What a Shame

People on the internet have short attention span. Congratulations on making onto the second sentence even though this post has no pictures nor mentions of celebrities, boobs, or robots! Okay, now it does, but that doesn't really count.
What I'm trying to say is, there are so many other things I am willing to write, but it would drive readers away to never come back. Back in the days of Xanga, I was able to write anything down, even thought my entries tended to be cryptic whether public or protected. I am inspired to divulge here, but of course it depends if I want to share such passionate ramblings on here where my top referral is google search for "black Paris Hilton". I've got a feeling I don't want to.
Because of these many reasons, I've got entries scattered all over different blogs and hosts. I feel like I need to constantly filter myself as I blog. The only time I don't have the need to filter myself is when I blog about food. Food is universal, so intimately comforting yet widely shared. You don't drive with your brakes on -- it's a shame that I'm thinking with brakes on.

Web 2.0 - Whoring with Integrity

Yesterday, I had a very charged up conversation with a friend about employment. No, this is not just another rant on how competitive the job market is in Depression 2.0, but about employability and Web 2.0.

MySpace, Twitter, blogging - they are the newest methods brought to you by Web 2.0 to display your talent and skills to potential employers. Many musicians promote them selves and the lucky ones were discovered on MySpace. When you think of MySpace, you think of Facebook, but Facebook is not necessarily a tool for employment. Facebook is taken very personally and informally, and simply witnessing the fact that many careless Facebook users are fired over their updates, it is more of an unemployment tool.

My friend is very qualified for work. It is sad that talented people out there who aren't confident enough because they know how much more talented people there are out there. I was so charged up because I believed so strongly in him and I shared similar worries myself. So, I suggested that he start blogging about his field and experiences, so he can get picked up sometime or get into journalism without a corresponding degree. He said that it feels like he was selling himself out by putting himself on the internet... (Me: "like a prostitute?" Him: "Yeah, exactly! Oh gawd, what has this world come to...") I replied:

"Blogging IS whoring yourself out. But you know what? Blogging is whoring with integrity. You can just start a blog, write about things that you care about, and just have that facade of being an enthusiastic professional seeking similar voices and having your opinion there. You can secretly have the ulterior motive of selling yourself, but no one would ever know, because you're just 'writing for yourself', you know?!" (Him: "Oh jeeezus...")

Well, that was the gist of it because I was very emotionally charged up and cannot recall every word. Isn't that what selling yourself essentially is? Before teh internetz, people did this in whichever primitive way they could (showing up at companies, stalking CEO's limos, coldcalling, submitting articles to publications, sending elaborate contraptions to ad agencies...). Now, it's just digitalized, and putting private work on public forums. It's just a different method of whoring yourself.

And.... I can't believe I released such a revealing idea to him and now to this blog! It's a wonder how your amygdala can be hijacked and the things you do, eh? (Sorry, psych major geek talk.) Just having the evidence out there that I would think of things that way freaks me out. Well then, while I'm standing on a street corner I might as well slut it up and make a profit out of it, right? I might as well open myself up more, lay my ideas and thoughts out like trinkets in a flea market, and have some rich benefactor stroll up and claim ownership of my goodies.

Well, employers - magazines, ad agencies, public relations agencies, Facebook, online publications - here I am. I am ready to work for you. Here's my blog, here's my twitter, and here's where I'm not going to post my Facebook or LinkedIn or resume because I am cautious about my privacy*. Meanwhile, I'll wait here in a corner miserably applying for unpaid internships and remain unemployed, and admiring all the fat lazy hairy dudes in wifebeaters and blogging about stereotypes from home.

*Resume available upon request. Please ask for one. Please hire me.

Baked Porkchop Rice, Hong Kong style

Another Saturday afternoon, another day of being lazy and not wanting to make a complicated lunch. I had some leftover rice in the fridge and a piece of defrosted porkchop that I needed to eat up soon. I microwaved the rice (brown + white, how healthy!) while I pan fried soy-sauce marinated porkchop.


Since I'm such a picky eater, I made a conscious choice to chop up some vegetables (a handful each of pumpkin and tomatoes). Stir fried the vegetables, stirred in the rice, then mixed in 2 scrambled eggs.

I wanted the charred effect and some sauce for the rice. I planned for tomato sauce as I usually have at Chinese fast food restaurants (char chahn teng s) , but didn't have any... So I popped open the jar of parmesan sauce (Classico Alfredo di Parmi - Four Cheese Parmesan) I've been longing for and plopped it over the rice!I wedged the porkchop vertically in the rice, plopped it in the oven at Low Broil for 5 minutes, and voila! Satisfied my creamy sauce and crispy food cravings.

I even imagined serving this at beach side restaurants and name it the "Shark Attack". Cuz the porkchop looks like a fin sticking out of water. And tomato sauce looks like blood. Or the alfredo sauce looks like wave's white tips. You know? See it? No?

Why So Similar?: Labor Pains VS Dummy Mummy

Hollywood is stealing movie plots from Hong Kong!

Exhibit number1: "Labor Pains" (2009) starring Lindsay Lohan.


Exhibit number 2: "Dummy Mummy without a Baby" (2001) starring Miriam Yeung, Niki Chow, Edison Chen. See IMDB for English info. Trailer in Cantonese.

Even if you don't understand Cantonese, the English faux-disclaimer (00:05, in the style of anti-smoking warnings played before movies) says it all. Both movies are based on the premise that a female coworker at the whim of being fired fibs that she is pregnant to save her job. The movie shows how she gets into character and go through work and personal life with a growing lie.


There are scenes from the Labor Pains trailer that I recognize from Dummy Mummy movie itself. First, the uniform - main character in DM wears the same white dress shirt + black pants combo in the film. Secondly, the pregnancy creates a career bond. In DM, the lead works in an ad agency and bonds with a client; in LP, she gets promoted from a secretary to a maternal magazine. Thirdly, there is a poolside scene in DM, also shown in LP trailer (though DM's lead did not splash into the pool). Coincidence??? The difference is, Labor Pains has more crude humour as it is Hollywood's strength (see 00:52, 1:21). I'm not going to make direct relations, but there is a high correlation in plot between these films! Here's a link for more video results on Dummy Mummy - see if you recognize scenes from the Lindsay Lohan remake.

What do I make out of this?? Hong Kong is one awesome film hub which created the original Infernal Affairs trilogy that Departed was based on, that Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee rose out of, and many more films to come! Hongers, be proud! World, stay tuned!!

Go, Go, Lor Bak Go! (Turnip cake)

Lor Bak Go, translated as turnip cake, is a traditional Chinese savory food that can be eaten at any time of the day. Lor bak go reminds me of my grandmother. She would make them from scratch, wrap it up, and my sister and I would take a 9-inch cake tin-sized loaf home and demolish it within a week, having it for 2 meals every day. My grandmother made many foods from scratch, and I always believed whatever she made were monumental tasks requiring decades of experience.

A few months ago during my school strike, I began searching for a lor bak go recipe to tackle. I was a bit stuck on the specific type of flour to use, but lo and behold - trusty T&T had it in stock for less than $2CAD each bag! I didn't even need 1/4 of each. The other ingredients I needed were a giant white turnip, preserved Chinese sausages, shitake mushrooms, and optional dried scallops, sesame, spring onion, and seasoning.

The turnip needed to be shredded - it was through these little tasks that I found cooking therapeutic. And of course, it was a fun group activity though it got a bit messy in the tiny kitchen.


We needed 3lbs of shredded turnip - but we didn't have a scale nor did we have the slightest idea of weight, so we guesstimated and diced ingredients to half the portion of the recipe. We made one batch vegetarian (shitake mushrooms only) and steamed it first. We had to keep refilling the pan with water because the water kept drying up. And every time we refilled it, it took time for it to get steaming even though we used hot water. The supposedly 30 min process took much longer.


So, the first batch of vegetarian lor bak go was completed. We gave it a taste... it was too bland and watery, even though we let it cool down and set for 10 minutes. I realized I forgot to season it.


So for the batch with preserved sausages and dried scallops, we added more rice flour and corn starch, and seasoned it much more. My friend had to leave so I let it continue and steam. Again, the steaming process took much longer - I think this batch took 90 minutes! It was a long wait but it was definitely worth it! This batch tasted much better, as we assumed, because the preserved sausages would release its savory grease as it was steamed.


I cut a portion and saved it for my friend. My sister - who was supposed to be on a health diet - and I devoured the rest within days. We either microwaved it to achieve the freshly steamed effect or fried slices on both sides until they were golden. If only I had the sweet sauce and sesame sauce like they do at dim sum restaurants! It would be perfect.

I can't wait to go back to Hong Kong and make my grandmother proud!

Macarons and Japanese cakes

La Bamboche - A chef combines Eastern flavours with Western desserts

Lemon Macaron. I love citrusy stuff - it was sooooo good. Not too sweet, and still fresh from a 30 min commute.


Half eaten Lemon Macaron, with its travel companion Vanilla Macaron. I usually don't have a preference for vanilla or regular cream pastries, but this was really good too. The vanilla scent was very rich and not artificial at all.

Inside the box...

Three pieces of cake!


Actually, 2 pieces of cake and one half eaten eclair, lol. The eclair was heavenly. This was the best eclair filling I've ever had. The chocolate flavour was rich, and not too sweet nor fatty.

Next to it is the Green Tea and Sesame mousse cake with crunchy base. Again, key word -- rich. You can taste the matcha and black sesame flavours individually. The base was a graham cracker like base, only crunchier. I wonder what exactly it is!


Last of all, the Strawberry Lavendar mousse cake. This was quite special. I've only tried lavendar teas and Taiwanese lavender milk-tea drinks before, never a cake. The top layer was slightly sour & tarty, but in the good way. There were actually chunks of mushy strawberries , which I guess are preserved ones, like the type you find in jam. The lavendar layer tasted very unique. The two flavours accompanied each other really well. My sister speculated that the piece of twig on top is thyme, and that it was probably mixed into the lavendar mousse. The base was made of fluffy brown cake.

I would like to try the red wine and sake macarons if I get the chance!

Conclusion: La Bamboche - Pricey at $4-$5 per piece (around the size of a ring box), but you are paying for quality organic ingredients, culinary school technique and presentation, and rich flavours in special combinations. Go there when you deserve a treat :)

Good ol' French Toast

Not recommended for those with white-foods only diets.

What a nice and sunny weather! I decided to make some brunch and it turned out so nicely I took a pic of it under the sun! The bread might look really brown like burnt toast... but it's actually burnt sugar on french toast! I used to make french toast the Hong Kong cafe way - coat with eggs then deep fry in oil. I learned the traditional way from my aunt:

For one serving, you need:
2 pieces of bread (even if stale!)
1 egg
sugar (I used brown sugar)
butter

How to:

1. Heat a frying pan at medium. Grease with butter. When frying stuff, it is important for the grease to be hot enough so your food won't end up absorbing it.
   
   
2. Whisk egg and sugar in a flat dish. Add lots of sugar if you've got a sweet tooth!
   
   
3. Dip both sides of bread in egg, then place in pan.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Stay close to the stove! The sugar burns quickly, so you'll be getting burnt toast before you know it -- like one of mine.
   
   
5. When it looks brown and no liquid egg is left, flip and cook the other side until desired burnt-ness.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Serve with jam, syrup, honey, icing sugar, or any sweet or savory spread you like. Goes well with your favourite breakfast food!
   

OM NOM NOM

The food entry I promised...
I didn't realize how much I loved food until my school had a retarded strike and gave me so much spare time to cook. I've always left that specialty to my chef-wannabe sister, so I didn't have to develop skills in that. I actually follow some food blogs... wait, who am I talking to?? Tangent: Being a Communication Studies major makes me overanalyze these crap. (If you're interested, many forms of texts [any form of media] is directed to an imaginary audience. So if you're reading this, you're a part of my imagination. You don't necessarily exist. MUAHAHAHAHAA). Anywhoooo, FOOD!!!

Snacks

Real chocolate chips!!!

So I was venturing downtown Toronto on Queen St, and came upon a Fine Foods store. Thought the seester would be interested so we took a look. There was a whole giant stack of different flavoured chips. I don't even remember what the flavours were, because the chocolate chips caught my eye, mind, soul, my complete being. On the package it says "TORTILLA CHIPS (it's a dessert, too!) MADE WITH Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Dutch Cocoa, Sea Salt". It was moderately pricey for a pack of chips, but this is friggin' bitter sweet chocolate chips!!! I bought a pack and started eating it on the subway.

Um yeah I took a bite...

The chips were dusted with fine salt, and the bittersweet chocolate flavour lingered as an aftertaste. It wasn't too salty or too sweet. So perfect. So delicious. It's all natural too, so it's a snack that's good for me! :D Dude, I need to go back soon.

It's on the south side of Queen Street, somewhere West of Bathurst.
>> Product site


Walnut cake
I live in a Korean dominated area where Chinese, Japanese, and Korean restaurants can all be owned by Koreans. Too bad I can't take spicy food, or else I would be quite lucky. Anyway, I was having lunch with my super old great-great-granny friend (hi SC mah mah :P) at - guess what! - a Korean owned Japanese restaurant. Sakura has super good lunch/dinner specials, def recommended.
So, after we were super full from lunch, we peeked into this little store next door which had Korean writing all over the store front. I've always only been around there at night and the store was closed. We saw that the store had machinese making these little things:

SC was very familiar with walnut cakes - having photos of them in a facebook album. She hasn't had them in a long time, so we bought 2 bags, 1 of sweet red bean paste filling and the other with custard. I wondered out loud that they'll probably taste good toasted. She agreed and was up for going back to my place to toast them!! Oh, the things we do for food.

We toasted them in the oven... and they were warm and slightly crispy on the outside, while still a little bit chilled from the cold inside. There were actual pieces of chopped walnut in the batter. Heavenly. There were 20 in each bag; by the end of the afternoon, we finished 1/2 of each already, and with great constraint saved the rest for later. Mmmmm.

>> 11 Spring Garden Ave, North York, Toronto.

Meals

I do eat proper meals. But is this entry too wordy? Too much reading for the short attention spanned generation? "Yes," chimed my imaginary audience. Okay, I'll save it for next entry.

Doe Ray Me Far Sew

I believe when a room full of people begin singing or chanting in unison, it is a magical moment.
I had taken Choir class as elective in high school, and had an hour of chapel every week - from grade 3 to 12 - when I sang hymns and gospel music. I am not religious now, but whenever I remember those songs and begin humming it, I feel positive. In my psychology intro class, one of the first things a prof did was make the class of 500+ students sing in round (Mary had a little Lamb). It turned out to be a trick (on compliance and obedience, see Stanley Milgram's famous experiment). It really broke the ice, and I loved the prof.
Recently, I've gotten a lot of opportunities to play Rockband. It isn't legitimate music, but it feels so good being close to creating music again. I had fun playing every single instrument. I believed that I can tackle playing a real set of drums after playing a song from Disturbed. I've only heard about Disturbed once - when a guitar/bass/drums playing friend (I guess a rocker?) showed me the CD (back in the days when people still bought them). The cover and disc art gave me a sense of what type of music it was... and I'm speaking as a bubblegum pop and ballads kinda person. I feel so impressed with myself! (Yeah it was just in easy mode, whatever, shut up.)

Singing does have wonderful powers. Don't go to a shrink -- just sing!!

You mean.. you don't really eat infants from Europe?

As a followup to pancakes, I tried out this recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes. They're actually a German recipe; oven pancakes that puff up as it is baked in a hot skillet, and then deflate a little when served. I was tempted by Orangette's recipe. I modified by cutting it down to one serving, used whole wheat flour, and a regular cake springpan -- had to make do with what I had

The lamp in my oven didn't work, so I was not able to observe and take photos as the Baby inflated. But this is how it looked like straight out of the oven:

Looks nice and golden, eh? But there isn't much activity going on. I would have expected it to be heaving. I took it out of the pan and onto a plate, but it didn't seem to deflate much as well. Maybe I should have used the recommended casserole or pie dish next time.


Serve with lemon juice and some icing sugar, and tah-dah!


It wasn't as great as I had expected from all the raving reviews. Maybe it was the whole wheat flour, or the lack of a generous helping of butter, or maybe even the pan itself.
The edges were a little crispy, which would have been a great contrast if the general pancake was fluffier. It tasted quite bland. It's a bit too healthy and unhearty for me. I had to satisfy my tummy with some good ol' bacon, eggs, and buttered toast. Maybe next time!

What I did:

RECIPE: Dutch Baby Pancake - 1 serving
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup skim milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 450F, with pan in it.
Put butter in heated pan to grease it.
Mix flour, milk, and eggs, and poured mixture into pan.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Serve with icing sugar and lemon juice. (and bacon!)

Christian the Lion - the original Kimba/Simba

Lion shocked at reunion with owners:




I'm sure many of you have seen the Lion King, where a little lion cub runs away from home and returns with friends that his species don't usually befriend. Before that, there was the anime by a famous Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka about Kimba the White Lion, who tried to go home to Africa but ended up befriending humans in Europe. And somewhere in between was the true story of how an urban-raised lion cub bought by 2 British men from Harrod's (this was back in the 60's) named Christian was rehabilitated into the wild. This was the clip that got me digging and researching its book, documentary, and the film whose actor and animal trainer made it all happen.


Links:
This article tells us briefly of Christian's known life:Christian, the lion who lived in my London living room

At kimbawlion.com, you can read about how Disney probably copied The Lion King off Kimba the White Lion. (Simba? Kimba? What are the chances?) Click on "Lion King?" for screen to screen comparisons and "Christian the Lion" for how Kimba happened in real life.

Look up for more on "Christian the Lion", "Born Free Foundation"

Note:
I don't want to just throw a heartwarming clip out there without sharing what I learned. As one raised in the city, don't think you can get me to lay on the grass. I'm anxious around animals too. But, I'm all in support of nature and wildlife, while doing my part to harm the environment. Humans are the most invasive and destructive species of earth. We are selfish, short sighted, and an insult to our own intelligence. Life could be much simpler, but we've escalated to a point our abilities are only doing us more harm: industrialization, technological advances, materialism, politics, religion... I'm not here to argue what's wrong and what's right. If you are religious, you would know that nature is a part of creation. If you are political, you know all campaigns are scrambling to raise their green thumbs. All the excess we generate creates pollution, depletes natural resources, and end up in the dump anyway. I'm ashamed of all the electronics I keep plugged in out of laziness and all the non-biodegradable items I surrounded myself with. I hope it's not too late that the world is realizing we are digging ourselves into a dead end. Please be more environmentally conscious.