The popular Miss Hong Kong pageant, however, has over the years consistently produced winners who excelled in both beauty and intelligence.  Every year, aspirants from around the world would return to Hong Kong hoping to covet one of the prestigious titles in the competition. In the minds of the hopefuls, victory promises a better life.

     Asianwave recently had the privilege to meet three beauty-queen-title holders to see what they’ve been up to recently.  Up close and personal with Sonija Kwok (1999 Miss Hong Kong), Bernice Liu (2000 Miss Chinese Vancouver, 2001 Miss Chinese International) and Shirley Yeung (2001 Miss Hong Kong), they share with us updates on their life and career as well as some great advice for new prospective contestants.

Sexy Sonija (Miss Hong Kong 1999)
After graduating from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sonija Kwok, who now had a degree in business and psychology, wasn’t sure what she was going to do. At that time, Cathay Pacific Airways had set up a new base in Vancouver. She applied and worked as a flight attendant. After a year however, and due to problems with jet lag and lack of sleep, Sonija decided to move on and try something new.

     Facing another crossroad in her life, Sonija remembered the frequent praise she received for her beauty as she was growing up. She was even told once to try out for the Miss Hong Kong competition. She did so, and the rest is history. She advises, “Don’t expect too much from the competition because you would be too pressured into wanting to win. By not thinking about it too much, you would be able to perform even better. I thought to myself, it doesn’t matter if I win or not and just took it as a life experience for myself.”

Beautiful Bernice (Miss Chinese Vancouver 2000 and Miss Chinese International 2001)
Born and raised in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Bernice Liu is a wonderful example of how a Canadian-Born-Chinese (CBC) can become successful in the Hong Kong entertainment industry through hard work and determination.

     She had many opportunities playing diverse roles while simultaneously perfecting her Chinese. Bernice was also given the opportunity to display her dancing talent in her new TVB series Steps.   In addition to currently acting in a TVB series, Bernice has also starred in 3 films. She also sang and recorded a children’s song and some TVB theme songs.

     Despite achieving much success already in her career, Bernice believes the key to success is to set goals and take on more challenges.  “I hope to continue to take on more challenging roles in the future such as play a disabled person, an antagonist or even a crazy person.  Also while I’m still young and able, I want to do some high-action impact fighting roles.”

Striking Shirley (Miss Hong Kong 2001)
After her graduation from university in 2000, Shirley Yeung’s mother nominated her for the 2000 Miss Hong Kong competition so that her daughter could “learn more about make-up, dressing up and proper etiquette”.

     “In the beginning, I was a little scared, but overall, I didn’t feel too stressed [about the competition]”, says Shirley, recounting her experience in the beauty pageant. “I had a lot of experience with presentations and public speaking while I was in school, so the Q&A part of the competition wasn’t as nerve-wrecking for me”

     Shirley played a lot of challenging roles in her TVB series such as a policewoman, violinist, mute, paraplegic, and even the evil antagonist in the recent TV show Brink of Law.
 
     Sonija, Bernice, and Shirley used to be three regular individuals just like everybody else. They went to school, made lots of friends, and had summer jobs like you and I did.

     Years after they joined and won their respective competitions, they are still the same individuals who now have brighter futures, better lives and bigger opportunities coming their way.

     Taking heart the advices given by these three beauty pageant winners, you too, with time, effort and courage may be the next star to behold!

     I would like to thank Li Yan and Zhang Tai Ning for giving me “Symphonic Life” written by Li Deyu.  This book is a touching biography of a conductor who had spent his entire life with the baton, conducting an inspiring, symphonic life.

     “Symphonic Life” is one of the books in the series called “Three Kinds of Love”, the three kinds are family love, friendship, and romantic love.

     We know that there are so many kinds of affection in the world; with these three kinds, we also have excellence, sincerity, and selfless love.  This series is like a cup of good tea, drops of spring water; it helps me to understand the real meanings of love, to savor the love in this world.

     In the first 229 pages of “Symphonic Life”, Mr. Li Deyu recorded the major events in his own life, and the remaining 90 pages collected memorial articles from 23 of his friends and relatives, such as He Luding , Liu Xinwu, Li Li, Jiang Li, etc.  From them, we can see the selflessness in his life.  I sincerely recommend this.  This book is published by Beijing Dongfang Publisher.

Summer is finally here and in anticipation of the hot weather, finding the perfect recipes for the patio season begins now!  The sneak peaks of the summer heat have gotten some barbeques tuned up again and now Chef Ho introduces a whole new twist to eating fresh and eating right – Stir Fry Fruits with Lemongrass Sauce.  This dish fuses heartiness of a satisfying meal with the lightness of the summer season and all the while, one that is easy to make and delicious to eat!

     This dish is quite unique because it combines fresh fruit with different varieties of surimi products.  Surimi is made from a combination of different white fish; mashed and pureed into a substance and then combined with other ingredients such as salt, sugar, starch, and egg whites.  This form of fish paste has a long history throughout Asia and not only does it make good use of all the leftover fish bits but it’s also an inexpensive source of protein.  Surimi is available in the refrigerator or freezer section of most supermarkets and it comes in many different forms such as artificial crab or lobster meat. In this recipe Chef Ho has chosen to use the mini chikuwa and crab nuggets which make this dish quick and easy to make since all you need to do is to blanch them before adding to the stir-fried.

     Chef Ho recommends this dish for everyone; especially the picky eaters because not only is it visually appealing with a multitude of colours and textures of fruit, fish and crab nuggets, but its simply very flavourful with the lemongrass sauce.  The mixture of fresh fruits like mangoes, plums, and canary melons gives it a very tropical taste and with the complimentary refreshing taste of the cucumber, it makes this the perfect choice for a summer meal!

     This stir-fry dish; accented by the LKK Lemongrass Sauce will give your dish a unique Asian flavour and combined with LKK Minced Garlic and LKK Double Deluxe Soy Sauce for seasoning, this dish will surely be a hit!  The LKK Lemongrass sauce is a ready-to-use marinade that is perfect for all meats and poultry and is commonly used in Asian dishes.  The great thing about this sauce is that there is no need for starch or flour because LKK Lemongrass Sauce is sweet so the sauce itself will thicken as you cook it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Chikuwas (10 pieces)
Crab nuggets (10 pieces)
Cucumber (half)
Mango (half)
Canary melon (half)
Plum (half)
LKK Minced Garlic (1 tsp)

Sauce Ingredients:

LKK Double Deluxe Soy Sauce (1 tsp)
LKK Lemongrass Sauce (3 tsp)
LKK Chicken Bouillon Powder (1/2 tsp)
Water (2 tbsp)

Preparation:

A. Slice the fruits into long wedges.		B. Blanch the frozen chikuwas and crab nuggets in hot water.

Method:

1. Heat up the wok and add in the minced garlic; sauté and then add in the chiwukas and crab nuggets.		2. Next add in the fruits and stir-fry.
3. In a bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients.		4. Add in the sauce mixture to the wok and mix well together.		5. It’s ready once the sauce is properly mixed together with the ingredients!

JOSEPH HO  |  何廣義 Chef Joseph Ho has over 30 years of culinary experience. He has worked as the head chef and the advisor for many high-end restaurants and hotels in both Canada and Hong Kong. Mr. Ho was the Chinese Restaurant Executive Chef at the Hilton Suites. He taught at George Brown College and is regularly featured in various medias, teaching oriental and occidental cuisines. Mr. Ho recently starred in Beijing Television’s Happy Media Cooking Show; collaborated with Chef Martin Yan on the Food Channel; and hosted a food show on Fairchild Radio. He also participates in many cooking demonstrations, competitions and shows worldwide.

Lee Kum Kee products are available at Chinese super­markets and most major supermarkets. In addition to their famous oyster flavoured sauce, soy sauce, and chicken bouillon powder, Lee Kum Kee offers a variety of products that complement both Chinese and Western dishes.

Friends share. Friends tell each other secrets. Friends are there for you. MallsAndOutlets.com wants to do all those things for you and more. You could say they are more than just a friend, but a super friend – and they won’t even get mad when you forget to visit sometimes. Your super friend will be with you when you turn your computers, tablets or Smart phones on…anytime of the day! MallsAndOutlets.com will help you to research and organize your trips to the mall or outlet and help you find what you are looking for quickly and easily.

MallAndOutlets.com is a hot new website launched in April 2011 and already the traffic to the website is growing rapidly. Malls and Outlets fills the need for a specialized shopping site that is comprehensive yet easy to use and helps to cleverly break down the sometimes overwhelming number of stores each mall and outlet currently has. The website is an easy to use Internet application for people who want information to help them shop and find the information they are looking for.

On your next shopping excursion, there is no need to remember the website addresses for your local malls and outlets as MallsAndOutlets.com will have them all accessible and searchable. Malls and Outlets has spent over three years to researching, painstakingly curating and gathering information from brick and mortar stores and in effect creating the world’s biggest shopping mall directory. All malls and outlets are organized by country, states and city making it easy to explore new shopping destinations which you might not be aware of. This tool is especially useful when you are on a business trip or vacation to a new city which you are not familiar with.

MallsAndOutlets.com is more than a directory listing. The directory is actually a convenient doorway to online shopping. A majority of websites increasingly allow customers to not only browse their inventory and also purchase items online. Therefore in effect MallsAndOutlets.com is a shopping destination that is open 24 hours a day. Boasting over 160,000 stores and approaching 5000 malls and outlets, Malls and Outlets continues to expand, this is definitely the largest shopping destination in the world. The website launched first with information for malls and outlets in Canada and USA. Their next update will include malls in Asia which will bring even more traffic to MallsAndOutlets.com. Finding the best deals offers a great past time for many Asians so this website will be on everyone’s favorites list.

With the abundance of features, MallsAndOutlets.com is not only your super friend but it is undoubtedly one of the best sites for shopping!

For more information please visit:  www.MallsAndOutlets.com

A General Motors Electric Networked Vehicle (EN-V) concept is driven around a course setup outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 7, 2011. The EN-V concept represents a vision of the future of urban personal mobility, including a feature that would allow the vehicle to park itself and automatically return to the user when summoned from a smartphone application. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Citizens stand on a 3D painting for photo on a street in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, Jan. 8, 2011. According to the designer, it took 26 days to finish the 3D painting which covers an area of nearly 90 square meters. (Xinhua/Zhong Guilin)

People exit from a tram without wearing pants through the streets of Zurich on the day of the 10th Annual New York City No Pants Subway Ride January 9, 2011. The New York event, organised by Improv Everywhere, involves participants who strip down to their underwear as they go about their normal routine. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

A couple taking part in the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride walk through the hallway of the Union Square subway station in New York City January 9, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

A dog looks on as people wait to ride a tram without pants through the streets of Zurich on the day of the 10th Annual New York City No Pants Subway Ride January 9, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Jim Harris and his Chinese wife Su Liying celebrate at an international group wedding ceremony in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 6, 2011. A total of 18 couples from several countries and regions enjoyed the romantic moment together in Harbin Thursday. This was the 27th time for the renowned international wedding ceremony being held here. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Matt from the US and Clleen from Canada recieve interview during an international group wedding ceremony in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 6, 2011. A total of 18 couples from several countries and regions enjoyed the romantic moment together in Harbin Thursday. This was the 27th time for the renowned international wedding ceremony being held here. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Newlywed couples attend an international group wedding ceremony in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 6, 2011. A total of 18 couples from several countries and regions enjoyed the romantic moment decorated with ice and snow in Harbin Thursday. This is the 27th time that the renowned international wedding ceremony was held in Harbin. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Margaret (R) and Kirarill celebrate at an international group wedding ceremony in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 6, 2011. A total of 18 couples from several countries and regions enjoyed the romantic moment together in Harbin Thursday. This was the 27th time for the renowned international wedding ceremony being held here. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Newlywed couples attend an international group wedding ceremony in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 6, 2011. A total of 18 couples from several countries and regions enjoyed the romantic moment together in Harbin Thursday. This was the 27th time for the renowned international wedding ceremony being held here. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

A contestant is seen in a snow sculpture contest in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 10, 2011. The 27th China Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival opened here on Monday. (Xinhua/Li Yong)