Drving Through Crowded Street

This picture is also my brother's brilliant idea. We were wondering around in Prado Museum in Madrid, and my brother was showing the I-am-so-bored face. This picture of a nice lady drew his attention. Oh, not because of the spectacular bloosom but the little black dot in between them. The fly happened to land there and my brother skillfully captured the moment.

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I was walking around Brick lane this Sunday, which has become my Sunday morning ritual. I love to walk through the second-hand cloth shops, not-taking-shower-for-a-while hippies and flower market. I love to observe people, stall keepers trying to make a deals, shoppers picking fruits, young couples looking for discounted lilies.... Of course, I am on the quest in search of cheap and elegant plotters to decorate my balcony.

Inevitably, some cars would try to drive through the crowded street. Pedestrians definitely have piority (we are bigger in number), I always sympathise the driver.

My mom's apartment in DuanShui locates in the end of a crowded street. Driving through it requires patience, humanity and skill, according to my mom. The street itself is very narrow and there are always cars parking on both side. Pedestrains are forced to walk on the road meant for cars. To top up the complexity, there are also numerous motorcyclist, weaving their way forward in between cars and people.

Day or night, there are old ladies or men, from neighbouring farms, carry the two little buckets filled with fresh vegetables. They set up their little stall right next to the road and start chatting with their friends. They don't really mean to make money but to have some social life. Food stalls spread their sitting area, you can always smell the deep fried fermented tofu or crispy chicken nuggets. Sometimes you see the patient from the hospital nearby walking on the street. They can be identified by their pajama, slippers and medicine bottle (on the wheeled rack, which they push around). Um..., the food in the hostpital must be bad.

I quite enjoy driving through that street for some reason.

Chinese as First Language

I think Cathy looks fabulous in this picture. We were having dinner in the nice garden in the hotel in Nerja. We don't like the city much because it is very touristy but the beach was nice.

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Apart from tones, I think the most confusing bit for westerner is that Chinese does not have the concept of tense. Present perfect, past perfect, continouse, future tenses means nothing to Chinese verbs.

Many friends were so surprised to learn that we don't have tense. The past and future are mixed into present. For example, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen "is" a great man, the text book says. There is no implication that Dr. Sun Yat-Sen has died almost a hundred years ago, as if he is still living with us, watching the same TV channel and listening to the same pop music.

Actually, this concept also applied to Chinese' ancester worshipping. We offer drinks and foods to our ancesters as if we are sharing the same time space.

To Kill or Not to Kill

That was a day of non-stop eating in Toronto. We started our day to have branch in a DimSum place in Richmond hill. We then drove to downtown and hung out in indoor path that connects all office buildings. We walked pass Mache Movenpick, that hosts the best dessert in town, I remember we had the fresh-made Belgium waffle, topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. We then walked around China town and walked pass this great ChiuChow food. The deep-fried tofu cubes has crispy skin and sily interior. We swallowed several of them. Later, we again walked pass the Vietnamese sandwich shop, whose sandwich marries French bagguette and Vietnamese tranditional sour dry cured meat (they even use soy sauce and coriander to dress it up). Too exciting to miss it, we had another treat.

Jen didn't feel so good after the sandwich.

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I remember I used to hang out with a friend in my primary school years. My parents' business made our home not very suitable for 8 years old to hand out, I spent lots of after-school time in her house.

Her grand mom is a devoted Buddhist, she would spend hours kneeing before the Budda status and reading Budda's teaching. Sometimes, she was just repeatly saying all gods' names in small voice. Those names were direct translation from Hindu (I suppose that's the language), which does not mean anything in Chinese. But they sounded very soothing.

One time she asked me to throw a bunch of live mollusk into the boiling pot because killing lives is a unforgiveable sin in her teaching (of course, she is vegetarian only was cooking for her grand children). You will be condemned to hell and not able to elevate yourself out of reincarnation cycle.

My Mom Got Scared...

My father adores children helplessly. The juicer was used to make fresh juice for me and Mankit when we were small, he still keeps it!!

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I was correct when I said that kids are scary. I just confirmed that from my mother. XiaoHo, who is only 18 months old, knows too many things. He has known how to manipulate adults. He clearly undestands his power and how to use them.

He knows adults around him encourage him to learn new things and are all very willing to help him to explore the world. Situation is in favor of him when he wants to batter the Hi-Fi, sits behind the wheels (on my dad's lap) or overturn the basket full of rice. He understands my dad would do anything for him (but not his mom or my mom). In return, he gives my dad the full attention which makes my dad so proud that he has to brag about it to every one, "Look, XiaoHo likes me so much". He dictates what he is going to play, we have no other choice but to follow his lead.

He eavesdrops my parents' conversation. When my dad told my mom that he has to go to the corner store, XiaoHo immediately turned to my father because he knew he stands a great chance to go out with my dad.

My mom starts to feel scared, she thinks she has raised a monster.

We are Lonely Animals

Lonely dog in Barcelona

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I sometime have dreams in which I am the only one who sees what's coming. But other people in my dream seem happy, even having a good time in the crisis.

One of the dreams is in an amusement park, a large pink mechanical bird with a big beak was pecking around. The huge heavy beak dropped in tremendous speed and broke the concrete surface of the ground. Obviously, it was attacking people walking around indiscriminately. What frightened me the most is that they seemed to enjoy the excitment, they even cheered when the beak had spared their heads but hit the ground instead. All I can think was trying to find a basement to hide, I was frenziedly looking for the entrance but to no avail.

I had one of those last night. There was a feast, people were preparing the meal with great excitment. But I somehow figured out the meat were very suspicious and felt great disaster is about to happen. All I could think this time was how to get out of this crazy place.

Running Around

Being a column in Palace Nazarie
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Tomorrow, 7th Oct 2005, is going to be my last day in SunGard. SunGard is my first job out of school, starting on 22nd Oct, 1999. Mike Kirkish was the hiring manager.

I have worked for three different departments, have met a lot of interesting people and have drunk tons of alcohol.

Well, there is never a party without ending.

Gold, Silver and Iron Axes

Pond can be dangerous.



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For those don't know the gold, silver and iron axe story. The real name is "True Wood Cutter". Here you go!!

TRUE WOOD CUTTER
There was a poor man named Mangal. In the day he would cut wood and in the evening he would go to the market with the wood. After selling the wood, with the money earned he could go to the grocery to purchase some things for his house. He was satisfied with his income.

One day he went to the forest to cut wood and climbed a tree at the river bank. While he was cutting the branch, his axe fell into the pond. Mangal came down from the tree and jumped into the pond to find his axe, but he did not find his axe. He was very sad and cried. He had no money to buy an other axe and it was difficult for him to feed his family without any money.

The Goddess of the forest took pity on him and went towards him and said,"Why are you crying my son?"

Mangal said, "My axe fell into the water and how shall I do my work now?"

The Goddess said, "Do not weep, I will bring your axe from the river". So the Goddess jumped into the pond and came out with a gold axe. She asked Mangal is this your axe?

Mangal said," No this is not my axe. I am a poor man so how I can have gold axe?"

The Goddess again jumped into the pond and came out with a silver axe and asked him," Is this your axe?"

But Mangal replied, "No this is not my axe." The Goddess jumped into the pond for third time and came out with an iron axe.

Now Mangal was very happy because it was his very own axe. The Goddess also became happy with Mangal truthfulness. The Goddess said," I am very happy with your honesty and because of that you can take the gold and the silver axe too. Now Mangal was not poor but rich.

Funny face collection

I think we took this picture on our way to Alhambra. I was whinning, complaining all the way through because the hill is so steep. I kept mumbling "I hate hills, I hate hills" and walked in a funny manner to keep myself entertained. But they kinda made all passing-bys smile and made Cathy feel embarrassed.

Great water engineering in Alhambra. Water symbolises purity, essential part of Moorish garden. Sorry to fly off tangent again, but I like water since small, always want to swim whenever possibility approaches. In retrospect, I think I almost drown once or twice in a river, still like open water very much. The clean stream running down the railing, countless number of fountains makes Alhambra very very cool for me.

Cathy, Adil and me. We hung out in Lotfi's sandwich shop every afternoon, I almost learnt how to make proper couscous if we didn't shop too much on the second day. I criticised Lotfi's dirty kitchen and promised to come back later to clean it up.

Came Back from Spain

Cathy had planed everything perfectly, I was just tagging along. We arrived in Barcelona, took the night train to Granada and bused to coast line and Jerez. It is like a quest to get to Jerez because we planed to fly back from Jerez.

We met quite a few interesting people every where we went. The first night, 2 guys chatted up Cathy and I in the street festival. They turned out to be strangely persistant and we agreed to had some coffee with them. Lotfi and Mousti were both Moroccans and Lotfi runs a sandwich shops. Lotfi seemed to know every restauranteurs and pub man in the neighbourhood, we had drinks for free!!

In Granada, we had to dine in a restaurant next to the Cathedral and we were really in a hurry to catch our Flamenco show. The waiter insisted that we should stay for another round of free champaign. Of course, we were late for the show but we have run into a group of Taiwanese tourists who squeeze out two seats for us.

When we were in Alhambra, 2 security guards came around to take pictures for us. One of them gestured coffee, four of us. I only replied with my limited Spanish "Cuanto Vale" and "La Cuanta" (meaning "how much" and "the bill" respectively), which cracked them up. We got rid of the two strange uncles later.

In our last night in Jerez, a guy came around to our table and chatted to us. Funny thing is that he seemed to around to answer our questions whenever we stopped to check out the map.

In Spain, the scenaries are great, the foods are fine. However, I think, what makes this trip the most interesting and memorable are those lovely people we have met over the past week.

My dad's favorite is no longer Yi-Long but XiaoHo 

The Dog that Loves Motorcycles

Yi-Long is my dad's favorite dog. My dad takes Yi-Long everywhere he goes. Before he ignites the scooter, Yi-Long would jump to the foot rest, ready to go. Yi-Long would guard the scooter when my dad goes about his business in a bank or post office.

There came the first-time ever president election a few years ago, political sensitive person like my dad went around Taipei city in detection of possible riot. Of course, Yi-Long went along. When they approached Chen Shiu-ban's campaign center, it was almost sure that Chen's re-elected and people started fireworks on the street to celebrate. Yi-Long was stampeded by the tremendous sound, jumped off the scooter and ran to find a safe place to hide(what a dog, only care about its own safety).

It was chaotic, there were too many people and fireworks, it was almost impossible to find Yi-Long. To make it worse, they were miles away from home (literally). My dad launched all his friends, all my uncles to go around Taipei city on scooters, looking for his favorite dog. However, all the effort was to no avail until midnight. My dad continued his search until 4 am, riding on the scooter and calling out "Yi-Long" in dark and quiet streets.

My dad was sad and tired the next day. As we all thought Yi-Long was gone forever, he walked in the door, completely exhausted and very thirsty. My dad was so pleased to see the dog and tried to pat him on his head, Yi-Long almost bit my dad as if he's saying "Why did you leave me behind"??

Happy Birthday, Frank!

My cousin, Jennifer, was finally old enough to get her own driver liscense on her 18th birthday.

Every one should have a T-shirt like that. 

Once Upon A Time...

There was the most skillful thief, who could go around town and took whatever he liked. He even stole the emperor's most-treasured national seal (every policy would need to have the stamp to be legitimated). The whole palace was deeply horrified, no one knew when the thief is going to take the emperor's head in his sleep. The seal was returned a few days later (maybe no one dare to buy it), nevertheless, the emperor vowed to catch the thief.

More patrol forces and more heavy locks only seem to inspire the super thief's appetite. The emperor's running out of plans and he asked for consultation from the head of his cabinet. He suggested to remove the patrol personel, unbolt the windows, unlock the safe and show the treasure in open air.

The thief was caught in his biggest bewideredness in a few days.

Pony, the Spoiled Spaniel

Our family has a long history of fostering firends' pets. My mom never denies her dislike to any small animals, but the rest of the family always outvote her to make stay whatever a mini pig, a peacock, countless stray dogs and some birds. She gives in to feed/shower/clean them but she never let go her bottom line. Animals would never have a place in human living space, she would beat up those cute little animals ruthlessly if they ever set their feet into the living room. She also has strict rules about their "table" manner. No dogs would dare to dump or put their muddy paws on feeders' lap before the foods are deligated in front of them. That only took a few harsh beatings to make the cute little animals understand "don't mess around with her".

We babysat Grace's dog occasionally, a spaniel whose name is Pony. Grace adores him. For example, she was boiling some meat one day. Kevin walked in the kitchen, only come to great disappointment that the delicious smelling meat was intended for Pony. Pony was very temperamental, he demands attention constantly. When he doesn't get what he wants, he chews on electricity cords, goes on hunger strike or pisses on the person's leg whomever Grace was talking to.

Grace was on business trip few years back and my mom babysat Pony. Pony refused to eat his food because he was angry about Grace's absence. My mom couldn't get him to eat for a day or two, she simply pushed Pony's bowl to A-Chu, who was another stray dog and was always hungry. She let Pony see how much other dogs enjoy his food and couldn't be bother to woo him to eat like Grace did. After another day, Pony gave in and finish his food as soon as the bowl was down.

After a few months, my mom was visiting Grace in her flat. Before they sat down, Grace told my mom that she was trying to feed Pony the whole morning but Pony refused to eat for no reason. And then she was wondering where Pony had gone. Later, they found Pony had just finished his plate on hearing my mom's voice via the intercom.

Little Sewer Rat

On my way home few days ago, I found a small grey fur ball near the bottom of a wall. It was a small rat with tiny tail. It looked very ill indeed. If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely have taken it home. Now, my mind is stuffed with super bug, strange gems and mysterious mold that gets into your brain.

Beer drinking with my brother in San Francisco fishmen's wharf is a happy thing to do. 

What Makes You Happy?

One of my dad's friends one time tried to list the happy things to do in life. He counted, studying is the first on the list, man-passion-woman-love the second (I will elobrate on this later), and drinking the third... He was scratching his head really hard and couldn't come up with any more.

ps. man-passion-woman-love is the direct translation of a Chinese phrase. Being subtle as many other phrases do, I think it is describing the state of being in love.

This is too funny not to post to my blog... 

The Motorcycle Diary

It might seem strange to people that we ride motorcycles in Taipei everywhere. Teenagers, middle-age women or old men are all making their ways through the congested streets to schools, traditional markets or post office.

My parents are in no exception. My mom especially loves to use motorcycle for any short distance travel when we were living in Taipei city. She used to possess a second-hand, very battered motorbike. Everything in it makes noise except the horn. The needle in the speedometer wouldn't move (it can't go fast anyway). When it was idling, it tended to go forward without any human force pressing the accelerator. However, when we really needed to accelerate, the engine died from time to time.

During my annual visit, the greatest event was to go shopping with my mom in the traditional market. She always drove the bike, I sat behind her and threw my arms around her waist. In winter time, my mom shield me from the wind, which made me feel like a small girl again.

The high light is to visit the very delicious rice noodle stall. We would enjoy the hearty noodle soup and some small dishes before shooting to the market. Our theory is, you would like to buy anything when your stomach is empty, although it is not of the best quality.

My brother, Mankit, insisted to take the picture and sent it to our parents. 

What Makes You Worried?

We are constantly worried, worried about losing our jobs, worried about gaining weight, worried about being lonely. Because of these fears, we work 9-5 and try hard to entertain people around us.

Suppose one day we see and understand that we don't really need a lot to live, and, it is possible to live alone and feel OK. Would we be motivated to go to work religiously and to prove ourselves to strangers?

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...
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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!!!!
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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