On Sunday, Katherine and I set sail (well, if the airplane had sails) for some amber waves of grain - all aboard for the USA, baby! At various points during our 2.5 weeks there, we'll be spending time in...
We get around. ;>
This marks the 99th post of the blog...which means the centennial post will likely happen from the States. Somehow, given that this is a Hong-Kong-focused hang-out, that just doesn't seem right. ;> Still, I never imagined that I'd stick with posting this long, so the 100th post will be quite a milestone. Until then...
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wishing a Happy Birthday to Katherine's Father...
Today is Katherine's father's birthday! To celebrate, we took him (at his request) to a Korean BBQ spot in Causeway Bay's Times Square. Here's the whole crew...
If you've never been to a Korean BBQ place, see if you can find one - it's great fun! All the food is brought to you raw and you grill it yourself (which, depending on your skill, might be a disaster - but it is still fun!).
Afterwards, we went back home and surprised Katherine's father with a Black Forest cake from Maxim's...
Froggy and Alice couldn't join us, but Fui Fui and Bear Bear (Katherine's parents' cat) didn't mind taking their places.
Here's to another year of good times in Hong Kong!
From right to left: Katherine's brother "Froggy", Katherine's father, Katherine's mother, Katherine, Dr Carper, and Alice (Froggy's fiancee, who is making her first blog appearance I believe).
Now for a close-up on the cooking action...
Now for a close-up on the cooking action...
If you've never been to a Korean BBQ place, see if you can find one - it's great fun! All the food is brought to you raw and you grill it yourself (which, depending on your skill, might be a disaster - but it is still fun!).
Afterwards, we went back home and surprised Katherine's father with a Black Forest cake from Maxim's...
Froggy and Alice couldn't join us, but Fui Fui and Bear Bear (Katherine's parents' cat) didn't mind taking their places.
Here's to another year of good times in Hong Kong!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A potato cake recipe from Katherine's mother!
Today I thought I'd let Katherine's mother contribute some of her wonderful cooking to the blog in a way we've not yet tapped: recipes! Taking a cue from my own wonderful mother, one of my plans while here is to create a cookbook comprised entirely of Katherine's family recipes. It will take years, but I'll be storing them all in GMail (and perhaps other locations - like a recipe wiki) until I have amassed enough to publish. Today we took the first step: I quickly wrote down all the steps associated with her fantastic potato cakes as she prepared them. If you would like to experience them yourself, here's what you need to know...
Ingredients:
6 large Russet potatoes
1/2 lb pork, ground (beef is fine too)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 shallot cloves, minced
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
flour or bread crumbs for breading
Preparing the Meat Mixture:
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
6 large Russet potatoes
1/2 lb pork, ground (beef is fine too)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 shallot cloves, minced
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
flour or bread crumbs for breading
Preparing the Meat Mixture:
- Mix together the raw meat, water, 1 tsp of white pepper (the other will be used later), and the soy sauce
- Mix shallots and garlic, sautee in oil until yellow
- Add nutmeg to pan, stir once
- Add meat mixture, stir rapidly until completely cooked
- Remove from heat, make sure the meat is minced (might need to chop it further), and set aside
- Wash and peel potatoes
- Steam for 15 minutes (or until soft)
- Bake for 20 minutes on medium heat (to help dry them out)
- Remove from heat, place in a large pot, and mash until smooth
- Add scallions, salt, the other tsp of white pepper, and the meat mixture; stir until blended
- Form the potato mixture into palm-sized patties
- Dip each patty in the egg white until covered, then dip in the flour / bread crumbs until covered
- Pan fry or bake until golden brown.
Enjoy!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Introducing Dr Carper...
Today Katherine and I received a very kind note, from the Vice President of the University, thanking us for a DVD we recently crafted as part of a larger fund-raising effort. By some twist of fate, though, he simultaneously conferred an honorary PhD upon me. Have a look for yourself...
Dr Carper! Muhaha! From this moment forward, you must all address me as such. No more of this "Gray" nonsense, capisce? In fact, I think I'll begin to refer to myself in the third person as "Dr Carper".
Dr Carper rarely ponders metallurgy. Dr Carper makes pudding sometimes. Dr Carper has not once considered becoming a political activist. Dr Carper has a feeling that this Dr thing won't last long, but Dr Carper will milk it for a few more seconds.
Dr Carper, out.
Dr Carper! Muhaha! From this moment forward, you must all address me as such. No more of this "Gray" nonsense, capisce? In fact, I think I'll begin to refer to myself in the third person as "Dr Carper".
Dr Carper rarely ponders metallurgy. Dr Carper makes pudding sometimes. Dr Carper has not once considered becoming a political activist. Dr Carper has a feeling that this Dr thing won't last long, but Dr Carper will milk it for a few more seconds.
Dr Carper, out.
Friday, July 4, 2008
An unexpected visitor...
This past Tuesday night, Katherine first spotted a new housemate of ours hanging out in the kitchen...
No, it isn't an attacking eagle! That would've been pretty rough. Instead, it's someone hiding behind the eagle-branded box - you can just see his little tail hanging out if you look close enough.
Unfortunately, when we moved the box, he darted up the wall and inside a light switch (through a tiny crack!) much faster than we anticipated.
It wouldn't be until Thursday that he would resurface and, this time, Fui Fui was the first to notice. Fui Fui kept reaching his paws up the wall behind our dining table and meowing as if something were really bothering him. He did this for an hour or so, and we had no idea what he was on about until our new guest suddenly shot out of the air conditioner! It scurried along the ceiling for a moment and then froze in plain sight...
After some corralling (with a sponge mop, of all things), we we able to get him down to the floor where I quickly lowered a piece of disposable tupperware on top of him. After slipping the tupperware's top underneath and sealing it shut, we were finally able to flip it over and take a good look at our new buddy...
I call him Edgar. He's a Bowring's Gecko, one of a few gecko varieties that are very common in Hong Kong. Their tails detach if pulled, they can climb just about anything, and their skin changes color based on temperature and surroundings. Pretty cool.
He was quite cute, but we already have a pretty full family, so we decided to release him back into the wild (on a shrub -covered hillside not far from our residence hall). Fui Fui didn't realize that we had done this, though, and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out where his new playmate had gone (meowing the whole time, as if calling to the gecko ;>).
No, it isn't an attacking eagle! That would've been pretty rough. Instead, it's someone hiding behind the eagle-branded box - you can just see his little tail hanging out if you look close enough.
Unfortunately, when we moved the box, he darted up the wall and inside a light switch (through a tiny crack!) much faster than we anticipated.
It wouldn't be until Thursday that he would resurface and, this time, Fui Fui was the first to notice. Fui Fui kept reaching his paws up the wall behind our dining table and meowing as if something were really bothering him. He did this for an hour or so, and we had no idea what he was on about until our new guest suddenly shot out of the air conditioner! It scurried along the ceiling for a moment and then froze in plain sight...
After some corralling (with a sponge mop, of all things), we we able to get him down to the floor where I quickly lowered a piece of disposable tupperware on top of him. After slipping the tupperware's top underneath and sealing it shut, we were finally able to flip it over and take a good look at our new buddy...
I call him Edgar. He's a Bowring's Gecko, one of a few gecko varieties that are very common in Hong Kong. Their tails detach if pulled, they can climb just about anything, and their skin changes color based on temperature and surroundings. Pretty cool.He was quite cute, but we already have a pretty full family, so we decided to release him back into the wild (on a shrub -covered hillside not far from our residence hall). Fui Fui didn't realize that we had done this, though, and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out where his new playmate had gone (meowing the whole time, as if calling to the gecko ;>).
Happy 4th!
The 4th of July isn't observed in Hong Kong officially, of course, but I'm in the middle of whipping up a batch of Sally Thomason's famous chili and Manu Sporny's outstanding redskin potato salad so that Katherine and I can have a little celebration of our own.
While things simmer, I thought I might show you all a few shots from a recent excursion to SoHo. Now that we're in the thick of summer, with interesting movies popping up everywhere, it has become a near-weekly ritual for Katherine and I to hit a movie in the Palace IFC before trying a new dinner spot in SoHo. This past weekend, the movie was "Wanted" (empowering and visually stunning with a mile-a-second pace, but somehow still a bit hollow - "Iron Man" still remains atop the summer slate in my book) and the restaurant was Olive. Before setting foot outside, however, let's take a peek out our living room window at a typical Hong Kong sunset...
After the movie, we exited the IFC mall and stepped right onto the mid-levels escalator (easily one of my favorite transportation features of Hong Kong)...
The escalator took us all the way up to Elgin Street, where Olive (and one of Hong Kong's eight Krispy Kreme shops!) is located...
Olive sits just a little ways down the street...
It's a very stylish Mediterranean (Lebanese, more specifically) restaurant that had been recommended to us by one of the students in our residence hall. We tried...
It was quite yummy and creative, which means we'll go back to try more of the specialties, but we both felt like we had better food - at a much better price - in Ann Arbor at La Shish (now called "Charlie's Mediterranean Cuisine").
Smells like the chili's ready! Happy 4th, everyone!
While things simmer, I thought I might show you all a few shots from a recent excursion to SoHo. Now that we're in the thick of summer, with interesting movies popping up everywhere, it has become a near-weekly ritual for Katherine and I to hit a movie in the Palace IFC before trying a new dinner spot in SoHo. This past weekend, the movie was "Wanted" (empowering and visually stunning with a mile-a-second pace, but somehow still a bit hollow - "Iron Man" still remains atop the summer slate in my book) and the restaurant was Olive. Before setting foot outside, however, let's take a peek out our living room window at a typical Hong Kong sunset...
After the movie, we exited the IFC mall and stepped right onto the mid-levels escalator (easily one of my favorite transportation features of Hong Kong)...
The escalator took us all the way up to Elgin Street, where Olive (and one of Hong Kong's eight Krispy Kreme shops!) is located...
Olive sits just a little ways down the street...
It's a very stylish Mediterranean (Lebanese, more specifically) restaurant that had been recommended to us by one of the students in our residence hall. We tried...
The "Olive Mezza", an appetizer platter with amazing cucumbers, fresh pita bread, hummus, baba ghanoush, etc.
Mjedra (rice, cracked wheat, and lentils) wrapped in cabbage leaves with pomegranate seeds and fresh mozzarella.
It was quite yummy and creative, which means we'll go back to try more of the specialties, but we both felt like we had better food - at a much better price - in Ann Arbor at La Shish (now called "Charlie's Mediterranean Cuisine").
Smells like the chili's ready! Happy 4th, everyone!
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