Interesting things I learn here

Many things I've learnt here about food:

1) Food is vital for human survivial (yes, water too).

Hence, in a place where you are demanded to survive in a rapidly moving environment (and I don't just mean the people and pace of life. Even the weather here changes suddenly...it was nice and cool last week, and within a day, it became 27 degrees this morning! WHAT THE!!), you've got to find cheap, nice places to nourish you (otherwise you're gonna be quite miserable).

Wanting to try 'western food' here (yes yes...the whole 'western' and 'occidental' I've studied and understood...just leave it be for now. Western here means anything eaten with fork and knife, not chopsticks), I whipped up a ham and cheese omelette with grilled tomatoes and a pasta side dish. (As seen RIGHT)

Looked quite decent, and believe you me...it tasted great (BETTER THAN RUBBER-MEALS you get from a certain establishment which only look good in pictures, and taste half-decent).

2) Basket of "Shao Bao ("寿包") - an interestingly Hong Kong phenomenon (I wouldn't dare say "Chinese" for fear of offending socio-analysts) to be had during a birthday celebration, instead of the 'usual' birthday cake in Singapore. This is not to say that birthday cakes are not in fashion here. It simply means that traditionally, Hong Kong people do pay attention more to the traditions than we would traditionally do.

Left: Another example of "Shao Baos", this time for my Eldest uncle's 60th Bday.

Below: Noticeably, there were green luscious 'leaves' on them, which upon closer examination, seemed to give the impression of thick green alien leeches crawling over the pure plump 'paos'.

Thus seeing how lifelike they were, I adopted the green things as pets momentarily and even tried feeding it a sprig of parsley that the roast chicken had not wanted (nor did any of the people around the table).

3) Things with strange sounding names and ingredients are not necessarily bad.
Below: A "pei dan Sou" (Century Egg Puff), before I devoured half of it.

4) Fruits grow mouldy if you leave them in plastic bags (Even for just one day).Below: An illustration to prove the point (when I tried crunching up the bag, a puff of spores came flying up. I did not hesitate to chuck it out).