Easy Recipe for Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the largest festivals in a Lunar calendar and Chinese community. As the date of every 15th of August of the Lunar Calender, which means autumn has come. In this year, the mid-autumn festival is 15 September 2016 (Thursday).

On that day, family will reunion and enjoy a dinner earlier and then have the mooncake for the dessert under the Full Moon. The next day of the Mid-autumn festival is a public holiday in Hong Kong.

Mooncake is a very traditional baked cake, made of egg yolks and lotus seed paste. Various ingredients such as nuts and Chinese ham are also available for another variation. Usually it is sweet. I recommend the best way to taste the mooncake is to bake for few minutes (180C ) so the crust is more crispy. Some of mooncake lovers will have mooncakes within that week / month as the mooncakes are only available for sales in mid-autumn festival.

To pair with the mooncake, I am sharing my recipe which is also a dessert of Hong Kong :

Pomelo, Sago and Mango Drink , let’s do it.

POMELO, SAGO AND MANGO DRINK  (for 1 pax)

Ingredients:

Mango :  1 piece (Matured)

Pomelo : 2 slices

Sago  :    2 table spoons

Fresh Milk :  half cup

Coconut Milk :    1-2 table spoons  for seasoning

Coconut Sugar/ Sugar (Optional)

Equipment:

Blender

Method:

Boil sago for 10 minutes until cooked transparently (can keep in the container for serving)

Now we make the mango drink :

(1) Peel mango and cut into small pieces

(2) Put coconut milk, milk

Combine (1) and (2)

Blend together to smooth mixture

Then combine pomelo and sago, with the mango drink to serve. It is a no sugar added drink as Mango already contains sugars for sweetener.

 

Serve it chill is recommended.

Enjoy! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Yo-kai Watch – I love Jibanyan !

I have not watched an animation so crazy before, when I watched Yo-kai Watch. Yo-kai (妖怪) are spiritual beings whose influence is responsible for every one of the strange, paranormal events in the human world.

There are many Yo-kai and each Yo-kai also have many evolved versions. Some Yo-kai are the key characters such as Jibanyan, Komasan, Komajiro, USAPhon, Whisper and every one has the background and stories behind.

 

Jibanyan, a red and white cat was named Ruby and was died in the car accident when saving the life of his master, Amy.

Jibanyan is so cute just because he is like one of friends around, eating chocolate bars, being a fan of MeowKB , a group of singers in Japan. If you have asked him to help you, just using the medal to call him out. He is always with you.

 

 

 

 

Komasan and Komajiro, two brothers were from the rural areas of Japan living in a shrine. The story is taking about how they live and are adept in the city.

Komasan, the elder brother is so naïve sometime but he always wins the heart from his interpersonal skills.

 

 

 

 

Komajiro, is more easily adept to the city and both brothers are showing respect and support to each other.

I know there are many games such as watch and medals, playing cards, Nintendo etc. for this animation but I am not yet get into it.  However, I support their merchandises….

 

 

 

 

 

Another Yo-kai from the season 2 is USAPhon, who died in the rocket experiment in USA. That’s why he always keep manufacturing a spaceship for a next space journey.

 

They have many songs and games for dancing too. That’s why they have promotion campaigns to showcase the dancing. Look at Jibanyan how he dances, so ROCK.

Make cookies of Jibanyan

Tai O – A fishing village of Hong Kong

Hong Kong was a fishing village in 1800’s. Nowadays people living in Hong Kong are living in tiny apartments and working too hard for living.

But there is a village still remaining the heritage of Hong Kong and people will go there for an excursion on weekend, that’s Tai O, locating at the west of  the Lantau Island, a village that is full of exciting travelling spots.

Tai O is a remote area from Lantau Island, so it’s better to go in the morning or spent at least 5 hours to visit Tai O. You are recommended to take a bus No. 11 at the MTR Tung Chung Station. The travelling time takes around 45 minutes.

People living in Tai O are living on the water, and there are many seafood you can enjoy on the water. You can buy some seafood products from the stores such as Salted Shrimps Paste, squids, pearls, starfish, calm sauce or premium dried scallops sauce (XO Sauce), and many food products to taste for souvenirs.

The pearl necklace is value for money.

Actually I went there because a heritage workshop showcasing the ancient fishing tools and living conditions of Tai O or old Hong Kong will be closed because of the termination of the lease. The closing date was 17 July 2016. That’s why when the news is broadcasting, I decided to go to Tai O once.

The Building is near 100 years, and the owner of building decided to rebuild a new building.

Some food are famous at Tai O, you can have Hong Kong famous snacks and bottled herbal drinks around the small town but make sure that the snacks are made by charcoals, it’s yummy. And also you can enjoy beancurd pudding which is a typical choice at Tai O.

Charcoal Squids

Beancurd Pudding (Tofu pudding)

Other scenery of Tai O such as Sun Ki Bridge, a bridge was built in 1979 and financed by the local residence. You can take a boat ride to visit dolphins (if you have time).

A very beautiful landscape in Tai O , suggesting to take pictures at the sunset time, near the Tai O Heritage Hotel. To go to the Heritage Hotel, a 20-minute walk from the bus terminal, walking towards to the Shek Tsai Po Pier. The hotel was a former police station and it is a Grade 2 Historic Building. A 20-minute free guided hotel tour is offered everyday but online reservation is required.

A fantastic view from the Sun Ki Bridge

Take a picture in the front of the Heritage Hotel.

Other fun decoration and starfish you can bring home for decoration

Thank you for reading.

Low-Cost Heritage Itinerary at the Area of Prince Edward, Hong Kong

For any Hongkongers or travelers, I would like to suggest a low-cost heritage itinerary for the area of Prince Edward, Kowloon, Hong Kong. A half-day walking tour let you know more about the history and the heritage of Hong Kong.

Prince Edward, is one of the stations of MTR, was named under Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary. 

Prince Edward district, is nowadays one of commercial and residential areas of Kowloon, at the hub of Hong Kong. There are two major roads you are worth to go, which is Prince Edward Road and Boundary Street.

Prince Edward Road :

The road consists of two mainstreams Prince Edward Road West and Prince Edward Road East. The roads were named after Prince Edward in 1922, later Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (later The Duke of Windsor), after his visit to Hong Kong. He had various activities and passed by a road with trees at both sides with some developing houses and the road was not yet named. He sent compliments to this development and architecture buildings in this area. After leaving Hong Kong, the Government officers has named this road as Prince Edward Road.

Boundary Street :

On signature of the 1860 Convention of Beijing, which marked the end of formal ended hostilities in the Second Opium War (1856–1858), Britain acquired the area from the south of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula for a rent-free under a perpetual lease. In 1898, the Qing government reluctantly agreed to the Second Convention of Peking that compelled China to cede a further area north of Boundary Street to the Sham Chun River along with more than two hundred nearby islands (we called as New Territories and Outlying Islands)  for the 99-year lease which expired at midnight on 30 June 1997.

Highlighted Destinations :
1) Lui Seng Chun Historical Building

Lui Seng Chun, was a property of Family Lui, a large Chinese family starting his trade in medicine. The founder Mr Lui Leung, a renowned businessman who had invested in transportation business in 1933 that’s nowadays the Kowloon Bus Motors, a developed bus transportation business in the Kowloon and New Territories areas.

It was built in 1931 in a traditional Chinese styled building with balconies before World War II. A four-story building with a total areas of 6,000 square feet.  It is now a declared monument as a Grade 1 Historic Building, which is qualified as the highest heritage value and a building of outstanding merit, which every effort should be made to preserve if possible. 

On the ground floor, it is open for public to visit without reservation. And you can try the herbal tea at the shop inside. There are some exhibits of the past about the family and the history of the building. The upper floors are converted to the School of Chinese Medicine of The Hong Kong Baptist University. Services includes acupunctures, Chinese medicine consultations and herbal medicine subscriptions. Booking in advance.  

Free Guided Tour

Monday to Friday : 2:30pm / 4:00pm

Saturday : 9:30am / 11:00am

Tour takes 30-45 minutes

Number of Participants : from 4 to 20 pax

Registered online in advance: Individual booking 
Visit official page

MTR Exit : MTR Prince Edward Station Exit C2

2) Flower Market and Yuen Po Street Bird Garden

Flower Market is a major market of flowers for wholesales and retails. There are near 100 florists in this areas offering a large variety of flowers and plants, seeds and accessories. And the prices are cheaper.

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is a Chinese-style theme park. It occupies an area of about 3000 square metres and is bounded by Boundary Street, Embankment Road, Prince Edward Road West and Yuen Po Street, with its main entrance facing Boundary Street and another entrance facing Yuen Po Street. There are 70 bird stalls for bird traders.

MTR Exit : MTR Prince Edward Station Exit B1

Opening hour: 7 am – 8 pm daily

3) Prince Restaurant
Let’s take a break after visiting the bird garden and flower market, I recommend one of the old restaurants, which offering a variety of tea sets. The most exciting tea set is Baked Escargots (HK$60), or you can select Baked Scallops , served with a cup of coffee/ tea . It is a very one of a kind  tea set in Hong Kong I could say. That’s why I recommend you to come.

If you come on Wednesdays, there is a  music concert by Freeman from 7:15pm to 9:15pm playing instrumental music for 80-90s Canton and English Pop music.  It’s good for pairing your dinner of old Hong Kong style.

Address: No.162 Prince Edward Rd West,, Prince Edward  

MTR Exit : MTR Prince Edward Station Exit B1
Opening hour:  12 noon to 11:00pm

Tea Set Menu

  

Exhibition – Bruce Lee : Kung Fu, Art, Life

I actually went for the exhibition of Claude Monet, the Impressionist master for his greatest landscape masterpieces last Friday. After that, I also spent time to other exhibition hall which is also worth to go.

Bruce Lee : Kung Fu , Art, Life

Exhibition Period: Now to July 2018

Venue: Hong Kong Heritage Museum

I am not his fans and he passed away before I was born. But in this exhibition, it exhibits why he is succeed and he inspired me how to live.

What is your vision?

Although he died young but he actually have set some targets for him to achieve. He has vision and he wrote them down. He was also confident to be a superstar, when he was a child starring a film.

Do you manage your business well?

He had a teaching school for Martial arts in California and he had developed a good marketing scheme for his students such as a certification scheme, which was taking about 1950s. The tutorial prices also increased when he was getting famous. Generally speaking, he had a successful marketing mix.

Are you well equipped yourself ?

He had continuously keeping up his exercise and training no matter he was a superstar ( he had been a regular icon on major cover page of Kung Fu, Entertainment and Films magazines respectively). He also spent time to keep fit and reading books which improving his business and martial arts areas.

Photo Studio Programme – Limited Time Offering

If you come to Hong Kong or you are a Fans of Bruce Lee, there is a “Bruce Lee Fans’ Photo Studio” you can take a photo with “HIM” from 1 July 2016-30 September 2016, from 4pm – 5pm for every Sunday and Public Holiday.

For more information : Hong Kong Heritage Museum

Joan Cornellà Makes Asian Premiere in Hong Kong

Based in Barcelona, Joan Cornellà is a cartoonist and illustrator famous for his unsettling,

surreal humor and black humorous comic strips as well as artwork.

With a global following, his works consist of mostly wordless 6 panel comics – the disturbing themes, extreme discomfort, often grotesque, all packaged neatly into brightly colored, beautifully rendered comic illustrations. In these times of extreme hypocrisy, Joan Cornellà sheds some light onto ourselves, unveiling who we really are, always in a humorous and disquieting manner.

Date: 17 – 26 June 2016

Event Venue: G/F, Fort Street 18-20, Wah Kin Mansion North Point, Hong Kong

•Tickets can be bought at the door, from 10am to 10pm  (BUT LONG QUEUE, WAIT MINIMUM 1-2 HOURS OUTDOOR)

$50 (a lucky draw to win a limited edition illustration+present)

Buy tickets in advance (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at :

1. Zoo Records:

Shop 325, 3/F President Commercial Centre, 608 Nathan Road, Mongkok, , Hong Kong2

2. White Noise Record:

1/F, 720 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

3.The Globe:

The Globe, Garely Building, 45-53 Graham Street, Central District, Hong Kong

Event Facebook

Joyce Jonathan Asian Tour 2016 – Hong Kong Station

I was so excited in May when I knew that Joyce Jonathan will come to Hong Kong for her Asian Tour after the Taiwan Station. I immediately purchased concert tickets online and expect her live show in Hong Kong.

The show is also a part of Le French May – a program of Hong Kong promoting French culture, wine and dine, performances from May to early July and I usually spend a lot of time and money in this programme every year. 🙂

Joyce Jonathan – one of the popular French POP singers in France, is a French singer and songwriter. Her first album “Sur mes gardes” was certified platinum in 2011 and received the NRJ Music Awards of the Francophone Breakthrough of the year (2011). I listened her music via YouTube first and then I also purchased her first album. The song I like is “Je ne sais pas” – also version in Mandarin (But I don’t understand Mandarin).

The new album in 2016 “Une Place Pour Moi” and promoting songs such as “Le Bonheur” and “L’amour, l’amour, l’amour ” are my favorites. The rhythm and the music arrangement of songs are very French, young and with romantic lyrics.

For the promotion of the concert, well, there were not many promoting channels except I knew that from lepetitjournal.com and some post bills which having very low profile. That’s why the concert hall was not fully occupied, which I felt that concert was not well promoted to targeted audiences.

Anyway, there were two autograph sessions for VIP and regular fans respectively after the concert. It supposed to sign the new album only but she is so nice to sign for my previous album (die hard fans) although the organiser was not allowed me to do so. 🙂

Hope she will come often to Hong Kong and get more fans following her! 🙂

 

Beautiful Sunset – Hong Kong !

Living in Hong Kong, one of the cities with skyscrapers that people never see the sky. That’s why I love the blue sky of the Spain, although we are living on the same planet.

It’s sure that you can find some natures, fauna and flora in Hong Kong where you have to travel to new territories or outlying islands.

The photo here I took it actually taking place at the bus terminal in Lantau Island. It was sunset time, after a heavy raining in the afternoon, where many clouds were layered in the sky. 

Economical Japanese ingredients

Occasionally having Japanese cooking at home, not a fine Japanese cuisine, but you can make some economical Japanese dining at home with the following ingredients:

1) Japanese Kosakana Furikake (Rice Seasoning)

You can use some rice seasoning, mixing with the normal steamed rice to increase more rice aroma and taste. There are many favors and seasoning recipes in the market at your choice, such as sesame, dried salmon, dried fish or seafood etc. Just be aware of sodium intake. It recommends to consume once or twice a week.

2) Miso Soup Paste and Wakame

There are many miso soup in the market such as less salted, or regular tasted miso soup. However, I recommend the white miso soup that is less salted, and it is perfectly matched with the instant wakame ingredients. Yummy and very low cost ! You can serve it for regular soup or a soup base for cooking with noodles.

Left: White Miso soup paste, Right : wakame for miso soup

Cooking miso soup. Just use a spoonful of miso can make 1-2 pax

A meditation at Tsz Shan Monastery

Tsz Shan Monastery, is a development germinated with Mr Li Ka-shing, the tycoon of Hong Kong, who has contributed over HK$1.7 billion from his personal foundation to cover the whole development and daily operating costs of the Monastery.

The project was commenced in 2003 from the planning and looking for the suitable landscape, based on fung-shui and various consideration. It was opened in 2016.

The architectural style was inspired by the more solemn and elegant styles of the Tang, Northern Song, Liao and Jin dynasties, which existed over a period of about 600 years beginning in the 7th century.

There are limited capacity to make the site visit so as to ensure the land is peaceful and quiet. All visits must be booked in advance (we booked 1 month in advance for a weekday visit.)

I just want to share my first time visit experience, as it may be an exceptional personal experience in meditation, Dharma practice and understanding the Buddhism intensively.

Guided Educational Tour (Ticket Needed)

There are two sessions daily for maximum 60 visitors for each session, on first come first served basis. Guided by a volunteer tour guide, he will guide you and escort you the development of the Monastery, details of each masterpiece, the story of each hall and terrace there, not to mention the eye-catching Guan Yin Statue (Avalokitesvara).

Session (AM) : 10:30 ; Session (PM) : 14:30

Estimated tour takes 1.5 hours

To get  the ticket, you got to go to the visitor centre (next to the Lecture Hall, take an elevator to downstair). There is a refundable deposit HK$100 for each headset.

Guan Yin Statue (Avalokitesvara)

Guan Yin (觀音) is the highlight of the monetary. It has a height of 76 metres, comprising a 70-metre-tall bronze-cast white Guan Yin Statue (including a three-tier bronze lotus platform) built upon a 6-metre high granite base. The statue is coated with white fluorocarbon self-cleaning paint and is modeled on sculptures of the Song dynasty. Guan Yin is a graceful demeanour implying the blessings and protection received through his immeasurable power. She holds a wisdom pearl in her right hand and a vase in her left hand, pouring pure water to cleanse the world.

 

 

Water Offering

Visitors can offer water to Guan Yin anytime during visits. Then visitor hold the water bowl in both hands, walking through the Compassion Path, a straight wide pathway with 18 aged Buddhist Pines along two sides of the path. At the end of the path, there is a huge bronze water vessel known as Thousand Wishes Pond, then you can offer the water in the hand into the Pond.

 

 

Other Mindfulness programmes schedule

It really has many activities in the Monetary which actually make me very busy to complete all in one time. However, you can check the schedule and activities and plan ahead.

Origin (3D Video)

Time: 10:00am , 11:45am , 2:00pm, 4:00pm

Venue : Lecture Hall (duration of video 7 minutes)

Capacity : 280 per session

Zen Calligraphy

Last admission : 3:45pm

Participants must be 9 years of age or above

Venue : Universal Hall

Remarks: take off shoes and better to wear socks.

Chinese calligraphy and writing zen is a good meditation. ( I missed it this time)

Walking Meditation  (Ticket Needed)

Time: 2:30pm – 3:00pm

Capacity: 30 per session

Remarks: wear comfortable flat shoes , no high heels

Participants must be 9 years of age or above

Coffee break at the Lecture Hall

There is a complimentary coffee or tea for every visitor to enjoy. A very good quality of coffee latte with a latte art!

 

 

慈山寺 Tsz Shan Monastery

www.tszshan.org

facebook:  慈山寺 Tsz Shan Monastery

Opening Time :

9:30am – 5:00pm

Address:

88 Universal Gate Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong 香港新界大埔普門路88號

How to go there:

Bus: 75K (stop near Ting Kok Road)

Minibus:

20B (Tai Po Market Station to and from Tung Tsz Road)

20T (Roundabout of the monastery to Tai Po Market Station) , full fare :HK$6.9 (departure time from monastery: 11:30am, 12:00noon, 12:30pm, 1:00pm, 1:30pm, 3:30pm,4:00pm,4:30pm, 5:00pm)

Taxi: recommended

Dress Code :

Proper attire (e.g. sleeved tops, trousers, mid-calf dress or mid-calf pants) must be worn at all times throughout your visit in the Monastery. Improper attire such as sleeveless top or shorts , got to cover with a clothes provided by the Monastery at the entrance.