Not a funny article

The Grammys and Oscar award shows will have a lot of people to include in their memorial montages. Many of the world’s icons from the musical, theatrical, political and athletic industries have passed away in 2009. Just searching for celebrities deaths in 2009 found me this list, last updated Sep 3. Add to that Mary Travers from the group Peter, Paul and Mary, and Kanye’s musical career for the near future.

I hoped that the deaths would stay in Hollywood. Then it closer to home - I heard that a Hong Kong actor, nicknamed “Dai Sor Gor” (大傻哥) for his numerous supporting roles as a gullible villain, passed away from cancer. He had already backed away from the limelight and situated himself as a village mayor/chief, but many Hong Kong citizens still recognize him.

成奎安 aka 大傻哥

Suddenly... I never expected anything like the following to happen. I didn't believe it when I heard. A friend from primary school was sent to the intensive care unit after an accident. I haven’t met up with her since I returned to Toronto, and last week was the very first time I’ve seen her since 12 years old. The first glance I see of her is when she was in the hospital bed, unconscious… and it was the last time I will ever see of her.

I can’t say I was close, but this was someone I had a part of my childhood with, even though a brief 3 years. This was someone who did not have her life taken away by a dangerous lifestyle of drugs or speeding or risky activities. You can say she didn't deserve to have it happen to her. I am just glad– with the little bit of Christian faith in me – that she accepted Christ in the last few days of her life, and that her sister was able to smile as all her friends visited.

So many have used the phrase “summer of death” to label 2009. The ends of the lives of many people brought grief because they have accomplished so much and brought so much to the lives of many. The least I can do is make something from this and make a modest relation to my life. I have finished my undergraduate degree and need to tread my way through the “real world” (or in John Mayer’s words, a lie we gotta rise above). It is the official end of the transition from dependence and childhood. I am still struggling to find myself but, cliché but precisely, I want to have lived my life to the fullest with no regrets. I don't care about owning sports cars or mansions or having a shoe closet the size of my apartment. I don't want to be famous for being a talentless Hong Kong singer or pseudo-model (term used loosely). What I want is knowledge, wisdom, trust, faith, loyalty, and people I am comfortable with. In the end when my turn comes, I hope that I would have accomplished what I wanted to, or at least on my way there.

I think I am hoping really hard that deaths mean something, that they didn't happen just because. There's always a reason for things to happen, right?

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?

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!

Home: Wan Chai or Lan Kwai? KOWLOON BITCH

I miss Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: kid hanging for his dear life on clothes-hangers

This happened in Ma On Shan. The kid recording said he heard a loud bang in the morning, and noticed a person hanging outside his building. The person was holding on by his leg caught on a metal clothes-hanger (common in Hong Kong residential buildings). He immediately ran to the next unit to tell them to not open the window, but there was no answer. So he tried the door and opened it, and told the person to hang on, and went to get help. He noticed that the kid in danger seemed to have a broken right arm and he "saw flesh"... He said he, his friend, and his brother tried to help, and his mom called 999.




This is pretty scary. Do kids have too much time while swine flu suspended school or something? I hope not! My cousins better not be up to this shiz while at home. Props to this kid for being web 2.0 savvy and to the firefighters for saving the kid. Hope the kids involved can be inspired this life changing experience.

Japanese stationary

sindy says:

omggg im on the phone with my dad, he's going on foreverrrrrr
cuz i emailed his office abt things i wana get and have him buy in HK and bring over when he visits.. i told his secretary to tell him i wanted japanese stationary. i expected his secretary to tell him and my dad would know what we're talking abt cuz we go stationary shopping together. his secretary helped him get it.. and got us hello kitty stuff. i told him, just for fun.. and now he's lecturing about "doing things correctly" FML FML

Basically, my dad is visiting for my convocation (in 10 days!) and we asked him to buy some stuff we can't/prefer not to get in Canada. My sister and I adore Japanese pens and lead pens/ mechanical pencils/ whatever you prefer to name them -- actually stationary found in HK in general. They work much more efficiently at a much lower price. So whenever we go back to Hong Kong, we stock up near my dad's office which is in an industrial district with tons of offices, so things are even cheaper! So I've been emailing with his secretary back and forth about travel details and things to get, since my dad is semi-computer-illiterate. Here's the email the secretary sent:

Sindy,

Attach the photo for you and (sis) to ref. Is those item interesting by you . each item in 1 pc or 1 pack. Do you/ (sis) need more or which brand you love it - Twin star, Mickey mouse, ..... cat,..... dog you can let me know or send me the image then I can search for you.

(Secretary)


Plastic folder

ball point pens, pencils, and rubbers

notebook 001

notebook 002

-_-"""""

Miss Secretary, Thank you for being so sweet... but we haven't been in primary school in a long time. FFS I'm graduating from university -_- (And yeah, she calls them rubbers. So Bri'ish)

Dad, please don't lecture me on Communications just because it's my major when you can't even tell off your staff without the adjacent office hearing. Sorry to break this to you, but liberal arts mean jackshit to the commercial world. Don't get your hopes up.

Holy crap I can't believe how ridiculous this is. I guess there are things in my life worth sharing.

Show yourself!

Today, I met my boyfriend in Hong Kong after being apart for almost 6 months. We got to our room and got right down to business. I was just about to come when a voice came over the PA system in the room. "This is just a fire alarm test, sorry for any inconvenience." FML

Whenever Hong Kong is mentioned, I can't help but think that I might know that person. It seems so narrow minded to think that way, but I've had many times when people all over the world coincidentally knew each other. When you attend international schools, it's a small world after all.

Video from Quaratined man in Hong Kong's MetroPark Hotel

I don't know how I would feel in that situation.

H1N1 in Hong Kong

Metropark Hotel in Wanchai is sealed off after a Mexican tourist is confirmed to have H1N1

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong confirmed Asia's first case of the new H1N1 flu virus in a Mexican traveler on Friday, prompting authorities to seal off the hotel where the 25-year old man had been staying.

...Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang told reporters the man arrived on a China Eastern flight on Thursday afternoon after a stopover in Shanghai.

He had a fever and went to Ruttonjee Hospital for help on Thursday evening, Tsang said. The Mexican is now in hospital in a stable condition.

... "He didn't leave the hotel (except to go to hospital) because he was feeling sick," Health Minister York Chow told a news conference.

... The affluent financial hub on the south coast of China is widely seen as one of the best-prepared Asian cities to deal with the new H1N1 flu virus, given its experience in handling sporadic outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu, as well as SARS in 2003 which killed 299 people. >>

What is with Hong Kong's luck with animal flus? I'm glad that HK has learned from H5N1 and acclaimed to be the most experienced with how to deal with the situation. I hope this really would control the situation.
My heart still sinks everytime I remember how SARS killed so many people. Even though I was in such proximity to the whole ordeal, my memory of it is very vauge. Classes were suspended, but I don't even remember what I did during that time. My dad would still travel to and from China and completely wanted to shove my sister off when she urged him to wear masks and use sanitizer gels.

Why do I have such terrible memory? It seems like if I don't write it down, nothng is worth remembering. Yet I remember so much trivial info -- my semantic memory (aka encyclopedic memory) is much stronger than my episodic memory (aka autobigraphical memory). Suppression much?

Link: Another Cantopop star pulls an Edison

The background info:

Cantopop star Kelvin Kwan Chor-yiu has held his first press conference since returning to Hong Kong after being detained by Japanese police for cannabis possession.

The 25-year-old and fellow Cantopop star Jill Vidal (26) were arrested in Tokyo on February 24 at a busy shopping district. No charges were laid on Kwan but the status of fellow Cantopop star Jill Vidal remains unknown.

While Kwan did not openly admit he consumed the drug, he repeatedly apologised to the Hong Kong public and his fans over the incident. The pair were especially lambasted considering they were once involved in anti-drug campaign in 2007. He also says he will be stepping away form the entertainment industry for an unspecified time.

He is the godson of veteran Alan Tam, and Jill Vidal is signed along with her more successful sister Janice Vidal under retired pop star Leon Lai, married to model Gaile Lok. They have been rumored to be dating for a while.

This is so ridiculous. Hong Kong is a pretty hypocritical society. We all know that people do drugs, have sex, and take inappropriate photos all the time. The tabloid culture just enhances the finger pointing practice. Whatever man.

What I am interested in is his PR move. This is a perfect imitation of what Edison did. Has his statement been successful? or is Mr. Kwan truly being sincere? One of the female celebs involved, Cecilia Cheung, went on an interview to bash Edison's statement in February for being all words and no action. Let's hope Mr. Kwan's PR can learn from Edison's mistakes.