Shiro's Hangout |staying active!!|

[ShiroGEM]

Not sure if there's a name for it? We just call it 港式 and then the food name which is "Hong Kong style" in direct translation. Being an HK citizen is confusing. >_>

[Diana]

haha I think I have heard that.
I would call it delicious though myself

I have been learning to read Mandarin, maybe you can help me? What is the first character in "chicken" (鸡) mean? The app I have only tells me that the second part is the bird character. My guess is something like "idiot bird" lol!

[ShiroGEM]

I do love dimsum!! Do they have genuine HK style food over where you are? Sometimes I hear about American Chinese style food that honestly sounds... really gross. Cheese in crab dumplings?? c':

I read traditional Chinese but there isn't much of a meaning to the left part. 鸡 is one character so they aren't meant to be separated. The 鳥 “bird" part determines the meaning. Sometimes, words have other parts to determine how it can be read. For example 系 xi and 溪 xi, the first word is included in the second so people can remember how it's read easier. Dots on the left determine the meaning, 水 which is "water" and thus 溪 means "stream"

So I guess there's always going to be components of the character that mean something, and some that don't really mean anything? Hope that helps.

[Diana]

I have a Chinese American coworker from New York who could talk for days about how we have no good Chinese food in the town I live in (and surrounding towns) haha. I wish we did! Some places are really gross and make things like cheese rangoons.
We have one or two places in nearby towns that make pretty good village food, focusing on more szechuan style. But other than that, there are no stores that sell dim sum, hotpot, or anything fancy or particularly authentic. lol. Our local hk style resturant didnt have anything really special in it, which is a bummer. Although you are attributed to the creation of wontons and wonton soup which I have had. I think I have been at a family reunion at a hk style resturaunt in LA, but it was a fish focused meal and I was too scared of the dishes to try much lol.
What is your favourite hk style dish(es)?

Gotcha. Some characters do have parts that are full combinations of other words, like panda looks like bear + cat. I was hoping to rely on that to help me remember what is what. Although sometimes they make no sense, like theres some character that indicates a relationship to body parts when on one side of the combination character but it was some normal word, I forget. I guess some meaning has been lost over time? haha

Traditional Chinese looks scarier How do you remember so many different characters? Do you remember the sound they make and read that way?

[ShiroGEM]

I don't think I would be able to live where you are... Chinese food is the bane of my existence. c': Why do people like putting cheese in everything? It tastes alright in pasta but rangoons??

Szechuan style is something I don't really eat often because it's often spicy. You can make your own hotpot though! It's literally a bunch of ingredients, vegetables, fish and meat cooked in a pot and you can share it with a group of people. Try it during the winter holidays or something. Wonton is one of my favourites though HK wonton has a thinner and silkier skin wrapping than the usual Chinese style.

If you really want to get a full taste of the cuisine though, you gotta get used to eating fish and other weird bits. It was hard for me at first too but chicken feet, pig knuckles and cow stomach soon became some of my favourites. They won't harm you if they're cooked well. ^^

In terms of all time favourites (but not Canto specific), I really love Xiao Long Bao, Yang Zhou fried rice, custard buns, chicken feet, Shui mai, Har gow (shrimp dumplings) and Rice noodle roll with shrimp (the most classic kind here.) You can practically get everything at a dimsum place here. *v*

Yep! They're called 詞語, consisting of usually 2 characters to form a proper word. They... usually don't make much sense unfortunately though there might be a few. ;c

The word for "body" you might be looking for is 肉, for "meat". It's usually included in words like 腳 "feet", 臉 "face", 胸 "chest" and so forth. In traditional it looks like 月 "moon" which is totally different but written the same so it confused the hell out of me too. xD

Traditional Chinese... IS scary haha. I hate reading and writing (hence for a HKer my Chinese is really bad.) We get used to it by being submerged in the culture though, also helps that I go back to Taiwan every holiday so... more exposure. c': As I said earlier about 溪, sometimes the word hints how to pronounciate it. I usually rely on that. With other words, I just forget them. |D

[Diana]

Right? I think it is sooo gross when they put cheese in chinese food. Like no!! I dont like a lot of cheeses anyways, even on delicious food like pizza. haha Chinese food was my safe no-cheese cusine but someone had to go and ruin it!

I like spicy food! I am not quite as crazy as my relatives who put chili oil on things after they are already spicy though Too much!
Thats interesting about your wontons! Is it more like the wrapping for the clear spring rolls than the rice wrappers for gyoza or something? I feel like that would fall apart in soup...

Do you make your own hotpot? Do you have a favourite recipe? I tried once but didnt have the right spices so it basically turned into chicken tortilla soup lol.

I don't trust people here to prepare cow stomach or chicken feet properly so maybe that is partly why I am so tentative to eat them... In addition to them being scary looking. I am definitely freaked out though when they bring the whole fish out, head and all, and it is just sitting there looking at me the whole meal. Maybe thats why you eat the eyeballs? Revenge?

If I ever get the chance I will have to give those a try! My sister loooves fried rice. I am not a huge fan though, it is usually too oily for me or something. I saw Xaio Long Bao on the internet! I so hope to find somewhere that makes them. I like soup, I like dumplings, why not soup in the dumplings? Genious! lol

Oh! that character comes from meat! I thought it did come from moon! Thats the one lol. Sometimes it means eyes too or is that a different character still? I think that one might have an additional line in the middle? Meat makes sooo much more sense. wow.

Ooh! Is HK very westernised? I always wondered, you are in China but your English is very very good. So far I only can speak two languages, English and bad English You've been showing me up lol

I would hate to write it for anything but I think written Chinese is cool and cute. I want to do some illustrations with characters when I have some more time to help remember. I can definitely see how being immersed in the language teaches you. The most exposure I get is menus (most important) or the occasional webtoon translation. Menus are the only thing in my skill range because most things say beef, pig, or chicken somewhere in the title of the dish lol.
Something funny I noticed is here things will say "cow" for beef, but just "meat" for pork. Is that standard where you live?

[ShiroGEM]

Well maybe they have sushi there? Ramen is good too and it usually doesn't have cheese. Though i've seen American sushi with cheese and weird things too. >_>;;

I'm really bad with spicy haha but Korean foods can be incredibly spicy. Have you tried those? Canto wontons are wrapped in a thinner dumpling skin. It's more delicate but they don't break apart because it's not that delicate. They look like this:

In contrast, Chinese wontons look like this:


There isn't really a set recipe for hotpot. Back in the day my mom would ask me what I wanted to eat, we'd go out to buy raw ingredients and throw them in the pot with boiling water. Basically it's just boiling stuff on the spot. When you're done you can drink the water as soup with whatever is left. c: We never added spices though so everything is lighter in taste.

Fried rice is usually oily, but in comparison to pizza... that's nothing. If you don't like really oily rice, maybe try Shanghai vegetable rice with ground beef. It's one of my childhood favs!
Like this one: http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/09/shangh ... rk-greens/
Dumplings in soup is actually pretty common, some times it's paired with noodles which is practically two birds in one stone.

Well food regulations here are strict so i'm not sure about where you are. Though I can understand the fear. That's a shame ;u; usually fish is a-okay though. I don't eat all the parts but I can eat eggs and whatever meat I can salvage on the head if it's a big fish. The cheeks and forehead usually has tender bits of meat. We don't actually have to eat the eyeballs. My dad usually eats every part possible because back in his day he was poor so he hates wasting fish.

眼 is different because the left includes 目 which means "vision". Don't confuse 日 "day" or with 目. ^^ There is also 身 "body" which is part of other words. Honestly I think using 身 would make more sense but maybe it was developed later... Chinese is weird.

HK is pretty westernised, though most of the local population doesn't have the best English. I'm kind of an exception since English is my mother tongue and the language I study in. c': It sucks being so bad in Chinese though. Pfft I have bad English too, just ask mur.

Ohh there is a strong art history associated with the language. You should take a look at how the words formed through calligraphy. It's super interesting! Hmm maybe watch some Chinese/Taiwanese dramas? Avoid Hong Kong ones though since they usually speak Canto in those. Webtoon also has a Chinese version, both in Traditional and Simplified. They also offer different webtoons than the English site so when you think you're up for it, read some of those. C:

They always specify here since some people are religious and can't eat either beef or pork. That is weird though, i'll always ask what kind of meat i'm eating either way.

[Diana]

We actually have a ton of Japanese and korean food here. Our Japanese food is pretty good but is mostly sushi or ramen and very expensive (expensive sushi is something I never understood; I live on the ocean basically). They make some weird versions of sushi, like adding cheese and jalapenos. We have a heavy mexican influence here so that is probably why, but cheese and seaweed are not flavour friends. Korean food has become more popular in the last few years. We even have korean and vietnamese fusion resturants lol. I like banh mi a lot, especially for the pickled carrots and radishes or whatever. I can't find them for sale separate anywhere. I would put them on everything!

I see about the wontons! I have only had chinese style. And about the hotpot I have seen people have like special soup bases or something. It is interesting you dont season it. Do you season the meat you use at all? I will have to try it your way next time I give it a go!

Shanghai fried rice looks yummy! Pizza isn't too oily if you take most of the cheese off lol. My stomach is sensitive to some kinds of oils, but I am going to the doctor to diagnose that, so maybe I will start being able to eat more fried rice soon.

I knew it! I think at family reunions when we get the fish heads they try to make me eat it as a joke on me!

Yeah! So many characters look similar! vision, mouth, and day are all those fully closed box characters with various numbers of lines through them. The art history of calligraphy is so cool! I think there was a pbs special about it I watched when I was a kid... I have seen some simple calligraphy-caricatures doing things like "tree" or "man" but not much doing more complex characters. I think it is extra difficult that some characters are changed when combined into complex characters, like ren (人) sometimes gets rotatated or split and looks more like a backwards t, or a funky i. I don't think I am ready for webtoons unless they only say things like "I want 6 plates of beef" or "I am cat" or "I wore long pants at the hospital at 9pm last saturday" lol!

I did a little wikipedia reading on hk haha. It is apparently where "east meets west" so now I am curious if you have weird hongkong-ized american foods or anything. Mexican food is very big here. Do you even have any there? I know Ryvvi has none where she is in Australia. That is so weird to me, I have burritos on a weekly basis haha.

I also saw some pictures of Nathan Road, or side streets from it that looked very cyberpunk! Is there an adverse reaction to cyberpunk novels there, is it a marketing advantage, or totally ignored? I always find cyberpunk novels entertaining, but probably offensive to people who are actually from china or japan. Snow Crash, for example, refers to asians as "nipponese", which might not technically be wrong but seems either archaic or misappropriated lol.

[ShiroGEM]

Sushi is probably expensive depending on how it's cut though since they have to prepare it carefully. It's easy to get parasites or diseases on raw fish so sashimi grade fish is pretty pricey. Keeping the fish fresh is also a factor. Jalapenos?? Why? //facepalm/
Pickled veggies are pretty good in omelets so if you find any, try it. Not sure if you've tried kimchi though? It's just spicier and not sour compared to pickled radishes.

How are you alive. o-o There is oil in everything though. Pizza here is really oily, not just in cheese but in the crust as well. It's really gross. ;_; Well fried stuff isn't very good for you anyway.

We don't season anything or add soup base at home because it's a hassle. That is an option at many hot pot restaurants though! Some places have milk bases which is weird but ain't bad at all. I don't think seasoning before cooking is a hot pot thing because the seasoning will wash off in the soup. Therefore we have soy sauce with garlic or something to dip it in after it's cooked.

You should eat the head (except the eyeballs) and then look at your fam like you're da boss. xD

Yup Chinese is a confusing language. Though I forgot to say, every word has a 部首 which is sort of the radical we've been talking about all this time. ^^ It's quite easy to spot out because it determines part of the meaning of the character so yea. Makes remembering how to write a tad bit easier. The way they look in complex characters is usually consistent. 草 "grass" in included in 荳 "bean" as well as 菜 "vegetable". Usually it's included in plant based words. You could try picture books? Maybe the pictures will help you.

HK used to be colonised by the British for a while but there is a 50 year period before being handed back to China. There's quite a lot of diversity of race actually since it's a pretty good place for business. We do have HK French Toast and HK Milk Tea which is like British Tea but... modified? I don't eat it much though. I think the food isn't really modified though since foreigners come here to open shops, it's pretty genuine I assume. Haven't seen anything crazy like Dumplings on pizza yet. xD There is Mexican food here though! I tried it once and it was nice.

Nathan Rd is in the Kowloon side so i'm not very familiar with it. ^^; Though some buildings are definitely cooler looking than others. Some of them are run down though because they're resident buildings that are decades old. Hmm... I think some teenagers and young adults love reading that genre but it depends on the translation as well. You have to be careful of the setting because it might write Japan or China as the dominant power and best country in the world. It's kind of like propaganda I guess but in terms of the story.

[Diana]

Yeah, I would hope sushi is expensive because of the care taken in preparation, but I recently found out the local super expensive sushi resturant buys fish and leaves it on the same ice for days before getting it to the resturant. That doesn't sound fresh to me! Sometimes you can get a raw fish and cucumber only roll for like 6.50, but thats as low as I have seen it here. I really like eel though, which runs about 14$ a roll
Right? More like jalapeNO.
I have had kimchi! I like it though I dont think it has as much flavour, just hot. I think the pickled radishes turn sort of sweet?

Re oil problem: I throw up a lot and then dont eat certain foods again lol. I had an ultrasound of my abdomin and they said I have a fold in my gall bladder, but I havent had my followup appointment to find out if that is the source of my problems. Pizza here is sometimes oily on the crust because it is buttered but I dont think that happens normally when cooking... Pizza cheese gets oily though when heated. I definitely can't eat pepperoni or anything like that.

I will have to practice so next time I can eat all the fish meat

I think I have flash cards somewhere with pictures and the chinese characters on it actually. Maybe it will be good to dig those up?

Is hk french toast like japanese french toast where it is really fluffy? haha We have pizza pockets that are basically pizza filled dumplings!

Ah yeah! I didn't think about the propoganda part. Thats interesting! wikipedia suggested most buildings are not very old because there is so much business and people moving to hk you are out of sideways room and need to expand up. Maybe it means like ancient temples or something. From pictures, it looks like you could walk down one street and end up feeling like you are in a totally different universe.

It sounds like hk is almost all city? Do you have a big homeless problem? The weather is nice in California so lots of homeless people flock here, but they live outside and are really disrespectful so cities (especially large ones like LA) smell like pee all the time. :v

[ShiroGEM]

You can usually tell if sashimi is fresh or not so if it's all soggy and gross, they're just ripping you off. :C How big is a roll? I'm imagining small stuff right now and that is expensive af. In many chainstores in HK, Nigiri prices don't usually go over 20 hkd for 2 pieces. It depends on the fish because they offer premium stuff as well. I don't like buying expensive fish bits though, such as the belly. Pfft that joke c;
Yea kimchi is really spicy, but it's pickled cabbage so close enough? Lol i get what you mean but I don't think many westerners like pickled stuff in general. o-o Apart from pickles. Do you have culture specific stores though? In HK we have chain stores for western culture stuff like cheese, and Indonesian/Philippines stores that sell special herbs and coconut stuff they like. Maybe you can find some there?

Wow... isn't it hard to find things you can eat then? Did you grow up with the fold? Pizza cheese is oily? Is it a special type of cheese? Well it kinda makes sense that it would have oils lol. Pepperoni isn't my favourite though, I like char sui more.

You can make some flashcards online if you can't find them. They are very helpful though! Efficient study tactics. /o/

HK French Toast is like bread with egg fused onto it. Not sure how they cook it but they top it with maple syrup and butter. Maybe you've seen it? I've never had Japanese French Toast but it looks really similar but smaller and simpler. Pizza... filled dumplings.

It's quite common for scifi genres to have a bit of propaganda or bias but as long as the story is great I don't really care. Well some buildings are old, others have been renovated and others are really new. It is quite populated but the wealth gap is large so there's that too. It depends on how much people can afford since old buildings are usually cheaper to live in than newer ones. Though relatively, most of the buildings are new in the sense that, HK was quick to develop after refugees moved into the village.

We do have problems with poverty since space is limited. A lot of people live in cages because it's the cheapest accommodation. The government does pay attention to homeless because they usually get relocated. It looks bad to tourists if there are beggars everywhere after all. ;n;

[Diana]

A roll here is usually 8 pieces. I have talked to people online who say the sushi near them is 2$ a roll. I am being ripped off! lol. I usually try to get eel but if it isntoo expensive I would go for like salmon and shrimp or something. I am not a huge fan of raw tuna, but I like tunafish sandwiches!
I don't like pickles, but I like pickled garlic. We have one "asian market" but it sells mostly dishwear, instant soup, and crackers. No real fresh food markets or pickled veggies. Maybe I can order it online though? :o Lol western cheese grocery.

I am not sure if I had the fold all along or it grew later. Stay tuned until Thursday to find out more! Pizza cheese is usually a blend of cheeses. I am not sure which is the oiliest. If I make pizza at home, I usually do all or mostly parmesean, which is way less oily. char siu is bbq pork? I like that better too. Never had it on pizza though lol. I dont think I have ever had any kind of pork on pizza actually... I have had bbq chicken. I have also had black beans on pizza because the server heard beans instead of olives. But I dont thik I have ever had pork or steak even. :o

HK french toast sounds like regular french toast haha. Maybe we make it with sugary eggs or something? Do you have a special bread for it? A resturaunt in the next city makes a cinnamon raisin bread french toast that is very delicious.

Definitely! I think a lot of sci fi is used to address and mirror problems in the real world, so a bit of propoganda is ok and totally reasonable.

If it doesn't smell like pee outside, I am moving to hk! make room for me! lol. I feel like cages is not a good word to use for a home. I hope that is slang.

Thanks for answering all my questions, this is fun!

[ShiroGEM]

I guess the price ain't too bad but $2 is insane. o-o Holy crap i'd move there to buy sushi at that price. Tuna sashimi isn't that nice compared to salmon but I love sandwiches too! Egg salad sandwiches are better though. Pickled garlic? I've never heard of that before. What's it used in?

I think that asian market is not asian enough. xD You could probably find pickled stuff online though since they don't expire too quickly and they're stored in jars or packets. Take a look on amazon perhaps.

Haha okay! I wonder if it's a rare condition though, I don't have any relatives or friends who are sensitive to oil. Is margarita oilier? I think it's the standard cheese in many pizzas. Yea Char siu is pretty much the same thing. It tastes so good with rice. Roasted duck is really good too! Oh yea we had Roasted Duck on pizza once, I practically devoured it all. I though pepperoni had pork in it? We usually have chicken and pork bits on pizza though, or hawaiian with ham bits. I don't like eating processed meat a lot.

Yea it does, not sure what the difference is. Is it even french? As far as I know there isn't a specific type of bread but it's a local delicacy so maybe they eat it because it's filling and relatively affordable. Cinnamon!!! Anything with cinnamon is my weakness. ;p

That is true, and they bring things like war into it. It's probably the same thing in the Marvel universe, where America has the Avengers and they're practically weapons of mass destruction.

Lmao sure thing! It's worth a visit at least. Rent is really expensive here though so sadly some do live in literal cages. It's 1000hkd a month to live in it I believe. Here's an article about it:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... tches.html

No prob! I'm always curious as to what questions foreigners have about this place. c:

[Diana]

My favourite kinds of sandwiches are turkey and swiss, tritip, and the good old pb and j.
I really am not sure what pickled garlic is used in. Olives? I have seen olives stuffed with garlic and then pickled. I just eat it plain lol.

The ultrasound doctor didn't seem too phased, it sounds like it is just something that grows on some people? Internal organs are weird. Theres quite a few people I know sensitive to oils and butters and things like that. Some is due to classical conditioning, or various issues like weakening of the stomach lining or acid production or a whole slew of things. My mom and grandma have the same food issues as me, so I think it is probably heriditary.

I dont know what margharita cheese is. Here a margharita pizza just has mozzarella cheese, spinich, and tomatoes as toppings. I think mozzarella is the oily one but I am not sure, I have not experimented. Ooh you are right! I have had ham on pizza. My brain was on bbq pork lol. Not a lot of places (like 0) do duck here, so I have only had it once. We ordered a peking duck moo shu. I think it was really yummy!
Pepperoni is made of nightmares. I dont like reconstructed meats either. lol

I am not sure if french bread is really french or what. I suspect it was not. They probably call it by a different name if they ever made it. Thats a weird thing to think about. French fries are called chips in a lot of places, but like if you are a mum in france and making french bread for your kids, do you call it french bread then have an awkward unpatriotic coversation with them about it? lol
Cinnamon is so good! Have you had snickerdoodle cookies?

Lol. Is Captain America popular in other countries? He basically shouts freedom and breaks things... Not my first idea of a role model lol. Superheroes are really interesting to look at. I read an article that compared japan and americas popular characters in tv. In America, toxic waste or radiation or poisoning makes you spiderman or a teenage mutant ninja turtle who fights evil. In Japan, it makes godzilla who smashes everything and causes ruin. The article related the different opinion to the Japanese having to deal with the aftermath of nuclear bombs and americans just moving on because they had victory in the war.

That is so sad about the poverty! Those pictures look like what is depicted in post apocolyptic movies as the worst possible living conditions, but that is their real life. :c That is crazy! I thought renting here was bad! They make so little too. :c

Yay! I am always curious what people think about california too. I have lived here my whole life but movies and tv have also given me unrealistic expectations. haha

[ShiroGEM]

I never heard of those sandwiches. What's in them? I really want to try pb n j but I wasn't allowed to buy peanut butter until recently. My mom banned it in the house because she said it was bad for skin. Does pickled garlic taste good though?? I can't imagine what it tastes like at all. Sour and spicy maybe?

Ahh, maybe my dad something similar. Though compared to my parents and my brother, i'm the least prone to food problems funnily enough. It must be hard to survive in modern day though since oily stuff is cheaper than healthy stuff or so i've seen.

I spelt margherita wrong... Also I think margherita is the name of the cheese pizza. #woops Yea it's probably mozzarella. Yea it would be weird to have beef on pizza, it's too heavy as a topping in my opinion. Roasted duck is the besttt!!
I don't eat sausages often either, white sausages scare me the most.

I totally forgot about french fries! I don't think french fries are even french... lol Also found an article about HK french toast, apparently it's a modified recipe that's been around for longer than half a century.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/1 ... 71506.html
I've never had snickerdoodles but i've tried baking cinnamon rolls. I posted the pictures in my sketchbook thread, it was hilarious. xD (I can't bake.)

Captain America is pretty popular here at least. I don't like him much though, i'm an Iron Man person. Captain America is actually a necessary character in the universe though and the contrast is the main reason why the interactions worth watching in the first place. The comparison between the superheroes is really cool, I never gave it much thought but it's actually quite true. I think the gap is closing though with the cultures merging a bit in certain movies like Pacific Rim.

Yep, it's a thing in HK with the rent being so pricey. Many old people can't find work so they sell recycled bits of cardboard and that's how they live their life. It's sad that it's a lesser known problem though since it reflects badly on HK's reputation. >_>

I think my first exposure to California was in Totally Spies where they all lived in Beverly Hills. It looks huge and sophisticated in the cartoon lol. Another friend lives in California too but most of the time she tells me about the draught and how hot it is. Speaking of which, do you have to be really conservative with water nowadays?