Twilight, Travel, and Treats

Family

Baby G is ready for a sunny day of shopping wearing Mommy's shades

So far we've been here for a few days and I already feel like it's been a good satisfying trip. I achieved the real goal of coming to Hong Kong and that is to visit my maternal grandmother who is in her mid-90s. My 4 year old has spent some time with her and hopefully he'll remember this trip even without the photos. Writing this post actually makes me tear up a little bit. I have not spent enough time with her in recent years and all of my cousins and I have realized that there is likely little time left to enjoy her company.

I've always loved looking at her hands and I couldn't resist taking a photo.

After taking my grandmother out for lunch we went back to her room at my aunts house. My grandmother took out a digital voice recorder, turned it on, and just left it running for our whole visit. We just sat around and watched TV while my son played his Nintendo DS. We chatted about random stuff, had snacks and tea, and then we left. I asked my mother later about the recorders and apparently granny has been doing this for years. She'll recite literature or poetry for hours and then listen to it again some time later. Her eyesight has deteriorated so much in recent years I understand her motivation.

I am in awe that she does this. Listening to my own voice even on my voicemail causes me great distress. Despite the fact that I have sang in front of audiences and performed off/on for different functions over the years I cannot stand to hear myself sing. I must leave a room if people are watching a tape of my performance. This reminds me of when Rob Pattinson couldn't watch the Twilight premiere and had to leave the theatre to go throw up. Just too embarrassed I guess.

That my grandmother can recite poetry or literature for hours really should come as no surprise to me. My great grandfather started one of the only school for girls in Hong Kong and he insisted that women should have a solid education. This is back in the early 1900's when women were expected to shut up and have babies. I don't know where those genes got lost but I suspect my fathers scientific engineering side won out. Hence I am in medicine and my sister is a programmer; neither of us enjoyed English lit one bit.

My grandmother's favourite chocolate

Another thing that struck me as funny was my grandmothers statement "have some chocolate, it helps keep you full." My son had eaten very little for lunch because he is a picky eater and was jet-lagged. She spent the whole visit back at her place plying him with cookies and sweets. Her statement about how chocolate keeps you full totally hit home.

Our family idea of what a complete meal should be

My grandmother had 5 daughters and a son. My mother and her sisters are not good at cooking everyday food. In fact, none of my cousins are either (except the boys who seem to cook much better than the girls). However, many of us are good at making dessert. I have only seen my grandmother cook rice twice in my whole life and my mother cook dinner less than twenty times ever. But my grandmother will spend painstaking hours to make awesome Chinese desserts. Sound familiar? It's a good thing that all the women in my family have managed to find men who cook well - I think this is actually one of our minimal criteria for marriage.

Seems like a dangerous way to cook

Eating

One of the hardest things to make in Chinese cuisine are these Shanghai-ese steamed buns.


Each of these buns is actually a mini pouch of soup so that when you bite into them the soup explodes into your mouth. They are a specialty of the Nanxiang Steamed Bun people who have a location in Hong Kong. It was a perfect place to catch lunch at 12 noon before the 1pm office lunch crowd hit. It was also great because we happened to get a table by the window so baby G could look at the trams and double decker buses going by.



We ended up having a snack at McDonald's too. Some differences in the menu include the Happy Meal being served with an option for corn instead of fries.

Happy Meals come with corn instead of fries if you want

They offer taro pie in addition to apple. It doesn't taste like Hawaiian Poi and was very good although I'm biased because I like taro and purple food can't be bad right?



Shopping

Causeway Bay, my favourite department store Sogo

The yummiest iphone case ever! It even smells like chocolate

Pretty soft case costing $16 Cdn each