Friday, May 16, 2008

家常面条十大吃法

红烧鸡翅

红烧鸡翅是最近的大爱,做法简单,味道鲜美,实在是看电视时的最佳选择。

Ingredients:
Chicken Wings 1kg
Sugar, salt, ginger, brown pepper..etc.

Instructions:
1. 鸡翅分翅根,翅尖,翅中,放入开水中焯一下去血沫
2. 油烧热,加2tsp sugar,至糖色变褐色起泡沫时加入鸡翅,姜丝,花椒,八角等调料,稍加翻炒使鸡翅上色均匀
3. 锅内加开水至鸡翅没入,加盐少许,中火煮10min,转大火收汁至快干,出锅

Since I learned how to cook this dish, it becomes a Must-Have every weekend. Yeah, the sad truth is I'm getting fatter and fatter, but who could deny delicious food?! NOT ME!

罗宋汤

罗宋汤, 其实是Russian Soup的音译. 十月革命后传到上海, 现在已经被上海人同化了.
我对罗宋汤进行了自己的改进. 配法式面包一起吃也是有模有样的大餐.

Ingredients:
Beef 牛肉
Celery 芹菜
Potato 土豆 2颗
Cabbage 卷心菜
Mushroom 蘑菇
Carrot 萝卜
Garlic 蒜
Onion 洋葱 half
Ginger 姜
Tomato Condensed Soup 西红柿浓缩汤 1can
Butter 黄油 50g
Salt..etc. 盐等调味料少许
Flour 面粉小许

Instructions:
  1. 牛肉切小小块, 在开水中焯几分钟, 去血水, 另煮一锅水, 水开后把焯好的牛肉放入,加入姜片,八角粉等去腥, 煮1hr.
  2. 芹菜, 土豆, 萝卜, 卷心菜切成同样大小的片, 蘑菇对半切. 洋葱切丝, 大蒜拍碎
  3. 黄油加热熔化, 放洋葱丝, 大蒜末稍稍翻炒, 倒入汤中
  4. 土豆片,萝卜片,芹菜片,卷心菜片,蘑菇,倒入汤中煮至软
  5. 加入西红柿汤,盐
  6. 筛入适量面粉,使汤变稠
Bread:Cut one French Stick into 3cm thick pieces,bake in the oven for 10mins.

Erm..........actually, this is just vege-beef soup plus baked bread, my version of western food. My roommates all said it was delicious, and tasty. It is not a very big meal, however, the disadvantage is this soup is pretty time-consuming.

Bless China

2008 is a difficult year for all Chinese and China government.

This Monday, 12 May, Sichuan Province suffered a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and thousands of people was buries under collapsed buildings, almost 40,000 people are dead, and dozens of thousands of people was injured. This is another unexpected, and unpredictable tragedy since Tangshan earthquake in 1976.

Picture Gallery: China Earthquake - from The Australian
Picture: China Earthquake 2 - from The Australian
Map: Influencing Area in the Earthquake - from Red Cross Society


Tears burst out when I saw the pictures. I cannot stop cry. How much more disaster will my motherland suffer?
I donated to the Red Cross Society. It's really regret that I cannot donate blood. I have nothing to do but pray in the candle light, pray my China a bright tomorrow, pray every Chinese be happy and healthy.

God bless China.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Bookends

Recently I've got a huge interest about fancy bookends, antique or post-modern style.
I swear I will bid several bookends from eBay US site as soon as I have my new flat.
Well, this might be turned to my new collection hobby. At least it's not a luxury hobby which costs a lot.

Here are several special bookends I marked online.

Reading - Never too late to learn

I had been invited to the Mothers' and Grandmothers' Day at my granddaughter's primary school. After finding a couple of seats at one of the long trestle tables, my daughter, a music teacher at the adjoining (隔壁的) high school, went back to work, leaving me alone at the morning tea function.

At one end of the table, two mothers were engrossed (全神贯注的) in deep conversation, unaware of me. On the other side of me, another group of mothers also ignored me. Across the table, down a little way, two young Vietnamese mothers looked up, noticed that I was alone and started to speak to me.

After the morning tea finished, they took me in hand and escorted (护卫) me to the hall for the entertainment, finding seats for their friends and me. Our conversation was interesting and one of the young mothers told me she would like to become a teacher but was concerned that she was too mature to embark(着手) on a new course. I had experienced a similar situation, and at the age of 45 had gone to university to do a BA degree and a Graduate Diploma in Education.

We exchanged names and I gave her my card with my e-mail address on it. A couple of weeks later she sent me an e-mail and told me that she was going to look into doing an education degree. I was happy that I had helped her but it was her act of kindness in befriending (友好对待) me that made such a difference to my day.