A Neighborhood Tour and a VERY Simple Dessert

Since we've been here for over 2 weeks now, it's about time I take you all for a little tour around our neighborhood!

We are living in Central, which is well-named, and has a mix of expat and local residents. Just by walking around the block, you can see how much there is to offer in Hong Kong, along with a taste of the local culture. There are so many restaurants in this area, we definitely won't go hungry, and we've loved a lot of the ones we've tried! Just within a few blocks of our apartment, we've tried Cantonese, Peruvian, Spanish, Egyptian, and Italian food - and there are so many more types to try! I know - shocking that I'm talking about food. There is also the major night-life area within walking distance to us - Lan Kwai Fong - and we've explored this once so far, and plan to check it out again in the near future!

As you can see below, some of the streets around us have a lot of local vendors! In one of the past posts, I briefly mentioned the meat and veggies that are sold from street vendors - so I wanted to give you a look:

Yes, that man in the apron is selling the meat

Every day, meat and veggies are delivered to these vendors on trucks. The meat is delivered as basically an entire animal (I saw hooves!) and then the man in the photo above takes the meat and butchers in right there on the table, and sells it to people right away. If you grew up here, I'm sure that you will be fine eating all of this. Since Bryan and I didn't grow up here... we'll stick with the grocery stores. Still great to see all of this in person though!

The street that Bryan and I both walk down on a daily basis, leads to the escalator system. Before we got to Hong Kong, we were told that Hong Kong has the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world! It's difficult to imagine exactly what this looks like, but since Hong Kong is a mountainous island, this system makes it much easier to travel up and down the main streets. It technically goes through the mid-levels and central, but it leads all the way into the IFC mall (a large, very high end mall), encouraging shopping, eating, and allowing those who work in the IFC (international financial center) to get to work without the direct heat of the sun - which is very important here in the summer!

Escalator System

Above is a view of the escalators! For a portion of it, it's a moving walkway, and then higher up where the streets are steeper, it becomes a regular escalator. There isn't air conditioning and the sides are just open (not super clear in the photo above), but it still allows for protection from the sun and most of the rain. I say most of the rain because sometimes the rain here "falls" sideways and so a cover on top of you doesn't do much of anything. Since half of this walkway is stairs, it allows the escalators to change direction depending on the time of day. From 6am - 10am, it moves down (towards where many people work), and from 10am - 12am, the escalators move up. It's a great system!

Now that you've seen a little bit of where we live, I'll show you what I made today. It's the most simple dessert there is, and many people wouldn't even consider it dessert because it requires two ingredients: pudding mix and milk. I saw this package in the store, and couldn't help myself because I love chocolate pudding, and I thought - this doesn't require an oven!

So here are the ingredients and instructions:

• Chocolate (or flavor of your choice) pudding mix
• Milk (I found lactose free here!!)

1. Put milk in a bowl
2. Add mix
3. Whisk
4. Let it set, and enjoy!

I know, very very involved and difficult - probably the biggest challenge I've given you yet :) Enjoy!