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How Things are In Hong Kong Right Now (p.s. Very Good Taste’s Omnivorous 100)

Hiiiiii~~~~!

How have you been?  I’ve sorta dropped off the face of blogworld and been a blog-stranger lately.  I tried to at least update my blog once every couple weeks because so much is happening, and I haven’t had the energy to get into blogging.  It really is a feat to be able to blog every day and have something to write every day.  Everytime I tried, I:

1.  Got too distracted with too much going on;

2.  Got nothing but pure GOSSIP (wait till I tell you about Player crashing my birthday party last week… oh oh and news from American Boy), but the mere thought of writing it aaaallll out exhausts me;

3 . Couldn’t get into writing it because it required way too many details, and don’t really know if outsiders are interested in all that crap (a.k.a. GOSSIP):

4.  Like many pieces of my writing, lost track and couldn’t seem to pinpoint the conclusion of my story;

5.  Simply hadn’t had the time to finish the post, such as my list of 100 Things I must Do #60 to 41.  So I drop it for now, but not forgotten. (I should put “Must finish 100-Things-Must-Do list” onto my 100 Things Must Do List).

Thought I’ll start fresh and check in with you.  How have you been?  Have you been sick lately?  What about your family and friends?

It’s flu season over here, and I’ve been sick practically every other week — first got over the flu which lasted for 4 weeks, then allergy, then cold, then allergy again.  My mom was sniffling couple of times, but nothing too terrible, thank goodness.  Four of my friends were sick.  Three of my students were sick last week.  My middle ear is almost always clocked up since February…  This is nuts!  I don’t sing because my voice is booming inside my head stressing on my sinuses.  Ugh.

Is it just me, or are we getting sick more often in this generation than the last?  Or maybe my immune system is just plain shot from all that crazy partying. Or maybe there are more medical facilities available now then before?  Or it’s easier now to go to a doctor or a pharmacist and tell them your symptoms and get a pill and be done with it?

Again, maybe it’s my partying.

1. Came back from a beach party last weekend - the weather was about 20c, not warm enough to jump in the water and splash around… but enough to wear a bikini with flowers in my hair and dance in the sand to old college dance tunes and play with glow sticks.  (Did absinthe for the 3rd time in my life, with the sugar cube and lit on fire and everything. GAG~! EW.  GROSS.)
2. Sunday, went to an electronic music show where they had a champagne buffet and served gourmet burgers, roasted turkey, roast beef, etc. etc., plus cakes, pastries, and fresh butterfingers. (Ohyyyeah)

Besides, the weather in Hong Kong has been crap - two week ago was 14c, a week ago it was 28c, and now suddenly dropped back to 20c, with humidity between 50% to 70% the entire time.

This extreme temperature change didn’t just affect the bacterias.  It also affected the traffic.  The temperature drop induced a thick blanket of fog enveloped Hong Kong and it’s still clinging on even as I type.  Last Saturday, the poor visibility of less than 350 metres caused two collisions from CotaiGold CotaiJet vessels in the Adamasta Channel.

According to SCMP - The first jet crashed into a small boat, cutting it into two (and didn’t stop!!)  It occured at 4a.m., and threw an elderly couple into the water.  The husband Mr. Leung, 62, clung onto wreckage while searching for his critically hurt wife, 60, for over 10 minutes. After he located her, with his unconscious wife in one arm and the other held onto the dismantled sampan to stay afloat in water, Mr. Leung shouted for help until marine police launches arrived.  The wife was in critical condition for 24 hours and now stabilized.

Then 90 minutes later — around 5:30am, the second accident occurred when the New World First Ferry catamaran First Ferry XI, carrying 130 passengers and four crew, collided with a cargo vessel, 43-metre long Xin Hui Ji 9, at south of Kau Yi Chau., injuring 13 people, none seriously.  Twelve passengers and one crew member - eight men and three women - were taken to Ruttonjee and Queen Mary hospitals, where they were treated and discharged.

That’s two accidents in a span of an hour and half.  Why couldn’t they just stop running the ferries when they can see the fog thick as a wall?  These jets go 42 knots (that’s 21.6 meters per second)!!!  SERIOUSLY WTF!!

Sigh…

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It’s raining and lightning outside my window.  Heading to bed now.  I’m getting ready for:

1.  Coldplay concert tonight

2.  Meet up a girlfriend and borrow her “He’s Just Not That Into You” and read it over this weekend.  Heard the movie isn’t that good, so maybe I’ll catch it next cheap tuesday.
3.  Do my scuba diving theory exam on sunday morning - it’s like a driver’s license, you have to get your written exam done first, then scuba dive on sunday afternoon if my health allows. (In my opinion, it is inhumane to make anyone participate in written exams at 9am on a sunday morning… but whatever).

All-stuffed-up-and-a-million-things-to-do-quick-bearhugs,
CK

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What’s Your Omnivore Score?  I just discovered this from food vagabond - there’s been a really cool food meme floating around since last summer from Very Good Taste. And it looks like I’m pretty committed to killing animals for the sake of my tastebuds.

See if you are an omnivore. The rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at Very Good Taste (the initiator) linking to your results.

CK’s SCORE ON OMNIVORE’S ONE HUNDRED: 86/100

1. Venison (I don’t mind game meat once in a while)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (had the original with potatos, and another with bacon sauce and toast)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (had popcorn crocodile similar to the style of popcorn chicken, wasn’t that great)
6. Black pudding (I’ll eat it again, but not a big fan)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (comfort food)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (comfort food)
13. PB&J sandwich (hellooo~ who hasn’t?)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (a.k.a. street meat)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (apple-wine, strawberry-wine, peach-wine, pear-wine)
19. Steamed pork buns (steamed, pastry, fried, rice-pastry rolled, etc.)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (fresh on its own, with lots of pepper)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (a fan since I was 9, introduced to quite a few friends too, LOVE them)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (but it sounds yummy)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (Go Canada!!)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (mm.. mmm… mmmm)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (MM… MMM… MMMM… sooo good!!  But talk about dry mouth the next day…)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Yeah, I don’t think so)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (but I will as long as they prepare it right!!)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin (my favorite thing on a sashimi menu!!)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (I once knew a girl whose father specialized in selling abalones in asia)
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (how many?)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (Go Canada!)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - I’ve drank this disgusting form of liquid NUMEROUS times (note “Beach Party” above), and still have not drank it the original method.  DANG IT!!
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (I don’t know if I ever would be that hungry - I’ll probably be a herbivore for quite sometime before I would agree to eating roadkill)
76. Baijiu (my grandma’s chinese so it’s a regular in her house - we also call them rice wine)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (this dish is sooooooooooo good, hard to come by)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (just around the corner where I live, there’s this restaurant famous for snake dishes…)

I would add some more items like:  tripe, chicken’s feet, shrimp chips, grilled cheese sandwich, spotted dick, egg tarts, almond croissant, and fresh lai chi.  But I guess that wouldn’t make it 100 then, would it?

What is your Omnivore score?