Ode to Oscar

Let's get right to it - my Uncle Oscar is the best.

I've only know Uncle Oscar less than two years (and seen him only ten days within that span), but each time I go to Hong Kong, he treats me like a king and never (ever!) accepts thanks, as if what he's doing is expected, even commonplace (which it most definitely is not).

Let me give you a quick background on Uncle Oscar. First of all, he's not really my uncle.  My dad used to take care of him a bit when he went to SPU (along with my god brother, Bernard), so he's more like a god brother to me than uncle. Secondly, and more interestingly, he LOVES lizards! He owns a lizard shop in Mong Kok called Urban Jungle - one of the first lizard shops opened in that area.

What I love about Uncle Oscar's story is that he fought through a lot of obstacles and doubts to follow his passion, even though it wasn't the safe, practical, or comfortable choice. As the saying goes, if it's not difficult, it's probably not worth it. You can probably imagine, his parents weren't too thrilled with his decision to get into the lizard business. On top of that, it cost a lot of money going from country to country looking for new species, and at one point, he was in debt close to half a million dollars. But his pursuit and persistance paid off after a few years, and today you can find him in his lizard shop, drinking tea, BSing with customers and old friends, and in essence, doing what he loves doing every day of his life (kind of literally, since his shop is closed for only one day a year!).

(Another random fact is that Uncle Oscar used to go to my old church and knows a lot of the aunties and uncles I have in Seattle. Crazy small world.)

The shop in Mong Kok.

Normally, I only charm the ladies...

So back to the present. Uncle Oscar always insists on picking me up from and taking me to the airport, so after I arrived at the airport, he picked me and took me directly to get dinner. We went to one of his favorite spots in Mong Kok that specializes in small, simple Cantonese dishes - all of which were really good. You will never go wrong with one of Uncle Oscar's recommendations - the man knows how to eat.

Hot plate beef with scallions and onions.

Chinese broccoli with ground pork.

The next day, I met up with him and my godbrother Bernard for some shabu shabu (hot pot). He invited me, as well as my friend Carolyn and her aunts (more on them in my next post). The shabu shabu included fatty beef, thin sliced grouper, clams, dumplings, veggies, and live shrimp on a stick (cruel, but tasty). The atmosphere was pretty chaotic: a bunch of tables squished together so closely that everyone was literally back to back with the next table, people screaming for more meats, and soup steam filling the room. It felt like a hot pot sauna with 100 of your closest (by proximity only) acquaintances. Needless to say, I loved it.

Mmmmm, hot pot sauna...

Live shrimp skewer with my god brother Bernard.

Over the next couple of nights, both Uncle Oscar and Bernard proceeded to spoil me with sushi, Chiu Chow style food, and Shanghainese style food. As I've mentioned before, eating with locals definitely expands your horizons to amazing (and stinky!) foods you'd never think of eating.

Hamachi.

Chiu Chow style goose.

Chiu Chow style fried fish.

The infamous stinky tofu!

My time in Hong Kong is always enjoyable because the city is so lively and the food is so delicious and readily available. But above all, I love spending time with Uncle Oscar (as well as other family), hearing his stories, and hopefully learning how to be as humbly gracious with the people in my life as he is with me.