Lemon Merinque Pie

I wanted to do something, so decided to make a pie. We had picked up packages for filling earlier, so I just followed the recipe, baking pie crust at specified temperature for specified time, made the filling as per instructions from the package, and whip the egg white, with 2 spoons! Whipping the egg white was a slow and painful process, and as the meringue started for form, it was harder and harder to beat, as the resistance grew.

But anyway, pie crust was baked, then I poured the filling in, and then the meringue. After that, I put the whole pie in the oven to brown the meringue. The pie looks good from the photos, but in reality, the surface of the meringue was not really even. Some of the filling was not properly covered with meringue. So something to improve the next time. It tasted good though. The meringue does not sit on the filling well, so when I cut it, it separates, but Fred said that's the way it's supposed to be, so be it.

Avatar

2012 and Avatar both focus on computer animation, but there is one major difference for me. In 2012, I knew from the beginning that the world will collapse, that the story does not have to make sense, and that all the main characters will be safe. But for Avatar, it is not so clear how the story would end, until I saw the ceremony to rescue the scientist. Another unexpected part is that cool female pilot was gunned down. She is so butch and cool. I really want her to survive.

Other notes:

Maybe flying is a big thing, but that's all I do in World of Warcraft, flying dragon! So tho the whole computer animation makes the whole world so real, it is just a better version of WoW for me. Even the floating islands and waterfalls already exists in WoW.

When the army attacks the planet, the general was drinking coffee while sending out orders. I do not like coffee to be stained in blood this way. The contrast between the leisure of having coffee and the death later in the movie is strong, but cheap.

The first night when Neytiri rescued Jake from animal attack, she said those animals should not have died. I don't think the reason was explained in the movie.

Why does Neytiri have to be a princess? The story is strong enough. She does not have to be a princess. It's so cool to have a female scientist to lead the research. It's so cool to have a female character to rescue a guy and guide him. It's so cool to have a butch female pilot defect the army. So why do we need a princess here?

3D is cool. Since 3D seems to be becoming the in thing, I guess it's time to get a pair of contact lenses for those 3D movies. Having the 3D goggles on top on my glasses is not so comfortable.

Having said all those, I wonder if this post fits better in the complaint label than movies label.

Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

I normally do not like pickled food, and the good exception is Fred's sweet and tangy coleslaw. We made it today.

Ingredients:

1 cabbagte, finely shredded
2 onions, finely sliced
6 carrots, finely grated

sauce:
2 cups of sugar
3 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoon of dry mustard
2 teaspoon of celery seed
2 cups of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Shred the cabbage, slice the onion and grate the carrots. Put all in a container. Put all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, and use low heat until all the sugar is dissolved in the vinegar. Pour the sauce into the container and mix well. Let it sit for a day or 2 before serving.

Care or Selfishness?

In the movie Red, Valentine hit a dog accidentally. She picked her up, sent her to the hospital, and took her back to the owner. The owner asked Valentine if she did all that because she really cared about the dog, or simply because if she did not do anything, she would feel bad about herself, so whatever she had done was simply for her own good.

I'm sitting in the kitchen. Turning my head and looking out, I can see Calgary tower in the distance, gleaming in the darkness at 6am. I know the sun is not coming out until 8, and it's mostly likely to be a snowy day. It is my 8th day in Calgary. Fred was up earlier from stomach pain, but decided to go back and sleep in. I brewed some coffee, had a big breakfast, and browsed the internet.

Fred planned to come to Taiwan for a visit. It took him a while to make sure everything is fine, but then he booked the ticket, paid for it online on a Tuesday morning, then in the very afternoon, he had a heart attack and was sent to the hospital right away.

From my end, I did not anything about it. Friday morning, I was still chatting with M online, complaining about Fred being out of touch for some days, and just half an hour after we finished the chat, my cell phone rang. I picked up the phone, looked at the number. The number started with 02, so was a land line number of Taipei, and thus not from a telemarketer. I answered it. The voice from the other side said 'Sean? This is Chris, Fred's son....' And I thought Fred had died.

In the book, or movie He's just not that into you, there is a clip when the woman said the guy never called, and her girlfriend comforted her by saying 'maybe he is just out of town, or had a car accident, or just lost your number', etc. But the truth is he's just not that into you. I laughed about it and thought it was so cute, and never realized things like that could actually happened, when someone I cared could possibly leave, and I would be left in the dark, without knowing what could possibly have happened, because we do not have mutual friends, or I would not be in the contact list.

One of the arteries was 100% blocked. The doctor put 2 stents in in few hours, so Fred came to that evening, then called Chris. Chris took a bus and had a long bus ride from Vancouver (15 hours plus few hours waiting for traffic to clear up in the Canadian Rockies). He got here close to noon time on Thursday, met with Fred, then came back to the condo to make the calls, me included.

Bypass surgery is necessary. It is mostly likely scheduled in late January, after medication is probably taken care of. Fred will need to stay in the hospital for another 5 days after the surgery. I feel the need to be here, to be well informed, for whatever may come.

The dog, Rita, was found pregnant at the hospital, and later gave birth to several puppies at the end of the movie. It was a very nice warm scene when the owner put collar on each dog, hence a happy ending for her. The actor and actress found each other in 'He's just not that into you'. Every movie is almost guaranteed a happy ending. I expect a good ending as well, for the surgery and the recovery, and hence a good sailing season for him.

But am I doing all this and wishing all this for my own good because I care, or simply because I'm selfish and want to be well informed and feel good?

As for Chris' call, I only want to get such a call once in my life time.

Vitas

Last night before I went to bed, I read a little bit, tried to sleep but couldn't fall asleep, so got up and watched a few videos on youtube. One of the featured video is this Opera 2 of Vitas. I was tired, so did not really think much, so went on with another video and another after another.

Then this afternoon, Kroro, the girl I knew from plurk, sent me the message about the premiere of the upcoming movie Sherlock Holmes. She is going because she has a thing for Jude Law, and bought the whole collection of Sherlock Holmes for 2 free tickets to the premiere. We talked about Jude Law, his moustache as Watson in the movie, googled some of his photos, and while I browse through the photos, I remember I saw his movie, I wiki'ed, and figured that movie I watched is 'the Holiday'. Well, I was not so impressed with him in 'the Holiday', as he appeared to be just a single horny bachelor. That's about it. That's when the video of Vitas' came to my mind.

I did not remember the title, nor the name of the singer, but was able to find out by using a few keywords like 'russian'. So I countered Kroro by suggesting Vitas is actually quite cute and has a great voice. I went on, while still chatting on MSN, with a few other video clips of Vitas, then 'Kiss as long as eternity' blew me away. Nice song, nice lyrics, nice voice, and he is so so handsome. Wow. He is tall, slim, with face features just like scultures, and at the same time, very masculine. I especially love the clip when he put the hourglass upside down, and touch the machine (what is that?) gently. And such a handsome man plays the piano. Wow. That's all I can say.

Christmas Tree

Where is tree? You may ask. It is sitting right on top of the television. The last time I talked about this paper tree my niece and nephew sent me 2 years ago, then I decided to take a photo of it. When I upload the photo from the camera to the computer, I found it funny to see myself in the flection on the screen. This is a lovely gift.

Greetings from Australia

I received this postcard a while ago, but was too busy (yeah, right) to blog it. I started to use Plurk some months ago, and talked to a few people. Pey is one of the few ones I really enjoy chatting with. It's funny that on Q&A of Plurk's website, the intention of the plurk creator is to create a space for close friends and relatives to share information, but it turned out many friends on my plurk are total strangers.

Many people on plurk live in a completely different world from mine. I think they talk in Greek when they mention places they go, and how they have fun. Pey is one of the exceptions. I admire her courage in pursuing her life and passion, her determination to do what is right for her. We talked on plurk and on MSN, and had a really good time. Few weeks ago, she asked me for my address, and promised to send a postcard, and she did. Since internet became popular, I had not received cards for quite a while. The last one is probably from my nephew and niece. They wrote a card and attached a small foldable paper Christmas tree. The tree is so cute and adorable that I put it on top of my TV. Now I need to find a good place for this card, for this unexpected friendship, from Australia.