Thursday morning feels damp and cold. It looks rather misty out there, but doesn’t call for rain, so we plan on joining the aunties out for lunch after we finish Science/Norwegian this morning. After a good night’s sleep, Maylin is feeling better, thankfully. Téa works on her science material, and Maylin struggles through her Norwegian section, just in case I don’t have time to support both of them through Norwegian tomorrow, before my hair appointment.
The aunties are meeting us for lunch today, but first, 3rd Auntie comes over with a bunch of stuff for us. The contents of her bags are neverending, there are noodles and New Year cookies and an entire homemade lo bak go, the turnip cake we see at dim sum. It’s set up in a giant aluminum cake container, you just have to slice some up, pan fry until translucent, and enjoy with your favourite hot sauce (or in the case of the girls, not). There’s also a delicious apple pear drink (with other ingredients, very refreshing, not too sweet, and apparently good for me), and medicine for Maylin.
3rd Aunty takes us downstairs, and while we think we’re going to our local shopping centre for lunch, we are suddenly at the bus stop waiting to be whisked away. My energy levels are not exactly cheering for this, but we do need lunch, and so we all pile onto the bus that arrives, and shortly thereafter, we are at a new to us mall in an area called Lok Fu. Because Maylin is just getting through her upset stomach, we request a congee restaurant, and end up here:
Right outside the restaurant, there’s a fake grass play area with these fun toys:
We need to pick up a few things, and the aunties take us on a tour of the market. There is so much variety here! We walk through a few loops, they stop and point and explain and we look on in amazement. If you are ever looking for cows’ tongue, squid, fruit, hen heads or any type of vegetable, I now know where to lead you! Some of the vendors are eager to speak English to us, and offer up explanations on what’s what at their stall.
We stop at a stall with roast meats. There are large slabs of all sorts of roasted meats hanging on hooks in the window, and we ask for an order of roast pork belly. The lady says it’s fresh out of the oven, and please eat some right away, here, have a toothpick. We each try a piece (keeping the fattiest parts away from Maylin’s sore tummy), and it tastes like Christmas. Roast pork belly is what I grew up with for Christmas Eve dinner, and this is one of the best ones. Crispy skin is a must!
Back at the apartment, Joe’s cousin Sam (1st Aunt’s son) arrives to help us out with our wifi needs, and the aunties head back out. By this time, my stomach is as painful as it gets, and I go lie down. We have to head downtown to meet another of Joe’s cousins for dinner, so I need to rest if I want to be able to walk upright for the rest of the night…
Just before 6pm, we meet KC at Wong Tai Sin station, and it’s so good to see him! KC and another cousin, Joey, were the Hong Kong family delegation at our wedding in Vancouver back in 2014. He’s also an excellent guide to all things delicious and specifically Hong Kong! Together, we travel to the Prince Edward area to find an old school HK steakhouse.
Lights are overrated, apparently. KC has found a gem of a steakhouse, and it’s kind of dark in here. The lights are either encased street lanterns, or the neon signs that cover all vertical surfaces.
The girls are relieved to see kids’ sets on a menu again, and there are three different ones to choose from. We pick the rice and roast chicken one for Maylin, advicing her against eating the hotdog to protect her stomach. She picks at the corn, rice and chicken, and soon claims to be full.
Many of Téa’s favourite foods come together in another of the kids’ sets, spaghetti bolognese, chicken nuggets AND fries. She inhales the fries, and declares the others “not my favourite”.
KC, Joe and I all opt for steak. It is after all a steakhouse. Joe gets a sirloin, I get a tenderloin, and KC chooses the Angus beef. They are served on cast iron, cow shaped, burning hot plates on top of well worn wooden planks. After they are placed in front of us, we are given the option of BBQ or pepper sauce to be poured on top. We are given extra napkins to protect ourselves from the sizzle when the sauce is poured, and hold them up as a shield. We all opt for pepper sauce, and it is PEPPERY. Both girls taste a bite, and claim it spicy. To me, it’s simply delicious!
We sit and remember previous visits, and laugh at old memories. We catch up on life and each other, and just when we can’t eat any more, the plates get cleared and are instantly replaced with a jelly dessert. The server pours evaporated milk on top of KC’s and mine, Joe and Maylin have theirs plain, and Téa declines. Jelly is not her favourite.
After dinner, we walk through the flower market and marvel at the colours, sizes and displays of celebratory plants for the New Year. Things yellow and things in multiples signify wealth, so this funny fruit can be bought in pyramids. I guess the larger the pyramid, the more wealth it will attract?
Just past the flower market, the Lunar New Year market opens up. At the entrance, KC offers to take our family photo in this tunnel of beautiful fabric lanterns. These remind us of Hanoi, and we wanted to bring lanterns home as souvenirs from there, but we had no more room in our suitcase, so no lanterns were purchased. Maybe we’ll find similar ones in Hong Kong!
The market is bustling, but only just comfortably so. Joe and I have been to this market before, 13 years ago, and it was crazy busy, almost lose each other in the crowd type of busy. Today is the first day this particular market is open for the season, so it’s nice and mellow. There are lots of high school students trying to sell their wares, and KC explains that lots of schools buy vendor stalls at these markets as a fundraising initiative for the students. KC teaches high school, and is grateful that his students are not here.
The girls end up getting a keychain each, and we wait 10 minutes for them to be personalized with their names. There are so many things for sale, big and small, balloons of all shapes and sizes, even ones on wheels like rocking horses and dogs that look like they’re walking on the ground. We could have endulged in every snack available, but with Maylin’s upset stomach and us all being stuffed from our large dinner, no snacks are enjoyed at tonight’s market.
We walk through all the aisles and it’s getting close to bedtime, so we find a bus that takes us straight from the market to the bus stop near home. We are four tired travellers this evening, and getting home seems to take forever. We stumble into bed, thinking we’ll all have a good night sleep, when… 30 minutes after she falls asleep, Maylin starts crying, and I get her to the bathroom just in time. Her stomach did not like eating food today either. Once empty, she goes straight to Mom’s bed, and sleeps there all night long. Mom is relegated to Maylin’s bed for the night. It’s not as comfy as my own…
God bedring til Maylin!
Takk, Mette!