Dim Sum and Other Yummy Foods

The first weekend I was here at Lingnan, I had dim sum, but I didn’t know/didn’t really understand the whole concept of it. I just remember about 15 dishes being served throughout the entire time we were sitting at the table. I didn’t know what I was eating, even though the local students tried to explain the dishes; it was just an odd experience, probably because I wasn’t able to actually ‘participate’/order.

I’m not really sure how to describe it, but dim sum is a meal, usually served at breakfast or lunch, where you choose a bunch of different dishes and share with your table. Apparently at some restaurants, they wheel the dishes around on a trolley and you pick and choose what you want to eat.

In the past two/three weeks though, I’ve had it twice and have loved it.

Lingnan has a restaurant above the school’s Canteen that offers dim sum every day for lunch. A few weeks ago, Anna, Lex, Kat and I joined Jessie, an OMIP staff worker for dim sum/lunch. Jessie is a local and was very helpful throughout the entire meal as she was able to easily communicate with the wait staff.  Anna, Kat, Lex and I went back last week for a final dim sum; we ran into a few problems, communication wise, but everything worked out fine.

The meal starts off with the table getting two tea pots- one full of tea, the other with water, and a large empty bowl. You then proceed to wash/rinse all of your dishes because the Chinese don’t trust the restaurants. You pour the dirty water into the empty bowl, which is then removed from the table. At the school’s restaurant, they have paper menus on the table, where you choose your dishes and mark how many you want; then somebody takes away your menu/order and you wait for your food to arrive.

{In the United States, everybody’s meal is served at the same time. Drinks appetizers are served first, followed by everybody’s meal. In Hong Kong though, and especially at dim sum, the dishes are brought out whenever they are done. I’ve been out with large groups and somebody is usually done with their meal by the time the last person gets their meal.}

Both times we had dim sum, we tried a variety of dishes, but I only have pictures from our last meal. Dumplings, rice, noodles, veggies, water chestnut cake (?) and a variety of sauces.

Shrimp Dumplings

Shanghai Dumplings- pork and some spicy things...

Vegetable dumplings; you can also see some fried rice in the background

Water Chestnut cake. It's much better than it sounds, but I have no idea how to explain it...

Veggies.

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Last week, Lex and I also tried this popular desert place. It’s all over Hong Kong, and people rave about it, but neither of us had tried it, so we wanted to give it a go. I have no idea how to describe what I got- basically fruit mixed with aloe balls, ice cream. But they also specialize in various fruit drinks and other things. I think the pictures I took show a little more…

Coconut ice cream surrounded by cantaloupe, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew and kiwi, all 'floating' in aloe balls.

Aloe Balls...

Gardens, Nunneries and Temples.

Over the weekend I went to the Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery with Lex and Anna S. We started out earlier than our past adventures, around 10, which got us to the Garden and Nunnery a little after 11. The MTR dropped us off by an entrance to a mall (what a surprise- most MTR stations are connected to some shopping area) and it was a quick walk over to the Garden. The brochure I picked up describes the Nan Lian Garden as “A classical garden in a modern city- Serenity in the midst of urban hustle and bustle.”  It really was like we were in a different world once we entered the Garden. You could barely hear the cars outside and the sun was so bright you wouldn’t have even thought skyscrapers surrounded you.

We meandered around the Garden, through the paved paths. There was one main path that weaved in and out of all the areas of the Garden that we followed and allowed us to see the Chinese Timber Architecture Gallery, Blue Pond, the Pavilion Bridge, The Mill as well as the Tan Gallery. There was a vegetarian restaurant that we were going to eat at but it was rather expensive and it didn’t have a great selection so we decided not to eat there.

After walking through the Garden we proceeded to the Chi Lin Nunnery, which was connected to Nan Lian Garden by a few steps. In a section of the Nunnery you weren’t allowed to take pictures, but we did- we just hid from the security guards while doing so. The Nunnery was gorgeous with great architecture and beautiful gardens.

We stopped at the mall by the MTR and found this interesting food court to eat. There were about 20 different stations/places to eat and they all offered a different type of Asian food including Vietnamese, Tawainese etc. I ended up getting dumplings.

Our final stop for the day was Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. Although it was gorgeous, we were all a little disappointed because we couldn’t actually enter the temple; we were only allowed to walk around outside it. We still got to see a lot, but it was very crowded and a lot of people were praying. I heard there were fortune tellers there and wanted to check it out. We found the fortune telling section- about 70-80 little shops/booths in a row offering palm reading, face reading and more for more than $200HK (a little less than $30USD). It was rather expensive so we opted not to do it and figured we’d find a cheaper place at a later date.

The line of fortune tellers

Hostel Dumpling Night

Instead of ‘dorms,’ Lingnan has ‘hostels.’ There are 6 on campus, 4 are the Southern Hostels- A, B, C, D- and 2 make up the Northern Hostels- E and F. . I am in Hostel F. Each hostel has a Warden, who is kind of the director of the hostel/an adult, and a bunch of tutors, who I see as comparable to RAs.

As I explained during NSO, each hostel kind of does it own thing and has it’s own traditions. And earlier this week I was able to participate in one of Hostel F’s own traditions- Chinese Dumpling Night for Exchange Students.

So on Monday night, most of Hostel F’s exchange students gathered in the common room on the ground floor with the executive board, tutors and warden of Hostel F.

Our Warden first showed us how to make dumplings and then everybody gathered around the table and started making their own dumplings. I had to make a few dumplings before I got the hang of things, but once I did it was so much fun! There were two huge bowls-one with meat, the other with veggies- and dozens of chopsticks to pick up the mixings to put into the dumpling. There were so many piles of dumpling sheets (I’m not really sure what to call them- the dumpling sheets?) Hands were everywhere, but somehow we managed to make hundreds of dumplings without poking anybody with chopsticks.

There were so many different designs of dumplings, you could definitely tell who had made them before and who was just beginning. The Warden explained that you could usually tell who made it by the design, which was so true. Mine were so simple, while some of the tutors’ were so complex.

The tutors began to cook the finished dumplings, while we continued to make them, and then it was time to feast! And feast we did! They were all so delicious and the tutors kept filling up our bowls. It was a great night to meet the Warden as well as the tutors and executive board and other exchange kids in my hostel while eating dumplings!