So, I would think filet-o-fish has got to be the favorite item in Hong Kong, or else it wouldn’t make sense to have it available all day long right?

Yet I really wonder if people why people would loveeee this burger so much?

Being such a fat-phobic city, I believe people probably like it for it seems to be the healthier option on the menu (HK people have a strong belief that fish is the healthier option to red meat so eating it is less “fattening”).

So now I wonder, if McDonald’s in Hong Kong were ever to put up the poster that list out the Nutritional Information of the different menu items, and people actually starts to pay attention to the numbers, would filet-o-fish still be the bestseller?

Looking at the menu seems like such a normal, typical thing that anyone would do, but it’s kind of surprising to see what it can reveal about a particular place and the people of that place once you give it some thought!

And one more cool fact about McDonald’s here — they have a delivery service! My first reaction was “Wow! that’s totally bizarre!”. On second thought, it makes sense actually. Most people in Hong Kong do not drive and rely on public transit so the idea of Drive-Thru would be ridiculously useless here and instead having a delivery service would be much more convenient for HK.

I always hear people say they are somewhat afraid of what is in
their food but I never quite took it seriously. But, tonight I experienced it first hand.

I was having a nice Korean-style Barbecue dinner with the Boyfriend. We handpicked our protein from
a large selection of different red meats (it is a buffet style restaurant where you pick out the raw protein, take it back to your seat and grill it at the table).

We made sure we chose beef but somehow there was one tray that kind of stood out like a sore thumb. We double-checked the label on the tray and made sure it was beef; it was labelled “tenderloin beef”.

The weird thing was when we grilled the individual pieces, that special “tenderloin beef” did not cook like the rest. It did not turn into a deep brown colour and instead was a paler whitish colour….very much like pork. We took a bite, chewed it carefully and sure enough, “tenderloin beef” was no beef, it was heavily seasoned to disguise its flavour but the texture was certainly pork.

We felt cheated! What we thought was beef turned out to be pork. Perhaps it was the restaurant putting the raw protein in the wrong tray, or…it could have been fake beef. I will never know.

Regardless of whether or not it was fake beef that I ate tonight, the fear of not knowing what I put in my mouth when I eat out had become much more vivid after tonight. That means 2 things:

First, I will be more picky about what to eat when I am outside — which means less eating out and/or being more meticulous about food quality.

Second, will cook more at home since that’s the easiest way to know for sure what I put into my body and i have better control to eat the right amount of food (mostly veggies, some protein & grains) for optimal health.

Although we found fake beef midway through dinner, it didn’t bother us for long. We made it up by having more beef short ribs since there is no way to fake those (unless people has figured out a way to fake the bone part too?.).

Tonight’s dinner was definitely memorable – the fake beef incident was initially shocking but it also made this dinner blog-worthy and has once again reminded me of the benefits of cooking more and eating out less. Still an overall a positive experience, I’d say.

Have you ever encountered similar unhappy incident when you eat out?

Warning: raw “beef” images – not very pleasant looking.

2. Iced tea. Sometimes to cool off, all I really crave is a nice cold beverage. Tea is my top choice. I’m not talking about the sweetened lemon iced tea, what I mean is ice-cold Chinese tea. What I usually like to do is throw a Chinese tea teabag into a glass of lukewarm water and just let it steep for an hour or two and then put it into the fridge. Normally hot tea takes only a few minutes to steep, but when I make cold tea, I like to let it steep much longer to let the flavour develop. Tea is one of my favorite drinks since it is thirst-quenching like water, yet more flavorful than plain water, and also a lot better than other flavoured drinks such as soda pops and juices since tea doesn’t have those extra calories.

3. Frozen fruits. Yes, as you can guess by now, I love fruits! They are my favorite way to add sweetness into my day. In my fridge, I always have frozen grapes and banana. Grapes become icy when frozen and the sweetness actually gets stronger. As for frozen banana chunks, they can be blended with a food processor into a creamy texture like soft-serve vanilla ice-cream, or I use simply use it as a topping for ice cream or yogurt to add texture and flavour. The best part about frozen fruits is that they last for a long time in the freezer so you can readily enjoy them anytime!

The first thing thar people turn to when they need to cool off on a hot day is often ice cream or some other icy, sugary treats, but there are actually many other delicious and nutritious options that offer the same refreshing sensation. Try my suggestions for a change!

What treats do you enjoy during the hot summer days?

I wanted to try all the new flavors at once but with all my self-control, I managed to convince myself to get 2 scoops only and leave the rest for later.

I chose lemon pepper and sea salt caramel. The lemon scoop was so good! The lemon flavour was prominent and very fresh-tasting with just a hint of black pepper appearing at the end of each bite (or…lick?) lingering in my mouth. The sea salt caramel was a mind-boggling experience – sweet nutty caramel taste with a salty kick. I savoured each bite; it was really satisfying.

That being said…my craving for XTC Gelato was really strong. As a result, I ended up visiting another shop later that same day. I was hoping to find more unique flavours to try.

This time, I got some classic flavours: toasted almond and pistachio. Although these are nothing new, they
were once again amazingly tasty. In each bite, I could really taste the nuts’ flavour and get bits and pieces of nuts. Each bite was literally bursting with flavour. Once again, really fulfilling, but at the same time, making me so eagerly look forward to another round of XTC Gelato.

This time…I’ll wait until another day!

I was quickly proven wrong.

It seems like the younger generation in HK are very privileged. They are well-fed by their parents, often getting whatever they want, whenever they want. Also, instead of going outside to play with friends and engage in physical activities, they now spend hours in front of the TV or the computer.

End result? Young children develop poor eating habits and may lead to weight gain. In the long run, they may become overweight and/or obese, which puts them at increased risk of developing a lot of other lifelong health issues.

The newspaper clipping that I clipped out is a prime example of the impact of modernization & westernization of HK. The key take-away message is that an 8 year old girl is diagnosed with Type II Diabetes because of her habits: eating too much and too lazy to move (to the point in which she asks her mom to go out to buy things for her).

Although this may seen like an extreme case, but it is a strong illustration the impact of the obesity epidemic hitting HK at full force.

From the looks of things, I believe dietitians will gain greater importance in the health care system since Diabetes has become such a major concern and diet control, which is of course a dietitian’s specialty, will be emphasized as a key part of Diabetes care.

The one key difference that I’ve noticed is that the Grains Food Group is at the bottom of the pyramid and that the Fruits and Vegetables Group is the second block up, slightly smaller than the Grains Group.

When I first noticed that, I really questioned why they would put the strongest emphasis on grains. But now understanding how inseparable rice is to these people’s lives, it makes much more sense.

And based on these guidelines, the HK Health Authority has also developed their own “Lunchbox Model”, somewhat similar to the Plate Model.

The Lunchbox model suggests that the ideal proportion of grains, vegetables & protein should be 3:2:1. So, about half should be grains, 2/3 of the remaining space for veggies and the rest for protein.

Just looking at the Lunchbox Model and the Plate Model, it is quite clear that these two places has slightly different view on the importance of grains in relationship to fruits and veggies, but share very similar stance on the consumption of protein.

I thought it was rather interesting to compare the Food Guide of the two places; each developed a quick overview of the difference in eating habits and recommendations.

What do you think of the Lunchbox & Plate model? Do you think they represent the Food Guide Guidelines well enough?

It was an Asian-style Coconut-y sweet soup with taro bites and assorted beans.

As the name implies, this menu item features root veggies and beans which makes it a good source of fiber and protein, perfect as a fulfilling and energizing meal to start off my day.

Yes, although this sweet soup is a dessert-like item, I would still consider it to be a smart option at Dim Sum restaurants since most other items are heavily loaded with refined carbs and/or fatty, sugary components.

And since I wouldn’t have dim sum for breakfast on a regular basis anyways, this dessert soup would at most become one of the many items on my “Eat Sometimes” list.

Eating out has truly become an inseparable part of many people’s lives and it would irrational for them to cut back dramatically. Thus, choosing foods smartly when dining out takes on a key role for maintaining steady weight and good health.

And think of it this way: treat finding smart eating out options as a challenge (look at it as an exploration, as a new chapter and opening doors to new foods!). Enjoy the process, and stay positive!

This is not an exaggeration when I state that people in HK may dine out more times than they eat at home. Making dinner at home is more of a leisure activity to do on their day off rather than a part of their daily routines.

Although that would be an inaccurate generalization for all of the HK population, it would be fair to say the middle working class population would fit that statement.After careful observation, I am summarized 3 reasons on why people in HK dine out so often that it just feels natural for them to go out and eat rather than cook food at home.

• Eating out is cheap and fast. There are fierce comeptition between restaurants in HK so they all try to attract customers by offering good prices. Price wars has really driven the cost of eating out down to the point in which people may think it is a better deal to eat out than to cook at home. In addition, restaurants serve food at a very fast pace; it is possible to be in and out of a diner within 15-20 minutes (you site down, order, food comes right away, you gobble it down, and pay at the front cashier). Although 15 minutes is not enough to truly savor a meal, to people who are rushing from place to place, the fast-food-restaurant-style quick pace suits them perfectly since they just need to get food into their stomach and fuel them until the next meal.
• Cooking in the summer months is like putting yourself into a hot furnace. Kitchens are typically equipped with gas stoves and when they are turned on at full blast, the room gets really warm. Combined that with the average temperature of over 30C in Hong Kong, along with thick humid air in a small confined space, sweating starts immediately and continue until you finish cooking and tun off the stove. Under these conditions, who would find cooking enjoyable? Cooking literally becomes a battle against the heat and you will constantly think: how long can you last before you surrender and choose to sit comfortably in a air-conditioned restaurant, lazily flipping through the menu to see what you want and have it beautifully served to you without needing to do all the hard work and suffer the heat and sweating.
• Awkward timing. In HK, work typically begins at 9 and ends at 5, although people often work beyond that time and get off at around 7 or 8. They dedicate the majority of their day to work, spending a lot of time in the office or traveling to go to yet another meeting, conference, or networking event etc. Thus, at the end of the day, with such little precious free time left, they just want to treat themselves to a nice meal outside, freeing themselves from the need to worry about buying groceries, cooking food and the cleaning up that follows.

These are just some of the factors that interfere with people’s desire and willingness to eat at home and have contributed to developing the habit of constantly eating out and accepting that as the norm.

I’m fortunate to know a little bit about cooking and enjoy doing so back in Vancouver, or else I think I may have already converted to being one who depends on outside food!

My tricks to combating the obstacles that prevent people from eating more often at home:

• Yes, eating out is indeed cheap and fast, but sometimes the quality can really suffer. Restaurants will alter their ingredients to cut costs and that may mean you end up feeding yourself with lesser-grade food. I believe in treating my body well so I try to be picky about where and what to eat and keeping that thought in mind has really helped me to control how often I eat out (don’t always find restaurants that satisfy my pickiness, thus eat out less), what to order and how much to eat; plus it helps to strengthens the thought that homemade food is good for the body and encourages me to keep cooking.
• I got an induction element to replace my gas stove. That simple change has dramatically reduced the stuffiness and the raise in temperature in the kitchen while I cook is less evident, which makes cooking hot food much more enjoyable. So now instead of making salads as my top choice, I can make more interesting food now that turning on the element is no longer a sweating marathon.
• Plan ahead is the key when I know I have a long day. Justing thinking about when I will get time to eat and possibly preparing snacks to bring with me has made me much less likely to just rush into a restaurant when I get hungry since I know I have food and that I can eat it anytime I need to.

Vancouver and Hong Kong have very different approach to food. So far the attitude toward eating out is the difference that has shocked me the most, but I’m sure I’ll discover more during my stay!

Have you ever experienced the need to eat out more than you eat at home? How did you overcome those barriers? Share your tips with me!

The main point of this post is to show off the most beautiful and tasty soft-boiled egg that I’ve ever made.

There are various methods that I’ve tried before but I think this new technique has given the most satisfying result yet.

The trick is easy: bring a pot of water to boil, then gently lower the eggs one by one into the hot water with a slotted
spoon, cover, turn heat down to medium-low and set a timer for exactly 7 minutes. When timer rings, immediately plunge the eggs into a pot of icy water to cool the eggs.

Seem a bit risky to put in cold eggs into boiling hot water? I was a little scared that it could turn into a disaster before I tried it too. But based on the results of the many people who tried this method before me, this trick works and seems practically failproof!

There is one key point to take note to make sure that this is a success though: handle the eggs with care and slowly place them into the pot. If you play rough, the shells can crack and you’ll leak egg white and that could turn into a complete egg-boiling catastrophe. So, don’t rush it, play gentle!

Eggs have been my top protein choice for the last little while now (my second favorite is tofu). It’s cheap, fuss-free and lasts in the fridge. Plus I just love that there are so many ways to prepare eggs.

I never get tired of eggs. And, this is definitely my new favorite.

Yes, quinoa is the new hot topic!

Honestly, I never dreamed of seeing the word “quinoa” in Hong Kong. The last time I heard, brown rice just gained acceptance among the general public and barely made it to their dinner table (and most often it is mixed in with white rice to make it taste better). So, I really thought HK people were not ready for anymore whole grain options/alternatives.

So, you can totally imagine how surprised I was to see a full page article featuring a quinoa food product!

Although the product is a dark chocolate bar with quinoa (probably not the smartest way to consume quinoa), but it is definitely a start that symbolize the demand for healthier food choices is gaining momentum and people have more awareness to take care of themselves.

I love the sound of that!