Nature's Own Roasted Corn

Some accidents can lead to nice surprises. Just like this corn of mine. It should be normal yellow sweet corn. But maybe it get contaminated by last season's Red Aztec Corn's pollen (I dunno how it happened!!! I used Time-Isolation-Method to avoid cross-breeding). At the end, we end up with "Nature's Own Roasted Corn" look. Btw, it tasted just like normal sweet corn. Nice!!!

Bags of Pleasures

For straight 10days of my Italy trip, all I see from them is the urge to get those branded bags. They were more excited when they entered those boutiques rather than entering a tour site.  They were not eyeing for the latest model, but the higher the price the more tempting it is. I am talking about those high-class ladies that I know. Even the beauty of the exotic islands couldn’t make them blink from those blings. 

Observing them, what I see were:

• When they planned what to buy, they couldn’t even close their eyes – those were jovial sleepless nights. 

• When they hunted for those bags, they ignore all the pain of long walk. When they plunged in the shop, I can see the spark of excitements in their eyes. 

• When they were carrying those big wrapped bags, you’ll know that they were walking in cloud nine. 

I always envied them. I envy the “pleasure” that they get simply by possessing those branded bags. How I wish I could taste the same pleasure. Some will walk tall carrying those bags, some can’t stop studying the beauty of their newly bought bags, some won’t stop smiling, and some will even boast non-stop about their bags. I tried it before; peer-pressure got me into it. I know I am not a bag person, but I still got myself a fancy expensive bag. People all “greeted” me for choosing an expensive piece, but yet I didn’t get those excitements; making me more and more remorse. 

I am not against expensive bags, it’s just that I wanna ensure I get the pleasure that I deserve from spending big amount of money. On this trip, I get a little wiser; I didn’t force myself to buy anything that I don’t like.  All I did was watching them turning on their built-in GPS system on tracking boutiques without knowing a single word in local language(!!!), asking the bags they want by using body language and pictures saved on their Blackberry-s (smart uh!!!) and witnessing them jumping joyfully to get their early Christmas gifts (Yipppiieeee!!!). How I envy them, how cheap it is to pull a smile on their pretty faces. I am yet to find out what will make me smile like them. Maybe a whole cart would. Hahaha.

FYI, I was the only person that didn’t queue up at the tax-refund counter at the end of the trip, and am very proud of it 

When In Rome

Trevi Fountain

The weather was damn hot. So many humans standing on the side of the super famous Trevi Fountain, there was barely a spot without human - at least there are 500++ hanging around there.  The fountain was so huge, so grand; the whole thing is made of marble. The statues and carvings are so alive, very amusing.  The crowd looked like stranded whales – they hardly moved and were happy to expose their skins to the sun; but not me, I tried to cover up to avoid sunburn, trying to get away from the crowd after a few snaps. We only spent a few minutes there; soon our tour leader was herding us to the other spot, Spanish Steps.

Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain is one of the must visit spot in Rome, fountain was even showed in the super cheesy movie “When in Rome” – throw a coin, make a love wish, it’ll come true (or throw a coin, to ensure your return to Rome). Hahhahaa. Of course I didn’t throw any coins there. I better spend my coins on yummy gelatos near the fountain, I took 2 cones. Hahaha!!! J Trust me, real Italian gelatos are amazingly yummy – I am such a slave of my own tongue, yearning for delicious tastes.

But the real reasons why I didn’t wanna spend a coin and make a love-wish are: first, I don’t believe that it will work; second, at this moment (at least at that very moment) I wasn’t interested to find any love. I don’t hate my ex-es, I didn’t have any traumas, and last time I checked I am not lesbian… yet. I am just not interested.
Plus, I believe I’ll come back to Rome someday without throwing any coins. 

Live this Moment

Do not dwell in the past, Do not dream of the future, Concentrate the mind on the present moment  ~ Buddha

I definitely can’t let go my bitter past yet. Hopefully I can, somehow
I wouldn’t care about dreaming of the future; I am worried about it. I do not have a slight clue of what is going to happen. Damn it!!!
And by writing all these stuffs, I am certainly not in present moment.

Obviously, I am not a Buddha

Bullying Past

The high school boys were practicing their act for the day. I was watching parts of their rehearsal. I could see that they were trying to get my attention. Somehow, I could sense it. I am much older than them now. I know I am looking attractive and confident.
I was fascinated by the idea of being idolized by high school boys. But when they started to approach me, I retreated. I was scared.

I know they couldn't and wouldn’t do anything bad to me. And I know they wouldn’t really woo me. I guess they are just curious. But still I was scared. I notice my feeling – scared. I suddenly just wanna run away and hide. And I wonder why?

I looked at them and realized the idea of “cute boys” were missing from my past, my high school past. There were no cute boys woo-ing me before. In fact, those “past boys” were bullying or calling me names for being different, fat, and nerdy. Although I know that it’s all in the past. Why can’t I make myself walking away from it? Why are those memories still lingering in my mind? Why am I still scared? Why am I still afraid to be mocked by them?

UP

Watch this, then you'll find yourself smiling and flying UP UP and away... Rite, Mr. Carl Frederickson??? see more here

SiChuan Getaway

Tomorrow I am going for another China trip, yet I haven’t write any about my last Sichuan trip. So, I’ll make a quick one about it.

sleepy toddler panda

It was my second trip to SiChuan, 5 years apart. Of course, things were completely different back then, we took train, stayed in 2 star hotel accompanied by cockroaches, and had almost vegetarian meals throughout the trip. We were not vegetarian, but our budget was quite tight. But it was fun and memorable, things that cannot be duplicate – travelling with lovely friends; we were young, fun, fearless, curious and thrifty. Hahaha. Not that my recent trip wasn’t fun. It was. But you somehow recall those sweet memories. Anyway, let’s start.

So, we arrived to the capital of Sichuan Province, Chengdu. It’s 3rd largest city in China, nice place, nice weather and nice food. It is the home of Ma La Huo Guo, famously known abroad as “Chinese Hotpot” – they put the Sichuan pepper too inside. Chengdu is developing fast, last time I was here, I remember that its airport was decently nice, but now it’s so big and they are still continuing the construction.

SiChuan operas

We visited ShuFengYaYun Tea House on Qinghai rd. Here they have daily show of SiChuan opera, traditional music performance and the super famous “Changing Face”. Note that Changing Face is originally comes from Sichuan, its secret passed down through generations, and so far, no spoilage. Btw, they serve some tea and peanuts; my advice is please have the tea, but leave the peanuts – kinda old. Here I show you some of the pics I took that night.

Bittersweet of Pu Er

China Tour is always embed with compulsory shopping, some are tea, silks, medicine, jade, etc. I never have been fond of it.  For this trip, I wasn’t really interested in buying anything apart from the SiChuan pepper that I mentioned below. But, when we had a visit for compulsory tea shopping, I realized that despite numerous amounts of teas I have at home, I wanted this one: Aged wild Pu-Er from SiChuan. Why?

SiChuan (and Yunnan) has been famous for their tea for centuries. Their teas have travelled as far as 14000 miles, from SiChuan to Lhasa – Tibet. The trail is so long, so harsh, climbing up to 12,000 foot high to the Tibetan holy city. The trail is called “Horse Tea Road”. Why horse? Did the horse carry the tea? Apparently not; Horse and tea were bartered – the Chinese wanted the Tibetan horse, the Tibetan wanted the Chinese tea, thus the name.  On the most risky parts of the trail – on the snowy mountain, tea was carried by humans, t he porters can carry up to 300 pounds per person. The trip usually took 3 weeks without any snow storm, later they will continue with pack animals on smoother trail. Bartering tea with horses continued through many dynasties, from Tang to Qing. The tea porters’ era ended after Mao’s Culture revolution; the porters are all given piece of land for farming - no longer need to go for the deadly trail; in 1960s a new highway was built to seal the end of this ancient route. The trail is now abandoned. Only those who are seeking for adrenalins will go there. Some of the last porters are still alive to show you bits of the memory trail.

Pu Er tea is made from Camellia sinensis, a sub-tropical evergreen shrub. It can be made into green tea (unoxidised tea). But for the one I bought, the brick-tea – it’s made from larger leaves (said from ancient trees), processed in several cycles of steaming and drying, then the tea is mixed with gluey rice water, pressed into molds, dried and aged. Just like wine, Pu Er tea leaves taste better as it ages for years. The tea produced has a clear black reddish colour, with slight bitterness at first and a mild sweetness aftertaste. Old aged tea is believed to have many medical benefits, since it was oxidized slowly thus releasing all the beneficial volatiles; one of it is to cleanse your systems after greasy meals (that’s why the Tibetan likes it a lot) – thus make you skinnier… Wohoooo!!!

With all the thrills and romance about the tea, who wouldn’t be mesmerized to try the bittersweetness of Pu Er tea? I did!!!

ShǔiZhǔYú 水煮魚

ShuiZhuyu 水煮魚 is a SiChuan traditional dish. It's made by quick-blanching fresh fish fillets, put it in a big bowl mixed together beansprouts, dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, minced garlic, and some other magic spices. On other pan, heat cooking oil and pour it directly to the bowl. It will give the perfect tenderness of the fish fillets. Superb!!! 

From all chinese cuisine that I have tried before, Sichuan's ShuiZhuYu has never failed to make me satisfied. I  was first introduced to this dish by my bro when we were in Beijing; He warned me, "if you wanna try to chew on the spices, do it when you are about to finish the meal." It won't be me if I am not curious, rite? So I bite off the strange spice - 花椒 (SiChuan Peppercorn). WHAAAAAAA!!! It tastes a little citrus-y, slight hot, very very fragrant, and the most important attribute is: tingling and numbing. Ever since my first encounter, I have been captivated by this unique dish.

To my delight, I went to Sichuan again on early April 2011 - obviously I am salivating when we were served ShuiZhuYu. Here's a picture of it. Look at the amount of oil, dried chilies, and other spices. It seems like I am fishing the fish fillets in chili oil pond.

I also bought a little SiChuan Peppercorns home with me. I bought 2 types. The vendor said the red type is not as strong as the black one. The cook will always mix these 2 peppercorns as red ones gives nice colour to the dish, and the black one will give strong flavour and taste.

Note:
Sichuan Peppercorn is also known used in toothache as it will numb your mouth cavity. Out of curiosity, I guinea-pigged myself to try the numbness effect of the black peppercorn :) The result is I felt electrifying sensation soon after I chewed it, soon the numbness appeared - of course. The "severe" sensation will last for 10 minutes, and you'll be completely free from effect in 15-20 mins.
It's fun to lose your sense sometimes :)

introducing Mr. & Mrs. Salak

I have 3 salak trees at home, all grown from seeds. They are about 3-4 years old, they have flowered for some time but never bear any fruit.

I finally get the answer, salak tree too have different sex. I have checked mine, I have 2 males - obviously will never ever fruit!!! and a female. The reason why the female never fruit is probably so far, they never bloomed together. According to Ibu, the expert of salak, this case can be tricked by collecting the blooming male flower, keep it in air-tight container and stick it to the fridge; it can be used to fertilise female up to 1 month.
With the new knowledge that I just obtained, hopefully I'll have little salak fruits soon. Hahaha!!!

For those who never seen what salak tree looks like, here it is. Super spiky. Careful when you walk near them. I've became the victim :(

And here are the female flowers, pretty huh? L-R: yet to bloom, blooming "Salak Mawar", blooming "Salak Pondoh", and hand-pollinated flower - see the yellow pollens on the flower.

Female Salak Flower

Male flowers
I have lost track on its variety name :) Sorry. But you can see in the pic, yet to bloom and bloomed male flowers.

Male Salak Flower

Salak fruits
L-R: Succesful pollination will bear little salak fruit-still full of spikes, salak fruits came usually in clusters, ripe salak Sidempuan - notice rose hue on its flesh. Yum!!!

note:

Salak (Salacca zalacca) is a species of palm tree native to Indonesia. It is also well-known as "snakeskin fruit" due to its scaly skin. The fruit has an astringent and sweet taste. The flesh can be crunchy or juicy depends on cultivar.