Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden - Where To Go On Weekends in Hong Kong?

Want a breath of fresh air? Get out of the malls (I know it's hard because of all the mega mega SALE going on...) and explore Hong Kong's new territories! We absolutely fell in love with Kadoorie park! So easy to go to.. and I don't have to say much. Enjoy the photos, the place is heaven!

Beautiful flowers everywhere!


A treat for nature photographers, with all the cherry blossoms blooming everywhere.


Dewy foliage everywhere we look...


Simply stunning!


Beautiful rose garden...

... there's an orchid garden and butterfly garden too! Get your zoom and macro lenses clean up and haul them here.

Hello bee...sorry to interrupt your snacking time...



SC & baby M's cactus encounter. It's a great place for kids to explore. Baby M was so happy there despite having to walk a lot. You can bring a stroller too if your kid would sit on it (M won't)



Baby M's favorite character, the owl.


There's a wild boar, and reindeer too... upon seeing the reindeer, baby M broke into a song. Can you guess which song?

There are sections where they grow organic vegetables, fruits, etc...


... and you can buy some produce too!


There's a beautiful beautiful place for you to chill out and eat...

...it serves vegetarian only though. If you can't live without bacon, BYOB then :)

We ordered pumpkin soup (yum), Hong Kong style samosas (yum)...

Omelette with mushrooms and sweetcorn (yum, the sweetcorn so sweet but you gotta season it yourself), and my favorite was this mushrooms and cheese toasties. Yum.

I was intrigued by their orange pancake, so I ordered it... but too bad the pancake's not nice at all T_T

SC had orange juice which was freshly squeezed then and there, and I had a cup of mocha, but I didn't like it.

We had an amazing day, and we'll definitely be back!

Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
- How to go? Take the MTR West Rail to Kam Sheung Rd Station, and then take the 64K bus (it is quite frequent, and the ride takes about 15 minutes), stop right in front of Kadoorie Farm. So easy!
- The ticket costs HK$20 for adult, free for kids below 3 years old
- Don't go too late, the place is enormous!
- Book the shuttle bus going to the upper side
- If you go with kids or babies that need carrying, after exploring a bit of the lower side, take the shuttle bus to the upper side, but I'd recommend not getting off at the first few stops or the peak. You might have to wait for a long time to get catch the shuttle bus down. We chose to drop off at the owl's sanctuary and it was the perfect distance for us.
- Bring plenty of water and some snacks, we even saw some people bringing in pizza! Hello, picnic!

For more details, check out their website here.

Sweet Savory Breakfast Sandwich - Croissant with Candied Kumquats and Cream Cheese

I received a jar of candied kumquats from my awesome foodie friend, Mr. W. He told me "Use it as you would marmalade"...and here's how I used it. I love a combo of sweet and salty, thus the buttery croissant and the creamy savory cream cheese with the candied kumquats. I love love loveeee!

It makes an amazing holiday breakfast!

Hong Kong Roast Pork (Siu Yuk), Apples & Mustard Mayo Sandwich

Hmmm...

When life gives you bread...

...I'd say, ditch your low carb diet and make sinful sandwiches.
Did I hear amen?

There's a story to this loaf of bread.
Baby M wandered around a local bakery (A1 bakery), grabbed a bag of bread and dropped it on the floor. The bread slipped outta its protective plastic bag, lying helplessly on the floor, begging for us to buy it. Uh oh. The staff saw this, and she was being very nice. She offered to clean up the mess, never demanding us to buy the bread. But we are people with conscience, especially when we are trying desperately to find some excuses to eat carbs. So, we bought the bread.

On the way home, I simply bought a strip of roasted pork belly with crispy crackling & juicy tender melt-in-your-mouth meat *gulp*
So siu yuk sandwich it is!
Here's what I put together. I don't think I can call this a recipe, and I didn't make the roast pork nor the bread. We are spoiled with having numerous roast pork shops in Hong Kong. But if you wanted to make the roast pork, I am sure there's a good recipe online somewhere.


First, I generously buttered my bread and grilled them.


Pork and apples, they are best friends, right? Slice the apples thin and arrange them on the toasted bread.

Add the pieces of siu yuk. Lots of them.

For the dressing, I mixed mayo, mustard, and a touch of honey, then slathered it generously on the sandwich. You can leave the sandwich open, or top it with another piece of butter toasted bread.

What a beautiful sight!

I need to bring baby M to bakeries more often!

PS. If you're a Kpop fan and you love 2PM, I went to their Hands Up Asia Tour concert in Hong Kong last weekend. If you wanna see the pics, check it out here.

The Bin Tai II - Indomie, Sausages, Cheese & Mayo Sandwich

To celebrate the last working day of the year, here's my bin tai (Canto for pervert - or click the word to see the definition from urban dictionary) gift to you all...the sequel to the bin tai.
Muhahahahaha.


The idea started from how in Hong Kong we have a typical breakfast set menu of instant noodles, toasts and sausages and eggs. Why don't I put them all in one package of a sandwich? Aha! So I did, except I forgot the eggs. Ugh. Typical me.

I think you pretty much know how everything's prepared, but I'm gonna share how it's done anyway. I'm show-offy like that ;)

"Recipe"
- Buns or bread, and butter
- Your favorite sausages (or ham, or bacon, whatever pushes your buttons). I used chipotle cheese sausages
- Your favorite cheese(es). Ideally a combo of something that will melt well and something that will turn golden brown, but I only had cheddar, so I just used cheddar. Sobs
- Your favorite dry instant noodles. I used Indomie goreng. You can also use soup noodles but make it dry by excluding the soup and some of the seasoning to prevent it from going too salty
- Mayo and chilli sauce (or whatever sauces you want)

Prepare the noodles, undercook them to give the sandwich a bit of crunchiness and let the noodles withstand the additional heating the sandwich might need later. Once prepared, set aside. Butter the buns or bread generously and toast until golden brown. Slice and pan fry sausages, grate cheeses. Slather the buns with mayo and sauces, add fillings until the sandwich resembles an exploding, tumbling hot mess. Reheat the whole package in the oven, or you can blow torch the cheeses to melt and turn them golden.

Imagining how it tastes won't help much. Go ahead and create your own version of perverse yumminess!

And, Happy last Friday of 2011! Yayyyy!!!

The Bin Tai - Ham, Cheese, Fried Egg, Mayo, & Potato Chips Sandwich

Junk food haters, cover your eyes. This post is gonna disgust you to oblivion.
Inspired by e_ting at desk's post, the nutella cookie peanut butter sandwich, last night I made this monstrosity that I named "the bin tai" (Cantonese for perverted).
It's fully loaded with all kinds of junk that I found in my kitchen.

It's like this:
- A slice of buttered bread
- Slather mayo
- Add a slice of ham
- Add fried egg (runny yolk ftw)
- Add potato chips (I used Lay's sour cream and onion)
- Add a slice of "cheese"
- Add more potato chips
- Dump in the oven until the "cheese" melted
- Squeeze a few dots (or dollops) of mayo
- Squeeze a few drops of ketchup or chilli sauce

If you're up for it, top it with another slice of bread.

Did I really eat this bin-tai-ness?
Yes I did.
And the most bin tai thing is, I really loved it.
Sobsssss.....please don't hate me.

Spam, Mayo, Seaweed, Caramelized Shallot with Sticky Teriyaki Sauce Sandwich

I don't think I need to say much about this sinful treat.
Junk sandwich at its best!


Thickly cut spam, pan fried until it's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside...thick slather of kewpie mayo, caramelized shallot glazed in teriyaki sauce mixed with a bit of sugar until thickened and sticky, thick slices of fluffy buttery and cheesy bread, topped with crispy seaweed.


It's pure porn.

Spicy Sardine Sandwiches - Happy Birthday, Indonesia!

Something loosely red and white to celebrate Indonesia's independence day.


This spicy sardine dish is something I always had back home in Indonesia. I always had it with lotsa rice, but thanks to Tigerfish, I am inspired to make the sardine dish a topping for sandwiches. Perfect for a light dinner.

Oh wait, considering the number of sandwiches I gobbled up...it probably shouldn't have been considered a light dinner after all. ^_^'

Recipe
- 1 can of sardines in tomato sauce
- 2 shallot or half an onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- salt, sugar, cooking oil
- chopped spring onion and crispy shallot for garnish
- slices of your favorite bread (toast with butter if you wish)
- cheese slices (optional)

Saute garlic and shallot in hot oil, add sardines, balance flavors with salt and sugar, set aside. Butter and toast your bread slices if you want. Arrange them onto a plate. Top with slices of cheese (if using). Half and cut sardines to suit the size and shape of your bread, place generous serving of sardines on the bread, top with the sauce, garnish with chopped spring onion and crispy shallot....

...and merdeka!

Happy birthday, Indonesia!

Light Dinner? Bellota Ham Open Sandwiches

One fine weekend, a good friend of mine came over and she brought goodies. Whew, and what goodies she brought, two packs of Bellota ham! Let's just say that our plan to have a light dinner was effectively ruined.

We devoured the ham with chunks of sweet melon and with slices of goat cheese...


And we also made sandwiches. Slices of sourdough; salad lightly dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, goat cheese and the ham. Still sounds like a light dinner?

Ahem, we consumed our melon ham and sandwiches with this roasted corn, coriander and chicken soup..


...and glasses of this bastardized Sangria


...and this coffee cream soda granita

Light dinner...fail.

Anyway, gotta go stuff my face soon, diet's off on weekends. Yippie!
Happy Friday & happy weekend, everyone!

Weekend Picnic at Inspiration Lake

Finally! We've found a patch of grass we can sit on in Hong Kong! We were so happy it didn't rain yesterday, we had our picnic with Joe, Athena and baby Alice at Inspiration Lake.


The place is beautiful and it's easy to get to. Simply take the MTR to Disney station, and take the R8 bus to the Inspiration Lake recreation area.

We settled ourselves on a clean patch of grass, under the shade of a tree. We brought some simple food...sandwiches, hot dogs, shrimp paste grilled chicken wings, marinated meat and fish balls and Chinese sausages, and fresh melons.

There's a 7-11 there, so actually you don't have to bring any drinks or food. We didn't know that ^_^'

I made roast duck sandwiches...


I used mini croissants, store bought roast duck, slices of fresh pear, and mayonaisse.


The hot dogs had cheese sausages, sliced cucumber, mayo, ketchup and spreadable cheese in them. I used cocktail buns, the inner part buttered and lightly toasted.


I also made apple caramel sandwiches. They're filled with slices of fuji apple, which were lightly salted to prevent them from browning, and slathered with some butter and toffee caramel spread.


The babies enjoyed their own food...and some of our buns...


And it was too hot, we decided to let baby Marcus try some popsicle.

He was shocked by how cold it was...at first.

Soon enough, he grew to love it...


...and kept asking for more.

So much for trying to not let him eat anything unhealthy until he's 10 ^_^'

It was so hot, we were pretty much melted, sun burnt, and bitten my mosquitoes/various insects, but we enjoyed it much, we're gonna go back when the weather is cooler.

The full set of pictures are posted on my Facebook Page. Like it if you haven't already ^_^

Weekend Breakfast - Cream Cheese & Kaya Sandwich with Cinnamon Coffee

Just thought I'd share my weekend breakfast...when it's not instant noodles/dimsums/Hong Kong fast food...it's gotta be an easy sandwich.

This time, it's cream cheese & kaya (weird?) on fluffy and soft honey egg sliced bread. I love the creamy, tangy and slightly savory flavor of cream cheese with anything, including with the sweet and coconutty kaya. Toasting the bread would be nice, but I was just too lazy. Heheh.


I also love the addition of a little cinnamon on my sweet black morning coffee. Love the sweet fragrance. I am so not a coffee purist, obviously ^_^

How was your weekend? Delicious?