Salads with a Twist

I like making my own salads at home.

I usually go to an organic weekend market near my home to buy fresh greens and salad ingredients. Last weekend, I bought some fresh fiddlehead ferns(also known as Pako in the Philippines) and made some yummy salads. Pako salad is normally offered in Filipino restaurants and is usually served with a vinaigrette dressing.

I prepared a pako(fiddlehead fern)salad with a twist by adding some truffle oil to the salted duck eggs and used a calamansi(Philippine lime) vinaigrette dressing. I made 2 versions of the salad.

Pako(fiddlehead fern salad) with prawns, salted duck eggs
 with truffle oil, cucumbers and tomatoes.

 If you prefer a salad without prawns, then this version of the pako salad is good.

Pako salad with salted duck eggs with truffle oil , tomatoes
and cucumbers.

With a little creativity, it is easy to turn a simple dish to a gourmet dish at home. The truffle oil simply enhances the flavour of the salted duck eggs and the tartness of the calamansi vinaigrette makes it a delightful dish that can be eaten anytime of the day.

Eat fresh and eat well. Cheers!

Macau Revisited

St. Paul Ruins in Macau

Photo taken by : Tess Raymundo

Macau is a place that one can visit for a day during a trip to Hong Kong. 

Although Macau is a small place, it is an interesting place to visit since the Centre of Macau is part of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. It is also an important international port in Asia.

Macau is filled with Portuguese built  neo-classical
 architectural structures and old churches in pastel colours.
 It shows mixed influences from the East and the West.

There are several fast ferry boats that leave Hong Kong's TST(Tsim Sha Tsui) area every 30 minutes which go to Macau. The price of the roundtrip boat ride is around HKD400 per person. The ferry terminal is just a few steps from Harbour City mall in TST(Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon). Some known companies that provide fast ferry service are Turbojet and Cotai. Just remember to bring your passport since it needs to be checked at Immigration.

It has been a few years since I have been to Macau. I still remember that the first time I went there before my brother and I had dinner at the Four Seasons hotel and watched a fun show by Cirque du Soleil called "Zaia" at the Venetian Hotel's theater.  The other time I visited Macau, I ended up going around the different hotels like MGM Grand, Wynn hotel, and went to St. Paul Ruins too.

During a recent visit last July with some friends, I had the chance to  revisit Macau, go to St St. Paul ruins again and was able to see the Crypt and the Museum of Sacred Art.

Senado Square in Macau

It is Macau's urban centre for centuries. It is where public events
take place and is located near the former senate building.

St. Paul Ruins facade upclose

This is what was originally the facade of the Church of 
Mater Dei built in 1602-1640.
 It was destroyed by a fire in 1835

The divisions with glass encolosures show the areas where
the columns of the church were located before.

A cross stands on rocks inside the crypt 
inside the underground area of the St. Paul ruins.

Bones in glass enclosures can be seen by visitors  in the crypt
of St. Paul ruins.

There are various religious artifacts at the Museum of Sacred Art which shows statues made mid -19th century when Macau was still a colony of Portugal.

Visitors get a glimpse of photos showing how the Church
of Mater Dei looked like before.

After visiting St. Paul ruins, it is nice to go and walk around Macau.

View from St. Paul ruins shows a busy
Macau filled with visitors

Street food like fish balls can be bought at the stalls the moment you
get down from the staircase at St. Paul ruins

One of the well-known local bakeries  that most
visitors go to for goodies is Koi Kee. They offer
free samples which can help you decide which 
goodies you may want to buy.

Portuguese tarts at Koi Kee are freshly made and  packed warm.

Dried pork meat can be bought at Koi Kee 

Crunchy peanut snacks can be bought at Koi Kee

Almond cookies  are one of the popular snacks that visitors buy

Dried fish

Dried cuttlefish

Chocolates from Koi Kee

Most Macau visitors also go to the Venetian Hotel to have a glimpse of the hotel, the casino and the Venice themed hotel and mall.

The Venetian mall features an indoor canal
where visitors can ride gondolas for a fee

Tourists ride the gondola  to take photos/ videos as their
 boatman sings while he takes the group for a tour inside the mall

Artwork in the ceiling of Venetian Hotel's lobby area

Visitors often stop to take photos in front of the golden
spherical figure in the middle of the hotel's lobby area

Lots of people go to Venetian since it offers
visitors various shops to look at and a lot of
restaurant and food outlets too

During our visit the show featured at the Venetian
 theater was Beauty and the Beast the musical

Going around Macau can be done in a day depending on your itinerary but for those who would like to explore Macau more it is not a problem since there are a lot of hotels in the area where one can opt to book a room for an overnight stay. 

Macau is tourist friendly. The hotels provide free shuttle service from the Ferry station to hotel and from hotel to Ferry station several times in a day since they really encourage more visitors to come. They also accept Hong Kong Dollars as payment at the shops but the change that they give is in Macau currency. Exchanging money is easy since there are banks and money exchange shops inside the malls.

To maximize your time in Macau, it is best to go there during the morning, plan which sites you want to visit at Macau's Historic Centre and choose the boat schedule that you are comfortable with if you are heading back to Hong Kong on the same day.

Sunset by the bay

It has been more than ten years since I learned photography from a professional instructor when I enrolled in a photography class at the Alcove library, which has been converted today to the posh Blackbird restaurant at the Ayala Triangle in Makati City.

I still remember that on the final day of our class we were asked to take photos of the beautiful sunset at Manila bay on Roxas Boulevard.

Sorting out some of my files recently I actually found this nice photo of the Manila bay sunset on Roxas Boulevard that I took a couple of years ago using my Canon dslr camera.

Sunset by the bay

Photo taken by Tess Raymundo

Sometimes we just have to go outdoors to see things that remind us of the beauty of nature and appreciate the simple joys in life. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Cheers!

Paper Moon Opens in Manila

Paper Moon, a swanky boutique cafe from Japan, has opened recently at Glorietta mall in Makati City.

The cafe has been featured by CNN Travel as one of the best dessert spots in Tokyo. It is known for its signature Mille Crepe cake which is made from 20 paper-thin crepes bound with creamy custard.

It was founded by a Japanese woman named Madame Kazuko Emy Wada. I got pleasantly surprised when I found out that she is also the lady behind the acclaimed New York boutique cafe called Lady M which has opened stores in Hong Kong and Singapore.

I heard about Lady M cafe from my brother who was raving about it since he tried their mille crepe cake in Singapore during one of his recent trips. I tried to get a chance to get a slice of their mille crepe in Lady M in Hong Kong for three times but was not able to try it since the line is very long and the cakes get sold out.

Madame Wada learned the European way of making desserts from her Austrian mother-in-law and combined her penchant for creating high quality cakes and food products, which has resulted to the opening Lady M and Paper Moon cafes.

During the store's  recent opening, Madame Emy Wada(lady on the right)
is very hands-on and ensures the high quality of  Paper Moon mille
crepe cakes, food and service is given to customers.

The must-try cake at Paper Moon is their original mille crepe cake which is currently offered at PHP225 per slice.

Paper Moon also offers mini crepe cakes and other flavours of mille crepe cakes such as strawberry, mango and chocolate.

Paper Moon's mini strawberry mille crepe cake

 

Paper Moon's original crepe cake 

I have finally tried the must-try mille crepe from Paper Moon cafe. I would say that it is worth the wait, very good and the sweetness is just right.

After trying the crepe cake, I even got the opportunity to talk a bit to  Lady M herself (a.k.a. Madame Kazuko Emy Wada)  at Paper Moon and told her that what I really wanted to try is their Green Tea flavoured mille crepe cake. She responded to me with a smile and told me in a soft spoken manner that they will also offer it later on.

I am looking forward to visit Paper Moon again. It is definitely a cool place for nice desserts. Hopefully, they already have Green Tea mille crepe cakes next time I visit.

Hong Kong Travel Tips

Hong Kong is one of the most frequented places by Filipinos who like to travel since it is quite near to the Philippines (only 2 hours flying time to get there). 

It is also an affordable trip and accessible destination since Filipinos do not need to get a travel visa to go there.

Night time view from TST in Hong Kong

Last month, I travelled with a group of friends and visited Hong Kong and Macau.

Since Hong Kong is a place that I am pretty familiar with, I helped my friends go to the various spots in Hong Kong. We walked around and rode different modes of transport to reach the different places included in our list.

Here are some travel tips for Hong Kong travellers:

1) Airport to hotel transfer options

If you are travelling with your family or a group, it is much cheaper to just get a van or taxi to go from HK International Airport to your hotel or the place where you shall stay during your visit especially if your hotel is located in Kowloon or Hong Kong side.

If you want efficiency, a nice vehicle and cashless payment, it would be good to get your ride via Uber.

You can opt to get an Uber van from the airport to your hotel by requesting using the Uber app on your mobile phone. All you need is a wifi connection and in a few minutes you will be picked up by an Uber driver who shall take you to your hotel. 

You can check the estimated fare rate from Uber Hong Kong's website. Just to give you an idea on cost, estimated fare is between HKD400 to HKD500(depending on traffic) for an Uber Black car from HK International Airport to the Kowloon train station area. This is still cheaper and may be around half the price versus taking a hotel van or limo service requested from the hotel that you shall be staying at.

It was my first time to use Uber in HK during my recent trip and I would say that it is a good option since it saves you time and is definitely better than waiting at a long taxi line near the malls.

Rates for an Uber black car in HK

We took an UberVan one time from TST to Kowloon area and the fare is even cheaper versus taking a regular HK taxi. We only got charged HKD87, the van is a Toyota Hi-Ace and we did not have to wait in the long taxi line near Harbour City.

For a more comfortable ride, you might want to get an Uber that is good for 7 people. We took this option during one our trips to IFC from our hotel in Kowloon area and a Toyota Alphard vehicle picked us up. The fare is not bad at HKD200 for  five people who went from Kowloon area to Hong Kong train station.

Toyota Alphard  vehicles  are usually available
 for Uber vehicle for 7 people

If you are travelling alone or with just one more person then it would be good to take the HK Airport Express train from the airport to the station where your hotel is near and then get a taxi or an Uber once you reach Hong Kong or Kowloon station. Train ticket from Airport to HK station is at HKD100.

HK Airport Express train

2)  For accommodation


You may opt to book a hotel via booking.com for a hassle-free online booking or you might also want to check airbnb if you are a big group and would prefer a place that is more affordable and with more space and a kitchen.

A  modern and spacious room at the Upper House in Hong Kong

source: Upper House website (www.upperhouse.com)

Remember to choose a hotel that is located near an MTR train station. If you are travelling with kids or people who prefer to have short distance walks, it is best to choose hotel locations that are just walking distance to the malls and places where you shall spend most of your time. This way you can opt to bring back shopping bags or take a some rest in between shopping time.

If you prefer high-end hotels, some good options are: Four Seasons Hotel(located at Hong Kong station and within the same area as IFC mall), The Upper House(located beside Pacific Place mall), W hotel (located at Kowloon station and beside Elements mall).

The Upper House is modern and designed by Andrew Fu, 
one of the most sought after young designers in Asia Pacific

source: Upper House website (www.upperhouse.com)

The Upper House rooms offers a nice view of Hong Kong
so you can simply relax after a busy day

source: Upper House website (www.upperhouse.com)

2) Get an Octopus card

Taking public transport in HK is easy and convenient with the use of the Octopus card. 

Octopus card for adults

The Octopus card for adult costs HKD150(it includes a HKD50 card deposit and HKD100 that you can use). It's a card that can be used for the train or MTR, for big buses, mini bus, tram and can even be used to buy some items at convenience stores such as 7-11 and Circle K.

Reloading money to your card can be done at any MTR station via machine, MTR customer service counter or at any convenience store.

Inner area of an MTR station

One important tip when riding MTR trains is to always be ready to have your Octopus card in your hand or in a pouch that you can easily hold and tap quickly at the entrance and exits of the MTR stations since HK people are always in a rush to go from one point to the other.

Using your Octopus card to go from one train station to the next is going to save you time when you go to frequently visited  stations such as Admiralty, TST(Tsim Sha Tsui), Causeway Bay, Hong Kong and Central. Be ready to stand inside the trains especially if you are travelling during rush hour.

Each MTR train station is easy to spot
since the entrance is marked with a red
 and white MTR logo signage

Ride trains quickly as the train doors in Hong Kong
just open for a few seconds

Before leaving Hong Kong and heading to the airport do not forget to return your Octopus card at the MTR customer service booth in order to get your refund for the card deposit.

3) Ride different modes of transport to visit attraction sites

It's been a long time since I have been to The Peak in Hong Kong. Often times, first time HK visitors go there to get a good view of Hong Kong and take photos.

The Peak is one of the most popular sites visited by tourists in Hong Kong since it gives a spectacular view of Hong Kong. Plus, you get to ride the Peak Tram,a cable-hauled funicular railway that scales up the 396m ascent the highest point in Hong Kong Island.

The Peak Tram is the oldest form of public transport in Hong
Kong territory. It has been there since 1888.

The railway where the Peak Tram scales up
the 396m ascent to bring visitors to the
highest point of Hong Kong Island.

If you are at the Hong Kong train station or IFC mall, you can opt to take a bus number 15 from the bus terminal at Hong Kong station to go to the Peak.

4)  Wear comfortable shoes, explore and take photos of the spectacular views

The Peak vistors also go to the old tram car located near 
the Peak Galleria mall to take photos

The Peak Galleria has stores and restaurants that visitors
may go to

To get an unobstructed of the view and better vantage point, you may opt to pay a fee and go to the Sky Terrace 428 viewing deck at the Peak.

Headsets are given to visitors at Sky Terrace 428 so
that first time visitors may get to know more about Hong
Kong while looking at the towering buildings from 
the  viewing deck.

Some visitors write love notes/ wishes and hang it on
the heart-shaped structure at the Peak.

Visitors take photos and selfies from the different
 areas on the viewing deck.

This is a photo I took using my Canon digital camera as
I enjoyed looking at the view from the Peak. It was a clear
and sunny day.

It is also nice to look at the view from Hong Kong's IFC mall and see the night time view and "Symphony of Lights" show from Harbour City in TST.

View from  the IFC mall. The highrise building on

the left is the ICC(International Commerce Centre),

 the tallest building in Hong Kong today.

You can see TST(Tsim Sha Tsui) from IFC mall and see
the Star Cruises boat parked beside Harbour City
 mall from IFC mall

Lighted  highrise buildings from Hong Kong side are seen
from TST area 

5) Have fun shopping and eating in HK

Hong Kong shopping is fun especially during sale season.

Times Square Mall in  Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

If you want to go for branded stuff you can go to Harbour City mall in TST(Tsim Sha Tsui), Pacific Place mall, IFC mall, Elements mall, and Times Square mall.

During festivities like Chinese New Year, you would also enjoy seeing the nice themed displays inside the high-end malls.

Year of the Sheep inspired display at Landmark
in Hong Kong

Chinese New Year themed display at
IFC Mall  in Hong Kong

If you prefer to shop at outlet stores, you may want to check City Gate mall located beside the Tung Chung train station

POLO Ralph Lauren outlet store in City Gate mall

Kate Spade outlet store in City Gate mall

For bargain items that range from clothes to accessories, you can visit the stalls in Mongkok or go to Stanley market if you prefer to see a scenic beach view as you go up the area via bus or taxi.

Various Chinese inspired outfits for kids at a

stall in Stanley Market Hong Kong

For good eats, you may want to eat some dim sum. Tim Ho Wan, is an affordable place to go to. Plus it is touted as the "cheapest Michellin star restaurant" since an order of dim sum is between to USD2 to USD4 per order. There's a TIm Ho Wan branch at IFC mall.

Shrimp dumplings is a must try at Tim Ho Wan

The best tasting baked barbeque pork buns from Tim Ho Wan

For a lovely afternoon tea break, you may want to try Angelina's Paris located inside Lane Crawford at IFC mall.

The must-try Mont Blanc dessert can be paired with
tea of coffee.

Pretty mini cakes at Angelina's Paris HK

6) Maximize your time in HK by doing express check-in 

Express Check-in counter at Hong Kong Station/ IFC Mall

To maximize your stay in Hong Kong, use the Express check-in counter at Hong Kong station and check-in your luggage after you have checked-out from your hotel. Major airlines are normally allowed to use express check-in. 

Do check with your airline or travel agent if your airline is allowed. Definitely travellers flying via Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air flights from Hong Kong can make use of this perk. It's one valuable airport service that I use everytime I go to Hong Kong.

After your use the express check-in, you can just relax at a cafe at IFC mall or buy more gifts for family and friends at the nice shops in the mall.

Travelling is easy and enjoyable when you are able to plan well and go to various places in less time. Hong Kong is certainly a tourist friendly place as most of their malls have concierge stations where you can always ask for directions and get a map.

Photo was taken during the Elephant exhibit at Pacific Place mall
in Hong Kong