Went to a delightful whisky bar, rushed through the mad crowds of the forbidden city, browsed fabricated- antiques markets, up and down the escalator of a 6 story building that sold only glasses, observed the perfectly manicured high heeled ladies strolling in the posh part of town, a man strolling (and stroking) his goose on the edgy part of town, heard live music in a place between the drum and tower, shopped for vintage without much luck, rode bicycles around the Hutongs discovering courtyards and seeing lovely old people, saw some art, rode in a taxi in between the futuristic buildings, saw an animal shop specialized in furry long animals and another one in bizarre rabbits ( loved the mod 3- colored hair one!) and just sort of marveled at the weird detached coolness of it all.

We spent a very pedestrian afternoon running around sourcing buttons and fabrics in Sham Shui Po (or Sin Shampoo, the nickname one of my funniest friend came up with; literally Without Any Shampoo in Spanish), one of my favorite Hong Kong hoods. At some point we even went up to a sketchy 3r floor apartment crammed to the nines with rolls and rolls of fabrics haphazardly piled on top of each other which reminded me of my university days buying slightly mold stained fabrics from the old guy close to the school in Sabadell. So after all the walking we rewarded ourselves and finally went to see Paul's vinyl shop. Two fellow vinyl lovers had recommended him endlessly but we just never got around to go before. The guy is a Hong Kong legend and collectors come from allover Asia to scavenge through his collection spanning several decades. Very much like the fabric's place Paul's tiny apartment is full of boxes of Tsing Tao with vinyls from anything and everything that ever went through Hong Kong music wise. You name it and he has it or he has the Asian version of it. We scored!! I bought 3 ladies' records (Taiwanese 60's funny pop, Eydie Gorme singing boleros with Los Panchos and Teresa Carpio, a HK songbird from the 70's with a melodious voice and sticky romantic tunes who still does galas and stuff ) and I. got a very cool soul one and a 50's early jazz music for 5 o'clock tea (Paul's description) with the best cover artwork ever. He was happy we took them so excited as he worries they get lonely in the crammed apartment, I highly doubt that, though. From now on, afternoons in SSP will have a vinyl spinning at the end of the tunnel to make them more bearable. We shall be back.
The day wound down perfectly with our friend Qiqi taking us to the best vegetarian restaurant ever in the Causeway Bay market. Yum!

The family, the weather, the super relaxed atmosphere, lazy pool days, spending hours at grandmas' houses going through their drawers (esculcando, like my mom says), going ¨de borondo¨, chontaduro, manga biche, great manicures, walking next to the river, going to the mountains are among what I miss the most about where I grew up but dancing would be up up up there on the list, like right after family.

You see? in Cali when you go out at night, the purpose is not to mingle, drink or eat (though we obviously do all of it, in abundance) but to DANCE. All establishments of the food and beverage industry must have a dance floor, period. Most men in my family are amazing salsa dancers and so are quite a few of my childhood friends, so whenever I visit the main purpose is to fit enough dancing in the schedule to last me until the next visit.

Lately the salsa gasoline has been reaching an empty tank but this fantastic playlist of Cali-centric tropicalism by one of the most remarkable musical wonders of my city (though British born and bred) DJQuantic is like a trip to the petrol station. It captures all I love and miss about Cali. It has the best caleño classics, with their crazy mix of macho stamina, songs of how Cali woman are like flowers(but you knew that already) , and all the hymns of quite a few dancing generations.

I´m listening to it in loop today.

Enjoy ME GUSTA CALI

 

Photo stolen from the Official travel guide to Colombia in case this picked your interest.

 

 

I know I have no business complaining about the weather in Hong Kong since so many cities where I'd also like to live have been snowed over since November; and I'm actually not! But after the fog and chill that we had the past few months (it was the coldest February in 50 years), this balmy, bright, bit of chill/bit of sun kind of divine weather makes me feel all springy and light, with only one big black cloud in the horizon! This beautiful light also means one thing....The Relentless Heat o' Summer is upon us, and this...this is just a teaser-short season in between.
Here is to it lasting at least a couple of weeks!

The last few weeks have been a fascinating mix of work and play. Darting back and forth to surprisingly pleasant Dong Guan for a couple of exciting fashion projects, having friends that are like family for a week that felt like a summer holiday, hosting a numerous supper club with an excellent group of people and basically trying to find a balance between work, life and kitchen.

Days are long and short and very often tiresome but slowly slowly things fall into place if only to be reshuffled, but it's exciting nonetheless. Haven't posted much here due to other blogging responsibilities ( did you check out www.thekitchennomads.com yet? And like, liked it on Facebook and stuff? Did ya?) , but hey! It's life and gets a bit outta control sometimes. I promise to be more consistent ( Maybe I'm lying but I DO love ya!!)

Just bought at the Chai Wan market ( gaai see) enough wrapers (wonton pei), minced pork (kgao yuk), egg noodles (maai seen) and tofu (daufu) to feed 4 people for 40 HKD.
Please explain to me again why I paid 100HKD for 1 bread, 1bag of coffee and 1 cabbage at VOlé earlier!!

The Kowloon walled city park is hosting a light and sound night extravaganza that feels like a psychedelic dream. Disco balls hanging from trees,old gramophones playing turf 45", hypnotic fire (which reminded me I'm a pyromaniac at heart!), crickets, vintage cotton dresses as lamps, a feather playing a harp, and a host of other fantastic things that you'd imagine having in those dreams when you wake up and go, whatta heck??
The feel is a bit dark, and although meant for children it borders what as a child I would have found eery; but it's beautiful and poetic and definitely an opportunity to see something a bit off kilter in "wery safe" Hong Kong.
20 HKD (and a longish trip into Deep Kowloon) will buy you an evening of wonder. It's there until the 13th of March. Trek up there, peeps. I'd even go a second time, so lemme know.

After a day on kowloon side doing the supplier route (one of which had a neighbour selling Reasonable Software, as if such a thing actually existed) we are having a super chill beer next to the Shau Kei Wan ferry pier at silly-named Soho East (as if the world needed any more So-Hos) watching the empty container boats go by, the twinkling lights of a million households, the custom police boats coming and going and the ferry going from this side to Lei Yu Mun. Quiet and cheap, pretty good, lah.