Perfect Memory

When I first moved to Hong Kong and lived in Kowloon City, I saw Chow Yun Fat at the wet market. I had been up all night (in fact, I had been on a two week-long bender) and was shortcutting through the wet market on my way home. It was really early in the morning, and I was still kind of fucked up and wearing someone's little brother's clothes. Ugh, those were terrible days. I also had a mullet, just so you realize the seriousness of my mental state.

I didn't realize it was Chow Yun Fat at first, all I knew was there was this dude who just looked so fucking BADASS. I thought he was a gangster or something at first, he was just radiating so much charisma, but he was too happy-looking to be a criminal. Also, he was wearing rubber slippers and haggling with the market aunties and saying, "Give me a good price, come on!"

Anyway, after a few seconds, I realized who it was and you know, even during my job in the music industry, I never met anyone with that kind of powerful charisma. He radiated some kind of positive energy, you couldn't stop looking at him because it made you feel amazed and awed.

A couple of years later, my ex-husband and I saw Chow Yun Fat again on the street, and the same thing happened. My ex-husband didn't recognize him, but he grabbed me and said, "Look at that fucking dude! That's the coolest motherfucker I've ever seen in my life!"

Anyway, if you visit Hong Kong, I hope you, too, will have the good fortune of seeing Chow Yun Fat and experiencing his powerful charisma yourself.

Er...this is not the same wet market, by the way, but this picture brought up memories for me.

雅園餅店 Best Pineapple Bun on Hong Kong Island

Kowloon City has some of the best bakeries producing some of the most delectable pineapple buns. Because I ate them so much when I was living there, my pineapple buns standard is exceedingly high. I have to admit that since moving to Hong Kong Island, I got complacent. I usually inspect every bakery that I come across, but most of the time the pineapple buns looked and smelled so unappetizing that I wouldn't even try them. Either there wasn't enough of that delicious crusty top or the bread looked dry and cracker-like. Blech!

I have two bakeries near my flat that make passable pineapple buns whenever I have the craving, but they don't really do it for me. I've eaten buns at this bakery in North Point before, but I never noticed the pineapple buns until recently.

The egg tarts are actually quite nice, too. And only HKD11 for 4!

I had to stop taking pictures after this last one because the bakery lady was like, "Haven't you been here before? Why are you taking pictures?"

It was the colour of the pineapple bun crust caught my attention. The saturated yellow-orange means that it's rich in butter (or whatever heavenly ingredient they add in the crust), so I was curious enough to try one.

And you know, dudes, it was fucking AMAZING. The bread itself was softer than a unicorn baby's coo, and the crust! My God, the crust! Lots of it, perfectly crunchy, and it was baked onto the bread so well that it barely fell apart as I ate it.

There's another bun under the one I bit into, that's why it looks so weird.

These are so good that even Chabi, who normally doesn't beg for people food, climbed up to the table and demanded that I share with her. She even gave me a pimp slap when I was too slow breaking up the bun.

Chabi: Thank me for smacking you, betch!

Chabi and I could eat a dozen of these for breakfast, I shit you not.

Definitely on par with Kowloon City bakeries, if not even better! 雅園餅店 or Nga Yuen Cake Shop is at 54C Tanner Road, just behind Island Place. Their phone number (although the ladies who work there don't seem to be the type to answer the phone) is 2562 0878.

They open at 6 in the morning and close quite late, about 9, but I don't know if there will be any fresh pineapple buns that late. Each pineapple bun only costs HKD3.

入口店零食 part 2

I passed by 入口店零食 and guess what they have in stock right now! The big version of those ice cream cone icing snacks! They come in strawberry/chocolate, banana/chocolate and chocolate flavours and only cost HKD5.5 each.

They ran out of these the last time I visited the shop, so I ended up buying quite a few to hoard. These really make very cute gifts for all sorts of people, not just kids.

入口店零食

I can't begin to say how much I like this place. I'm not really big on snacks and not particularly fond of sweets, but I always enjoy browsing here for things to give to people.

The prices for their snacks are much lower than other places like Oishi Land and Aji Ichiban, and definitely much lower than at a supermarket like CitySuper or even Park N Shop. You also get a more varied (and sometimes, more puzzling) selection of stuff from Japan, Korea and China. And I really like the staff that work there, I always end up staying much longer than I intend because I end up chatting with them.

These are the displays out on the sidewalk. You've got juice and cookies. The blueberry ones look pretty good. I hate almond. I was forced to drink almond-flavoured soy milk (and Yakult) in school in Taiwan every day. In fact, a lot of the food I dislike stems from bad experiences in Taiwan, for some reason, even though I've had more awful experiences with food while living in Manila. One day, I might have the heart to talk about when I found a cockroach in my halo-halo and a gigantic fly in an ice cream cone.

Crackers.

And more crackers! The squash-flavoured ones on the right look pretty good, I must say. The nori (seaweed for those of you who don't nihongo) ones on the left don't seem as appetizing. I think it's just that they've scrimped on the nori, and it doesn't look very nice.

Inside, you've got some juice and energy drinks. I forgot to take a picture of a Japanese pop that I like a lot, oh well. Next time, maybe.

Honestly, not too much of a fan. The flavour is good but I don't like that super-crunchy texture.

Pudding. This is the closest thing they have to a healthy snack.

I don't really like chocolate (okay, I'm noticing that I keep saying that I don't like a lot of things) but these were quite good. They're crunchy-chewy oats that are a wee bit sticky but not gooey at all. The coffee- (which I also don't drink, haha...is there ANYTHING I like??) flavoured one is the best.

Little Halloween treat bags.

I need to buy these for my brother! These are instant noodles and, obviously, you cook them in the cup. My brother loves Astro Boy, I guess I know what to give him as a present next time I see him.

Korean crackers. I really like these but they're somehow unsatisfying because they're so light and fragile that you don't feel like you're eating as opposed to just nibbling.

Pretz. I've tried every flavour, and weirdly, I like salad flavour a lot even though -- yes, you guessed it -- I don't like salads.

I hope that poor dude got paid a lot to pose like that. These are pretty good, as well, although a bit on the sweet side. There's very little difference between the original flavour and chicken flavour.

Japanese nori.

And of course, my Korean cousins have to represent, too.

Alas, no Chinese nori. It was enough for us to invent it (I know there's no proof but everything starts from China, dammit), we are gracious enough to let our Japanese and Korean cousins carry out the work we started.

Little bite-sized pieces of seafood! I think these are for kids because I can't imagine an adult being satisfied. I'd have to eat at least ten packets just to feel somewhat okay.

Chinese snacks! They've got dried plums and...I don't know what the rest used to be before they were preserved. I think they're all different kinds of plums.

One thing you have to say about us Chinese, we don't shilly shally with our words. We say it like it is. You know exactly what you're getting from us!

I bought these candy sticks that look like back scratchers (although I suppose they're more for slapping hobbits with). They cost HKD4.5 each, so cheap, no?

However, Chabi doeesn't seem too impressed by them.

I also got these really great sweets -- if you need to buy things for kids, I highly recommend these. They're little ice cream cones filled with something like icing. Kids love them. In fact, I use them as treats for my (adult) guests, who also love them. They only cost about HKD34 for a package of ten.

入口店零食 is in North Point along King's Road. It's right next to Island Place, exit B at the North Point MTR Station, walk towards Island Place and you won't miss it.

G & An'ge

G & An'ge is a shop that specializes in Korean brands (or is G & An'ge actually a brand?). For some reason, I could really tell that the clothes are Korean. There's something about the style that makes me think of Lovely Sam-soon and Coffee Prince (RIP Lee Eun, may your heavenly body be a real heavenly body).

The animal-print display below drew me in. You can just imagine the bitchy rival to the heroine of a Korean drama wearing these outfits on her way to throw shade.

Yes to that leopard-print coat! The colour looked amazing on me, but I have way too many coats already.

Not really fond of maxi skirts, but at least this is leopard print AND lace.

The dress that I ended up trying on. It's more of a tunic -- the salesgirl was shocked when I said I wasn't planning to wear leggings underneath, I hate leggings, ugh -- but I've got shorter skirts than this so I don't really care. It's got batwing sleeves and a super-glamourous sequinned black cloth belt.

The dress had a sister, but she didn't do it for me. It's too bad because they were having a promotion: buy two and get the second one half off. Er, excuse my umbrella.

In the end, I bought the leopard-print dress -- I really have to stop buying shit -- but I thought the price was really fair considering how versatile the dress is. It was marked down from HKD700 (around USD100) to HKD475. Here are really crappy pictures of me wearing the dress. Yes, there are newspapers on the floor because I put shoes on, and shoes are verboten in my flat.

Check out the brass details along the collar. The dress is stretchy and feels like a really comfortable shirt. You can see the belt in this picture, too. (I was adjusting the camera in this picture, and it went off by accident, by the way.)

Yikes, I look fat here (should have used the slimming function on my camera!), and the dress looks really short. I swear that it's only because I was lifting my arm to show the batwing sleeve. I probably would dress up the outfit and wear different shoes, but I was tired and just wanted to show what the dress looked like on its own.

The salesgirl told me that they always have promotions and sales, by the way.

The things in the shop range from HKD300 (about USD39) to HKD800, with the coats costing a bit more. These belts were around HKD350.

These are really Korean, don't you think so? I really approve of the shrugs in the shop, as I'm a devotee of mahjong auntie glamour, which is shrug-dependent.

Seriously, I think Geum Jan Di wore this exact dress in Boys Before Flowers.

G & An'ge is in Island Place. Exit B at the North Point MTR Station.

North Point Egg Waffle

I don't know what this place is called, the sign on the shop simply says "Delicious egg waffles," so maybe that IS the name.

It's one of the most popular and famous egg waffle purveyors in Hong Kong. You can see from the queue (I think this was around nine or nine-thirty at night).

Lots of food critics and celebrities apparently love this place.

It's HKD13 (just under USD2) for a waffle, and HKD24 for two.

Sorry, I didn't feel like eating a waffle then so I don't have any waffle pictures. However, I have bought waffles there before, and they're quite good. They're very light and not too sweet. Some people like their waffles crunchy all throughout, and if you do, you won't like this one. Their waffles have delicately crispy skin but are soft and chewy underneath. I much prefer this texture.

This place is right around the corner from Island Place (yes, I spend a lot of time there, apparently), Exit B at North Point MTR Station. Keep walking along King's Road till you see Island Place up ahead. The waffle place is to the right just before you cross the street to Island Place.

Maggie & Debbie

I had no idea that there were more than one Maggie & Debbie shops in Hong Kong. I've only ever noticed the North Point one, but it turns out that they also have outlets in Tseung Kwan O, Mong Kok, Kwun Tong and Pokfulam.

The shop sells shoes and accessories from Japan and Korea. I quite like browsing there, although admittedly, I've never bought anything there because I'm not really much for accessories, plus I'm kind of trying to save money.

I really like how they've set up the displays to look like shelves in someone's bedroom. I imagine the kind of girl who buys this stuff has long eyelashes and rosy cheeks, reads non-no religiously and lives in a tiny but perfect little flat that smells like strawberries.

I don't carry a wallet -- now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to discuss shopping because I dislike shopping -- but I love these wallets. Honestly, I think they're the best thing in the shop, and they're not too expensive at HKD375 (about USD49), but I'm a sucker for animal skin-type products.

Now, shoes I do love, and I have to stop myself from buying too many pairs of leopard-print shoes. I am a fiend for leopard print, and it's fortunate that I'm too old to rock these leopard print galoshes. I'm also not very fond of ribbons on shoes. I love the way they look, and I do have a pair of shoes with ribbon ties, but sometimes, when I'm walking and the ribbons brush the top of my feet, I literally leap in the air thinking that a cockroach has landed on my foot.

I was tempted to buy this pair, though.

The things in the shop are relatively inexpensive, the prices ranging from HKD200 to HKD600. The furry shoes, for example, were HKD450 and the galoshes were only HKD395. That's quite cheap, isn't it?

It's too bad the shop is so tiny because I'd love to see what they would do with more space. I imagine a white, distressed-wood rocking chair with a teddy bear wearing glitter plastic heels sitting on a gingham cushion.

This shop is in Island Place in North Point. Take the MTR to North Point Station and leave through Exit B.