Blog Post #057: Panda Express and Wanchai Ferry

Dear Beloved People (whom I love),

Good Morning and Alo-HA! I just got done talking to most of my family on the phone for my Mother's Day call; and from all the questions I got, I'm going to guess I haven't talked enough about what I eat here in the Fragrant Harbor. So, let me illuminate the subject for the next few paragraphs.

Chinese Breakfast

I am not sure what exactly constitutes a "Traditional" Chinese breakfast. I know that it is acceptable to eat noodles or rice at all three meals, but I'm not sure beyond that. I have seen my companion, Elder Chan, eat cereal most mornings, and all out skipped the "Most Important Meal" the rest. On Preparation Days we like to go to McDonald's, which is a complete zoo. School kids, old fogies, business men, hobos, and expatriates all line up to order their delicious tray or bag of hot and greasy "M-Gei".

They've got the American classics; eggs with sausage and a muffin, pancakes with sausage and a hashbrown, the Sausage Egg McMuffin with cheese, the Cheese and Ham sandwich, and even the Filet-o-Fish served with Coffee and a hashbrown. Is that last one normal?

Then there's the more Chinese stuff; the noodle bowls. You can get a big bowl of macaroni soup with a fried egg, chopped pork or chicken, (or a hotdog for another dollar), and a slice of cheese. You may have that in the US, but it just seems super Chinese to me. 

Chinese LunchEveryone here has the option of going to lunch at M-Gei, but there are a number of smaller places that advertise deals that are a little bit too good to pass up.

There is the classic "Fried Food Stand", where you can get three pieces of pretty much anything lightly battered and fried for $5. My favorites are eggplant, fishpaste, and tofu. You can also get a handful of noodles boiled up right there for you, thrown on a waxpaper square, and then drowned in sesame oil, soysauce, and chili oil.

The other option is to catch High Tea (9-11, but served all day for Public Holidays), which is another great and beautiful thing for the early-lunch-eaters. The Shanghai Noodle place here in Tai Po has 4 wantons and a glass of hot or cold soymilk for $12, which is awesome. I like to get 2 wantons, a bowl of sour soup or 1000-year-old egg congee for $14, which is also a pretty good deal. I usually stick to water because lunch time here is usually about 90 degrees with 90% humidity, so I've lost almost all of my internal water supply by that point.

Chinese Dinner

Dinner is usually a larger meal shared with your family. The first time I saw it I was thrown off because, after a bowl of "Mystery Ingredient Soup" (which turned out to be Sharkfin) they put 3 plates of what I thought was one person's serving on the table, then handed me a bowl of rice with a pair of chopsticks. The thing to do is throw a couple pieces of one of the 3-5 "entrées" on top of the rice, and then eat it with the rice, thus filling you up and eventually leaving half a bowl of flavoured rice to be eaten while you talk. I usually do 3 bowls of rice, while most locals do 2.

The other option is going to "Yum Chaa", like a buffet where you sit and order little baskets of expensive and delicious bite-size things. Also called "Dim Sum", I'm a huge fan of this kind of thing, but it's so expensive that once every other month is about all I can afford.

Chinese Dessert

The Chinese don't like sweet stuff, so their desserts are a bit different. The favorite is "Dau Fu Faa", hot tofu with red sugar, ginger juice, red beans, grean beans, or black sesame pudding on top. Tai Po just happens to be the home of the best dau fu faa in Hong Kong, where you can get any flavor of the above for $9, or just sugar for $7.

There are a few places that serve "tong seui" (literally sugar water), that has bits of chopped sweet potato, occasionally corn kernels, usually a bundle of watercress, and a lot of honey in a big steaming pot. Tong seui actually grows on you; it's good stuff.

To be fair, there are the occasional and expensive dessert shops that will sell thin pudding to you for outlandish prices, but it's good and it's worth it. The best is mango pudding with tapioca pearls (think frog eyes), but most of that kind of stuff is a little bit outside a Missionary's price range (unless you just give up dinner for the night).

So yeah, I like Chinese food! Panda Express got the Sweet and Sour Whatever with Bell Peppers and Onion exactly right, and Wanchai Ferry is sold here in the nicer supermarkets. Any good grocery store in a highly Asian influenced area will carry the Amoy and Lee Kum Kee brands, both of which are made at factories here in the Tai Po Industrial Estate. Go out and be adventerous! Try a new recipe, or at least go to a "Chinese" buffet!

I love you all, the work is going great, and I am having an awesome time. I love what I'm doing out here, I love the people I'm serving, and I love the people I'm working with! Beyond a doubt, this is the best place for me, and I intend to make the most of it. I am so glad I was called to be hot and sticky in this air-polluted city for two years, because there is no where else in the world that has as many people who I can help. Everyone here is waiting for the Gospel of Jesus, they just don't know it yet. I love Hong Kong!

Love,

Elder O'Gara