Blog Action Day 2010 - WATER

Third time is the charm!

It's my third time participating in Blog Action Day,
Three years have passed, time truly flies,
And yes, we all realized time does passes by in a blink of an eye,
So instead of sitting there doing nothing, we all can start a small habit change in order to make our world a better place to live,
Come on my beloved readers, let's get movin! (shuffle shuffle)

The theme of the year is water.

Let me present you the data distracted from Blog Action Day 2010 to showcase the importance of water, and the seriousness of this issue:

"The problem of scarce clean water:


Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water, which causes a litany of struggles, diseases and even death.


40 Billion Hours: African women walk over 40 billion hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is usually still not safe to drink.

38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.

Wars Over Water: Many scholars attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. A report commissioned by the UN found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa.

A Human Right: In July, to address the water crisis, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right over. But we are far from implementing solutions to secure basic access to safe drinking water. Water over-consumption in industrialized countries:


While the developing world faces a water crisis, those in industrialized countries consume far more than their fair share.


Food Footprint: It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.

Technology Footprint: The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that's 40 million liters to charge those alone.

Fashion Footprint: That cotton t-shirt you're wearing right now took 1,514 liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813 liters.
 
Bottled Water Footprint: The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled."

As a food blogger,
All I'm asking is please stop or at least reduce the amount of bottled water consumption.

Try to order regular water (or so tap water) instead of bottled water,
Especially in a fancy restaurant, they always further ask if you would like imported bottled water,
No need ok? Really, no need.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against bottled water,
I think every household should stock some only in the case of preparing for emergencies,
However, for regular consumption, just drink tap water,
Go get a filter or something if needed.

That's all I'm asking now. Something small.

*And recycle please.

Irvine, Where I Called It My....Second Home?

As an international student here in the United States,
Certainly, I've been away from home for so long, maybe too long,
7 years, I can't even belive myself,
Don't get me wrong, I ain't a slacker in college ( > _.< )"
4 years undergrad, 1.5 year job training,
And now my MBA program, which will end this December.

Irvine, this charming city in Orance County, California,
The place where I spent years - learning, growing, and maturing (hopefully) - has gradually becoming my second home,
There is a relunctancy in me to say good-bye after graduation,
Well, life is full of choices,
At least I can try my best making decisions that will leave no regrets in the future yep?

One of the minor things that I can do now, is making/recording memories of Irvine with pictures,
And here are some photos around the lake area druing early night hours.

Canadian goose -

Canadian geese, with one "visitor" in their group -

The person on my right was tossing bread crumbs, so there he went.... -

Sunset (Orange) -

Sunset (Blue) -

What a peaceful place -

I'll try to take more pictures of my "second home" when I get a chance,
Making memories bit by bit.

MOCA Taipei: Summer Holiday - A Solo Exhibition by Tim Yip

We're not gonna talk about food today,
Instead, I'll show you an awesome exhibition by Tim Yip,
(Currently showing in Taipei till August 8th)

Tim Yip? Unfamiliar with the name?
Let me just present you this artist's brief introduction from MOCA Taipei's website:

"Tim Yip’s rise to worldwide fame began after obtaining the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001.


His multidisciplinary works maintain consistent aesthetics while exploring fields such as film, theater, television, costume design, space design, photography, painting, and literature.


Hsin-chiang Kao, former editor-in-chief of the China Times literary supplement section, once referred Tim Yip as “a name difficult to be labeled.” The artist’s cross-media, cross-domain, and cross-cultural experiences have made him one of the most prominent Chinese art designers."

Getting interested?
Since most of you won't be able to present at the exhibition,
I'll show you some of the pictures during my visit.

Exhibition ticket -

There's a "trick" with the ticket, I'll tell you about it in a little bit.

"Space Lili"-

Once again, I'll use the description from MOCA Taipei regarding this special exhibition,
It's definitely better and more understandable than my poor English expression:

"In this exhibition, Tim Yip integrates local elements and images within his works. He captures Taipei at different hours of the day, serving as the background of Lili’s photographs and videos.

It is the artist’s intention that through his design of Summer Holiday, the audience can participate in Lili’s story and at the same time draft their very own stories in the city."Hall way -

"Existence" and not-so-welcomed Cindy -

"Desire" -

More Lilies -

Close up I -

Close up II - 

"Sleeping Lili" -

Remember the ticket I was telling you about? Voila! -

It's actually a detachable magnet,
The kind you can stick on the fridge, pretty creative huh?
MOCA Taipei always has creative tickets,
Once I got a ticket shaped like sun glasses!

There're more and more places like MOCA Taipei in Taiwan,
Hopefully this trend will go on, making Taiwan a place with creative energies!

For more details regarding MOCA Taipei and "Summer Holiday,"
Please visit: http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/_english/index.asp

Failed Tarts Plus...See You Guys in Taiwan!

Quick post here before I need to leave in a hurry to catch my flight back to Taiwan,
Here it is, my failed blueberry tart -

One important lesson learned from this trial and error result,
Never ever get lazy while baking stuff!

Point 1:
I was too lazy to let the frozen pastry thawed completely before use.
As a result, I got a chuck of baked flour instead of separate crunchy layers.

Point 2:
I didn't use pie weights, ended up with big round bad tasting dough.

Point 3:
I premade the sauce and waited for too long,
Ended up the sauce was too runny.

Point 4:
Too lazy to make the syrup to brush on top of the berries...so it's not shiny and pretty..

Either way,
Please look forward for some good eats and restaurant reviews from Taiwan!

Bye Bye My Love...My Canon G9..

My beloved Canon G9 died on me on March 24th, 2010.

I was using it for some outdoor pictures at Getty Center,
At one point I put it in my shoulder bag cz I didn't want the guard to get all nervous seeing me holding my camera the whole time inside the art exhibition...
(Like I was gonna take some sneaky pictures)

So as I walked out the place trying to get some fresh air,
I slammed my bag on the rock,
Well, more like I "put" it up there so my shoulder can take a break from all the heavy little things in my bag....
That's the moment, when my G9 said goodbye to me....

Here're some pictures during my last two Getty trips with Canon G9-

This is the last picture I took with G9-

Maybe it's me, my camera couldn't stand any more of my weird pictures...

Or it's a sign...it's time for an upgrade..
Also the time for my wallet's slim down exercise...
Sigh...

Anyways, from now on, I'll try to master my skills with Canon T1i,
Thank god my friend sponsors me with 2 lenses, otherwise I'll be super broke...
Hopefully we'll see some nice food pics here!
(a pat on my shoulder....bye bye G9.....)

Blog Action Day - Climate Change - What Can We Do?

This is the time of the year again,
The day when bloggers are united in order to raise the awareness of a particular issue around the world,
Each year carries a different theme,
It can be wildlife preservation, water conservation, fighting against hunger,
And this time, we gonna talk about climate change.

No matter where you are, you can definitely feel that there's something unusual happening to the weather,
Sudden snow storms, record breaking rain, heat waves, etc.

Back to where I came from, Taiwan, a tiny little island between the Taiwan Strait and the Pacific Ocean,
This small country is experiencing typhoons with unanticipated amount of rain and stronger wind power that cause numerous damages to people's homes, small businesses, and agricultural crops.

Anything we can do to help with the situation?

Let's pause here for a second,
Don't think that your own individual effort will be significant enough to make any changes to such a big mass of problems,
Remember, we, as the resident of mother Earth, we need all of your efforts to make this place a better place to live,
So please throw away thoughts like "It doesn't really matter," "it won't make any differences anyways."
It's time to be more considerate and responsible to yourself. Yes, yourself!

Am I getting too serious here?

Hmm....well...since it's a food blog after all, let's talk about what can we do to help with the situation by becoming a more environmentally friendly grocery shopper and mater chef at home!
(Don't know why being a responsible shopper and chef can help with the climate change issue?
Here's the link from Wikipedia, look under human influences and you'll have a better idea!)

Some suggestions on grocery shopping:

1. Use reusable shopping bags
2. Try to buy local grown, organic produce
3. Select farmed fish with less impact on the environment, here's a good link for detailed info regarding fish selection
4. Don't buy over-packaged products

Some suggestions on cooking at home:

1. Close the lid while making stewed or braised dishes
2. Unplug unused cooking appliances such as ice cream machine or food processor
3. Grow your own herbs or veggies, it saves a lot of money too!
4. Make extra food, for instance, make more chicken stock at once and freeze the unused broth with ice cube trays.
This also applies to pasta sauce, curry, etc.

All the things I mentioned here are extremely easy to accomplish,
Only requires a simple change of habits,
I remember reading a research paper a while ago,
It states that after doing the same thing for 30 something times, it'll become a habit,
So please, just make yourself doing these stuff for more than 30 times,
For the sake of our mother Earth!

Do it!

My Monday Breakfast

Cough* Cough*

Man....I think I do get sick easily,

I was so excited few days ago thinking about a new recipe that I can write about,

But all the sudden my world started spinning...

So pardon me this week,

I'll definitely write up something soon when my body allows me to work in the kitchen again.

Here's a picture of my desk this morning-

Meds meds meds....

With a tissue in the back for the sake of my running nose...

And...yes...a calculator and a textbook...

Sadly I have one midterm tonight from 7 till 10....

Damn you flu.

First Day After LASIK

For all my fellow bloggers and secret readers,

I know I'm been slacking off updating my blog,

Life's been hectic here (well, I guess that's probably the same case for people over age 18),

Let's see, relationships, families, friends, food,

Yes food, I'm been trying to figure out what to cook so I can write about it here,

But due to the lack of use of my brain, it's not working properly these days,

Besides that,

My laziness was creeping on me,

For example,

I got a watermelon, some grapes and coconut milk the other day,

Thought that I can at least make some jellies and put it on the blog,

Many days after....I saw fuzzy things on my grapes....

Ahhhh wasting food is a sin!

So what's another excuse for my absent for so many days?

Well, someone slashed my cornea wide open last night and attacked me with laser beams!!!

Seriously, I'm not joking here,

I just had my LASIK done yesterday!

And what am I doing now?

Updating my blog the day right after LASIK,

Why?

Cz I miss you guys!!!!

I have to take good care of my eyes for at least couple weeks,

That means avoiding smoke and other dangers around the kitchen,

So before I can really write about more recipes,

Let me show you that status of my eyes then.

This is that I had to put on the day of my LASIK operation,

The nurse kept correcting me earlier cz I was saying "surgery" instead of "operation."

According to her,

She said there's no blood, no wound, so you can only call it an "operation."

Me: okok just chill.....she was making such a big deal out of it....

Kinda fun,

Felt like I was wearing goggles for snowboard,

Except that it's sizzling hot summer time now,

With eyes that are super teary and extremely sensitive to sunlight,

I was more like a vampire.

So I had to test my LASIK result this morning,

See if my eyes really improve after all that slashing and laser beams,

As I went outside to the balcony,

Then I saw Mr. Spiderman hanging between the trees,

Without glasses, contact lenses, or telescope-

And Mrs. Crow strolling next to the sidewalk on the other side of the street-

Here's the full picture to show you the full view from the balcony,

Can you point out where were Mr. Spiderman and the Mrs. Crow?-

Give me a few more days,

I'll bring out more delicious updates that you can munch on!

Thank You My Mom & Dad, and My Lovely Friends

Happy birthday to myself!!!
Well, happy belated birthday to myself!!!

I just wanna say thank you here to my parents, and all my lovely friends,
All of you are the reason for my happiness and joy,
Seriously,
I can't imagine any single day without you!

To some of you, even though I don't get to see you guys often,
Maybe even less than couple times a year,
But you still remember my birthday,
I'm deeply touched,
I'm so glad that I met you guys at some points in my life.

Let me share some pictures on the date of my birthday,
I went to a Taiwanese style shabu shabu place with my parents,
This is the picture for the interior of the restaurant-


My parents were somewhere behind the camera,
I think they're too shy to be on my blog,
If my mom found out that I posted her picture here....
Mmm.....I don't even wanna think about it.

Went to Barcode with some of my friends (Barcode = one of the lounge bars in Taipei),
Two of them were playing with the giant horse butts painting in the back-


My tricky birthday cake-


Took me a while to blow the candles out,
The fire kept coming back!

Making a wish, actually, 3 wishes-


And time to finish up the cake-


I don't know what to say,
Thank you my mom and my dad,
And thank you my forever friends,
I wish you all the best!

CJ7 - 長江七號

Sorry to disappoint you if you think CJ7 is some kind of cocktail,
There's no recipe today for my blog entry,
Only my own babbling,
Babbling about this Hong Kong movie that I've been waiting for ages.

CJ7-


Directed by Steven Chow,
You should know who he is right?
The guy that raided the box office across the continents by God of Cookery, Shaolin Soccer, and Kung Fu Hustle.
He is also the guy that brought tears (because it's too FUNNY) and laughter into each and every Asian families.

CJ7 combines sci-fi with comedy,
The basic storyline evolves around Steven Chow (father) and his son,
And their encounter with a mysterious creature from outer space.
*I don't wanna talk too much about the story yet, go see it yourself!

One thing about Hong Kong movie is that sometimes besides using Cantonese language,
They also edit a Chinese version for other Asia markets.
I do highly recommend watching this movie in Cantonese,
It's way funnier,
Even if you don't understand it,
At least watch it with Chinese subtitles or English subtitles.
It's awesome!

Here's a trailer I got from YouTube, please enjoy-
(For trailer with English subtitles, please click on the international website link below)



CJ7 is currently scheduled to release on January 31st in USA (limited),I'll see you there in the movie theater!

International Official Website (Chinese pronunciation with English subtitles)
http://www.sonypictures.net/movies/cj7/

IMDB Website
http://imdb.com/title/tt0940709/

Pretty Sky to Smooth Out My Rough Day at Work

After a stressful 8 hours working day,

I decided to move my head away from the laptop for a little bit,

Then I saw this beautiful cloud with the reflection from the sunset-

Smile on my face.

Foggy Days...No Rain

It's been really foggy these days,

And I see no sign of a drop of water-

Which means no more snowboard for my Thanksgiving break...

Words can't even express my sorrow now....

So what's the backup plan?

Maybe Vegas?

Maybe San Francisco?

For sure I'll show you guys some good food from my snowless trip in the near future.

Curly is Thy Way

A quick post on Monday morning.

I'm currently suffering from Blue Monday syndrome,

Tired, annoyed, and uneasy,

Especially the uneasy part,

I need to search for a resolution soon,

Otherwise I gonna drain myself out in no time..

But anyways...here's what I looked like in one day last Saturday.

Curly me-

Then I got a hair treatment later in the afternoon,

As usual,

I asked the saloon to blow dry my hair straight,

Just for fun.

Straight hair me-

I'm back to curly hair now,

Mentally stressed out is bad enough,

I can't handle straight hair on my head for more than one day,

It'll drive me crazy.

Smokin' Hot!

BBQ?

Noooooooo.

Irvine's on FIRE!

That's the picture I took last night from my balcony,

See that fire? See that smoke?

It was so close to me but yes, I still fell asleep soundly.

Thanks to my poor friends,

I told them just give me a call if the fire's spreading out towards my direction.

I need rest.

After 7 hours....

I looked through the window,

The fire's still there.

And it smells like....the incense from the temple,

Plus brownish sky.

I need fresh air...

It's 8:10 p.m. now.

Where's the fire?

Oh yes it's not going away.

Cough* Cough*

Blog Action Day - Let's Make Our Earth Happily Ever After

I was surfing online the other day then I came across a Chinese blog.
One of its articles was talking about the consumption of bottled water,
Which completely changed my drinking habit.

Let me use bullet points to send out the messages from the article:

1. 167 is the average number of bottled drinks that each person in America consumed last year.

2. The need for bottled water has been increased 20 times from the past 30 years.

3. 84 kg of CO2 is the result of transferring 1 ton of Evian water from Europe to Sydney.

4. In America, only 20% of the total plastic bottles are recycled.

I used to buy bottled water from the grocery store,
Not anymore.
I've decided to use the filter system and just drink the water from there,
If I'm still concern about the quality,
Just boil the filtered water again and store it in a container that I'll use over and over again.

Just a little more effort,
We make our Earth a better place to live.

Message from The Other Side of The Globe

Suddenly saw this thing in my mailbox,

Can't describe how happy I was at the moment.

It's from my best friend in Taiwan,

She saw this randomly on a small street stand in Tam Shui.

This reminds her of the time where we used to hang out together.

I miss her a lot too..

Reunion with My Lovely Friend "Long Long"

"Long Long" (蓉蓉) is finally in LA!

Flew all the way from Taiwan to NY, and from NY to LA,

She's now on the soil of this sunshine state!

I haven't seen her for ages, ok, actually only a few months,

But it feels like forever since we haven't really talk to each other during this period,

No phone calls and no msn (which is one of my essential tool to communicate with the outside world).

That doesn't mean we're not close at all,

Good friends don't need to stick together 24/7 in order to be "connected!"

So as a food lover like me, what did I do when I first met her in LA?

Showed her some good food from Park's Bar B Que, (http://foodmakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2007/06/parks-barbeque.html)

Caught up with each other about what's going on these days,

And enjoyed every moment we had together.

Who knows when will be the next time I get see my big sister.

For sure I'll try to meet up with Long Long as often as I can during her stay in LA,

Maybe have her over at my place for a nice and warm homemade dinner,

Let's just cross fingers that she won't get scared after eating my food!

Or foodsick cz I just can't stop pushing food into her mouth.

I love sharing!

Star Wars VS. Disney

Few weeks ago I got a return mail from the post office saying that my stamp was 2 cents short from the price I supposed to pay,
My stamp was 39 cents, since when the postage went up to 2 cents more?
Oh well,
So I made my trip to the post office and found out that how creative our stamps can get these days.

Here's What I Used for One of My Letter-


Look at how big that stamp is, wish whoever's gonna pick up the letter won't confuse this as a toy sticker.

And Here Are the New Sets of 41 Cents Stamps-


How am I going to tear off that Micky stamp and send it somewhere else?
They are too cute to be used.

Gifts from Malaysia

Here's my new life after I started my first full-time job on Monday:

6:30 a.m. Struggle to open my eyes when the alarm rings. Next I start to roll around the bed for at least 10 more minutes.

8:00 a.m. Time to stare at the computer for the next six or so hours.

12:00 p.m. Thinking about lunch but uh uh, it's not time yet.

1:00 p.m. Food at last *if I'm not stuck with the project.

4:00 p.m. One more hour, only one more hour!

5:00 p.m. Sadly I have to stay longer in order to learn new project with my boss. *No overtime pay.

6:00 p.m. Dragging my legs home. My eyes are tired due to 6 plus hours of direct radiation.

6:30 p.m. Small snacks.

And here's what I got from my friend, who just came back from Malaysia a few days ago-

Moon cakes, flower clips, and a cute little bag.

There are four giant moon cakes inside the box, one of them is lotus paste flavor-

7:00 p.m. After finishing the snack, time to relax myself by working out, swimming, updating my blog, or just simply being a couch potato.

11:00 p.m. Head to my sac again.

Now I can finally understand why most of my full-time working friends chose to stay home after work everyday.

IT IS REALLY TIRING.

上班族好辛苦哦...