Chinese Soap and Chinese cooking

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In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching DVDs of a Chinese soap called ‘The stories of Time”.  There are 6 or 7 DVDs worth and it took a long time to finish the whole series.  I knew I was going to be hooked so I put it off for a while.  And as soon as I started the first one, I was watching it day and night sometimes staying up in the wee hours of the night, crying with the characters about the situations created in the story lines.

The stories are about families living in a small community in Taiwan from the 50s to the current time.  That was the time I grew up in and the conflicts and life situations were very similar to what was played in the soap.  The time was difficult, there was very little money and there were lot of tragedies created by the political situation between Taiwan and China at the time.  The parents are mostly from mainland China who couldn’t go back home to their families, the kids were raised with limited resources and yet under a tremendous pressure to do well in school and to help the parents.  The material resources were poor but the emotional resources were plenty and thus lots of tears were shed while watching the show.

Watching the show has reminded me of the food I had when I was growing up.  So in the past few days, I was making rice noodles, beef stuffed pancakes, water dumplings and rice porage with salty side dishes.  Although the old houses have been torn down to build sky scrapers and the games are now played on machines instead of running around the neiborhood with friends, the same kind of food can still be found or made.  It provides a little connection to the past even though we are all growing older and friends are scattered and old neighborhood unrecognizable.  Sigh.

Time can create so many unforgetable memories.  Sometimes, the only way to catch a glimpse of the past is through the familiar food you eat then and now.

Mexican and Dancing

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Went with Sandy and Daniel to Azteca for Mexican food last night.  Actually, it was the blue margurita that we went for.  Sandy, Leo and me finished one and a half pitcher of it.  The last time Leo and I went, we each had a jumbo blue margurita and we could hardly walk when we were done with our meal.  So that’s our agreement we won’t get the jumbo one again unless someone else is driving. Daniel has been the designated driver wherever he goes since he couldn’t drink.  So it worked out for all of us.  After we got back to Sandy’s, both of us wanted to dance.  She suggested Grotto, and Daniel finally agreed to go.  The band was playing the 80s music very good for free style dancing.  Sandy and I danced up a storm, I dragged leo down for a couple of songs too.  And he was doing fine.

I haven’t gone social dancing for a long, long time.  I kind of missing the fun.  It would be great if some westcoast or hustle dancer were there.  Maybe I’ll go back to the Friday night at the Rockside some time and see if I still can dance west coast. 

Today, Leo and I did the grocery shopping and when we came home, he turned on the PGA and I started spinning the alpaca.  Finished the first batch (4oz) later and decided to rip some VHS tape for Connie.  I’ve got these tapes from here for a couple of weeks now, need to get moving on them more.

Along the way, I feel so blessed that I can do all the things I love to do, knitting, spinning, dancing at this time of my life.  It really is the fun time in life as Leo said.  The hard working years are behind us and we are looking foward to a fun and relaxing life together.

First day at work

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First day at work after almost 2 years of freedom.  Signed tons of paper, one of them is to declare that I am not a terrorist.  This is probably the most funny one to sign.  Who in the right mind would put down they are one any way?  Whose back is this paper covering, it’s certainly not to help prevent anything just something to show that the question has been asked.  Does not make any sense to me.

Other than the paperwork, the keys, the network connection, the familiarization of the logistics like the bathroom and the vending machine location, I find the new gig pretty nice.  It happens to be Leo’s old office.  And it’s ironic that he retires and I go back to work and it happens that I get his old office to work in.  It’s nice and quiet inside a big empty lab.  I was able to focus on whatever I need to do.  

Besides having to fiddle with the chair that likes to sink down after you pull it up within 15 minutes, I actually like the fact that I’m back at work in front of a computer again.  Even though the pay is dismal compared to what I was making, I get to put time into the system again and it counts towards the retirement.  And I only need to work one day a week.  I remember that I enjoyed working at the computer solving problems before, but the politics and the unfriendly and unsupportive environment is something I would never go back to.  

IIS is not a fun server to play with especially you want to add login and try to keep the script separate from the login required and still keep it relatively secure.  So I spent a lot of time trying out different ways.  It’s good though to get me slowly back into real actions.  Checked out some scripts written in ASP and tried not to disturb the script while I add those security measures.  Copied a whole site from a linux system to my laptop.  That’s one I need to probably rewrite if I can’t port it directly with modifications to live on a windows system.  I certainly got my work cut out for me.

The day passed very quickly.  I liked it.  And I’m glad I’m back working again.

Next week, the parking situation would be a challenge.  I don’t think the office people want to give me the one day pass any more.  So Leo may have to drive me in and pick me up.  I don’t think my pay would justify buying the parking permit for one day a week parking.  He is such a sweet heart to offer that.

Knitting and spinning day

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After Leo went hiking, I unraveled the throw once again and put the Taiwan soap opera that Sandy gave me in the DVD player.  And there I was stuck for the rest of the day.    The yarn I spun from the Coopworth on the wheel didn’t come out very well in the ply.  I was still doing trial and error and by the time I got the hang of it, the ply was done.  So there are lots of overspun singles that got tangled up in the ply.  Not a pretty yarn.  My spindle spun yarn was even better than the wheel spun one.  So I just can’t find the right pattern to hide the defects and yet produce a smooth enough surface for a throw and have a decent size also.  Very high order for the yarn from the first try.  Hopefully, I’ll find a pattern that would be good enough so I won’t have to unravel yet one more time.

I have to finish two bobbins full of the Border Leicester roving and make a ply before I can move onto the alpaca roving I bought at the Alpaca show.  It’s amazing that there was very little fiber being sold at the show, I was very disappointed.  But man those alpacas are so cute and they walk like noble people with head held high and long dainty legs.  Leo met Don and Nancy who raise alpacas in Kansas, I think.  They haven’t seen each other for years, so it was a great surprise that Leo saw them at the show and I chatted with Nancy who promised to send me samples from her alpaca when they are ready.

Anyway, I did finish plying the brown yarn and skeined and washed it.  It’s hung to dry now.   This second roving has turned out a lot better.  The singles are more relaxed and the ply is more balanced.  I’m pretty happy about it.  I still have more than half left to spin but I can start on the alpaca a bit now I have three empty bobbins.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll give it a try.  I’m a bit nervous, after all, it’s only the third roving I bought and it’s alpaca.  I was told to stay away from alpaca as a new spinner, but I just can’t wait any more.  So we’ll find out..

Niagra Falls

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The four day vacation at Niagra Falls was very nice.  The room we had at Fallsview Hilton was on the 30th floor at the corner.  So we got to see both sides out the big windows of both the American and Canadian falls.  The view is really, really spectacular.
From Niagra Falls

We got the frontview seat all day every day.  You don’t need to fight the traffic and walk a long way to get a partial view of one of the falls, you just sit comfortably in the chairs with a glass of wine and snacks in hand and you take in the whole view from one side to the other.  Got to go back again.  Nothing beats the location.  The only complaint I have is that ‘Casino’ building which sits in between the falls of our view.  I wish it was not there.  That building blocks everybody else’s view to the falls and I don’t think you can get the area view as well as the Hilton, it’s too close to see both in the same room.   

We went to Mama Mia for an italian dinner one night.  

From Niagra Falls

Left the car in the hotel and walked the couple of miles to the restaurant.  Souvenir stores lined the streets with very few customers.  But it was nice to walk pass the Imax theater and other shops for the up close experience.  The food is so so, we both had spaghetti and meat sauce.  But the waitress was very friendly.  After dinner, we went down Cliffton Hills through the commercial district with all the shops to the falls.  

From Niagra Falls

And made a big loop back to the hotel.   Took lots and lots of pictures, the camera did a wonderful job of it.  And there were very few visitors this time of the year in the middle of the week.  Very nice to stroll around and not be pushed.  The climb back to the hotel was a bit steep, but we pass the rotating restaurant on the way (can’t remember the name of it right now, senior moment).  It used to be the only thing around that’s high and gives you a good view of the falls.  Now there are so many hotels around it that offers even better view.  Amazing.

We were trying imagine how the first indians felt and what they saw when they discovered Niagra Falls the first time.  And how a big shock it would have been if they travelled down the Niagra river on a canoe and saw the falls coming at them.  

Spent a day at Niagra on the Lakes and visited lots of wineries.  Leo had to find Picaard the peanut store for his chip nuts.  All the way in and before we stopped at any winery, the chipnuts was the only thing on his mind.  We finally stopped at one of the wineries and asked for direction.  We actually missed it coming in on the main drag.  He was finally satisfied and settled down to visit the wineries.  We were looking for the Cab Franc from Hillebrand

From Niagra Falls

but they were out of stock this year already.  What a bummer.  I liked it so much from the Waterfront restaurant in Hilton I wanted to get some for home.  Have to wait till next year now.  But Leo got the merlot from Konzelmann that he liked.  

From Niagra Falls

Their ice wine is also superb.  Too bad I was hesitant to get it because of the price $40 for a 200ml bottle.  But it is really good.  We did however get some ice wine down the road and coughed up the $38 for a bottle in the end.  And it’s not bad either.

From Niagra Falls

We took a trip up to Toronto for Taiwanese food one day.  

From Toronto

 

Leo discovered 407 toll road

From Toronto

and was very happy to avoid the QEW into Toronto.  He said he’s happy to pay whatever tolls it charges.  Canada has built this toll road without ticket booth, everything is handled electronically.  There are cameras to take a picture of your license plate at each on and off ramp to the high way.  And they send you the bills for the toll.   How nice!  You don’t need to slow down to get the ticket and pay the toll, you just get on and go.  No traffic build up at either end.  Genius.  If only the toll is a bit lower.  The waiter at the Hilton’s Blue Martini Lounge told us it’s between $25 to $50 Canadian dollars for the whole way.  We’ll find out.

We went to 369 and Wei’s.  

From Toronto

369 is very good with the Shanghai style dim sum.  We had the beef noodle soup and ordered a couple of steamed buns and pot stickers.  And lots of to go orders.  Then we went to Wei’s Taiwanese restaurant.  

From Toronto

They have a very nice web presence which was why I picked them but the restaurant is very tiny basically a take out place.  It was a little disappointing.  The menu is also limited and they didn’t have one of the major item on the menu that day, the Taiwanese meat ball.  I got my smelly tofu though.  Everything else is ok but not great.  Got to talk to Daniel and find out the good Taiwanese restaurants in Toronto next time. 

We decided we will go back again to do the same thing, watching the falls from our room, winery trip and Toronto. Maybe even spend a day in Toronto so we don’t need to do a lot of driving in one day.  All in all, it was a very nice vacation.