Hong Kong: Market Day!

One of the highlights of our trip was our culinary adventure day. We took a tour through the market with Peonie and her sister, Toowina, as our guides. Not only did we get a taste of a local daily market, but we also picked up ingredients along the way to cook dinner that night. It was like our dream come true...learn to cook Chinese food by the experts!

The meat is so fresh it is not refrigerated...it just sits out in the humidity. We didn't eat any of this...

What's a Chinese market without duck?

Fresh bamboo

Check out Scott's melons!

This is the wet market...where you can buy any and all the seafood you desire.

Eels

And even live frogs! Scott got a lesson from a customer on how to properly prepare them. No thanks! (I'll spare you of the pictures of the cleaver and frog together)

Mmm mmm good!

Scott and his dad were in charge of tasting (and tasting and tasting) the wine while Peonie & Toowina cooked. As I couldn't drink, I was in the right mentality to actually write down the recipes and take some pictures. Can't wait to try out some of these dishes at home (although half the battle will be locating the ingredients here...fresh bamboo, fish paste, bitter melon, Chinese celery).

Toowina sautes fish paste balls.

This wine is good...

Hello snapper!

Here's a rundown of the meal:

Sauteed Prawns: sauteed with a little sugar and soy sauce and Toowina's secret spice blend!

Bamboo and Mushrooms: fresh bamboo shoot, dried mushrooms, Asian celery, and fish paste balls.

Bitter Melon Omlette

Boiled Bok Choy

Steamed Snapper: super healthy! Steamed and topped with celery and green onion, and a little soy sauce.

It looks like a lot of dishes for one meal, but in the Chinese style of eating, all the dishes are placed in the center of the table, and the diners take what they want as they please with their chopsticks. You each have a little bowl of rice also. Its not like our American way of eating Chinese food where you pass around each dish and load it onto your plate, its more take a bite of this, then a bite of this.