Walnut Pie and Key Lime Pie

It has been a while since I have posted about pies. Part of the reason is that I have been traveling and not making as many pies. Secondly, I started repeating pies from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by the Elsen sisters. Instead of trying a new pie, I couldn't resist making the pies that I had enjoyed the most. But I am now on a mission to make the pies from the Elsens' book that I have not yet tried. This week, I made a walnut pie that is actually the "Black Walnut Pie" from the book. I was unable to acquire black walnuts, so just used regular walnuts with the rest of the recipe ingredients.

The crust of this pie is made in a springform pan, making it more of a tart than a regular pie. The crust is a cornmeal crust that is partially pre-baked. The filling consists of the walnuts, butter, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, cornmeal and eggs. This is combined with an apple cider caramel sauce that is prepared first, and then cooled. The pie was delicious, with the apple cider being a good match for the walnuts. The cornmeal crust made the perfect tart. This pie disappeared very fast, so I think I will be making it again!

As it turns out, I needed to take a dessert several days later to a social event. I wanted to make a pie that most people would enjoy, but that would be fairly easy to make. Key lime pies have always been popular in Florida, so I decided to make one similar to a recipe that I had used previously.  This recipe had egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, cream, lime zest, and, of course, key lime juice. 

I try to use juice from fresh key limes when they are available, but this time I used a store bought key lime juice. The filling was poured into a graham cracker crust, which I bought prepared to save time.

After baking, I topped with homemade whipped cream (heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla whipped together). This key lime pie had a light, fluffy consistency, and a not too tart key lime flavor. The reviews of the pie were positive, so I will make this one again as well, as it was tasty but not time consuming.

Hopefully, this is the start of another year of pie making and blogging about new pies. Can't wait to try the next one, but will certainly have to keep up with my exercising!

Dancing Til you Drop in Hong Kong

When my husband and I travel, we always find a dance club.  Dancing is one of our favorite activities, and we have found that dancing, particularly Latin dancing, is universal. On our last visit to  Hong Kong 4 years ago, we danced at a nice salsa club that is no longer there. This trip we danced at 3 different Latin clubs, 2 swing dancing venues, and one late night club. The popularity of dancing in Hong Kong now is phenomenal!

The Latin clubs where we enjoyed dancing were Picada, Rula Bula, and Mazu. These were located near our neighborhood in the Central district of Hong Kong Island. We walked to all of these. The most crowded of the three was Mazu, which was literally packed with people. This fact made it sometimes challenging to dance, but it was fun to be a part of the energy of this place. Picada was definitely calmer, with a nice dance floor, but got started a tad later. Rula Bula was, in my opinion, a nice balance between the other two, with plenty of good dancers but not overly crowded. I would recommend all three of these spots for anyone who loves Latin dancing.

Lan Kwai Fong Street, better known as the “LKF”, is definitely “party central” in Hong Kong. Filled with bars, night clubs, and late night restaurants, this is also a good area to find a late night dance spot. We went to a place there, appropriately called Insomnia, twice during our stay, including a visit on Christmas night. Rich and I enjoyed dancing to pop hits played by the talented house band. I loved dancing the cha cha to MJ’s “Billie Jean”. But perhaps my favorite memory will be dancing with a local Chinese woman while we both sang to Katy Perry’s “Roar”

I must say that the biggest surprise regarding dancing in Hong Kong was the swing dancing scene. Rich found 2 places to do swing dancing: Steam and Grappa’s. These places were a longer walk from our place, or a short taxi ride. Grappa’s was a busy club with enthusiastic dancers who took lessons before the main dancing started. We enjoyed the swing music played, and danced to a lot of jitterbugs. At one point, we all switched partners and danced with different partners, which was fun. Steam was also a great place for swing dancing, and we did quite a few lindy hops. This was also a particularly friendly place. Most of the dancers at this club were young, and they were surprisingly friendly to us older folks. So friendly, in fact, that one young local woman ran toward Rich as we were leaving the club, saying “I wanted to dance with you”! Oh, well - I’ll always have Hanoi.

What To Bring to Hong Kong

Packing for an overseas trip is always a daunting task, but is especially tricky when you are spending an entire month or more away from home. Although I had been to Hong Kong several times, this is the longest time I have spent, and I realized when packing to come here that I needed to make some tough decisions about what to bring. Now that I will be leaving here for home in a few days, I thought I could share information about what I am very glad I brought, what I wish I hadn’t brought, and what I wish I had brought more of.  This information may be geared more to women, but I will share a few ideas from my husband as well.

1. Bring a lot of underwear and socks. No one wants to be doing laundry constantly, so have enough for 2 weeks. Undergarments and socks do not take up that much suitcase room, so this is easy. I did well on this, but Rich wished he had brought more socks.

2. Bring comfortable walking pants, like hiking pants. I brought 2 pairs but should have brought a third. I felt that I would need dressier items, particularly at night. Actually, Hong Kong residents are mostly very casual, and comfort seems to be a priority, So pack the clothes that make for easy walking up and down the many Hong Kong hills and steps.

3.Bring your most comfortable pair of walking shoes; you will be wearing these for most of your stay. Women and men here wear their sneakers almost everywhere, Again, with the numerous steps and hills here, it makes sense. Women wear sneakers even with their nice dresses. I wish I had left 2 pairs of my boots at home, particularly the ones with 2 inch heels. Bring sneakers and one nice pair of shoes for nighttime when you are taking a taxi to the restaurant.

4. Bring one pair of  jeans, one skirt, and one nice dress. And bring your fave tops to wear with these at night. If you need an extra pair of jeans when here, you can buy at Zara Dept. store here at a reasonable price.

5. Bring one scarf. Additional scarves can be bought here for 6-10 American dollars.

6. Bring a large purse for daytime and a small purse for evening. Trust me when I say that Hong Kong is very safe, and you don’t need to worry constantly about pickpockets or purse snatchers.

7. Bring at least one wash cloth from home. I remembered from my last Asian trip that these are not always provided, even at hotels. Rich had forgotten this, and we did end up buying a few extras.

8. Ladies, bring a flat iron, or hairdryer, or whatever is your favortite hair tool. Make sure your tool converts to 250 watts,

9. Bring one fave jacket, but buy one in Hong Kong as well. Some of my best jackets and coats have come from here. Clothing prices in Hong Kong are generally reasonable.  But you will probably need to go up a size - clothing tends to run small here.

10. My clothing items I could not have done without: hoodie, my red light rain jacket, scarf, hiking pants, sneakers.

Hope these help you in packing for your trip to Hong Kong. Hope I have enough room in my suitcase for my purchases here! (Another thing to consider).

Hong Kong- Observations From an Almost Local

We have been in Hong Kong now for over 2 weeks and feel that we are beginning to realize what it would be like to actually live here. This is our third Hong Kong trip and we still have 2 weeks to go on this one. We are learning some of the habits, quirks, and traditions that make this city the unique place that it is. Here are some observations from an Asheville NC woman who is experiencing life in an international city.

1. There is a reason that everyone has laundry hanging over their balcony. On other Hong Kong visits, I was fascinated by the laundry hanging outside, and took numerous photos of laundry. I assumed that these people were too poor to have a clothes dryer. But here we are, living in a penthouse apartment on floor 35, and we are hanging laundry on a dryer inside about every other day. Basically, very few people own clothes dryers. Air drying laundry in this city is what people do, and it is not so bad! You just have to wash fewer clothes at a time, and more often.

2. Crossing a busy street as a pedestrian is not easy in Hong Kong. In Tokyo, people and cars are very organized at intersections. Cars promptly stop for pedestrians. In Hong Kong, cars do not promptly stop for anyone. Taxis are always on the move. So how to cross a busy intersection is a matter of guts, agility, and luck. One little trick that I have learned is that it is helpful to always cross when a young, pretty woman is crossing. I surmised that cars will always stop for a young woman. Hopefully, a taxi would not purposely run over an almost 67 year old woman, but why take that chance?  So far, I am still alive.

3. While there are numerous people walking the streets of Hong Kong, they take their time when doing so. I have been pleasantly surprised that locals here walk in an unhurried, non-aggressive manner.  My experience is large cities in USA is that everyone is always in a hurry, so I appreciate this aspect of the people in Hong Kong.

4. It is nice to be in a city where I am not dependent on a car. While there is a lot of traffic in the city, Hong Kong residents generally do not own cars. (There are a lot of Teslas around, of those that do own cars). The train system works great here, and I am very comfortable taking the train to my line dance class. The bus system is very efficient - Rich has done this fairly often. And, of course, people walk a lot and are generally in good shape, so that is a positive. No need to pursue fitness activities, as local residents here get their steps in by just walking on a daily basis.

5. People here love music. One of the things that I have always appreciated about living in Asheville NC is the music scene. People in Hong Kong also love music. We have heard good music in most restaurants, although most is recorded. Much of the music that people here seem to enjoy is British classic rock, and American music of any kind. We have also been to several clubs that have played excellent live music. We heard wonderful jazz one night at Peel Fresco in our neighborhood here, and danced to a live band at a place called Insomnia on Christmas night that was playing Michael Jackson! And people stay out into the wee hours to enjoy the music scene. What a great way to enjoy life!

Merry Christmas from Hong Kong

It is Christmas morning in Hong Kong! Merry Christmas to friends and family in the USA, who are still celebrating Christmas Eve! I miss you!

The Murals of Hong Kong

One of the activities that I have enjoyed while being in Hong Kong is viewing and taking photos of murals. I got the idea of photographing city murals from my Asheville N.C. friend Allen, who has taken amazing pictures of the murals there. I have been surprised by the lovely and creative murals here in Hong Kong. Many of these are images of people. These are sometimes colorful, and others are done simply in black and white. The detail in some of these images reminds one of a fine painting. But there are cartoon murals as well as abstracts. How fun it is to discover these treasures in some unexpected spots!

A Meal to Remember in Hong Kong: Mott 32

Several nights ago,  Rich and I were fortunate enough to dine at Mott 32, one of the most highly rated restaurants in Hong Kong. This special treat came about because Rich’s sons, Tash and Morgan, gave us a dinner there for a birthday gift for Rich. Mott 32 is a Chinese restaurant with a large and interesting menu. We decided on Peking Duck, a specialty of the house. One has to notify the staff of this when the reservation is made, so enough time can be given to cook the duck.

Our meal began with beer for Rich, and a fabulous cocktail for me. This place is known for cocktails, and this one, called Old Shanghai, did not disappoint! In fact, I had two of them. The duck was perfectly prepared. To accompany this, we had fresh cucumbers in garlic sauce, succulent eggplant,  and asparagus with water chestnuts. The vegetables were amazing, almost as good as the duck! We ended with a guava custard cake. This was a once in a lifetime experience, with perfect service to go with the meal. Thanks, Tash and Morgan, for letting us enjoy truly world class dining.