Archive for 'June 2007'
Tsingtao beer
My parents came back from Tsingtao. It’s hard to believe they got me and my sister a can of Tsingtao beer each. The cans are with year of Chinese animal characters. The packaging is limited edition they said. We don’t drink beer but we can keep the cans. My parents said Tsingtao is beautiful, where is a place filled with European architecture. It was a German colony during 19th century. I might post one or two pictures in here after they got their pictures developed.
Spiro’s Brisket!
I learned to cook this dish from the cook book of Cat Cora. I have read through her book, but found most of the ingredients can’t be found easily in here, so I can’t try many. I only can choose some dishes with simple ingredients such as Spiro’s Brisket.
I followed to use most of ingredients from the book apart from the sauce and the herb. I used Lee & Perrin sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce for marinating. I think they are actually the same things, as they taste the same. I didn’t use any fresh oregano at all, as I don’t know what it exactly is. I only know it’s a type of herb. I doubt I can find it here easily anyway. I didn’t use charcoal grill as we only have oven at home. I bet the taste of grill is much better. I used mushroom for major vegetable, which is not included in the original recipe. The book suggested marinating the beef for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours, but I marinated it for 1 hour. It also suggested cooking for 2 hours, but I did it for 45 minutes.
Anyway, I am happy with what I cooked tonight though I did have a bit of stomach pain this morning. It couldn’t stop me cooking delicious food at all.
No commentsAfter 10 years…
1st July is by the corner.
I have watched a short interview on TV about how Chris Patten thinks about the changes of Hong Kong after it was hanged back to China ten years ago. He said the changes of HK are much better than what he thought ten years ago. Chris Patten did the reasonable good jobs before he left. We still remember very well how much he likes HK style egg tarts and how beautiful three of his daughters are. During his interview, he particularly mentioned two of his daughters married and he became headmaster of two universities in the U.K. He understands so well what kind of topics HK people like to hear about his family.
I wasn’t in HK though ten years ago. I really don’t know what the feeling was. My sister told me I missed the best scene of my life. She said she will never forget the scene. I spent 19 years in HK so far, not continuously, from time to time. I have never thought that HK would get any worse after 1997. The period of SARS and stock market crash was tough, but we did go through fine. Many did emigrate to overseas before 1997, but most did come back for good. Shanghai is regarded as an international city to replace HK in the coming 10 years, but seems there is still long way to go. This major worry doesn’t seem to bother us much anymore. The positive growth of Chinese economy is the best advantage of HK. Chinese government does concern very much the position of HK in China. We are all looking forward to seeing all the good development of HK in the shortcoming future.
I am happy about HK, Mainland, Taiwan, U.K., and anywhere I had ever been. I am happy to live in anywhere actually. It doesn’t matter where I live, it does only matter if I had happy life.
2 commentsThe end and the beginning…
“I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end”
Tony Blair has stood down as prime minister today. I still remember the excellent speech he gave ten years ago on the first day he became prime minister. The way he described Princess Diana as “people’s princess”, that I believe many won’t forget. However, Tony Blair’s family posed outside Downing Street for a final time today. I think the Question time is still not an easy section for Tony Blair’s last day as prime minister.
And Gordon Brown period begins.
3 commentsBusy busy…
I had been busy in the fair last week. I found some good products though they are not stunning design. I bought some 925 silver sterling samples from an Indian company. I did buy silver from them last year, so I always think they are good in pricing as well as quality. The next day I found an Indonesian supplier, who produces 970 silver sterling with price of 25% lower than what I paid. The price gap is too large. I haven’t really met any suppliers, who sells silver with USD0.77/gm. Most of Chinese suppliers sell silver almost USD1.00/gm same as Indian companies. I guess the Indonesian handwork cost is low as those silver stuff are all hand made. Silver cost can’t be too much in difference no matter where they are from as it changes frequently based on market price. For those Indonesian silver, I can tell easily they are not something from India by the way they look. Chinese silver always looks so unique with total machine made looking. Well, I won’t blame myself to overlook the price comparison between companies. 
There are over 2,000 companies in the fair, so it’s very possible that I missed one or two.
I like observing people how to purchase stones, pearls, and various jewelleries. They can stay in the same booth for more than an hour by looking at every single piece in details with magnify glasses. They ended up buying few pieces of stones in size of mm each, not necessary diamond but they paid fortune for it. I am very curious how they do with those stones. A Chinese company demonstrated a set of necklace and ear rings with CZ stones and 925 silver sterling for USD288.00. It was a wholesale price. He said those are top quality CZ stones with good handworks, so the price is high. The cutting of stones is same as diamond he said. I am not an expert, but I also have my magnify glass and digital scale checked it out. I really don’t think it worth that price. After I looked at it in details, he said he can sell me a whole set for HKD1,000.00 as that day was the last day of the fair. Ha!! How can a set of good jewellery went down price to HKD1,000.00 from USD288.00? USD288.00 could be a retail price in overseas, but definitely not a wholesale price at the fair in Asia. If he could make good profit from HKD1,000.00, then I would say that set of jewellery only worth HKD500.00 or less for the production cost. CZ stones are not expensive stones even they are on top range. The handwork cost is high this is true. The most expensive part of jewellery is the design and handworks, sometimes not necessary the materials; this is what I heard from jewellery experts.
Anyway, the trade fair was good. I always learn a lot by observation. I like asking around information for comparison of various. More you ask more you learn. More mistakes you make more you improve.
No commentsSayonara
I found this song on youtube…..Sayonara by Sakamoto….It was his song from early 90s. I like this song very much. His music is never out of fashion. It always sounds so modern. I was weird. I used to like listening this song on the plane. It sounds so dreamy, so it suits the flying mood.
Asadoya Yunta and Tibetan Dance are great too as well as many others you can find in here. I love the mixture of Japanese traditional music and black Jazz. These songs are from 80s.
2 commentsMy favourite fruit of summer
I have been eating tons of mangosteen and cherry. I love eating them in summer. The best way of eating them during summer is to keep them in the fridge overnight before you eat them. And please DON’T KEEP your GLASSES in the fridge!! You won’t feel more cooling by wearing it during summer.
Yes, we found mum’s glasses in the fridge. Amazing, isn’t it? Cats can’t do this. It must be done by human. It must be either dad or mum. Mum did tell me after her shower on Sunday night…..”I think it could be in the fridge! It might be wrapped with vegetable when I was moving vegetable away from the table” Then she went straight up to kitchen, and looked for it, however, she didn’t find it. Dad found it this morning in the fridge accidentally. It was in the fridge for almost three days. How funny! So the mystery solved………..^_^
2 commentsMerry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
I found Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence on youtube!
I am a big fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto. I collected most of his movie sound tracks, included The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky. My sister would like to borrow his CD from me, so I have just thought about it. I think the best period of Sakamoto was during 80s and 90s, since then I haven’t heard much of his new works.
No commentsBeach time, good time….
I went to Stanley beach today. I had some sun tan, but not much as the sunshine wasn’t very strong. It wasn’t very hot today anyway. It was a bit windy, so it was very comfortable. The beach wasn’t crowd, but there were quite a lot of people, most were teenagers. I like sitting on the beach and also by the pool. The feeling is so good. I just feel very relaxed by doing so. When I sit on the beach, I like thinking of some songs. Sometimes, I can’t help to sing it in my heart. It depends on what kind of mood I am in. I was definitely in the mood of these songs today…..Cheek to Cheek and Just the way you are…
I can’t remember when the last time I went to Stanley. It could be more than three years ago. There is a very nice bar and restaurant by the beach, where you can see the full view of South Bay.
I did some good shopping too. I found a T-shirt and a dress with printing of Starry Night of Vincent Van Gogh and Water Lily Pond of Claude Monet. I love their paintings, but I haven’t seen any dress or T-shirt with full print of their works. Sure, I did see a T-shirt with small print of Monet’s printing in a gallery store of Paris, but definitely not something look like this. I asked the shop keeper how come he can produce this collection without copy right. He said there is no copy right for paintings once the artists died more than 50 years. Is that true?? I doubt it, but anyway, I got them.
Father’s Day diary
We did a lot today!!
We shared cake with Dad.
We walked with Dad. (apparently, three of us got all the mosquito bites by walking on our Dad’s favourite footpath)
We had dinner with Dad in Shenzhen, went to the Sichuan restaurant he always fancies.
We went for massage. We three had body massage, but Dad had foot massage. He said he can’t accept full body massage, as he feels like being tickled. He also feels embarrassed by having body massage.
The strangest thing is…my Mum lost her glasses since early morning, and now still looking for it. My Dad is still looking for it for her. We suspected that this must be done by one of our cats, though we don’t know which one it is. If you were a cat keeper, you must know that cats like playing with any items, which they can move.
And…we saw Christmas flower on every table in the restaurant. The waiter said it’s their decoration for Father’s Day! How interesting!!
