I guess I'm a little late in posting this but...Last weekend I stayed at my Aunt S's place. She, and my cousins J and V live in Tai Wai. I haven't seen either J or V since the last time I visited Hong Kong and that was five years ago! Holy cow did V grow... it hurts my neck just thinking about it. Anyway, I spent the day with them, and it was quite enjoyable. I'm a couple of years older than they are, but let's just say, being an older sibling, you learn to go with the flow. Not that they were immature or anything!
Dinner was delicious and there was a variety of foods to choose from. Look at all the dishes that were prepared!
After dim-sum the following morning, we all went to "The Market". This was the first time I had experienced a full blown produce market here in HK. It was amazing; just to walk around and look at everything. I couldn't get enough. I haven't come across something that feels anything like it, but I'll try to depict it for you. How do I explain this... hmm, well the market place is not like your typical grocery store where everything is pre-packaged and refrigerated. It feels more like the Farmer's Market plus a Fish Market and a Butcher Shop on steroids, rolled together and stuffed in a warehouse. It's a good thing! See for yourself...
The produce found in these market places are less expensive than the ones you find at a Wellcome (no I did not spell that incorrectly) which is a popular grocery store chain here in HK. I was told that a lot of the produce came straight from the farmers and were sold the same day, if not the next day. Compared to the grocery store which was overpriced and their produce having sat there for who knows how long, plus poor selection, I've found myself buying more of my groceries from these side shops and markets rather than the grocery chains. The reason I say more rather than all is my hesitation at buying the meat. I haven't quite gotten used to buying meat off the street, I'm sure its perfectly safe and sanitary, but I haven't grasped the concept that the meat that I see available isn't refrigerated! I mean, its 30 degrees Celsius, and most of the butcher stands
open just have their carvings hanging there... I think that I'll keep going to the
grocery store for that.
Anyway, We were specifically looking for sea food and you guessed it, of course there were fish that were still swimming available. Now, these fish were not dead as seen above, nor in a tank, but rather shallow buckets. And of course, one was skittish when I walked by (believably so) and jumped, splashing me! I wasn't too impressed... I mean, I wasn't even there to buy and eat it! (I totally should have though!)
Aunt P bought the seafood and we were about to leave. I offered to carry her grocery bag for her since I had my hands free. I hadn't paid attention to what she had bought, but as I was walking with the bag back to her place IT MOVED! I'm not kidding you, I thought we had bought clams and shrimp... it was the shrimp! The whole way home the bag jerked every once in a while.... they were delicious but <shudder> that feeling of a living thing moving for freedom... it'll take some getting used to. I think I may prefer my lunch/dinner already dead before I have to take it home and cook it.
Note to self: Don't walk too close to the fish next time
Dinner was delicious and there was a variety of foods to choose from. Look at all the dishes that were prepared!
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| There was: Eggplant, Shrimp, Fish, three different types of Veggies, and soup |
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| There were so many vegetables available, and all of them were fresh as if they had been picked earlier that day |
The produce found in these market places are less expensive than the ones you find at a Wellcome (no I did not spell that incorrectly) which is a popular grocery store chain here in HK. I was told that a lot of the produce came straight from the farmers and were sold the same day, if not the next day. Compared to the grocery store which was overpriced and their produce having sat there for who knows how long, plus poor selection, I've found myself buying more of my groceries from these side shops and markets rather than the grocery chains. The reason I say more rather than all is my hesitation at buying the meat. I haven't quite gotten used to buying meat off the street, I'm sure its perfectly safe and sanitary, but I haven't grasped the concept that the meat that I see available isn't refrigerated! I mean, its 30 degrees Celsius, and most of the butcher stands
open just have their carvings hanging there... I think that I'll keep going to the
grocery store for that.
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| Picture of woman re-filling the bins with seafood Yumm! |
Okay, so my story about the market:
I was with Aunt P on Thursday and we had visited one market close to her apartment in North Point. I was still fascinated by all the things that were made available. I'm sure that I looked like a complete foreigner gawking and everything, but how could I not!? I mean, they were selling fish which had been decapitated and their heads were all in a row, still spasm-ing as if gasping for air and waiting to be sold! I've seen this before but it still fascinates me how they're still so animated when you know they're dead.
I was with Aunt P on Thursday and we had visited one market close to her apartment in North Point. I was still fascinated by all the things that were made available. I'm sure that I looked like a complete foreigner gawking and everything, but how could I not!? I mean, they were selling fish which had been decapitated and their heads were all in a row, still spasm-ing as if gasping for air and waiting to be sold! I've seen this before but it still fascinates me how they're still so animated when you know they're dead.
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| One of the fish vendors that was selling assorted fish I couldn't even identify the names of any |
Anyway, We were specifically looking for sea food and you guessed it, of course there were fish that were still swimming available. Now, these fish were not dead as seen above, nor in a tank, but rather shallow buckets. And of course, one was skittish when I walked by (believably so) and jumped, splashing me! I wasn't too impressed... I mean, I wasn't even there to buy and eat it! (I totally should have though!)
Okay, so that was another story, but what I wanted to say was:
Aunt P bought the seafood and we were about to leave. I offered to carry her grocery bag for her since I had my hands free. I hadn't paid attention to what she had bought, but as I was walking with the bag back to her place IT MOVED! I'm not kidding you, I thought we had bought clams and shrimp... it was the shrimp! The whole way home the bag jerked every once in a while.... they were delicious but <shudder> that feeling of a living thing moving for freedom... it'll take some getting used to. I think I may prefer my lunch/dinner already dead before I have to take it home and cook it.
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| The place were one of the fish splashed me |
Note to self: Don't walk too close to the fish next time
The fish just wanted to play! You should have splashed him back!
ReplyDeleteAbout the meat, I think that you should definitely remain wary of it sitting in the street at such a high temperature. If you're used to eating meat that has been refrigerated or super fresh, then you may not have the antibodies built up to handle it.
I remember learning in foods and nutrition class about the importance of refrigerating food and realized that I hadn't been following the safe food guidelines my whole life! My mom would leave cooked food out for hours before I'd eat it. Luckily I'm always okay afterwards!
I never really thought about splashing him back... maybe I will next time.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the advice, I don't particularly want to get food poisoning.