Serendipity, Knob and Thomas Jefferson

Oh! Oh! Oh! USA! Talk about the exact opposite of Mexico – at least Mexico City and Horn Cow. In those two places, everyone lives behind high walls and sturdy gates. And according to my →

Mexican Wedding

You will forgive me for my thoughts and feelings straying somewhat from Cantonese recently. It’s all about the Spanish now. Now, for example, I’m in Cuernavaca which interestingly means Horn Cow. It’s a beautiful, hilly →

Grooving With Non-Moustache Pete

Let me just say, any town where this is the central post office has my vote! Yesterday as we were driving and walking around downtown Mexico City, I shouted out loud with joy several times. →

Paraguas (Umbrella)

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! This is even better than I had envisaged. It feels indescribably good to walk on cobblestoned streets knowing that the same houses were here 200 years ago. I can’t remember the →

Thank You For Not Being An Arse

Thank you for not being an arse? That was my first reaction. Then I thought: That doesn’t make sense. Why would someone put a sign saying Thank you for not being an arse on their →

A Delicate Piece Of Medical Advice

Hong Kong’s airport – don’t you just love it? I do. It’s so so airport-y! I had been looking forward to spending a couple of hours there before my flight to Mexico (I’m now in →

It Only Took Two And a Half Years. Almost Three

How long does it take to make and edit a 10 minute film? The answer is: Two years and eight months. Not bad!

Woo-hooo, after weeks, months and SO much hassle with the company I paid to reformat and spread my book (it’s now just in pdf exactly like the format I sent them and I had to →

I’m so afraid of the dentist, I go every four months. That sounds like a contradiction and a half, but it’s true. Going every four months gives me peace of mind and no cavities. (Also, →

Hainan, Hainan, day and night, edit film, edit film… Film is coming soon! Meanwhile check the trailer. .

Sojourn in Bangkok

What do you do in Bangkok? Look for Chinese food, obviously!

I’m going back to those scraggy crags today! Now you can come too. Just click on China Tours and you’re there!

My Groove! My Groove! Why Are You Forsaking Me?

Last week I received some shocking news: My banjo teacher is leaving. What??? Now that everything was going so well? Not only do we do the old-fashioned and also modern thing of bartering skills; I →

哎呀，落雨呀！Bucketing Down

Yesterday I went on a high-speed boat trip ruining my hair, but it was worth it. As soon as we got off the open boat, it started raining like – well, normal Hong Kong style. →

川菜！Sichuan food! The best in the world!

Yammmmm! Yam me doooown! That’s right, I don’t spell the word you say when something tastes good, with a U. I prefer the letter A. Take a word like 蚊， (man, meaning mosquito but also →

Consistent Service

I’ve almost given up going to restaurants in Hong Kong. I find the food tasteless, the chefs complacent. But there’s one place right here in throbbing metropolis Mui Wo, the venerable Rome Restaurant, that I →

Cantonese and English: The Twain Shall Never Meet so Just Accept It

“Oh sorry, I’m so sorry” this woman is probably not saying. Naw, she’s just serving me some excellent Sichuan food, probably. Anyway, I can’t begin to think how weird it must be for the people →

Neighbour In The Middle of Nowhere

It was cold, foggy and not without drizzle, yet we were glad to be up so early and by ourselves at this Trollveggen that I had heard so much about but never visited. It looked →

Long Live Cantonese

There’s a big hullabaloo in the South China Morning Post this week. Historian Jason Wordie wrote about the so-called Third Culture Kids (born in one country, moved to Hong Kong, sent to boarding school in →

Taxing, Vexing Taxis

As any newcomer to Hong Kong trying to get a handle on the local language can attest to, taxi drivers are excellent language teachers. At the same time, they can also get very angry if →

Local Uncle Writes Own Language Wrong!!!!!

I have just (“just” meaning three weeks ago) come back from Norway, and while I was there I sent various postcards, among them to an uncle in my village. What, your uncle lives in your →

Change

I needed an excuse to publish this photo. It was taken in Shenzhen (naturally) in what used to be an excellent little forest just across the square from the train station but which is now →

Chinese New Year Looms

Am I the only one who thinks there are too many holidays in Hong Kong? I feel I’ve just come back from my Christmas trip – BOOM! Another big holiday immediately heaves into view. I was planning to tour Guangdong province again as we had a spectacular time there last year.

However! The people I was going with inexplicably decided to go to Harbin instead. Yes, they chose ‘eyeballs freeze in your head after 10 minutes outside’ over ‘pleasant, perhaps with a few drops of rain’.

So I have the whole holiday at home, and thought I’d provide some services.

1. CANTO/SICHUAN EXTRAVAGANZA:

Learn about Chinese New Year, why the tradition of orange trees, fish, noodles the ‘kitchen god’ etc are so important, and learn to recognise some door couplets. Then learn enough Chinese New Year greetings to win any ‘greeting-out’ with your colleagues and neighbours, doormen and fishmongers! All while sipping lovely Iron Buddha, coffee or, dare I say, beer?

This is followed by a delicious Sichuan meal and beer. Date to be decided when at least five people sign up.

2. SICHUAN LUNCH OR DINNER

Special New Year Menu includes Chilli Prawns,

Ma Po Tofu

and of course dumplings! Pork, beef or my excellent invention Vegetarian Dumplings (in my opinion better than the meat ones).

3. SICHUAN COOKING COURSE

Bring only a sharp knife and your appetite!
I’ll show you how to cook four dishes, thus covering all the basics of Sichuan cooking. I’ll do all the hard work, all you have to do is swoop in and throw the ready-made ingredients in the wok!
Then we’ll have a pleasant time eating the delicious stuff and drinking beer and wine. Yes, tea too if necessary. You’ll learn how to make chilli oil, chicken stock and ground roasted Sichuan pepper.

INCLUDED: Book of 20 Sichuan recipes with photos of all the ingredients and brand names of soy sauces etc, AND goody bag of Sichuan peppercorns and dried chillies.

All the events take place in Pui O, Lantau Island.

過年 -Go lin (Pass Year/Chinese New Year)
川菜 – Chuen choy (Sichuan food)
啤酒 – Beh jau (Beer)