Hong Kong remembers, because China cannot

Without fail, more than 100,000 of Hong Kongers held a candlelight vigil for the hundreds reportedly killed by their own military in the Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 4, 1989 -- doing what nobody is allowed to do on the other side of the border.

 
This year's 6/4 news veered from the ridiculous (like online censors going into overdrive to ban the Giant Rubber Ducky) to the ominous (the fact that the death of one of the masterminds of the crackdown was announced on the same day as the anniversary.)

The best blogger coverage I'd seen was from Hong Wrong, who took has great photos, like the one on the very top.

The best mainstream media coverage has been from the South China Morning Post, which dedicated a special page to the memorial with about a dozen stories, plus lots of photos, updates and commentary. The New York Times story, which includes quotes with mainland visitors at the memorial, is here.

After all these years, I don't know what to say, except that an entire generation has gone by -- children have been born, raised and become adults since 1989 -- and Beijing still won't let people talk about it or memorialize it, regardless of what their viewpoints or opinions are.

And while we all have our Hong Kong gripes, at least once a year, we are reminded that this is a city with a long memory and a big heart.

Uh, happy Earth Day? Fixing Hong Kong's smog

Photo by Jerome Favre/Bloomberg

An undoctored image of smog shrouding the ICC in West Kowloon last week, one MTR stop from where I live and take my baby to the park. No, that is not fog or precipitation. It was actually "sunny" that day -- all the grey is man-made.

This post was meant to celebrate Earth Day, though "celebrate" seems too positive, given record-breaking pollution readings last week. I've had a cough since Easter, and I  don't know if it's better to take my kid to the park or make her stay inside. (So far, we're still going to the park).

What to do about Hong Kong's air pollution? I had two deeply unsatisfying conversations with the people supposed to know such things.

I asked them: "Tell me in plain term what the average Hong Konger can do. What behavior - if practiced by the majority of the 7 million people who live here - can make the air better?"

I won't go into details, but both people -- someone at a green NGO and someone who sat on a government environmental board -- really couldn't answer well. All the NGO guy wanted was to push for donations and political lobbying. And all the board-member wanted was to complain that she hated turning her office air con off. (Then, she got into her chauffered car idling by the roadside).

Lacking decent answers, I've made up my own everyman's handy guide for battling smog.

This is not a broad guide to green living -- I don't want to get into other issues like wildlife conservation or organic food. I'm focusing on that grey soupy mess outside, and 8 steps on how to get rid of it.

1. Stop just complaining about China.
Complain about China all your want -- just don't use it as an excuse. When many Hong Kongers are faced with smog, they shrug and sigh "Mo ban fat," or "There's nothing we can do." The implication is "It's hopeless. It's those people up there."
Yes, Chinese factories are polluting and awfully close to us. But, unless you're a factory boss or someone with high-up government connections, grumbling about it into your face mask won't do anything.
Our own pollution -- created by our own cars and our own power plants -- are major problems, too. And we can fix those.

2. Take more public transport.
I am personally guilty of using too many taxis. While this is slightly better than using a private car, it's still not as good as the subway, bus, etc.
On the day that looked like the apocolypse last week, we had record-high nitrogen dioxide readings. This emission is caused by local cars (also power plants) and has risen 23% since 1999, according to the Environmental Protection Department.

I know it's not pleasant to walk outside right now, but unless more of us get walking to the MTR or bus stop, it's going to get worse. We have one of the cleanest, safest, fastest subway systems in the world -- we should use it.
My Earth Day vow is to at least avoid taxis during the day and on holidays. So I have to leave home 20-30 minutes earlier. I'll consider it my daily workout.
I will excuse myself for cabbing it home, though, when I get off work past 8pm and want to see my daughter to bed. (At night, it takes almost an hour). 
My personal goal: Halve taxi use.  
3. Use less power.
According to the E.P.D.: "Power generation is the main source of air pollutant emissions in Hong Kong." Domestic energy consumption has risen 80% since the 90s.
Coal is also what fuels Hong Kong. Every time you blast the air con, you're contributing to coal being burned. And every time coal is burned, more crap goes into our air.
Out of Hong Kong's 13 power plants, 7 burn coal -- either exclusively or in combination with oil or gas. Only one uses green energy (solar).

4. Turn down the air con. 
We use energy-sucking air con like crazy. I'm going to focus on it because it uses far more energy than other household appliances. While turning down the lights or doing less laundry might help, air con is the key.
Many Hong Kongers turn it on automatically, all the time, in all seasons. 
Ask yourself: Is it actually winter and I feel cold? In which case, I do not need air con, and should not believe some old wives' tale that I "need it to breathe." "If I'm feeling hot, is it because I'm inexplicably wearing a parka indoors in the summer?" Consider taking the parka off. No, I'm not kidding. Both Marc and I work with local colleagues who sit shivering under blasting air conditioners while in winter gear.
Hong Kongers have to get past this unscientific  - but widely held - belief that, without air con, you will suffocate and get sick. If we keep selfishly pumping pollutants into our air, then we'll really get sick.

5. Find other ways to make your home comforable.
Nobody is asking you to survive the Hong Kong summer with no air con, just to be logical and moderate about it.
I won't bore you with wattages and energy consumption figures. Suffice it to say that air con uses WAY more energy than a dehumidifier, ceiling fan, air purifier, or even keeping the air con on "fan only." 
Investing in a dehumifidier, fan and purifier are good ways to improve your home environment. Often times, when we crave that cool blast, what we really crave is simply drier, cleaner air.
Ask yourself: Is it really that hot in here? Can I get away with using air con at a lower setting, or opening the window and turning on a fan? (Note: Please don't use air con with an open window. You can't cool the whole city).
Consider closing the curtains and running a dehumidifier while you're away.

5. Complain as a consumer.
We're a strange people. We're not shy about protesting loudly over everything from a shoddy election system to "patriotic education." But we will not complain about a freezing restaurant. 
Entire dim sum halls of people shivering in jackets will not say a word. And if they do, they will accept blankets or shawls from the staff instead of pushing, logically, for the air con to be turned down for everyone's comfort. (Yes, the air con is so cold in the summer that most businesses carry extra wool shawls).
Usually, the waitstaff / store clerk will tell you: "We can't turn it down or off." This is a blatent lie. It is not HAL 9000. All machines can be turned off. It means they have to call the shopping mall management, and they're busy and don't want to bother. And their managers probably discourage this, too.
The only thing that motiviates HK businesses is money. If enough paying consumers complain, they will change. So, if you're cold, tell the mall / shop / cinema / restaurant management. Fill out a customer complaint card. If enough people do this, it will be just as efficient, if not more, than lobbying the government.
Don't be shy about bringing up clearly wasteful practices. One spa I frequented would prepare the rooms by simulteanously turning on a heated electric blanet AND the air con, which makes no sense, since it is hot and cold at the same time. After I told them, they stopped. Same with a car park that had outdoor heaters even though it's never cold in the winter here,.
If you can get one restaurant or shop to change its practices, you will save much more energy than adjusting behavior in your own home.
 
6. Complain as an employee.
Same as above. Those of us who work for big companies, or in big buildings, can do more than just fixing our homes.
Yesterday, I asked our office manager to tell the building management that they were blasting the air con into empty lift lobbies -- on every floor of a high-rise -- until at least until 9 pm. (Before I was a mom, I'd sometimes work past 11pm, and it was the same). This was not contributing to anyone's comfort, since the air cons within offices are a separate system. After my note, they said they would turn it down.
 Marc worked with a restaurant manager who ran the air con all night in an empty hall "to keep the cookies on the deli counter from getting soggy." Marc told him just to store the cookies in the fridge.
 Do you work for a company with a fleet of idling minibuses? Say something. Does your employer run a complex with vast concrete spaces? Recommend that they decorate with trees. Does the office staff have an easy way to recycle?

7. Plant things.  
Remember 6th-grade science class when you had to draw a picture of a tree and a man, with little arrows showing how the tree "inhaled" our waste and "exhaled" clean oxygen? 
Even a small amount of greenery - say, several houseplants or a windowsill herb garden - can help clean the air in your home. If you're lucky enough to have a balcony or rooftop, consider planting something instead of covering everything in concrete and wet laundry. If every person with outdoor space put one more plant outside, we'd have millions of extra plants producing oxygen and be in better shape.
Both gaseous and particulate pollution can be absorbed by leaves, stems and twigs. 

8. Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
Hong Kongers consume an awful lot of stuff -- clothes, shoes, food packages, furnishings for endless flat renovations --  and we have scant landfill space.
I don't want to veer off onto a recycling tangent. But there is one word that sums up how waste makes the air dirtier: incineration.
Our government takes our junk and burns it down into ash before disposal. And while they use high-tech solutions to do this with (relatively) less damage, no scientist has discovered a way to incinerate things without sending some pollutants into the air.

Are you still eating Chinese pork and poultry?

Photo by The Associated Press 




I'm not a particularly anxious mom. I certainly am not in Hong Kong, where people run around scrubbing things with anti-bacterial wipes and then get all paranoid about whether anti-bacterial wipes are dangerous. One woman -- not exaggerating -- told me to not accidentally lick my fingers after using a wet wipe in case the tiny, tiny miniscule amount of alcohol on it might hurt my pregnancy. (I declined to tell her I still enjoy the odd glass of wine). 

I'm the kind of mom who lets her daughter eat with her fingers. While she has a healthy, balanced diet, I am not the sort of food fascist who freaks out because the kid stole a rare French fry, or not everything in our grocery cart is 100% organic.

But I put my foot down this morning when I pulled out a packet of minced Chinese chicken from my fridge. I looked at it and my instinct said, "Throw it out. Don't give that to the kid or eat it yourself." So, with a small child and a pregnant mom at home, I made the decision that we were simply not buying any Chinese poultry or meat any more --  no matter if the imported stuff is far more expensive, no matter if the rather crappy local TASTE has no other good options and we have to commute over to another MTR stop for our groceries. After all, the entire country of Vietnam has just sworn off Chinese poultry in light of the most recent human avian-flu deaths -- shouldn't I?

I'm including what is marketed as "locally slaughtered pork." Many years ago, I interviewed the last remaining traditional butcher in Soho, and wrote an I.H.T. story about it.  (I actually just reread that lovely little piece -- I miss doing that sort of writing, which I don't have time for today.) Anyway, that's when I learned that the meat described as "locally Hong Kong slaughtered" is actually from the mainland. The pigs are shipped down before dawn and, technically, they are cut into pieces in Hong Kong. But they were born, fed and raised on the mainland. I'm not saying that all Chinese meat is tainted -- only that it's misleading advertising, when people think they're buying a Hong Kong product. 

Agence France-Presse and the SCMP have just reported a third human death in China from the newest strain of bird flu. While Chinese experts say that numbers are low and that the virus doesn't usually jump -- yeah, are these the same Chinese experts who hid SARS news for so long, to disastrous global effect? 

Here's my question to my Hong Kong (or other) blog friends. Are you still eating Chinese meat? Were you eating it before anyway? Will you continue buying it at local markets / supermarkets, given the scare? Are you all splurging on the imported U.S. / Australian stuff? 

Do you only avoid Chinese meat at home, or also out -- since almost all local restaurants serve it?

Am I being cautious and wise, or paranoid?

In shocking development, media dares comment on male actor's body part

Celebrities love complaining about the trappings of fame (thereby spurring the tabloid-machine into making them even more famous) the same way presidential hopefuls love dismissing rumors that they are going to make a run for office (thereby spurring the media machine to talk endlessly about their future run for office).  It's a publicity-generating trick that's as old as the hills. 
"Boy," says the beautiful starlet. "I wish people would stop talking about how I look in a bikini!"(Add link to bikini slide show here).
"Boy," says the ambitious politician. "I wish people would stop asking if I'd like to be leader of the free world!"

But the latest from Jon Hamm, the handsome Mad Men star, takes the cake. In a Rolling Stone interview, the gentleman doth protest too much that everyone is talking about how large his, uh, private parts are. How he wishes the media would just stop going on about how hugely they bulge out of his well-tailored '60s suits. Really, he doesn't mean to call attention to this previously obscure Tumbler page showing pictures of his crotch. (Which never would have crept out of its dark, obscure corner of cyberspace until it was featured in Rolling Stone). 

Honestly, if you're looking for something titillating, it's a disappointment.  I love "Mad Men," and I love the way he's played the mysterious, tragic-comic character of Don Draper. But I'd never noticed Jon Hamm's crotch until he decided to go on about it. I doubt most people did. Since, unless you're really, really staring, it looks like any other crotch in a grey business suit that might have an extra crinkle in it. 

One thing that did turn me on in that article was his correct usage of the word "prurience."

Jon Hamm would like to you stop staring at his crotch and thinking about how manly and handsome he is. Really. Now stop objectifying him.

He also doesn't seem to note the irony of complaining that the media, for once, is treating a male actor like a piece of meat when that's what his female co-stars have been dealing with their entire careers. I mean, ask Christina Hendricks how she feels. 
Speaking of whom, it seems like a perfect opportunity -- on this slightly late April Fool's Day post -- to run this old Cosmo spoof.  

***
And, yes. I know I have been terribly negligent about updating this blog. I post infrequently now, but at least I try to make up for it by giving you some eye candy. 

New England lobster boil in Hong Kong

If I remember correctly, live lobster was US $2.99 a pound when I was a kid in New England.  So the ideal ones (1.5 lbs or about 600 grams) would work out to less than HK $50. That meant that even non-rich immigrant families like ours own could afford lobster dinners on summer weekends.

They were sold at a rather ordinary supermarket -- dark, fat, spidery things in a murky fish tank. We got them near the bakery where we bought challah (twisty Jewish egg bread), onion bagels, apple fritters and kaiser roll stills warm from the oven. No matter how many luxury European-run bakeries open in Hong Kong, I've never found these simple baked goods made well here. 

For less than 10 bucks, we'd get two big lobsters to share, still snapping. All afternoon, they'd be left to crawl around in the sink until it was dinner time. Sometimes my brother and I would poke at them with chopsticks till Dad yelled at us to cut it out.

A Canadian friend, who was recently living in the Maritimes in eastern Canada, says live lobser has only gone up to only about $5.99 a pound even now, 25 years later. And it's still a bit less if you live on the coast and are willing to walk down to the docks with a plastic bucket.

Lobsters traps on the Canadian Atlantic coast. (So far as I know, they are almost never farmed). Photo from  Sandy Lane Vacations, Nova Scotia.
**

I can't remember the last time I had lobster, since I generally don't go to the very expensive restaurants anymore. I'm also allergic to shellfish, so I tend not to order it when I'm out. (Nobody wants to watch me break out in hives at a restaurant.) And you rarely see live New England lobster on sale in Hong Kong, unless you're at one of the expat luxury supermarkets.

On Saturday, Marc and I were at the CitySuper in IFC  (after a failed attempted to show Chloe the crazy Chinese New Year panda decorations there -- long story).  I felt a pang of nostalgia at the sight of Canadian Atlantic lobsters crawling around in a tank, and I suddenly wanted to taste one again. Despite the fact that people think it's "winter" here, Saturday was sunny and warm -- at least 20 degrees Celsius or 65 degrees F. Perfect lobster dinner weather.

CitySuper's lobsters were HK $225 (almost US $30) a PIECE.  I almost fell over. By New England standards, they were little guys -- probably near the legal minimum of 1 lb. (You can't fish them smaller than that because of conservation efforts). I know they had to be shipped live across the world at enormous cost -- but still, they were probably five times what'd you pay on the U.S. East Coast.

The funny thing is that Marc didn't find them expensive -- living overseas does warp your sense of what things should cost. He made a good point that we often spend HK $400 on a mediocre Sunday brunch at expat-y restaurants in town -- something made of cheap ingrediants like eggs, bread, bacon, coffee, etc. (This would be a good time to revisit my scathing review of the W's overpriced brunch).

So we splurged on two Canadian lobsters, a bottle of Oyster Bay chardonnay, and all the usual fixings -- salad, corn on the cob, ingrediants for homemade biscuits -- and it came to about HK $700. Yes, very expensive for a home dinner, but nothing close to what we'd pay for the same at a Western seafood restaurant downtown. Marc said it'd be a celebration for his annual bonus. 

**

How do you kill a lobster humanely?

When we were kids, we'd let them do whatever it is lobsters do in the sink. (Sometimes one would make an ill-fated escape attempt on the kichen counter.) Then, we'd plunge them into boiling water at the last minute. I have no idea if this is humane or not, but it was a very quick death. 

Hong Kong is not the sort of place where you let lobsters around your kitchen, so I asked the CitySuper guy to guy kill them for us. What I care about is that the kill is fast and efficient -- either at the store or at home. What I didn't want is for them to die a slow, miserable death, their claws wrapped, suffocating for hours in a supermarket plastic bag. 

I told him this. The CitySuper  guy asked if I wanted them chopped in half, and I said no. (The traditional way of cooking them is whole). So he said he'd "release their urine",  which would make them die quickly. I'd never heard of this technique, though I know it's used for Chinese-styled "peeing pants shrimp." So I stupidly believed him after he (allegedly) killed them, wrapped them in ice and plastic and handed them over.

So you can imagine my horror when hours later, after taking them out of the fridge, they were still moving. I was appalled. The guy either had no idea how to handle lobsters, or (typically) he didn't really care if they suffered.

I think that anyone who eats meat -- anyone who's had a slice of chicken on their restaurant Caesar salad -- should own up to the fact that that meat is slaugtered. And if they can't, they should be vegetarian. I am clear that all the meat I eat is killed at some point. That said, I will not eat meat that is killed in a way that I think is needlessly drawn-out and inhumane. (That's why I avoid shark's fin and a few other foods). I should have trusted my New England-y insticts instead of trusting a supermarket employee who grew up in an Asian concrete jungle.

So, what is the best way to kill a lobster? 

Trevor Corson -- award-winning food writer, "sushi concierge"  and author of  The Secret Life of Lobsters -- wrote this nice blog post on the subject, including step-by-step photos.

He quotes  Dr. Neville Gregory of New Zealand's Animal Welfare deparment, who was given an award from  England’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

I also did a little extra research. Here's what you do (and what I will do next time).

1.  Either you buy the lobsters pretty close to the time you cook them. Or, you let them run free for a bit in your sink / bathtub, even if you keep the plastic things on their claws for safety. Or you have the shop guy kill them for you -- and make sure he actually does it.
2. If you bring them home live, do NOT put fresh water in your sink / bathtub, as they are salt-water creatues and will die a miserable slow death in fresh water. They're better off in a dry tub.
3. 15-30 minutes before cooking, put your lobster in the freezer. They will not freeze to death in this time. (When you think about it, their natural habitat are the icy waters off the Canadian coast). But, as they are cold-blooded creatures, this will slow their bodily systems, numbing and sedating them. It also makes them easier to handle -- which makes for a faster, more efficient kill. It's not very humane for a nervous, amateur cook to repeatedly stab a squirming lobster. 
4. What I remember from growing up is that you could drive a knife right into the place behind their eyes -- what does this do? Cut the spinal cord?
5. Step 4 is probably optional. Place the numbed, sleepy lobster on its back. In a quick, confident motion with a good-sized sharp knife, cut a straight line from belly to head.
6. Put your lobster, head-first, into the pot of boiling salted water.

Animal rights activists say the above method is more humane than boiling them alive. Also, it takes a deft hand to get a live lobster to cooperate with a hot pot on the stove. 

Some scientists say lobsters don't really feel pain. I have no idea, but death throes are not pleasant to watch in any case. Those home cooks who claim that their lobsters are clinging to the side of the pot, giving them pitiful looks, etc., are probably imagining things. But I think even those of us with strong stomachs do not enjoy forcably holding the pot's top down while a creature thrashes around below.

**

My dinner on Saturday.

How to cook a lobster
1. Fill a large pot 2/3 or 3/4 full of very salty water. (Originally, this was done with sea water, compete with seaweed. But would anyone dare consume the water from Victoria Harbour?)
2. When the water boils, put your freshly killed lobster in, head first. Watch for splashing from the tail, which can still move after the lobster is dead. Use kitchen mitts.
3. Wait for the water to come to a boil again.
4. A smallish lobster (1 to 1.5 lbs) should cook for about 8 minutes, on medium heat with the lid on, after the water reboils. 10 minutes maximum. Ignore terrible online advice to cook for 15-20 minutes, which will turn your lobster into chewing gum. 
5. Signs your lobster is done: The shell has gone bright red. You can pull an antannae off easily.
5. Serve whole with a side dish of salted, good-quality melted better for dipping.

Well, that's my way of cooking a lobster.

Marc and I are so very opinionated about how food should be prepared that we often just give up on trying to agree, and make dinner separately. Even brunches at home require both of us to make our own eggs. 
So he did something else with his lobster -- parboiled it, halved it, drizzled it with stuff, grilled it. I guess you can ask him for his recipe.

Side dishes

The side dishes should be very simple, to not distract from the glory of the fresh lobster.

1. Salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and Ranch dressing from a bottle. So '80s.
2. Corn on the cob. (Husk corn. Boil in salted water 10 minutes. Drizzle with melted butter and sea salt).
3. Cheddar bay biscuits

Actually -- for a simpler meal, you can serve with boiled potatoes or a potato salad. But I was in an ambitious culinary mood.

Cheddar bay biscuits 
These biscuits were made famous by the Red Lobster restaurant chain. Random tidbit: Americans consume 400 million cheddar biscuits a year, or more than a million a day on average. This explains alot. 
Nobody has ever discovered the Red Lobster recipe, but here's an approximate replication. (And, unlike most online recipes, does not require biscuit mix, which is hard to find in Hong Kong).
The resulting breads were tasty and light,  but didn't rise or "pop" as much as I would have like liked, so I'm still tinkering with this. 
(To give credit where it's due, this is a modified version of this recipe from the Chickens in the Road blog.)


1. Preheat oven to 450 F / 225 C, or about as hot as a regular home oven will go.
2. Combine
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Mixed spices -- Cayenne pepper, garlic powder, celery salt, etc. Personally I used what was in the kitchen, which was paprika, thyme and rosemary.

3. Chop in, using one or two sharp small knives (depending on your technique) 1/4 cup of chilled butter. It does not have to be 100% mixed. It's actually good to have some butter cubes / blobs

4. Stir in 
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more, for taste)
1/4 cup yogurt 
2/3 cup milk

5. Scoop the batter onto a greesed baking tray. They should look like a half-dozen lumpy balls. Do not flatten.

6. Soften a little more butter and mix in minced garlic (I use the Chinese stuff in a glass jar) and chopped fresh herbs. Brush on top of the dough lumps.

7. Bake about 20 minutes, making sure the bottoms don't burn.