The Adventures of Abby

So I’ve been looking around in case moving in to a shared flat is a better option than staying at a serviced apartment. Making new friends, having an actual kitchen, and actually having space to walk in the apartment doesn’t sound like such a bad deal.

After poking around and signing up for a few flatshare-ad services, I got an email from a someone who introduces herself as a Chinese lady, married to a British man, living in Hong Kong for work. This is one of the rooms she’s offering:

The price she set wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t a bad deal at all. So I ask for more information, and ask when I can go in person to check it out. And this is her reply: (more…)

Behold, this dish — skillfully made by my aunt as she and other relatives visited for the Holy Week.

This is Ginataan (literally “made with coconut milk”) a very Filipino dessert with sweet potato, yam, taro, plantains, tapioca pearls, jackfruit and glutinous rice balls. Probably sounds weird to you now, but unless you don’t like sweets, this is satisfaction guaranteed.

Just last week I was trying to explain the dish to my BF. I knew I wasn’t doing it justice with my explanation, but I remember wishing more than anything that I could have some.

And now I’m home for the weekend! Yesterday, eating this, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. As awesome as Hong Kong is, the lifestyle and the experience, it’s never gonna beat the sheer bliss of being at home with family, eating good food like this.

Man, if only I could go home every weekend!

There are three main reasons why last Friday night at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens games was epic.

Reason #1: We got 2 HK$1250 tickets a day before the event, and 4 more tickets on the day itself. All of them, we got for free. I don’t know about you but free stuff is always good, and getting free stuff for your friends is even better! Did the free tickets really make the night more enjoyable? You bet your crusty keyboard they did!

Reason #2: For me and I’m sure many others, it wasn’t really just about the rugby. Sure, 99% of the people there were watching the game. I’d say at least two-thirds of the crowd actually knew what was going on. But the best part about being there that night was… (more…)

I consider myself to be pretty versatile with food — I’m not picky, I’m pretty open-minded, and my tummy’s rather tough. When it comes to spicy food however, it’s always matter over mind for me, so while I do have a tolerance for it, I usually go for the milder options. Before I go on, I am a Bicolana by blood, but it seems that my tongue has no respect for the heritage!

Two years ago, I had my first taste of Szechuan food at San Xi Lou restaurant here in Hong Kong. I went there with colleagues and one visiting from the US, who made it a point to visit that particular restaurant. Of course, I didn’t really understand the fascination for what I felt was a subtle form of masochism, but again, I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to food. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago at a house party with friends, I was trying to figure out how not to lose my drink in the sea of white Styrofoam cups people were using. I figured, why not write my name on it? The ink rolled on easily, but soon enough instead of writing an “A”, I’d drawn what was the beginnings of a squished, loopy little girl.

A while later, I ended up with these.

Yes, I know the girl looks nothing like me! D’oh!

I think whatever skill I had has rolled back into this basic style mostly involving circles, silly faces and other basic shapes. I’m terribly out of practice. I do miss drawing though, and my friends were encouraging too. I recently got my old drawing tablet from a friend who visited Manila and picked it up for me. I have it here and tonight, so while watching Castle S03 E13 (woohoo! ♥) I tried doodling more. (more…)

There’s a common saying in the Philippines that goes “galit galit muna“, loosely translated, it means “for now, we’re not friends”. As negative as it sounds, it kinda has a positive connotation: The idea is that when the food is really good and you’re really hungry, you don’t waste the precious time that could be used shoveling food into your mouth. No time for friendly chit chat, we’re here for the food. Not to mention, traditionally, you’re not really supposed to talk a lot at the dinner table.

But I’m sure that across most if not all cultures, many will agree that food is actually a great complement to social gatherings. It sets the stage for friendly chit chat, and effectively so. Hotpot, as I’ve experienced here in Hong Kong, is a stellar example.

Last night, my friends and I went to Little Sheep Hotpot in Tsim Sha Tsui, a place that looked like a local favorite but seemed to slip under the foreigner radar. Of all the hotpot places I’ve been to, this one seems special. For one, it’s all you can eat and drink! Our friend who brought us here raved about the food so much that I was pretty excited to start eating. So how was it? (more…)

“Hump day” (or Wednesday for the rock-dwellers) has its share of appreciation in the workplace. It means the worst of the week is over, Monday is far behind and it’s almost Friday. But just a 15-minute walk from my apartment, in a corner of Happy Valley, Wednesday also means something else — racing day!

Hong Kong takes its racing seriously. Imagine a bunch of old men smoking, sitting on the sidewalk with papers in their hands, looking like they bet all their life savings on Seabiscuit over there. I’ve seen such men outside the Hong Kong Jockey Club offices, and this was my first impression of the races. When friends started inviting me to the racecourses “just to hang out”, I thought they just wanted to make fun of the old men. I was wrong. (more…)