End of The Year Spo-Meme

It's the end of the year and I usually recount the year by showing pictures of food I made and this year is not that different but on top of that I thought I'd borrow my blog friend Ur-Spo's Meme, so we can pass it around.

2010 Accomplishment
The biggest accomplishment this year is probably completing the 10-day master cleanse diet with my boyfriend. In those 10-days, we didn't eat anything and all we took for nutrition was lemonade made with maple syrup. I think I lost 15 pounds.

2010 Discovery
Other than discovered that I can stay alive and have the will to not eat for 10 days? The boyfriend and I had discovered an Indian eggplant relish called Brinjal and we have been putting it in practically everything, I have also used it to make lamb stew, taste pretty good.

Favorite 2010 Vacation/Holiday
Since I was unemployed for the longest time, it was like a prolonged vacation.

Best dining in 2010
In February, I visited Jean Georges in New York and I had to say, the prix fixe lunch for one of the best meal I had for a low, low price.

2010 Regret
I'm going through a rather tough period right now with a job that I don't particularly enjoy and my boss just changed my schedule to 4:30 am to 2:00pm for 6 days a week, it means I have to go to bed around 7pm to get up at 3am. It practically wipe off all my social life. Even though it's tough, it's something that I have to do to earn a living, while I can't regret having this job. I must confess that I was a bit lazy and scared to look for a job in the beginning of the year.

Magic Moment in 2010
I don't know. I think one night out at the Night Market event with lots of food vendors on the street and tons of people gathering was very neat. It was good to be able to walk around with the boyfriend at night around the neighborhood as well.

What states did you visit in 2010?
I didn't go too far this year, just Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

The 2010 Surprise
That I can rely on my boyfriend and my friends in the time of need. I feel fortunate and blessed.

Three 2011 Goals
1. Get a job that is more reasonable with a better pay, better benefits and a better future.

2. Get into a better financial situation.

3. Enjoy life to the fullest with my love and my friends.

And this is the stuff I've made this past year:


Turtle Burgers


Chocolate Cupcakes with mini cherry pies baked in and a chocolate chip cookie on top.


My first fondant cake and my first adult themed cake for a friend's birthday.


A tiny, tiny birthday cake for my boyfriend's birthday but he was so drunk that he didn't even remember eating it.


Remaking Magnolia Bakery's Banana Bread Pudding


Homemade Siu Mai


36 layers of crepe and orange creams to make up a fluffy cake.

Read more...

Can I Help You, Sir?

I'm one of the 99ers that you've heard about, in the beginning of last month my unemployment compensation has ran out and since the economy wasn't picking up, the check that I get from the government is actually a lot higher than any job I can find out there, not to mention it's a lot easier just to process a claim form than actually got through the motion of finding a job and working, so why not just sit on my ass?

And of course I have been looking for work. It's just the longer I sit out, the less confident I am with my skills so it gets harder and harder. I was doing a three day project with a placement office that was only interested in me then and there. Went through a few interview and a training day with Macy's who wanted me to sell women's shoes for minimum wage. I almost gone through with it too, if it's not for a friend who recommended me to be a Manager in Training for a fast food/coffee shop chain. It doesn't pay much more, but unlike Macy's they want me to work more than 35 hours which is a salary that I can almost live by. The drawback about it is that I'm required to work more than 55 hours and 6 days a week to justify the salary they are giving me, which is still a chunk less than my unemployment checks but as the Chinese proverb goes "When your horse dies, you've got to walk on your own", so here's me trying to walk/crawl.

Since the day that I interviewed with the manager/trainer, she had informed me that I would be dealing with a lot of undereducated people, both costumers and employees alike. And since I don't have any retail experience, she intended to start me from the ground up. From day to day, I'm in charge of fixing coffees, restocking, displaying products, cleaning, mopping, washing. I also have to be on my feet for 10+ hours a day, I have been quite out of shape, so I'm just not used to this kind of physical activities. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work also means that at night I'll being falling asleep around 8:30-9:30. I find that it's not something that I can help, around that time my eyes will automatically close on their own and even though I might be watch TV or reading blogs, my focus is gone and I will need to be in bed or I'll zonked out sitting up.

The people are a colorful bunch as well. The store I work at is at a "bad part" of town, some might even call it the ghetto. The people I work with are mostly Asian who speak little English with one white college kid, a few teenage mom, a black guy and another mom who works two jobs. Most of them are nice but have some sort of attitude problems. The customers are mostly blacks who are either meek or seriously unhappy to start with, knowing that the customer is always right, my only self-defense is with being overtly courteous. I feel like I'm from the south. With any single transaction, I'm dishing out 4~5 "sir"s/"maam"s and a couple "thank you"s. Anything that can be perceived to be wrong, people will start yelling, screaming and asking for compensations.

Our daily usual customers include a group of about a dozen people who are drug users, ringlead by a guy with muscular dystrophy riding in a powered wheelchair which rides like a tank. He's a pretty good looking black guy with a cropped beard. One time, I got off the same bus as him and had to run to the shop because I was going to be a few minutes late and that wheelchair outran me, so I'm pretty sure he'll be able to outrun any cops. To interact with these drug users are a fun part of the day, all of them order either white chocolate with whip cream filled all the way like a frozen yogurt but the thing is that they are not really coherent like they are drunk or something like a bunch of zombies. They all seat at the same corner furthest from anyone and occasionally we'll see someone flashing some cash, which our manager will come out and tell them not to or she'll call the cops. On the sly though, my manager knows that the store somehow became one of their camps and they are paying customers, so there's nothing much she can do.

Last Monday, I needed to attend a orientation session with the local franchisee's headquarter which I was surprised to find out that the whole management is composed with all Cantonese-speaking Chinese. The trainer herself is a Cantonese speaker who spoke English better than mine, the CFO is a Chinese guy, so is a gaggle of office ladies in their cubicles, the only non-Cantonese person is a black receptionist named Leisha. The training session with about 30 people of different races happens in a large meeting room where along one of the walls lined pictures of their 34 branches and under each of these pictures was a small plague with the name of the person managing each of these stores. I scanned through the names of these people since one of them is my friend and the other is the store I currently working at, of these 34 people, 33 of them were Asian and later through my friend, I found out that the other is white. Also 33 of them were female. I'm sure the owner has some control issues and I can't help but wonder what were the thoughts in my fellow colleagues head when they found out that they will never become managers.

So that's my life right now, Wake up before the cocks crow, go to work, come back and go groceries shopping, cook, eat, watch and hour or two of TV and go back to sleep. I just finished a 12-day shift without rest and rest up on X'mas. I've gained a brand new perspective and a deep appreciation of the ways of people with low income. Instead odf settling for this or actually become a branch manager, I have to believe that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. With my persistent on job applications, I have received 4 phone interviews so far and I'm expecting to hear back from a few of them after New Year's. Maybe I'll have to go on a few more, face-to-face interviews to secure them, hopefully I'll get a new job come January or February. As much as I'm trying to be a good coffee seller, my hands are breaking up from touching too sanitizers all the time and my feet aches and throbs every night. The trick now is to be able to take off a day or two to go on interviews without raising suspicions. Wish me luck.

Read more...

Merry Christmas

Since I started my barista job three weeks ago, I have been working non-stop and don't have time for nearly anything else. I didn't even send my family and friends any X'mas cards like I do every year, so I hereby wish you all a merry X'mas and a very happy holidays.

Read more...

Cartoon Abuse

There's a new meme on Facebook urging people to change their profile picture to a childhood cartoon in hopes to fight child abuse. I saw a friend doing so and invited all his friends to do the same and I'm not too sure how it could possibly help but I did it anyway because it's fun to show others what had defined my childhood and this meme seemed to be a good excuse to do so.

A more realistic friend has posted an entry saying how naive people must be to think that by changing their profile picture, something so ingrained would somehow be magically affected or changed. His post include a link to a sarcastic blogpost at Gawker, while one of his friends wrote how she was abused when she was a kid and 1)She doesn't want to be reminded of that; 2)She finds the use of cartoon character trivialize something as serious as child abuse; and 3)If people really wants to help, they should donate to charity where people do actual work to prevent the abuse.

This sparks a huge discussion in the comments section with one side discrediting its effectiveness and how insensitive it is and the other side saying that it does at least sparks up awareness and conversation to a tabooed subject. I can see that the points made from both sides are valid but I don't see nothing wrong to have some naivete or changing the picture just for fun. Facebook is trivial anyway, it makes no sense to take anything on it too seriously.

Anyway, these are some of the cartoons that I grew up watching and loved:

Ikkyu-san (1975)



Ikkyu was the bastard child of a Japanese royalty who got sent to the temple to be a monk. Ikkyu was extremely smart and help people to solve their problems by sitting in a lotus position, licking his fingers and drawing circles on his bald head and meditate about the problem. He is the first one who taught me if you give a person a dollar and double everyday for a month, you'd be broke. It's quite the educational program for a kid.

The Smurfs (1981)



While I was living in Paris, I was alone a lot since my mom needs to work in order to support the both of us. I remember going to the giant supermarket a few blocks from our apartment and just sit in the middle of the aisle reading copies after copies of Smurfs. I also remember wearing PJs and going to school by myself but that's another story.

Inspector Gadget (1983)



Another companion of mine during my alone time. I think Inspector Gadget is the French version of Doraemon and near the end of each episode, I somehow always expect to find out how Dr. Claw actually looks like.

Ninja Hattori-kun (1981)



It's a cartoon about good ninjas versus bad ninjas. They introduce ninja tricks like they're magic and it was quite exciting for a 6 years old.

Gegege No Kitaro (1985)



It's a surprisingly dark cartoon for kids. The main character is a monster himself and his father is his own eyeball. Every week they go out to hunt down Japanese monsters that is harming people in one way or another, like ghost busters but Japanese. I was obsessed with this cartoon, in fact I'd still love to watch it all over again but it wasn't really published as a box set and even if it is, it probably won't have the English or Chinese subtitle, it'd be quite expensive and I doubt I'd love the quality of it.

I usually would use some characters of this cartoon as my iPod wallpaper because I thought the Sand Grandma character looks exactly like my own Grandma, which the boyfriend absolutely loathe because he thinks the cartoon grandma looks ugly and he just don't believe anyone could look that way. I don't find her ugly though. Haha.

Kimagure Orange Road (1987)



Another Japanese Anime that I love. It's about a love triangle with two bad girls and a guy with ESP. It's pretty much like a soap opera with high school teenagers. The girls belong to a school gang and they are trying to be good while a family of ESPer had just moved into town after being chased away for being special. The male character Kyosuke was forbidden to you his powers in public by his father for fear that their covers will get blown and they'll have to move again, but the main draw of this cartoon is the long haired Madoka who has a bunch of stylized fan art. She's like the most beautifully drawn female character of all time. Even as a gay man, I can't help but fall in love. Also the show has great upbeat music with her voice actress singing hypnotic songs. It was quite the memorable show for me.

Mr. Ajikko (1987)



Mr. Ajikko could be arguably the cartoon that has affected me the most. It is the show that inspired Iron Chef. This show is about a cooking genius holding up his family's diner after his dad had passed away. At the start of the show, his talent was quickly discovered by "The Chairman" who's daily work is to rate restaurants like the Zagats. The success of a chef hangs at his every word. Mr. Ajikko constantly have to get into cooking battles with random people to keep the diner survive or teach some moral lessons. It's a very creative and educational show that's worth watching. It's also over the top with light shining out of people's mouth and exaggerated exclamation of deliciousness. It taught me a few things about cooking.

Of course there are tons of other cartoons like Thunder Cats that helped shaped my childhood and it's impossible to list them all but he's a short list. What's yours?

---

I just got a very demanding job at a coffee shop that will require me to be there 60 hours a week, I might not have time or be too tired to blog. So excuse me if the postings are a bit sparse. I'm hoping to get an office job soon to be able to have a relatively normal life, wish me luck.

Read more...

Sunday Meme: Questions a la Randomness Meme

This week I attended a long ass training session at a retail company. 8 hours sitting in front of a computer non-stop going through orientation and company policies and stuff. It was hella boring, although I did learn a few things that I didn't know before.

If you bought something in full price and that same thing goes on sale within 10 days, you can actually get the difference back if you bring the item and the receipt back. If you don't have a receipt and take the item back to return it, you'll actually be able to get back store credit, but the amount would be the lowest in the past 180 days. Though there has to be a tag somewhere. Also I learned how to use a register.

This week's Meme comes from Sunday Stealing again. Have a good weekend!

What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
I went to my Holy Land Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ and got back a bunch of Japanese snacks, curry flavored crackers, chocolates, red bean/green tea buns, various rice crackers and choco flakes, chocolate coated corn flakes that goes good on ice cream sundaes, corn flakes coated french toast and any imaginable desserts. I also got bag in caramel flavor.



How late did you stay up last night and why?
Til 3 o'clock because I was watching TV, going online and reading the latest Rizzoli & Isles novel.

If you could move somewhere else, would you?
Maybe, depends on where and who with.

Have you ever been kissed under fireworks?
I don't remember when's the last time I went out to look at fireworks, it'd probably be when I was still in high school, so probably not.

Do you believe ex’s can be friends?
Depends on how you end things, some of my ex's and I had become friends.

When was the last time you cried really hard?
I don't remember. Honest to god!

What items could you not go without during the day?
It's a computer. I found out that I can go without my cell phone or my ipod.

Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
My friend Eriko when she had her second kid. Honestly I really hate going to the hospital, I guess there are some childhood trauma somewhere.

How do you feel about your life right now?
Not too great, but it's slowly looking upwards. I have hope.

If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find?
A recent correspondent with my cousin overseas, she's mailing me something, though I don't what.

Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?
Oh yes, unless chocolate is a drug, and it is!

Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
Somebody did, but it has been a long time before I've heard it.

Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m.: who do you want it to be?
A ghost since I live on the second floor looking out on a deserted alley.

Do you think too much or too little?
Too much.

Do you believe in fairy tales?
Not really, but I do believe in happy endings.

Have you ever licked the back of a CD to try to get it to work?
Yes. Maybe not licked but huffing on it.

What’s the largest age difference between yourself and someone you’ve dated?
26 years.

Have you ever been on a blind date?
Nope.

Do you have any friends that you’ve known for 10 years or more?
Definitely, though most of them are in Hong Kong.

Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?
Oh yes, I was probably 12 and I creeped out a handsome PE teacher.

What song do you want played at your funeral?
Ave Maria

Would you tell your parents if you were gay?
No. Since my parents are gone and my remaining family members are far away, I didn't think I need to concern them.

What would your last meal be before getting executed?
I would love some shanghainese food, especially the rice dumpling and a fried tofu noodle soup.

Do you walk around the house naked?
Yes, all the time.

What do you do as soon as you walk in the house?
Take off my clothes, duh.

Who is the person you can count on the most?
My boyfriend, I think. I mean, he should be, right? lol.

What is your favorite Holiday?
Usually it's X'mas but I think Halloween is creeping up to the top spot these past years.

Would you ever get plastic surgery?
A friend who works in the hospital just told me that cosmetic surgery is free for her and her colleagues. I imagine if I work there I could do so... many things. Liposuction and maybe a rhinoplasty to start.

Have you ever caught a fish?
Yes, I've gone fishing a couple times. One time at a lake, I got a couple catfish.

What is the first thing you notice about people?
Attitude. Isn't it strange?

What is the farthest you’ve been from home?
Depends on how you define home. I've been halfway across the world and I'm still away from my first home.

How did you meet your spouse or significant other (or most recent one)?
Online and then at a bar. Modern day romance are mostly conceived online, right?

Where was the last place you drove (other than home/school/work)?
Since I've only drove a few times in my life, I'd say it's about an hour north of here.

Read more...

Tax Cut Vs Tax Hike

While the Republicans are calling it a tax hike, it actually is a tax cut that is expiring. I do admire how they can twist a fact every time and make all their members spread it naturally. These PR sound bites are produced fast and on point with no one calling them out like the liars that they are. Instead of being investigative, the news media pretty much turned into a passive reactionary useless soundboard, which is a shame.

The rich wants Bush's Tax Cut For The Rich (a term that needs to be repeated again and again) to remain intact, and so the Rich donates to politicians to make that happen. Since Obama is in power and he stated that he would let the cut expire on its own, the Democrats will not blatantly contradict their own leader, so it's left for the Republicans to come out with trickle down theories or "raising tax for someone is raising it for everyone" or Obama is Hitler to rally for the cause. No one would want to associate their own name with a tax hike, except perhaps this guy:



I guess since the guy is an Independent and doesn't belong to any party, he can feel free to say whatever he likes. Maybe Independents don't get much corporate donations? Whatever the case, I'm glad someone came out to point to the obvious. We are in somewhat of a recession with an unemployment rate of 10%, how do you convince folks that the rich really needed that tax cut? By invoking the general bad feelings of an administration headed by a black guy? By invoking camaraderie between castes that was never really there in the first place? Or by creating a fantasy that the poor will somehow benefit from the tax cut as well?



Here's Sarah Palin trying her bat at option 1, clearly trying to associate the tax hike to the big scary ObamaCare. Why reinvent the wheels when it worked so well last time? I'm still baffled on how this woman become the Right's go to person on knowledge when all she offers are nonfactual soundbites like thinking that the action of Wikileaks can be considered as treason. The woman is nothing but a female wannabe version of W. at best.

Giving rich people money and wait for it to trickle down is no different than giving poor people money and wait for it to trickle up. No matter who you're giving money to, they will eventually spend it and it will stimulate the economy. The only different is that rich folks buy big items and their money will end up benefiting Europe and poor folks buy small mass manufactured items and their money will likely end up benefiting Asia. The problem is that US doesn't manufacture much anymore, the best we can do is to give the money to middle class who's most likely to purchase local products and services. And no, not many people get to the top 1% income bracket overnight, so it's still hard for me to understand why people would follow the thinking process of benefiting from the tax cut when we get rich. It just doesn't happen like that.

However, I am stumped when a guy in the forum (presumably rich) asked why he needs to pay so much more amount-wise to get the same crappy services that everyone else is getting and I sometimes wonder the same on gay people not getting the same rights and paying for things like school tax that may not benefit us at all. I would assume, though, that rich people have a lot more at stake, so I don't think it'll help anyone to see the country's economy goes down the drain and if the whole country does so poorly that all the local industries can easily be bought up by foreign countries, that wouldn't do anyone any favors either. On top of it, bad economy usually translate to a higher crime rate and the rich are far bigger targets than anyone else.

One unsettling rumor is that the Democrats are trying to used the remainder of the year to pass a few important legislation during the upcoming lame duck session and the GOP sworn to block every bill until the Tax Cut For The Rich is extended. Democrats might cave into their demands just to get bills including the DREAM Act passed. First, even those bills might be important, are they really worth the trade off on a solution that can reduce the national deficit? I'm not into negotiating with hijackers and terrorists alike. I much rather the American people suffer through two years of seeing Republicans blocking every proposal passing through congress, at least then they might see how destructive they can be and Obama might still have a chance in 2012. Though if the tax cut really get extended as a trade off, I'm sure some Democrats who receive big donations can give a sigh of relief while still blame the Republicans for being corrupt in the same breath.

Read more...

Days of Our Huh?

I nearly choked on spit laughing uncontrollably watching Stephen Colbert last night because of his report on a new TV trend on the old show Days of Our Lives. I guess product placement has grown out of its shy phase and now it's full on and blatant.



No longer is the product just sitting in a corner quietly facing the camera, now it has to be a bit in the show; an awkward excerpt that stands out so much that it's almost comedic.





Wanchai Ferry? Really? I personally love the episode where George drove over the cliff in his Jaguar and got amnesia (while the car is pristine and unharmed) and had to rely on the nutrients of V8 juice to gain back his memory. That episode was epic.

I guess soap operas had to find a way to survive, though I'm pretty sure with these awkward scenes, it's more likely that they will lose viewership than to gain new ones.

Read more...

Job Woes

I've been pounding the pavements for months, checking job listings in about 20 sites everyday, applying for things that I think I was qualified for but at most I get an email weeks later saying that they are considering "candidates that more closely match their needs" or other more polite ways of rejection. Others doesn't even bother to make a sound.

From all the applications, I've seen a trend that mostly 90 percent of all posting on the online job boards are from placement companies that post positions that may or may not exist. They are mostly fishing for information of where the candidates might have interviewed or applied before and their former employment information, so they can contact those people and ask if they have any employment needs so the employer can hire through them and they will pay job seeker's 50% to 75% of what the employers are paying them. With one of such company, I have gone through a lengthy employment process including a drug screening just so I can work for 3 days and get $200, then never heard from them again.

So more vulture-like companies post fake job ads and then call you to say that I should pay them for trainings to increase my chances of employment, which is not guaranteed. When I tell them that I don't have any money to give them, they say that unemployment will generally compensate for the trainings and I should really invest in myself. Of course, they don't care whether I do learn or not, they are only interested in money. They don't really care if I'm desperately in need or a job and don't have time to entertain them.

I thought the retail stores would need some holiday help, because it's the case for past years and so I applied for a job at a clothing store and despite being a minimum wage job, it's some income. But after going a questionnaire, a phone interview and a face-to-face interview, the person told me that all the holiday position had been filled a while back, she's just doing it for protocol and the next day she has a job fair to hold that was scheduled months back even though she doesn't need people anymore. Well, thanks for nothing. I've considered taking a loan from the bank but I have nothing for them for collateral. Friends did offer to loan me money but while not having much, I do have my pride.

Through it all, I did learn some lessons. I used to spend everything that I earn and itching to find an excuse to spend and treat people to meals when my bank account grows. Now I know the importance to plan for a future. At the same way, I understand my importance to invest and be strategic in my professional development. I didn't know better to set a goal or to plan a career path for myself. I was comfortable in a moderately well-paid job that didn't go anywhere. I confess my sins.

Now, the clothing store has contacted me for a full-time position that pays next to nothing and another friend has called me about working temporarily in a coffee shop that pays even less but the friend told me that I can take off anytime when a job interview comes up. It's a good thing I have considerate friend that understand my situation and my needs. I reckon, I can perhaps work both jobs to get a passable income. It would mean working 65 hours a week and not getting paid nearly as much as before or the unemployment that I've been getting but I'm trying to shoulder the responsibility of being self-reliant and becoming an adult. At least I can be doing while keep on applying for a steadier job.

Between all this, I'm worried that the relationship between me and the boyfriend will strain because of the hours I'll be keeping. During the two years that we are dating I have been largely available because of my unemployment. If I'm working 65 hours a week like I'm planning to, I will be missing out on a lot of quality time between us and if I'm ever off, I'll probably be exhausted. I probably won't be much of a boyfriend and it could be quite unfair to him. I'm worried that we might grow distant. I know that it's probably me and my own anxiety and at this cloudy point of my life, I don't know what kind of future is available to me and the ones I love and for that I'm saddened. I guess I have to remain optimistic, persistent and take things one day at a time. It's part of growing up, even though it takes me all these years to realize and get started.

Read more...

Wearable Foods

Since my life has been pretty much about food all week since last Tuesday, let me bombard you with another food post - Wearable foods. Designed by Korean artist Sung Yeonju.


Lotus Root


Eggplant


Banana


Bubble Gum


Bubble Gum Again


Winter Mushroom (Enoki?)


Tomato


Tomato Again


White Radish (Daikon?)


Spring Onion


Red Cabbage


Shrimp

Obviously these are very unpractical and might change color, decompose or break off at any minute, not to mention the foul odor they will be emitting but they are still very interesting to look at. I wonder if I can borrow the concept for Halloween next year.

Read more...

Thanksgiving Meal: A Photo Essay

I'm continue to be baffled about cooking for parties, in which I'm unable to understand how much food I have to cook for the amount of people participating. I'm sure there's a standard something saying 1 serving of meat plus 2.5 sides per person somewhere, some experienced caterer probably know but not me. Every time there's a party I go hog wild thinking the things I can cook and most of the time I end up with leftovers but then it's usually ok, since people would take stuff home.

Apparently I don't know how much ingredients cost either, we started out saying $15 a person and expected 20 but at the end it ended up costing about $450 just for ingredients and booze and we got 25 attendees. If I were ever to open up a catering business I would most definitely go lose money.

I do enjoy cooking and the planning part of it. Every time I create a cheat sheet for it and it's most fun. It reminds me of academia which I used to take these notes that is more or less a paper saving game for me.



If you're interested to recreate the recipes, do enlarge the picture to read from it, I might suggest to be slightly generous on the salt and pepper end. The twice baked potato involved some piping action that is both messy and enjoyable. I altered the recipe and put some smoked turkey in it and they turned up pretty good. I also tried a new roast beef technique by just salting it and put it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours to day up the meat. It's called "dry brining" and the beef turned out juicing and softer, it worked!



I try my damndest to put some vegetables in my friends so that they can have a balanced meal but the people I hang with go crazy with meats and not much else, so I have to resort to bacon wrapping them. We didn't have a chicken or a turkey because from experience, no one seems to know how to cut and after cooking a whole day I'm not going to be serving as well.



Even though they don't go for vegetables, they would go for this lobster fruit salad. We bought a big lobster for it but it didn't yield much meat at all. I much rather buy shrimps, they are more meaty and plentiful. Gutting the lobster was a bit of a hassle too, and the lobster was so fresh that it was quite dirty, some hazard of being a cook.



That's the spread here: Mushroom sherry soup, spiced roast beef, pineapple baked ham, popovers, pumpkin orzo risotto with scallops, green bean bacon rolls, cauliflower gratin and twice baked potatoes





A benefit of having Asian friends is that there's bond to have a few photographers around. My friend's father who was present was an award winning photographer and another younger guy has a very stylized iPhone app that got a close up of the roast beef here:



For dessert, one of them made tiramisu and another made a cheesecake that uses sponge cake as the base and then a layer of red bean cream cheese and a layer of green tea mousse on top that was marvelous. I'll try to recreate it sometimes.



After playing til 5:00 in the morning, everyone was quite exhausted and some turned into drunken messes. All around, we had a very merry time. 27 days til X'Mas.

Read more...

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

It's Thanksgiving again, the year when by pretty fast. Hope you're enjoying your family and expecting an exciting feast. Be careful on your travels!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Read more...

Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

It's hard to believe that Daniel Radcliffe was 12 when he acted in the first ever Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone back in 2001. He has surely grown up fast, now he's of age and legal playing a 17 year old in this latest installment. I wish the movie releases were closer together so that 1) Dan and his gang of friend looks younger, 2) I can still remember the plot of the previous films. Not having read the books, I'm not too familiar with the plot points and I get lost sometimes.

In this final 2-parter, Harry is still on a campaign to destroy the absolute villain Lord Voldemort and during his journey, he lost a lot of his allies, notably Professor Dumbledore. The story is getting gloomier and gloomier to the point that is quite uncharacteristic of a children's novel. How do million of kids handle lost, death and vengeance? How could we expect parents of these kids explain all these issues to them?

The mood of the whole movie is dark and every scene is gloom and doom, the wonder of magic tricks has turned into killing spells with light blood and gore. It's not your "Wingardium Leviosa" anymore. It's kill or be killed. While the connection between Harry and Voldemort is still strong, Harry must find Voldemort's horcruxes and find a way to destroy them. With Voldemort's cohorts getting into power, Harry must evade their pursuit and look for clues left by Professor Dumbledore.

Harry is playing the fugitive this time so there's a lot of outdoor living scene, but since this movie act as a build up for the grand finale, it is quite anti-climatic. I come out of it feeling the general gloominess and a bit unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, the story-telling is superb, the acting and the special effects are great but nothing much can be expected from a build-up movie.

I heard that the finale is going to be in 3D and I mourn that it'll be the end of a fantastic story but I guess it's time. Only great story seems short and the guys are not getting any younger.

Read more...

Asian Artists Introduction: Far*East Movement

I have always feel sorry that there aren't more Asians in the spotlight, it seems like whenever they have an Asian movie star, they had to know Kung Fu or well established overseas in order for the American audience to embrace them. Bruce Lee, Mr. Miyagi, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li all knew some sort of martial arts, it's not until lately with John Cho, Lucy Liu, Ken Jeong and Tim Kang that we see Asian actors mainstream.

Musically, it's even fewer. Cibo Matto was popular for a second, Miho Hatori from that group transformed into Gorillaz' Noodles for a minute. Some half-Filipino action with N.E.R.D's Chad Hugo and Black Eye Pea's Apl.De.Ap but other than that there's practically nothing. Classical music doesn't count. So I'm really excited when the group Far*East Movement was brought to my attention.

Four Asian guys with different background managed to produce a hit single that reached No. 1 of the US Billboard 100 chart. Merits aside, I'm not sure that any other Asian group has managed such a feat. It's an United Colors ad of East Asia with members Kev Nash being of Japanese decent, Prohgress who has Chinese ancestry, J-Splif being Korean and Filipino DJ Vermin, they started doing club gigs while they were in high school. Later on one of their song "Round Round" was featured in The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack. After some collaborations in 2008 with budding stars like Bruno Mars, their song "Girls on the Dance Floor" was featured in America's Best Dance Crew, So You Think You Can Dance and CSI: Miami.



Last month, their debut album Free Wired came out and features collaborations with artists like Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars, Keri Hilson, Lil Jon and Ryan Tedder from One Republic. Their single "Like a G6" has 24 million views since 5 months ago and left lots of remix and parodies in its wake.



The follow up to "Like a G6" is a cute ballad featuring Ryan Tedder called "Rocketeer":



I'm quite glad that have spiffed up their image and going with geek squad on the weekend look. I didn't even mind them wearing sunglasses indoors and at night to hide their "Asian features". Honestly, their looks on the original video during their Tokyo Drift phase makes them look like wannabes. Personally though, I still have a slight problem with J-Splif's pony tail, his "evil Asian" mustache, or his slight slime ball looks. If I'm managing a boy band, he'll probably be the first guy I cut but if it works for them than that's all that matters.



Hip Hop dance music is still on trend even though there's no much substance to it but it seems like they do have some skills. One of their claim to fame, I found, was that when they first started out they organized a concert in LA and gave all the proceed to a local youth drug rehabilitation center which is quite admirable in my book. I hope they will managed to hang in there for a while. It's not everyday that we see a group of Asian artists making it. I hope their success will inspire record companies to pick up more Asian artists and audiences will learn to accept them as well.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to Jersey Shore wannabes "K-Town"?

Read more...

Let The TSA Feeling Up Your T&A

So airport security has implemented new protocols for travelers just in time for its holiday seasons. For the selected few, they will be put through a full body scan. Apparently they have finally developed x-ray vision that those kids magazine had long promised and now they can truly see through your clothes. Since no one really want to be humiliated and be seen naked and no one know whether the technology used would cause harm to the human body, you can choose to be humiliated in another way which a TSA agent will come and do an extensive pat down which includes a groin check.

That's our freedom here, one idiot put a bomb in his shoes and everyone have to take off their shoes when they are traveling by plane; one stupid asshole make an underwear bomb and now everyone is at risk to go through more and more invasive procedures. The whole thing is annoyingly stupid. Terrorists wanted Americans to be paranoid and now we are, it is almost like they aimed to take our freedom from us and they have succeeded.

Out of all that, this guy have coined the next "Don't tase me, bro!":



"If you touch my junk, I will have you arrested!". You can either be filmed naked or get groped, not much of a choice there and if you refuse to do both, you won't be allowed to travel and you'll be sued for $10,000. How can the US of A who pride ourselves for being the Land of the Free forces its citizens to go through that?



Apparently it has became an international joke.





There's got to be a smarter way to work this, no? What if the next terrorist put a bomb up his butt, does it mean that we'll all be selected for a douche and a cavity search? Even being selected 50% of my travels, I've never minded racial profiling much. It is definitely irritating but never this invasive. You can already find hundreds of videos on Youtube about old ladies, little kids and cancer survivors being physically molested, no doubt this bad feeling will be heightened during the holidays and then the right will put this on the Obama tab.

The new measures make me want to travel less or at least use other means of travel if I can. Airline companies should fight this, travelers have rights too and not being groped should be one. At least not until a shoe bomb or an underwear bomb made it to the plane and killed someone. Sorry someone have to die to justified the humiliation and inconvenience of millions others; If they have caught the bombs before, it means that the prior measures work and there's no need for additional invasive security procedures.

That being said, how does one go about getting a job to be a groper?

Read more...

Mr. Gay Aftermath

Last week, Philadelphia hosted the 2010 Mr. Gay USA pageant at Club Voyeur which apparently rendered a small attendant. It's no wonder, nobody could really be that interested in a pointless pageant with an entrance fee of $40. Honestly, we're going through a difficult time and few of us have the extra bucks to go see a contest for a meaningless title.

My friend, a budding local journalist, Nicholas went to the show and ranted in an article he did for PhillyGayCalendar.com about how utterly purposeless to have a Mr. Gay competition. Especially when the mission statement of the organization is to "...advocate international equal rights by confirming the essential nature and contributions of gay men to a healthy society where gay is not a stereotype." while the event is basically a hot body contest with hairless twinks walking around in speedos and the whole thing happens in a gay bar. Talking about stereotypical, I mean, can you spell irony?

His article was reblogged by some other blogger who agreed with Nick's point of view and both the article and the blog entry received some slacks from the organizer who stated that they are creating more hate in our own already hated community.

Nick advocates for the winner to do some social work like helping with preventing teen suicide, I mean some responsibility should come with the title to make it more meaningful, right? In practice, that might be a bit difficult to do. We don't exactly have a gay Donald Trump or Hugh Hefner that looks for young things for playmates and they don't exactly receive a job or a living stipend for them to invest a large amount of time to do community service. Do they get anything more than a sash?

Another issue with the competition is the lack of inclusion. From what I can see, they are all hairless muscular lean twinks representing a few gay hot spots like D.C., Asbury Park, Virginia Beach. Out of the 20 contestants, 4 are from California 4 are from Pennsylvania and 3 from New York State. No one came from San Francisco, Boston or Seattle. Only one came from middle America. The two only blond ones got 1st and second place. Obviously the contest is not meant to be taken seriously.

It's USA Mr. Gay like how the World Series is representing the world, it doesn't represent all of USA or all spectrum of gay people for that matter. If there was ever a Mr. USA contest, I think it's best to emulate the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show right down to the cupping of the balls. (Can I apply for the ball cupper position?) Rent out a conference center and hold a brief event/house battle of each individual stereotype groupings and select the best one for each: Frat/jock, gay nerds, gym bunny, roid pigs, bears (of all kinds), wolf, cub, chubs, hipster, man in suits, slaves, masters, kink, daddy, smaller stature (boy toy), fems, twinks, freaks and the what have you's. And then from the champion of each group select the best in show. Now that kind of competition I'll pay to see.

There is no need for the competition but were there any need for any competition or a dog show for that matter? It's a distraction, a form of entertainment for the few who finds this kind of stuff interesting. Though I don't think it's $40 interesting since obviously there's no $40 worth of substance in it anywhere.

Read more...

Weekend Meme: Thanksgiving Food Meme

There won't be a turkey or any cranberry sauce for me this year. I'm a little bummed but I guess it's not gonna be too important.

1. What are the traditional favorites?
Turkey and cranberry sauce, it's a good combination.

2. What new recipes will you try this year?
A cauliflower gratin and a dressing with chestnuts.

3. What part of the meal do you never compromise?
I rarely give up desserts for other people to make, but there's a first for everything.

4. Who gets to carve the turkey?
I usually do, but it's not a tradition for me or something that I particularly enjoy doing.

5. Family style around the table or buffet style and everyone sits wherever there’s room?
I'm fine either way but there's something about sitting around the table as a family that brings people closer together as a group.

6. How many will be at your table this year?
About 20, though people might brings friends and extras.

7. Three best pies for Thanksgiving dessert?
Apple, pumpkin and pecan. They are more fitting for thanksgiving but I don't particularly enjoy pumpkin or pecan. My favorite pie is banana cream, but that doesn't have anything to do with any holidays.

8. Cranberry sauce… yay or nay?
Yay with turkey. There's something about a chunk of cranberry sauce with the grooves from the can that add a bit of decadent trashiness to the whole thing.

9. What time do you eat Thanksgiving Dinner?
I usually have a problem eating holiday meals in late afternoon. This year for me will be 8pm.

10. Favorite leftover?
Any leftovers are good leftovers. After cooking a big meal, I'd like to have enough food around so I don't have to cook anytime too soon.

Have a great weekend!

Read more...

Musical Talent of Jimmy Fallon

Other than the two fake news shows from Comedy Central and E!'s Chelsea Lately, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is pretty much the only show I look forward to watching. Ironic, since when it first started I fought it tooth and nail. But with the help of The Roots and the light-hearted skits, I grew to like the show and appreciate his kind of humor. Even though he has sung some silly songs on SNL, his act seems to be a lot more mature and more polished now and his musical talents seems to be able to shine through.




Somehow it is Springsteen that seems out of place here.

Read more...

Dancing With The Stars As A Metaphor

Ever since the latest results of Dancing With The Stars were announced on Tuesday night, it had been non-stop Palin coverage again. I was gonna do a summary on the subsequent events but I was just a tad too late and Jon Stewart had done it for me. That's convenient.



Yes, despite mediocre performances Bristol Palin is in the top 3 of Dancing With The Stars. So how did she manage to stay in the contest despite being in dead last score-wise week after week? Apparently the same rings true for her as it is for her mom, their supporters don't care about abilities or merits. They will blindly support them, which led me to believe that her claim that she can beat Obama in the upcoming presidential race to be true.



Given how Democratic support has been weakened by the perceived inaction and even though Sarah Palin did quit midway through her gubernatorial term to go for the more lucrative reality TV and Fox News career. The Democrats, on the other hand, seems to be allergic to negative campaigns that point out their opponents weakness. The poll did indicate that there were less Democratic supporter coming out to vote in the last election. To make my argument more solid, I always refer back to 2004 when W. got reelected. Anything could happen no matter how undesirable it might be.

After an episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, one of Willow Palin's classmates Tre put a status update on Facebook in which triggers the Mama Grizzly within Willow and she lashed out with gay slurs to defend her family.



It would have been admirable if she could have cleaned up her language, but then the Palins weren't exactly known for their intelligence or making good decisions. On top of it Willow is a 15 and her sister is an unwed mom, it would be somewhat unreasonable to expect little Willow to be polished. Within this exchange, Bristol Palin also chimed in to say to another boy named Jon: "You'll be as successful as my baby daddy, And actually I do work my ass off. I've been a single mom for the last two years." Disillusioned much?

Bristol Palin is hardly a star and we are still scratching our heads on how she qualified for the show, her dancing abilities are mediocre at best and let's not use the word "talent" to measure it. Just because she made the tragic mistake of bearing a child and giving birth before she's of age or married doesn't get her the honorable title of a "single mom" even thought technically she is one. It makes her an "unwed mom" or a "teenage mom". A "single mom" is usually reserved for a person who is below poverty line and has to work a couple jobs in order to provide for herself and her kid. I don't think that applies to Bristol Palin.

For a show to have Bristol Palin on their 11th season to increase ratings from the right, Tea Partiers and their spawns but while that might be true, the show has also lost the rest of America. It is quite an analogy of right-wing panderers and our democracy, isn't it? Good thing I'm not so invested in DWTS, I don't own a gun and I love my TV too much to shoot it. Too bad for Brandy, she should know that in most voting competitions, minorities go first, just look at Margaret Cho.

Where can a show goes from here? How does it retain any credibility and its viewership from this skewed point of view? Are they going to have Levi Johnston on next time, or Ann Coulter? One thing that we learned for sure from all this is that voters aren't always right AND that television in general is moving towards the right. Scary.

Read more...

Thanksgiving Plans 2010

This year, I got invited by my former colleague and her vegetarian friends to go for a thanksgiving celebration but I'm feeling a little ho hum since the last time I saw them was a year ago when I didn't have a job and another year has gone by and my situation hasn't changed one bit. I cannot possibly seat through a meal feeling that way, I think I rather be at home. Well, that and the fact that they are vegetarians and they wanted me to bring a vegetable dish. How could I live up to the expectation when vegetables are all they eat? And to be politically incorrect, I'm just not excited about eating vegetables on Thanksgiving.

For Black Friday, my Straizian friends have invited me over to their place in hops that I will cook a meal for them and 20 something of our closest friends. It'll be a lot of work but I don't have a problem doing that. It's fun for me. But as the counter extreme from the vegetarians, my Straizian friends are carnivores especially for red meat. In the past two Thanksgivings, I have roasted turkey and chickens but they find carving their own piece of meat out of something with bones to be too troublesome so we won't be having any birds unless I sneak some turkey sausage in the form of a stuffing. As a rule when I cook for them, they always request dishes that I cook for them last and it usually bore me just a tad. So I decided to forgo the paella and steaks for a more traditional and earthy fare:

Sherry Wild Mushroom Soup
Cheddar Biscuits
Rib Roast
Glazed Ham
Turkey Sausage & Chestnut Stuffing
Pumpkin Seafood Orzo
Twice Baked Potatoes
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
Cauliflower Gratin

As in each and every gathering, someone will make a fruit salad with grape, apple, orange and a big amount of mayo and put lobster in it, which is quite a peculiar thing. It must have been an Asian thing since when I grew up these mayo/miracle whip salad was popular. My grandma used to make one with boiled eggs, potatoes, ham cubes, canned pineapple and everything else under the sun that I adore. I was proud to take that dish to every school picnic and parties. Now I realized that it might not have been the healthiest thing. Though the lobster fruit salad might just be on the sweeter side. Others will bring tiramisu and a cheesecake for dessert which will alleviate some work, though I do like making desserts.

All I have to do now is just have to write out all the ingredients I need so we can shop for them. Wish me luck, next week is going to be a busy week.

Read more...

The Flip-Flopitty-Flopetting of The McCains

To say that Senator McCain doesn't care about gay rights is an understatement. Not only does John McCain doesn't care about gay rights, it seems that he will do anything to be in the way of progress. He wanted top military general to come out and state their point of views on DADT and when a few of them came out and say it wouldn't be a big deal to have openly gay soldiers serving, he opt for a study. And when the study show sign that the soldiers supported repealing DADT. He says the first one didn't asked the right questions, clearly when things don't go his way, he will say and do anything to discredit it. What question should be asked? "If an AIDS ridden homosexual wiggles his butt in front of you in close quarters, do you think it will affect morale?"

Senator McCain is very invested in the issue for some reason and he's doing all he can to filibuster and block DADT from being repealed which is very suspicious since he won't be serving in the military again in the near future.



Seen here twisting the facts about how Major Mike Almy was booted out of the armed services after the government snooped into his private emails. So what could McCain possibly gain from lying and being on the wrong side of history? Is he receiving a huge of private donations from right-wing homophobes for being the spokesman of their crowd or is it his own military pride and homophobia talking?

And then what's this?



A closeted man overcompensating by marrying a much younger Cindy McCain and texting random guidette old enough to be his granddaughter?

While Cindy McCain surprisingly come out in support of the NoH8 Campaign and desperately holding onto it like it's her only claim to fame, she also stands by her husband's stance on DADT like she's some kind of gay rights authority.



So gay shouldn't serve in the military but "no hate"! It's like people who hate gays but loved to watch "Will and Grace". But then who really cares what Cindy McCain thinks? We know her because she married John McCain, not because she's a great American thinker or social commentator. But then what do you do when you found out that you've married a bigot?

With people like John McCain raising his personal requirements on the repealing of DADT at will, we can see why activist group GetEQUAL is upping the ante and chaining themselves to the White House again. The truth is though, there's no pleasing McCain and others; top officials came out and they did not persuade him, nor would the survey findings or the hearings about the study (or another study or a study about the study). McCain lost the last election and he will do anything to discredit any progress happening under Obama or make himself heard as much as possible over the most trivial things. McCain is clearly unreasonable and Dan Choi should just give up.



---

Here's a better version from Rachel Maddow:

Read more...