Bouillabaise

Bouillabaise (pronounced as Boo ya base) is actually a French dish and the basic ingredients are seafood like fishes, shellfishes, prawns; fish stock simmer with lots of big fish bones and tomatos and other hard vegies like carrots and potatos.

I decided to try this since Greg wasn't feeling all too well last week due to some bug. I figured lots of protein and vitamin C from tomatos will do him good. I did a cheat's version here by cutting out some complicated steps.

1 piece of fish fillet non oily type about 200gm such as dory/snappers/salmon, cut into smaller pieces

6 pieces of half shelled mussels, clean de-bearded

4 pieces of half shelled scallops, clean

6 pieces of oyster meat, drain the liquid if any

8 pieces of medium prawns, de-veined and de-shelled

1 piece of squid

clams (optional)

120ml of water + 1 teasp of chicken stock

50ml of ideal milk or fresh cream for richer version

6-8 tbsp of tomato coullis or 3 no tomatos + 3 tbsp of tomato puree

3 tbsp of brandy

3 tbsp of oil

Salt, pepper to taste

parsely to garnish

1) Clean all seafood, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

2) In a large deep pan, heat up oil and sautee garlic till light brown, add harder to cook seafood such as mussels followed by clams, squids, scallops. Continue sautee-ing. Add fish, prawns and oyster meat last.

3) Add chicken stock and water and let it simmer for a little. Then add brandy, and tomato coullis. Let it simmer for another 2-3 min. Add in cream or ideal milk. Continue simmering for another few min till seafood are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Dish up and garnish with parsley. Eat with french loaf. Yum Yum! Cest la vie!

The Grand Finale at Disneyland Hong Kong

Now I know that I've been shoving Disney into your face for the past few days. I'm sorry but I just couldn't help it. Blogging is a way for us to document our travels, & document our travels we'd have to.



When you're in Disneyland, do not leave before 7pm. That's when they whole night sky becomes alive with music, colours & light...

Not to mention the chemical smoke.

You see, at 7pm every night, they would release tens of thousands of dollars worth of fireworks into the sky. And when they're burning money like that, you'd better make it a point to stay & watch, or else Uncle Walt won't be very happy.

Fireworks never cease to amaze us, & at Disneyland, they had almost every kind imaginable up there.

There were those that looked like dandelions.


And also those that shot like shooting stars.


Then there were others that looked like single solo missiles on its way to the middle east.


While others were just plain chaotic & didn't know where they were going, or what they were doing.

And so the spectacular show ended, & we went home with fireworks residues in our lungs.

I was kidding about the residues lah. The fireworks were actually far enough from the audience for them to feel anything. But haiya, Hong Kong's air pollution index is probably worst, if not just as bad.

And so now I have to sing this customary Disney song:
Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company,
M-I-C - see you real soon,
K-E-Y - why? because we love you!
M-O-U-S-E.

On the Go in Disneyland

I think Disneyland was too fast for this uncle & auntie. There were just too many things happening at the same time. We missed a lot of good stuff like The Lion King musical, & the Adventureland Boat ride.

Now looking back, we realised that we were only able to do the grandma things, like taking the Disney train for one.

The train ride basically encircles the whole of Disneyland, bringing us through Tomorrowland, Adventureland, plus a couple of other-lands which I can't remember.

The ride may look fast in this picture because of the speed lines. But it was really chugging along at grandpa speed.

All the same, Disneyland had a lot of these landscape-sculpture-touristy-thingies which you won't miss.

These were exactly the kind of attractions for the whole family of 3 generations.





It's just too bad The Small World was closed for renovation. Would have loved to see those little buggers coming out to sing It's a Small World.

So we skipped on to Tomorrowland.

It was very sad. This was about the only ride we went for the whole time we were there.

We couldn't do anything wild cos we were both motion-sickness challenged. So we went on this baby one cos it had a milder speed, and it didn't carry any specific heart-attack warning signs.

We both shared a capsule with a control panel that lets you rotate 360% & shot them alien robots.

Ok, that was a little kiddy but we were there, and we'd done that.


After that was done, we scooted hurriedly to the Mickey Mouse Philharmagic show.

Little did we know that we were about to experience one of the greatest visual spectacles that we were ever going to see.

The wait was long. I guess it drove some people crazy. See the girl in white on the right? It looks like she's pulling her hair out.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it's in 3D!

This is the highlight of the 3D show. It's when Donald sinks to the bottom of the deep, dark, mysterious ocean & he meets Ariel there.

The Wonderful World of Disney

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again. Disney certainly has a way of making mature, rational adults behave in very strange ways.

They've made it into a really really happy world. I mean where else can you find a policeman, grocer, barber & tailor singing for you right on the street?

In Kuching, these bunch of guys probably just want your money. (whisper: that includes the policeman heheheh) Of course I'm just kiddinglah. These are actually hardworking people who makes an honest living.

Once you've stepped foot into Disneyland, you'll forget everything.

You'll forget about your work.

And you'll forget about the bills you'd need to pay every month.

That's cos Disney knows how to press all the right buttons.

You see, he creates a world so clean, so safe, so bright & happy, that you've got no choice but to be reduced to a 6-year old.

These were all window displays at the souvenier shop on Main Street.

I've always been fascinated by these displays.

You can see that they go to such great lengths to create a world so believable that you'd want to live in it.

They create characters so real & memorable that you'd be willing to pay anything to be able to bring a piece of them home.

And believe me, they don't come cheap.

The Disney Train

This is Mr. Walt Disney.

Such was his genius that he had a way of making logical, intelligent & mature people like us into little innocent, wide-eyed & excitable 6-year olds.


Nee & I were not exceptional in this case. When Donald beckons, we buy.

The tickets costed us about HKD150 (RM70) each for a day's pass. We figured one day was enough cos we heard that Disneyland Hong Kong wasn't that big. But Goofy seemed to reassure us that it was gonna be worth the money.

O-heeogh heeeogh heeogh! Gosh, you folks made the right
decision thar! It's gonna be fun!

This is the station where we're supposed to wait for the arrival of the train from Disneyland.

We could actually feel the excitement & the electricity of Disney even before it's arrival...

Umm, maybe it was because we were standing too close to the cable lines. I wasn't sure.

But one thing's for sure, when the train arrived, it felt like the train we were waiting for 20-30 years has finally, really arrived.

This was the real deal. It wasn't something that we'd see only on TV anymore.

This was the Disney train, and it was going to take us to whole new world. At that moment, I suddenly knew what Wendy & the gang felt as they started flying off with Peter Pan into Never Neverland.


The Disney train itself was something like a mini-Disneyland.


Mickey was there, in a glass cage.


And so was Tinkerbell.


And this was our Never Neverland.



Before we continue on, please excuse us for the following touristy photos.
We had to do this you know. It's one of those obligatory 'been there, done that' kinda photos.

Donald was sulking, Mickey was riding on the surfboard, & I was either doing a Bollywood or a Monkey King number.

Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland!