Twenty-1 Reasons Why...
Twenty-1 Reasons Why...
--Res Ipsa Demonstrandum--   
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Yum Cha: A Chinese Legacy
I feel like some dim sums right now... It's been like half a year since I had myself some decent dim sums (点心) which led me to "yum cha"... for those of you who don't know... yum cha literally means "drink tea" but can also be used in context referring to the traditional Chinese culture of drinking tea while having dim sums together with friends and family... it's the Chinese equivalent of tapas... Well there are 4 basic components which makes up the yum cha experience... No. 1: The Tea... Tea is to the Chinese what wine is to the Europeans... it is drank with every meal and is believed to have a cleansing property... mind you that Chinese tea tastes rather different from what I like to refer to as English tea... those drank by westerners... Chinese tea has a richer, deeper taste and is taken without sugar or milk... My personal favourites are Po Li and Tie Guan Yin... No. 2: The Tea House... these days people usually go to restaurants to yum cha but there are still some tea houses around which are basically shops that do yum cha only... It's all part of the experience because the atmosphere gives the yum cha experience that something extra... it's crowded and everyone is practically shouting... if you manage to find a very traditional tea house you might even find some people bring their pet birds along with them and all the cages are hung together and the customers yum cha to the sound of birds singing... No. 3: Dim Sums... dim sums mean "touch the heart" which I'm not sure why they atually call it that but probably because dim sums really hit the spot when you are craving something delicious and they warm the soul... dim sums are traditionally little tid-bits usually steamed served in little bamboo baskets but these days it ranges anything from "siew mai" to "har gao" to "char siew pao" to "lo mai gai" to "cheong fun" to congee to egg tarts to mango pudding... there are loads to choose from to suit anyone's liking... Just thinking about it is making me drool... I'm so hungry now... and last but not least No. 4: The Company... The yum cha experience is, for me, never meant to be had alone... It's a time for friends and family to get together and enjoy each other's company... if done right yum cha could take up half a day... Probably that's why the older generation love it and the younger generation have no time for it... When asked "How would it affect you if yum cha no longer existed", over 60% of Chinese under 25 years said that it doesn't matter because there are so many other things to eat... However majority also believe that it would never happen due to the relatively high demand... Personally I L-O-V-E, LOVE, to yum cha!!! A shame it's so expensive though... I think that's partly the problem... there are cheap ones but they are no good... the good ones are just too expensive to have a a regular basis in Malaysia and as for Melbourne it's all expensive... In addition I think the yum cha culture is one of the better Chinese traditions that I really would like to see it live on and for the younger generation to embrace it... It's an absolute delight... It's suh a shame that people don't even appreciate a good cup of tea anymore... It's just like water to them... but I personally think it's so much more... a good cup of tea is to be enjoyed and savoured... But then again... it's a luxury that not everyone can afford and a legacy that we rarely have time for these days...

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posted by WanTse @ 7/04/2006 07:00:00 pm  
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Two Poems
These are the two poems feature in the movie "In Her Shoes"... I loved them so much I decided to put up the complete versions...

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

-- Elizabeth Bishop --

I Carry Your Heart With Me

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it
(anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

-- EE Cummings --

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posted by WanTse @ 10/30/2005 10:32:00 pm  
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Intrigue...
I didn't really plan anything for today but ended up doing more than expected... The only thing I planned was to go to the gym... So I went to the gym for and hour... Then I thought... what the hey... why waste the tram ticket I had... So I decided to go to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to see what it's like... so I went around to look at my favourite type of art... Renaissace and Classic Art... 1400-1800s... They have a collection of Durer's work... which was quite exciting... had a few other great artists as well like Titian, Rubens, Bernini, El Greco, Manet, Rembandt, Turner, Monet... But only their minor works... I'm quite dissapointed but what can I expect... not like it's De Lourve... I wanna go back to the National Gallery in London and go visit Tate Britain as well... But I think I will go back tomorrow or maybe Thursday for the Ducth masters collection!!! Hope it's worth my money... quite excited... Hehehe... Anyway when I was going around the gallery... I suddenly had a very weird thought... I was thinking I when I go back I want the tram ticket inspectors to have a check on my tram so I would know how it was like... and guess what!!! On my way back.... a group of inspectors came onto my tram... Hahaha... I was like... oh ok... so weird... my first check... way way weird... Yeap I'm so into art right now... if only I had someone here who likes art as well... It's weird to go to galleries alone... when I went there today... mostly old people... Hahaha... Well anyway... Cheers...

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posted by WanTse @ 9/20/2005 04:42:00 pm  
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