Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know

The boyfriend and I happened to walk in Urban Outfitters the other day and we saw a pretty cute book from Harper Collins called Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know.



As you might expect from the title that Show Me How is a book that teach you to do cool stuff much like the Dangerous Book For Boys/Daring Book For Girls series, but what grabbed our attention is the detailed and very artful illustrations. The boyfriend and I are suckers when it comes to cute illustrations and this book are full of them.



The book is divided into chapters such as make, eat, drink, style, love, nest, grow, thrive, go, survive and wow. And it teaches you anything from folding perfect hospital corners, growing rock candies to treating a snake bite and spiking up a mohawk. The one that I find most helpful is to explain what house chores are required daily, weekly and quarterly when it comes to cleaning. Hell, I might even do it.

The book is the size of a yellow page phonebook and sometimes I wish that they'd explain some stuff further with more words and not just pictures but it's a very nice book and the illustrations are drawn beautifully, stylized with great colors. The tasks are cool and interesting. It's sold for $24.95 but I got it from Amazon half-priced. If it was a bit smaller it would have made a great coffee table book, but check it out at a bookstore if you have time.

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Giant Shark is Coming!!!

Via Towleroad again



It seems that following the squids from yesterday, a giant shark had washed ashore on the East Coast. I don't wanna make light of this, so I'm not gonna make any shark fin soup joke, but what's with the trend of ocean life being washed ashore. Did someone become a witch like in The Craft? Maybe it was a publicity stunt done by the folks at The Asylum for The Giant Squids vs. Mega Shark 2? Or is the world coming to an end? Maybe water pollution and global warming had finally caught up with ocean life? Besides why are the creatures washing ashore had to be giant animals?

Scary.

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The Giant Squids Are Coming!!!

Last Saturday, dozens of giant squids washed up ashore at the beaches of La Jolla, California. An hour after an earthquake was recorded 19 miles offshore. It was speculated that these squids might be confused by the earthquake.

I think maybe the squids got drugged by abandoned cocaine during a high speed motor boat chasing of drug smugglers and the case got opened during the earthquake and poisoned ocean life. Maybe not, but it'll make for a better story.

Anyhow, I'm taking the role of seagulls in this story. When I see the squids washing ashore, I'm thinking about stuffing them with BBQ pork fried rice and bake the whole thing in curry sauce. Who's with me? I'm surprised the Chinese are not out there packing them in ice coolers. Haha.

Oh and Happy Bastille Day!

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Joke of The Day

Via FAIL Blog:



Made me laugh too!

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QFest 2009, Pt. 1

Ever since I've been living in Philadelphia, I've been attending the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival or PIGLFF (pronounce Pig-Leaf) for short. This year, they have change their name to QFest. Quite non-descriptive and uninspiring. Meh.

While the name changed, I'm glad that maybe due to the bad economy, the prices had stayed the same. So I grabbed a booklet and selected the films that I'm interested in seeing like any other year. I bought a 10-movie pack and shared some with the boyfriend. This year's film are not really as stellar or as sexy as the years before and after a discussion with my friend DC, it turns out a lot of movies showing are not exactly fresh, you can rent most of them in the video store already. I wonder if the change of organization has affected the film selection committee.

The first few movies I've seen seems to have a fondness to surprise endings and a theme about the hazards of being closeted:




Autopsy is a French film about a married detective whose sexuality is awakened by a handsome pathologist. While he's investigating a murder case of a gay professor, he falls deeper and deeper in love with the pathologist and watches while his relationship with his wife and child deteriorate.

I'm a fan of murder suspense, so I quite like it. Also I find the main actor looks quite a bit like a younger more attractive Hugh Laurie. No so fond of the ending but quite solid. To my horror, it was actually a made for TV movie that was broadcasted in 2007, can't we get more recent pictures? B-




In British film Shank, Cal is a gangbanger seeks to satisfy his homosexual urges by having random sex with strangers but then tries to forget his encounters with drugs and violence. After one too many gay bashing incidents, he defended a French exchange student Olivier from his own gang and caused them to turn against him. As he starts to accept who he is and begins a relationship with Olivier, Cal must find a way to break away from his pasts and start anew.

Um... first of all, Wayne Virgo, the actor who played Cal is gorgeous and there are more nudity in the film than I thought. Other than the awkward music and vibe contrasts in the beginning between Cal and Olivier and the tipping point in the movie being a bit too much, I quite enjoyed the film. C+




Make The Yuletide Gay is a teenage comedy about how two college student lovers spend their X'mas break. Nathan's wealthy and distant parents are going to a cruise for X'mas and left him alone, so he decided to surprise his boyfriend Olaf by visiting him at his home. The problem is Olaf hasn't come out to his wacky Swedish parents. While Olaf is struggling to come out, Nathan is struggling to find a place he truly belongs.

Make The Yuletide Gay meant to be a lighthearted comedy but it started of a little rickety with the over-the-top accents and marijauna jokes. However, the viewers soon warmed up to the likable characters. There are points in the movie where it is a little bit overtly dramatized at the point of unnecessary but I left the theater with a general feeling that the movie itself was quite cute. C




With Make The Yuletide Gay, there was also a short film called The Windows which featured 3 windows side-by-side peering into 3 very similar rooms with 3 different guys playing peek-a-boo. Honestly, they were the very same room other than the selection of beddings and the pictures hanging on the wall. The guys while started clothed, with the openings and closings of curtains showed us mock candid moments of their lives in various half dressed degrees, ending with them in full monty pleasuring themselves and ejaculating on the windows. While it seems to be harmless cheeky fun, I don't quite get it. Not to sound prude but if I wanted porn, I'd be online, what is the purpose of showing us blatant smut in a film festival? C- (Not because I didn't enjoy it, but then it doesn't even have a storyline and it caused a 30 minutes technical difficulty delay.)


Other than The Windows, I also went to see a short film program entitled Out On The Edge which featured 4 shorts. I thought the edge in the title to be sexy or racy, who knew it would take such a horrid turn. I guess I have selective reading, or the writer knows how to draw people in, I should have read the program more carefully.



German short film Cowboy is about a supposedly straight real estate agent drove out to the country to solicit land owners to sell their properties to him. One day, he passed by an abandoned compound and saw a young mechanic fixing farm equipment. Tantalized by the young man, the real estate agent came back to the compound for passionate sex, but he wasn't allowed to leave. C



It almost doesn't matter where this film is produced since Bitch was only 2 minutes long with no dialogue. Small gestures pack a big punch, but where is it punching? You're left with your own interpretations. It's not on YouTube, but it might as well be. C+



A young black man is taking care of his addict mother and seeks to contract HIV so he can finally feel something. The Young and Evil is the story about a bug chaser who believes he has no future to begin with. D



In the beginning of the program, our hosts warned us that there were viewers fainted from watching this one before. Weak Species is a story about two gay high school teen. Steve is a player who sleeps with the boys and leave them hanging, his next target is the school's football star. George has low self esteem and cruises the parks, looking for older men to abuse him. Both of them looking for love in all the wrong places. D

I usually enjoy short films but actually all 4 of these short films turned out to be quite gory. While Cowboy started out quite sexy, it ended quite mysteriously. I have still no clue why they wanted to keep the real estate agent in the compound. Bitch's ending credits were longer than the film itself, I gave it a higher score just because I find the ridiculousness of it hilarious and I'm sure they intended it to be that way. The Young and Evil was unclear and it seems to imitate some sort of education production. Since I don't understand the psychology of bugchasers, I'll just leave that one alone. Weak Species was unable to convey its message if there was one, it's a little bit gore for gore's sake. After watching it, I much rather watch the smut that is The Windows, even with its 30 minutes wait.

My LA friend gave me two tickets of movies that he won't be able to go to, so I have 5 more movies to go now. I'll report back on the movies next week.

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Death By Chocolate

Last Wednesday, a 29-year-old chocolate factory worker in New Jersey fell into a big wad of hot melted chocolate and got hit by the agitator and dies instantly with a blow to the head. I'm sure there are worst way to die than that.

Yes, chocolate is definitely one of my obsessions. A friend who recently moved to California came back and visit his Philly friends. He brought me to a gelateria called Capogiro and introduced me to Gelato Con Brioche which has become one of my favorite desserts. It's basically a warm spongy toasted sugar brioche with cold creamy gelato in the middle. It might just be the best ice cream sandwich ever.


Brioche con Bacio (chocolate-hazelnut) Gelato

Going to the movie, I saw a white chocolate bar for sale at the theaters and I love white chocolate, so I got the Divine White Chocolate bar.



The slogan for Divine Chocolate is that they are the chocolate bar with a heart. Divine Chocolate makes an effort on fair trade which guarantee the countries who produces the ingredients a fair amount of profit, education, training, health benefits and racial, gender equality. While it's a great, great cause and it makes the consumers (i.e. me) feel better about making a conscious choice to purchase that product, I didn't like the chocolate itself so much. While I heart white chocolate, my biggest pet peeves about white chocolate is it being waxy. I like to bite into my chocolate and not just let it melt in my mouth and there's nothing I hate more than waxy chocolate that makes me think of chewing on a candle. I guess for white chocolate, I'll stay with the white Toblerone or Green and Black's with the vanilla sparkles. Green & Black's is fair trade too.

Currently, the boyfriend and I like quite a few shows on Food Network. Like Chopped, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and despite my dislike for Bobby Flay, I've even warmed up to The Next Food Network Star (Go, Debbie!). On one of their show, maybe Unwrapped, they introduced a chocolate bar with bacon in it that sparked our interests and after a few searches online, I managed to get one in my hand.



Mo's Bacon Bar is one of the offering from Vosges' Exotic Chocolate Bar collection. The chocolate bar have bits of smoked bacon and salt crystal in it. I thought it would be odd but actually it's quite smooth and natural. The smokiness permeates the chocolate and the salt crystals added some welcoming crunch. It is slightly salty but it is actually pretty unoffensive and good. Other exotic bars in the collection features ingredients like mushrooms, ancho & chipotle chillies, wasabi, matcha, curry powder and fleur de sel. Check it out on their website for locations that handle their product or shop online. In fact, I'm gonna get their chicory coffee and cocoa nibs one. It's $7.50~8.00 a pop but it's well worth the experience.

And for the reader who's reading this post actually looking for a way to use chocolate to kill themselves, consider this:



Baskin Robbin's Chocolate Oreo Shake which was deemed the unhealthiest drink in America by Men's Health Magazine.

Is this the worst drink on the planet? All signs point to yes. First off, it has an ingredient list that reads like an organic chemistry final. Those 70-plus ingredients conspire to pack this shake with more sugar than 29 Fudgsicles, as much fat as a stick and a half of butter, and more calories than 48 actual Oreos. Oh, it also has 3 days’ worth of saturated fat and, most bizarre of all, as much salt as you’ll find in 9 bags of Lay’s Classic potato chips.

With the calorie count, I think you're not suppose to eat or drink anything else for about 48 hours after that. Out of my theory that the more fat there is the better it tastes and my morbid curiosity, I'd like to try one please!

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Weekend Meme: My Favorite Meme

Saw this at Damien's 2 Cents Worth from Down Under, so I thought I'd do it this week. I've noticed that when I do meme, I have a tendency to answer with multiple options. So this week, I'll do it Family Feud style with a single answer each.

Fruit: Sugar Apples

Flower: Calla Lily

Ice Cream: Coffee

Restaurant: Maggiano's (Good for most occasions)

Sport: Swimming

Number: I have an affinity with the number 9.

Soda: Orangina

Song: Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered.

Color: Blue

Saying: "Bob's Your Uncle!" It's cute.

Actor: Ryan Kwanten, not because of his acting.

Alcoholic Drink: Cosmopolitan with Flavored Vodka

Breakfast food: Eggs Benedict

Favorite possession: My TV. It's on most of the time.

Mall store: Urban Outfitters. I realize that it is own by a anti-gay person but I mostly just window shop. I like knick-knacks.

Fast food restaurant: Church's Chicken.

Comedian: Stephen Lynch and his cute funny songs.

Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island: How about neither?

Holiday: Christmas.

Hard Candy: Butterscotch

Cartoon Character: Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road

Kind of pants: Cargo Shorts.



Have a great weekend!

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Rice Paddy Art

I guess farming is a mundane job but some Japanese managed to make it interesting.












Via Serious Eats I've found a very interesting blog called Pink Tentacle that features interesting Japanese graphics, art, technology and incidents. It's really worth looking into.

I've been eating rice all my life and I didn't know that rice plants came in 4 different colors. Might as well us the paddies for commercial space?

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Reemergence

Sorry folks, I haven't been posted since the last weekend and it seems the week had went by quite quick.

There haven't been a lot of stuff going on, other than the Michael Jackson memorial thing that everybody saw and Sarah Palin's ass-backward resignation. I say to both good-bye.

I have been submerging myself in couple of the Facebook games. Time goes by fast when that happens. Other than that, I've been submerging myself in food, trying places that I've meant to go, comparing foods, cooking for the boyfriend. It's the little pleasures.

Every July, the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (PIGLFF) commences and this year they change their name into QFest. Gone is the old organization along with my doppelganger who mysteriously told me to believe in myself as he moved away from Philly. Starting tonight I'll be going to the fest and going to 4 movies by myself and 3 movies with the boyfriend. This year's selection is not really sexy and I hate how they pull a stunt on people by saying they'll have a secret screening of a mystery movie without announcing the title and it turned out to be Eating Out 3. If I have known, I would have gotten a ticket, honestly, what kinda bullshit is that? Surely I'll report back with reviews as I've done year after year.

July other than being gay movie month, it's also Birthday month. It seems like 70% of the people I know have their birthdays around June-August, I wonder what happened 10 months beforehand that make people want to couple. Since it's been July, almost every other day, there are some shout outs required for my friend's birthday. In two weeks, it'll be my turn. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to invite my friends to a dinner or just make it low key and spend it with just the boyfriend.

Anyhow, It should be quite eventful for the rest of the month.

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Weekend Meme: About Me Meme

Happy 4th, y'all!



Saw this meme passed around at Vik's and Damien's, so I thought I'd do it this week.

Birthday: 7/23
Birthplace: Hong Kong
Current Location: Philadelphia
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Hair Color: Black
Height: 5'11.5"
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right-Handed
Your Heritage: Chinese as far as I know.
The Shoes You Wore Today: Sandals
Your Weakness: Desserts
Your Fears: Snakes, suffocation and loneliness
Your Perfect Pizza: Mushroom, pineapple and ground beef/pork.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: Find a job and lose some weight.
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: It's between "Yeah" and "Really?"
Thoughts First Waking Up: "What time is it?"
Your Best Physical Feature: At this point, it could be my forehead.
Your Bedtime: 2-4 in the morning.
Your Most Missed Memory: Life in Hong Kong.
Pepsi or Coke: Doesn't matter I think Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke.
MacDonalds or Burger King: McDonalds, they are more familiar to me than Burger King.
Single or Group Dates: Dates? I think one-on-one might be better.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: They are both nasty, I pretty diet ice teas from Turkey Hill, ice tea from Nantucket or Snapple.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate anyday.
Cappuccino or Coffee: I like my coffee with a lot of half and half. Cappucino would do.
Do you Swear: Sometimes.
Do you Sing: Sometimes.
Do you Shower Daily: Of course, sometimes I bathe, sometimes I shower more than once a day.
Have you Been in Love: Sure, if not why live?
Do you want to go to College: I went, I'd go back if I have the money.
Do you want to get Married: When I'm mature enough, I would.
Do you believe in yourself: Sometimes. Not quite enough.
Do you get Motion Sickness: Rarely. But I had before.
Do you think you are Attractive: People seems to like me more than I like myself. I'd consider myself in the 40 percentile.
Are you a Health Freak: Not by any means. I try to have a balance diet. Try.
Do you get along with your Parents: No. One's dead, the other I don't see.
Do you like Thunderstorms: Very much so.
Do you play an Instrument: I learned the piano, very elementary. I can always play the triangle, does it count?
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Yeah, you betcha. I've never drank so much in my life. I don't think I'm addicted to it, so it's still safe.
In the past month have you Smoked: Nope, that I haven't.
In the past month have you been on Drugs: Nope, none of that either.
In the past month have you gone on a Date: With the boyfriend, yes.
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: We went to the mall at the Pier at Caesar in Atlantic City, I must have passed by the Galleria in Philly too.
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Nope, on a pseudo diet. Besides, Oreo is not my favorite.
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: Surprisingly not, so I guess it's about time.
In the past month have you been on Stage: No. I've been on a dance floor.
In the past month have you been Dumped: Fortunately not, I don't expect to be dump EVERY month.
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: Nope. I'd have to find a secluded pool or lake or a beach before that and there's none around.
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: Not the past month, although it might not be a bad career move.
Ever been Drunk: Yes, I have. Everyone should try it at least ince.
Ever been called a Tease: A lot of times. I'm a voyeur in nature.
Ever been Beaten up: I've got into fights but not really been beaten up.
Ever Shoplifted: Oh yeah, everyone should try it at least once too. Maybe not.
How do you want to Die: Jump off an airplane or a tall building. I'd like to experience the pleasure of flight. If not, a short and painless death like Natasha Richardson and Billy Mays might just be nice.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: Happy.
What country would you most like to Visit: Greece.
Number of Drugs I have taken: One
Number of CDs I own: Around 400
Number of Piercings: None
Number of Tattoos: None
Number of things in my Past I Regret:Infinite
In a Boy/Girl…
Favorite Eye Color: There are people with golden amber colored eyes, it's fascinating. Not for a lover, but I'm fascinated and jealous at the same time.
Short or Long Hair: It doesn't matter that much. It's about the mannerism but god forbid a mullet.
Height, Tall or Short? I'm fascinated with tall people as well even though you can't really control your height. Of course, I don't need freaks like the world's tallest dude.
Physique you like -Muscular, Athletic, Slender, a Few Extra Pounds, Large, Obese: Not too slender or obese, I don't want a skeleton or a cascade of fat.
Hairy or smooth? I like hairy guys but over the years I've learned that I don't necessary mind smooth people either.

Have a great weekend and happy 4th!

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Photologue: June 2009

June was a month of taking pictures. I marched for Philly Pride and got two relatively acceptable which in my case is rare:



And then the boyfriend and I volunteered to be models for a local leather good store, the pictures are a bit racier and I have no idea how to give face. So I guess it IS hard being a model:



I dare not post more of that series, it reminds me that I really need to lose some weight and build a chest before deciding to wear a harness and the midriff is not pretty but it was fun nonetheless. I look a bit older now.

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The Coolest Way To Make Coffee

via Serious Eats

Introducing HINA, a Japanese remote control robot with index fingers.



Cute. But I think it'll take a long time to remote control her into making a cup of coffee. Might as well do it myself.

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Welcome To The World, Bernelle.

A week ago, my cousin Venus had gave birth to the first member of the next generation of my family. She's not the first member to get married, two of the three older cousins had married for quite sometimes but had no plans of having children ever.

Bernelle Lai was born on June 23rd at the weight of 7 pounds 12 oz. Looks quite a bit like her dad, both her and her mom are safe and sound. I'm happy to officially become an uncle but still, where do these people find these names? I have another friend naming her daughter Ophelia which is quite puzzling. And yet another guy named his son Anson. What happened to Jonathan or Jennifer? Anyway, it seems that Bernelle has a neck for photography, 8 of her 10 pics she looked right into the camera, hope she grew up to be as pretty as her mom.

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Stonewall in Texas

via Joe.My.God

In the brink of equality, which I believe it's what were in now even though it seems there's still along way to go, there are bound to be resistance.

On Saturday, the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in NYC, the Fort Worth Police Department raided a local gay bar the Rainbow Lounge and began randomly handcuffing and arresting patrons and shoving anyone who dared to ask why.

Witnesses say that police arrived at the nightclub about 1 a.m. Sunday and arrested seven people and that one of those arrested suffered a fractured skull during the takedown and is at a Fort Worth hospital. About 75 people showed up Sunday afternoon at the Rainbow Lounge to make signs for the rally. Some of the signs read: "Give us Answers Now" and "We Have Rights Too." Fort Worth police released a statement saying that the Rainbow Lounge was not the only bar targeted by six Fort Worth police officers and two agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and a supervisor. The group first went to the Rosedale Saloon and Cowboy Palace on Rosedale Street. Nine people were arrested, police report. The investigators then went to the Rainbow Lounge, where seven arrests were made, the police statement said. While walking through the Rainbow Lounge, an "extremely intoxicated patron made sexually explicit movements toward the police supervisor," the statement said. This individual was arrested for public intoxication.

Another intoxicated individual also made sexually explicit movements toward another officer, and he was arrested for public intoxication, the statement said. A third individual inside the lounge assaulted a TABC agent by grabbing the agent’s groin, according to the statement. He was escorted outside and arrested for public intoxication. He was released to paramedics because of his extreme intoxication as he was repeatedly vomiting, police reported.

Why do the police feel the need to arrest intoxicated people inside the bar? And who is dumb enough to grab a police officer's crotch? Are they just playing victim to deflect the focus of arresting people who commits this victimless crime and the attention of the fractured skull? What is this all about? There was a protest underway and people are demanding answers. The justice systems need to be accountable and they just can't abuse their power like this.

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RIP Billy Mays

Another icon bites the dust.



They haven't found a reason why he's dead. He was a passenger aboard a plane that suffered a blown front tire upon landing. He told a local TV station, "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head." So maybe something that happened to Natasha Richardson, happened to Billy Mays.

They're dropping one by one, it's like Final Destination and there are not a lot of sexy bears on TV left.

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Weekend Meme: The Food Meme

Orange-braised Pork Shoulder over Black Bean Stew at Chez YvesPaul

This week has pretty much been a food week for me. I know I should be on a diet and I am limiting my carb intake, but I'll double my efforts next week. As seen from above is a dish I've recreated from a restaurant in South Philly called La Cantina. It's braised pork shoulder on top of a black bean stew with pork rinds on the side and salsa fresca on top, you can hear the pork rinds crackle as it touches moisture, so it's a musical dish from more than one way. It doesn't taste nearly the same as the original, but it was nice nonetheless. I also bought some pretentious white plates from Ikea to show off my food. lol. Just went to Atlantic City and had a nice meal in a nice restaurant, I've also got a party tonight to go to that will involve a lot of drinking and maybe some seafood pizzas from a nearby place that serves gourmet pizzas.

Since it has been a food week, it's just fitting to do a food meme. This one here I found it in the old post of Kevin over at Kapgar.

The Food Meme

How do you like your eggs?
Sunny side up. the mostly raw egg yolk goes well with everything.

How do you take your coffee/tea?
I like my coffee and tea with cream and sugar, iced or otherwise. Unless it's hot weather, than I'll have my tea iced with lemon and sugar.

What are your favorite breakfast foods?
Sunny side up eggs with buttered toast and turkey sausage or bangers. Good home fries would be nice too.

Peanut butter: smooth or crunchy?
Depends on what I use it for, to cook and make french toast usually smooth. On toast or satay sauce, crunchy.

What kind of dressing on your salad?
Hmm... I take all kinds. My favorite would probably be Newman's Tuscan Italian or his Olive Oil & Vinegar. Blue cheese, ranch, asian sesame, french, they would all work.

Coke or Pepsi?
I like the taste of regular Coke and diet Pepsi. But I wouldn't mind diet Coke too much. I also like Coke Cherry Zero.

You're feeling lazy. What do you make?
Instant noodles. Salad if I have the stuff.

You're feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
Pizza, it's pineapple, sausage, mushroom, onion. Or ranch chicken. A simple slice of mushroom would work too.

You feel like cooking. What do you make?
What wouldn't I make? It really depends on my mood but maybe a steak with my own garlic-lemon pasta.

Do any foods bring back good memories?
Chinese banquet food does lift my spirit.

Do any foods bring back bad memories?
Not that I know of, some people like me associate food with love so it shouldn't invoke any bad memories.

Do any foods remind you of someone?
My grandma makes a Chinese caramelized shrimp that I have not yet tasted anywhere else but home. I'd love to get her recipe but she's always a pinch of that and a dash of this. I'll have to film her do it if I go back.

Is there a food you refuse to eat?
Not really. I just know I dislike sea urchin and dried oyster, but I don't think I'd refuse.

What was your favorite food as a child?
Fried chicken legs or anything drumstick shaped. My grandma would roll instant noodles up into the shape of a drumstick just to make me eat it.

Is there a food that you hated as a child but now love?
Smelly food in general have that effect on me. Durian for one, I don't exactly love it but I don't mind it and I savor the rare opportunity to eat it. A street food called stinky tofu which you can smell it from a block away, they're fermented and boy do they smell. Condiments like shrimp paste and other fermented stuff.

Is there a food that you loved as a child but now hate?
I don't hate food much as you can tell, I use to love minty candies when I was a kid and coffee when I was a teenager, but now I'm really not as enthusiastic about them as I was. I use to drink coffee any chance I get, now it's almost once a month or less.


So that's the meme. Have a good weekend!

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Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

By now I'm sure ALL of you would have heard that two pop icons Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson had passed. It's shocking to say the least.



When Charlie's Angels came out I was a mere child and I don't have a lot of Farrah Fawcett reference, but I remember she looked exactly what I thought an angel would look like. RIP.


Not to be mean or make the matter light but my aunt once said my mom died of ovarian cancer because she used some insertive feminine hygiene product and the cause of death for Farrah had reminded me of that.


The only song I know with Farrah's name in the lyrics.

I don't know if you feel the same way but I'm not completely convinced that Michael Jackson is dead. He was very impactful in my early childhood. Every kids loved him, even when I was living in Europe. Thriller was big and I particularly love Smooth Criminal since the name of my mom was Annie and I have no clue what's he was singing back then. He was the King of Pop indeed, it's a shame that later on in his life he associated his name with so many other things.



I'm still very skeptical to the news of his death. Did he and Farrah have a suicide pact? Did he kill himself because of the direction of where his life is heading? Could he have faked his death to get out of some contracts? To get attention? Did he finally become a woman and left his male identity behind? Since Michael Jackson is quite the eccentric guy, I submit that everything is possible.

I always thought it was very difficult to achieve that degree of success in an young age, when you have already achieve so much what other goals could you have? What purpose can the rest of your life serve? It's especially hard for the ones that are constantly under the spotlight and extremely hard for the eccentrics. I hope wherever Michael Jackson is, he can finally find peace.


I loved his Moonwalker video arcade game.

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Chew On This

Um... Even with a big, thick, meaty, juicy 7-incher, the Burger King is just a bit too creepy for me to even consider it.

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Restaurant Review: Union Trust

I guess one of the little benefits of having a low economy is that the high end restaurants in town have been offering a rather affordable lunch menu to attract customers.

Last Friday, me and a former colleague went to Le Bec Fin. The most renowned dining institute in Philly where I've only stepped foot in once before just because I can afford to go to their more casual basement bar downstairs for their $30 prix fixe dinner during restaurant week and the maitre'd unintentionally sat us up in the main hall. Since that visit 2 years ago, restaurateur/chef Georges Perrier closed down his restaurant next door Brasserie Perrier. I've also noticed that the pretentious French sounding staff in Le Bec Fin had changed into mostly Latino staff who were wonderful to my older Latina colleague. Unfortunately for her, they have only one item on the $15 express lunch menu and it was burger with fries with a soup or salad and she's vegetarian. Since she didn't expect the limited of choice and everything else was high in price, she asked if the restaurant can take the meat off and put cheese in and they said yes. But then the waiter came by and said the chef will not be charging her for the meal because of that, of course being decent people that we are, we insisted to pay. Later on, they brought an extra dessert for us just to make up the difference. I wonder if we'd get free champagne next, my older colleague thought the exceptional service might have been because she was wearing her new bra. lol.

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Having passed by it once and then the boyfriend experienced it with his boss for lunch and told me all about it, I was very interested in going to a steakhouse called Union Trust. I usually dislike going to steakhouses, because they are unusually high-priced and I can sear a mean steak myself at home. The regular menu at Union Trust is quite expensive; the steaks goes up to $125 a pop, caviars to $140 an ounce. For lunch, however, it's a little different.

There is some privilege from being a blogger, especially when you enter a rather new restaurant with a phone cam and start snapping away, you'll get some curiosity and attention from the staff. I'm not saying you'll get free food or drinks, but at least the people seemed friendlier. Sure, the maitre'd banged my knees against the marble after helping pushing my barstool in for me, but he tried. The lunch menu consists on some appetizers, salad, sandwiches and entrees that average around $15. I wanted to keep it cheap, so I didn't order the $13 lobster chowder for an appetizer and went for the much recommended steak frites. Not soon after, I received a bread basket with 4 different kinds of warmed breads: A sweet pumpernickel raisin roll, a whole wheat dinner roll, a sesame sunflower seed roll and a twin Philly pretzel stick that you can split apart which also comes with its own little bottle of whole grain Dijon mustard.



I have had my share of bad steak frites, but one should expect a nice one from a steakhouse no matter the price and this one didn't disappoint. The size was decent enough, it was perfectly seared with salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper and maybe oven-baked for doneness. The fries came in a playful string size, crunchy and quite bouche amusée. The sauce on the side tasted like an Argentinian chimichurri. The dish was quite simple and flavorful. It came with a side of creamed spinach that was smooth and buttery without being overwhelmingly rich or oily. It was a good meal that left me wanting more.



It's hard for business these days and not a lot of people can afford the items on the dinner menu for sure, but it's nice to see new restaurants popping up. Just around the same block, there's Iron Chef's Morimoto, another Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr's Jones, an Italian restaurant LaScala and a new Latin/Asian fusion restaurant called Chifa which will probably be my next target. The competition is fierce on this little out of the way block. While the promotion of the place is low-key, maybe people will give the lunch a try or warm up to the Gay professional mingles hosted there once a week. The former marbled bank got renovated into a majestic train station lobby-like space with red plush couches and white chairs. It looks quite amazing. (The bar design is not necessarily staff or customer-friendly though.)

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The Gay Marriage Argument

Just so you can prepare yourself for another unpleasant debate over gay marriage, the whole thing is pretty much drawn out. You can even sent it to your opponents just to save time. Click to embiggen.



For myself, I always find it strange that while there is some kind of freedom of religion in the country and only the Christian god condemns homosexuality, why can't people of other faith get gay married? But that's just me.

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