April 6
Hong Kong
Under orders from the cookery school to have a large breakfast - lunch would be late - but having eaten too much last night to feel the need for too much too early - I settled for the same place as yesterday, Tsui Wah.
The "Continental Breakfast" of crumbed fish, scrambled egg and baked beans, seemed just as bizarre a mixture as yesterday's. The fish was perfectly cooked, moist and tender, not dried out as it would have been in the UK.
The scrambled eggs were excellent, eggs normally are in this part of the world, and the baked beans were cold. A strange multi-cultural cuisine.
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The weather has been extremely benign. It has been very humid at times, and there was heavy rain for an hour on the day that I arrived. Otherwise, it has been between 24 and 28 degrees, cloudy and calm. Almost ideal conditions for walking round the city.
I walked all the way to Causeway Bay Station at a brisk trot, fearing that I might be late and it is always further than think. En route, I did manage to find one packet of razor blades. I will have to continue the search tomorrow.
I arrived outside the cookery school with a few minutes to spare and ventured up in the lift. I was joined by an Icelander, working in Norway, an American running a Thai restaurant in Puerto Rico, and a Thai lady. We were greeted by Martha's husband, who explained that he would be in charge for the morning.
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He is reasonably laid back and we all practised our prepping skills, chopping and slicing large quantities of vegetables.
Martha arrived at 12 and we began to make wrappers and assemble things. Under her stern gaze, this is never an easy task and my fingers were performing particularly poorly. The results appear in the photos.
Producing the baked pork buns was very satisfying but they really are very sweet. Without sugar, however, they wouldn't be as fluffy. The fish stuffed peppers weren't particularly exciting but it was remarkable how the stuffing glued itself to the peppers. The pot stickers were relatively straightforward and should be achievable at home. The final task, the Seen Har Fun Gor (steamed shrimp and vegetable dumplings) was very difficult. We had to make very thin pastry, which broke as soon as we looked at it.
Feeling shell shocked, the three men piled onto the train and headed for Tsim Sha Tsui and the Kowloon Tap House. Andy, the American, had been there before and Herrman, the Icelander, was happy to go along. We ordered a round each and then an extra one for good luck.
At this stage, Andy decided that he had better return to his hotel to phone his wife and children, leaving Herrman and I to dine at The Delicious Kitchen and then have a final beer at The Devil's Advocate.
It is a long time since I had so much beer in one evening but I think I managed as well as anyone. My new friends were good company and it was a very enjoyable evening.