Dinner on the plane, Delta
Dry beef…..
Bimbo truck
Taxi in Mexico - classic Bug!
Mexico 090217 2009.03.2
Mexico City
"Fifth Avenue" of Mexico city
University of Mexico stadium
Lunch, salad - Mexican cheese and candied pear over arugula
Lunch, appetizers - shrimp taco with fried cilantro, pork + mexican cheese over tortilla
Steak stuffed with crackling pork, on a bed of chile verde
Mexico 090216 2009.03.1
Late lunch, room service - Steak with black beans on the side, mexican bread
Outside of my room 1 - American corporate business park
Outside of my room 2
5.31 – Taiwan 2008.06.1
The thunderstorm on Friday really took us unguard! And my new shoes were all drenched! Today, I am trying to be smarter and bought a pair of flip-flops. Thank god for the pedicure!
.Tainan specialty noodle shop in the food court – this is quite typical…
.Noodle itself
.Mister Donut – Seasonal special macha flavor donut, “pon de ring”, with mochi ingredient
5.30 – Taiwan 2008.05.30
Air conditioner day….
. Skylight in Taipei 101
.Afternoon tea in Taipei 101
.Taiwanese “Burrito / soft shell taco” – this one is for you, Dr. Burrito + Nachos
See here for more excitement.
5.29 – Taiwan 2008.05.29
Arrival
.Sunny sky, steaming air, and burning sunshine… where is my sunscreen?
.Cool tea lounge with humongous exit sign
See here for more excitement.
Takashi Murakami + Marc Jacobs 2008.02.12
I have finally made it to the Murakami show at MOCA! And I am very glad that we made an effort to see it during the last weekend of the show. When I saw photos of the show, I was just thinking that it would be nice to see the show; if I missed it, then I miss it. But when I actually stepped into the museum, I was happy.
The environment of the museum was very warehouse like, with minimum color and open ceiling; all art works really became the focus of the space. I could feel the energy and joy from vibrant colors of paintings and sculptures.
All the artworks were just fascinating. It might not have been the best show for many, but it was one of the best show for me. Everyone in the museum were happy, smiling, excited, yet calm and satisfied.
Since it was the last weekend of the show, a lot of people showed up, and it felt like there were more people than the museum staff expected. There was a long line at the entrance, a long line outside the video showing, and a long line outside the small boutique that sells Murakami related goods.
There was however no line outside the Louis Vuitton boutique though…. maybe it’s because everything was pretty much SOLD OUT! Can you see how lonely those shelves look, compared to other photos on the internet that were taken during the opening night of the show?
The small boutique was a crazy process. Most of merchandises were sold out by that point, and you would be lucky with whatever you could get. I wanted to get a Kiki and Kaikai stuffed animal; when I looked into the clear acrylic bin, only Kaikai were left, along with some DOB on the side. I thought to myself, that’s ok, it would be nice to have both, but I prefer Kaikai anyways. And Terence took a peek into the bin with DOB; he pulled out a Kaikai from the bottom of the bin! He turned around and said, “lucky!” Soon after that, I was in line at the cashier and tried to get out of there ASAP, because there were already 2 girls gotten upset over the Kaikai in my hands, because they couldn’t find it anywhere!
God bless Murakami. I am still in a super happy mood.
A pleasant stop-over! 2007.04.29
I had to travel to Tampa for business, and that gave me a great chance to visit my aunt in Chicago. It’s been a few years and to me, nothing has changed, except the new Millenium Park and the nice Chinese restaurant with amazing variety.
Millenium Park is a park in the city, with lots of different art exhibits, gather space, and garden for the city and its visitors to enjoy. Surrounding museums, art school, and the opera house makes this area a very pleasant district to spend the day.
The most interesting thing of all is the Cloud Gate by artist Anish Kapoor. It attracted a lot of people while my aunt and I were there. The sculpture was not only very fluid, it also shows a very scenic view of the cityscape that would normally be seen through professional photography.
I was in Chicago for 2 nights. One morning we had breakfast at the IHOP. Upon leaving, I saw this very strange posting on the entry door that anyone would see it when leaving.
My aunt and I were like, ok, so geese are hatching. But what does that have to do with us? Then she went on told me about how a news of geese attacking people while hatching around parking lot was on the news before, and the restaurant was probably being nice to warn people.
When we were driving away, we finally realized why there was a post before leaving the restaurant. A goose was hatching right behind the restaurant. All the parking lots around it were blocked with a chair for each space. Very interesting.
It was fun and super relaxing! I hope to go again soon with Fido!
Hong Kong 2007.3 2007.03.31
Supposedly, ideally, perfectly planned, I would be in Shanghai expanding my career by now. Instead, after lots of overtime & hard work, I landed in Hong Kong for an unplanned trip.
This trip was for a personal matter, but I thought, no matter what I need to do, I would have to eat, right? Might as well take advantage of the situation and treat myself a bit!
Honolulu Cafe
One of Hong Kong’s food culture is “Hong Kong style cafe”, or 茶餐廳. The menu is based off western style dishes, spaghetti, toast, coffee, tea, omelet, hot dog, etc. These western dishes are then modified so chinese style foods are combined. It’s like “asian fusion” in California, “western fusion” in 茶餐廳. For an example, there are many kinds of pasta dishes, such as spaghetti and meatballs, or baked panne. In these restaurant, you will find baked spaghetti with pork chop, curry chicken over rice, or spam and egg sandwich. If you order french toast, the crust will be different, and sometimes you get a layer of peanut butter in between. Yes, it’s quite puzzling sometimes.
The most famous of all is Hong Kong style Milk Tea. It’s a mixture of 3-4 kinds of tea leaves boiled overtime, strained, served with vaporized milk and condensed milk upon request. If you try one, you would not believe how smooth and thick the texture is. It is said that the mixture of the tea leaves and the strainer is the secret to many of the famous cafe.
Honolulu Desert
This is one of the famous desert in HK, and this shop is one of the best!!!! The desert consists of mango juice, mango chunk, tapioca, and grapefruit. Very refreshing.
Hotpot
Hot pot is my favorite, and this place is quite interesting. It’s a chain store from China, direct translation is little lamb, but I am sure it’s got better name, like the great magolia or something like that. The soup base is very fancy, not just broth, it’s got chinese herbal ingredients, very rich and tasty. And the base is so good that you don’t need any sauce when eating the food. The other thing is that this place gave me the opportunity to eat lamb, more than I have ever consumed in my whole life.
Of course the trip was not just about food, but I got to say these are the high lights of this trip!
On the other side of the world 2007.03.13
It was 6am when I arrived Hong Kong this morning. Although it’s for personal reason, this is also the best opportunity to treat my taste bud!
And of course I forgot quite a few key items while I scrambled around packing. The worst of all, is realizing hair brush’s absence after shower…… crap. I think I have a bit of clean freak on certain things in life, and hair brush is definitely a personal item that I would never let anyone borrow mine……..
And then there’s the camera cable. I thought I would not need it. Well. I guess everyone would have to wait until I get back to the States.
But I got to say, being able to call US on the street with a HK sim card, is so convenient and economical! Can’t even do that in US.
And by the way, Honolulu’s tea is just like heaven.
