My late father was a huge fan of Nat King Cole’s and often regaled us with his classic Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire) during the Cape Town Christmas holidays.
Of course Cape Town temperatures often exceed 30degrees celsius so we had no understanding of that song, other than our dad doing it so well… all the time pottering around on our Yamaha electric organ. He did too. Also, chestnuts aren’t big in South Africa so that entire experience was lost on us as kids.
Until I moved to Asia.
I first encountered chestnuts (and cold Decembers) living in Northern Taiwan.
Roaming Taipei city, shopping for Christmas gifts, I often encountered street vendors selling hot, roasted chestnuts to eager passers-by.
But it was here in Hong Kong that I grew to love not only the hot nuts, but also the smell of the coal fire and roasting nuts being churned manually on the streets of this bustling city.
I bought some today just outside the Tin Hau MTR and took some pics:
In December last year, we wrote about the architecturally interesting St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Causeway Bay (on the way to Hong Kong Stadium).
The western church building is built in a mostly traditional Chinese style and even the pews sport Chinese and Christian characters.
I recently found an interesting programme on RTHK’s Hong Kong Stories series of television programmes, as a way of following up on my 2010 post. It deals with historical buildings around the Territory and includes the St Mary’s Church building as well as another beautiful building, the Catholic Cathedral in Cane Road, Central.
In addition to unpacking the relationship between Chinese religious architecture and western religion, the RTHK programme tells us more about the rich history of St Mary’s and how it came to being.
Click on the LINK to view it. (The part about St Mary’s is about 3/4 into the insert.)
In a ‘previous life‘ I used to run some recreation centres in Cape Town.
One of our services extended to the aged, which means we had to collect old folks from around our service areas, transport them to a recreation centre and keep them busy for the day. Some of the activities included skills such as embroidering, painting, etc.
After the day’s events, they’d be duly carted back to their homes.
Here’s in Hong Kong, however, I find that the aged are so much more active.
These are some of the activities I encounter on my way to work every day here in Hung Hom (the footage is from nearby Whampoa Garden):
Those of you who are regular readers of Howzit-HongKong.com (and BlitzBokke.com) will know of my profound love affair with jazz and especially the genre called Cape Jazz.
This interest of mine is what moved me to start the Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions here on Howzit-HongKong.com (we should re-start that feature soon!).
The weekly feature showcased some of the Cape Town/South African/International music and musicians that I love and associate with home and that I like to play in my apartment here in Hong Kong, especially at sunset.
I have featured the likes of (my kids’ tick tock lady) Tina Schouw, Sankomota, Lesley Kleinsmith, Dave Grusin, Sadao Watanabe, to name but a few.
This past weekend, I had to visit my regular IT mall in Sham Shui Po because I had to upgrade my WiFi network in the apartment. I also went around to one of the stalls selling DVDs and as always I picked up 2 real DVD GEMS! (For HK$30/R30 each nogal!) You guessed it: both jazz and both groups have a connection with Cape Town.
The Fourplay DVD was recorded Live at the Cape Town International Convention Centre while Incognito (a British acid jazz band that was started 32 years ago) is a favourite among Capetonians of my generation.
The FourPlay concert, as I mentioned, was recorded live in Cape Town and it was a real treat to hear and see how my compatriots responded when the band played classics like 101 Eastbound (below) by Bob James (keyboards) Nathan East (bass) Larry Carlton (guitar) and Harvey Mason (drums):
I should visit Sham Shui Po more often.
FourPlay Live in Cape Town
Incognito - 30th Anniversary
————————————————————————————————————————————————Howzit-HongKong.com listens to the best Jazz with Eric Alan on The Detour only on The Taxi
A lot can be said about the lack of green space in Hong Kong. Where an area may exist for the establishment of a park, whatever the size, one often finds the obiqutous, concrete and metal, uniquely Hong Kong ”sitting out area.”
Then of course there’s the rampant (I would be forgiven for saying “condoned“) development of multi-storey residential and commercial buildings.
But that aside, when the Hong Kong government actually gets down to building a “green lung” in this densely populated city, they actually do it rather well. Needless to say, it begs the question: Why don’t they do it more often?
One such park is the Kowloon Park situated in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui district.
Located right next to the busy Nathan and Haiphong roads, the Kowloon Park is indeed an oasis in this busy shopping and cullinary district.
Formerly a site for the British army’s barracks, some of the buildings were preserved and now serve as museums. Some of these include the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre and the Health Education Exhibition and Resources Centre.
The Park also boasts a state-of-the-art Sports Centre with an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool as well as a huge outdoor water-park. The sports centre was a key venue when Hong Kong hosted the East Asian Games in 2009.
I recently enjoyed breakfast in the park, while on my way to the HKFRU’s event with the Hong Kong Special Olympics. I had my trusty FlipCam with me and took some footage:
Regular readers will know that the Cape Town songstress Tina Schouw was our 10th featured artist on The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions here on Howzit-HongKong.
Listening to TheTaxi.co.za yesterday, the beauty that is Tina Schouw again shone through for all to hear and see.
Because that is what you see when you listen to Tina.
Something about her just calms the the soul, when she sings and when she talks.
For perspective on Tina’s talk on The Taxi, Johnny Issel was a stalwart of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. A son of the Cape Town soil, he was loved by his people for his work, his steadfast values and what he did for his community. Bush Radio has an informative post on the Cape hero. Johnny Issel passed away on 23 January 2011.
Rest in Peace, Bra Johnny.
Tina Schouw on The Taxi yesterday (Pic: thetaxi.co.za)
And here is that CD cover she autographed for my family years back in Cape Town:
Thank you for the pictures TheTaxi.co.za and Hedwig Claire Scheepers
While I didn’t manage to secure any chicken livers during my visit to the Whampoa Garden wet-market, I did manage to snap some cool pics.
The images are a wee bit blurry because the stallholders weren’t too keen on me and my camera.
The blokes in the poultry-section were especially nervous because, after the last bird-flu outbreak, the Hong Kong government imposed some strict regulations governing the sale of live poultry.
Part 2 of the epic search for chicken livers happened today… and it didn’t end on a successful note.
I headed out to the wet-market nearest to my apartment in Hung Hom… in nearby Whampoa Garden.
I spoke to the staff in the reception of my building, who assured me that Hongkongers do eat chicken livers, but that I will only be able to find it in a wet market.
They were kind enough to translate “chicken livers” so that I could only “point and click” when I got to the market:
Finding the area where chickens and chicken products are sold proved a little difficult.
Before the outbreak of bird-flu a year or so ago, this part of a wet-market was a buzzing, free-for-all area.
However, since then (and after strict laws and regulations curbing the sale of fresh chickens) the poultry-section of the Whampoa Garden wet-market consists of only one stall and about 2 smaller ones selling different chicken portions.
And no chicken livers.
I did manage to capture the sequence of events leading up to the sale of a (plucked, dead) bird:
I’ll be dead in a few seconds…
Goodbye everyone…
Exposing the neck…
The end is naai nigh (Cape Flats chicken!)
One snip and it’s all over…
Overs…
Bleeding time…
After the plucking, it’s ready to be chopped… (notice the slit throat)
Any visit to a local wet market and you’re confronted with a plethora of stalls selling chickens. Live chickens.
Chickens are kept live on the premises and slaughtered almost in front of you. You pick’em… they kill’em.
Just like that.
The thing that has always puzzled me though (and this is the Nando’s fan speaking) is:
…what the hell do they do with the chicken livers?
They don’t sell them frozen and in white punnets like they do back home. Nor do they even sell them there and then where the culling takes place.
I’ve only once bought chicken livers in Hong Kong. We once got slightly lost in the madness that is Mongkok and, by chance, happened upon a shop that sold chicken livers from a small road-side fridge. Never again have I seen chicken livers sold in Hong Kong.
Where has all the chicken livers gone?
Here’s my mission this weekend:
Find chicken livers in Kowloon.
Check back here to see how I’m doing.
Cheers.
Aaaahhh! Extra Spicy Chicken Livers as only Nando’s make them!
When we lived in Ma On Shan in the New Territories, I used to frequent one of the loveliest golf driving ranges in Hong Kong, convenient located about 10 minutes from our apartment. These days I don’t mind making the hour-long trek out that way, especially when the weather is as nice as it was today.
The WhiteHead Golf Driving range is located about 10 minutes (by taxi) from Ma On Shan’s town centre. There is also a free shuttle bus from the Sunshine City mall (where the Ma On Shan MTR station is).
The charge per hour is HK$100 and you can also rent clubs if you don’t have your own or don’t feel like lugging them all that way. You are not restricted in terms of balls and buckets filled with balls are stacked 4-high behind every bay.
You can also rent kiddies clubs for which the charge is HK$10 per club (refundable deposit HK$100)
Other than the driving range, you can also rent bicycles and explore the seaside area all the way to Wu Kai Sha where you can find a plethora of really good seafood restaurants.
If you’re into “Chinese-style” braai (BBQ) then you can reserve a BBQ-spot that comes complete with a (Chinese-style) BBQ pack. Right down to the ubiquitous two-prong forks. Beer is a wee on the expensive side from the sea-side kiosk (HK$15 Heineken/Blue Lady).
