Food Food and Food!

Hi everyone. I had a rather long hiatus in the past few weeks and have not been writing for a very long time; this is because of the many things that are happening in my life and I don't feel like writing (many thanks to those who still read my blog in this period despite the lack of update). 6/7 is perhaps the most important day in my life so far as it is the day when the IB results are released. Although I have the grade, I am still waiting for remarks update from IB (bureaucracy!) and university confirmation. Things like these agitate me a bit. However, I manage to occupy myself with internship, friends meetup, and most importantly, food! So I want to share with everyone what I have eaten in the past few weeks. Of course I have had way more than what's below but I did not take picture every time.

In early July, my friends and I went to Disneyland. My last visit was 8 years ago but things have not changed a lot inside (just 2 or 3 new themed areas). We had a wonderful time inside despite the heat and the crowd. Food inside is expectedly expensive so we did not buy much food. For lunch, we had Chicken Basket which was quite expensive. However, I am disappointed to say that even Kentucky Fried Chicken produced better food then them. The chicken is fresh and kind of juicy but there should have been more seasoning. The fries are "healthy" as it is rather saltless. Overall not a very pleasant meal considering the price they charge, but aren't theme parks known for ransacking our wallets?

Everyone ordered chicken basket!

After Disney we went back to the town and decided to have burger (much fat consumption in a day!). I ordered Portobello Cheese Burger which cost slightly more than the chicken basket, but I must say it tastes 10 times better! The burger was very juicy and the portobello mushroom was grilled very well; the molten cheese adds some texture to it and enhances the flavour; the vegetable and tomato were very fresh and I really want to have it again!

After the Disney trip, not much things happened, I mainly filled my day with internship; I must say it was quite a fun and new experience for me. And then, I think it was last week, one of my friends is going to leave Hong Kong for university so he decided to treat some of his friends to a dinner (Shouldn't it be the other way round? Anyway, I got to eat!) We went to an American Restaurants and thanks to my friend's VIP card, he did not have to pay a lot. We had a lot of good food and dessert that night and we were all very satisfied.

We first ordered a shareables which includes Chicken Wings, Calamari, Potato Skins and Chicken Tenders. Potato Skins might not be that attractive at first glance but it was surprisingly good when baked with cheese and bacon. A great start to a wonderful dinner!

The next thing that came to our table was 4 mini burgers with fries (guess I just love burger too much!). I really like the idea of mini burgers as it makes sharing and eating so much easier.

Afterwards we had the signature dish of the restaurant - barbecued ribs! I was not a very big fan of ribs as I often think that grilled ribs are chewy (I experienced that several times ): ) However, this ribs was very tender and the barbecue sauce was just enough so it wasn't too heavy or sour. This dish has changed my impression to ribs and I started to like it!

We then had Teriyaki Sesame Chicken which also tastes good. As you probably can see, there is mashed potato as side dish for both the chicken and the ribs. I think some sweet potato mash was also added to it so that the taste would not be so plain. It tasted really good but I didn't have much because I need to have dessert!

We ordered this gigantic Chocolate Tallcake which is so big that one single person for sure cannot finish it! As the description says, "Slices of chocolate cake are layered with creamy chocolate mousse, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and luscious chocolate and caramel sauce." Simply delightful! What a great end to a wonderful dinner!

The smiley face behind simply shows how happy she is!

After this very pleasant meal, life went back to normal. And one day, I decided to cook myself lunch. Sorry to disappoint, but I am not a chef so I can only cook something basic like instant noodles. I am obsessed with eggs so I decided to add a soft boiled egg into my noodles, and the egg was surprisingly good (the egg yolk was soft and the egg white was set). All I did was to follow the instruction on WikiHow and it worked!

Dessert is something that I like so I would invest on it. The photo below is misleading as it looks like some sort of crunchy bread, but in fact, it is a Green Tea Cream Puff. The puff was very crunchy; the cream inside was very smooth and has a very strong and fresh green tea flavour. If you are a fan of green tea, you will love it!

Just yesterday, after a wonderful dinner with my friends (which I took no picture as we were all too hungry after the long wait), we had ice cream. I ordered a Frutti Waffle Cone which includes a summer berries flavoured ice cream, chocolate sauce, banana and almonds. It might look a weird combination but it was good, at least I liked it!

So that's all for this rather random food blog and I hope you all like it. Thank you very much for reading and I wish those who are anticipating something will hear good news soon, just like how I have been waiting for one for months.

P.S. I have just created an ask.fm account so you can ask me things anonymously

http://ask.fm/edmund_fung96

Lego II (Lego Creator 31025: Mountain Hut)

So I just finished the Divergent Trilogy which is absolutely fascinating, and I feel like I am still living in a world with factions! It is difficult for me to detach myself from the novel but I know I have to go back to reality, so I decided to build another Lego Set!

The Lego set I bought this time is called Mountain Hut and it is a 3 in 1 model, so basically you can build it in 3 different ways. I decided to build the one in the bottom right, and perhaps I will build the other models later!

This set comes with much more Lego pieces than the Captain America VS Hydra (550 compared to 172) so it took me more time to organise and build. 

This looks quite messy

Decided to sort them into different colours so that it will be easier to find them

It took me around 20 minutes to organise the Lego pieces, and of course the photos above only show part of the pieces! It took me another hour to complete the model, and I am happy to see that it comes with some small details in the house so it looks like someone is actually living inside.

Without further ado, let's see the finished Mountain Hut!

As you can see, there is a window and a chimney, as well as a Christmas tree; it seems like someone is preparing dinner inside! This set comes with a minifigure of the owner of the hut and his car.

He's ready for some adventure!

The interesting part of this set is you can literally open the hut and see what is inside!

Welcome to my humble hut!

The interior of the hut

A stove inside the hut

Small details: (Middle) A picture adorns the wall and (Left) what looks like a dining area

My Lego collection so far

So yeah that's it for this post. I like this Lego set not only because it looks good on the outside but also because of the little things inside. It does not take long to finish this set, so anyone who wants to decorate his or her house can consider buying this model! The fact that it can be built in 3 different ways make it more valuable and I think it is also very suitable for children!

Taiwan Graduation Trip

Before I write another post about Lego, I just want to share with everyone my recent visit to Taiwan which happened a month ago actually (since I did not have a blog then, I did not write about it until now). I just graduated from High School and shortly after that, I went to Taiwan with my friends. As some of you who have been to a trip with friends might know, travelling with friends could be the best thing on Earth, or the worst because of all the unforeseeable clashes. Luckily, my trip leaves me mostly good memories. This post might be a bit long but most of it will be photos!

Day 1 (Taipei City + Night Market)

Our flight was really early - at 8:15 am. So I had to wake up at like 5:30am. Quite a difficult start :(

We soon arrived Taipei and the first place we visited was the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. For those of you who do not know, Sun Yat-sen was the person who overthrew the Qing dynasty and the founding father of the Republic of China. 

Statue of Sun Yat-sen

After learning a bit of History, we went to the landmark skyscraper of Taiwan - Taipei 101.

Taipei 101 has an indoor and outdoor observatory, but because of poor weather, the outdoor one was closed. The view was however surprisingly good!

At night, we went to the famous Shilin Night Market for some after dinner snacks and desserts. The girls were particularly excited about it as they could shop till they drop! We had lots of good food and since we are all voracious eaters, I did not take many photos.

Fried Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce (photo is unintentionally out of focus because I'm a terrible photographer)

Afterwards we went back to our hostel which is very cosy; it has a living room for socialising!

Day 2 (Raining + Good Food)

Day 2 began with a nice breakfast and we went to the zoo. The weather was good in the morning but at noon, rain started to pour down and we were all wet. We decided to leave and go back to the city.

We went to a very famous local restaurant for deep fried ribs. The ribs are crispy on the outside and tender inside; the price was very reasonable as well (I think it was around 160-200 Taiwan Dollars, which is around 6 USD!)

As suggested by the girls, we went shopping again in the afternoon (raining is a very good reason, isn't it?). At night, we met up with our Taiwanese friends and we had all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. There was a variety of food ranging from meat to seafood; desserts (which include Häagen-Dazs ice cream) and drinks are also unlimited. It was a really pleasant meal!

Day 3 (Jiufen, Shifen and Houtong Cat Village)

On Day 3 we left Taipei City and our first stop was Jiufen. Jiufen is a small town famous for its breathtaking view, street market and taro balls! 

Beautiful view of the ocean!

Street Market

Taro balls served with syrup. I love this and the taro balls are really soft and chewy :)

Souvenir for my friend with a lovely quote "Choco is better than sex"

After spending a few hours we went to Shifen, which is famous for railway tracks, waterfall, Shifen Old Street and sky lantern. Weather was bad and we didn't get to see the waterfall :(

The famous railway track featuring a train. The railway is bordered by houses!

People would write their wishes on the sky lantern and launch it

We spent time writing postcards there and after standing for 30 minutes in an unprecedentedly crowded train (to avoid such unpleasant experience, don't go during the weekend), we arrived Houtong Cat Village. It is a small village with lots of lovely cats, and you can pet them without being attacked!

Day 4 (Maokong Tea House and Tamsui)

Maokong is picturesque and famous for its tea hourse, and people usually take the Maokong Gondola to go there.

View from our cable car

Drinking tea with style

Taeh-Kuan-Yin tea ice cream, surprisingly good!

After spending some time in this tranquil teahouse, we left and went to Tamsui. Tamsui has a really busy street market and the well-known Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf is nearby. It is also a great place for cycling!

Doughnut from Mister Donut (my favourite but doesn't have a store in Hong Kong ): )

 Grilled beef tenderloin 

Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf and the famous Lover Bridge

And of course, sunset!

Day 5 (Kenting) 

We woke up early this day and took the High Speed Rail to Zuoying Station (Kaohsiung), and then a bus to Kenting. Kenting is known for beaches and beautiful scenery, and once again, its night market (Taiwan is all about food!).

South Bay Beach, where we played watersports although I don't know how to swim

Kenting Main Street, yet another night market

Day 6 (Kenting) 

We visited Kenting National Park this day and usually people would rent a car, as most of the places are quite difficult to get to by public transport.

 Sail Rock, people say it looks like the head of President Nixon (I suppose I ain't very imaginative)

 Eluanbi Park

The Kissing Rock

Eluanbi Lighthouse, usually featured in postcards

Southernmost point of Taiwan

Longpan Park, perfect for (display) photo

Fongchuisha (Windblown Sand). In Winter, the wind would blow the sand inward and cover the road. Our cab driver told us once the wind was so strong that his car door was destroyed :O

Day 7 (Kaohsiung)

To my surprised, Kaohsiung is a lot less vibrant than Taipei. We only spent a day and a half there and I did not take many pictures, as my phone went out of battery.

A very cute but quiet cat in our hostel

Metro at 10 p.m. 

Street view at 10 p.m.

Railway Museum

And yeah it's a long post that covers pretty much what I did in Taiwan (you are awesome if you are reading this!). I would really recommend you guys to visit Taipei City if you love food and shopping, and Kenting if you love outdoor activities. Kaohsiung disappoints me a bit and I would say it's just a less crowded version of Taipei. Overall it's a really nice trip and I think Taiwan is suitable for most travellers, as food and accommodation can be quite cheap (I spent less than HKD 800 on hostel for 6 nights). There is a lot more to do in Taiwan such as exploring the mountainous area in the middle part. So I guess there's something that will suit you for sure. 

Also, Taiwanese are usually very nice! They always offer to help us and they are really polite. Well, maybe with the exception of a cab driver who accused me of breaking his car (which I did not). He yelled at us and even stopped the car in the middle of the road just to examine his car, we were quite scared then. Luckily we arrived at our destination safe without being scammed!

If you have any question about Taiwan or any comments in general, I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading!