MacDonald's: A kid's fantasy.
I liked the taste and smell when I was a child. Couldn't quite explain why. Perhaps, it was the deep-fried zest of Golden Arches 'golden fries', which you couldn't quite get at home (which only served boiled and steamed vegetables.
But as I grew up...I began to know more things. I began to hear about the horrors of fast-food. Terms, like "high-blood pressure", "cholesterol-free" that had never been known to me began to assault my consciousness incessantly. (I had only come across the term "trans-fat" when I entered University after talking to some friends who absolutely abstained from fast-food).
I don't know if I could still relive my childhood of craving for a nice hot fast-food meal with as much zest as before. Pangs of guilt are blended with those of craving, like the ice-cream machine which swirls the 'low-fat' yoghurt into the cup, tops with nuts and candy.
The pictures you see of a Macdonald's meal below, were taken a few weeks ago, when the pangs of craving subdued those of guilt. That's been my only meal from Macs since I've been here. And the second fast-food meal in HK (the first being the KFC meal that utterly stank).
The Macs fries, as always, look and smell great. The Coke, well...looks like it always does from Macs...in a paper cup...slowly being diluted and watered down by the enormous serving of ice.
And the burger (which was a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, cos I was interested in the menu that served something that I would normally get as breakfast in Singapore, as an ALL-DAY item in HK). The burger...look totally different from the billboards and signs that advertised it in the shop window (of course, I know, I'm a grown up, and I should know better than to go comparing the stuff on ads with my product in hand). But hey...I felt totally cheated. The thing that I had bought, looked NO WAY like the freshly steaming muffin with glistening burger meat and bright yellow and white egg.
It looked, frankly, like a rubber toy a dog would play with.
As a result, my appetite (which had been ravenous prior to opening up the burger wrapping), had now been reduced to the size of a pistachio). And so I barely was able to squeeze the burger down. No, I didn't finish the fries (Guilt had returned, after Hunger had been satisfied).
Next morning...the fries that would have been my dinner, were turned into my early lunch, along with ham and a nice cheese omelette (that, although had lots of oil, was surely more fulfilling and healthy than my rubber toy meal).
ONTO OTHER NEWS:
I love the 小吃 here in HK! There are just so many things to be had.
Chillied fish-balls (辣椒鱼蛋), 烧卖, '炸量' (literally translated as 'fried stuff'...a collection of Ngoh Hiang-ish fried delicacies available on satay sticks), and even...the forboding 臭豆腐 ('smelly bean curd').
The snacks you see below, are from an era of yester-year, and seem to be in most abundance on a small island off the West coast of HK called Cheung Chau (长洲).
Red-bean cakes...made with real egg and flour batter and freshly ground bean paste. The stall holder has been selling her delicacies for more than 30 years! 
Right & and Below: "Put Zhai Gou", otherwise known as "Bowl Jelly" is made of brown sugar, red beans, along with some other secret ingredients. Stall-holders leave the jellies steaming in large bamboo baskets, and upon sale - scoop out a jelly and stick sticks in it before handing it to you (as below). Really marvellous! (and something that sadly, I will never get to have in Singapore).
Below: Steamed milk tarts. Unlike their egg-yellow counterparts, these milk tarts are literally milk poured into a tart-base and left to steam.
When tried, they have a consistency that is in between yoghurt and custard - "betwixt and between" - in the liminal stage, if you know what I mean. Bliss!
Coke Zero was something I tried recently. Being a person who does not take soft-drinks (gassy, carbonated ones especially), and relies mostly on tea (sugared lightly, non-milky - which is rather difficult to get in HK with their trademark 奶茶 milk tea), coffee (although seldom now...I don't like reliving the experience of being addicted and downing 7 cups a night, only to still fall asleep an hour later) or plain ol' water - I found Coke Zero surprisingly good on the tastebuds. Apparently there is no added sugar - making it like Coke Light -without the flat taste of Coke Light. And more importantly, there isn't any phosphoric acid (which the original Cokes do) - that leaches calcium from your bones!
Dai Bak Leong decided to let us have some escargots...which was quite an experience for me - having never tried them before!
and served on a base of lightly whipped mashed potatoes, they actually tasted quite nice! Something that one could not quite place exactly...not 'chicken'...or any other meat. Perhaps, it was simply "Escargot" flavoured escargot.
