RED

If I wanna go see a movie myself, I would never pick this one. First of all, I am not a fan of Bruce Willis. Secondly, I am not that into action movies. Action is fine, but is just never my first choice.

But school has just started, and there are not that many choices around. J does not read Chinese, so any non-English is out. He asked me to have a look what is available, and the only 2 choices are ‘the town’ and RED.

The town features robbery (ouch) and some romances (yeah), but I’m not familiar with the cast (ouch). RED is action movie (ouch), but I’m more familiar with the cast, Helen Mirren (yeah), Morgan Freeman (yeah), and Bruce Willis (kindof ouch actually). Touch choice, and I still decided to see RED.

It turns out to be a very good choice. The story is kind of stupid of course, but it is very funny. After around 30 minutes, I was totally relaxed, entertained, and had a very good laugh when gunshots were not meant to see blood, but a way to to funny. I was especially impressed with the way Bruce talks, and he appears to be a gentle and romantic. J had a good time too. Good choice.

Drapes Up

I finally decided to make some changes to my apartment.

For a long while, I thought it was a temporary place, and I would be moving very soon. I kept the place clean, got some furniture to make it liveable, but would not buy anything to make it more comfortable. I always told friends that I’m going back, or I’m going back to my place, but I never said home. 

It is hard to explain the way the brain works, like people really cannot learn to cherish something until they almost lose it.

I have been looking for a job, off and on, for a while. I had an offer back in September. The company is located in Nantou county. The distance and location makes it impossible for me to commute from Taipei. Of course during the interview, location was not a problem, commute was not a problem, relocation was not a problem.  I was so determined that nothing, and nothing could stop me from taking this positin. I negotiated with the HR, asked for a couple of weeks to clean up my mess in Taipei and was about to get ready to go south to find another place to live. That’s when I had a second thought.

I felt the urge to stay.

Yes, urge. It was so strong that I almost could not bear the thought of moving out at all, out of this apartment, or out of Taipei. Yes, I know I am renting, and do not have the ownership to this place, but I did not want to leave. I declined the offer.

I sought to change.

The owner had large wide windows built in the living room. However, they could not seem to find blinds that fits the windows, so the current blinds installed are few inches shorter than the windows. It would be fine during the day; however, I never felt I had complete privacy at night when the living room was bright, and the neighbors across the narrow alley could see right through. I want drapes, and always wanted to have drapes up to block some sunlights in the winter and add some colors to the living room. The blinds are dusty and in very bad shape. They are bolted right in to the concrete, so I have no way to remove and clean them.

That’s when friends came to help.

Those helps are just little talks over supper or over MSN, or some other fancy modern online chat. One advised me to buy those removeable 3M tape to put on the wall to support the drapes, and be sure to get the strongest kind. Some told me there is a new store right by IKEA that sells all kinds of Japanese merchanise. I went to supermarket, looked at the 3M tape, wrote down the maximum weight that they could support. I went to the Japanese store, and they have a very good selection of drapes, well marked with the dimensions, installation guides, accessories displayed.

I did not get everything right in the first place. Had to go back and forth because I did not get the dimensions right, because I forgot to buy the rings for the drapes, because I could not wait for the tape to set and put the drapes up right away and the whole thing ended up collapsing and made an astounding noise. A friend came to my aid and showed me how to use epoxy to glue the hook to the wall properly.

At least now the living room has a new look. Something new, something refreshing, something different, something comfortable, and something homey. After nearly 2 years, I’m making it home.

Painting

If you have been to my place, you most likely have seen this paiting hanging on the wall in my bedroom. If you are a religious person, you probably know who this person is with just a very quick look at this painting.

But I am not.

I traveled out of Taiwan for the very first time in October 1997. The destination was El Paso, TX. Strange location, eh? Well, it was a business trip. The products that the company sent out to US markets had a serious flaw. We, a group of 4, had to fly to El Paso, where distribution center was located, to facilitate rework process.

For a first timer, 2 months was a long trip being trapped in the middle of the desert without sufficient supply of anything I was familiar with, but the experience was also totally exhilarating. The sky was always blue and beautiful. El Paso was very spread out, so sky was so wide. I was able to see sky totally dark on one side of the horizon and bright on the other, a very refreshing experience for a city boy like myself. Air was warm and dry, so sitting in the sun for lunch was comfortable after a few hours’ hard work. We even went out of town for short trips on weekends. It turned out to be the longest business trip I have ever done as of now, and the chance to be out for the weekend is still unforgettable.

I found this portrait on the way to Carlsbad Cavern National Park. We had a long drive (ok, in our definition, 4 hours’ drive was long), and had to stop for a rest. We looked around the gifts store, and this painting caught my attention.

There were two of them sitting on the floor with dusts all over them. It looked like something that the owner was about to trash or return to vendor. I liked the wood frame, the black cloth, the contrast between the cloth and the paint, and that a few simple strokes were enough to show this person is in great pain. I asked a worker to have a look, and he likes it too, but let me pick my favorite, as these two do not look identical, so I guessed they were both hand painted.

It has been with me ever since, except the 4 years when I lived in California, and I have always placed it in my bedroom, right about the head board.

2 months ago, a friend came to visit. I dutily showed him around the apartment and mentioned how much I liked this painting. He responded courteously with his arts background in the school and said, he had been to Europe and been exposed to lots of arts, art history, and had a good collection of paintings himself. His best guess was that it was a painting of Jesus on the cross. The wide bands on the upper right depicted the cross, and the few strokes on the lower right showed the arm. The technique to paint on cloth is quite hard, and the artist seemed quite competent and confident when he made it. It could be a good collection and it could be worth something.

Something? I think the tag price was about 15 or 16 USD, and because it was so covered with dust, the owner (an older lady) gave me a discount, so I paid around 11 or 12 USD. I love it, so it is not going away, and I want to see it on a daily basis, and it will be on the wall. The question is, this is a painting of Jesus, so I guess it should probably stay somewhere else other than the bedroom, but until I find a better location for it, it stays where it is, for now.

I am so glad that the friend had a chance to come over, and I finally realize what this painting is all about, after so many years.

Corn Chowder

Chowder is not available in regular restaurants here. We get corn soup in steak house. Corn soup is normally creamy corn cooked in broth, starched, placed in the all-you-can-eat section of the steak house. We may always go for pricey restaurants and get a set of meal with a choice of either salad or soup. That would be a nice choice, but definitely not something I’d like to do on a regular basis.

 

I searched on youtube, and found a recipe that I really like. And according to the video, corn chowder is surprisingly easy to make. All ingredients are readily available in grocery store here. I always feel that the starch used in the corn soup here is like a thick makeup on a woman’s face. It tastes good, but the starch makes it harder to actually enjoy the flavor of the corn, and am really happy with this startch-free chowder.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 cup of diced potato
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 cup of milk
• 0.5 can of creamy corn
• salt and pepper

Heat the pan and saute onion with olive oil until it is golden brown. Put onion and potato in a sauce pan, add half a cup of water, and simmer all the ingredients for 15 minutes until potato is cooked and tender.

Then add creamy corn and milk to the sauce pan. Heat the whole thing until milk is warm enough to taste. Add salt and pepper. Serve with cracker and ice tea.

I used low fat milk, so the chowder is a bit watery. Not bad. The video said half-and-half could be used if creamier soup is desired. Cream is expensive here, as we do not have big dairy industry in Taiwan; however, I’ll get a litre of cream sometime and probably use half a cup of milk and half a cup of cream instead, and see how it turns out. I have to, of course, come up with something else to finish up the cream before it goes bad.

The original recipe also calls for bacon grease to saute the onion and chopped bacons placed on top of the soup. I did without the bacon part, and it turns out just as nice. I love this recipe, and am sure that I’ll use this recipe a lot this winter.

Souvenir from Van Gogh Museum

Last night I met J for a movie. He brought a few things for me. 3 books of Jack Reacher and souvenirs from his trip to Europe.

It was interesting to see the connections sometimes when what he said would be exactly what I was about to ask, and that makes the friendship a little bit more fun. I was browsing the books and was about to ask him if I have to return the books when he said I could keep one of the 3, but have to return the other 2, as he plans to send them to his sister. I was about to ask, because nowadays I really don’t keep novels anymore. Instead of loving the books and keeping them on the bookshelf for the rest of my life without the time to read them again, I would much prefer to give them to friends if they are interested, and I encourage them to do the same if they turn out to like it. So I told J that he do not have to return the Jack Reacher book I gave him last week, and know it will end up being at his sister’s at least.

J just returned from his very first trip to Europe a while ago. We went through his photos together last week. He was really mesmerized by the geometry of buildings, doors and windows, and tooks lots and lots of photos of them. I happened to have done just the same when I was in Beijing in April. So I volunteered to upload mine for him to have a look. We had a good laugh.

He presented the sourvenirs he got for me while he was in Amsterdam. A box of chocolate, a postcard, and a refrigerator magnet from Van Gogh Museum. They are absoltely right souvenirs for me. We were then talking the stereotypes we have for each artist. For Van Gosh, we think of short strokes he is famous for in his self portraits and irises, but we are rarely exposed to his other talents and how versatile he was in painting. He said there are more then 300 Van Gosh’s paintings in that museum, and I was totally jealous that he got to be there to see them all.

I confess to him. From the photos, Nice looks nice, Cambrige looks gorgeous, Paris looks great, but I am only jealous of 2 things: he has been to Van Gogh museum and Musee d’Orsay, and for me, Musee d’Orsay is definitely the Mecca of arts.

Amphetamine

This movie was never in my radar until last Friday when a friend of mine sent me the link to its trailer when it was released. I love the music so much and just have to play the trailer again and again to enjoy it. A very bold way to do the trailer this way actully with music only, not even one single line is said, no car racing, and not even any explosion. Maybe because this movie caters to only a smaller communicty compared with those hollywood ones. I saw one movie from the same director. It was good but not impressive. It seemed to me that the director was more obsessed in telling his own story and had so much fun doing it, than telling a story that relates to the general public. That’s fine though, as this is then called art.

Not sure if I’ll see this movie or not, but if I do, it is for the score, and attention will be paid to assess if buying the soundtrack would be worth it.

Television

 

Sometimes I live in the conflicts between Chinese values and western values. Having said that, I think it is necessary to point out what Chinese values and western values mean.

Chinese values mean seeing the family members as a whole entity and care for one another very much, to a point that privacy or personal willingness could be invaded. Western values mean quite the oppisite, privacy or personal willingness highly respected, to a point that there seems to be just pure cold politness among friends or family.

Of course, there is some sutble details that both values share. It is beyond my discussion here (ok, western values needed here).

What happened was my parents’ TV broke. They never mentioned it over the phone, so I did not know that until this past March when I went back to Tainan to visit them. My mother said, she tried to hit the TV, reconnected the cables, but nothing helped. This TV is very old. My brother bought it when he was in college, and he is 42 this year. Do the math. The technician came, sighed, and explained how hard it is to get components for this TV now. This is just an old 20” CRT TV, so it is really not worth it to have it fixed.

So get a new TV then. That’s what everyone would think. Not my mother (and my father did not have a say in this matter). She claims this TV is still good to watch. Mother, red color is the only thing I can make out on the TV!

So what should I do? I think the more traditional Chinese way would be for me to go to electronic store, pick a new one, and have it sent to my parents’ house, knowing my parents would not be able to understand any item in the spec and would be quite clueless to tell one make from another. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with it, and I expect my parents to have that smug look when they have visitors, and the poor visitors would feel compelled to compliment how nice and considerate their son is.

However, I hope they get what they really want. I hope they understand I care about it and want them to get something that really suits their needs. That is also the way I would like to be treated. So I told my mother, the TV is really old, and it would be probably more expensive to have it repaired than to get a new one. It may be time for it to go. There are few ways to get a new one. Do you want me to pick one myself and have it shipped to you, or you’d like to visit the stores and do the shopping yourself, or I can even go with you to the stores, so we can have some discussions together? Let me know once you decide which way to go for.

Not surprisingly, my dear mother chose the fourth option. She kept the TV.

Mid June I went back to visit them again, and saw that red-only TV again. I decided to do it the pre-emptive way. I started a family activities.

That was when Toy Story 3 hit the theater. I told them how popular 3D movies are nowadays, and I always had a good time watching Toy Story 1 and 2. We could go watch the version dubbed with Chinese, so they won’t have any problem understanding the conversation.  After that, we can grab a few bites to eat, and then go to department store to see if they find any TV interesting. And they agreed.

So my parents, my sister, niece and I went together. It turned out they enjoyed the movie very very much, and were so excited about the 3D effect. Believe it or not, they also enjoy having something to drink in the theater and some popcorns.

Anyhow, we visited the department store afterwards, and my dear mother was ONLY interested in Sony. The old TV is a Sony Trinitron, and my mother loved it. I swear she was smiling the whole time when we were in Sony area. When we suggested having a look at Toshia, or Panasonic, she showed little interest, and refused to even have a look when we asked her to try Samsung or LG.

At that point, decision is easy to make. 32 inches is the smallest size now. She does not need all the bells and whistles, so the cheapest model will do. Since my sister was there in the department store as well, I asked my brother later to see if he is ok to chip in, and he agreed. So all 3 kids chipped in to get that Sony Bravia 32”.

I guess it is neither Chinese way or western way, or, I tried to blend them together. Though it was a waste of time from March to June, but still I’m happy that I did not hurry to store in March and pick something that she does not like, which I could have done if I had been few years younger. She even asked to buy the TV from the store which she called  for help when her TV broke. She feels comfortable with their service, and feels good to do business with them.

Now my mother is happy.

Green Bean Soup

Green bean soup is one of my favorite desserts in the summer. It’s really cheap and easy to make, and when cold, is nice and refreshing.

It has been a while since I made it the last time. Ten years, maybe. So this time I tried to measure everything, so I can adjust a bit the next time, and have consistent result every time.

Ingrdients:

• Green beans: 1 cups
• Water: 8 cups
• Sugar: 3/4 cup

Put water and green beans in the sauce pan. Turn the heat low to simmer after the water boils. After a total cooking of 50 minutes, turn off the stove and add sugar in.

Microsoft Live Writer

This is a test blog for Microsoft Live Writer.

Just one thing leads to another. I was chatting with few friends on backup space on the Internet. He mentioned one, and I countered Microsoft’s Skydrive. The recent announcement of Microsoft’s online Office really impressed me, and they provide 25G of space! Compared with Google, which only gives 1G of space, Microsoft is so so generous.

Then someone talked about using the space Microsoft provides for backup space. There is some add-ons available to do that. That just made me so curious. So I found Microsoft Live Sync, and then Photo Gallery, and now I even have Live Writer on my computer.

Live Writer is a blog software. It just downloads my settings from Blogger. Well, I don’t know if it’s going to change any of my original settings or not. I’ll publish this one and then check.

It seems to me that most of the settings have been downloaded. I can add label to this post, set a publish date, preview, etc. However, some personal setting is lost. When the post is longer, I like to have a shorter preview on the homepage, and the provide a link for further reading. This is manually done, and I guess Live Writer is not smart enough to pick up everything.

A Bientot, Calgary

Tomorrow at the time when I'm typing now, I'll be in the vehicle heading for the airport.

A friend just came back to Taiwan from a 5-day vacation. He said that it was too short, that he could have stayed at the beach for one more week. I was about to say 6 weeks here turns out to be short as well, and I wish it could be just as long as time could be. It's interesting to see how things here are so different now, compared with December. Now the days are so long. The sky is bright at 5am, till after 10:30pm. Everything is so green and grows like crazy. It was so dark at 5pm in December, and the evening is so dark and long that it was almost unbearable.

So things have come to an end here. It's time to resume my life. Maybe there will be a new chapter here, and maybe not. But until then, a bientot, Calgary.

Attached photo is THE downtown view of Calgary for me.

Fort Macleod

This is the first trip out of town for a long long while, and should also be the last. Destination: Fort Macleod.

Fort Macleod is in southern Alberta. Fort Calgary was founded as a mid point between Edmonton and Fort Macleod. There is a lot of interesting history regarding North West Mounted Police, which became current Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Indians, and the negotiations between First Nations and Canada. Lots of artifacts there as well.

This structure is of much interest to me, and shows how the house in the prairie was built. Trees were scarce in the prairie, so people used to cut out grass and stack them as the main building material, including roof. That's why there is grass growing on top of the roof in the attached photo. It does not sound like a very reliable structure, as when it rains and the soil is soaked with water, it could be very muddy in the structure. I'm not sure how wind affects it, as I'm sure the weather could be windy and rainy. I guess people would live in constant fear of losing their belongings in the prairie.

Chicken Pasta Salad

Not sure why pasta salad came to my mind. I just had to have something else for a change. In fact I've done pretty good in this trip. I've been here for 3 weeks (with another 3 to go), and only been to Chinese restaurant once. In fact, that trip turned out to be just mediocre. There was nothing fantastic about the food. Rice rice and mushu port. I can even do it if I have proper equipment. For some reason, I can cook eggs for breakfast with the electric stove, but Chinese food? No, no way. I need gas stove.

So I don't think I'll go back there. 30 CND is good for lots of grocery anyway. I also do not plan to make any Chinese food here. Maybe something else would be nice. I guess that's when I thought about pasta salad.

I tried to search online for recipe, but all the recipes I found require strange (for me) ingredients. I know they could be just some dry spices available in the grocery stores, but I really did not plan to spend 20 CND just to get ingredients to make a bowl of pasta salad, and know that the ingredients may have to sit in the cupboard for years before they will be used again.

So when Ed said he has a simple recipe that they really enjoy. I asked him to send it to me right away. I love it at the first sight of the ingredient list, because they are all so simple, and I use them pretty much on a daily basis. I followed the recipe quite well, and here it is (direct copy and paste from email):

------------------------------------------------
12 oz package of tricolor spiral pasta
1.5 cups mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmensan cheese
.5 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cooked chicken breasts, skinned, bonned and cut into bite size chunks
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
.25 cup coarsely choppen onion ( we use the blue onions they are milder and prettier)

In a larg pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta to desired doneness; drain, let cool and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the mayo, parmasan cheese, milk and salt. Add pasta and toss to blend.
Mix the remaining ingredents , chill for several hours before serving. Easy
------------------------------------------------

I cooked the whole package of pasta, 375 grams, or around 13 oz. Cooked pasta expanded so much that I could not mix all at one time, so I divided it into 2 batches. The attached photo is from the first batch. A bit more mayo in it, but the flavor from mayo is still not offensive. I used Kraft Miracle Whip to replace mayo, and it is not very strong in flavor anyway. For the second batch, I used 2/3 of required mayo, and the salad tasted like heaven.

Chicken adds a very nice texture to the salad. I really enjoyed it. I did not use bell pepper, as it is harder to digest, however, I may wanna add some celery or avocado next time, for more color and more flavor.

I made them for lunch one day, and we finished all of the pasta salad the next day for supper. That's how great this recipe is.

Shrek Forever After

I really like Shrek. When the first movie came out, everything was amazing. They chose an fat ugly ogre to be hero to save the princes, and the princess chose to be ogre (or is it the second or the third movie?). Eddie Murphy did an excellent job to voice for the donkey. So when Shrek 4 came out, I thought it is a must see. But it is disappointing.

I guess you just can do the same tricks a few times. After that, no matter how good you are, it's just the same old same old. Donkey is still donkey. There is no new trick to Eddie's voice. Puss is still puss. His big eyes do not do anything to me anymore. They were not the main characters, but stood out and added so much to the movie, but what's new now?

True love's kiss is probably an interesting idea. Fiona's kiss is supposed to be the key to remove the magical contract, but since Shrek's birth date has been taken away, and thus practically does not exist, so Fiona does not recognize him, and does not love him, so her kiss is not true love's kiss. This is not hard to understand, so is still kind of cheap. We all have watched too many movies regarding time traveling, and know exactly how things may change if we break the continualty of time.

Graphics is good, but I watched the 2D version. Well, 5-dollar movie night on Tuesday vs close to 20 dollars for IMAX, there is an easy winner for me. I suppose the scene when true love's kiss is completed, and the whole disappears, that scene must be great and beautiful in 3D IMAX, but other than that, there is nothing new about the story, music, and everything. Please do not make another sequel.

Google TV

So now Google wants us to search on TV. My question is, how can Google make watching TV a more enjoyable experience?

Do I need a wireless keyboard to search every time I turn on the TV? Do I need to scroll up and down using the arrow keys on the keyboard? Or do I need some other pointing device, either wii remote or wireless mouse, to click on the video of my choice? With my limited imagination, I simply can't foresee I would like the way it works, unless it can be easier to than flip my laptop open, or wake up my imac and search from there.

In fact, search, in my opinion, is a very personal thing. Of course, I can search anything I want, and click on anything that I'd like to try. Sometimes I find myself searching on youtube for a long time, just to find the best video from a list of results with the best video and audio quality. But if I have a family and kids, do I still want to turn on the TV, and search for several minutes to find the program that we all like to watch for maybe just a few minutes? Yes, there is a lot of content on the internet, but what is the likelihood of finding something that we enjoy watching for hours? Are the contents really ready for search?

From the video released by Google, if we cannot find anything to watch from the current cable, we can search. However, can we find anything to watch on the internet, or we just spend hours searching and clicking, thinking there is a whole lot out there but we are simply wasting our valuable time?

Contents is still the most important.

TiVo is a gem. I only briefly used it at my friends' place, and was so in love with it. Not sure how much they have progressed after so many years, but I still do not see anything from US to replace Tivo's simple but powerful functions. Even Apple store is not good replacement. It sounds crazy for me when almost everyone has cable, and has to spend more to purchase each episode and download from Apple store.

Yes, download. Nowadays I hate to have to download anything. I thought we are talking about cloud computing. Everything is supposed to be in the cloud. Everyone is supposed to be connected to the internet. Why do I need to download?

Maybe it's time to really look at the progress in China. I am not sure if I talked about pps before, but for me, it is still the solution.

Attached is the screen shot of pps, with Supernatural shown in the program list. All the contents is there, named with season and episode. I do not have to browse through too much information, nor do I have to search endlessly. It's like a TV. I turn on and go to the place I need. There is no need to download. I click on play and the program starts to play in 15 seconds. All the contents is there, so there is no need to set up any machine for download, and thus easier to use than Tivo.

I'm sure there is a lot of legal issues with the programs on pps, but the program is so fabulous. Google should really think out of the box. Don't indulge with its own search engine.

Chat Online

I've added a new widget on the left column of my blog. Sometimes I use meebo to log on to my various instant messengers, and if I'm on meebo, this widget shows I'm online. Please edit name at the bottom of the widget if you'd like to chat, so I know how to address you. I'm pretty sure a cookie or something will be stored in your computer, so you only have to change the nickname once.









What's going to happen on my part is that, once you are on my blog and I'm on meebo, the nickname that shows in the chat widget shows in my meebo account, as shown in the second screen shot. I hope that does not make you uncomfortable. Of course if I'm not online while you are on my blog, no evidence of your visit will be stored anywhere.

Added on May 21, 2010: Offline message is ok on this widget. It is quite convenient little tool.

Birthday

Maybe because I grew up in a poor family, birthday was never a big thing for me as a kid growing up. In retrospect, I learned the concept of birthday, and looked up in the calendar, and looked forward to the day when I was born few years earlier. There was no birthday cake, no candles, no family getting together singing happy birthday, but my mom would cook me some noodles with pig livers. That was one of my favorite food. I can't recall if my brother or sister had any birthday party. I was never invited to any kind of birthday party even as a kid growing up in Tainan. It was just a regular day that went by silently.

I did ask for a small birthday party when I was a junior high school, and got some of the painting equipment that I longed for. There was art class in junior high school when we had to bring our own brushes, paint, and water bucket to school. It seemed that everyone had a deflatable bucket, that looks nice and good. I was the only oddball to bring a used tin, that has milk powder printed on the outside and always bulged my school bag. So that year before birthday I asked if I could have some painting equipment for birthday. That was probably the only chance in a year when I could justify something extravagant. You know, why would I want a deflatable bucket when a tin can can do just fine. The gifts were carefully wrapped. I did not tear the wrappers, but carefully removed the tapes and kept the wrapper for a long time. That only happened one year.

That's probably why I feel birthday is really not a very big deal, and is also a very personal thing. It's so personal that I don't feel like having a party and sharing with many people, because it really has nothing to do with them. Yes, if there is one day that makes me so special, it is my birthday, and nothing else, but feeling special is one thing, shouting out loud and having a party to tell the whold world that I am special on that date is just not my cup of tea.

It is nicer to be remembered.

I guess that is also what sets father and mother apart, and somehow I feel closer to my mother. Mothers always remember kids' birthdays. That's just what mothers do. Even now, when I call to wish happy mother's day, she still mentions my birthday is coming up. That makes me feel special. At least once a year, somewhere on the globe someone thinks about me.

This year, on that date, I woke up with a card in the morning, and chocolate. I know he has a very good memory, but I still suspect he checked into my passport to find out. That's unexpected, as he had sent me a card before he went to the hospital. And then later in the afternoon, after we came back from a long walk, I said I had to get something to drink, and maybe some bites to tie me over before supper. He said then what about some ice cream for a change, and took out a pint of ice cream that he had bought 2 weeks before I got here, when it was on sale. I thought I checked the fridge in and out and knew everything we had, but then somehow ice cream was sitting in one corner and escaped my thorough inspection. Ice cream was cherry flavor, one of my favorites, because I got the same flavor last August in Vancouver. I generally do not like surprises, and specify my birthday presents when I have a choice. But this surprise is darn good, and spanned across the whole day. Unbelievably cheap, unbelievably considerate, and really, unbelievably everything I want it to be.

I thought I have to finish this post by end of May, so am writing it. :-)

Strawberry Shortcake

This is probably the best strawberry shortcake I have ever made so far. Same cake and same strawberry from the other day. But this time we cut in cake in half, and put a lot of strawberries between the top and bottom layers. I still can't believe frozen strawberries work so well to make this dessert.

Google Doc New Features!!

I have used Google Gocs for my personal documents for a while. It's mainly for non-critical purposes. For example, if I just want a simple spread sheet to do some repetitive calculations, or just need to write down some notes for my personal reference, I use Google doc. Although I probably have Microsoft Office somewhere in the computer, I'd like to store the information on the internet, so the same information is accessible to me wherever I go. However, I won't hesitate to dig out Office if I need to update my resume and send it to the company I'd like to work for.

Another nice thing I like about Google doc is that it is simpler to share information. All I need to do is to click share and choose from there. There is no need to attach anything manually. Friends will receive an email with the link. It saves time and precious space in inbox.

Google doc was not perfect. Although it had the import function, but it was only limited to import the file format it accepted, that is, documents, spreadsheets, and slides. Other than that, it did not accept anything else. Not photos, not music, nothing else! Thus I was not able to back up some other data.

This morning I was clicking around, and click 'new feature' on the top right corner in Gmail, and was surprised to see the announcement from Google that Google doc now accepts all file format. That's the feature I have been waiting for for so long. I no longer have to look for alternative for file sharing, and file backup. I used Microsoft's Skydrive but was not impressed.

The upload is easy. I tried to upload a screenshot and share it with another yahoo account of mine. Everything went smoothly without a glitch.

Of course, it's not that easy to satisfy me. Now that an important need has been met, I want something more. The capacity for Google doc is only 1G, so that is not enough for me to backup all my photos, which requires about 5G of space. I want more space. I also want a program running in my local computer, so whenever I update any file in the local computer, the program can upload and backup the file on Google doc automatically. Apple's iPhoto is already equipped with the same feature. If I share a photo in iPhoto to my Facebook account, then whenever I change the photo on my local Mac, iPhoto updates the changes to Facebook directly. I love that feature.

Cake

Nothing was originally made tfor the cake.

Strawberries were on sale last week. We bought a lot, cleaned them, and put them in freezer bags and stored them in the freezer. Yesterday I took one bag from the freezer to thaw, and thought I would really like to have some strawberry shortcake, so I opened the white cake mix and baked the cake, cut up some strawberries and added lots of sugar, and whipped some cream. The expiration date on the cream was 3 days ago, so there was no point of saving it. I whipped all the cream left in the box and ended up with a big container of whipped cream.

This morning I was chatting with a girl friend on plurk about dessert, and it just suddenly dawned on me that I could actually make a cake. The white cake is there, cream is whipped, there is some fruit in the fridge, I don't need anything else for now.

So I cut out one cube of white cake from the pan, sliced the cake into 3 slabs and put a handsome layer of cream on each slab, put them together, and put another layer cream on all 5 visible sides. I grabbed a few slices of strawberries and cantaloupes from the fridge and cut them into smaller pieces and put them on top, grabbed a freezer bag and cut a small corner off and filled some whipped cream in, squeeze and decorate.

So here is the funny-looking cake. It was such a fun little project in the early morning. It is so so far from perfect, the cake being too dry, the whipped cream unsweetened, cake not cut in perfect shape, whipped cream warmed up too much that it started to drip out of the plastic bag, nozzle not used to make cream the artistic looks, but when Fred woke up and we shared the cake and have morning coffee, it was so nice. Something different for today.

Get a nozzle for the cream? Maybe. Another cake any time soon? Maybe not, especially not when I realized how much whipped 35% cream I used on that little piece of cake. I would definitely think twice before I order any cake from coffee shops.

Paul Giamatti

The first time I saw this guy was on the movie "Sideways". Paul plays an English teacher, who wanted to write but could not be a published author, who divorced his wife few years earlier but could still not rebound from the marriage. His friend from college would get married in a week, so they went out for a wine tasting tour, and had romances of their own. His friend wanted to get married because the marriage could promise a stable life with spare time to continue with his show business, which leaves nothing more than narrator of TV commercials. He was waiting for the verdict from his publisher if his new book would be published, and during the trip, he learned his ex-wife, whom he wanted to reconcile with, re-married. Very nicely told story about how men face their middle-aged crisis and how they cope with it (well, just to face it really). I saw this movie few years before and really loved it. This is when I know about this fine actor Paul Giamatti.

Of course there are big starts in Hollywood. Gulia Roberts, Brangelina, to name a few. Movies may be blockbusters simply because their names are on the posters, but there are still so many fine actors out there who contribute just as much. They probably do not have the look to shine on the silver screen, their faces not shown on the posters even, but whenever I see them on the movie again, it was a nice and familiar feeling, like "hello Paul, here you are again, how are you doing lately. No matter how you disguise, I can still tell it's you.".

This is how I felt when I saw Paul Giamtti on Duplicity last year, and on the Last Station this year.

2 Months

I was a bit worried before the trip that I may not be able to pass the immigration. 4 trips within a year with the third stay being 2.5 months sound fishy. Although I am a darn fine visitor, the bad experience with immigration just could not go away.

So I arrived at YYC yesterday. The lady at the immigration looked nice. She asked me the purpose of this visit. I replied, my friend had open heart surgery, so I'm here to spend some time with him. She asked immediately which hospital did he go to. Well, I'm glad I know the answer and responded without any hesitation. She then stamped the report card and asked me to go to another office marked as immigration where I saw quite a few people stand in line. Calgary airport is not a large international airport, and probably does not have that many international flights, so when I went to the office and saw 4 or 5 persons in front of me and 7 or 8 when it was my turn, I thought they were being pretty cautious at the immigration.

Anyway it was my turn, and I was asked a few questions:

A: Were you here before?
Q: Yes, I was.
A: When was the last time you were here?
Q: Last December.
A: Why are you here this time?
Q: My friend had open heart surgery, so I'm here to spend some time with him.
A: Oh, how's he doing? Is he still in the hospital?
Q: He's doing fine. He was discharged 2 weeks ago.
A: Is he going to pick you up at the airport?
Q: No, he cannot drive for 2 months. I need to find my own transportation.
A: Are you going to work here?
Q: Nope.

Then he stamped on my passport and wrote something. I had not seen any writing the previous few times, so I specifically asked him what he wrote on my passport. He said you can still until early July. 2 months for you.

I said thanks, and sat on the chair nearby and find out where and what he wrote. It took a while to find it, with too many stamps here and there. The passport will expire early next year, so I'll need to get a new one once I go back.

The way immigration thinks is kind of strange. If I go shopping and spend a lot of money, I may get the VIP status, and enjoy lots of conveniences, free parking, discounts, etc. But if I go to a country too often, they keep an eye on me and give me restrictions. Is the picture a bit strange when I'd like to visit this country for 10 days and they let me stay up to 6 months, but if I come here too often, then they only let me stay 2 months.

So the original plan was to check how recuperation goes at the end of 4th or 5th week, and see what the arrangement can be done, I guess it's okay to remove this hassle.

Debt

It's not easy to explain Chinese philosophy, but still let me anyway.

Chinese understand the concept of afterlife. People believe after they die, they don't simply disappear. Instead, their souls are taken to a place for judgement for everything that they have done in their lives. There are several outcomes for the judgement. If they do good things when they are alive, their souls are sent to heaven and enjoy eternal happiness. Otherwise they may need to start another human life. Or if they are mean, they may need to start an animal life and end up being eaten by humans. Or if they are really bad, they are sent to hell. There are 18 levels of hells, the first for the less evil and the 18th for the worst kind of people.

But my focus is just on the concept of re-starting another life after we are dead.

We also believe relationship does not come easy. Any kind of relationship. There is an old saying that all Chinese know: Do good things for 10 years, and you get to share the boat with someone to cross the river, do good things for 100 years, and you get to share the pillow with someone. Connection does not just happen. You may travel alone, and feel like talking to someone. You do and that person responds kindly. That connection seems to be coming out of nowhere. You guys just happen to be at the same place at the same time. But you may have done so many good things in your previous life, so thus deserve to have this connection.

Relationship can be bad, too. There are homicides every day, domestic violence is also not uncommon. People believe that's because something happened in their previous lives, so the relationship did not end just after they died. They must resume their relationship again. Those who owed in previous life must pay back in this life.

I still remember when I was a kid, I was so determined to do something stupid. My mom would try her very best to talk me out of it. I would not listen and get into really big trouble. She would be so upset and said something like, "I must have owed you a lot in the previous life, so I am paying back as a mother right now, raising, suffering and worry".

That's a concept that most Chinese share. We may not believe it, but have heard about it somehow at some point in our lives. I am not a superstitious person, and believe I am who I am because the way I was brought up, because what I did and what kind of person I really am, nothing to do what happened before I was born, which I had no clue about and no control over

But then I just realized I may have carried some debt as well. I'll need to do something that I know I probaby should not do but shall still do any way, with total devotion and no expectation for any return. If I really owed, I'll pay back. Let the life move on.

Fareware

This is quite an old song. I've probably known this song all of my life, lyrics, music, everything. I thought the original rendition is too good to beat, until today when I saw the other one, album released on April 1st. Maybe the MV really helps by giving a heartbreaking story.

Lyrics:
I'm drunk, my love, in your flickering eyes.
How much do I wanna fall ssleep this way, deeply.
Tears drips into my dream.
No more retrospect when I wake up.
After the journey we have been through together,
yours is yours, mine is mine.

Please listen,
please lean against me.
Please do not fear the silence between us.
One more look.
One more look and I'll be old.
One more smile,
One more smile and I'll be gone.
After the journey we have been through together,
we'll be lonesome separately (have separate stories)
what happened in the past is buried in the past,
what happened in the future belongs to the future.



This is the original version. The male singer composed the music.

IKEA Sucks

I bought this pan in November 2008 when I moved in my own apartment. After I have used it for just around a year, every time I turn up my gas stove much, the handle turns red and burns. Since I was out of country from end of December and did not come back until just a week ago, this is what the pan looked like back in last December. Another example of IKEA's quality. Now there is a big hole in the handle. It is time for me to shop another sauce pan.

IKEA may have pretty neat design, but their products just do not last long. They offer to help design the whole kitchen, or apartment for people who do not know how to start. Nice promotion for IKEA, but huge mistake for those who buy the whole set of IKEA unless they are so much into changing their furniture every a year or two. For me, shopping a suace pan is even a big hassle.

Curling

One thing I learned over the past month is curling. This game is not known to Taiwanese at all. I guess most of us have seen this game at one point of our lives and do not have a clue what it is. I learned the rule and had a very good time watching curling at Olympics and Tim Horton's Brier.

Nice thing about curling is that it is slow and predictable, quite contrary to other sports like baseball or hockey, when I have a hard time knowing where the ball is from TV even. In the curling game, there is normally a short discussion among the team members regarding the next rock they throw, and camera then focuses on the house. It is a great time to have a discussion with friends the options they may have and what not, it being a raze, take off, tap and roll, or even just a freeze. The rock is big and visible the whole time during the throw, and it is so easy to keep my eyes on the rock on TV. I don't even need any comment to know if that is a good throw or not. It is so enjoyable.

And a better thing is that, when both teams are equally competitive, it is always a good game until the very last rock.

I felt sad that once I returned to Taiwan, I would not be able to watch curling anymore. Well, I was checking TSN's website the other day to read news about curling, and then happened to find that, TSN actually uploads ALL the games online. All means all the ends of every single draw. I get to review any game of Brier or Scotties whenever and wherever I'd like to. I hope they'll do the same thing for women's world championship, which is coming up on March 20th. Not sure if it will be still as fun to watch it alone, but I'll definitely watch it.

Attached is the final rock from Kevin Koe, who represents Alberta in the Tim Horton Brier. This is a game that is good till this very last rock when Alberta beat Ontario by few inches. What a shot!

Davinci Code

I know I am so far behind everyone to read this book. I tried. But every time I started to read a few chapters, those religious terms just scared me off. Without the religious background, even though I looked them up in the dictionary, I still did not understand what they were to proceed reading properly.

So why now? It was frigid gold out. Not being able to go out to do much, I was desperate in February to find something to read to kill some time. And this copy happens to be hardcover, and have lots of photos. Good first impression.

Look at the photo here. This is the paragraph when Langdon explained the trick Davinci played on the church, and the invisible head between woman's hand and the kid, and the lady's finger indicating a knife to cut the head. The church was not happy about it, so Davinci made the church another one, and both have been preserved. I got to read the book, and have these 2 photos right on the book for reference, which makes reading so much more enjoyable.

But maybe this book and movie created so much buzz some years earlier, so I expected a lot from the book, but the result is quite disappointing.

Don't take me wrong. I enjoyed the main story line. It's quite exciting. But other than that, the other story lines are very weak. I watched the movie long time ago, and did not remember anything except the curator lying on the floor mimicking one of Davinci's famous painting. I could still guess something wrong with the rich guy and the Teacher, and the connection is even easier to figure out, once the butler was involved and claimed he is the only one who knows the Teacher's true identity.

The story has a very good start, but the other lines are very weak. They work at best like transitions between Landon's main line, and fail to give a strong impression of what they do and who they are. There is some story about the albino, but such a storyline is a no brainer, and there is just something missing in how the Teacher can be behind the whole thing single-handedly. I think it's good just to watch the movie. At least movie has a faster pace than the novel, and gives you little time to think what makes sense, and what does not.

Betty Blue - 37.2 C Le Matin

The poster of Betty Blue is my all-time favorite. I was 24, down to Taichung to visit a friend of mine. We went to a department store to look around, saw a poster store and went it. Then I saw that huge poster of Betty Blue, landscape, with Betty on the left just like the cover of this DVD and blue background extended to the left. The width of the background was probably twice or three times as wide as the width of Betty. Betty looks like staring into the blue background, instead of staring out of DVD, at you and me. I remember the store asked for two or three thousand TWD for that poster, and it was way beyond my ability to get it. If I had know I would still miss that poster up until today, I would have tried all my best to own it.

But that was the love for the poster. I never watched this movie until when I lived in the States, and happened to see that video at a local Blockbuster. Believe it or not, I was not crazy for it. I classified it as another crazy bizarre French movie where the actress poked her eye out at the end of the movie. Then I had not thought of this movie for all those years.

Few days ago, before the Olympic started, I was really bored, the weather being miserable, indoor heat dry and aggravating, and so had to really go out to get some cold air. I spent some time at Rogers, really browsed through every isle, every shelf, trying to come up with something to look for an deciding to find the French movie that MM recommended few months earlier, but was unable to locate it, as this is a impromptu stop, so I don't even have the title of the movie with me, then I saw Betty Blue again, the cover standing out of the whole rack.

The movie is director's cut and runs 3 hours, longer than I expected. This time I totally enjoyed the story. Several scenes are so unforgettable.


After she tossed the owner of the bungalow out, she spill paint on his car, tossed everything out of the bungalow, and she had this beautiful mysterious smile before she set the bungalow on fire.

She found Zorg's writing and spent the whole night reading, would not even put it down the next morning, and then decided to type every single word, was obsessed to get it published.

She is young, passionate, and unstable. I'm not sure if the pregnancy was just a false alarm, or if she had it and lost it, but 37.2 degree in the morning if pregnant woman's temperature in the morning, and so is significant. Loss of the baby drove her insane. She was depressed, hearing voices, kidnapping kids from playground, and then finally went mad, poked her eyes out and was sedated in the hospital.

Great movie.

Abraham Lincoln Goes to Theater

Very interesting show. There are about 3 actors but around 10 characters on the stage. It was kind of a shock at the first 30 minutes when I saw the actor switch from one character to another with just a change of light or a change of pose, then I had to really focus on the which character they play at every change. That was a challenge, and very enjoyable experience.

We were told that the show ran for 100 minutes without any intermission. Since I have TB (tiny bladder) issue, so I tactically went to the washroom 30 minutes before the show, and then 1o minutes before, and then I fully enjoy the show without any issue.

So what happened when Abraham Lincoln goes to the theater? He was shot by a 26 year-old actor, and Mark Killman, one of the character on stage, a director, researched and studied and decided the actor killed the president because he was an actor, and he wanted to have a show of his own, one that people of generations to come will forever remember. Mark Kill man made a good point. Who can still remember the writer of the play Abraham Lincoln watched that night if the president had not been assassinated?

Mark Killman was ambitious to find out what happened that night, and what stories hid behind the assassination. He hired 2 actors to play president vs gunman, actress on the stage of the show that night vs her boyfriend to explore what could have happened that night, but in the end he wants to be the waxed president at the final stage. But while Mark Killman directed his show, he became ill. No one found anything abnormal about him since abnormality was the norm for him, like staring without movement for 20 minutes, clenching his fist in the air for minutes. He just died! But the odd thing was that he performed a weird dance before he dropped to his death.

The 2 actors hired another director to continue with the show. The new director was obsessed with Mark Killman, and tried to find out Mark's full intention for the show. At the same time, one actor was in love with another and killed him when the other dropped him for better acting opportunities.

Then another 2 actors were hired to play.... and of course Mark Killman's intention for the show was uncovered.

So who was on the stage?
Actor A and B, Mark Killman
A and B playing gunman, president, actor, actress
Second set of A, B, director

Hm. Now it does not sound complicated. The actors were pretty good though. That was a totally good show.

Crazy Heart

I really wanted to go watch a movie. It was Chinese New Year, so I was supposed to do something, at least something, to celebrate a bit, or make this day unusual and stand out from the rest of the days

Picking a movie is never difficult for me. I can always read the descriptions, look at the cast, and come up with a few possibilities for you to choose from, or I can easily shrug and say I'm not interested in any of them on the market right now, without any shame or guilt. Well, I spent some time on yahoo movies, that site did not give much. I turned to rotten tomatoes, and 'Crazy Heart' got my full curiosity. The Tomatometer is at 93%. OMG. Although sometimes I do not fully agree with their index, but I hardly see movies rated that high.

Of course, it is not wise to present just one option. We should always be considerate to the customers, and present all kinds of possibilities and choices, but at the same time, maneuver them to go the direction we'd like them to head for. So I picked another one, "Lovely Bones". So there is an easy winner.

Pretty good movie. It's pretty much a one-man show. Jeff Bridges certainly did a great job portraying this old broke drunken country singer. Every piece of his performance is convincing. Indiana Jones is a hero. He is cool, quick, and sexy. But you know Harrison Ford is really not a hero. Even the theme of Dr. Jones, after 3 episodes and 20 years, sounds stupid and old. But when I watch 'Crazy Heart', Jeff Bridges is so good that I feel that he is telling his own stories, Bad Blake playing Bad Blake. Beautiful music flows throughout the movie. The attached is my favorite song. I think those are written for the movie, and am so so persuaded that they were once hit songs of someone, so many many years ago.



Many movie critics said that they are not convinced that there can be any romances between Jane and Bad Black. I'm not sure what they'd expect. Do they need the movie to explain things she had gone through in her childhood that lead to her liking for older men, or her miseralbe relationships with her ex-boyfriend or husband, but she could not help but repeat the same mistake over and over again in spite of her clear conscience telling her not to do it? Come on, they were lonely, they had sex, and the sex was good, so they wanted to be together. That's what we all do, eh? Having said that, I don't recall if there is any grin of satisfaction on their face....

I really enjoyed this movie, came back and checked online, and realized it has been nominated 3 Oscar awards. I am really ok with the best actor and music, but the supporting actress? Hm, I really don't think Jane's character gives much room for the actress. She is sweet and? sweet, just sweet. Sweet characters really do not have dramatic effect in a movie, unless the script is meticulously written and the character artistically performed. In this movie? I don't see it.

I feel lucky to have watched 2 movies lately with actors nominated for Oscar. After I watched "A Single Man", I hope Colin Firth would win, but now I have second thought, and am more inclined to Jeff Bridges.


Lyrics:

I was goin’ where I shouldn’t go
seein’ who I shouldn’t see
doin’ what I shouldn’t do
and bein’ who I shouldn’t be

a little voice told me it’s all wrong
another voice told me it’s alright
I used to think I was strong
but lately I just lost the fight

funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while
funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while

I got tired of bein’ good
started missing that old feeling free
stop actin’ like I thought I should
and went on back to bein’ me

I never meant to hurt no one
I just had to have my way
if there is such a thing as too much fun
this must be the price you pay

funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while
funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while

you never see it comin’ till it’s gone
it all happens for a reason
even when it’s wrong
especially when it’s wrong

funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while
funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’
for a little while

I was goin’ where I shouldn’t go
seein’ who I shouldn’t see
doin’ what I shouldn’t do
and bein’ who I shouldn’t be

Coconut Cream Pie

It is easy to make a pie here. All I have to do is to buy some pre-made pie crust, a package of filling mix, come back and make it, as per instruction on the box. That's exactly how I made my first lemon pie. However, I did not learn anything from doing it, especially when I live in Taiwan, and neither pre-made pie crust nor filling mix is available on the market there.

I decided to take a step further, and try to make my own pie crust and pie, from scratch! This time, I'm going to make coconut cream pie.

Found a recipe from foodnetwork. Recipe from a famous cook, very good review, but I had some doubt on the ingredients. It is called a cream pie, but the ingredients do not require cream, but use cornstarch instead? I thought I would have to buy lots and lots of cream cheese...

Anyway, I followed the recipe very well. Because of the doubt for using cornstarch, I even ran to grocery store to get whole milk, just to ensure that I have as little variation from the recipe as possible, though I strongly believed the 2% milk I had in the fridge should work just as well.

I measured everything, followed the directions, and when I heated the final mixture in the saucepan, and the whole thing started to thicken, I knew I made it. It felt just the same as when I was making the lemon pie with filling mix.

We saved it for dessert. After supper, I was ready to do the dishes and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. Fred turned my body to face the pie. I did not get the hint, and tried to move away, but was then forced to see the pie right away. That was a good laugh. He was so ready to have a piece of pie. In fact, he had 2.

Some thoughts:
* The recipe calls for toasted coconut. I did toast the coconut at 350F for 15 minutes until some coconuts are golden brown. I tried both toasted coconut and un-toasted one, and thought I'd prefer un-toasted. Toasted coconuts tasted too dry.
* On the way back from grocery store, Fred asked me what topping I'd put on the pie. I answered without even thinking about it, meringue, as shown in the recipe. He then asked if it would be alright to use whipping cream. Sure, no problem with that, so we stopped to get a very small box of whipping cream (yeah, I even whipped it myself). It tastes so good with the whipping cream. I don't think the pie would taste as fine with meringue.
* I remember when I made the lemon pie with filling mix, I still had to use milk, sugar and eggs. Because the procedure and results of making the filling of this coconut cream pie is so similar to that of lemon pie, I would assume the ingredients for both pies should be pretty much similar as well. I then tried to remove milk, eggs and sugar from the ingredients, oops, does that mean I pay to buy the filling mix, and the mix actually contains only cornstarch and vanilla extract? I can certainly save that money!

Ingredients:
pie crust, 2 1/4 cups whole milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs separated, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1 3/4 cups toasted coconut, 1 tsp butter.

Directions:
* In a saucepan, whisk 2 cups of milk and 3/4 cup of sugar, and heat with medium heat and bring the liquid to simmer.
* Put the egg yolks in a large bowl. Add the milk mixture slowly to the bowl, and whisk at the same time.
* Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk. Then whisk the slurry into the milk mixture.
* Bring the mixture to boil, and then reduce the simmer. Stir constantly, until the mixture thickens. Add vanilla, coconut and butter, and mix well.
* Pour the filling into the pie crust and let the pie cool down completely.

The Enemy

It is boring to sit and wait for the hospital to call and inform the surgery day, especially when we have no idea when they are going to call. As I really do not like to watch TV, reading seems to be the only alternative to kill some time.

I picked up a few free books from the bookshelf in the lobby of the first floor. Most of the books there are romantic books. I read two. Interesting at first, especially the second book had a strong beginning, but ended up with the same formula.

J recommended Lee Child.

I was glad he came online that evening to say hi, before he set out for Japan. We talked about books, and he said he had been enjoying Lee Child's book a lot, and plan to read one more of his. He was very generous to offer to send one to Calgary. I politely declined, because there is one used-book store right on 14th at 17th Ave SW.

And I found the Enemy there, for only 6 CND.

Very interesting story. There is some background of the military police, but I'm glad the author did not go in details about what happened to him before the beginning of the story, instead, the author focused on solving the murders. There are few side stories regarding the death of the MP, and his romantic affairs with the sergeant, but they are there to give the reader some relief and some of the side stories help solve the homicides.

The author also meticulously set the story at the post Berlin Wall era, detailing what was the impact to the American army when the major adversary was no longer there, how each branch of the army foresees and reacts to the imminent reduction of force, how the commander expects and looks at those reactions from the apex. It is very entertaining to see how the sudden death of a two-star general can lead to such profound story.

I'd like to pick up a few more of Lee Child's books. J had already sent me an email of the books he enjoyed!

Banana Muffins

Tim Horton's is a jewel of Canada. They have the wonderful iced cap, that I'd love to have every day, and they also have great banana nut muffins. I decided to make some muffins, and found a recipe online. After I reviewed the ingredients, the only thing I don't have here is the butter.

Butter is really no big deal. It was a nice sunny afternoon, so I went up to Safeway to pick up a few things, and then came back to do this experiment.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 pound of melted unsalted butter, 1 egg, 3/8 cup milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 banana.

* Put flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and saut in a bowl and mix well.
* Add melted butter into the bowl and blend. I used hands to mix the dough. With the melted butter, it was warm to the tough, and smells so good. Very nice.
* Mash bananas, and add egg, milk, vanilla and then mix well.
* add the banana mix to the dough and mix until consistent.
* fill the dough to the paper liner. Bake in 350F for 25 minutes.

Some thoughts:
* The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar. I reduced to 3/4 cup, but still think it's a bit too sweet.
* I put crushed walnut on top the first batch of muffins, and mix crushed walnut in the dough of the second batch. I like the second batch better.
* To get the mushroom head, the paper liners have to be pretty full.
* The ingredients are not expensive at all, and I'm surprised at the quantity I got. It was so nice to have those muffins and hot hot milk tea as dessert after supper. I ate to my heart's content, and still have a lot left for the next day.
* One banana is not enough. I could taste the banana, but did not feel banana's aroma in the nose. Maybe I'll try 3 bananas for the same recipe and keep the bananas a bit longer before I try it again.

Apple Pie

Fred made an apple pie few days ago. The dough he used was kind of old, too cold to spread on the counter, so it tasted fine, but did not look that great. I learned that it is not that hard to make an apple pie.

We decided to make another one some day. We got apples and pie crusts, and have the other ingredients already. Last night I was playing with my iPod touch, and decided to check if there is any recipe on the apps store.

There is! I downloaded the free version (of course), and found few recipes in no time.

So I made a little bit of experiment this afternoon. It turned out great! We put the pie in the oven and went out for a walk. The whole kitchen smells wonderful when we came back. We did not have a quick bite though, but started to make supper and save the pie for dessert. It is yummy!

Recipe:
8 apples, 2 pie crusts, 3/4 cups of sugar, 3 tsp of cinnamon, a shot of lime juice, some ground nutmeg, dash of salt

* peel the apples, remove the cores, and dice them.
* place one pie crust on the pan, put 1/3 of apples on the pie crust, spray 1/4 cup of sugar on top, followed by 1 tsp of cinnamon
* place another 1/3 of apples on, another 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon and the ground nutmeg.
* place the rest of apple on, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon and dash of salt.
* Put the second pie crust, crimp the edge, cut some slits for ventilation. Bake in 400F for 50 minutes.

Some thoughts:
* The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar. I reduce to 3/4 cup and still think it's too sweet after the pie cools down. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup of sugar.
* I'm not sure why the original puts the apples into 3 layers. I don't taste the difference.
* Fred grimaced when I dash the salt. I guess he never had to use it.

iPad

Apple just released their iPad today. It looks just like a giant version of iPod Touch. As of now, Apple has not released Steve's keynote, so I can only judge it based on the video available on their website. I wonder how I'd like to use it.

The swipe to change page on the screen, gesture on the screen, all look so similar. Does that mean there is no really important breakthrough in their software? When Apple released Snow Leopard, one of the main features is that when users drag the application window to the dock, they can use the reflection of the window in the dock. I was wondering why that could be an important feature to brag about, and as it turned out, it is NOT for me. So now, it is fun to see that I can use zoom-out gesture to 'sort of' open the photo album and see what photos are in there, and if I can't find what I want, then I don't have to open it. So for me, I'd rather double click, or whatever, to open the photo album. Why should I keep 2 of my fingers on the screen and manipulate that way? Would that not be too much of an effort to search?

I'm sure Apple's GUI would be very easy to use, but they still don't have found a even better way to use gestures. It's nice to have soft keyboard, however, I can only tap on the hard surface of my iPod Touch for a short period of time. If I need to type a long message or write some documents, I'd much prefer using a real keyboard. It's more ergonomic to use for me, and easier to position my fingers.

With the lightweight feature, iPad certainly is easy to carry around. I know I can hook it up with my iMac to sync up songs, movies, books, but if I make a quick note of the meeting I go to with one of the applications, or if I work on a document in the coffee shop using Apple's iWork for iPad, will that be easy for me to sync up to the computer, so I can use my iMac to continue with my work at home? I don't have an answer to that.

Electronic books are certainly an important feature with its release. The 499 price for the entry level 16G model is certainly enough to kill Amazon's DX Kindle. I guess I have not read enough to actually understand my need for it, but it is definitely the major factor to distinguish an iPod Touch and an iPad. iPod Touch is really too small for reading.

I'm sure with the SDK release, software developer will come up with all kinds of fun things to increase their revenue and boost the sales of iPad. However, so far, I think my iPod Touch is still doing a good job.