Super Easy Mini French Toasts

The first French Toasts I tried was the Hong Kong style golden brown deep fried one. I do love it, but I didn't realize that I'd love these non-deep-fried ones, and they are so simple to make too!

Recipe
(yields 6 mini french toasts. they are very rich and filling tho)
- 1 egg, beaten
- half cup of milk
- 1cm thick slice of butter, cut from 1 stick - melted, and 1 tsp for frying (mixed with cooking oil)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 small mixed grain bun, cut into 1 cm thick pieces

Mix beaten egg, milk, melted butter and sugar, add slices of bread, make sure the bread pieces are fully soaked in the mixture, let them "marinate" for at least 15 minutes. Heat up frying pan with cooking oil and butter, pan fry pieces of bread until golden brown.

You should get very fluffy, creamy, eggy inner part and crispy outer part. Very yum! And as if these aren't sinful enough...I ate mine with peanut butter, cream cheese, and Nutella. Perfect for breakfast or tea time.

Super Easy Choy Sum Shrimp Stir Fry

Another dish my MIL always makes, super sweet veggie, fresh shrimps. Beautiful. Finally I saw her making it recently. It's amazing how she can make the dish taste so good without even using aromatics like ginger or garlic. Very minimal, and the ingredients shine through.

Recipe
- 1 cup shrimps, deshelled, deveined, butterflied
- a pack of choy sum
- vegetable oil, salt, and pepper

Season shrimps with salt and pepper. Heat up frying pan with some vegetable oil, stir fry shrimps until half done and set aside. Stir fry choy sum until they reach the level of tenderness that you like (don't let them turn yellow), season with a bit of salt, add shrimps, stir fry until shrimps are just cooked, and serve.

Perfect for a light meal!

Crabtastic Dinner at Man Wah, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

Hello, yummy crab roe, come to mama!
Hairy crab season is here, and this is a preview to Mandarin Oriental's Man Wah hairy crab menu.

Ohhh... where do we start?

Smoked black cod. Tasty and succulent. I like.


Crispy "eel" - actually they are mushrooms. I always love anything crispy.


Drunken crab. Actually, it's more like drunken me. My face was red, I turned giggly and loudly obnoxious after eating this. Yep, it is that easy to get me drunk. Oppps.

The star of the show.

"Dismantling" a hairy crab beautifully in less than 3 minutes. Oh man, may I take her home?


YEAH BABY! Check out the crab roe. Slurpppp. I had to remind myself that I was not alone and... must... not... grab... all... the... roeeee. Argh!

Now, my top favorite dish of the night.

Crab tart. Oh my! I loveeeeeeeeeeeee!


Crab meat and crab roe in crispy shell, served piping hot. Abso-bloody-lutely delicious! I almost wanted to steal my neighbor's when he stepped outside. Too bad he came back too quickly.


Braised Shanghaiese cabbage with crab meat. Seriously scrumptious! Love love love it!


Stir fried hairy crabs with rice cake & salted fish.
Normally, I am not a big fan of sticky rice cakes.... and would avoid it, except for this one! They are wonderfully chewy and the super tasty sauce clings to them. So yummy, I even had seconds!


Crab broth with tomatoes, wood fungus and baby greens. Adore the broth, and was also in love with the fish tofu cake.


Premier crab roe with steamed rice. Rich roe and fragrant rice. Love it!

Pleasantly full, now it's time for something sweet!
And breakfast was served.

Huh? Oh yes, this dessert's inspired by Shanghaiese breakfast. How adorable!
Soy milk ice cream with crispy Chinese fritter and fried sticky rice cake. I always love a combination of sweet and savory. So, this is perfect! Satiny smooth and light soy milk ice cream with crispy savory fritters. Amazing!

Thank you so much for the invitation, Man Wah!

Wanna try?
Call Man Wah.
Hairy crab menu starting from HK$558/person for lunch, or HK$988/person for dinner +10%

Wanna read what other bloggers think of the dinner?
Hong Kong Fashion Geek
joie de vivre

Sweet Corn Crumble - My Island East Markets Loot

I heard a lottt about the super sweet corn from Island East Markets, and finally, this week I got my chance to buy some!

Look at these beautiful corn kernels. Super sweet, good enough to eat raw!


Yes baby, come to mama!


I decided to make them into a crumble.

Have you ever smelt the aroma of corn and butter in an oven?

OMG. Heaven!

Recipe
(yields 2 ramekins)
- Corn kernels from 1 corn
- 2 heaping tbsp plain flour
- 2 heaping tbsp sugar
- 2 heaping tbsp salted butter (divided)
- 2 pinches of salt
Preheat oven to 180C, divide corn kernels to two ramekins, add half of the butter into both ramekin. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt and the remaining of butter, mix with your hand. Add crumble mixture onto corn, bake until golden brown.

OMG.

Yes.

Now, about Island East Markets. It is definitely something to look forward to every Sunday. Awesome fresh local produce, cute handmade/vintage stuff, fun for kids, delicious food, great crowd, and very close to Quarry Bay MTR Station! If you're in town, it is a MUST VISIT!


Click here to see more pictures from my visit.

Marcus wouldn't let papa's apple juleb go...

The first week of Island East Markets, I didn't get to shop properly because, my friends and I opened a stall sharing our love for vintage clothing! Click here to see more pictures.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to book another stall to spread more vintage love!
See you at Island East Markets, everybody!

Steamed Pork with Black Beans and Garlic - Hong Kong Style, My Mom in Law's Recipe

I am so blessed with a MIL whose cooking I absolutely ADORE! She makes dishes that are tastier than those from the restaurants! Last weekend, she made us this absolutely delicious steamed pork dish and I was right by her side taking notes.

What's so special about the dish? She doesn't use pork ribs, because she raised 3 naughty boys who wouldn't eat anything with bone in them. She used "mui tao sao yuk" part, and we get juicy tender bits (daam daam yuk) with tasty sauce that could make us eat 10 bowls of rice.

Here's her recipe:
- Pork meat (about HK$15 worth from Park & Shop - sadly, sometimes cheaper than local wet markets). You can replace the pork with chicken, or tofu puffs as vegetarian option
- a handful of Chinese fermented black beans, rinsed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- a dash of oil
- 2 tsp corn starch
- a dash of light soy sauce
- chopped fresh chillies and spring onion

Throw everything into a plate like this:


Mix well.


Add chopped chillies. She added on just half of the dish, to accommodate those who can't eat hot stuff.


Steam for 15 minutes.


Garnish with spring onion.

Serve with lotsssssssssssssssssssssssssssss of rice.

Hong Kong classic flavors at its best.