My First Time Decorating Gingerbread Cookies - agnés b. DÉLICES, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Once upon a time, in the city of Hong Kong, there's a girl.


She got ready for a Christmas date, she put on her favorite dress, a white lacy vintage number with red buttons, her favorite red lipstick, did her short bob hair and went on to meet her date...


...she's been having a crush on this guy for a while, and finally asked him out. This is not the age where girls are supposed to just sit and wait for the guy to ask, right? Uh huh, uh huh. Little did she know that although he appeared super cool, he actually had his eyes on her too.

They had a fantastic time, got together....

...created a lovely family and live happily ever after!

Hohohoh...at least in my imagination they did. The little family was my first experience decorating gingerbread cookies ever! I had a fantastic time at agnés b. DÉLICES.

I started with these naked gingerbread cookies...


...I looked at the adorably decorated cookies and I got nervous, wondering if I would do well.

We know how I suck at decorating and baking...but I was pretty pleased with what I've done.
What the heck, let me just say it. I am soooo freaking proud of myself! Heheheh

I also sampled the ginger flavored hot chocolate, their Christmas special.

It would be nice in a cold winter day. The ginger flavor really came through, went really nicely with the chocolate. I just wish the chocolate is a tad richer :)

I got to try their Christmas cakes too.

Lovely combination of flavors and textures...


....and they look so darn cute!
Ahem! I'm superficial like that :)

It's a lovely cafe serving cute little cakes, savory treats, and coffee! Just the perfect spot for me to rest my tired legs after a long day of shopping. I'll surely drop by often.

Thanks for having me, agnés b. and Harbour City!

agnés b. DÉLICES
Shop 2402K, 2/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2175 0028

Hong Kong Style Steak House - Salami Restaurant, Tsuen Wan

A charming classic Hong Kong steak house.
Look at that smirking little chef at the entrance. I adore!


The decor is very old skool.


I hardly see this kind of doors and curtains anymore.


Black and white tiles, old chairs, Hong Kong version of diner seats (car wai)...I love!


Sparkly disco stairway to a smoky second floor.
Aw!


Daily specials.


Wilted flowers. Of course. I'd wilt too from all that smoke from the sizzling hot plate.


Napkins and table setting paper, all with Salami classic graphic. Lovely!


Set meals start with fluffy buns and butter.


Red soup. I always choose the red soup.


And then your sizzling meals arrive. Servers will pour your sauce.
Shield yourself with a napkin to avoid getting oil vapour all over you.


This is a "mixed grill". It's overflowing with all kinds of meat in there.
Beef, pork, chicken, ham (or bacon), chicken sausage, mixed veggies and fries.


The double beef. Marinated, corn starched, tenderized.
Ironically, not my favorite thing to order from Hong Kong style steak houses.


My favorite from Salami is...these two huge pieces of deep fried and breaded chicken "cutlets"!!! Crispy exterior, juicy interior, tasty all the way through! Served with potato "salad" drenched with mayo. I LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Not every Hong Kong steak house serves these chicken cutlets. If they don't have this, my next go-to choice is the "grilled" chicken steak. Always tasty.


Portions are generally gigantic, but we're big eaters.
We finish.


Servers always assume that the boy ordered the creamy drink and the girl ordered the lemony drink.
In our case, they're always wrong.


The giant meal ends with a small serving of frozen solid ice cream.
Sweet!

Salami Restaurant
G/F, 294 Sha Tsui Rd
Tsuen Wan
Tel: +852 2492 5021
Hong Kong
荃灣沙咀道294號地下

Steamed Fish with Fremented Black Beans, Garlic, and Chilli Recipe

A classic Chinese dish. Very easy to prepare and super tasty!

I used to hate steamed fish (don't we all?). Ugh. It's not something that I normally had when I was still in Indonesia (back then, we preferred deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce heheheh). I was just not used to eating fish skin being silky smooth (I would think that silky smooth = slimy), and I felt that the steamed fish with ginger and scallion served with soy sauce is just too...subtle for my taste. I want explosions. Subtle isn't my thang.

After a few years in Hong Kong, I learnt to appreciate and enjoy steamed fish. Yes, even the subtle kind...but this explosive one is one of my favorites. Never gets bored of this flavor combo!

Recipe
- 1 fish (choose your favorite. I love pomfret/grass carp/hung yao. You can  use fillet too), cleaned well
- 1 cm ginger, julienned
- 2 chilli, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp fermented black beans
Place fish on a plate. Scatter some of the minced stuff on top of the fish and in the cavity of the fish, steam until the fish is just done. The above fish takes about 8-10 minutes to steam. You can use a steamer or a wok. Fill wok with hot water, about 1.5cm deep, place a shallow bowl or plate upside down, place the plate with the fish on top of that bowl, cover wok and steam.

If you want a short cut (I always do), you can opt to not use ginger and chilli, simply buy Lee Kum Kee's black bean and garlic sauce and 1-2 tsp all over your fish before steaming.

Perfect with (lots of) rice.

Just A Simple, Healthy, Thrifty and Tasty Menu

I love one pot/one dish meals (I am lazy like that), and I have to learn from SC's mom to make the most out of a minimum budget. She whips up multiple dishes menu daily, three meals a day minimum!
This is an example of a her simple lunch menu.
Meat, fish, vegetable, rice.
Very well balanced, easy to make, and inexpensive.
She is my guru!

Stir fried chicken with ginger, garlic and scallion.


Pan fried grass carp, simply seasoned with salt and pepper. You can also steam this if you don't want your flat to be perfumed by fish oil :D


And choy sum stir fried with garlic and chinese wine.
Served with fluffy jasmine rice.
I have a longgg way to learn to be able to create thrifty, healthy and tasty meals like her.
Give me a shout if you need any of the recipe.

Hope your Monday's yummy.
Mine gives me headaches T_T

One of My Favorite Breakfasts - Sausage Donut, Yamazaki Bakery, Hong Kong

Let me state the obvious here.
I haven't been blogging much. Hmmm, correction. I haven't been blogging at all!
I am sure you don't want to read my 74983275984 lame excuses (work, life, stress, baby, relationships, home, mortgage, renovation, health, insurance, never cooking, blablabla etc etc etc) , and NO, I am NOT having another bun in the oven :D

One of the less-cliched reason that I haven't been blogging is...(it's pretty lame)...that I am addicted to instagram!!! Crazy huh? I have a collection of god-knows-how-much photography gear, and now I am addicted to taking pictures with my phone and editing them with free apps. And it's not as if I had lots of followers or likers or my photos are exceptionally fantastic. But I can't help it. I'm gonna need an instagram rehab soon. Just in case you want to see what my addiction is like, I'm @mochachocolatarita on instagram.

I don't know why the content of this post is not related to the post title at all...I guess I have a tendency to ramble.

Now, since I haven't been cooking much, I'd like to share one of my favorite breakfasts with you. I am sharing this one simply because when I tweeted "sausage donut" one morning. Someone asked me "Sausage donut???? What's that???!!! Is there such a thing?"

Yes there is, it's from Yamazaki bakery and it is fan-freaking-tastic! Imagine stretchy chewy and very slightly sweet donut dough, with a tasty frank in it, deep fried to a glorious golden brown until the exterior is sufficiently crispy and the interior is fluffy. That and a cup of coffee.

What a heavenly morning!

It's been a while since I had this breakfast. I am so gonna buy it tomorrow.
Now, excuse me while I instagram the heck outta my life.
You should too.
See you there!