The Granville Connector is Open

The new "H-road network" on Granville

Yesterday as I walked along Pacific Street in downtown Vancouver, I saw that the new Granville connector project was finally finished. Cars turned off from the Granville Street Bridge onto this new exit ramp that takes them to Pacific Street very easily, while vehicles on Pacific can get onto the Granville Street Bridge. 

Pedestrians can also walk on this new stretch of road called Neon, Rolston and Continental streets.

Walking north towards Neon Street from Pacific

This C$50 million Granville connector project took over a year to complete, as they shut down the onramp to and offramp from the Granville Street Bridge; traffic on Pacific was snarled as three lanes merged into one. 

Apparently now with this new "H-road" network, the City of Vancouver claims it will improve traffic circulation and "provide access to future housing and local services on the City-owned land that was occupied by the loops."

It also helps pedestrians and cyclists get on and off the Granville Street Bridge safely which is a huge plus. 

We'll see what gets constructed in the empty spaces on the right and left of this new road, but in the meantime relieved this giant infrastructure project is done!

Storm Danas in Hong Kong

Heavy rainfall in Mui Wo, Lantau

A friend in Hong Kong told me about the "crazy thunder and lightning" where she was in Mui Wo, on Lantau Island, and the incessant rain has resulted in the authorities announcing there would be no day school tomorrow, Friday.

That's a first -- usually local officials don't decide until the morning of, leaving parents bleary-eyed watching the storm updates until late at night in a bid to anticipate if there's school the next day or not.

Storm Danas is moving across Guangdong, causing heavy rains and thunderstorms. This morning there was an amber rainstorm warning posted at 8.35am, which turned red, then back to amber at 10.40am, then back to red again two hours later.

"The active southwest monsoon to its south will generally affect the vicinity of the Pearl River Delta [on Thursday and Friday]. There will be torrential rain and squally thunderstorms over the area," The Observatory said.

It warned residents outside to seek safe shelter as soon as possible.

Hopefully there won't be too much flooding or severe damage in the next 24 hours, but it does sound like rain coming down in Biblical proportions...

Somewhat Crispy Tofu

Pan-frying tofu slices is a delicious way to get some protein

A dish we have on rotation for dinner is pan-fried tofu. I'm trying to get better at making it crispier, though I haven't resorted to using a mixture of potato flour and cornstarch yet.

We usually strain a medium-firm block of tofu by patting it dry, but I've read it's even better to press it down with weight for a few hours to squeeze out as much water as possible.

Tonight I hand pressed out a decent amount of liquid using paper towels before seasoning the tofu slices with salt and pepper.

In a cast-iron pan, we heated up the oil and then placed the tofu in there to sizzling effect. We let them fry for a few minutes until they turned golden brown and then flipped them to the other side; some might stick to the pan so best to use a combination of chopsticks and spatula to flip them.

If you're feeling ambitious, fry all six sides for a crispier finish. And for a garnish, chop some spring onion and throw them into the pan to cook with the tofu.

Dim Sum Restaurant Metropole to Close

So many dim sum options at Metropole in Admiralty

Every few days there's a story in the news that yet another eatery or restaurant chain has shuttered.

This time it's Metropole, a Chinese restaurant known for its dim sum trolleys that was in business for 35 years, but will close in September.

One of the last dim sum restaurant with trolleys

While it's a place not necessarily dear to my heart, it's where my relatives and I usually met up for Chinese New Year, or when relatives from out of town came to visit. 

The Admiralty location was convenient for most of us, right above the MTR station and near the bus stop, it catered to big groups, had a wide selection of dim sum and the prices were reasonable.

We wouldn't wait for the women pushing the dim sum trolleys to come to us -- we'd take our white card and hunt down food and bring it back to our table. 

Or we'd walk up to the middle of the restaurant, where they served dishes like radish cake and taro cake, "three fried stuffed treasures" of eggplant, peppers, and tofu, pig trotters cooked in vinegar with egg and ginger, and a dessert station that included tofu fa.

If har gao, chicken feet, spare ribs, char siu buns and spring rolls weren't enough, you could also order plates of fried noodles, congee and vegetables too.

Cheung represents the catering sector in Legco

In the end the total bill for a large table was relatively reasonable and we were all stuffed. 

An American friend living in Hong Kong wanted to know where to take visitors to have the trolley experience and I recommended Metropole. 

I warned him to make a reservation in advance because if you didn't, you'd be stuck waiting around for the next free table.

But when he went, the large restaurant was hardly full of diners.

And with people heading up north mostly on weekends to chow down on food at a fraction of Hong Kong prices, restaurants like Metropole are struggling to stay afloat, and it doesn't help that landlords aren't giving them a break on rent.

It's surprising that legislator Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who represents the catering industry, has not raised concerns about the sector in the Legislative Council, or brought this issue to the attention of the Chief Executive and the Executive Council. 

The art of dim sum is fast disappearing in HK

And while the media has been reporting on each restaurant closing, no one has questioned the government on why it hasn't done more to save this industry, and in particular trying to help those who have lost their jobs to get the compensation they deserve.

What is particularly sad about Metropole is the amount of knowledge of producing dim sum disappearing. There are fewer and fewer people who know how to make har gao, char siu buns, steamed rice rolls and egg tarts.

Many restaurants use frozen dim sum made by factories in China because the labour is so expensive, or it's a way to cut costs. However, one can easily tell the difference between factory and handmade dim sum.

However, dim sum is practically synonymous with Hong Kong, considered a foodie city. So why is not more done to preserve this delicious piece of culinary heritage?

Metropole

4/F, United Centre

95 Queensway, Admiralty

852 2865 1988

 

Hardcore Whistler Race

Lost Lake was so scenic and peaceful as we watched the racers

I was in Whistler this past weekend to help my cousin with his race, specifically called Otillo Race where competitors have to run along a trail, swim across a lake and repeat until they reached the finish, wearing their wet suit, runners, googles and paddles throughout the entire course.

For the race at Whistler, there were three different categories: 

Whistler Experience is a total of 6.437km, with 1.45km swim and 4.989km run;

Whistler Sprint is a total of 17.059km, with 3.38km swim and 13.679km run;

Whistler World Series is a total of 38.302km, with 5.139km swim and 33.153km run.

Two competitors at the finish in gear

My cousin, attempting this for the first time chose the Whistler World Series and while he has been training in running, he didn't do much training specifically for this race because he was busy with work and looking after two boys.

He attempted swimming with his wet suit in open-water swimming in Vancouver, and tried running with his wet suit on to get used to the conditions. He said wearing light runners with holes made it easier to run.

Last night he tried to do a bit of carbo loading, eating some extra pizza slices.

This morning he started the race at 6am and very chilly -- jumping into the lake immediately woke him up.

A former Olympic swimmer, he was able to power through the swims, though in the trail runs he walked sections of it because he was tired. Nevertheless he seemed to do well time-wise.

We managed to catch him two-thirds of the way at Lost Lake Park. We saw him swim across the lake towards us and then get out of the water, have a quick water break and then continue on his race by foot.

By the end he managed to finish in under six hours, and placed ninth out of 17. The youngest competitor in this division was 21, the oldest 62.

Two competitors emerging from Lost Lake

Some competitors were tethered together, either two men or two women, or one man, and one woman; they have to do everything together tied together, while others, like my cousin, did it solo.

There were two men in their early 40s from Hong Kong who finished last in over seven hours, while the winner completed the course in just over four hours... 

My cousin also trained by running to Grouse Mountain and doing the Grouse Grind! 

Needless to say I think he's definitely caught the bug to do more ultra races. He says in marathons you are competing against everyone else on a paved surface, whereas ultra races are about completing the race, than the time.

He also said the trail was scenic. His first two swims were beautiful on the lake, with the early morning mist rising over the water before dissipating into the atmosphere...

Picture of the Day: Harvesting Peanuts

Mui Wo farmer holds bunch of fresh peanuts

A friend lives in Mui Wo, a rural town on the east coast of Lantau in Hong Kong. Every morning he walks around with his dog in a bid to avoid the midday heat.

He recently took several pictures and videos of his neighbourhood to show me.

Aside from showing off his new blue bicycle, the path he walked on was very clean, as in it was cleared of debris. Another was a doggy parlour, where the dogs posed post-spa/haircut to show them off.

And then one of the pictures showed a hand holding a bunch of peanuts that were harvested from the earth. 

It turns out Lantau is a good place to grow crops like rice, sweet potato, taro, red onions, and peanuts!

Peanuts are grown under the ground, similar to carrots.

When the peanuts are ready, they are harvested from the ground and then dried before they can be shelled by the consumer, or they are dried and then shelled before being sold or processed into products like peanut oil, peanut butter, or seasoned with salt to package into snack food.

Earthquake Prediction in Japan Scares HK Tourists

An earthquake prediction has scared HK tourists to Japan

Last year a friend told me about a prediction that there would be a massive earthquake in Japan on July 5 -- an exact date.

Luckily I had already planned to go to Tokyo in March -- and was perhaps even luckier to miss the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Bangkok by two weeks. 

The March 2011 prediction did come true

The prediction, which was published in 2021, is from a manga artist, who had forewarned of a major disaster on March 2011, which was when an earthquake caused the Fukushima nuclear accident.

As a result of the upcoming July date, a lot of Hong Kong tourists did not plan to go to Japan these few days, and bookings for flights and hotels were down.

Because of this, Hong Kong Airlines has cancelled flights to two Japanese cities in July and August, citing sluggish demand.

However, there are some tourists in Japan who had no idea about this prediction and shrug, while others take no stock in what a manga artist thinks will happen with no scientific evidence.

And people who study earthquakes say it's impossible to predict them, while the Japanese Meteorological Agency has warned of an 80 percent chance of a large-scale shock measured at a magnitude of 8 or 9 would occur along the Nankai Trough running along the country's east coast in the coming 30 years...

HK tourists plan travel to Japan after mid-July

But things are looking up -- Hong Kong travelers are looking to visit Japan from mid-July onwards.

"Travellers may consider that it will be safe after that date," said Tommy Tam Kwong-shun, managing director of a travel agency. He believed the demand would soon recover, as Hongkongers love going to Japan and people will come when they feel it's safe to travel there.

The Japan National Tourism Organisation's figures show overall foreign arrivals increased by 21.5 percent, a historic high for May, though Hong Kong was the only place that had fewer visitors to Japan in that period.

The organisation attributed the drop in Hong Kong visitors to "information that an earthquake was occurring in Japan spreading on social media".