June 18, 2006
Officially summer
Now it is officially summer. Maybe it is because here harsh winter usually lingers over half a year that the people become so cheerful to celebrate the beginning of summer. Every year when the mulberries start to ripen, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival begins. This year it starts from Friday June 16 and ends Sunday July 9th, featuring live music and movies as usual. The tents are set up along the Washington St. in front of Rackham. I had a big chunck of waiting time Friday evening, so I took my papers out and sat outside the League to enjoy the festival. The music was good; a lot of kids running around or splashing water from the fountain; tons of teenagers gathering here and there; girls with beautiful summer dresses; people dancing while the band was playing... It's such a relaxing scene. The local bands were Jeremy Kittel Acoustic Trio (celtic and jazz fiddle trio) and Bugs Beddow Band (Trombone-driven party blues). I do not know much about music, but it sounded cheerful to me, HAPPY! Got plan for Saturday (Kerrytown, farmer's market, work, & exercise) and Sunday (SDB meeting, work, & movie).
I love summer. "The spring and summer (here) make all the suffer in the winter worthwhile." Remembered a conversation a couple of days ago at the picnic,
- "is that your dog? is it a border collie?"
- "Yeah, she is a mut, maybe has some border collie blood."
- "How old is she?"
- "eleven years old."
- "Doesn't look like an 11-year-old dog at all. actually very active."
- "Yeah, still like a puppy."
- "What's her name?"
- "SUMMER."
Posted by renh at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
Bargain Sushi
In the middle of the experiment, I felt hungry, but did not bring lunch with me. Well, I'll treat myself a little bit, cause yesterday's workout was too hard. Sushi.come is close and should be quick to serve. To my disappointment, neither the sushi&sashimi lunch special nor bento is available. I ordered salmon, tuna and california roll, one for each. I haven't been here for a long time, and the california roll looks totally different from what I used to have (the chef is even lazier now?!). Salmon and tuna in the rolls are quite substantial, but the texture is not firm enough. The service still sucks, just like last time I came here. The good thing is that it is their Sunday happy hour now, so I get 20% off discount. That's why I call it a bargain. Still thinking about Gandy Dancer, maybe next week, maybe.
Posted by renh at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2006
Saturday brunch
It's a nice day today. It's sunny and breazy. I rode my bike to school. After I finished the experiment, I went to the Kerrytown to have some good eats. First, I stopped by the farmer's market. This is my first time to shop at the farmer's market this year. There are a lot of herbs and flowers for sale, but the produce is quite limited. I stroll around. Finally, I bought a dozen large brown eggs (supposed to be free range) from the "Pepper Boys" (I used to buy sweet peppers from them often). The other thing I bought is fresh broccoli, 2 for $5. It's not the typical broccoli crown, but stems. I like these, good for boiling or steaming. I also picked up a bunch of raddish. I am not a raddish person, but with so limited produce, the fresh lovely colored raddish is simply irresistable to me. Thinly sliced to mix into salad or steam seems to be fine.
It's noon, and I am hungry. All of a sudden, I saw Gelato di Roma. Nice! I decided to try gelato today. I heard of gelato before, but have never tasted it. Gelato di Roma has a large variety of flavors. It took me a while to finally decide which one to have. By the way, gelato is the Italian ice cream, and supposed to have thicked texture and richer flavor than the ordinary ice cream. The reason is that gelato has more solid and less air in it. The gelato here is not as good as I'd expected, it still looks like ice cream, not the ideal silky fine texture (ie not perfect consistency). I'd like to try something with simple flavor, so that I can taste the gelato itself better. I always love toffee flavor, but this might be too strong; French Vanilla, maybe too simple; Purple Cow, a little weird; Borracha Cream, maybe too risky; Tiramisu, totally have on idea; Chocolate, maybe later ... Hummm, well, Cappucino it is. I am a big fan of coffee flavored ice cream, and like to compare the same flavor from different ice cream shops to judge which one is better. After a spoonful taste, I officially made my order, a small sized cup of cappucino gelato. Rich coffee flavor, mild bitter taste, maybe a little too sweet, it's all right. Took a peak at the poster on the wall, low fat?!, instantly felt less guilty. :) So gelato plus a slice of pizza made my Saturday brunch. Now need to get back to work.
PS, I found an article on-line, I quite agree with the author's opinion about this gelato place. Pasted here,
------------------------------------------------------------------
"If Zingerman's and Zenaida are trying to do right be gelati, the relatively new Gelato di Roma at 226 N. Fourth Avenue near Kerrytown, just a two blocks from the Next Door, is doing much to retard the progress of good gelato eating in A2. An myriad of bright, some neon, coloured gelati offer an array of artificially flavored-tasting gelati. To be sure, if you can get over the color and the taste, the consistency is pretty good - not great, but at least, well, consistent. Unfortunately, if you aren't blinded by the glowing offerings, your tastebuds might be blind-sighted by the unusually sweet and almost candy-like flavor. "Cinnamon," which has turned from red to brown in the months that the store has been opened, still tastes like red hots. "Root Beer Float," while novel, is nothing short of root-beer candy. *Boo!* There's also a "Purple Cow" - haven't gotten that adventurous (or stupid?) yet.
There's also some flavor confusion going on. "Tiramisu" is, as far as I can tell, is simply a sweeter version of "Cappucino." "Borracha Cream," which has marsala wine could be a poor zabaglione - except with lady fingers, is more like Tiramisu... but then, one would never guess that tiramisu could be electrifyingly bright yellow. "Ameretto" tastes like almond flavoring - almost fruity... but then, not surprisingly, so does "Almond."
Don't get me started on the sorbetti, which have a waxy lip-gloss-like appearance - scary. And, those little black dots in the "Strawberry," however convincing, are definitely not real strawberry seeds... I don't know what they are. For $2.96 (includes tax), one can order a small, which is two generous 1/4 cup scoops of any flavor you like."
------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by renh at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2006
pinic
Today the department has a picnic at the Delhi Metropark.
It was a nice experience. The food was good. I had two burgers as usual. :) "Your metabolic rate is like a 3-year-old boy", yeap, probably. It's nice that they have caters here.
Posted by renh at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2006
A Prairie Home Companion
06.14.06 7-9pm Michigan Theater
Finally got to see the Fitzgerald Theater! Have been listening to the show for along time, and have been always wondering what the home of the show looks like. It seemed real to me, the stage, the dressing rooms, and all the people in the show. Like the Angel said, she listened to the show every week and felt the people in the show are like her friends. And how excited it would be to finally meet them!
It's a movie about death, a bleak picture of the radio industry - the Fitzgerald Theater is going to be torn down to become a parking structure in downtown St. Paul, and this is the last show of PHC; an old man died after his performance in this last show; the Johnson girls talked about death in their dressing room and sang for their dead mother in the show; Lohan wrote a poem about suicide; the Angel of Death/Dangerous Woman strolled around the stage all the time. But I did not feel sad throughout the movie, it's actually quite funny, and "there is always hope" "it could be worse".
The movie has wonderful actors and actresses. I love Meryl Streep's performance as Yolanda Johnson, the country music siren. I like her way of talking, laughing, hugging Rhonda while singing a beautiful yet sad song, babbling before singing the song, unleashing her anger to GK, and singing in tears to mourn her mother and Chuck. I enjoyed the music of the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, especially Jearlyn Steele' Black Coffee. Lindsay Lohan is not bad at all. I had thought putting her out there was just the company's desperate effort to make the movie more appealing to the younger population. I also like the singing cowboys and their "Bad Jokes". It's hilarious. Now, besides the ensemble cast, I like Molly, stone-faced, pregnant single mother chewing gum while maticulously maintaining the operation of the show. Such a character!
I kinda miss Keillor's usual "News from Lake Wobegon" monologue and the ketchup skit. But I like that scene - he tried to stretch time with the commercial for American Duct Tape Council, while Molly fumbling the files to get the right page for him.
Finally, I really liked the fact that I went to the Michigan Theater to watch this movie. This place seems to be so out-of-date. They start to sell tickets half an hour before the show in front of the theater. The guys with red bow tie and white shirt standing in the glass ticket office, the old popcorn machine at the door of the theater poping out popcorns and giving off wonderful smell, the antique ceiling with beautiful chandeliers above the head and Persian carpet on the ground - all of these echo well with the Fitzgerald theater on the screen. It's really a great experience for me.
Posted by renh at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
half way through E. I.
Well, half way through Elizabeth I by Rosalind Miles. I am kinda disappointed about the book. Agree with the review " Miles is at her best in describing everyday Elizabethan life--religion, food, dress, illness. But her Elizabeth lacks the charisma to carry this lengthy chronicle..." "As an entertaining look at Reformation England, this novel succeeds, but it fails at the more immediate task of creating memorable fictional characters from the leavings of history". It's entertaining, and the description is rather detailed. But in my view this book is rather a romance book than a history fiction about the charismatic virgin queen. Miles took a lot of effort to describe the love affairs between the Queen and her lovers, while she simply skipped important political events happened in the court and parliament. Elizabeth was portrayed more like an innocent young girl rather than a queen with great political ambition. (This reminded me of Empress Orchid.) Personally, I do not believe this. Growing up in such a complicated environment, she must be wise enough to know how to survive. She could not just got the idea to become the queen only when Mary was dying and should not have treated it like a game at the beginning. It is utterly bewildering to read this in the book. I have to constantly battle the lines I am reading with the reasonable thinking of my mind.
But, the book struck me yesterday. It's about the Queen and Robin. The Queen finally noticed Robin only had the honoristic title "Lord" but living in poverty, yet Robin never complained anything to her. The council pressed her to get married and more importantly to gain political ally and capital. Being a passionate queen, she would not marry against her will. She sought for comfort from her friend Robin. I kinda want to believe they were in love, but they could not marry, which was a cruel reality. In other people's eye, Robin was "quite a flatterer" (Cecile) and "new man", but the Queen took him as her true friend. And I agree with her on that. Remember, when she was in the toughest and darkest time in the Tower, it was Robin who sent the flowers with the "ragged robin"; when Mary was dying and Elizabeth was strengthening power, it was Robin who sold his land and sent her the money; it was Robin who always joyfully attended her even after all the trarma he had endured. It was a tragic yet powerful story. Maybe making politically correct choice is always a constant companion of growing-up.
Posted by renh at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
It's Pita day!
Today is Pita day! Did not feel like cooking last night, but had to prepare lunch and breadfast. So I decided why not pita bread.
Breakfast:
Scambled eggs (3 medium eggs), shredded italian cheese mix, and ham (cut into strips). A little Kosher salt, black pepper and italian seasoning. Shovel into the pocket bread, and DONE!
Lunch:
Cut the pita bread open, layer with lettuce, ham, swiss cheese, sliced mushroom, sliced olive, italian seasoning, black pepper. Finished in 5 min.
9AM lab meeting time, in a hurry, I grabbed one tinfoil wrapped package hoping it was the breakfast pita. But, it turned out to be the sandwich. Well, then pita sanwich for breakfast - weird!
Posted by renh at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
recent news and comment
Love BBC, what else can I say! Often hear cool news of China and even my hometown from BBC.
1. This one might be too old. But I think this news has a much bigger impact than the death of Al-zarqawi. "Chinese engineers Tuesday blew up a temporary barrier used during construction of the Three Gorges Dam, unleashing the full force of the Yangtze River upon the world's largest hydroelectric project." -- CNN. June 6. Not a big supporter of this hydroelectric project, and I am more concerned about the impact of this dam on the eco-system around the Yangtze River area. It's true that it can generate a huge amount of electricity, but at the same time, keep in mind that the electricity it generated is also the most expensive one. Just thinking about how many people have to leave the homeland and how many cultural legacies are going to be ruined gives me a chill.
2. Heard Terry interview Mary Cheney. Her book is "Now it's my turn, A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life". I felt very sad for her during the interview. Here is the fact, she is a gay and in a long-term relationship, she worked for her father's political campaign, her father is the vice president, a pillar of the bush-cheney administration, Bush wants to pass the constitution amendment to ban gay marriage. Basically, she is working for someone to jeopadize her own potential legitimate marriage. she also admits that both her parents think this legislation issue should be left to each individual state, and she does hope gay marriage/civil union would become legitimate in the near future. I can tell that "marriage" is something she wants for both herself and her 14-year partner, heather. Yet literarilly she is working against it. And she loves her father dearly and support the current administration firmly. To me, this is so sad. I talked with Pete, and we came to the same conclusion - self-deceiving or brainwashed. I do not know whether Terry felt the same or not, but obviously she did not press Mary hard at sensitive issues. It's kind of awkward, sometimes.
3. It's world cup time again. There is world cup fever everywhere, but not in the States! This is utterly frustrating. Americans did not do well, 0-3 lost to Cech. World cup is the only sport that I would watch with true passion. Eight years ago, I watched the world cup and truly enjoyed it. That was after all the crazy high school study and college entrance exam, and it was so much fun. Four years ago, I watched it again, at that time, I graduated from college but have not left home for US yet. It was a fun time, too. Now, maybe because I just do not have the luxery of the leisure summer any more, and maybe that's why I can not watch the game and catch the world cup fever.
4. Vow, this is amazing, the authentic Chinese dialect from my hometown! It's BBC news again, not bad, it's about the economic development. The government is trying to build more and more highways, but messed up the budget. Hometown did change a lot in the past several years. The news is supprisigly accurate.
5. This morning another piece of news from mainland China. A famous TV host (not very sure) together with her two other colleagues published a topless photo to promote the awareness of breast cancer. Then there was a huge debate about the morality about her action. Now she is even suspended from her job. I am confused. My opinion: 1) it is not necessary to shot topless photo to promote the awareness for public health issue. It's simply too controversial, and besides there are many more reasonable ways; 2) her doing so is out of a good will. She did not violate any law, as far as I know, so she should not be punished. This is not a serious political news, but the BBC host tried to argue the strong censorship in China. I thought this was too far off. But what's wrong with Da vinci Code?
Posted by renh at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2006
Shrimp scampi (low fat recipe)
As I always do, I never ever faithfully follow the recipe. This is the same. I got it from foodnetwork, but it is modified to my version.
small dice half of a sweet onion, and saute it with a table spoon of buffer plus EVOO, do not forget Kosher salt. Add italian seasoning and fresh grounded pepper to the taste. Put a pinch of diced red bell pepper to saute with the onion. Add the shrimps (better deveined but still in shell), as soon as the shrimps turn pink, add some lemon juice. Finally put the finely chopped flat leaf parsley to the saute pan. For the pasta, I use linguine. Garnish with fresh parsley for the finishing touch.
New word today: antipasto. I just learned that it has nothing to do with pasta. It's from italian, means out of the menu (appetizer kind of thing, something before the main course).
Posted by renh at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2006
Kickboxing hand wrap
How to use the hand wrap
put the thumb into the rope circle at the end of the wrap, then wrap around the wraist twice. Move up and cover the knucle twice, then start zig cross to cover the palm. Finally wrap around the wraist twice.
Crunches
Do not stretch the neck. Keep eyes up and look at the ceiling.
Core muscles need more work out!
Posted by renh at 06:39 PM | Comments (2)
June 07, 2006
sesame candy and stove god
A new visiting scholar from China has arrived, and she kindly brought us some sesame candy. To me, sesame candy and the story behind it are so familiar, that I almost take it for granted that the Americans and Japanese know the story as well. When I told them the story, they liked it at once.
Sesame candy made by rolling maltose candy stick with sesame seeds is traditionally consumed at a certain day in the Chinese lunar calendar near Spring Festival (I cann't remember clearly). At the first bite, the candy is quite crunchy. But, as you chew on it, it becomes quite sticky. And this is why this candy is purchased on the particular day. It is said every household has a stove god. On that day, the god will go to heaven and report what you've done during the year, both good and bad things. People are afraid that the stove god will say bad things about them. So they will prepare the sesame candy as bribe/offering to the stove god. When the stove god takes it, the sticky candy will glue his mouth, then he can no longer report bad things about you.
-- It is an interesting story for people from other culture background.
Posted by renh at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2006
A walk across America
A Walk Across America - by Peter Jenkins
There are two types of books for my reading. One is that I will happily and eagerly read, but will hardly touch after finishing it (A). The other type is that I will take my time and slowly read, but I will often think about it or even quote from it after I read it (B).
A brief classification of the books I read recently:
A: Empress Orchid, Memoirs of a Geisha, Da Vin ci Code
B: Schindler's list (-ing), Elizabeth I (-ing), to Kill a mocking bird
And A Walk Across America does not fall into either of these categories. At the beginning, I will probably put it into the B category, but toward the end, I think I'll classify it as type A. I think the reason is all about the book itself, the walking story of Peter Jenkins in the 1970s' America. I'll explain the reason why.
Peter Jenkins was a college graduate and had beening living a typical suburn life. He was an angery young man and ready to give up on America. Nevertheless, he gave his country the last chance and decided to know the country and the people by walking across America. He spent a great length of book on the rural life of America. I really like the characters - Homer, Preacher family and the black family. Homer is like a hermit. He basically makes everything by himself, from the wooden cabin to the everyday food. It's interesting to read the part that Peter ate the meat prepared by Homer, b/c Peter was a strict vegetarian. His reason was that there are a lof of starving people in the world everyday; people should eat grains and veggie; therefore more food would be available for the starving. But after he saw how Homer makes a living, he realized that he had stupid ideas and what's important is not what you eat but how you eat. Both the Preacher family and the black family treated Peter as their own son, but their ways of living was a sharp contrast. Preacher and his wife had a small farm, and their food was almost all organic and nutritious. The black family had a more Americanized way of living - all store bought food high in sugar low in nutrients. It was 1970s, but the black family embraced Peter generously, they even would risk their lives to fight the bootleggers for Peter. Peter helped them to be more self-sustainable, what I liked most was that he talked the idea of education into the head of his black brother.
So, it is rather a simple book, not written in a very sophisticated way. Simple but pure idea. I kinda enjoyed it. But at the same time I was looking forward to something with more depth.
Posted by renh at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)
Peony Garden
Last Sunday evening, I went to the Arb. The Peony Garden is very beautiful. I was very excited to see Peony blosom. All of a sudden, I was a little homesick. Peony was first cultivated in China more than 2000 years ago. I remember back in my hometown, when I was young, my parents always took me to see the peony blosom in late springs. Now, here in the States, the peony just looked the same as the ones I used to see back home. The blosom was magnificent, and the flowers seemed to be regal. Interestingly, the most beautiful flower I saw was the one on the ground. It was so heavy that the stem could no longer support its weight. I carefully pushed it up and took a closest shot at it. The rich red color overwhelmed the whole picture, and that's the effect I wanted.
Posted by renh at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2006
5K photo
In the afternoon, when I was walking back from the main street, I found a lot of photos were posted on the display windown of a sports shop tortoise and hare. They are photos from 5K, 10K and half marathon. I found a picture of myself. The shopgirl told me that I can take the photo with me. I happily took it away, cause I was NOT looking good on it. :)
I am technically challenged, I had trouble upload the photos. :(
Posted by renh at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
5K run and taste of Ann Arbor
I finished the 5K this morning. I woke up at 5am, and had a huge breakfast (2 fried eggs, cereal, milk and ham-cheese sandwich). By 6am, I was on my bike to my department. It was drizzling and I was wet, which made me uncomfortable. I arrived at the lab around 6:25am. After a quick change into the shorts I brought with me, I rushed out of the building to the gathering site to take the bus to the starting line. I had a running partner, Anita, she is a first year grad student in our department. We arrived at the starting line at 7am. But the race would not start until 8:20am. It’s quite boring during the waiting, but we had a nice conversation. When finally the race started, there were a lot of people, and quite a few people with baby strollers. We weaved our way to the front part and then the race started. Before the race started everyone had to tie the timing chip on the shoe, so when you actually crossed the start-line the magnetic field would activate the timing chip. Anita and I ran most of the first 1 mile together. I felt good on the way. This course has got a nice view with Huron river right beside it. The last mile was the toughest part – there were a couple of hills and I did not where it’s going to end. Nevertheless, there were some people along the way playing music to cheer up the runners, and just running with so many people makes me feel good. I kept a constant pace and was able to accelerate a little bit in the end. I did not feel tired at all. Actually I thought I could have done better. Cause I always run on the treadmill, so in the real field I did not have a clear idea of my pace and how much was left in the course. Had I been more familiar with the course, I would have definitely done better. But overall, I was not disappointed. A pace of 9:12 min per mile is OK for me. I got my reward - a finisher’s T-shirt. Then I hurried to find Anita and cheer her up in the end. At the end there were fresh fruits (banana, grape, apple and orange), water, yogurt, bread and energy bar. We enjoyed the food and felt totally refreshed. And what’s the best is that it’s FREE.
We walked back to our department. I finished some experiments in the lab. I walked to the Main Street at noon. There was an event – taste of Ann Arbor going on. Basically, it is the restaurants (mostly on Main Street) set up their food stand and selling bite-sized portion. You purchase the “tickets� and then use the tickets to get what you want. Each ticket is 50 cents. Different food has different price. I tried several different things. Bread pudding from Cafe Du Jour is very delicious. Chocolate ganache from the Earle is mediocre, but the white chocolate cheesecake is a total knockout. I also tried some Indian food, Masala dosa is similar to the “Jian1bing3guo3zi1� in China, but has curried potato in it; it tastes good but the three sauces coming with it are too spicy for me. I like the Indian drink, Mango lassi. A lot of Indian people chose this restaurant and the Masala dosa, so I reasoned it should be authentic; but for me it is still a little too spicy and I may stay away from it in the future. Blue Nile serves Ethiopian food which I am always curious about. I had a choice of meat combo from Blue Nile, chicken leg in mild sauce and injera (a pancake-like sourdough bread). I like the injera, but the chicken leg just tastes bland. A more substantial plate is from the Pepperz, barbecue ribs with chips. I got a generous serving with four pieces of ribs. The ribs are very tender, although the sauce is a bit salty. I haven’t had ribs for a long time, so I happily devoured all the ribs. Interestingly, there was a guy who asked me where I got my ribs. Needless to say, the ribs are quite tantalizing for the general crowds. I like the Real Seafood company, but their stuff is also pricy. I had the cheapest item on their simple menu – Gazpacho. It’s like the liquid salad or cold tomato soup. I was quite thirsty at that time, so the sourness of the Gazpacho did a good job at cooling me down. Overall, I had a good time. In general, the life in small college town Ann Arbor is boring, but I’ve got to find some fun for myself. Recently I am also reading English books. I “freeloaded� Memoirs of a Geisha and Da vin ci Code from the bookstore (I think the two books are much better than their movie version). Then I bought A Walk Across America and Elisabeth I. I’ve finished the first one. And I am working on the second one now. PS, book reviews will come soon.
Posted by renh at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)