Portuguese egg tarts and dim sum!

Ok, so I'm well on my way to trying all the foods I was excited about in Macau.  I had Portuguese egg tarts last night which lived up to the hype in every way.  Then Carol, our gracious hostess, took us all out for dim sum brunch today.  Awesome.  But the menu was all in Cantonese and it was the kind you order by filling out an order sheet, not the cart style.  Soooo, what's a foreigner to do?  I asked her if she would tell me what we'd had and I made notes on a blank order sheet, so now I can go back and get all the goods again.  I had many of my favorites, and a couple new things - some kind of fried milk with almond treat and turnip cakes.  Delish.

Had a slight food mishap last night though - Beth and I went to a place that sold udon noodle soup.  She knows some Mandarin and is able to use it to help her with Cantonese, since it's different but similar.  Needless to say, there was a miscommunication and so when our soup arrived it was full of chunks of what looked like a large bird's legs.  They had black skin and grey flesh and bones.  We decided to scoop out the legs parts and the rest of it was very good.  We also had a salad type dish with cucumber and eggs.  It tasted pretty good, but the eggs had been cooked in some way that radically altered the color.  They tasted a little weird, but alright.  See photo above - those green and brown things are the eggs.  The yolks were a dark blue-ish green and the "whites" were a translucent brown.

We also went to an enormous outdoor market yesterday and bought some stuff for the apartment - a shelving unit for the kitchen and some sheets.  They had everything you could want, including lots of fresh fruits and veggies, in case I'm ever inclined to cook.  (Doubtful.)  So I think my room is pretty well set up.  Once we get internet at home I'll post a video tour.  I also went on a quest and found one of the laundry places I had been told about - they wash and fold it for you and charge by the pound.  Pretty sweet deal.

Carol also took us sightseeing after our brunch and we wandered around one of the touristy areas.  We saw the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral - probably the most famous landmark in Macau.  Upon Carol's suggestion, I went up to the second level to check out the view and a Chinese tourist tapped me and gestured with her camera.  I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her and her son.  Nope!  She wanted a picture of me with her son!  Funny, but not that uncommon I guess.  Get your picture taken with the American - only 5 patacas per person!  After this I'll head home for a chill evening - Carol is meeting us at 8am tomorrow to bring us to the school.  Shouldn't be a problem since I keep waking up at 6.  :)