2010 (and up to now) has been the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar.
However, ask anyone at Disney head-office and they will probably tell you it’s the “Year of the Tigger.”
I can’t tell you how many Chinese Tigger’s I’ve seen around Hong Kong this past year. My kids still have their soft-toy Tiggers issued with a McDonald’s Happy Meal last Chinese New Year.
It was the same when we celebrated the Year of the Rat and Mickey and Minnie Mouse taking the honours here in Asia.
However, with the next Lunar Year being the Year of the Rabbit, so far it seems as if the character-of-choice for the next Chinese New Year will be non-Disney.
Here in my my neck of the woods statues of Miffy have been springing up all over Whampoa Garden.
It is interesting to note that, while Miffy is hugely popular here in Asia, it is actually a Dutch invention that is called “konijntje” meaning “little rabbit” in the land of tulips and girls-in-glass-fronted-windows.
My kids love this time of the year. Anything that gives them time off school is good, they reason.
The schoolyear recently resumed after the two-week Christmas/New Year holidays, then after a four-week stint back at school, it’s off to the Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year break they go!
The biggest festival on the Chinese calendar falls between 1 February – 12 February 2011.
When we lived in Ma On Shan in the New Territories, there was one area of the town centre that my kids avoided like the plague.
That was the row of restaurants where one particular establishment had a box strategically placed outside…
full of snakes.
This time of the year with it’s low temperatures is the season for anything snakey: snake soup, wok-fried snake meat or snake wine.
Snake meat is considered a “warming food” and as so, is a favourite winter warmer in Hong Kong and generally in Chinese communities.
Like abalone and shark fin soup, snake soup is considered somewhat of a gourmet dish. Many establishment in the SAR inport their snake meat frozen from China. However, like the road-side restaurant in Ma On Shan, some still allow patrons to personally choose their snake-of-choice, which is then prepared in the kitchen.
(Check the contrasting expressions in the background.)
The soup comes with the snake shredded inside, although, if you’re braver, you can try sliced snake in a variety of other dishes. As it seems with almost all exotic meats (crocodile is especially popular in Hong Kong too) many say it tastes like chicken.
To wash it all down (and show that you’re a man’s man!) how about some snake wine? This concoction is made from rice wine aged with a snake in the bottle.
Not man enough for you? Try another spirit mixed with the contents of a snake’s gall bladder.
Nice!
Fancy some snake wine?! (Pic: Secret Hong Kong on FaceBook & Alex Papamichael)
Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as Moon Festival or Lantern Festival falls on Wednesday 22 September (today) this year.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries including Hong Kong.
Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date.
Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
* Putting pomelo rinds on one’s head (popular activity at kindergartens)
In a follow-up to yesterday’s post on Hong Kong cuisine, I thought that I had erred in mentioning a certain Martin Yan to Jenny Morris’ group, so here goes…
Chef Yan is a well-know Chinese chef who is best known for his knowledge of and skill in the art of not only Chinese cuisine (in general) but also that of Southern Chinese food (he is a Southerner himself).
Martin Yan is well known on the local TV channels for his program called Yan can Cook. My kids are especially fond of him for his saying:
” If Yan can cook, so can you.” and my little rugrats’ favourite: “If Yan cannot… you still can!”
You can find many of his videos on YouTube, but here is the one and only Martin Yan:
Jenny Morris, or the Giggling Gourmet as she is known as back home, is one of South Africa’s most-loved food personalities. An author, magazine writer, radio and TV presenter, celebrity chef, teacher, caterer and culinary tour guide, Jenny has had an ongoing love affair with food since she was a child.
When she dons her hat as culinary tour guide, Jenny leads groups of fellow foodies on tours around the world to discover some of the sights, sounds and tastes that others only see on telly. The busy chef is currently planning one such tour to China and she and her band of merry foodies will make a stop-over right here in Hong Kong.
Jenny Morris will lead a culinary tour to China in early 2011 (Pic: www.jennymorris.co.za)
To give her and her group a glimpse of the culinary scene on this side of the noodle-gordyn, we’ve scoured the web and found this short but informative clip on YouTube. My apartment is but 5 minutes from the Hong Kong Intercontinental where you can find some of the world’s best restaurants… all in one building nogal. The world-renowned hotel is home toSPOON by Alain Ducasse, NOBU InterContinental Hong Kong as well as the Michellin starred Yan Toh Heen.
World-renownedNobu Matsuhisa has a restaurant at the Hong Kong Intercontinental
Clickhereto have Louis Baleros, Chef Concierge at the Intercontinental show you around Hong Kong (YouTube clip) and stay tuned to Howzit-HongKong.com for more on this topic.
Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival (traditional Chinese: 中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which this year falls on September 22.
Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos.
When we lived in Taiwan, as South Africans Moon Festival-time was extra special because for the Taiwanese, having an outdoor braai (barbecue) with friends and family was part of the celebration. The braais would often take place in large parks and public courtyards of high-rise buildings and is quite a spectacle with all the fires, smoke and smell of cooking meat. We used to think of Moon Festival as our own National Braai Day celebration! Sadly, Hong Kongers do not celebrate Moon Festival in this way.
Another tradition is the giving of moon cakes to family, friends and colleagues. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.
These days mooncakes come is all kinds of designs, flavours and fillings ranging from marshmallow to even ice-cream.
One of my favourite local stores is G.O.D. or Goods Of Desire, so named because G.O.D. is the phonetic sound of the Cantonese slang “to live better.” Typical of G.O.D, their stores here in Hong Kong are pushing the boundaries of modernising the traditional Chinese moon cake with their very own “Cheeky Moon Cakes.”
G.O.D.’s Cheeky Moon Cakes are available at HK$65 (buy 10, get 1 free) Orders can be placed at any G.O.D. store.
The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China. It was an internationally televised event with the ceremony commencing on the night of 30 June 1997, and finishing on 1 July 1997, at the new wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai.
We can just add,
Thanks for the day off Hong Kong. It’s probably the hottest day of the year to boot!
One of the most anticipated games of the 2010 World Cup is kicking off in about two and a half hours time.
Brazil vs. Portugal.
Our friends over at Secret Hong Kong (open in FaceBook) just posted this picture from Lan Kwai Fong (one of THE party districts in Hong Kong, for those who don’t know).
For those who haven’t been, Piel De Toro is a Spanish-themed bar/restaurant in Lockhart Road, Central (Lan Kwai Fong). It is, of course, a popular gathering place for all Spanish folk and often hosts meetings of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Many of you will agree with me when I say that staying on the straight and narrow as far as healthy eating and lifestyle in Hong Kong is concerned, can sometimes be quite a challenge. Add raising two pre-teens in the mix and it becomes even more challenging.
For those of us who need some guidance and a word or two of advice, help is at hand.
Hong Kong’s first collective HEALTHY LIVING EVENT is coming to Duo Restaurant in Hollywood Road, Central courtesy of Sarah Baker and local lifestyle magazine Healthy Times.
Organisers assure us that this event will be the perfect opportunity to find out more about healthy products and services available locally. You will also have the opportunity to mingle with like-minded folk and share ideas and tips. There will be different speakers who dedicate themselves to health who will share what they do in Hong Kong.
Continues below. SA readers please click on the banner to support Howzit-HongKong:
HK$100 at the door gets you in and you will have enough food and organic wine to keep you content throughout the evening. On the menu will be:
Organic wine, raw food, healthy crepes, edible arrangements and many other delicious and healthy snacks.
Duo Restaurant and Cafe can be found on G/F, 118 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong and you can read more on the event’s FaceBook page here
