Month: January 2012
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Hong Kong cuisines in miniatures
My cousin J is the proud owner of these three sets of miniatures of Hong Kong cuisines. Since I have been posting pictures of real food here for a long time (for example, 2M* dim sum lunch), how about some plastic food for a change. Dim sum, first. They are all placed in a display…
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Winter comfort: Hotpot / Fondue
There is nothing more inviting in a frigid winter or a lunar new year feast than a hotpot 火鍋 ? Known also as a steamboat as my Malaysian or Singaporean friends might call it or a fondue locally. While in the US, we had one made in Japan and the pot consisted of two compartments. Soups…
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Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon 2012
Wishing all viewers a prosperous year of the Dragon. 恭喜發財 身體健康 財源廣進 心想事成 Here are some pictures we took last year when we spent Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and Macau (where firecrackers are legal). A highlight of the visit during Lunar New Year was the flower market in Victoria Park (福 posters below)…
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Airport hotels
In December last year (2011), I had two very short business trips each involving a stay at an airport hotel – here is the scenery or the lack thereof at my hotels. The first was in Amsterdam and our conference host chose this Park Plaza as a venue. Although it is supposed to be an…
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De Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam
The De Hortus Botanical Garden is apparently the oldest botanical garden in the world, being founded in 1638. It received many of its more exotic plants from the Dutch East India Company in the 17th and 18th century (this might explain the image of a ship on the shield, see left side of the gate).…
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Amsterdam’s floating flower market (Bloemenmarkt)
Amsterdam is historically famous for its tulips and it is one of the major centers of horticulture (which explain in part why the conference I attended was held here). To extend the plant theme of my visit, but with very little time, we briefly visited the flower market (Bloemenmarkt) and De hortus, the botanical garden…