Unplugging From The Internet

I am currently taking a break from the internet and will continue my Project 340 upon my return from the vacation.

By way of stepping back and reviewing the challenge I enrolled myself to - 65 days ago after watching the movie Julie and Julia, I realised I have been keeping up my appearances, despite skipping 1 or 2 days at most. 

I am giving myself a little pat on the back, as I managed to compose 65 blog posts non-stop since Jan 25, 2010, that's one a day (with a photo attached too) as promised!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog, it's a natural time to break and recharge as I can feel the juices are running low.

If you are reading this on a Easter Holiday, you are probably spending too much time online. 

Go for a hike or eat a drumstick. Enjoy your holiday.

Seniors & Mc D

It must have been years since I last had a McMuffin from Mcdonalds and oddly, I woke up at the crack of dawn just then craving for one. Since it's my day off, I thought, why not have something different for breakfast for a change. 

So like a kid, there I hopped to the nearest Mcdonalds and instead of seeing youngsters, I could only find old folks in the entire restaurant (and I wasn't dreaming).  

I sat there for a while and I observed that these elderly usually do not eat, but would have a hot drink, sit and chat and....not surprising, grab whatever they can. 

McDonald's has spent millions to attract the young in our society that I just assumed that McDonald's is a young people's haven. With the aging population and with what I witnessed just then, there might be a place in the market for the chain that can offer and promote food that is just a bit healthier. 

Actually, McDonald's first opened in Hong Kong some 35 years ago, so naturally, most elderly people would have fond memories of going to McDonald's in a big group when they were young.  

I am sure they just wish their food's healthier so that they would be able to go there for lunch, reminiscing the old days once in a while.   

May Be A Rehab?

There are 10 other things I could be doing on my vacation and yet, I chose to go online! 

I woke up this morning and thought, what have I got to lose if I go cold turkey on my facebook account?

May be a bit too radical a decision to be made the first thing in the morning.

However, I have just decided my laptop is not following me in the next few days.

 

A Toas-Tite Legacy

Everyone has tried toasties in its symbolic shape of a triangle.  Has it ever occurred to you why they are also being called flying saucers, when you knew all so well that flying saucers are, nothing but round?

During a recent spring cleaning of a pile of tupperware, my mom unearthed a sandwich grill of yesteryear and it was that 60-year-old antique which solved my little mystery. 

Researching something vintage made in the 40s has its challenges but with a little digging, it soon becomes pretty clear all at once that this thing named Toas-Tite, is no longer being produced.   

I listened in awe as my mom describes how she, as a little eager kid, had fun giving the adults a hand by holding this Toas-tite on top of a flame on the old gas range.  That has us firing up the stove this morning at breakfast and made sandwiches out of this kitchen collectable.   

We buttered each slice of bread, fitted them into the Toas-Tite, placed thick wedges of cheese inside, along with stir-fried eggs and corn beef, closed it, looped the ring around, and then cut off the excess edges of bread.

As the sandwich cooked over an open flame, circular rings from the metal gave it the look of - there you go - a flying saucer!

Watching my folks hold their flying saucers like a kid reminiscing the old days,  I felt lucky and joyful being able to savour a tidbit of this legacy together with them. 

Mardi Gras Rugby Weekend

Every one of my friends currently binge drinking at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens claims it has been a great weekend for them so far – even though the specifics are a bit hard to recall.

None of them I knew play rugby, nor do they know the game rules, yet for years, they have been enthusiasts for the annual mardi gras in Hong Kong.  

As they say though, if you can remember what happened at the Hong Kong Sevens, you probably weren't there!

I certainly wasn't there. 

I was stuck in heavy traffic because apparently, everyone else was there!

TGIF

On this Friday, my office directly facing me seems so close yet, so spiritually far away - like a mirage - It's hard not to feel exhilarating about my little getaway!

Chocolate Wine Pairing

One guideline people usually live by in pairing food and wine is: light food go with light wines and heavy food go with heavy wines. Or by the old rule – primarily red with red meat and...white with fish and poultry.

Have you heard of Chocolate Wine Pairing?  This was totally foreign to me before my visit to Vero Chocolate Lounge, which I mentioned in my last blog entry.

The curious me went to do some research on what the experts have to say about this artful experience.  

Rule #1, typically the wine should be at least as sweet, if not a touch sweeter, than the chocolate you are serving it with. Otherwise, the taste may quickly veer towards bitter or sour.

When pairing wines with chocolate, your best bet is to match lighter, more elegant flavored chocolates with lighter-bodied wines; likewise, the stronger the chocolate, the more full-bodied the wine should be. For example, a bittersweet chocolate tends to pair well with an intense, in-your-face California Zinfandel.

Similar to “formal” wine tasting, if you will be experimenting with several varieties of chocolates, work from light to dark. Start with a more subtle white chocolate and end on a dark or bittersweet chocolate.

Some say it can’t be done, pairing wine with chocolate.  I think it's worth a try.

And if we have the right wine to complement the right chocolate, I can really imagine a match made in heaven! 

Chocolate Work of Art

Took me a while to locate Vero Chocolate Lounge and a visit to this chocolate heaven made me feel more discerning than the most tasteful ladies of leisure! 

Look at these sculptures, we have Terra Cotta Warrior and handbags made out of chocolate.

Their signature Dark 70% raspberry chocolate drink here is simply scrumptious! 

My sweet tooth will no doubt head to this haven again very soon!

Morning Ritual

I would say 3 out of the 5 mornings, I would bump into this dapperly suited man who lives several storeys below me.

We would nod and smile to each other as he enters the elevator and as soon as the elevator door closes, he would always perform this same ritual every time.

He would kneel down and tie his shoelaces!

Yes.  Did I say a dapperly suited man? 

How long could that possibly take him to do at home before dashing out of his door?  

Clothes make the man.  The fact that he has no time for this exercise which merely takes anyone no more than 1 minute to complete, is simply beyond me. 

Albert Yip?

謎語一則:

 Albert Yip, 猜一種食物

Yesterday, a restaurant in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong made an exhibition of itself as it presented a menu where 'Beef Tripes' 牛栢葉 was translated as 'Albert Yip', due to the fact that 'Beef Tripes' sounds similar to 'Albert Yip' in Chinese. 

Another of their classic includes 'hand fighting fishballs' (aka handmade fishballs). 

What do you think? A wicked marketing gimmick or simply, just appalling English?  

Paperwork Welcomes You On Board!

Congratulations, you’re hired!  “Welcome on board!” 

 

For your first task, you will now spend the next hour navigating your way through a heap of paperwork. 

Are you ready?...get set...now go write your name and ID card number, again and again and again.

Does this sound familiar to your first day of work?  

If your organization is like most organizations, your new hire onboarding process would be a tedious, cumbersome, and let’s admit it, not very environmentally friendly.    

My company has about 10 corporate policies and forms that are required for the new hire to read, review and sign prior to their first day of work, with no less than 40 pages of paper that needs printing, which then the HR collects and perhaps do a copy of those – from each new hire!

I would have thought with all those IT advancements, we should be saving a lot of that hassles with a bit more automation.  No?  

A Durable Piece of Appliance

I believe every rice cooker tells a tale or two, simply because they seem to last forever to tell enough tales.  They do what they do best - cook rice to sheer perfection diligently every time.  

This is going to sound like an advert but whether it's four servings, or at full ten, this 20+ year old Tatung brand rice cooker never fails on my auntie - Now feeding the mouths for the 3rd generation of her family.  

Out With Old; In With New

Nerves and anxiety before a big event is always a good sign for me. The anxious moments and the second guessing seem to keep me sharper. When I don't is when I have usually left a piece out of the puzzle.

Sometimes I do wish I could be wrong once, so at least I can feel surprised.  

Today was a good day nonetheless. 

Everything that turned out today was exactly what I expected - a day that signified the end to a long wait and a new start dawning. 

Sounds absolutely encouraging.  But if it was so good, why do I feel the cold grip of this daunting task tightening around me?  

I am confused.  

Can I actually be in a contradicting situation - where I am completely denying a raw anxiety when I finally see lights at the end of a tunnel? 

I feel you - like a loner dangling precariously on a tree top. 

A Proper Marriage for Heritage

When you marry Heritage with government policy maker, you can expect a divorce right away.

 

When you marry Heritage with a commercial driver, they get to live hand-in-hand, in a paradise.  

Here's a fine example.

This heritage is recognised as one of the four oldest government buildings in Hong Kong built 120 years ago. I had much anticipation brewing as I stepped into the former Marine Police Headquarters, or currently named the 1881 Heritage after a posh makeover. 

I went to check out their eateries which included a European dining spot, a gourmet Cantonese cuisine house and a British pub with its own jail cells!

All of them absolutely conspicuous and what more can I say but...I am so lucky to be living in Hong Kong!  Lucky and proud!

A Baby Business

Each time I needed to find that special something for a new born, I have been faced with a challenging search through numerous websites and stores to find that top-rated item.  Once that decision was made, the next challenge came: where to find that in town?

As someone who's not a parent, I must say this one-stop-shop was quite an eye opener for me. With everything under one roof selling babies stuff, Babies R Us was all I could come up with, until this day when I was brought to this baby-specialist store.

Should I ever be out of job, I should seriously consider starting my own baby photography business!  

Imagine a business I get to set my own hours, constantly get to see joy on my customers' faces as I unveil my products and what's more, my customer base can only keep growing each day.

I think baby's business would forever be lucrative because I see people spending a lot of money on their children these days - as simple as that.  

I'm Likin' It

Today I have truly liked a friend's status, some photos well-taken and a very touchy comment. 

I personally think Facebook’s "like" function for the news feed items, is the equivalent of an online clap. It allows you to get a clear message across - crisp and precise with one easy click.

We are often very stingy in making praises in real life.  Next time you go online and when your friends share something great, do let them know you like it.  Your friends, and their photos, notes, status updates are what make Facebook such a great social networking tool. 

Second thoughts, don't go “liking” every feed you see because, I think that can really piss some people off by sending them loads of notifications.  You wouldn't want to jeopardise the whole purpose of that button, do you?  

Floating on Cloud No. 9?

Did you know the expression 'up on cloud no. 9' to describe a feeling of euphoric exaltation, is based on actual terminology used by the U.S. Weather Bureau?

Clouds are divided into classes and each class is divided into nine types. 'Cloud nine' is the cumulonimbus cloud that you often see building up in the sky in a hot summer afternoon and may peak up to 75,000 feet!  So to say, if one is up on 'cloud nine,' one is feeling exceptionally high. 

To describe how I feel at the moment, I would be sitting on a Stratus cloud like this one here - one with the lowest altitude - dismally gloomy. 

A Pet or Baby Stroller?

Paid a visit to the SPCA, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals a few days earlier and I overheard a conversation by a young couple comparing a dog to someone’s baby, which I thought was rather inappropriate. 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE dogs and cats. The beloved dog I had in high school didn’t die 15 years later and losing him felt like losing a dear member of the family.

If someone you know are having trouble telling the difference between raising a pet and a baby, here is a crispy distinction I learnt from all those magnificent parents I know on earth.

If it brings you happiness, joy, and maybe even your slippers, it is probably a dog.

If it brings you happiness, joy, grey hair, and a touch of insanity, it is probably a child.

Salute to all my friends who are brave enough to be life-long committed mothers and fathers.

An Impulse Purchase

There is this incredibly cool gadget that we have to have, a great pair of shoes or jeans, a book or a sweet that won’t cost much.  

I am sure you have all done it but this seldom happens to me - the fact that I made a very spontaneous purchase today.

The impulse buying occurred when I was in a store, without pushy salesmen around and no powerful advertising to overcome.  I then spotted this device that has the same colour tone as the T-shirt I was wearing.  

Bang...That was all it took!

Heritage

Came across this model of an interesting example of a 1920s Chinese shophouse.

Just like the real thing, the exhibit's ground floor is being set aside for commerce of sorts whilst families live in the terraced floors above the street.

It would really be heartache to see the local government mess up the restoration or the preservation project of these tenements because this type of heritage is almost gone from everywhere else in Hong Kong. 

The Greatest Thief of All

Time is the one thing that we can never hoard, purchase, or reclaim. The old sayings “Make hay, while the sun shines,” and “A stitch in time saves nine,” have been proven true throughout the generations.

The truth is, a thief has been following our trail from the time we are borned, stealing our youth and munching our golden season of life.  One day, sooner or later, that thief, the greatest thief of all, would catch you up. One day, you would lose it all before you knew nothing is forever!

Here's my afterthoughts of the movie, Echoes of The Rainbow: 

If time is the greatest asset that human has, perhaps procrastination is the greatest thief of time.

The old time is always there for a laugh, just like an echo of a really beautiful rainbow.  But, I think it's time to move on to a new chapter.     

Taking Forever

This is going to be the idiom of the day.

All I wanted from the start was something
And it got me thinking.

All I want now at the end is something
But I can't stop thinking.

I can only hope for the better, but
why is this taking forever?

Easy To Earn, Hard To Redeem

I think most of you would agree to this sad state of affairs that landing the free seat you want using your frequent-flier miles has been a pain in the a**.

No matter how enticing their chances look in Asia Miles' calendar view, the seats never seem to be available on the flights and routes I wanted.

Do tell me what's the point of a loyalty programme that doesn't reward you for your loyalty!  

At the end of the day, since the miles aren't expiring just yet, I gave up, cursed them for selling false hope and decided to look under the household section instead!

Freakonomics

I hold an Economics degree but it would be total fakery if I said I know exactly know supply and demand works.  

In fact, all that Econometrics has not made the slightest sense to me nor can I work out theories behind market economies.  I can't even do maths remember?  Let alone the monetary effect on interest rates and exchange rates. 

This new book I have in front of me provides premium delights as the authors argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives and not merely supply and demand!  I can't agree more!

I am reading this with great anticipation and I can't wait to explore a new way of looking things - one that may literally redefine the way we view the modern world altogether. 

Who knows, some day I could publish my thoughts like no other, in a book as well!

Squeezable Fruits?!

I remember being fed with little cartons of pureed apple from HEINZ when I was a kid and that was considered a luxury.  

This thing here defined how the whole food category has been revolutionalised - They have now taken real organic fruits, mash'em and can be squeezed right out of the pack! 

It has all the goodness of fruits, great for tossing in lunchboxes and I'd like to think of them as an easy squeezy way to eat fruits. 

Nothing beats the real thing no doubt, but it's organic and what's more...I can be a kiddo again!

The Mean, Lean & The Bean

Nestlé, a well-known brand, the maker of Nescafe coffee, Kitkat, Gerber baby food and Perrier water topped estimates with better than expected growth in sales last year.

And speaking of which: coffee gadgetry. There are all sorts of lean choices available in the market, but the one I like the most has to be the one that comes with George Clooney.

People sing about it. My friends have it and my peers have it.  There has been a roaring demand for its Nespresso coffee capsules which apparently is helping the Swiss food goliath hit the numbers. 

I was really tempted to invest a machine earlier.  However, due to the sheer fact that they are everywhere I go, I figured the best way is to invest on their variety of capsules so I can simply bring a few of them around and chuck them in a machine whenever I come across one.  

I reckon I could be a clever bean sometimes!

Life Is Good

The week has been dreadingly slow and Friday couldn't have ended any better with a wonderful Sake appreciation dinner.     

 

We danced the night away consuming these bottles of the highest grading Daiginjō-shu. 

Man....Life is good when you mix culinary arts of food with fine drinks and when you have some pleasing someone to share the joy with. 

My Sci-Fi Idol: Wesley [衛斯理]

Came across these series of books at a friend's house today and scenes from the 40 odd stories I read flickered upon me.  

I got introduced to the Wesley Sci-Fi series at young age and have hailed him as my imaginary idol ever since.    

I remember following Wesley in his quest to the earth's core and back, up to heaven and down to hell....dealt with half-breed and the fragmented, talked to prophecy and encountered the extraterrestrial!  

I wonder where all that passion for Sci-Fi has gone after all these years. May be time to pick up Orson Scott Card's Enders Game for a starter?

RH Arrested, Suspected of Murder

Relative Humidity (RH) has been arrested this morning in connection to the murder of a 3-year old Air-conditioning Unit, injuring a 6-year old Television set and assaulting a Body Fat Scale which is merely a year old.  

Last month was unusually humid in Hong Kong, with the prevailing RH averaged at 88%, the highest since 1959, 10% above the norm.  

RH, who allegedly attempt murdering the victims, told the police many home electronic appliances have humidity specifications, say from 5 to 95%.  At the top end of the spectrum is when moisture may increase the conductivity of permeable insulator, leading to malfunction.  

"A dehumidifier could just be your solution to combat this weather," said Inspector Mould. 

While I was trying to take Inspector Mould's advice, I read this article on today's paper.

So the whole town is after these.  Perfect isn't it?

Cover Your Tracks with Tiger Text

Tiger Text is the latest powerful stuff available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, just rolled out in time for the Year of the Tiger!

So what is it? 

It is an application that delete both sent and received text messages after your desired length of time, as in Mission Impossible 

"This tape will self-destruct in five seconds".

Many would be linking the naming convention of the app to Tiger Woods who was being caught cheating not long ago.  However, according to its developers, the name has nothing to do with him, but rather, attributed to the real big cats because they are hard to track.

For Blackberry and Android users, don't despair, a version for your platform will soon be available!

Colours

Can you name these colours immediately when you see them?  

Would you be able to tell the difference between the shade of Chambray and Turquoise?

The next time we try to describe a particular shade, let us try not to use words such as greenish, bluish, yellowish and see how far we can go before our vocabulary is in exhaust!