It's been a long time since the last post. I didn't disappear from this world. I simply lived in another world, a parallel universe for over a month and then one thing leads to another, it took me another month to log on again. Call me the Oracle.
I suffered from minor flu around Changunnie's birthday and didn't really think too much about it. The virus got the better of me and I started to have secondary infection in my sinus. The long and dark journey of taking antibiotics started. I was still blowing brown stuff out from my nose and one day, I lost my balance. I knew that I couldn't have blown my brain out. The colour wasn't right. Grey matter and the inside is white, right? From that day on (around Chinese New Year), my right ear was blocked. I could hear other people clearly but I couldn't hear myself well at all. It was like talking to myself in a fish tank. I talked loudly and got impatient with almost lots of people. I am usually the talkative one but during that one month, talking was painful. The antibiotics plus a bunch of antihistamine was always in my bag and I had to spray my nose with this steroid spray that stinks the membrane of my nose....
Was it all pain no gain? Of course not.
- Selective hearing keeps you sane
- Hearing other people but not yourself is painful. So, ignore them too
- Shouting doesn't mean I am rude
Joking aside, I wish you don't get sinusitis. It was just bloody awful!
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Happy Birthday!
Changunnie turned three yesterday and she had her first birthday party. We invited her unnis and oppas and the house was packed. She had lots of fun and not sure where she got the idea from but she took off the first two layers of her hanbook (the vest and the shirt) and ran around in her dress only. I wonder what she would do when she's 16 and hanging out with friends during her summer holiday!
We were very blessed to have friends over and it was a fun day. Perhaps it's for me (read aging mother), I want to spend more time at home and be with the Changster and to see more of my friends.
Just want to say thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes and joining us to celebrate the Changster's party. More pictures to come after I clean up the house. Seriously, when you have more than 10 kids for a party, the house is in worst shape than Hiroshima.....
We were very blessed to have friends over and it was a fun day. Perhaps it's for me (read aging mother), I want to spend more time at home and be with the Changster and to see more of my friends.
Just want to say thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes and joining us to celebrate the Changster's party. More pictures to come after I clean up the house. Seriously, when you have more than 10 kids for a party, the house is in worst shape than Hiroshima.....
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Phew! School sorted
Daddy and I took half a day off to take Changunnie to school assessment at an English Kindergarten. It is one of the four kindergarten for a network of English Schools. Whilst there's no guarantee of placement at one of the network's primary school, you do get priority if you attended the network's kindergarten and first language isn't Chinese.
Knowing Changunnie is Ms Opposite Froggie (Chung Gae Goo Ri in Korean, the story goes: little froggie that always says the opposite to what mummy froggie said. When mummy froggie was really sick, mummy froggie told little froggie to bury her in the river, thinking little froggie would do the exact opposite and bury mummy froggie in the mountain, the preferred burial ground. When mummy froggie died, little froggie thought he would do what mummy froggie told him to do for once and buried mummy froggie in the river.... So, when little froggie found out, he became really sad and cried whenever it rained), we didn't say anything about the assessment. We told her that it's a playdates with old friends and new friends at a big playground.
It all went well when she got to the school and she was hanging out with everyone and when she met kids from her pre-school, she ran up to hold their hands. Just when we were very happy with our little scheme, it backfired. Couple of her friends were done with the assessment at an earlier time slot and Changunnie decided that since it was a playdate, she should hang out with everyone instead of going into the classroom. Daddy was at the presentation and I tried everything I could to get Changunnie into the classroom but to no avail. To make it worse, a little boy arrived for a session after Changunnie's. The two got along so well that he too decided to hang out by the sand box! The other mother was more prepared and managed to ask a teacher to come out to check them out for the assessment (I think they have been to other assessments).
When we left, I was very convinced that we had to send couple more applications for other schools. Then the letter arrived on Saturday that Changunnie got in. Phew! One less thing to worry about
Knowing Changunnie is Ms Opposite Froggie (Chung Gae Goo Ri in Korean, the story goes: little froggie that always says the opposite to what mummy froggie said. When mummy froggie was really sick, mummy froggie told little froggie to bury her in the river, thinking little froggie would do the exact opposite and bury mummy froggie in the mountain, the preferred burial ground. When mummy froggie died, little froggie thought he would do what mummy froggie told him to do for once and buried mummy froggie in the river.... So, when little froggie found out, he became really sad and cried whenever it rained), we didn't say anything about the assessment. We told her that it's a playdates with old friends and new friends at a big playground.
It all went well when she got to the school and she was hanging out with everyone and when she met kids from her pre-school, she ran up to hold their hands. Just when we were very happy with our little scheme, it backfired. Couple of her friends were done with the assessment at an earlier time slot and Changunnie decided that since it was a playdate, she should hang out with everyone instead of going into the classroom. Daddy was at the presentation and I tried everything I could to get Changunnie into the classroom but to no avail. To make it worse, a little boy arrived for a session after Changunnie's. The two got along so well that he too decided to hang out by the sand box! The other mother was more prepared and managed to ask a teacher to come out to check them out for the assessment (I think they have been to other assessments).
When we left, I was very convinced that we had to send couple more applications for other schools. Then the letter arrived on Saturday that Changunnie got in. Phew! One less thing to worry about
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Comfort Food - big lotus seed paste bun
I don't have an old Teddy bear without an eye or a square of what was a blanket. Whenever I go through a tough time, I think of those old style lotus seed paste bun.
Before my mum passed away, she would take me to a dim sum restaurant in the neighbourhood. It wasn't a fancy place but it was my day out to see the world outside of our home and I knew if I behaved, I would get my lotus seed paste bun. The bun that I remember was about the size of two fists together. So big that the restaurant steamed 12 of them in a big bamboo basket and the old lady put the bun on a saucer to serve. The bread was soft. The lotus seed paste was like soft butter and wasn't overly sweet but I could taste the lotus seed in my mouth even after chowing down the bun. Steam came out and blurred my vision when I cracked open the bun to find the duck egg yolk inside. The bun was warm and so was the way I felt. I felt like the most fortunate person in the world, with a warm bun in my hand, sitting next to my mother.
It all stopped when my mum passed away. My father stopped cooking all the special dishes and we didn't go for dim sum that much. Each time we went, I wanted my bun.
I know that if I'm upset about something, I can get a bun and I could feel the comfort of having my mother by my side.
Buns these days don't taste the same as the ones I remember. I'm going to go to different places to try out the buns and I'll record each tasting in search of my perfect bun and to relive the moment I had with my mother
Before my mum passed away, she would take me to a dim sum restaurant in the neighbourhood. It wasn't a fancy place but it was my day out to see the world outside of our home and I knew if I behaved, I would get my lotus seed paste bun. The bun that I remember was about the size of two fists together. So big that the restaurant steamed 12 of them in a big bamboo basket and the old lady put the bun on a saucer to serve. The bread was soft. The lotus seed paste was like soft butter and wasn't overly sweet but I could taste the lotus seed in my mouth even after chowing down the bun. Steam came out and blurred my vision when I cracked open the bun to find the duck egg yolk inside. The bun was warm and so was the way I felt. I felt like the most fortunate person in the world, with a warm bun in my hand, sitting next to my mother.
It all stopped when my mum passed away. My father stopped cooking all the special dishes and we didn't go for dim sum that much. Each time we went, I wanted my bun.
I know that if I'm upset about something, I can get a bun and I could feel the comfort of having my mother by my side.
Buns these days don't taste the same as the ones I remember. I'm going to go to different places to try out the buns and I'll record each tasting in search of my perfect bun and to relive the moment I had with my mother
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
A new year resolution
I know I'm slow to talk about new year resolution in the second week but hey! It's better be late than sorry.
It all started with a wonderful galette des rois that my french colleague shared with us. He told us about the history and brought two galette to demonstrate the difference in different region. That got me into my Chinese mode and I want to cook according to the twenty four dates in the Chinese Lunar calendar (二十四氣節). There's already certain things that you eat according to traditions but that also means the use of some medicinal herbs that isn't that easy to find/handle. So, my to do list this year
- study the lunar calendar and get a better understanding of how it works and what it means
- study the 本草綱目 to learn about the characteristic of food/herbs and the effect on human
- come up with a menu for each day and try to cook at least some of the dishes
It all started with a wonderful galette des rois that my french colleague shared with us. He told us about the history and brought two galette to demonstrate the difference in different region. That got me into my Chinese mode and I want to cook according to the twenty four dates in the Chinese Lunar calendar (二十四氣節). There's already certain things that you eat according to traditions but that also means the use of some medicinal herbs that isn't that easy to find/handle. So, my to do list this year
- study the lunar calendar and get a better understanding of how it works and what it means
- study the 本草綱目 to learn about the characteristic of food/herbs and the effect on human
- come up with a menu for each day and try to cook at least some of the dishes
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Bring your passport the next time you go to Yuen Long
We took Changunnie and Bear to join some friends for food crawl and photo shoot in Yuen Long. We were pretty well prepared for Bear's first outing since he completed his vaccination. Got a big piece of bone the night before (It's a Jamon Iberico!), cleaned the cage, packed the bowl, lunch, water...etc. In fact, we almost forgot to pack Changunnie's bag. It was quite easy to get to Yuen Long and the eating began. Changunnie wasn't impressed by the look of egg noodle toasted with shrimp roe but one bite of it (and I think it was also the taste of lard), there was no turning back. Every chopstickful of noodle went to her mouth instead of mine.
Next, we got Chinese pastry from a local bakery. It was different from the more famous Yuen Long bakery (which made its footprint all over Hong Kong). The winter melon and sugar filling was soft, fragrant, moist without being overly gluey. The answer is 30% lard. No wonder Yuen Long was the key farming settlement and supported all of Hong Kong for a long time. No one in the city would dare to use lard anymore. Changunnie of course had couple bites of my cake. (I will find the shortest way to go back for some takeout!)
It wasn't easy to drag a puppy and a toddler around town but we made it to the small shop for some beef brisket. The variety was impressive but the food a little too salty. I couldn't taste if the radish had the sweetness only found in the Winter. The good thing was we were able to feed Bear as there's a table outside of the shop by a small resting area under a tree.
After that, we went over to a Chinese restaurant for some Chinese steamed cake. It was nice and soft and I wouldn't ask if there was any lark in it. We then set off to look for cholesterol sandwich (Gold Coin Chicken... http://chi-he-wan-le.blogspot.com/2009/12/going-for-gold.html ) but didn't find it and so we settled for ice-cream from Arce Dairy from the Philippines. Despite the funny sounding name, the ice-cream was very rich and the Ube Supreme and Maize were fantastic. At that point, we were driving to the wetland for the photo shooting session and so everyone except the driver and co-driver happily dug in. At a red light, I tried to pass the tin to the front for the co-driver and a little hand pulled my arm back with a not too little voice saying "My ice-cream!"
A bumpy ride through the fish ponds and we got to the border. Without knowing better, we drove along despite people gave us the "these people gotta be brain dead" look along the way. It turned out that we drove into the restricted area (close to the Chinese border and if it's not the restricted area, what is? Duh!) without a permit which, not being a local, would not be possible for us anyway. A police patrol car came by and asked us why we drove to the area. It was a bit tense at first as it could have been a traffic AND criminal offense. When the policeman found out we drove in from the pond side, we earned respect and he just urged us to leave asap.
It was a fun day and I want to go out more with Changunnie and Bear. Next time though, I need to make sure Bear is better trained as he almost shot into a Chinese cured meat shop when he smelled the cured duck!
Friday, 8 January 2010
Back to school
I remember the day I received my diploma. I was happy that I could move on to the next stage, just like when you were nine, you eagerly waited for your tenth birthday so that your age became double digit. I was in my new home in Boston by mid afternoon on the day of the commencement and I thought that marked the end of school life and the beginning of my life as a working adult. My working life didn't really have anything to do with school in the first 10 years or so. When everyone was talking about going back to school to get an MBA, I was like "They gotta be crazy!"
Just when I was totally convinced that I didn't have to deal with schools anymore. I got thrown back into the whole school scene again and I was shocked.
Changunnie will be turning three in about a month. In Hong Kong, it means she can go to K1 in September this year. Schools don't go knock on your door to offer you a place. In fact, parents are supposed to run around like headless chicken, read up all the "About Our School" and "Our Philosophy" on each school's website and write long winded essays to talk about how great their children are. We have done round 1 for those schools that accept kids below age 4 to start K1 and we will need to do it again for schools that only accept kids who turned 4 when the start K1 in couple months. I thought the tough part was done. I was so wrong about it.
The first school (let's just call it the Pretzel School) held a parents information day yesterday morning. It's a school that takes in about 60 kids each year and about 75% go there with a corporate debenture. We got to the school hall about 10 minutes late but there were over 300 parents already. The presentation had already started but I managed to get the key message "Your children will be assessed based on how good their English is. We need to work with children who can understand us. Parents are strongly recommended to speak to your children in English in the next few weeks leading up to the assessment day. You should read story with them." So, it'll be bootcamp for Changunnie in the next few weeks. If there's a language problem at home, it's not her English but rather her reluctance to use any non-English language. What do they want from kids who are barely 3? Are they supposed to play scrabbles and know how to score higher points by using double word and triple word? Or they should be so evolved that they need to know how to block someone from using double word in the last round??
Parents were very enthusiastic during the Q&A session and everyone got a question except us. The only thing I wanted to ask was whether there's enough sports facility for the kids as the school will operate on other premises in the new few years due to renovation of the campus. And I wasn't exactly thrilled at the 7:30am - 12:30 pm schedule. It means Changunnie has to wake up at 5:30 every day for school.
There will be an assessment in March and we will also be there to meet the teachers. I just have a strong feeling that it will be a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode....
Just when I was totally convinced that I didn't have to deal with schools anymore. I got thrown back into the whole school scene again and I was shocked.
Changunnie will be turning three in about a month. In Hong Kong, it means she can go to K1 in September this year. Schools don't go knock on your door to offer you a place. In fact, parents are supposed to run around like headless chicken, read up all the "About Our School" and "Our Philosophy" on each school's website and write long winded essays to talk about how great their children are. We have done round 1 for those schools that accept kids below age 4 to start K1 and we will need to do it again for schools that only accept kids who turned 4 when the start K1 in couple months. I thought the tough part was done. I was so wrong about it.
The first school (let's just call it the Pretzel School) held a parents information day yesterday morning. It's a school that takes in about 60 kids each year and about 75% go there with a corporate debenture. We got to the school hall about 10 minutes late but there were over 300 parents already. The presentation had already started but I managed to get the key message "Your children will be assessed based on how good their English is. We need to work with children who can understand us. Parents are strongly recommended to speak to your children in English in the next few weeks leading up to the assessment day. You should read story with them." So, it'll be bootcamp for Changunnie in the next few weeks. If there's a language problem at home, it's not her English but rather her reluctance to use any non-English language. What do they want from kids who are barely 3? Are they supposed to play scrabbles and know how to score higher points by using double word and triple word? Or they should be so evolved that they need to know how to block someone from using double word in the last round??
Parents were very enthusiastic during the Q&A session and everyone got a question except us. The only thing I wanted to ask was whether there's enough sports facility for the kids as the school will operate on other premises in the new few years due to renovation of the campus. And I wasn't exactly thrilled at the 7:30am - 12:30 pm schedule. It means Changunnie has to wake up at 5:30 every day for school.
There will be an assessment in March and we will also be there to meet the teachers. I just have a strong feeling that it will be a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode....
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