look pretty mean and have stripped legs. You can see the antenna things that lobsters have in the front of their head are different here. These are extremely long (these were even cut short), they stick out sideways and are very stiff.
Too bad I can't eat these. Looks like one bite and it would surely kill me!
OK, last post about Cebu. I was having so much fun and relaxing that I just couldn't be bothered with blogging so I needed to catch up.
Driving through Cebu...I'd recommend no sound for this since the mic just picked up a lot of wind since I was in the car. For the most part, people just chill and hang out all day and night. They manage their little shops, eateries, work at resorts, etc. You can't really tell what's a store or a home, but they all probably serve as both.
Sunday was HOT and sunny. Elaine and I just toasted and roasted. We also enjoyed a few fun sights. Again, saw a lot of white men with little tiny Asian women. None were as entertaining as this couple...she looks 12 years old, seriously.
This was pretty sweet...just press the button if you want to order anything while on the beach!
I love the signs at this resort. Apparently we can't smoke while laying in bed? It may be OK if we were standing.
The only way to travel - hanging off the back of a van. These vans are packed with people and are the only way to travel in style. I think it's their public transportation. Speaking of public transportation, our 30 minute cab ride was 200 PhP (pesos) equating to about $4. Unbelievable.
This young girl played volleyball in a life vest. Hmmm, I have no idea why. Chest protection? She never did go in the water.
Joking aside, Cebu was fabulous and the weather ended up being amazing. I can't imagine how hot it gets in the summer! I will definitely be going back to the Philippines, next time to Boracay!
I will miss this :( especially when the cold Boston weather hits. White snow versus white sand? Hmmm...
Whenever you go to an island or any place on the water, you just have to indulge in the seafood. Before going, we were told to eat as much seafood as possible!
We had a great meal at Seas and instead of having a main course I had a 3 course meal of seafood appetizers.
Some amazingly fresh oysters!
Sea bass sashimi and salmon tar tar. They seriously must've just caught this and killed it for me, haha.
Seared scallops with caviar encased in carmelized sugar. The scallops were great, but I'd pass on the sugar cube. That thing was way too thick and got stuck in my teeth!
I also had to try a few local favorites. My Nana makes the best adobo, but I had to try it in the Philippines to see how it compared. Adobo is made with chicken or pork (in this case both) and it's cooked like a stew in vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves, garlic, and onions. I have to say I prefer my Nana's!
I had a Filipino breakfast on Saturday morning. Look at that meal! It's a heart attack waiting to happen, but I was on vacation! Fried eggs, rice, chorizo, and danggit. The chorizo, unlike Mexican or other Latin chorizos, is really sweet. What's danggit? Well, I didn't know what it was either. It's dried fish, a specialty of Cebu. I know, I know, ewww so gross! They were really crunchy and flavorful and you eat it with vinegar and rice. It was really really good. Elaine even tried it, but she wasn't a fan. It's hard to get over the fact that you're eating a face.
These Asian countries are just not good at making mixed drinks the way Americans like it. So, we tried to stick to San Miguel Lights. They were really good...and cheap! During happy hour we paid $1.35 USD for each beer. Now, that just spells trouble! Here is Elaine and I enjoying happy hour at Manny O's on the water.
So while we couldn't lay on the beach anymore on Saturday we decided to spend a few hours at the Spa. We enjoyed a 60 minute Swedish massage and a facial. An hour at work can sometime seem neverending, but an hour never goes by quicker than when you're getting a massage! It was incredible! It felt like 10 hands were on me! We enjoyed ourselves so much we went again the next day before heading home to the airport. Oh, and I should add that massages in the Philippines are really cheap. Even at our resort it was only about $40 USD for an hour! Just watch out for those happy endings... :)
Relaxing in the lounge. These little bamboo slippers were great so I took a pair home :)
Miraculously, Elaine and I got our act together and managed to plan a last minute weekend trip to Cebu, Philippines. We only had two days so our plan was to lay on the beach, relax and hit the spa. Well, mother nature had another plan for us on Saturday. We weren't on the beach for more than 45 minutes in a matter of 5 minutes the sky got dark, huge winds gusted through and we were all running toward the hotel because a downpour came! This is the view from our window on Saturday morning - lush, green and bright!
This is right before the monsoon hit!
I had asked someone if this had happened yesterday and one of the staff members said he had been living there for 5 years and that never happened. Of course, it happens the weekend we are visiting! The monsoon only lasted 30 minutes, but the sun just wasn't potent enough for us after that.
Wet Floor? Um, yeah I think that's pretty obvious.
Caution: Foodies will love this, others may get bored.
I am going to be extremely detailed about my meal because it was so delicious and complex and I don't want to forget the awesomeness of it! Plus, I know several readers that will appreciate it :) You know who you are...
Someone had told Elaine that the meal at Bo Innovation was the best he had ever had. We were sold. Apparently, the restaurant has been awarded two Michelin stars, but really, who cares? We decided to let the food speak for itself, and believe me it did!
Bo Innovation is in Wan Chai and although the address is 60 Johnston Street, the restaurant there didn't look like Bo Innovation. Funny side story - so we walk into this restaurant and give them our names (we had a reservation). They seated us, gave us these starter drinks and some type of seafood chips along with our menus. We realized quickly that we were in the wrong restaurant! We were in OVO Logue. Not sure how that happened, but even though the restaurant looked really nice, we did not give up on Bo Innovation. We finally found a sign on a side street that indicated it was upstairs. We made our way up and again gave our name to a host at a different restaurant, finally on the third floor we made it! We must have looked so dumb!
Even though it was a chilly night by Hong Kong standards, there were heaters outside and we decided to enjoy an al fresco dinner. The picture you see on the side of the building is the Chef and Owner, Alvin. You can read all about him online http://www.boinnovation.com/. Unlike restaurants that I usually go to in Boston, the chef was there in the kitchen that night (as I suspect he is every night) and later enjoyed himself near us with some wine and friends. Side note - he's pretty badass looking.
At Bo Innovation you choose from either the Tasting Menu or the Chef's Menu and since the Chef's Menu was over our work per diem we opted for the Tasting Menu. The decor, like the food, is very modern and unique, but clean and simple. The staff were extremely nice and hospitable and we knew right away we were going to love this dining experience.
Our first course on the tasting menu was an oyster with spring onion, lime and ginger snow. What's ginger snow? It was literally just that - ginger shaved ice. It was really incredible. It added such a dimension to the sweet oyster and acid and smoothness of the lime sauce. A really great start to our meal!
Next, Elaine and I had two different second courses because of my shrimp allergy :( Elaine enjoyed the sea urchin with ink noodles, "har mi" chili oil, and I believe there was some dried shrimp crumbles on there or in the oil which is why they brought me something else. It looked amazing and I was jealous!
I was given something else from the Chef's Menu - Iberico with morel, vermicelli and onion foam. Iberico is a type of Spanish ham, inside there was the noodles and morel and you can see the onion foam on top. It was also recommended I eat it in one bite, which I did with no trouble! The prominent flavor was the saltiness of the ham and a hint of the mushroom. The texture was the most interesting because the ham and outside were soft while their were noodles inside and foam on the outside. I know it probably doesn't look colorful and appealing, but it was a real treat.
Our next course was one of our favorites - a scallop carpaccio, mandarin, "yu lo", crispy woba and peas. The scallops were so fresh and I have no idea what yu lo is, but it was awesome. The crispy noodles contrasted with the soft scallop and the peas were so sweet and perfectly cooked, but still fresh. I must admit that after eating one pea at a time with my chopsticks I finally just picked up my fork!
So, the chef is an engineer and so I think he's really into molecular gastronomy. Our third course was called Molecular "xiao long bao." It was interesting. Not amazing or bad, just interesting. It reminded me of how in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Violet eats the gum with the full course meal in it. As you can see it's a litte bite size piece of broth. It's soft skin is held together ont he outside and inside is the beef broth. The red is fleck is ginger. It was like eating a whole meal in one bite. The only thing that made it weird for me was that it was lukewarm.
Our last of the 5 course starter was this ocean trout fermented in black bean and honey miso with pickled bok choy and ginger pellets. OMG, so delicious! The fish was amazing, it was cooked on a very low heat (40 degrees maybe) for only a few minutes. The flavor combinations were sweet, sour, spicy from the ginger, just a great last course before our main entree.
For our main course we both chose the Wagyu M9+ steak with black truffle soy cheung fun. Wagyu beef is from a certain breed of cattle that have great marbeling and naturally have higher percentages of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (think Kobe beef). The steak was truly phenomenal. I'm a sucker for a good piece of meat cooked medium rare with a lot of flavor and no sauces. I love the natural flavor of beef and this was a good cut! The line on the plate is the truffle and the noodles under the meat are the cheung fun, which were awesome! These are thick rice noodles rolled up and covered in the truffle soy. The dish was amazing; I finished every bite.
After our steak we enjoyed some signature Bo fried rice. It was simple and clean with some type of roe in it that gave it a nice texture and crunch.
It's hard to believe, but we were ready for dessert. We were given a shui jing fang poached carmelized banana with dark chocolate ganache. I'm not usually a big dessert person, but this was incredible. The ganache by itself is extremely rich, dark, and just melts in your mouth. I could never eat the entire thing alone, however the banana really helped balance the intensity of the chocolate.
I don't know if we were supposed to get this or not, but we were also brought some assorted petit fours. On the left you can see sesame balls and inside there was gooey dark chocolate. Amazing! The other three all have the flavor of a certain berry and for the life of me I can't remember what it is. It's not something common that we use in the US, but on the left that's a macaroon. It wasn't flaky and crunchy like a traditional one, but the filling was almost like a cheesecake. On the right the white blocks are homemade marshmallows. If you've never had a real marshmallow you need to try one. Nothing like the puffs you buy in the store! The last petit four is like a jelly candy. Very yummy!
Just when you think we've come to the end there is a special treat. We saw this happening at another table and asked about it so they came and did it for us too. This is generally done to cleanse the palate, but I think more importantly it balances the temperature of your palate as you move between hot and cold courses. The taste, texture, and temperature of the 'meringue' (that's what I'm going to call it) was exciting! It was freezing cold, shattered in your mouth and the ginger taste was so intense but refreshing. Plus, it was just awesome to watch and smoke came out of our mouth. What's more fun than that?
Overall, our meal at Bo Innovation was a treat I will never forget. The service, ambience, cuisine, and the pure excitement and curiosity of our meal was fabulous! We would recommend this adventure to everyone!
OK, so this isn't a crazy food it's just dried fruit, however dried mango is a signature food item of the Philippines. Cebu is known for their mangoes and this brand, 7D, is based in Cebu and considered the best! I purchased several boxes so for those of you in Boston, you'll get to try them soon!
I know you all missed me the last couple of days, but I must say I really had a great time in Cebu and could've stayed longer! Our weekend of sun, spa and relaxation was just what I needed to get through our last week in Hong Kong. We didn't get back to our apartments until almost midnight tonight so I'll have to fill you in another day because for now I have to get some sleep!
In the meantime I'll leave you with a couple of pictures. The one above is me in front of a little waterfall at the resort. The second is where we stayed, Hilton Resort & Spa. Yes, it's pink.
And last I'll leave you with a picture of the beautiful white sand private beach we enjoyed. The water was amazing and filled with tropical fish. People were snorkeling and SCUBA diving everyday. I can't believe I was just there today...
I have a feeling I'm going to have a bad case of the Mondays tomorrow!
