A colleague of Jeff’s recommended this activity when she learned we were coming to Hong Kong and it took no convincing Norberto and I that this was a must-do: market tour/shopping and cooking class!

 We took the subway east this morning to meet Joyce at the local market at Shan Kai Wan. She gave us a tour of the market area, explained different things we saw, and where the produce and fish are imported from. A lot of fruits and vegetables are unique to Asia and quite common here, but we don’t see them as regular offerings at home: dragonfruit, rose apples, mini mangoes, mangosteen, huge pomelo, water chestnuts and all kinds of fish. Some produce is grown locally in the New Territories, but most is imported from mainland China.

 The menu for our cooking class is pork dumplings and a sweet dumpling dessert. At the market we picked up fresh ground pork, dumpling wrappers, yellow corn, fresh coriander and ginger.  The celery looked a little weak today so we substituted water chestnuts instead. I didn’t know they grow underground in muddy fields.

 We took the subway to Joyce’s apartment to prepare our lunch. She showed us how to prep the corn, water chestnuts, coriander, and the marinade for the pork. We went to work on our tasks as she explained the various ingredients, customs, variations, etc.  Once the filling was prepared she showed us how to fill and shape the dumplings: a serious *a-ha* moment for me – first, the wrappers we get at home are too dry to do this effectively, and second, mix cornstarch with the water to seal them closed.

Twenty-something dumplings later, we’d filled all the wrappers.

Don’t let Pleepleus fool you, he did nothing to help.

 Next up we prepared the sweet dumplings for dessert. We made a rice flour dough then put a chocolate ball inside before rolling each dumpling to a perfect little ball. Joyce explained that this is a typical New Year’s dessert though the traditional filling is black sesame paste, not the chocolate we are using. The chocolate is favored by her daughter – the girl has good taste.

 We boiled the pork dumplings in the tiny kitchen and sat down to lunch with a few sauces: soy, vinegar and spicy chili paste. Simple, but delicious, and made by us!  As we ate, we talked about the variations in dumpling preparation including frying, and partially cooking, then freezing for later. Good stuff to know.

 Finally, dessert! The sweet dumplings were boiled for 3 minutes in water, then transferred to boil 1 minute in the ginger tea (water, ginger and cane sugar).  They are served hot in a teacup of the ginger tea. The texture is a little chewy with a warm (not hot) chocolate center. Delicious!

Overall, an excellent experience. Joyce was delightful, very informative and personable. And it goes to show that you don’t need fancy tools, an expansive kitchen or fancy ingredients to make a wonderful meal.

After another solo afternoon, we reconvened at the apartment. I’d finally found some local beer, Nine Dragons, and Berto picked up a couple of the fruits we’d talked about this morning: dragon fruit and rose apples.

Finally, we went back out to Central to find dinner. We walked through the Hollywood Rd area a few days ago and it was packed with interesting looking restaurants.

Rode the Mid-Levels Travelator again – it’s lit up at night.

After strolling Hollywood Rd. for several blocks, we selected a Caribbean restaurant, Rummin’ Tings. I know, it sounds weird, but we did have traditional food for lunch.

The bright lights and neon of Causeway Bay.