DIY: Durian & Malaysia Trip

In honor of our trip to Malaysia, my husband and I bought the smallest of small durians.  These are on sale now at all local supermarkets.  Often enough, there are sweet senior citizens who help us find the best ones.  I believe it is the color and smell that distinguishes if it is ripe or just ripe.  Because we got a small one for the two of us, we got one that was ripe.

I thought it might be interesting to show how we opened ours, a D.I.Y of sorts!...and, if you have been curious over what durian looks like, then it might be interesting to check it out.

How to "PEEL" a durian:

1.  Drop it

We actually dropped ours conveniently as we tried to carry it back to our place from the supermarket.  We bought it on a whim, so we had no bags.  The cashier wrapped it as well as she could for us in newspapers...but it just dropped out.

Dropping it helps the outer casing to crack open, which you can see below.

2.  Peel it

From the cracked area, you can just peel it open like an CHOCOLATE ORANGE (wiki of a chocolate orange).  BE CAREFUL!  The spikes are hard and sharp.

Inside, you'll find that each little durian fruit is neatly encased in their own little pod.  Once you peel open the pods (there are 4 - 5 pods or more!), you can notice that they look like peas in a pod!

3.  Gather it

The next step is to just gather all of the durian fruit.  They just pop out nicely and look like giant yellow bits of a croissant.

I think durian is one of those things that you either love or hate.  But, I don't have any qualms about it.  The texture is creamy and sweet.  The smell is non-offensive to ME!  But, I know the smell is incredibly offensive to a lot of people!

NOTE:  When the durian fruit is refrigerated, it definitely enhances the durian-eating experience.  

***This blog is going to be going on hiatus for two weeks, as we shall be in Malaysia.  I won't have access to the internet, which is a good thing because sometimes I just need a true break from my internet addiction!   I'm a bit nervous to be flying down there, but I hope to return to Hong Kong with a lot of pictures and Amazing Finds!  Bye for a bit!***

First Friday (SORT OF): Junk Trips

The thing I love most about summers in Hong Kong are the junk trips.  

This is a Friday post, but I actually went on this junk trip last Sunday...I wanted to sort of put it under my FIRST FRIDAY type of posts because it was a sort of FIRST type of event.

This was the FIRST junk trip that I went on with a theme.  My friend organized a Hawaiian Luau theme for our trip, which I totally loved because I am originally from Honolulu!  It was also the FIRST junk trip that I went on that took off from the Central ferry piers (usually we take off from Sai Kung).  The Central ferry piers are so much more convenient than heading out to Sai Kung because the traffic in and out of there (especially during junk boat season) is horrendous!  And this was also the FIRST junk trip that I had been on that had authentic Hawaiian beers.  Cheers!

Every junk trip I've been on has been B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Food) style.  For our party of about 30 people, we had a reasonable about of drinks and food to suffice our 6 hour luau:

After loading everything onto the junk, we took off for Middle Bay (south of Hong Kong island, beside Repulse Bay):

We decorated the junk boat with all things Hawaiian, which really added to the festive ambience!

Pineapples near the air conditioning vent

Restroom decor

 When we got to Middle Bay, we unpacked the food and had our amazing luau:

The spread was beautiful and so delicious!

Besides the eating, drinking, and merriment, junk trips allow you to swim in the ocean and also make your way to the beach.  We were anchored about 500 meters from Middle Bay Beach, which was a pretty good stretch of water to swim--then a hop, skip and a jump over the shark net--to get to the beach.  Some junk trips offer banana boats, wake boarding, snorkeling gear, and jet skiing.

This was, by far, my favorite junk trip this year.

I love the summer!

Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan was the first Michellin Star restaurant I had ever been to.  A friend from Seattle actually introduced me to its amazingly delicious foods back in December.  Today was the perfect day to check it out because we just happened to be in the neighborhood.

Tim Ho Wan Info:

9 - 11 Fuk Wing Street

Sham Shui Po

8 am - 10 pm

Because there were only two of us, wait was only 10 minutes.

We got the menu while we were waiting in line, so we could tick off the items that we wanted to order. Genius process.  This way, we saved a lot of time...and there were people outside that helped us locate our favorite dim sum dishes (because we couldn't read Chinese).

***NOTE (as always):  I tried to write out the dim sums as best I could in English!***

Lo Mai Gai

Lo Mai Gai opened

Ham Sui Gok

Char Siu Bao

Shrimp and Chive Cheung Fan

For two girls who were starving, four dishes were enough.  It was a good lunchtime spent!

Pandamania

Walking by Jardine House in Central, I came across the pandas again!  They are going to be sitting around until August 3, 2014.  So, if you don't get a chance to view them, here they are:

Are any of them your favorite?

Amazing Finds: Tsuen Wan's Fossil Garden

We went to Tsuen Wan today and discovered the Nina Fossil Garden.  It's located on the rooftop of Nina Tower.  We just stumbled upon here as we were walking through buildings to try to find the MTR station and saw signs for the Fossil Garden.  It was a happy discovery because this seemed like an awesome space to have a rooftop picnic (planning for this at some point in the future).

Nina Fossil Garden Info:

Nina Tower

8 Yeung Uk Road

Tsuen Wan

10 am - 8 pm

The Fossil Garden has interesting things enough for the kids, romantic hideaways for the couples, and a beautiful setting for anyone who just wants to kick back and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city!