I bought a packet of Beef Bourgongne Dressing from Tesco, not really knowing what to do with it then. I came back from the talk in LSE just like the old days, not really hungry but thinking I should do something for lunch tomorrow. Remembering the packet and some leftover red wine from the housekeeping abuse party last Friday, I start to make my version of Beef Bourgongne.
The moment I poured the red wine into the boiling pot, the aroma of wine and bouquet of herb (I only have thyme) rushed into the air, wow, that smell brought back a lot of memory. I made my first beef bourgongne with my ex-boy friend, that's almost 7 years ago. How strangely smells can invoke such a distant memory.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Age of Excitment
I am reading Bill Bryson's Thunderbolt Boy. His writing is fully of mild sarcasm, supposing funny wisdom, which makes you think he is almost afraid of offending someone. Hardly my cup of tea but I had nothing else in hand at the moment, oh well, an easy read to kill time during the night.
In this book he is mainly talking about his childhood in Iowa in the 50's. The food situation is scarily terrible, I mean, people's palates didn't get proper development after the great depression. They only respond to burns and ice cream. Almost everything is good for you, processed food is good for you. Frozen vegetables is good for you. Most doctors smokes Camels, so Camel ciggerates must be good for you. Ice cream makes your bond strong, and people went to Las Vegas to see the atomic bomb testing, so close that they could feel the earth trembling beneath their feet and the radioactive cloud flew over their head, that's good for the picnic.
Everything was exciting, the colour TV and fridge. Scentists reported that they can send missles to the moon carrying letters, allegedly an brand new way to deliver message. The whole nation cheered.
This reminds me a lot of communist China. We laughed at those stories during the great leap, in which the nation fell into the huge craziness to grow the productivity. Funny statistics gathered at the time such as the number of herd grew 10 fold in a year. That's a great deal of similarity of sentiments of that and of America in the 50s.
In this book he is mainly talking about his childhood in Iowa in the 50's. The food situation is scarily terrible, I mean, people's palates didn't get proper development after the great depression. They only respond to burns and ice cream. Almost everything is good for you, processed food is good for you. Frozen vegetables is good for you. Most doctors smokes Camels, so Camel ciggerates must be good for you. Ice cream makes your bond strong, and people went to Las Vegas to see the atomic bomb testing, so close that they could feel the earth trembling beneath their feet and the radioactive cloud flew over their head, that's good for the picnic.
Everything was exciting, the colour TV and fridge. Scentists reported that they can send missles to the moon carrying letters, allegedly an brand new way to deliver message. The whole nation cheered.
This reminds me a lot of communist China. We laughed at those stories during the great leap, in which the nation fell into the huge craziness to grow the productivity. Funny statistics gathered at the time such as the number of herd grew 10 fold in a year. That's a great deal of similarity of sentiments of that and of America in the 50s.
Visiting T
I made it top of my list to visit my friend T when I am in London, who was hit by the acute leukemia last June. He came to pick me up from the station, I have prepared myself for the worse but I still cannot recognize him when he waved at me. He's lost his hair because of chemotheropy, wearing a hat to fend off the chill, losing so much weight (20kg in the first month). I put on my most cheerful face (borrowed from Mountain View Joey) and convinced myself things are just the way they are when we were working together in California.
He is much better this half month, his mom told me (mom moved to London to take care of him). He is receiving a cocktail of treatments, ranging from radiactive+chemo to kill the bad white blood cell (they are not that bad, at least they are not attacking Thang's body. They are just not doing anything and prevent the marrow from producing useful cells). Sterm cell transplanted from his sister, hopefully they can rebuild the white cell manufactory in T's body. We are still waiting to see if Thang's body would reject his sister's cells (it is very important to have siblings, it is very hard to find the matching if you have none).
I sometimes wonder why fate plays such a cruel thing on a kid (he is literally a kid, no joking, 2 years younger than I am, with the purest heart on earth). It should have happened to the bitter, angry, not-very-nice old witch like me.
He is much better this half month, his mom told me (mom moved to London to take care of him). He is receiving a cocktail of treatments, ranging from radiactive+chemo to kill the bad white blood cell (they are not that bad, at least they are not attacking Thang's body. They are just not doing anything and prevent the marrow from producing useful cells). Sterm cell transplanted from his sister, hopefully they can rebuild the white cell manufactory in T's body. We are still waiting to see if Thang's body would reject his sister's cells (it is very important to have siblings, it is very hard to find the matching if you have none).
I sometimes wonder why fate plays such a cruel thing on a kid (he is literally a kid, no joking, 2 years younger than I am, with the purest heart on earth). It should have happened to the bitter, angry, not-very-nice old witch like me.
Back to London
After 2 years, I flew back to London for 3 weeks, supposingly for business, but I find myself enjoy the reunion with my ex-colleauges enormously. They followed the big boss to the firm I recently joined 2 years ago before I left for Beijing. It is just like the good old days, when we have meeting in the conference room 101 (the pub downstair) bashing/bitching about work. The big boss drew a couple more of my ex-colleagues, we are all in the same boat.
Dave and Manj were 2 of my favorite. Manj is my drinking partner, he's always had the charisma and very talented developer. We spent so many nights drinking and talking silly stuff, nothing very constructive but great to release the stress and it always feels great to hang around with him. Dave is calm and shy, we didn't talk to each other for 2 years because I think he didn't like me. He later explained that's because he is very clumsy to express himself (and clumpsy physically). He's become my mentor, he taught me that I have to be more assertive and there is no need to feel apologetic to anyone. Oh well, I have to say the teaching has reached its success in every dimension, I become a scary woman (after 2 years of professional service and non-stop traveling) who deeply believes no one should mess around with me. I am no longer eager to please the world. Who knows, I think it is partly attributed by aging that I cannot be bothered to try.
I have also met new friends in the team, all very amiable. I threw a housekeeping abuse party on Friday night, presented not very good-tasted roast beef (Brits might think it is OK but it is nowhere close to the standard of Chinese tongue). Anyhow, people came in with drinks and we had a blast.
However, I didn't leave any work for housekeeping. I cannot help but start sorting the soiled plates, forks and knifes, put them into the dish washers while the party was on going. I was reading a book "a female thing", which describes the 4 quantities/emotions still bother nowaday females, struggling between feminism and feminity. They are: envy, sex, dirt and vulnerability.
The section about dirt drew my attention particularly. It is very true that woman and man has different level of sense of cleanness. Thought men started to help out in house chores, women are doomed to do more about the scrapping and washing. What is wrong with us? I only find this cleaning tendency gets stronger and stronger as I get older. I even started to clean up the table in the restaurant if my company dropped things by accident.
Dave and Manj were 2 of my favorite. Manj is my drinking partner, he's always had the charisma and very talented developer. We spent so many nights drinking and talking silly stuff, nothing very constructive but great to release the stress and it always feels great to hang around with him. Dave is calm and shy, we didn't talk to each other for 2 years because I think he didn't like me. He later explained that's because he is very clumsy to express himself (and clumpsy physically). He's become my mentor, he taught me that I have to be more assertive and there is no need to feel apologetic to anyone. Oh well, I have to say the teaching has reached its success in every dimension, I become a scary woman (after 2 years of professional service and non-stop traveling) who deeply believes no one should mess around with me. I am no longer eager to please the world. Who knows, I think it is partly attributed by aging that I cannot be bothered to try.
I have also met new friends in the team, all very amiable. I threw a housekeeping abuse party on Friday night, presented not very good-tasted roast beef (Brits might think it is OK but it is nowhere close to the standard of Chinese tongue). Anyhow, people came in with drinks and we had a blast.
However, I didn't leave any work for housekeeping. I cannot help but start sorting the soiled plates, forks and knifes, put them into the dish washers while the party was on going. I was reading a book "a female thing", which describes the 4 quantities/emotions still bother nowaday females, struggling between feminism and feminity. They are: envy, sex, dirt and vulnerability.
The section about dirt drew my attention particularly. It is very true that woman and man has different level of sense of cleanness. Thought men started to help out in house chores, women are doomed to do more about the scrapping and washing. What is wrong with us? I only find this cleaning tendency gets stronger and stronger as I get older. I even started to clean up the table in the restaurant if my company dropped things by accident.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Lust & Caution
Akiko successfully tricked me to say "I have flat chest" in Japanese in a restaurant. While people cracking up, she took a picture of me.
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I didn't finish Ang Lee's lust & Caution in one shot, it is kind of embarrassing when sex scene turns up and your parents, sister in laws, Ilan and siblings are around. I had to fast forward those. I am again surprised by Ang Lee, It is beyound my comprehension how he can understand a young lady's lust interwinded with love. How she fell for him, the male protagonist, was depicted subtly. I guess it is very hard for men to understand (most men would not have a clue, I bet). But Ang Lee has done it. The casting is also very successful. Another great work.
POW - Prisoners of Wall Street
Hanging out with Hiroko, I haven't seen her since moving to Tokyo, she is extremely busy with her project, valleyball practice, grandson and the dog, nanachang.
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I am reading this very intersting book by Satyajit Das, Traders, Gunes & Money. Das's scepticism humourous is hysterical, I wish I could write like he does, full of wisdom and prickingly painful humour. I am moving so slowly with his book, because I sincerly want to memorize every single sentence in the book.
There is one chapter about risk management, mathematical finance lends credibility and false precision to the dismal reality of risk management. Take VaR (Value at Risk) for example, all risk management officers are trying to give the bank's senior management one single number to quantify how risky our portfolio is. Some genius came up with the idea of VaR. VaR describes the maximum loss that could occor 1 out of 100 days of trading. However, the model is built on top assumption that all risk factors (interest rates with different tenors, FX rates, etc) are normally distributed. Besides, you need to have at least a couple of thousands of sample space to see the normal distribution. Something smells fishy already. Instead of using Monte Carlo, historical VaR is better? Naaaaaaah. We are making the assmption that the future market movement is somewhat similar to the past. Yeah, tsumani comes every 10 years, and terroist attacks happen periodically.
We still see banks register large loss with liquidity melt down, operational mistake or makret crashes regularly. What are the risk management doing? The conclusion is that risk managment is the insurance that the bank's senior management buy to protect their asses when things go sour, they can have something to blame or someone to fire. In addition, consultants and vendors were the main cheer leaders for risk management guideline, I wouldn't be suprised if there is a group of lobbyists funded by them, trying to push through another new regulation after another market crisis settles.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The Real SiChuan Spicy Hot Pot
My mom and I were invited to the famous hot pot restauraunt in Taipei, which seemed to be very popular and filled with young and attractive ladies. The hotpot is SiChuan style, features the numbing and burning chilly oil covered beef soup, you are allowed to cook anything in it to your satisfaction and it it without any dressing.
However, I was most disappointed. The soup is not genuine, it has way too much MSG and much too salty. The chilly oil on top is not the flavor I tasted in the old fashion SiChuan restaurant in the small alley near my home 20 years ago.
The fabulous restaurant I remembered 20 years agao has the soup cooked out of beef bone and the chilly oil made of SiChuan pepper corns, cinemons, star anis, and other spices. The hot chilly oil was then pour into a bowl full of dried chilly flakes, which brought out the aroma also the hotness without burning the chillies. The combination of the rich beef bone soup base and aromatic chilly oil was hard to describe, at least I haven't smelled it for a very very long time. You can shabu-shabu the thin-sliced beef (or tripes) a second or two before devouring the juicy yet flavored meat. It is really sad that it is so hard to find such a restaurant in Taipei now. The soup I had last night was to salty and so much like instant noodle soup, I rested my chopsticks after a couple of tries.
Our taste buds are deteriating? Or people just go there to see cute girls?
However, I was most disappointed. The soup is not genuine, it has way too much MSG and much too salty. The chilly oil on top is not the flavor I tasted in the old fashion SiChuan restaurant in the small alley near my home 20 years ago.
The fabulous restaurant I remembered 20 years agao has the soup cooked out of beef bone and the chilly oil made of SiChuan pepper corns, cinemons, star anis, and other spices. The hot chilly oil was then pour into a bowl full of dried chilly flakes, which brought out the aroma also the hotness without burning the chillies. The combination of the rich beef bone soup base and aromatic chilly oil was hard to describe, at least I haven't smelled it for a very very long time. You can shabu-shabu the thin-sliced beef (or tripes) a second or two before devouring the juicy yet flavored meat. It is really sad that it is so hard to find such a restaurant in Taipei now. The soup I had last night was to salty and so much like instant noodle soup, I rested my chopsticks after a couple of tries.
Our taste buds are deteriating? Or people just go there to see cute girls?
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Roller Skating in Paris
I didn’t realize that Tokyo practically shuts down during the western new year period, I booked my ticket and flew home a couple of days after Christmas. Oh well, I didn’t have other plans, besides, I very much like to bring back my roller skates so that I can join the Tokyo Saturday Skate. I used to be the faithful followers for the London Friday Night Skate (but the very last time I did the skating, I really had problem catching up). However, the scale and excitement level cannot be compared with the Paris one.
I went to the gathering place near Montpaness (spelling) by subway, but still had to skate to the big square where 20 thousands skates meet. Without a proper map, I was only following roller skaters on the street. They all seemed to heading toward the same direction. I finally managed to stop a girl (who dressed like a Tom Boy) and asked her where is the meeting point. She was most friendly, understood what I meant but didn’t seem to have enough English vocabularies. She and her friend took me along and we stick together during the trip.
The Friday night skate route changes every week. Paris is not flat, at certain section, we were flying down the hill (gentle one, not the one from Mont Royal). We were all going in full speed because nothing can stop this massive quantity of skaters, we were the king of the road. We were told to move as a group, if someone falls, we have to raise both of our hands, to signal the skaters behind you to stop or slow down. We didn’t really know where we are going to turn at the next corner, thus, we have to raise our both hands wave toward the direction we are going when turning so that the skaters behind us can follow. Just imagine how it looks like when a couple of hundred people doing it at the same time.
When skating in the not well-lit road going in full speed, what most skaters fear is some little pebble or even holes, the wheels can get stuck and your body is still carrying the momentum. Chances are you can land on your knees or chin the worse case. Wrist guard is strongly recommended because we tend to support ourselves with our hands when hitting the ground.
One of my skating friends tripped, she fell forward. With the strange luck, she rolled on her back and stood on her skate going forward again miraculously.
I went to the gathering place near Montpaness (spelling) by subway, but still had to skate to the big square where 20 thousands skates meet. Without a proper map, I was only following roller skaters on the street. They all seemed to heading toward the same direction. I finally managed to stop a girl (who dressed like a Tom Boy) and asked her where is the meeting point. She was most friendly, understood what I meant but didn’t seem to have enough English vocabularies. She and her friend took me along and we stick together during the trip.
The Friday night skate route changes every week. Paris is not flat, at certain section, we were flying down the hill (gentle one, not the one from Mont Royal). We were all going in full speed because nothing can stop this massive quantity of skaters, we were the king of the road. We were told to move as a group, if someone falls, we have to raise both of our hands, to signal the skaters behind you to stop or slow down. We didn’t really know where we are going to turn at the next corner, thus, we have to raise our both hands wave toward the direction we are going when turning so that the skaters behind us can follow. Just imagine how it looks like when a couple of hundred people doing it at the same time.
When skating in the not well-lit road going in full speed, what most skaters fear is some little pebble or even holes, the wheels can get stuck and your body is still carrying the momentum. Chances are you can land on your knees or chin the worse case. Wrist guard is strongly recommended because we tend to support ourselves with our hands when hitting the ground.
One of my skating friends tripped, she fell forward. With the strange luck, she rolled on her back and stood on her skate going forward again miraculously.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Where to find the Great Taste Bamboo Shoots
In the mountain area near the northern part of Taipei city. That's where the biggest river going through Taipei city meets the ocean. The bamboo shoots produced in that area is very juicy and sweet, in summer times, we always cook them in the boiling water and let it cool, you can almost have it like that, they taste like apples.
People say that the bamboo forest grow so well in that area because that mountain range is also the most favourable burial area in Northern Taiwan, very good Fung Shui.
Happy New Year 2008!
People say that the bamboo forest grow so well in that area because that mountain range is also the most favourable burial area in Northern Taiwan, very good Fung Shui.
Happy New Year 2008!
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