Worst storm heading to Hong Kong – Super Typhoon Usagi

Another one of those Ts coming to Hong Kong on a Sunday. Just a reminder of our experienced T10 Typhoon Vicente last July. Hong Kong will have to embrace this storm and hope that damage is not great and no life loss.

T1 and T3 has been hoisted since yesterday and the weather warning was hot. 40 degrees C at one point or the next. We had some showers and the air is hot with some gust.

T8 hoisted and raining non stop.

Growing Roots: children’s learning centre

I have been working hard to get this space open for all the parents and children who we can serve with heart and love.

It is truly a blessing.

Facebook link to Growing Roots awhile we work diligently to get our website up.

https://www.facebook.com/GrowingRootsHK

Grand Opening 13 April 2013!

Ode To My Family

by The Cranberries … I really love this song

Understand the things I say, don’t turn away from me,

‘Cause I’ve spent half my life out there, you wouldn’t disagree.
Do you see me? Do you see? Do you like me?
Do you like me standing there? Do you notice?
Do you know? Do you see me? Do you see me?
Does anyone care?

Unhappiness where’s when I was young,
And we didn’t give a damn,
‘Cause we were raised,
To see life as fun and take it if we can.
My mother, my mother,
She hold me, she hold me, when I was out there.
My father, my father,
He liked me, oh, he liked me. Does anyone care?

Understand what I’ve become, it wasn’t my design.
And people ev’rywhere think, something better than I am.
But I miss you, I miss, ’cause I liked it,
‘Cause I liked it, when I was out there. Do you know this?
Do you know you did not find me. You did not find.
Does anyone care?

Unhappiness where’s when I was young,
And we didn’t give a damn,
‘Cause we were raised,
To see life as fun and take it if we can.
My mother, my mother,
She hold me, she hold me, when I was out there.
My father, my father,
He liked me, oh, he liked me.

Does anyone care?

Dyverse.org

I have been working on Dyverse.org since July.

hongkong.dyverse.org

It is coming together and need some beta tester to get it going. It is not open for registration just yet because a lot of spams were coming in when the registering page was open.

The facebook page is up at facebook.com/dyverse.org

T10 in Hong Kong – Severe Typhoon Vicente

Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal(s)

	Warnings and Signals	Issue Time		Cancel Time
		hh : mm	dd / mon / yyyy	hh:mm	dd / mon / yyyy
	Hurricane Signal, No. 10	00:45	24/Jul/2012	Now in force
	Increasing Gale or Storm Signal, No. 9	23:20	23/Jul/2012	00:45	24/Jul/2012

Thunderstorm Warning

	Warnings and Signals	Issue Time		Cancel Time
		hh : mm	dd / mon / yyyy	hh:mm	dd / mon / yyyy
	Thunderstorm Warning	00:15	24/Jul/2012	Now in force

Landslip Warning

	Warnings and Signals	Issue Time		Cancel Time
		hh : mm	dd / mon / yyyy	hh:mm	dd / mon / yyyy
	Landslip Warning	01:10	24/Jul/2012	Now in force

T9 in Hong Kong – Severe Typhoon Vicente

Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal(s)

	Warnings and Signals	Issue Time		Cancel Tim
		hh : mm	dd / mon / yyyy	hh:mm	dd / mon / yyyy
	Increasing Gale or Storm Signal, No. 9	23:20	23/Jul/2012	Now in force

Thunderstorm Warning

	Warnings and Signals	Issue Time		Cancel Time
		hh : mm	dd / mon / yyyy	hh:mm	dd / mon / yyyy
	Thunderstorm Warning	00:15	24/Jul/2012	Now in force

The Body Song

I really love this song that Clem’s class was singing for their K2 graduation.

I have got fingers on my hands, I have got toes on my feet.
I have got skin on my bones and it keeps me neat.
I have got hair on my head and a bottom for a seat,
you will never find anyone who’s just like me!

I have got freckles on my face, I have got color in my cheeks,
I have got ears to listen and a mouth to speak.
I have got eyes in my head and a smiling set of teeth,
you will never find another one who’s just like me!

I have got muscles in my arms, I have got bumps on my knees,
I have got blood in my body and my lungs to breathe.
I have a brain in my head, and I am totally unique,
you will never find another one who’s just like me!
You will never find another one who’s just like me!

Charity movie : Late Autumn

I was invited to a charity movie viewing benefiting an organization called Zigen (translated to nourish root) for their “water-related” project in Shanxi. The money raised will go to the improvement of infrastructure of water shortage problems in two villages in Shanxi.

 

Some spoilers:

I have no preconceived idea of the movie and I watched it with an open arm. I loved the movie. It has a quirky character dynamic. Tang Wei played a love loss woman with an abusive husband and Hyun Bin portrayed a gigolo on the run from a client’s husband. The movie is trilingual in English, Korean and Chinese. The one scene I really loved in the movie was in the setting of a Chinese restaurant after Anna’s (Tang Wei) mother's funeral where everyone gathered for lunch. Hoon (Hyun Bin), Anna, were joined by Wang Jing (Jun-Seong Kim) and Wang Jing’s wife (Danni Lang) at the table. Wang Jing’s wife was asking Anna how China was (not knowing that Anna came out on bail from prison from killing her late abusive husband in self defense). Anna was about to respond, but was interrupted by Wang Jing (knowing what happened because he was the ex lover of Anna who had basically caused the whole situation to go out of control in their relationship) with stories about how everyone likes Anna or ask for Anna when she was working at this restaurant. Hoon then goes on with the story of how Anna and he met. Wang Jing’s wife was called away by the cry of her baby and Anna by her siblings leaving Hoon and Wang Jing at the table. Wang Jing asked Hoon how he met Anna and Hoon continued on with the fantasy story that was not good enough for Wang Jing to handle and a fight was stirred up. And Wang Jing tells Hoon to leave Anna alone cause she has gone through a tough time as it is. The fight escalated to punches and soon broken up by one of Anna siblings. Anna asked Hoon why they were fighting. And Hoon replied that Wang Jing took his fork without asking and used it. It was a very awkward moment, but yet humorous as Hoon delivers his line. There was a pause of silence and Anna then asked Wang Jing in a very serious manner why he had taken Hoon’s fork? And she fell down on the ground crying hysterically as Wang Jing apologized. Some people would say the chemistry of the main characters were off, but I say it suits the storyline. They are people who are lost in the world of wanting to be loved.

My first concert at the AsiaWorld-Arena

Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour - Hong Kong

張學友1/2世紀演唱會最終站 - 香港 

May 22, 2012

First off, Jacky Cheung is my favorite out of all the Hong Kong pop singers. And he is an oldies. Most of the audience were in their mid 20s to 60s. You gotta live the 80s and still be his fan. 

The Arena is really huge, but I have to say the seating at HKD 600 a pop were not that great. I would rather go to the Hung Hom Coliseum. The stage was placed on the left and I was sitting facing the audience on the other side of the Arena and I basically had to turn my head to the left to watch the whole performance. 

When the shows starts at 8:15PM it literally starts right on the dot. I didn't stay till the end cause after 2 hours my neck called it quit. But Jacky kept on singing till midnight. He really never stops singing not even an intermission break in between. It was just awesome even at the 149th concert tour. His last day will be May 30th, 2012. 

Food deliveries in Hong Kong

So far I am liking South Stream Seafoods.
They have fresh veggies and fresh meats, some organics and some gluten free products which I love. The online stores opens up for ordering every Saturday noon til 11am Monday and they deliver right to your door. You pay by check, cash or paypal. Order up to HKD500 for free delivery.

Next Taste is pretty good at their delivery services. And I actually learned that they outsource to local delivery service and I actually know my delivery guy. He is pretty cool. The delivery guy only get HKD 25.00 per delivery paid by Taste ... Taste is cheap ass. Again order up to HKD 500 for free delivery, but seriously I rather pay the delivery guy some fair wages. I tip him every time he comes by.

Little Giant is also great. Since they are remodeling they lowered their delivery fee. So now they are also at HKD 500 for free delivery. They have a great product selection for anyone with certain type of allergies or food intolerance. Payments are made via paypal.

Shopping at H&M and UNIQLO

I never been to H&M when it opened up in the States, lo and behold, I went to the one at Festival Walk to shop for children clothes. I was looking for price of Old Navy with some cuteness and sass. They have tees for HKD 49 to 79 which ain't bad.

I never go scouting for clothes usually just for food so this is like my great find LOL.

Cute smurf tee for my son at HKD 99.

Then comes UNIQLO which I absolutely love. It is a Japanese company and they do have some flag stores in Manhattan, but of course I never knew until I came to Hong Kong. Currently they have Andy Warhol licensed tees. They are fabulous. And I think it truly fits into the spirit of Andy Warhol.
Each tees are HKD 129 with a slash price of HKD 99. I purchased a campbell soup and a brillo.

They also have some MoMa message tees. 

Two great finds I never knew ... I feel like a country girl feeling giddy.

Thai food

We went on an adventure today to a street full of Thai restaurants and we stopped by Wong Chun Chun Thai Restaurant. Not the worst and not the best. We ordered mostly veggie dishes. And of course the waitress stressed on the fact that the meaty ones were more savory. But we gave the veggie curry a try. The taste of the curry was not too bad but the way it was made, I think they just tossed the boiled carrot, potato, taro etc in to the curry sauce that was it. The poor roots were bland and sad.

The fish cakes were okay, but inconsistency with taste, some were really spicy and some were not. And somehow I had all the spicy picked. We also had green papaya salad. It was not bad. That would be the only thing I go for if I do come back again to try their meaty dishes.

Craft scene : Megun Wong needle felting class

I got a group coupon from beecrazy. It is my first time doing felting and it is actually very time consuming considering what you have to do. Megun Wong is our instructor. She speaks really fast in Cantonese. I feel that as an instructor you really have to slow down to have the students absorb. I didn't find her informative at all which means I have seen better youtube video that provides better instructions with an enthusiastic teacher.

My cousin and I made Russian felt dolls. It was very deceiving because the dolls that Megun had on display were made with a finer Japanese wool and with a wool core. I understand that she is probably loosing money with those group coupon advertising to propel her business, but because she lacks the care with us the "group coupon students" vs the "full paying students" which makes me not want to go back to pay full price for the way she teaches. So that is just bad for business either way.

She was basically talking on the phone with her friend about what Chanel purse or bag she wants to buy and we couldn't even ask her for a better instruction. And leaving us stranded to figure out for ourselves how to stab the felting needles into styrofoam core with a rougher Chinese wool samples. And obviously we felt that we were incompetent overall first due to poor instructions and second due to poor materials.

Kids Fest Hong Kong 2012

Kids Fest Hong Kong started with a bang for the new year at the Drama Theater, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. From 10th Jan to 29th Jan. It is my first time attending all the Kids Fest stage plays for kids. We booked with ESF Wu Kai Sha last year for 16th of Jan to see We're going on a Bear Hunt. Can you imagine a bunch of 3 to 5 years old with parents in a theater? It was so much fun.

I took my kiddies to see all three shows during the Chinese New Year break.

We're going on a Bear Hunt was a hit for both my kiddies. With story, song and dance and audience participation.

My son loved The Tiger Who Came to Tea. I really love the magical touch of food disappearing off plates, cups and jugs when the Tiger ate and drank all the food and drink in Sophie's kitchen.

Stick Man was adorable with the stick family and their family tree and you follow the adventure of Stick Man with his mishaps and eventually ended in a happy note with Santa Claus taking him back home.

We will definitely look forward to next year Kids Fest.

Craft scene : Petite Abby

I am a crafting class freak. And I am very happy to admit that I am. If you are like me, a crafting freak please check out Petite Abby's craft classes. Her shop is located in TST Solo Building on the 3rd floor. She is a mom who took a dive into her love for craft and opened up a shop to teach other moms and craft lovers crafting. She is an avid crocheter and a sewer.

I am so lucky to have found her via Group Cow one of those group buying website in Hong Kong ... think Groupon ... I think Groupon started all this hoopla. It is so hard to find where the good crafting places are in Hong Kong. They are typically tucked away unless you know what you are looking for around town.

Check her out via Facebook and you will find all her classes listed there.

I have taken two classes with Abby and she is an awesome teacher!

26 November class Abby teaching her class how to crochet.

This is a sample of the crochet basket.

This is my version and it is all wrong cause I added more stitches. But my boy loves it.

These are cute and handy dandy. The cookie is a needle holder.
And the pudding is a pin cushion. The pin cushion took me 3 hours to complete.

Sample of how they should look like from a Japanese craftzine.

18 December class with Petite Abby.

recent arson and freezing temperature

Couple days ago there was a suspected arson in Fa Yuen Street that resulted into 360 Hong Kongnese homeless. And 9 people were killed plus 34 injured. The firefighters took 7 hours to put out the uncontrollable blazing fire. The hawker stalls fire spread to residential buildings.

According to our local driver, he said it is always related to the mafias, but the police will not catch anyone. The stall owners pay out to different mafia gangs "protection" money for each stall space. The Hong Kong government allows hawker stalls, but set some rules to how big each stalls should be etc. It isn't the first time that the hawker stalls in this particular street had endure such tragedy. According to the local news last December similar incident happened where 50 stalls were burnt down.

And it is freezing these last couple of days, Hong Kong in the 50s F ... unheard of at this time of year.

T'ang Court authentic chinese food

I have been to this restaurant twice already. And if you really want some great food with some authenticity of Cantonese food this is the place to go to. It is expensive because the raw materials are expensive. Talk about the best seafood and the best cut of meat even their chicken dish is impeccable. Who knew the Chinese can really cook chicken many different ways vs KFC deep fried or baked. If you go to any Chinese restau you can find at least 5 dishes of chicken that are made differently.

They served the most expensive delicacy of shark fin soup. At HKD 600-700 a bowl you better enjoy it. Shark fin is now banned in Canada. It is even a bigger offense than growing marijuana in your house if caught with having it in your house and eating it. I don't know if it is going to be ban in Hong Kong soon.

Link to the T'ang Court's menu:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://hongkong.langhamhotels.com/images/TangCourt_A_La_Cart_060311_A.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=true&pli=1

Samples of food we had for dinner.

Fresh abalone on bed of jelly fish. This is an appetizer dish served cold and very refreshing.

Piglet knuckles served as an appetizer.

This one is absolutely delish. Smoked duck. Very moist and juicy.

Shark fin soup.

Fresh steamed fish. The fish head is the best part if you know how to eat.

Baked fried rice in crab shell. I love the presentation and the rice is yummy too.

French Bistro!

I love the menu.

Voila! W’s Entrecôte ... my hubby found a lovely French Bistro in Hong Kong ... I think this place is a gem. It is located on the 6th floor of the Express by Holiday Inn in Causeway Bay. Not too far from the Causeway Bay MTR exit A.

Crème de Champignons

Entrecôte (4 oz)

I ordered the ribeye steak ... cooked to perfection the way I like it ... medium rare with bloody juice still in the steak and all you can eat fries ... who can beat that. And they are sweet potato fries ... yummy!

Forêt Noire, Coulis de Cerise

I also had the cream of mushroom soup and it is piping hot so watch your tongue. I had the black forest cake for dessert which isn't as heavy as the usual. It is Hong Kong style fluffy cake. All in all a great meal just for HKD 158.00 + 22.5 for the half price dessert.

The service is excellent.

Will go back in an heart beat.

AWA charity bazaar

I haven't seen that many people at a bazaar before. But this bazaar covers from the 3rd floor to the 5th floor. It is held by American Women's Association of Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Happy Valley Racecourse which is just a 10 minutes walk from Times Square.

I was helping about Watchdog Early Education Center at their booth.

Lovely jewels piece by Monet and also cultured pearls and vintage silver rings.

Wine and Dine Festival 2011

We were told to go to this annual Wine and Dine event because it was really popular in the past.
The festival started at 4PM today open to the public after yesterday invited only gala.
We went passing by all the booths. There are definitely more wine booths than food booths.
What did we eat? And how much?

Here we are at the entrance.

2 fois gras on baguette toast

X HKD 40 each ... 80

2 pork sausages

X HKD 10 each ... 20

This even just started about 3 hours in.

1 bag of chicken pastry

X HKD 20

The French with their cheese.

1 French cheese racelette dish

X HKD 100

Highlight with a salut of Mao.

1 Swiss cheese racelette dish

X HKD 85

2 bags of pistachio nuts
X HKD 50 ... 100

5 mini French pastry
X HKD 20

2 French smoked ham
X HKD 30 each ... 60

And we still ended up at McD for the cheapest meal at HKD 20 each. Which actually filled us up ... Not very healthy ... I know.

Overall I thought this event is overrated, but yet over crowded. When the crowd comes more follows.