Chinese New Year

I had a Chinese New Year party yesterday at my apartment. I invited my colleagues at work. Some of them made it as well as my boss and his family. My boss has a six year old daughter, Emma, and a baby boy. I showed Emma how to make sushi and she loved it. She kept rolling and rolling and turned out some of the best-made sushi of the day. She didn't eat a single piece though. Like other kids of her age, she refuses to try new things. But, boy, did she have a good time making sushi. I also taught her how to play Uno Attack and she liked that too. Near the end, my boss, her wife, Emma, and I played a couple games of foolsball. To everyone's surprise, Emma was such a natural. She was playing offense and I was on defense. She scored one goal after another, finally beating her mom and dad by a score of 10 to 3. She was so excited... screaming and yelling... high-5ing with me. I wonder if she had a nightmare last night because of all the excitement.

I love kids. Maybe because I am a kid myself. I wonder when I am going to have one of my own.

命宮

按部就班，要求完美
多愁善感，逃避現實
一生財務為積蓄而來
本性優柔寡斷、喜歡幻想
腳踏兩條船、感情用事
容易退讓、知足快樂
善解人意、體貼溫柔的個性
救援性很強
最喜歡把積蓄拿去買些浪漫的事物或書籍
詩情畫意的生活一直是他們心中所響往的
喜歡買耐久實用經濟的東西，不會都買最好的
喜歡花錢在跟大自然的接觸上
溫文儒雅、注重漫浪情調
容易就會被聰明機智、臨場反應佳的人所吸引
容易跟熱情、熱心、肯幫大家解決問題的人配在一起,互補的作用

oh... seems to be right on the money. not bad. Some truth to it. Some truth to it.

The Notebook

I cried. I did. I cried for the passion of their love... for his unfailing stubbornness... for her following her heart... for the trials that they had to go through.... for the cruelness of dementia... for their leaving this world holding hands, together, inseparable, forever, as one....

His Dark Materials

I finished reading the trilogy by Phillip Pullman a couple weeks ago. They were great stories. I highly recommend them. I had to finish all three books at once; I just couldn't put it down once I started reading. Despite being written for children or young adults, the stories takes on a different layer of meanings if you are willing to look beyond. Pullman made many references to the Bible in the novels... but many of them were gnostic ideas. And he also took a rather opposing stance to the Church in the stories. However, that didn't bother me a whole lot.

The novels drew many ideas from science, mostly physics... quantum mechanics for example... the idea of parallel universes set up the background of the stories. That's another reason for me to like the novels.

The idea on dæmon was also very interesting. In the stories, the characters in one world (not ours, but an parallel world) have dæmon. A dæmon is kinda like one's soul or consciousness but takes on a form of animal, usually of opposite sex. When you are a kid, your dæmon can change form, from one animal to the next. But once you reach an adult age, your dæmon will change no more but settle on a particular animal. How interesting the world would be if each of us has a dæmon. This idea was in my head so much, I even daydreamed that I had my own dæmon.

I think this trilogy is perhaps a better read than Harry Potter. But then I only read one Harry Potter book.

Pullman is a very good story teller. You won't be disappointed if you find time to read one of his novels. I heard that they are turning the triology into movies. Think the movies will rival Lord of the Ring if they are made well.

蘇東坡肉

I made this dish last night with a recipe my mom gave me. I was really surprised how tender the porkbelly got. Afterall I did steam it for couple of hours. If you don't mind the fat (which I love), give it a try.

蘇東坡肉

材料:五花腩10両.青菜4両.
調味:紅曲米1両,鹽,酒,生粉,各1湯匙.冰糖2安士,麻油1茶匙,生油2茶匙.
香料:薑2片.蔥2條.桂皮1塊.

製作:
(1)方腩肉飛水,洗淨去毛,修边切成正方形待用.
(2)放1杯水入鑊.要冷水放入紅曲米待煮滚.去渣.水留用.
(3)燒紅鑊.放入1茶匙油瀑薑片.然後放入酒.紅曲米水.鹽.冰糖.桂皮.煮滚後倒入盛器.
蒸2小時.
(4)取出腩肉.多餘之汁掛芡.加入麻油倒在肉面ok.
(5)煮滾水,加入1茶匙生油,煮青菜.圍在碟边即成.

 

Pictures

I finally took some pictures as I promised a long while ago. On the right is my townhouse apartment. It's got a garage at the back. I love my apartment. It's quiet and cozy.

Also went out for a walk in the afternoon. A park by the river, quite close to where I live. It has a nice prairie. The weather has been unseasonably warm lately and been raining a lot. But today was great. The sun was out and the sky was blue.

Any idea what this plant is? Very odd looking. Got some cotton like stuff in its fruit. I'll have to consult my ecologist colleague at work. (My colleague said this is a milk weed.)

I think this is called the indian caves. Water cuts throught the sandstone and upstream of this little waterfall has some very nice formation with deep gouges.

Kankakee River... I heard the smallmouth bass fishing is pretty good in this river. I have to try my luck in the spring time.


Some more pictures:

Happy New Year!

2006.

I celebrated the new year with a bunch of friends. We went skiing during the day, had dinner in Chicago Chinatown, and for the new year countdown, we had champagne. Not bad a day, huh? My whole body is pretty sore from skiing. Can't imagine if I can even move my body in the morning. But skiing was fun. It was my second time around. This one was much better than the first and I could actually control where I am going. But I still couldn't really stop very well. A perfect technique I had mastered for stopping was to fall down. The tangled legs and ski ensured the stop. Very effective!

Anyway, I hope all of you had a great time tonight.