Completely THL'ed

It was not my first time to go to Tin Heung Lau (天香樓) but I was excited. Instead of going with friends, I took my in-laws there to celebrate the birthday of my sister-in-law and we invited couple friends to join us.

Changunnie had a rough day (see the previous post) and she fell asleep right before we got to the restaurant. Grandma, Gomo (my sister-in-law) and our niece from Seoul were late because they took the long route to the restaurant from TST. My friend was also stuck in the traffic and so we started our three appetizers without them. I don't know about other people but I love my Malantou (馬蘭頭 Indian aster with tofu). The taste is an acquired taste but I love it. It is different from ordinary vegetables and somehow recalls good memory from childhood. We also ordered the drunken pigeon (not the most popular dish of the night) and the country pate (肴肉). Changunnie ate ALL of the gelatine but not the meat. I suppose that tells you which part is the good part.





The one thing that I cannot vote for THL is the service, we told them to hold off but they decided to rush the dishes onto the table. First came the deep fried frog legs which was very juicy and yummy. Grandpa finished his frog leg before we told him it was frog and he said he wouldn't have eaten it if he knew but he said it was yummy, thinking it was very small spring chicken!



Then came the Shanghainese vegetable with salted pork (鹹肉塌窩菜). The vegetables has a bitter taste and again not something that average people love right away. I was happy that no one competed with me for the Winter specialty and I finished half of the veg all by myself. The salted bacon gave the bitterness of the veg a very nice tweak.



When I was still munching on the veg, the double fried bacon came. It's a dish that I loved as a kid. It's greasy but also very hearty. Some people wouldl probably say I shouldn't pay the price at THL for it but where else uses quality pork the way THL does? So often I get pieces of poorly executed fried fat.



Changunnie loves stir fried river shrimp and so I ordered the one without Longjing tea leaves. Whilst the tea leaves version is a famous dish at THL, I never really like it as the flavour of the THL version doesn't come out and I don't see why I should pay for it. To my disappointment, they put a dish of tea leaves version on our table. My face changed and the waiter said "Oh! It's famous at our restaurant. Try it!" Looking at Changunnie's hungry face, I didn't ask to exchange but was definitely unhappy as I stressed three times in different ways, "No tea leaves please"



More food came out, first the smoked yellow croaker. We ordered enough for each person to have more than a quarter of a fish and still all we saw within 10 minutes was the bone. When it comes to quality yellow croaker, we are like piranha. The yellow croaker at THL lived up to its reputation. Changunnie happily chowed down a quarter of a fish with skin!



I was quite full at that point despite the fact that I was busy feeding Changunnie. The fried mushroom and bamboo shoots arrived. It is another favourite of mine. The beggar's chicken arrived soon afterwards. Whilst everyone was impressed by the chicken. I thought it was a little on the dry side. My favourite has always been the stuffing though. I can eat that with a bowl of rice.




Finally, the highlight of the night arrived. The crab roe on a big plate was impressive. The waiter wanted to put the roe into our noodle but I insisted to let the guests to have the satisfaction of mixing their own noodle. To my surprise, Changunnie liked it and she ate half of my bowl.




At that point, we were done with the red wine and the Shaoxing wine. I asked for the fermented rice soup with rice dumplings but they told me that it was out of stock!?! I was so disappointed. We finished our dinner at a record 1.25 hours. When we were done, it wasn't 8:45 yet.

Will I go back to THL? Yes for the food. Will I say it's a great place? No because of the service.

By the way, I checked out their kitchen. It's a small place but the staff manage to install a TV for canto soap. No wonder they rushed everyone to finish the dinner as quickly as possible. They don't want to miss the prime time show! Four heads stove with the ring and you could hear the fire roaring. No wonder they can cook the bacon so nicely!

I've found some talent in Changunnie

I think my daughter can either be a diver, a marathon runner, an opera singer or play the clarinet or flute.

Changunnie is going through this princess stage which I don't approve of. She has very specific view on her clothes and more importantly what role she has at home. She wore this really cute and cool outfit to ice skating yesterday. She picked a black long sleeves tee-shirt with pink trimmings around the collar, a pair of tights with colour stripes and a mid-night blue velvet skirt. Somehow, she decided that's her perfect outfit and would not take them off. We were supposed to go to the Peak with her cousin visiting from Seoul this afternoon. Changunnie was all happy until we asked her to change into some clean clothes. The crying started and she would not stop. In fact, I'm sitting outside of her room right now whilst she's crying her eyes out in her room. It's been an hour and there's no sign of stopping.

Changunnie has to learn her boundary and discipline. Her piercing screams of "mummy mummy" hurts a lot but I am not going to give in till she's calm and willing to say "I'm sorry"

It sounds cruel for now but it's only good for her. Changunnie, mummy is doing it to you because I love you!

====25 minutes later after the original posting====

Changunnie came out of her room saying "Mummy, I am not crying now." When asked whether we can change into clean clothes, she took her the clothes herself. It's heartbreaking but I think it's the right thing to do.

Top Gear - my must watch show

For those who live in the US, Top Gear is a car show produced by the BBC. Lots of female dislike it and couple female columnists are very critical about the three hosts of the show. Political correctness doesn't exist in the show. The three hosts are kids trapped in an adult's body but they are very articulate about what the like: cars.

Why do I like it? They talk about cars without getting too much into the technical details in a boring way. They do crazy stunts that I would love to try but can't afford to do so. The political incorrectness puts a big smile on my face. It's funny beyond description. In a way, it's like why I like watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I guess what I really want to ask is how far can this political correctness go? I agree we should be considerate. I totally disagree with racism. However, to a point when you have to talk about things in a clumsy way and leave people with excuses to sue each other? No wonder America is the land of millions of lawyers. Where's the good sense of humour that people used to have? I really cannot imagine a world without a good sense of humour.!

Christmas party

We were invited by a friend to go to her Christmas dinner/party on boxing day. I met this friend through work. We were on opposite sides of a deal in our first encounter, I was impressed by her telling off a not-too-smart colleague of mine in front of everyone and then four years later, we became colleagues. We are as different as you can imagine. She's all about looking bling bling whilst I am happy to wear the same black fleece jacket for the entire winter. There's one thing in common though, we are both labelled as "feisty woman".

Anyway, my friend didn't invite anyone from work or in fact from the same industry. It was a very pleasant change of scenary. Most people in my particular line of business cannot talk about anything other than work. I spent at least 12 hours at work on most days too but talking about work off hours is simply too suffocating as our line of work isn't particularly interesting. Drinks started at 6:30pm and we were a little late as Changunnie and I took a very long nap. To our surprise, most guests were there already. Daddy immediately realized that he and the husband of the caterer (who's also a guest) represented the 10% male population at the party. Hmmm.... interesting.

The people were very nice and interesting. One of them is a private tutor for kids studying for their IB diploma. She also teaches AP and SAT (remember it was 1600 during our time?? Now is three papers and 2400. Apparently, 2400 won't get you into Harvard these days! My preference of Cal Tech for Changunnie remains the "right" path. Kekeke). Another one is a marketer turned interior designer/real estate agent. The profile varies but there is one common theme: lots of them are either single or having a new life post divorce.

It really makes me wonder what guys want in women. Smart and interesting women are available whilst lots of guys prefer someone completely the opposite. Look at Tiger Woods! Elin was a swimsuit model and supposedly not brainless and Tiger went for....

Parallel processing

I have a habit of reading or writing about something completely unrelated when I'm on those never ending pointless conference call. I manage to do that and comment/answer questions. Thought I was pretty good at parallel processing until today, I met the master who happens to be my own daughter.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's church's Christmas gathering today. It started with dinner (Korean church style buffet), followed by a very short service and then shows. We knew that Changunnie had to wear the pink frilly dress that her Sunday school prepares and a white top but we weren't sure what Changunnie was supposed to perform. The toddler class was the second group to go. We took Changunnie to the stage ( parents are required to go with them). The teacher started playing songs that the children sing every week and the children were supposed to follow the dance move.

Changunnie was in the front row and I was prepared to hold her hands from behind to do the moves. Changunnie has never once paid any attention in her Sunday school class. She either paces around and occasionally leaves the room or she clings to my back and talks to me as if we are alone at home.

Music started and Changunnie's classmates who are usually very good in class started to have stage fright. Then one little voice started to sing and did all the dance move and it was Changunnie! She did so well that it was a surprise.

On the way back to the parking lot, we asked Changunnie to sing the song for us again and she said "I only know Jingle Bell."

When did she learn the songs and dance? I don't know and the only explanation is she has mastered the art of parallel processing. Well, looks like I will have lots of meeting with her teachers as she moves on in school....

The Flea and the Rice Ball

糯米治木蚤，一物治一物

Literally: Glutinous rice is the key to catch a flea. There's always a solution to everything

Guess who's the rice ball and who's the flea....

We adopted a puppy from the Hong Kong Dog Rescue over the weekend. He's a cute little thing and everyone was happy. The one thing that I noticed was Grandpa was particularly emotional about the dog. By the time we were done with errands, he downed a bottle of Soju plus two shots of whisky already. Grandpa started to talk about the first dog he had as a child (and our new puppy looks exactly like THE dog and thus the emotion) and the speech turned a bit more heated after 20 minutes. Grandpa is not a happy drunk. He's the type who stays quite most of the time and only let his thoughts out and not necessarily in the nicest way when he's drunk.

Grandma took Changunnie to the sofa to watch TV. Grandpa sat down with Daddy on the other side and an argument started. I was in the shower and didn't know about the subject matter. What I know is:

Changunnie climbed out of the sofa and said to Grandma, "Halmoni, wait a second". Changunnie proceeded to lead Grandpa and Daddy to the two pink plastic chair in front of the fireplace. "Daddy you sit in this thinking chair. Grandpa you sit in the other one". When the two men are settled, Changunnie had one hand on her waist, one hand held out in the "read my hand, sister" position and said "From now, no more fighting!"

As if that's not funny enough, Changunnie walked back to the sofa and told Grandma, "now I can watch my TV"

No one said anything from that point on.....

My food and me

Changunnie's school is having a Christmas party tomorrow and everyone has to bring a snack to share. It's a very challenging job. Unlike an adult party for which I can simply inject vodka into a watermelon and freeze before serving, I need to consider if the food is healthy yet tasty. Whether the food may post health hazard... Etc. Don't know what I mean? Lots of people think cookies would have been a good one. However, you have to rule out peanut butter cookies, chocolate and nuts cookies because some kids may have allergy. If I make meat balls, the vegetarians parents won't be impressed. It took me couple days to think, plan and shop and finally settle for chocolate dipped apricot and jelly fruit candy.

All these makes me wonder how much thought people put in their food. You know how the mattress sales keep telling you how one third of your life is spent in bed (I wish!) and it's important to get a good bed. We only get to eat that much subject to the constraint of out stomach and metabolism but people keep putting junk into their system.

I want to eat well and at the same time don't sacrifice my health. I want to eat food which is in season because that's how nature is telling me the taste of the food is only in it's prime at a particular point in the year. Off season means either taste isn't good or there're lots of chemicals. I want to know what's being put in my food and how it may affect my health as a result. All these means I should cook more!

Nativity Play

Nativity Play at Changunnie's school on Tuesday. In fact, I am not going to talk about that. It was a precious moment for me as Changunnie was being on stage for the first time and she's been practicing her singing at home for three weeks. All nice but don't think anyone outside of the immediate family will be interested. What I want to talk about was all the work leading up to it. I said "Holy crap" each time my email went "ting".

The play was scheduled for Tuesday mid morning. Lots of parents (especially the fathers) were trying to wrap up their work in the office so that the family can take off on Friday for two weeks back home. Couple mothers decided that it'd be good to have a video made so that parents and families could share the moment. We circulated emails, found a professional photographer, no one objected to the cost of about HKD 200 per family....

Just when we thought we did a sterling job organising in a short period of time, one family wrote back and said "I know of a film student who can do it at about HKD 170 per family". Everyone else ignored that and sent thank you note to confirm order with the pro. The offensive struck again, "I have a HD camera".

On the fateful day, the pro set up all the cameras and took the before and after clips as well as the play itself. The offensive? They got in the same time everyone else did which is 3 minutes before the play and was stuck in the corner with some 8 to 9 relatives when the school said 3 people from each family. They were loud to a point parents sitting in front of them turned around to "Shh" them.

What I don't get is they have expensive watches, handbags. The diaper bag that Mrs Offensive used was a Gucci! The cameras they have? Things that I have only seen around the goal pole in a NFL game. Why is spending HKD 200 that difficult and required them to send multiple emails to object and yet the video that they took will likely come out like the Blair Witch Project?

Merry Christmas!

Underground Patriots and Two Koreas

I haven't been paying much attention to the East Asian Game despite the fact that Hong Kong is the host city and some of the highest profile games are actually held at the sports field in my boonies. You blame me? There's a general lack of coordination by the present HK government. Anyway, I found out on Friday that South Korea would play DPR Korea in the bronze medal match on Saturday and I got tickets to take Grandpa and Grandma to the game.

We spent the morning at the HK Dog Rescue (this is another story and the ending is to be unfold later today. Right now, I'm writing this one at a supposed to be serene coffee shop that is in disarray because of a kiddie birthday party). We rushed to the stadium in the end because we spent too much time thinking if we should foster a pretty sick puppy. The stadium wasn't full and we managed to get a pretty good seat. Not sure if it's because of the teams (people in HK care more about shopping in Myung Dong than anything else in Korea) or it's a lack of advertisement. Regardless of what the Dear Leader from the North does to freak people out, it was quite nice to see the players understood sportsmanship. They helped each other to get up. Each side tried hard at the game but there was no cursing or throwing things around. (check out videos of the PRC football team on YouTube if you want to see more barbaric moves). In the shoot out, the Southerners won but the Northerners were graceful.

Since the tickets were full day tickets and we got pretty good seat, we stayed on for the gold medal match. It was HK vs Japan. Frankly, I don't know anything about either team but I found it quite appalling that people around us kept booing at the Japanese team even when it's the Japanese goalie trying to kick the ball after HK's fail attempt at scoring.

We left half time and when I read about HK's victory, I didn't feel proud. The booing, the annoyance the audience created for the Japanese team was a total lack of sportsmanship.

What really frightened me was to see all these underground patriots. When was the last time they stood up to push the government to do the right thing? Shouldn't that passion be channeled into something that does more for the people or we are all regressing to cavemen?

Ditch that nappy!

Changunnie is at school right now and I am waiting anxiously to pick her up at noon. I want to know if she can keep her pants dry for the third day straight.

Changunnie has been doing alright in most of her development milestone except potty training. She has been unwilling to use the toilet. I have a strong suspicion that it's not that she can't control her bladder. She simply doesn't want to do it. Want me to quote some evidence?

- She has a series of very specific moves when she wants to go to the toilet and if we are home, she keeps going back to the same corner behind the arm chair
- She will not sit down (even when she was very little) after the deed is done
- She wants us to change her immediately after a poop

I hate to see the smirk on those very smug parents when we encounter each other in the toilet in shopping malls. Just because their kids wear underpants instead of nappy doesn't make them any better! My Changunnie mastered three languages at the age of 2 and has been translating for Grandma and Grandpa (and these days to correct their pronunciation and grammar).

Suddenly, after Thanksgiving, this concept of "I am a big sister" got engraved in her head. I don't know where she got it from but I am quite happy to see her making the decision herself to use the toilet like a big girl.

Grandpa's theory that "Genius are too busy with more important things in life and cannot care less about potty training" no longer holds true. I don't really care if Changunnie is a genius or not but I am very happy to see her saying good bye to her nappy. Now I can spend the HKD 300 we save each month on buying quality ingredients for some real baking!

Exercise - by other people

I woke up on Tuesday morning with a nasty pain in my shoulder and I knew it would be a rough week. It happened couple times before. It's almost always the case that one or two days into my holiday, I get a stiff neck/shoulder or a cold (and this time I get both). My theory is when I am not stressed, my self-defense system is not on guard. Sounds pathetic, doesn't it? I am only in good shape when I am stressed. However, if you think how quickly retirees ages, you know what I mean. We need to be busy to stay sharp both physically and mentally. It doesn't need to be work but we need to be moving constantly.

Anyway, I didn't want to get medicine for my stiff shoulder. Fast relieve means the doctor will give me a steroid injection, not something that I fancy. Plus, exercise is the only way to ensure proper recovery. I tried to move my arm but I couldn't even raise it. Relying on my record of no painkiller after my Cesarean, I struggled for another 10 hours before I gave in. Grandma called a Chinese Korean masseur to my rescue. The pain didn't go away completely after the 3 hours massage but the pain wasn't as nasty. I was told to do some exercise to assist the recovery and should be fine in 3 to 4 days.

Lying in bed without anything else better to do (since I couldn't turn or move my arms), I started to think about the massage and noticed similarities between Yoga and Massage. I do everything myself in Yoga while the masseur helps me to do it in a massage but effectively, I went through a pretty intensive session of yoga (cobra, pigeon...etc). Should I go back to Yoga or should I get massage regularly?

Yoga - I need to go to the studio and some of them took way too many members. I left the last studio because I could see someone else's undies in class (who in their right mind would wear the old style loose football shorts???) and her sweat dropped on my feet.

Massage - I could do it at the comfort of home and I know there is no need for me to worry about "no see, no smell, no contact".

Cost-wise, the two are similar. (If you need the number of the Chinese Korean masseur, call me. He speaks mainly Korean though). The decision is an easy one, of course I am going to keep up with a good exercise regime except it'll be someone else to help me with my exercise!!

Heartbreaker

If you think children are innocent little creatures, let me tell you that you are far from being remotely right. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying children are malicious or anything. All I'm saying is they mastered the art of manipulation since the day the doctor pulled them out from their mothers' tummies.

Changunnie has been very fixated at changing her clothes four to five times a day. If her wish doesn't materialize (especially at school), she cries till someone has enough and offers to help her change. This isn't acceptable behaviour and we decided to take her out of school for couple days to correct the problem and to avoid her associating school to anything negative.

We had a long talk with her on Friday and she appeared to comprehend how serious the problem was and more importantly, how determined we were to fix it. She agreed to everythig we said and was on her best behaviour the entire weekend.

Then came Monday. She wanted to put on a pair of tights instead of wearing her perfectly clean pants. Tears flooded her face and I decided to carry her into her room and let her cry it all out alone. She knew my softspot for her and kept saying "mama, where are you? Why did you do that?" while crying loudly.

Grandma gave me the support and we st outside of the room to wait for her to calm down. 15 mins later. She stopped and I gave her a hug and the lecture.

She told us that she wanted to go back to school tomorrow and promised that she won't cry. Will see if she can keep her promise. For me, I have to learn not to be manipulated by the crying.

Thank you, my two little elves!

No, neither of them look like Will Ferrell!

We ambitiously (or through lack of coordination) invited about 40 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. To feed 40 people is a logistic thing that I can handle but to cater three groups of people with different culinary preference in one go is the tough part. Anyway, despite the few hiccups( which included charcoaled carrot) we survived. Other than Grandma, everyone loves the mashed potato. Grandma thinks mashed potato should hold its shape when scooped onto the plate. She still cannot get over the thought of 25% butter(while in reality, the number is closer to 75%.... she didn't see how we put butter into the pot...)

What I want to say is I want to thank the two little elves who came to our rescue. Not only did they help to prepare the dinner, they reminded me a very important lesson in life which is priceless.

When I first met them through Peech, I was impressed by their passion about food and cooking. Lots of people claim to love food but it's more of a show than an appreciation of food and the work being put behind it, and I mean from growing all the way to cooking. They have the flame in their heart and really got me thinking if I should leave the zoo to embark on a new career. Some people might say there's too much to give up but I'm more convinced each day that I should do something that keeps myself happy and good for people I love and care even if that means less money and more hard work.

Got a long to do list and lots of reading. Thank you again my two little elves!

You don't know who you are messing with!

In a short period of two weeks, there are one break in attempt and one break in in my neighbourhood. To be more exact, my next door neighbour is the victim in the latest case. The family was at home and the dogs didn't bark. The thieves must have gotten to their house from climbing in through our rooftop. Now here's a problem. If we don't do enough, these thieves can break into my house too.

We have two retirees, a toddler and a not so smart maid. Unless daddy and I are at home, we don't really have anyone who can handle a combat. Grandpa was good in his prime but it's not easy for him to fight with someone who's probably half his age. What should we do??

I should get the baseball bet out from storage and keep it in my room. I'll leave the golf practice club with weight with Grandpa. The man can still drive pretty far. And here, I'm using this venue to tell whoever out there who got the courage to try this neighbourhood again:

When I was a student, I did really well in Biology and have really clear idea of what kind of damage I can inflict on people by attacking certain parts of the neck, spine and where the sternum ends.

I don't faint when I see blood. In fact, I know I get my motherly instinct of when I smell blood. My husband witnessed that in couple occassions and he knows when to stay back.

We may have a high population of women at home but each of us handles knives well. Grandma got a real talent to cut quickly with heavy blow.

Daddy may look gentle but he can turn into the green hulk when he has to.

Anyone who dares to come close, I guarantee you an excruciating death and you have my word.

International Men (and Women) of Confusion

Technology may make communication more available but it doesn't make it any easier. In fact, the lack of communication in terms of body language and facial expression over a teleconference creates lots of misunderstandings. If you want to complicate matters, make sure you organize a call with participants from America, Europe and Asia. Somehow, someone will tell you the only available time is 4am Hong Kong time. As if talking to people who are clueless about the other region isn't enough of a challenge, they want me to talk about how local regulations impact a structure when I'm half awake. And don't give me the half full half empty talk. No matter how you look at it, I'm just not my normal self at 4am!

Why am I so angry? Coz I've been "invited" to join a call at such unfriendly hour!

Analyze This

How long does it take for a former government official, a nursing officer, a lawyer and a banker to get a dog? It's been two years and the clock is still ticking.

We have been talking about getting a dog in HK when Changunnie started to show her affinity to animals when she was about 8 months old. We have read at least three volumes of books like "The Complete Dog Book - the Official Publication of the American Kennel Club". We went to the local dog rescue at least three times, contacted the police department about adopting a retired police dog, contacted dog breeder...etc. We even short listed some dogs including the Korean Jindo Gae (dogs from Jindo Island, famous for their loyalty to the owner, ability to hunt and to fight, the military spirit made them a top choice as working dogs for the Korean Army) but there's always reasons why the dog isn't suitable.

Our inability to make a decision does not stop Changunnie from displaying her affection for dogs. Whenever we see dogs in Sai Kung, Changunnie runs up to them to hug them. Sometimes, when we see a big dog, she wants to ride on them.

Now we really want to get it done.

There was a break-in attempt at or neighbour's house last week. The dogs in the neigbhourhood alarmed the owner ( it was 8pm in the evening. No one would have activated the alarm system when the family is eating supper at home!) our neighbour called the police when the guy was in their backyard. No one got hurt in the end but that got us worried.

We also to find a companion for changunnie. Who knows when I can have number two and even if I am lucky enough to have number two, having a dog to bring the number of children to three is an idea that we welcome. Plus, we want to have a reliable family member to look after Grandma, Grandpa and Changunnie when we are at work.

What should we get?

How to look 10 years younger without any Botox

An old colleague sent me an email this evening. He was my partner in crime when it came to marking stupid stuff in real work emails that we recieved. The email had three words only and it got me thinking, "having fun still?"

The honest answer is I'm having more and more fun outside of work and feeling exhausted at work. I can't really stop working because that's my means of paying for the fun things we do outside of work. Sadly, I am so institutionalized that I don't know what else I can do. I've been having lots of "what ifs" in my head but it's not easy to execute.

I still remember the day I met up with my partner in crime for lunch 3 months after he escaped from the zoo. I walked into the restaurant and walked right past him. I responded to a tap on my shoulder and there he was, looking happy, healthy, glowing and ten years younger!

I want that too. I want to be in good enough physical and mental shape to hang out with Changunnie. Having to deal with animals that need Valium isn't really helping.

I like making up songs for Changunnie and I actually enjoy building things. Baking makes me relax and cleaning is therapeutic. I am thinking of taking the test so that I can be a certified plumber and electrician. When will I be able to make the decision to move on?

Thanksgiving - we aren't pilgrims

I bumped into a colleague whom I don't really work with but we always trade food story. He was telling me about his long weekend in Seoul with his wife and they ate all the goodies there (including chargrilled Korean beef) and somehow we started talking about Bacon Explosion and Turducken. Yes, Turkey with a duck stuffe inside and there is a chicken in the duck.... And deepfried. Only in America but the thought of a combination of two American dishes just wouldn't go away from my head.

It'll be Thanksgiving in two weeks and we are hosting a dinner at home. I am toying with the idea of making a bacon web and cover the turkey in it for bacon. I think the part that I want would be the gravy and the thigh. Let's see what else I'm going to make... We tried to follow couple Robuchon recipe and the venison one killed our confidence completely. I'm hoping I can redeem myself from making the Joel mashed potato for thanksgiving. To play safe, I'll also make a Hawaiian mashed potato with onion and sweet corn. I know, it sounds weird but it doesn't taste as bad as it sounds!!

What else are we making?? Apple pie, pumpkin pie, peacan pie, cookies for people to take home? You know what? I'm hungry already and starting to wonder if I need to start my time off earlier in the week.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day to be grateful and I'm very grateful that despite of all the BS I witness or deal with at the zoo, I get to cook for people I care and have a good time each and everytime we have friends over for dinner.

Now, what kind of bacon should I use for best result??

Hibernation

We were like a bunch of bears yesterday. Food coma from Kimchee day on Saturday (I didn't take pictures and my friends got better ones anyway)

http://shereats.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post_16.html
http://chi-he-wan-le.blogspot.com/2009/11/kimchi-day.html

plus the rainy cold day means hibernation. It's very interesting to see how food plays tricks to our brain and that brings all the animal instinct back to life.

First, we woke up feeling hungry. The food intake moved our metabolism up by at least couple notches. I went from a ramyun with lots of craps (spam, egg, spinach....etc), macarons, fruit, and bread. The way we ate was like a bear before hibernation. We were on a serious "See Food Diet".

Then, I dozed off on the hardwood floor, next to the sofa in a curled up position, kinda like...erh... an animal! When we woke up, it was dark out and we ate more and slept more.

I don't mind spending my weekend that way provided that I can burn off the calories in my sleep!

PTA

I don't remember PTA being a casual thing when I was in school. My father met with my teachers four times a year, each time to collect my report card and not always a pleasant event. The one recurrent commment has been on attention span which I am still getting these days in my PMO at work (Oh! PMO = Performance Managerment Online, very high-tech in names but low-tech when it comes to the actual process....) and the other one is how once I labelled someone as "less adequate", I start to ignore that person...

Changunnie's school is all about "communication" and I've been to two PTAs so far and am about to have a long chat with the school sometime this month. It all started with a call from the school last Friday.

Changunnie is usually a very pleasant kid and for those of you who met her, she's not someone who is unreasonable. The teacher called up on Friday and said Changunnie is too dependent and seeks attention...blah blah blah.

To verify, each of us did a little role play with Changunnie in an attempt to put pieces back together. It sounded like like there's some issue with one particular teacher in her school. That lady is cold (even when we were at the PTAs) and I have a strong suspicion that she simply doesn't know how to communicate with Changunnie. Will see how it goes but I have a feeling that I will be the angry woman again!

Superbowl without a helmet

I mentioned in my last post that we didn't go to any fancy restaurant for our 10th anniversary dinner. Some of you may know the reason. Grandma fainted on the rooftop the night before and ended up with a black eye and a swollen cheek....

It was around 5:30pm on Thursday. I was not particular happy because of some crap at work. My phone rang and I had the super calm grandpa on the line. My heart was up in my throat. When grandpa is super calm, it means something bad happened.

"Grandma passed out for 3 seconds and fell down on the rooftop. Right cheek landed on the ground first"

I called our family doctor and left work immediately. There wasn't any taxi so I ran to the subway station to catch the train. It was all calm at home. Changunnie was playing with grandpa in the living room. I ran into grandma's room and saw her lying in bed with a towel wrapped around her head, err.... like a mummy! The right cheek was swollen and she couldn't open her right eye. There were serious bruises under her eye. The only comfort was Grandma was conscious and could recount exactly what happened. Both grandma and grandpa insisted on not going to the hospital. The only thing for us to do was to monitor her conditions (no vomitting, no serious headache, good eyes movement...etc).

On Saturday, we took her to the doctor and X-ray. Our family doctor didn't scold us but we knew exactly what he meant when he said the skull got very thin bones and it's hard to detect a fracture which can cause complication during heeling....

Fortunately, grandma's condition has gotten a lot better and as suspected, the brusise around her eye started to spread and her cheek is starting to turn greenish. She should be alright in weeks. There was one thing really funny about the incident. We joked about how grandma looked like she played in the superbowl without a helmet and when daddy and I went to Lee Garden to fix Changunnie's stroller, we saw a poster and I couldn't help but to take a picture. Grandma could be the fashion icon according to the poster.......

SML and Robuchon

No no, we didn't go to any fancy restaurant on Friday night (that's another story!) but had a good weekend filled with good food.

We worked till late and had to buy a present for a 1 year old. Dol (the first birthday) is a huge thing for Korean families and we were invited to attend the Dol Jan Chi on Saturday. As unprepared as we always are, we rushed to Times Square to buy a present in the last minute for the birthday girl. When we were done, it was 9pm and thought we would stop by somewhere for a quick bite.

The restaurants in the Times Square building weren't exactly on our A-list. The Thai/Vietnamese restaurants are alright but I wouldn't pay the price for their food as I know I can pay 1/3 the price for tastier dishes in Kowloon City. We have never heard of the Japanese ones there and weren't sure if we wanted to try the unknown (where dishes could be localized). Then, I remember Peech's post on SML and decided to give it a try.

The place was packed but there was a table out on the terrace. Even though it's self service out there, it was not that hot in the evening and we figured why not. The waiters weren't there to wait but to usher people to pick up their orders at the bar. We picked a number of dishes and waited eagerly for our tapas size (S) dishes.

We were quite happy with the Meatball in spicy tomato sauce. The oxtail risotto was al dente (even though I don't mind the taste be a tad stronger). I liked the foie gras and chicken confit and we wiped out the dish in minutes. The beetroot salad with feta cheese, deep fried polenta were not bad and so was the penne arrabiata (I am confident that my version is better though!) The spicy calamari was a disappointment. It didn't have the kick at all. The pork belly with cole slaw didn't meet my expectation. It wasn't bad but just didn't wow me (I cannot forget about the one I had at Amber during one of our lunch club outings. It melted in my mouth and I had that wonderful taste in my mouth the entire afternoon). It was pleasant overall and I was quite pleased with the bill. They definitely scored high in the value for money department.

We went home with two cakes from Robuchon (Peech, thank you very much for that! It was a very nice of you to get that for us!) and.... : the cake fell off the backseat onto the floor when we made a sharp turn when we were 5 minutes from home....

I have to say whilst it is nice to have both form and substance, substance is still very important. When we had the cakes the next day, no one even asked why one cake was not in recognizable shape. No one said anything other than grandpa saying "best cake I have ever had" three times when we were all busy digging in. Changunnie wouldn't let anyone touch her hazelnut chocolate cake. Yes, she ate a quarter of it all by herself!

A decade: a short time but a big step

It's going to be our 10th anniversary this Friday. Ever felt like you had too good a time during Thanksgiving and completely forgot about your final and when you had that blue book in front of you, you wish you could write more than your name and your student ID? That's how I feel now. According to the credit card statement, daddy has been preparing since September unless that item is something I shouldn't be seeing... Me? Maybe I can be a romantic for once and dedicate this piece to daddy.

We were introduced to each other at Christine's farewell party under a carefully orchestrated plan by Ali and Glenn. I got completely shitfaced. Somehow that didn't deter you and you were a real gent about it and made sure I got home safely.

The first time I went to your apartment, I freaked out. Not only was it a very messy bachelor pad, you had bugs under the cushion of your sofa.

The first time my sister-in-law caught us walking down the street hand in hand in Central, I didn't know how to introduce you to each other and I think I jumped into the BodyShop to think.

We went to Tokyo with your sister before we got married and it was my first time in my life that I didn't get to do laundry every night during my holiday. Wearing dirty clothes wasn't as bad as I thought.

My first time to spend the night in a jail cell at a police station was on our wedding night. We got into a fight with the manager and bouncers at Red Rock in LKF. We had to send the relatives off to the airport the next morning and we pretended to be wearing contact lenses. Changunnie, you are so NOT going to repeat that feat!

The honeymoon was delayed because you had to work (which include the recruitment of John!) Whilst other couples would spend a romantic week in Maui, we took advantage of the unlimited golf package at Kapalua. Don't think I saw much other than golf courses that week!

We played Torrey Pines (and to this day, my favourite course in the US) and I managed to play par and bogey with some college players till I lost my ball in the thick rough. Think it was all downhill from there.

I still laugh about the time when we played golf in Bali and the caddy thought you were my dad.

We spent 13 hours on the plane from HK to Hokkaido because of the storm. As if that's not a good enough indication of how bad weather can get in that area, we went hiking in the mountain on a snowy day without food or drinks in our backpack. The chocolate bar saved us. And not to mention the icy road confirmed who got better balance - Me!

When I found out I was pregnant with Changunnie, you were at the stupid sports bar in Seoul with Tom, watching the 2006 world cup game. Your reaction was "Oh that's wonderful! Let me call you back after the game"

The night before the delivery was the time when I blamed myself for being your personal assistant for too long. I tried to give you all the details of bank accounts, when bills are due and how to take money from our account....

The first time you let Changunnie rolled off the bed when she was a bit younger than six months, I was so angry that I could have killed you! I wish you pushed me out of the window from our 15th floor flat instead.

When we had that big fight last year, I thought I was going to grow old on my own and I was scared! Just like the first time I realized that my mum was gone forever.

And now, it's our tenth anniversary. Thank you for everything and I look forward to the many decades to come!

My favourite TV show and movie?

I hate it when new acquaintences ask this question. How would I know if I don't have access to the remote control?

Before Changunnie, it was ESPN all day and daddy's famous move was

"Yubo, you are glued in front of the TV, can you move out of my way please?"

Daddy shrugged and said "moved" while his butt never left the ottomon and eyes followed the basketball on the screen like a laser gun and he had a firm grip on the remote. Not the grip I would recommend for golf but well... I was dumbfounded.

These days, it's either we don't watch any TV or we get those educational programme for children. Word World was cute the first time I watched it but I don't really enjoy the repetition to a point I know exactly what Ant is going to say to Pig about the pies!

If I will ever invest in any dot com company, I'll buy Youtube shares. Not that I believe in the business model or anything. Even if my investment will be used to buy some crazy gadgets for some twenty something who has just joined the company, I will still go for it as it's my only way to watch TV these days.

I watched my favourite Frasier episodes, the funniest clips of Curb Your Enthsiasm. I manage to catch up on 30 Rock. And I watch Top Gear too. I don't see why some women hate it so much!

Btw, don't tell me that your favourite shows include Friends and Sex and the City. Don't think we will get along.

Home Sweet Home

I spent some quality time on the rooftop this weekend and my heart was filled with a sense of achievement that I think the last time I had such sweet emotion was when I was four; my brother was given the babysitting task that didn't rank to high on his list of priorities. He was penalized for putting me in the washig machine (and told me it was my private swimming pool) and a new scheme emerged to allow me to focus on something else other than hanging around him. He showed me how to calculate square root of any numbers without a calculator and he gave me couple random numbers to play with. And I did it. I cannot forget how great I felt when I handed him the paper.

Anyway, some of you may know that we had some serious leaking problem back in the Summer when weekends meant horrible weather with heavy rain. The contractor told us it would take 3 weeks but it dragged on the usual Hong Kong way and the waterproofing work only finished last week, after three months of drama. We got our rooftop and little garden back. My strawberry plants are now in four flower beds. If we get good harvest, we will be able to make our very own strawberry jam. I was happy when I was up on the rooftop. All that bitter bickering, the scheming when I dealt with the contractor all became worthwhile.

To celebrate, we even went out to buy the furnitures that we needed but never got around to buy since we bought our home last Spring. Things are finally falling in place and I can't see why I want to spend my weekends elsewhere!

Hey Big Blender!

Not sure how many of you keep a little garden at home. We (mainly grandma and grandpa) wanted to have a little vegetable garden for supply of fresh salad green and herbs. So we converted our rooftop into some sort of experimental farms. Racks and flower beds were set up and we have quite a variety of plants. Besides of the usual herbs, we have tomato, chili pepper, ginger, garlic, scallion, onion, lettuce, eggplants, zucchinis, cucumber, strawberry and even watermelon. It's been working well and I have to admit that the vegetable from home tastes better than those from the supermarket.

The problem we had was to get good fertilizer. Grandma ordered a compost drum from the organic store in Sai Kung town. It is a slow process but was ok until one day, we found lots of mini-leech like worms on the roof top floor. Our maid must have put some meat part in the compost bin and the sight was very hitchcock (if you've seen "The Birds"). We were forced to seal all the holes on the drum with duct tape to kill the worms. In the meantime, we searched for "cleaner" alternatives. We are now experimenting but not sure if it will work as advertised. We basically collect all rotten vegetables, fallen leaves, fruit peels as before but this time, we simply blend them and apply with water.

I got a big blender for the blending but the thing started to smoke 2 minutes into our morning blending on the second day. Gotta go to the shop to exchange for a new one. Hope it is no reflection of the method itself!

Lost in Translation or Lost in Thoughts?

Changunnie has been going to pre-school on a regular basis and I literally see her developing in front of my eyes. Her vocabulary has always been good because of some silly games we play at home, like "who has the last word" which requires different answers to the same question and see who cannot come up with a new answer. In the short 1.5 months though, Changunnie's speech simply evolved to the next level.

We got her a new bed and in an attempt to make her room a little more like fantasy land for little girls, we got some colourful flags to hang on the wall. She saw them and said "Oh! Decoration!" Daddy and I were surprised by her vocabulary and she saw our faces and repeated the word "De-Co-Ra-Tion" to make sure we understood what she was saying. Later that week, we went out for a walk and she took my hand and said "Cars are coming! I have to hold mummy's hands. Otherwise, I will be in trouble!" I was speechless. What happened to my little girl who refused to say "daddy" or mummy" when everyone else were babbling? Soon, she'll write better than I do and she probably will write something that rivals the Constitution when she turns 14?? Changunnie even improved her maths skills. I am not sure if she will do what I did as a kid (put down 1 - 100 in different orders in a 10x10 grid and circle out all the prime numbers to find patterns) but I am very pleased that she doesn't reject counting and algebra the way she did when she was younger!

Children are amazing little creatures. They are capable of things that we grown-ups aren't able to do without some extensive training (unless you are talking about figure of speech, putting your feet in your mouth is no easy task) and they learn so quickly. They see the beautiful side of the world and they appreciate it.

I read about an interview of an environmentalist the other day and the interviewee said the world is in disarray and having children is rather selfish as we are giving them a very grim future...blah blah blah. Ok, we've done a lot of harms over the past 30 years or so but shouldn't we have some hope of getting things done right?

I don't know if I can trust the government or any of the politicians out there who talk about change but when I look at my own child, I know I will do something about it.

Cannot sleep

Don't you hate it when you have to take the first flight in the morning for work? I am taking the 8am flight which means I need to leave home by 6:30 in the morning and be up by 5:30 as I haven't packed yet and am avoiding it. It's between 10/20C in Beijing right now. HK is 22/30C. It's a bit of a pain in the butt to dress right. The above is not important. It's 4:30 now and I cannot sleep.

You probably will say I asked for it. I could have taken the last flight out last night and spend the night in Beijing but why would I want to do that? I don't get to see Changunnie that much during the week and I try to spend at least an hour or so with her in the morning and in the evening. Knowing I would be gone, I went home a little earlier than usual yesterday and made it back just in time to have dinner with her. I told her that I would be gone for 2 days and she threw herself to me and said "Mummy, don't go back to the office" with her arms wrapped around me. I looked at her face and wanted to quit.

I want to win the lottery

I don't want to keep working but it costs a lot when you have a kid and retired parents. I may not be the nicest person on the block but I'm a good person, can I win the lottery please??

Got the credit card bill last night and my heart missed a beat. I looked around, other than groceries, I didn't but any luxury item. In fact, I ran out of shampoo but didn't get a chance to go to the shop and have been using the soap... What happened??

I haven't been particularly happy at work and yet I need to keep my spirit up at home. That's really driving me up the wall. And what have I been doing as a result? I eat but I am not eating well. I think I killed a number of bags of crisps, biscuits during the week and I cleared all the old snack left behind by Changunnie at home. I eat to a point I wake up at 2am and want to have a Shin Ramyun with egg and spam.

Gotta take some time off.

Common sense is not so common

Perhaps I am the one who doesn't know the rules of engagement of using the search engine.

Changunnie has been refusing to sleep in her cot for couple weeks now. As her mother, my head is still filled with images of her as an infant when she was born and she was the size of a thermo flask. Changunnie pulled me and the two of us sat inside of her cot and there was no space left. Ok, I got the message.

Simmons mattresses were on sale at the shop that we frequent and the shop gave out $100 voucher for every $1000 spending. Yes, I am a sucker of discount and voucher and if I need to spend the money anyway, why don't I max out the value of my money? So, we ordered the mattress for Changunnie. The bed at Simmons are very adult, we thought it should not be that difficult to buy the frame and so off we went.

It was the beginning of a nightmare. All the shops we went to only have ugly beds and so I tried my luck on the internet. Regardless of the key words I used, I couldn't get anything other than manufacturer and suppliers of furniture in China. Oh! That's exactly what I am looking for; bed made with recycling material of unknown origin and the paint they used isn't VOCC.

I am not sure what to do at this stage. I sent emails to three custom-made furniture shop. Why is it so difficult to get decent looking wooden furniture which are safe for children at a reasonable price? I am serious about it, I found designer highchair, princess castle but there was no decent bed! I thought we spend 1/3 of our time in bed.

Mirror mirror, who's the fattest person around?

Changunnie had a play date yesterday and I tagged along for some fresh air. It's nice to be away from home once in a while. The play date is supposed to start at 11ish but Changunnie forced us to leave the house at 10. We were at the door by 10 to 11. The play date itself was good but the best part was when we took all the kids to a book reading event at a bookstore. (Daddy's cousin -in-law and niece are the author and illustrator respectively).

We took Changunnie and her favourite unni, Teri, to the bookstore while Teri's parents took Teri's brother in another taxi. Of the 5 minutes in the cab, Teri told Changunnie's daddy that he's fat but not too fat because his tummy doesn't stick out as much as her yahyah's. Teri also explained to us why we had to get off the taxi a block away from the bookstore because all the yahyahs are having lunch on the street and the police had to close off the road.

It was really funny and makes you appreciate how honest little kids are. They tell you about things exactly the way they see it and understand it. There's no processing to make the statement politically correct. If you can handle the truth, ask a 4 year old whether you look good in this season's hottest designer items. If the comment is "You look like a princess" you can proudly stroll out. If it's anything that has pig, bag lady, monster, please change and write off that piece of garment. Who said you should follow Vogue and Cosmo when it comes to style?

Oh! And always be careful of what you say in front of them. Kids love to mimic. I have been telling myself to stay clear of any four letter words at home.

My Beijing trip - Time traveller experience

And no, I don't mean anything new age. I travelled back in time instead.

I went to Beijing for work right before the start of the National Day golden week holiday. The flight was packed but this time with the rich and famous from HK instead of bankers. They were all heading to Beijing to join the National Day Celebration for Overseas Chinese (Isn't HK and Macau part of China now? Why are we still Overseas Chinese? It's a subject to spend some time on!) It was awkward as the crowd was talking about their business, holidays...etc, things that are beyond my reach. At least, I don't need to consider which husband to go on holiday with. I only have one and have no plan to get #2. The old lady sitting next to me and I stood out like a sore thumb. Oh well, no wonder the two of us were placed next to each other.

The first 30 minutes was quiet until we were given the health declaration form. I think the health declaration form in itself is a health screening tool. My neighbour couldn't read the small prints and so I helped her out. It was a very small act but it turned out to be the beginning of a very meaningful conversation with the old lady (Ms Chan) and I gladly walked down the memory lane with her.

I forgot exactly how it started but Ms Chan recounted the story of how the publishing and printing business that she and her husband started in Guangzhou was nationalized and Ms Chan stayed behind with their four young children while the husband came to Hong Kong in search of a new life after the forming of the new China. She didn't get to join him until 1961 with the two younger children. Took them another year and lots of money to get the older boys to move to Hong Kong. The family had to start from scratch again but they never forgot to help people who didn't have the opportunity to learn back in China. All through the years, they purchased and shipped books for free to China to stock libraries in remote places. It wasn't an easy thing to do during the time when the Hong Kong government didn't exactly consider their philanthropic act as politically correct. The officials in China also wanted them to pay a business tax on their donation (!?!)

I felt very honoured to have the opportunity to listen to the story first hand from the source. My family wasn't well to do when I was young but I didn't have to live in hardship the way the older generation did. I remember my grandparents telling me how they have to escape the Japanese during the war and tree bark was pretty much all they had to eat. Hope was such a luxury for them and yet they prevailed and here I am today with the next generation.

It pains me to look at the youngsters in Hong Kong these days. They take lots of things for granted and respect is something very Ali G to them (if you don't know who Ali G is, the other persona by the same actor includes Borat and Bruno. Wiki it). What does it take for the young generation to have a better sense of responsibility, be able to respect the others and be able to love others and to love themselves (Geez! I am starting to sound like Whitney Houston)?

Discovery - marriage and living

Daddy went to Seoul to attend his colleague's wedding on Saturday. He was gone for 24 hours only ( yes! Got there, party party and left) but Changunnie and I decided to pick daddy up at the airport as if he were gone for a week. From Changunnie's perspective, there's nothing cooler than riding the express train and being at the airport. Happy meal on the plane means a lot to her. I was happy to go without realizing why until we spoke about the wedding before daddy fell asleep, and he's snoring next to me now.

Our honeymoon was not standard. We waited for one month after the wedding before we headed off to Maui. Unlike other people who were there for the romantic parts of Hawaii, we were there because Kapalua offered unlimited golf inclusive of a lodge and rental car. It was essentially Spring Break for us. We didn't waste our time at all and packed the entire week with golf. There was no picnic on the beach or anything like that. Then, we went to Los Angeles to spend Thanksgiving with the family. Last stop was San Fransico for daddy to interview recent law school graduates to fill an associate role at his firm. Daddy spent the day inteviewing whilst I reactivated my accounts at couple department stores. That night, he told me he found someone (John) and ten years later, right before our tenth anniversary, John got married and daddy went to his wedding.

No wonder I had the urge to pick daddy up at the airport. It's been ten years and I rarely pick him up at the airport these days. Having Changunnie is more than a full time job (and the little rascal declared to grandpa that mummy is mad!) and now that she's a little older and is capable of making conversation, I want her to know how her parents interacted with each other before we had her and for the two of us to have some couple time.

Ten years is nothing compared to the marriage that my grandparents and parents had. It doesn't cut the amount of work it takes to maintain a marriage. When I signed on the dotted line, I thought nothing could be too difficult. In the past ten years, there were days when we wanted to throw in the towel. If you are not prepared to put in the patience, love and care, don't bother getting married. And when we thought we had it all figured out, Changunnie arrived and I can tell you the impact is only comparable by sitting on the crater of Halla San when there's an eruption.

Does it worth it? Yes, every second of it. It's not nice and sweet all the way but that's what makes life interesting. I'm looking forward to the 20th anniversary. In the meantime, what do I want as an anniversary present? Will I have enough time to prepare the new playlist for daddy's iPod? Let's see how well I can fend off dodos at work!

In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times

Why do I like to read Winston Churchill's writing and his quotes? How often do you come upon gems like the title?

It's been a really tough month. Changunnie finally settled in her new school. Still some work to do about her teacher's pet traits (and where did she get that form? Unfortunately I cannot point finger at her daddy) but good otherwise and I suppose that is the only good news so far this month.

What really stressed me out is what's going on at work. We have been working really hard to bring in some Q4 P&L. I mean hard, to a point I was at my desk sobbing whilst eating a baked pork chop on rice from the cafe in the basement of my office building with vengeance. It was 2:30pm and I called that takeout set my lunch. I had a go not once but twice at my associate (who in my opinion should have been made VP) two days in a roll. Poor kid was trying to get things done but appeared in front of me at the wrong time and got a full blast. I feel really guilty but apologies can only do that much.

The politics we have to deal with is unbelievable. I thought bringing in the money is important but people just want to fight for credit and along the way, set people up so that when anything happens, pointing fingers is easy. The mere thought of the events send chills down my spine. All I can say is I think I died at least 10 times a day over the last couple weeks. I wish I know how to defend myself and my team members but I feel so helpless. Reading doesn't do me any good either. I became good at spotting politics and schemes people are plotting but I don't have the wisdom to navigate through the battlefield.

It's typhoon 8 today and I got a deep cut on my right heel when I got out of the car in the strong wind. I am on clutches right now and I suppose I have the perfect excuse to wear sweat pants and sneakers to work in the coming week or so. On the bright side? I felt like the wind was going to blow me away. It gotta be the effectiveness of my diet and if that's the thing that brightens up my day, I am living a pretty pathetic life.

Mummy is the school Nazi!

It hasn't been an easy week for Changunnie. I think how we talked about school made school an undesirable place. She was perfectly fine to go to Tutortime and Kindermusik but now at Woodland... It's like for her to enact episode after episode of The Fugitive when we tried to get her to go to school or Prison Break when she's there. I couldn't stop myself from calling at 1 every day to see how she was and each day has been a report of crying and clinging onto either grandma or a teacher.

Grandma called today and reported some progress. Changunnie stayed in her class with a teacher in a corner all by themselves and she didn't cry for Grandma or Grandpa after the initial sobbing. Grandma tried to put her on the phone and she said pretty loudly and sternly "I'm mad!" and pushed the phone away. I went home with a box of pumpkin cookie that she likes. The moment she saw me, she said "don't look at me!"

When she saw my bag, she said " what do you hve for me?"

I decided to walk away with the bag and ignored her. I was angry, very angry. She might be young but that behaviour wasn't acceptable. She can call mummy a school Nazi but she has to learn that we have to do lots of things that we aren't 100% up for. Just like going to work....

First day of school....

I missed Changunnie's first day of school because of my business trip. I eagerly called home at 12:45pm yesterdaty to check on her. (School finishesat 12:15 and she should be home by 12:45).

Well, she went but for an hour only (instead of three) and she cried her eyes out. Grandma didn't go in with her (as she's now a BIG girl!) so we wouldn't know what happened. Poor thing wouldn't stop crying and the school principal had to take her to the waiting area to find grandma. They went home early as a result and Changunnie was all happy again (and ate all her lunch like a tornado sweeping anything on its way). Then in the afternoon, she told Grandma, "I think I can go back to school tomorrow."

I am at the airport lounge waiting for the flight back home. I will find out if she stayed in her class or not!

Cricket - Sport or insect?

I had a very weird work dinner in Singapore last night. Our new global head visited Singapore (our regional hub for anything non-equities) and our business manager decided that the bigger "management" team in Asia should have dinner with the new global head in Singapore.

Most of us are (the second tier managers) actually based in HK and because of the cost control plan, we had to take an 8am flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. We were half awake when the plane landed at Changyi. The high temperature and humidity was not a very nice welcome. Lots of people said "Isn't HK the same?" Similar but not quite. Singapore is at least one notch hotter in my opinion. Anyway, 3 hours of meeting with my boss and colleague before dinner and drinks with the new global boss. By the time I got to the Equinox, I was exhausted.

The new head seemed like a smart guy and nice. The one thing that he shocked me was how talkative he was. Lots of managers are strong believer of "silence is golden" but not this one. He was very willing to share his thoughts and seemed t e willing to listen. A pretty good sign. However, we all stood around in the corner of the private dinning room for over an hour before we could sit down. Unlike a normal cocktail, we were just standing there in a circle. Couldn't really stretch or switch my mind off.

The conversation at the dinning table was typical business conversation. The vision, the strategy, the execution. Then someone, in the hope of lightening up the atmosphere, asked about cricket (of the 14 people there, 6 Indians, 1 Kiwi, 2 Australians, 1 English. The remaining are 3 Chinese and 1 French). The conversation became so biased towards Cricket that for 40 minutes, it was nothing but how important Cricket is to some very senior management......

I don't mind listening to a sport that I am not familiar with. I can't expect others to watch diving and baseball as religiously as I do. What struck me hard is whether I belong. There were supposedly funny story of how a group in London plays every weekend for 8 hours for 9 months and how someone got a pretty bad injury and the captain (read boss) didn't want that person to leave for medical care. It wasn't that funny 10 minutes into that conversation. I think there was a lack of cultural sensitivity. If I started talking about Tai Chi, it would be me being rude....

It wasn't pleasant and really made me think of what I should do next.

Activist against schools?

I'm not going to defend schools in Hong Kong. I was angry because some activist decided that it's an awful idea to have a school in the neighbourhood and they wrote to the Town Planning Department to stop the grantin of license. We lived next to two very prestigious schools on Kennedy Road and understand perfectly how bad traffic in the neighbourhood can get. However no one complained. Maybe the children of the rich and powerful are students there.

We were lucky to find a place for Changunnie at a preschool 10 days before the new school year. I did more research and found the memo of the July 09 meeting of the TPD wich detailed the ground of rejection of license application of Changunnie's preschool. The reason? Parents sending children to school will significantly intensify the congestion on Hiram's Highway during the morning peak hour. Someone decided to make pretty strange postings of the otherwise obscure minutes on discussion forum.

I don't like being stuck in the traffic myself but I think a situation like that can have a solution. The school can start after 9. The peak hour in this area should be around 8 to 8:45 so that people can be at work in town by 9:30 or so. Why did the activist have to take out the opportunity for kids to go to school in the neighbourhood??

I still do not know if the school can get the license in Oct in the appeal hearing. I do know I want to do two things. Send a petition to the TPD and ask those activist why they didn't complain about the schools on HK island?

First step of separation

It's almost 11pm and I should be sleeping so that I don't wake up as a big grouch at 5:45am tomorrow. I'm not crazy enough to book myself on an 8am flight for business but my company wanted to have more robust cost control in place and we ended up having to fly a cheaper airline that has, let's just say, very day trip friendly schedule. The thought of being on the same flight with a bunch of people whose company I don't particular enjoy, the prospect of a speak no evil, hear no evil meeting and dinner don't make it any easier for me. However, I'm sleepless for another reason. Tomorrow will be Changunnie's first day at preschool. I think I'm more nervous than she is. To her, it's a place with lots of games and cupcake. To me, it's a lesson of let go.

We gotta be the worst parents of the year by HK standard. We didn't submit any application for school when Changunnie was born. Rather than a deliberate effort, it was a result of ignorance. Shouldn't you apply the year before you start? What does a 10 months old baby know what to say in an interview? According to my dad, I was known as the dummy when I was two. Watching Barry Manilow made my day (oops! My age secret!!) Anyway, it struck us really hard when we went to the last few playgroup sessions with Changunnie. The other kids are all moving on to preschool in September. Changunnie will be the only one left behind in her playgroup and she'll have to hang out with a bunch of two years old.

It was mid August when all that happened and all the schools we know of have no space for anyone. We drove around one day and saw the sign of "Woodland school in Sai Kung" and decided to give it a try. To cut a long story short (read the next post for details), Chanunnie's in and tomorrow will be her first step towards independence.

I'm not sure if it's because she knows she won't be annoyed by mummy asking for hugs and kisses for two days or she knows it's new school year, she's been very clingy this weekend. Maybe it's my dependence on her oozed out through my pores and she took pity on me. I am so positively nervous that I can't sleep now.

A friend once told me that it was fun to see children learning how to walk but before we realize, they run and all we could see is their back. I don't want to be Changunnie's best friend forever. I believe I should be a good mother which is a bit different from being her friend at all times. Anyway, I hope she will remember to let her aging mummy to catch up. It would be nice to see her happy face than her back all the time. Should get some sleep before I turn into the hulk....

Butterfly in the stomach?

More like tornado in my stomach. Not sure how it happened but daddy got a stomach flu first and then I got it. Daddy's symptoms are textbook standard. He felt tired and he had diarrhoea. Mine was strange. I made frequent trips to the bathroom but the consistency was far from what you would describe as diarrhoea. I didn't have fever but just have body aches. Worst part, my stomach was filled with gas and it stuck out like a drum. Sleeping on my back was next to impossible. I couldn't eat or drink.

Have been on medication. It's not as bad as before but I still am bloated.

I had to stay at home and when I looked at Changunnie's food, I couldn't only swallow my saliva back. On the bright side, I might be able to lose a few pounds that I desperately need to.

I speak pidgin English

I recently met someone who's not English nor a native speaker but lived in England in the past ten years. That person loves to say "That's how we say it in England". That really annoys me. What does that suppose to mean? Is he trying to say my father wasted his hard earn money to send me to school? To make it worse, he says it a lot in front of another colleague who's of the same enthnic group but grew up in the motherland. I consider that reverse racial discrimnation.

I was angry. I don't like anyone who is condescending. Then, a smirk appeared on my face. That person is so pathetic that he has to validate his identity with such a stupid reference. Does he really think he can write "Anglo Saxon" under race?

I don't understand why some people think the fact that they can speak English means they are better. From an economics perspective, it makes sense to speak Chinese or Hindi or some Indian language these days. If I want to settle in the US, I pick Spanish any day. For the purpose to learn to be a good pastry chef, I want to learn French.

What annoys me even more is that person's pathetic attempt at a posh accent. You are fluent in a language if you can express and communicate clearly. Being able to joke in a language is even better but just an attempt at the accent?

I decided to speak my version of Pidgin to that person from now on! In the meantime, he can mipupu smell. (smell my poop!)

Talking about dodos

Dodo American Heritage Dictionary: n. A large, clumsy, flightless bird [(Raphus cucullatus)] formerly of th island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, that has been extinct since the late 17th century

When I was young, I always dreamed of dinosaurs living under my bed and they would come out when everyone was sound asleep. They never left us (which, as I learned later on in my life, is not entirely wrong. Birds are closely linked to dinosaurs).

So, when I think of Dodo, I can tell you that they are with us still. Of course, they appeared to be different but they are definitely around and can be found in a place called OFFICE and most of the time, they dress in a suit.

I don't know whether it's ignorance or a deliberate effort, some people simple don't use their brain before they make a comment. Couple conference calls and meetings from the past 36 hours exemplify my theory of dodo's existence. It's excruciating for me to repeat the content of the calls. (ok, I might disclose some of the dialogue I endured if you take me out for nice lunch)

I gotta do something to prevent Changunnie from turning into a dodo. Frankly, I am not happy with schools in Hong Kong. They are not very good at teaching kids the vital skill of learning. They force children to learn couple alphabets, writing...etc and so long as the kids eventually gain a place at "prestigious" schools, the pre-school/kindy is a success and you have a flock of parents in front of the school to submit entrance applications. It doesn't matter if the children have no creativity or the ability to act and think independently.

I am struggling if I should let Changunnie attend pre-school this September. On the one hand, she needs to social skills. On the other hand, I don't want people to dummify her. I am happy to see her being a little naughty at home. In fact, I was very happy to see how she tried to get more treats from grandpa and the way she runs after (NOT away) from a cockroach. Am I depriving my own daughter of a ticket to a better future?

Freeze it, baby, freeze it!

I guess biological clock is something that we cannot avoid. I spoke to couple of friends recently and the subject of freezing some eggs came up in each and every conversation. The egg we are talking about here is not your organic free range chicken egg or the cute little Japanese quail egg. We are talking about the egg that can eventually turn into a human baby.

What's my view on it? Well, my way of thinking is heavily biased because of my job. I think if the cost is not too high, a woman should freeze some eggs so that we have the option to use them in the future if we so choose.

The thing that got me thinking is why we even need to freeze our eggs. Of the three friends who is thinking of freezing, one is getting a divorce, one is happily married but getting old, one is single. The older we get, the harder it is to get pregnant and in the modern world, two of my friends are not sure if they can meet Mr Right when they are in their most productive years. So, the issue is where the heck is Mr Right?

I always prefer guys looking and acting like a man. I don't remember ever being attracted to anyone I met in Hong Kong. I think most of them are either shorter or thinner than me. The same goes for their maturity. Hanging out with guys of the same age group means I have to effectively look after a younger sibling. I am not a princess but I want to be able to talk to the other person as an equal.

Is it the parents, schools, the society? I don't know. Perhaps a combination of the above. Please please, can guys be more like men from all the stories of heroes we heard as a kid?

You are important only when you are needed (to be blamed)

The week after my holiday in Korea wasn't pleasant. It was good to hang out with Changunnie but daddy and I both got hand foot and mouth disease towards mid week. According to the doctor, we were a bit too old for the disease as it's very common amongst young children. Strangely enough, Changunnie showed no symptoms so far. Hope she didn't get it. Anyway, the look of our doctor's face (we know him really well) was saying "Are you two the bubble-boy type?" So, we quarantined ourselves by staying away from Changunnie. The three days in the dungeon (what we call the study room on the ground floor) was awful. Ice cream diet was good at first and turned into a nightmare after a while. It was totally lonely to have food delivered to the room. I gotta be a law-abiding good citizen as I don't know how to deal with life in a jail cell!

Anyway, the HFM was bad but not as bad as having to do work whilst I was on Mandatory Time Away (i.e. cannot lead any work as a compliance policy). Helping out is fine but was told to fix things or someone else's screw up is my screw up!?! I absolutely hated it and not sure if I want to go back to work after my quarantine.

Changunnie is at the age when she's very attached to me. When I took her to school, everyone told me how much happier she was. She hung out with me the whole time and we had meaningful dialogue. She told me what she likes and dislikes. We made little pizza together. Those are moments that no amount of money can buy! Do I really want to miss that?

Treasure Hunting

As if the big dinner at one of the cousins' house the night before was not enough, we had another BIG breakfast before heading to Kun Jib( the house of Grandpa's eldest brother) at 10:30am. They live in the Northern part of the city and a stream from the mountain actually flows through the house. It's the type of place where you can have a pretty happy childhood as it's close enough to school and yet can be running around in the mountain 30 minutes after class.








It was good to see everyone. All the babies we saw last time are big now. Changunnie was happy to hang out with all the unni's and oppa. There were dogs at kun jib and the latest addition, Jasper, was a very shy one. He probably was used to the abuse from the kids at home, he had no issue of Changunnie pulling his tail or pinching his nose. Strangely enough, he was afraid of adults. Turned out that one of our cousins rescued the dog from a cruel neighbour. I didn't want to ask about the details as that may include Jasper being a dish on the dinning table.



Lunch time was gamja ttang (potato soup with pork ribs) and a table full of side dishes. They grow their own veg at Kun Jib and the food was good. There wasn't a need for any MSG as the soy sauce, chili pepper paste, dweng jjang are all home made (and not to mention the kimchi which are done the traditional way by burying the urn under ground!) Changunnie ate well as her unni told her that there will be no play nor snack unless she finished her lunch.



We went to the bookstore after lunch to get Korean books for Changunnie and ended up having four bags of books and magazines for everyone. We also got out chili pepper flakes. I was wondering why we were buying different types. It turned out that you need different type for kimchi and chili pepper paste. Wondered if we could check everything in.

It was finally time to say good bye. I want to go back to see everyone soon. Maybe Christmas so that Changunnie can go ice-skating with her cousins.

Namdaemun Ajumah

If you a firm believer of "I would shop till I drop", think twice before you say it in front of Grandma in the morning of the "shopping day".

We were whisked out of bed at 8am as couple cousins arrived at the hotel for breakfast together (yes, how wrong I was to think the Park Hyatt was far away enough...) Myung Hee hyunsoo nim was there to my rescue. I took Hyun Jo and Changunnie (Hyun Jo stayed with us the night before because Changunnie would not let unni go) to the restaurant when I saw the cousins at the table. It was strange to see a bunch of men, looking very much alike and eating together. I think the clan ate enough to trigger a reevaluation of pricing of the Park Hyatt breakfast buffet.

We headed to the Hyundai Department Store and Changunnie bought three pairs of shoes (it should have been me buying shoes!!) I have no plan to spoil Changunnie but the shoes were so cute and I simply couldn't find anything I like in Hong Kong other than paying a fortune. Why do people think that it's ok to make really crappy shoes for children? The healthy ones are simply ugly (poor design, look like something from comic books) and the nice looking ones are impossible to walk in. Children's feet are different from ours and they need lots of support and enough flexibility. Some genius out there use hard leather to make the sole for children's shoes. I know I would sprain my ankle if I wear those shoes...

Next stop? KIMCHI FRIDGE!! Making Kimchi is no simple matter. The water has to be good, the temperature right. We can't dig a hole in front of the garage to bury the urns and so we turned to Kimchi fridge. You can have different compartment (thus different temperature) to assist the fermentation of keeping of kimchi. Don't underestiamte them. A 180L one easily costs more than USD 1,000. They looked beautiful too. I think ours is arriving in 1 month.

We met up with Grandpa and daddy at the Coex Mall so that Changunnie can go for her pororo show (a penguin like cartoon/educational programme character on SBS) whilst Grandma and I can do more shopping. My legs were already a bit shaky at that point but we decided to be the trooper.

We wanted to buy traditional Korean dishes but it's harder than you think, even in a place like Korea where people stress the importance of traditions. We asked around and were sent to new department store to buy those made by Hankook brand. Those are nice but not exactly what we were looking for. We want something made by hand. We finally located one shop behind the food court of the mall, the kind of forgotten place that you wonder why people open shop there.

We spent about 1.5 hours there, picking all the dishes, bowls, cups, pots....etc. Grandma joked with the shopkeeper that she could close shop for the day and the shopkeeper actually said "You bet! I will after I packed up your order". We ended up having three boxes of dishes (delivered to the hotel) and my wallet a lot lighter.

We wondered where we could go to get Korean pillows, quilt, and underwears (don't laugh, you get really good quality undies at low price in Korea) and the pottery shop lady told us to go to Namdaemun. Namdaemun was one of the four city gates in the old time and now turned into a major market place. A while ago, the city gate building (a landmark in Seoul) was burnt down and people cried. Anyway, we decided not to repeat the experience of being trapped in traffic along Han Kang River and took the subway instead.

You think you know the art of negotiation from working in finance? Wait till after a shopping trip to Namdaemun Market. Those guys can smell what you are up to the moment you get within 15 ft of their shop front. We walked back and forth (sneakers please if you go) and haggled about the price of everything that we wanted to buy. The big breakfast was protein rich but the release of energy was faster than we thought. We stopped by a roadside mandoo jib. The pork and veg buns they sold smelled good. KRW 3000 for 5 buns. Not the cheapest but not costing an arm and a leg either. When we were about to pay, the ajumah at the shop picked up a bun that rolled off the tray and tried to pass it on as a fresh one. Being a mother, I am a believer of the three seconds rule and I was sure the bun was on the floor for less than 3 seconds. However, the floor was NOT my floor and I was a paying a customer, I protested and another ajumah intervened and threw the bun in question into the bin. Warning for all your travellers: Get the ones fresh out from the steamer. Even if they were on the floor, the high temperature would have killed the germs.

We got our shopping done and hopped into a cab for dinner at another cousin's house.