Asia Update 1

March started with a bang as I sped through Florida for Publix supermarkets at their Apron’s cooking schools in Plantation, Boca Raton, Sarasota, and Tallahassee.  Home on March 5, I just had time to pack and get ready for four weeks in Asia.  Arriving in Zurich on the morning of March 9, I had a great visit with my friend Kerrin of My Kugelhopf, a fabulous blog about all things sweet, and before I knew it I was back at the airport and heading for Hong Kong on an overnight SWISS flight.

 
The ferry to Lamma Island

My dear friend Jennifer Morris met me at the airport and we headed for her beachfront house on Lamma Island in the South China Sea, reached by a 25-minute ferry ride from Aberdeen on the west side of Hong Kong Island.  Aberdeen is also the site of Jennifer and her husband Hosni Emam’s commissary for their Habibi restaurant and food company that encompasses four restaurants and about a dozen prepared food and sandwich counters in malls and high-end supermarkets all over Hong Kong. 

 
"Typhoon shelter" clams at Fu Kee

After a warm and sunny weekend on Lamma including some great seafood at Fu Kee, it was time for two appearances at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival.  The first, a pastry dough demo, took place at Sally Kranz’s Saffron Bakery at the Peak.  Sally and her staff were so helpful, it was a fun morning for everyone, myself included.  I loved meeting the group of so many different nationalities while signing copies of BAKE!

 
With Susan Jung at the Press Room restaurant

Next up was a live interview conducted by Susan Jung, food and wine editor of the South China Morning Post.  We chatted about a variety of topics including authenticity in foreign recipes far from their country of origin.  We left plenty of time for questions, including some pretty challenging ones.

Next stop Shanghai…