Sai Kung Hiking

 

社會氣氛不停演變，幸好至愛的行山徑，覺得是風景最美麗最天然的，仍然如舊，一路上看不到建築物，在彈丸之地，談何容易。

古道的古老大石路歷盡風雨，仍然好看好走。

 

 

Moto Yakitori Tai Hang

Really good quality food in this small restaurant in the old but modernised part of Tai Hang. Salads are tasty with interesting seasonings, yakitori are well grilled, every skewer perfectly executed. 

Winter vegetables

Whenever I go to the market, I look for vegetables that can’t be grown in Ireland, so that different vegetables are being eaten over the year for their different nutrients. 

Other than winter greens, I cooked arrowroot, lotus stem and water bamboo shoot.All have unique mildly crunchy texture.

Durian for breakfast

A delicious fruit to eat in Hong Kong winter is Durian. These years mostly Malaysian varieties, this Musan King is very yellow and sweet, a good hit. As durian is so filling, we decided it is going to be a meal on its own, this round we assigned it for breakfast as other main meals are planned already. 

Mayau fish soup and fish collar

The big fish head was dry baked in the oven for 20 minutes and add to a broth with ginger and white pepper. After simmering for a short while, the water turned white and thicken, the jelly in the fish came out. 

Add some sweet potato leaves and season with salt for a lovely flavourful soup. 

The fish collar is well seared on bbq plancha for crispy skin and just cooked flesh, a delight. 

Treadfin/ Mayau fish

An oily winter white fish, very popular in recent years, very high price for the big 5kg plus size. This time at the fish counter, saw this big one around 6kg, too big for us to have, but decided to buy half to try a really big Mayau.

 

 The liver is big and I asked for it to taste it. First time to have Mayau fish liver. Have to cut crisscross pattern and use salt to get most of the blood out. Cook liver with egg for breakfast and texture is still tender even being very well cooked. 

Learned from the fishmonger not to salt the fish, just dry and keep in fridge for max 4 days and in freezer for 2 months. 

The first slice is cooked right back home, a little salt, wrap up with baking paper and bake at 200˚C for 12 minutes. 

Amazing moist tender like tofu, this is the very best texture of a very big very oily very fresh fish, memorable. 

The next slice was cooked 3 days later, indeed without salt the fish does not smell at all, meat is firmer than the last one. 

Flower crab

One of my most favourite seafood in Hong Kong, this crab is sweet and meaty. Luckily supply and price has come down from last few years and is affordable to enjoy. 
I like to simply cut it up and cook on bbq, moist sweet meat with a mild char fragrance. 

2025年11月29日 參觀母校

中學母校有一百廿五年歷史，屹立半山的校舍，在同一地點，經歷了五次重建，包括全幢拆除重建和其中一幢的重建，我讀書時是第四次建設，今早參觀數年前第五度重建後的新校舍。

坦白說，也是我第一次看到歷年校舍的樣子，設計改變外，學校環境改變更大，百多年前學校背靠高山樹林，現在山仍在，但完全被高樓大廈覆蓋。

中學畢業幾十年，不光是第一次回母校，亦是第一次回到那個區域。中半山，不是我居住和工作的地方，亦從沒有需要在那裏出沒。

讀書那些年，每早乘巴士、天星小輪再巴士地去上學，現在改乘地鐵，再走一大段上山路到達。

那段山路，中學七年也竟然從未曾經過，先是有多株高大老樹的花園吸引了我的視線，細看才知是聖士提反女校的校園，學校古雅樸素，相信建築歷史亦悠久，好生羨慕可以在那樣優秀的環境下學習。

相較下，我校在我讀書時期的建築十分基本平凡，而現在的全新校舍，是超乎想像的設計，簡直有點浮誇的感覺。完全拆除重建，走完一圈，沒有任何一個角落，會令我思念那些年的人和事。

自然，校舍大了，設施好了，新一代學生受益良多。值得欣賞是這一次重建，負責人員用盡全力，設計出不一定人人喜歡，但起碼是有水準的建築，而我就讀那時期的校舍，實在是歷年來最平庸的。

離校這麽多年後，常回首思考，覺得當年的校風，純樸平和，可是勤力讀書的風氣不高，亦不大力鼓勵學習其他技能，同學們是十分友善，但沒有引導我們養成追求卓越的心態，最為可惜。

之前和之後的年代，在不同校長、有不同管理經驗後，好可能分別很大，我只是剛剛在那段時日在那裏出現。

Malaysia, Kuching holiday 3/3 eating

 
There are a large selection of restaurants in all price range, including a lot of Dai Pa Dong for cheap good eats. We focused mainly on seafood and Malay dishes. 

Highly recommend these three restaurants:

Lepau, for tasty indigenous dishes in a pleasant environment, the only place I tried Tempoyak, fermented durian wine lys sauce, cooked with bean and shrimp, so fragrant. 

Rock road seafood, with live tanks of seafood and baskets of fresh vegetables to pick and choose, excellent cooking and not expensive. 

 
Kantin at Granary, for the converted old granary high ceiling atmosphere, nicely made Malay dishes. 

A vegetable we eat every day is Midin, the young curled up shoot of fern, cooked in various way, with garlic, Balacan (fermented shrimp and chili) and chili vinegar pickled. All delicious and love the crunch and bright greenness. 

Another interesting find in the market is various Longan like fruits. They tasted like Longan with thick juicy sweet flesh around a big stone. One has thick green shell called white flesh longan and the other has a thick dark brown shell with beige flesh called Buah Crystal.