Joey, with no food obssession, didn't look very happy though. 

How to Read Chips

Making good French fries seems to be too much a daunting task for many people yet we got our chips from teenagers who not yet old enough to vote in fastfood chains. But anyhow, I read a very interest book about the science of French fries.

Frying is a way to dehydrate the surface of food. However, when the oil is new, it is sticky and hard to penetrate the moist surface of chips. Remember, oil and water don't mix. That's why you should be ready to throw away the first batch of fried stuff. As the frying process goes on, the oil starts to break down to free fatty acid call polymer and some substance behaves like "soap". The soap-like substance marries the oil and water, thus, the hot oil penetrates the surface and cooks the interior. The moist becomes steam. The steam is trapped inside the less-moist surface and traveling around when an uneasy balance between water and oil is achieved. That's the reason why the inside of a chip is soft and seems like being steamed. Which goes the best with the crunchy, golden brown exterior, yum!

My food obssession comes and goes. I remember I was crazy about duck noodles about 2 years ago and wanted to eat them for every meal. I traveled everywhere for the shred of possibility of good, hearty duck noodles. Strangely, obssession went away after few months. I was then obssessed with Lahore's lamb shish, I even dreamt about it, I begged to go to Lahore everytime we tried to find a place to eat. That went away, too. Same thing happened to chips as well. I really don't know what is driving those craving. If it is chemical imbalance or something else?

I think the best way to eat is to be honest with yourself. Eating is to answer your stomach/hunger/craving, not to your brain. Well, that's why I don't really know what to eat now, I have no cravings and I have to answer to my brain otherwise I have no energy to get out of the bed...

It is the bride's duty to be the most beautiful woman in the world... Peggy in her engagement banquet 

Taiwanese Wedding Banquet

One of my favorite pub talk topics, which makes many of my colleagues want to go to Taiwan because of the occasional striping show on the side of a outdoor banquet (but some show great interest in the puppet show on the other side as well).

It is really difficult to tell you whether Taiwanese are conservative or open. You know, we have woman's undies hanging out in public area, we have the stripping shows in a wedding banquest or outside of a funeral parlor. The transparent road side stalls have almost naked girls selling chewing gums to truck drivers. Strangely, they all look innocent in a way that they don't carry much sexaul implication, the way they stripe is almost comical. I guess it is still awkward to openly display a female body, the only way to less the degree of sexuality is to make fun of it.

Irene's Japanese Clients were one time attracted to wedding banquets like this near the country side, and requested to stayed a bit longer. The lady was about to strip the very important piece of her outfit and her partner came out to sell a sort of drugs as the commercial break. When everone got annoyed that the break is a bit too long and expressed the desire to see a bit more of the half-naked lady, the policemen can to stop her from striping naked. Every one got quite angry, really. Obviously the policemen just know the exact time to intervene.

Enough about the stripping show, we should talk about the foods. The foods are very Taiwanese. They are light, slightly on the sweet side. A lot of soy sauce and mayonaise and garlic... The combination sounds weird, but it is really good with fresh lobster or jelly fish. The foods are cooked at the road side, freshness guaranteed. Most guests are honoured to take the leftover home, plastic bags provided.

My brother was good looking back then... Handsome polar bear! 

Well Organised Carnapping

This is not a story, it really happened to Irene's elder sister. Living in the edge of city center, Irene's home is constantly burgled into because most people leave for work during the day.

Although Irene is very neat and well-dressed all the time, she has been not particular tidy in her own space since her teens. In one of the after-burglar evenings, the police officers went into her room and exclaimed "look what they have done to your room", Irene only kept silent and playing innocent.

Recently, they have experienced carnapping. The car theft takes the car and calls the owner asking for ransom. The amount is calculated carefully that the owner would usually wire the money to an untraceable account to get the car back instead of reporting to police or claiming insurance.

Irene's sister's car was again stolen two weeks after she ransomed her car back. She received a call from the car theft. She said "but I just got my car back two weeks ago". There was a dead silence for a few seconds, the voice asked "which account number did you wire the money to?" She told him the number and heard the keyboard typing sound. "We are really sorry we have made a mistake. You are going to have your car back tomorrow morning".

I had not come out of my 10 year long depression about food/diet when I was in New York, I guess I volunteered to take the picture because I didn't want to touch the food. Another bunch of crazy nutcases in New York... 

Food addicts

I was reading William Leith's "The Hungry Years". Not really my style of writing but the idea of binge eating and self-hatred-induced dieting seems so familiar to me. I have been around the corner.

Being a very self-conscious kid, I constantly think I am very fat and ugly. Doing well in sports and schools does not change the fact that I am not as pretty, delicate and girly as other girls. Interestingly, all adults around encouraged me to lose weight (except my father, who thinks being chubby is a nice thing). That confirmed my fear that I am "really" fat. Started my first diet regime when turning 13 years old. But never managed to lose any weight until stopping dieting at age of 24. I have been always 10 to 15 pounds heavier than most of my friends.

It was like... shame... I am fat because I eat too much. I feel so uncomfortable in the changing room, secretly comparing other girls' slim limps and my chubby calves. I stopped putting on faminine outfits and cutting my hair short, I gave in to the fact that I am fat. Meanwhile, I still tried all kinds of diets discretely, hoping one day I will be as slim as others.

I love foods so much. However, I never binge eating because I realised I am fat since very young age. But it is so hard to control the urge to nibble on dinner leftover, to snack on breads, or to early-terminate the life of my lunch box for tomorrow. Then I felt the guilt and the feelings is really sickening, sick enough that I wanted to throw up and I did. I must have been very depressed and didn't realise anything about it.

I am so glad it is all over now.

Don't know if the duck came from duck farm? 

Not on the Label

Just glazed oever another book about corporate evilness after the TV Nation (michael moore), the Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser) that caught my eyes. This book is about the dark side of the supermarket chains in UK. I think you can find quite a few books with similar interest, such as "Not on the Label" or "Shopped".

Supermarkets dictate how we shop, what we eat and where to park our cars (or bycicle) and almost monopolise 80% of UK grocery shopping. Behind all friendly smiles and lowest price gurantees, they kill local grocers/fishmongers/butchers alike, they bid low on the suppliers because of their huge buying power, they have no other purposes but to make money and make their shareholders happy.

I don't like supermarket fishes, I hate their meat (they all smell, reeking of the scent of rottenness and death). Veggies are OK in the supermarkets because you are not allowed to feel your veggies in local farmer's market in this country (this doesn't have any erotic implication, please). But supermarkets shopping trip is my only option.

However, I bought Tyson food stock shares after reading the Fastfood nation around 3 years ago and stop having McDonald meals (still cannot resis french fries sometimes). I actually bought some Tesco and thinking about buying some Morrison shares after reading "Shopped". This is so complicated, I want my portfolio to make money but I don't want to shop with them more and more.

Enough about the ugly dog

This is my dad and THE dog, Yi-Long. Yi-Long was the son of a stray dog, she came to our garage and gave birth to 5 puppies. We found strange that we no longer hear the puppy crying and went checking her out. We were all heart-borken because she was so paranoid that she ate her own new borns one by one. She's got only one and half puppies left (too full to eat any more).

Yi means "the only one" and Long means "boy" in Chinese. That's how Yi-Long got his name.

The world's ugliest dog

It is said the judge recoiled when seeing the dog on the judging table
(ha ha). Some bloggers said they had nightmare after seeing the dog,
and some said we should use the dog in horror film.

Sam (the dog's name) has won this title 3 years in a row. The owner
is allergic to animal hair thus she's got herself a hairless one.

Very very cool dog.

Thang and Steve in Mountain View, California 

What does it cost to become a UK resident? An appointment, patience and 500 quid

Quoted from Thang...
-----------------------------
hey Joey yes I'm a UK RESIDENT NOW (or ILR -Indefinite Leave to Remain as they call it)!!!!!YIPPIEE!!!!it was a long wait for sure, luckily I made anappointment, else would had been queuing outside forpossibly hour in the pouring rain.summary:got there just before 11:30 yesterday, had to waitoutside for about 20 mins then went through securitychecks, got in line again, went to one of the booths,they checked my documents, went upstairs to the 2ndfloor, paid my £500 (ouch), issued a number, went toanother room where I had to wait (i was getting a bit nervous), number was called, went up and handed my documents, asked if I was still employed I said 'YES',she then said she's going to run a check (thought ibetter keep cool this time and not let her know how nervous i really am), she came back and said everything was fine (relief) and take a seat until they call me again as the process can take up to 2hours for my paperwork, i smiled and said thank-you, i was called exactly 2 hours later and they handed me my passport back that says i'm a permament residence!!!!
--------------------------------

XiaoHo wonders what everything tastes like ... 

Bad Restaurant

I don't think I am a picky person in terms of foods or dinning. But I hate restaurants that try to tell us what is good and what is not good and mess around the natural flavors with lots of lemon grass, unfortunately, fushion is the main stream now.

More specifically, untidy toilets, hostess wiping down the class window, waitrons walking around with no-focus eyesights... These things are always tryingto tell you one thing - no one in this restaurant care how his/her customers feel, you cannot expect to have decent food or sincere service.

For heaven's sake, when you see this, you should just walk away as fast as possible, you can save yourself several 20-pound bills and a pleasant evening. Cheapo WongKee in China town would give you a more satisfying roast duck noodles for £3.30 (even though they make you share table and throw dishes in front of you). Perhaps the restauraneurs or investors should know it is time to pakc up the whole business rather than prolong the pain, dry the fund, rip the public and make me feel angry.

Contact lens and I

I started to wear contact lenses since high school. It was not only for aesthetic reason but also for my destructive ability. I didn't really know why I am so clumsy and careless that my mom had to buy me 3 or 4 eye glasses replacements a year. I remember one time I was playing long jump in the field. My glasses flew off before me and I landed on them.

My mom really hesitated about the idea of contact lenses, she thinks I am messy and not particularly neat. Horrifying thoughts occupied her mind, such as both of my eyes are infected because I didn't wash my hands throughoutly. After 2 and half year of hard work, she finally gave in.

Contact lenses were quite expensive then, I cherished them as much as I can knowing it is quite impossible to get another pair. I guess I was very traumatised then. Even now, I still constantly dream about the contact lenses have mutated into some strange shape and I am fitting them into my eyes.

XiaoHo looks very threatening in this picture 

The Taiwanese style ice cream shop was fully packed and the queue was very long. We have got 11 people all together (my dad, mom, auntie Au, auntie Mary, Grace, Kevin, XiaoHo, Irene, Kaiping Mai, and I). It is impossible to get a big table for 10, we split into several groups. Kaiping swam through the crowed, went straight to one of the tables, stood behind a group of Japense tourists. Man, I have never seen her so aggressive, perhaps, it is because of the ice cream. Amazingly, those Japanese tourists finished their ice cream very quickly and kept looking back at Kaiping (she is big and tall). They even cleaned up the table!! Irene kept expressing our apology in Japanese but Kaiping had already got herself a seat. This picture was taken right after we occupied the table after those Japanese tourists fleed out from the side door. Funny thing was, Irene and Mai ran into the same group of Japanese tourists in National Palace Museum.  

Beijing roast duck

I just finished reading Qiu Xiaolong's detective novel, death of red heroine. The background is set in ShangHai around early 90s. I guess this story has excited many westerners because they have finally had a little taste of modern China through a more refreshing channel. However, it does not excite me too much.

Detective Chen is a very likeable character. I like him because he likes foods. There was one scene that his forensic examiner dropped by his apartment and gave him a whole Beijing roast duck, well, I like this bit (mainly the roast duck) very much.

I think the best ever Beijing roast duck I had was in Washington D.C., nearly 10 years ago. The chef came out with the red-skinned, steamingly hot duck. He held the duck in his left hand and a cleaver right hand, deftly and speedily removed the hot duck skin off the duck. Because of a think layer of fat, each piece of skin didn't have a shred of meat attached. The fatty tissue layer underneath the skin was just the right amount.

We wrapped the duck skin, leek-like green onion, with a sort of flat bread. Bread is not a correct term to describe it but I couldn't find a more appropriate one. I am sure the dough was not leavened, the protein (gluten) concentration must be high because the bread tasted very chowy and full of the wonderful smell of wheat. The bread must be baked in a similar fashion as Indian nan. The sauce was sweet and thick, it was properly fermented pastry leftover mixed.


I feel like to cry every time I am served a Beijing duck dish in a Cantonese restaurant. Southerners rarely know how to make with flour. The bread was steamed and tasted like sweetened toast!! In addition, they thought there is no difference between Cantonese and Beijing roast duck. They rarely sliced up the skin and meat well, all you can have is a thick layer of fat. The sauce that came with the duck? I think it was made with HuaiSin sauce and some thickening stuff. Why can Cantonese just do what they are good at, leave the Beijing roast duck alone?

We all love to eat... Simple take out foods are just enough to cheer us up. Of course, Taiwan beer helps, too. 

Beautiful black skirt

I like the combination of medium-length skirt and sandals, it is easy to walk with and it gives some sort of I-am-so-chic-and-hip feelings (to myself, at least). After a day of walking, I decided to take the bus home.

I was coming down from the second floor of a crowded double decker. The guy walking behind me stepped a piece of my skirt, which landed on the stair behind me, and the whole thing came down half way of my buttom. I was struggling to pull the skirt back up and heard him saying "I am sorry" with a bit of amusement.

I replied "That's all right" without even looking back. We all came down near the exist. I was just preparing to get off in the next stop and sent him off with a smile. He went out the bus with his friends and finally burst into great laugh.

Mai and I went to the famoust night market to eat the rice noodles, it was like 30 something celsius and we ate pigs diaphragm.  

Pretty boys and croissant

I do have the tendency of flying off the tangent from time to time. I was planning to write about all pretty boys I have met in my life earlier. I have even thought about several stories and plots that are worth posting.

However, as soon as I spotted the croissants sitting in the oven waiting to come out in Pret a Manger, I decided to write about croissants. The Pret clerk was about to give me the pathetic looking croissant from the shelf, I smilled and said "I am going to wait for the fresh batch"

5 mininutes later, I have got the most awesome croissant of the whole world (which made me the happies person. Forgetting about pretty boys, I think coissants are very sexy).

The timing and temperature are so important in determining the fluffy-ness and buttery-ness of this pastry. The heat keeps the butter soft, moist air carrying out the mellow butter smell from the hollow but elastic interior. A croissant is less flaky in such a high temperature so you waste little crusty pastry skin on your face.

When you feel the drinking-too-hot-soup-too-fast sensation inside your mouth skin after consuming a whole coissant, you know you have got the ideal temperature.

Roman Toilet without bottles of shampoo, mascara and toilet paper 

Confession of a minimalist

Things started in a summer several years ago when I was in university. I had spent a semester sleeping in friends' couches, kept tooth brush in the computer lab locker and showered in the gym. Any excessive weight in my sack caused great discomfort. I felt ecstatic when finishing a bottle of shampoo and throwing it to the trash can. I struggled in the shop when I had to buy another bottle because my hair started to smell.

Gradually, I have got my own bed, my own room and my own flat, I still hate to possess things permenantly. All my furnitures have been either portable or disposable. Most of them are my proud collection from the dumpsters. My neighbours are quite used to the scene of a little Chinese girl carrying a computer stand or a 3-meter long wood log through the gate in the middle of the night.

I hate to see things in my kitchen or bathroom. Concealing them seems the only way to make peace with myself. I cannot believe I have bought them in the first place. But the cruel truth is that I need them to moisturise my skin and sterilise the kitchen work surface.

I feel guilty when taking garbage out or turning up the water tab. Have I fully utilised them? Are those materials used to the absolute limit? How should I minimise the water comsumption? It is truely interesting to plan and scheme my way through those chores in every day life. Somehow the idea that nothing is indispensible makes me very happy. I think I am going to get a composite pot to consume the kitchen waste.

Before the penguin turned up 

Great to have the third wheel 

Chinese Opera

Well, in Frank and Manjit's going away drink the second day (the celebration lasted for 2 days), Frank did several crying gestures when being asked how he feels about leaving Sungard. Very interesting, his movement looked very opera-like. Maybe it has something to do with the fact he is from Beijing, where Chinese Opera was formulated.

Chinese Opera is far away from reality (just like most other performing art forms), its world is narrow and neat, built on the dirt-free moral system. Characters speak out their mind but language is not enough. The costume, the pattern of make-up, even crying has its rhythm - a chain of marble balls, from large to small...

Would like to study more on this subject...

XiaoHo is trying to cook... Most adults don't know how much kids know, we are all deceived by their cute look. Their eyes are electrifying like the angels' eyes in the final judgement day, seeing through you with serious naiveness.

I guess kids frighten me because they came from such an unknown force. They came from nowhere. They learn and grow into something you can hardly predict.

XiaoHo is Kevin and Grace's son but my mom spends a great deal of time with him since he was born. In theory, My parents are like his grand parents, however, my mom is really the person talking to him (even when he is several days old), feeding him and teaching how to make of the world.

Interesting thing is that he can properly addressed his dad, mom, all pretty women (he called them A-Yi, but refuses to address not-so-pretty or elder women A-Yi) and relatives. However, he cannot address my mom properly to this day.

Walking Home at 2AM

Few minutes after I parted with the party I started to feel very uneasy. The familiar streets and alleys seemed quite deserted at 2 am in the morning. There was a guy walking on the other side of the road, few yards behind me, which worried me much.

Tried to walk in the middle of the road, the longest distant I can keep with an attacker coming out from the dark side of the road. No more short cut but my heels are not the best shoes to walk with. I guessed I can take off my heels and run if danger approaches. Well, what else I can do? Hit an attacker with my hello kitty bag? Strike him with my heels? Poke his eyes with my keys? Where are my keys? Well, the Finding-Nemo Dory keychain gets in the way. What if I poke his eyes with Dory instead of a key?

Finally got back home, perhaps I should take off the Dory key chain.

Male pheasant looks prettier, I wonder if it tastes better...  

Have not seen a Squirrel

Well, Manjit mentioned that male squirrels chew on tree barks to impress female squirrels. It sounded funny at first but if you can imagine a male squirrel drives a sports car to attract the opposite sex's attention?

Wa and XiaoHo, the picture is so pleasant to look at, right? 

Grace and XiaoHo... Nothing really special, just want to have a pleasant picture. I got scared every time opening my blog and seeing the frightening facial treatment picture .

Asexual Visibility And Education Network

Just read a quite interesting article about asexual. Common perception about asexual is that she/he must be sick, either mentally or physically. Strangely, we don't question people who don't like contry music or onion rings.

The facial treatment was the beginning of a 3-day painful experience. There was a severe inflammation first. Followed by dry, chipped and hardened skin for 1.5 days. And they peeled like snowflakes for another 0.75 day. I love scary movie when I am in it.  

Kaiping, myself (with the sunburned face) and Irene

End of My Vacation...

Mai came to Taipei to meet with Wa and me, we went to the tranditional Taiwanese tea house in the afternoon when the super typhoon just touched down Taipei. It was raining so hard, we had to take a taxi instead of walking all the way.

The taxi driver initiated a chat, asking why three pretty girls are going to the tea house instead of going out for a date. He then complained about the bad economic weather and said being a girl is easier because she can always marry a rich guy.

Wa politely replied that it is not as easy as he claimed because it is possible to be beaten up by the rich guy.

The taxi driver said to us "you should fight back but do not throw any objects to your husband".

We were all curious, "Is it because it is going to hurt?"

"Nope, it really costs money." said the taxi driver.

A day in Dorney Lake

We did surprsingly well in our last race. Timing was right, direction was correct (didn't go out of lane or hit anything), we won other teams by miles. We then went to enjoy our victory beer with no delay. Of course, we were all burned and I have no idea what they are looking at in the first picture.

Memory is shaped by language

I attended my first London Taiwan Seminar early this year. One of the talks was a study about how unexpressive were the survivors of the massacre in a small villiage in northern Taiwan. The incident happened in early 50s, most men in the villiage were accused of being communist party members. They were arrested by the Nationalism party police. There seemed no trials and no one returned to his home alive.

The research was conducted recently, widows are around 70 of age, the children in their 50s were interviewed. Their memories of grief and pain are beyong description, literally. According to the research, very few can clearly recall how they felt, many claimed their memories were blocked out.

One possible explanation is that the survivors were not actively talking about their experience until recent due to political reasons. The memories were not formulated in an expressive way for 40+ years. Claiming a block out could be an quick way out of describing it.

Language dictates how we process logics in every day life, not surprisingly, memories are shaped by our language usage. How you remember an event largely depends on the culture and values you grewo up with. Opinions forms and memories were so what altered.

I am talking shit, I don't really know anything of this subject, but it is indeed interesting. I remember when I was a kid, my dad told me many stories about his childhood. I always imagine a little boy wondering around the farmland and the little boy has my father's grown-up face.

Attack with spitball 

Will we ever feel safe again?

What happened this morning was dreadful. Charles Tye called me several time and raised various issues about Adaptiv, I was completely obsorbed in thinking how to get out of this misery until 8pm. Then I walked home, not surprisingly, most streets are blocked and I had to detour.

When I was walking, I kept thinking how and when anything else will be happening. Freakonomics told us that we are more responsible (or terrified) to some unforeseeable events. For example, we are more scared of Mad Cow disease beacuse the half-life form virus is so unknown to mordern sceince. In the same context, the common bacteria living in our kicthen work surface claim more lives than Mad Cow virus. Nevertheless, we have this irrational fear about beef but not our kitchen sink because we know we can easily cleanse and scrub the workstation before every cooking to prevent cross contamination.

I guess that's why terroist acts are so effective. Random violent threats and indiscriminate killings scare us the most. But not car accidents even though there are more people die of traffic accident than terroist attack every year.

What if there is a bomb exploding right next to me? Do I have any other unfinished business? Well, it is hard question to answer....

Paul's airplane 

BA flight was delayed again

I flew home with BA from Copenhagen and the flight was delayed again. 1 hour late in taking off and 30 minutes late in touching down. Rosemarie booked me the business class, the food was OK and the wine was delicious.

Paul N. always gets his food before every one else on BA flights because he filed a special meal request with BA that he can only eat SEAFOOD!! I do admire my boss.

My uncle Thomas

My uncle Thomas, Jennifer and Sandy's dad, is such a character. Every time he goes to Toronto, my aunt and cousins have to clean up the house and speak Cantonese. My cousins are well-prepared to be a corporate employee, do the hardwork when someone is seeing.

Uncle Thomas recently went to Canada for Jennifer's convocation. He does not do very well with long distant flight. All we remember about him in Toronto is his incredible tendency (and ability) to fall asleep soundly. I would be very proud of him if he stayed awake for the whole thing.

He talks loudly, quickly and impatiently (typical Hong Kong guy), always about money. He scolds every living thing in sight (except me, I guess he likes me). But he keeps his volume down for Jennifer these few years, I guess Jennifer somewhat intimidates him as the oldest, the most square-head person in Huen's family (I have to say, Jennifer has a very rigid sense about right doing, God knows where she got that from. The rest of the family is more or less crooked).

Anyhow, uncle Thomas keeps doing things that embarrass Jen. He walks around the house in underwear and innocently said "hi" to all Jen's friends in one unexpected encounter.

Another day in Copenhagen

Another day of dining alone. I went to breakfast room by myself, I skipped lunch even though I felt really hungry, I went back to the hotel and ate in the hotel restaurant alone... Lucky me, quality of foods is quite good and the waitress was nice. However, food is just something to stuff my stomach, it doesn't really taste anything. I am losing both appetite and sex drive slowly. I am really wondering what can bring back my passion to life.

I swear I am not picking my nose. 

I am finally home but have to go again

The weather in London was so grey and humid when I returned from Copenhagen last night. This trip was like hell, I encountered delay in all forms of transportation and exceptionaly long queue every time I had a chance to get in line.

The BA flight getting back to London on Friday night was fully booked and we were trapped in the run way for almost 45 minutes waiting to take off. I was not in the business class and the big fat guy sitting next to me just expressed his impatience in every way possible during the whole course. Flipping the newspapers, magazines, moving his body every 5 seconds, coughing and spraying unidentifiable particle in the air, calling his darling every 10 minutes. He scratched his balls under the newspapers and thought no one has seen it. I do believe firmly it is so true that you have to wash your hand throughoutly before every meal.

Finally got home from the long and dreaful trip, only to be informed that I have to fly out on Sunday night. GEEEEEEEEEEEE...