After the slight failure of cheesecake number one last March, I only made the second one last Thursday afternoon just in time for my birthday last Friday. This time, I really paid attention in letting the cake set well before decorating it.

The result was a lovely Cheesecake with a Rhapsodie de Fruit cranberry and blueberry topping (St. Dalfour). For the crust, I used crushed walnut cookies and a little bit of butter. Another reason why I know it was good aside from the taste was that I was able to slice it.

Last May 29th, my husband's good old "transporter", Mr. Mui, treated both of us to lunch with his family in an authentic Cantonese restaurant here in Leliu. Aside from traditional Cantonese dishes, he also ordered some fried pao which when I tried was sooo good, it felt like I was transported into another place and time.

The white bun was so creamy and the filling was so unique, it wasn't like any of all the paos we have ever eaten before. And although it was fried, it wasn't greasy at all.

We were not able to finish the whole lot in the restaurant because he ordered so many other dishes but knowing we really liked it, he was very kind enough to let us take home the remaining 4 paos. I really wish you can try it too but for now here are just the pics.

I am not a stranger to cooking cream soups, but I must admit the only times I've ever cooked them before was either to boil water and add contents of a packet, or to heat  a can of instant cream soup. This time though and inspired by a pack of thickened cream sitting in the fridge for over three weeks now, I decided to try and make them from scratch.

It was also good that we were able to buy some fresh brown button mushrooms from Jusco. The first one I did was the Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup.

The result of the first soup was so good, I have also decided to make another one. This time it's the Cream of Crab and Corn Soup.

I have also invented my own homemade croutons from the trimmings of a loaf of sliced bread. My husband doesn't like his sandwiches with the brown and sometimes hard sides of the bread so I always trim them out. These would have otherwise just ended in the trash but I'm glad I tried making them into croutons flavored with garlic. Now they are a good topping to my soups.

Thanks to the noble "bak chan" (pronounced as bachang), we were able to have a weekend getaway in Hong Kong. There's a holiday in China last Monday to remember this noble food. I will tell you the story of the 'bachang' later when I get all my information correctly.

No, we didn't go to Hong Kong to eat this though. In fact, we went there to enjoy other cuisines that we don't normally find in China. It was our own journey to EAT, PRAY, LOVE in Hong Kong...

EAT:
- We created our own mussel festival at the Aropa Mediterranean Restaurant located inside the K11 Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. Without planning beforehand, we ended up ordering seafood chowder (with mussels in it), sauteed mussels with toasted bread and a seafood spaghetti (with mussels in it too).
- No visit to Hong Kong is also complete without visiting our favorite Western restaurant, the Outback Steakhouse, located along Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. I had featured many of their food in previous blogs so no more photos this time.
- This time we also went to Pho 24 (a Vietnamese restaurant) to have a go at Vietnamese food once again. We love Vietnamese food especially their famous pho (soup) made with raw beef, beef tendons, brisket, beef balls with rice noodles and garnished with our favorite basil and bean sprouts. Heaven! We also love their rice paper rolls with pork and shrimp. It was in fact our weekend breakfast in Melbourne last time.
- We also tried the Pacific Coffee Place and we loved their coffee and food. We had lunch in their Citygate shop and we really enjoyed their food and the nice view.