Month In Review

It actually started before Christmas. We tried to throw a surprise birthday dinner for Billy after a snowboarding trip to Tahoe. We had a reservation for a large reservation at Chapeau! that evening, but a combination of lifts closing early due to winds, and clean roads meant that we were back in San Francisco over an hour early for our reservation. Calling the restaurant to push our reservation earlier didn't work, so it seemed like we'd have to wait. However, things turned our rather miraculously when 1) they actually had our table ready, early 2) the guys driving up from the South Bay actually arrived early 3) Billy was in a good mood, as we were able to distract him for a while by hanging out in Japantown before dinner. Overally, it was a wonderful evening. The food was solid; flavours were rich, but perhaps a little over-salted. Service was excellent. There was no snobbishness from the waitstaff, and there was plenty of staff. The chef personally went through the tiny restaurant greeting guests (and again at the door when we left, also giving me the recipe to us banana butterscotch sauce). We also had enough people to order every dessert on the table, resulting in a veritable dessert buffet. I don't recall the exact price, but it was very reasonable for the food and service. (4.8/5)

Next was Christmas. If you missed that part of the story, scroll down and check the previous post. That was followed to my secret for a girlish figure. Yes, that's right, the flu. There went the first half of January, and all those Christmas pounds with it.

Not to fret. With San Francisco's Dine About Town (aka DAT) rolling into town (very similar to Toronto's Winterlicious), the usually economical Peachy transformed into a voracious restaurant prospector. I managed to recover in time to partake in three of these excursions.

Bacar restaurant and wine bar, situated in SOMA, with a large bar with live jazz, a rather spacious main dining room with a large ceiling, and a quieter mezzanine was a happening spot on a Saturday night. Busy enough that they actually weren't offering the DAT menu. We should have called ahead and asked first, but we weren't the only ones suckered in, as we heard the exact same inquiry from the table behind us. Since we were seated with water already, we decided to suck it in and enjoy dinner. The charcuterie plate was fairly simple, but house-made and delicious. The smokey pork chop also stood out as a winner. Of the desserts, the blood-orange panna cotta was quite memorable. The server was friendly, and the cheese bread both yummy and abundant, So overall, a DAT loser, but a good meal (although costing us quite a bit more than expected). (3.5/5)

We went up to SF on a weekday to pick up some cheap snowboarding tickets, and as an excuse to try Aziza, a nouveau Middle Eastern restaurant way out in the Richmond district. I had passed by this place before and wanted to try it; it's directly across from Ton Kiang, the dim-sum place. Alas, like Bacar, we were thwarted in our DAT attempt, since at this place the DAT menu was only available if everyone ordered it (and that would have been 5 of us). Although the drinks from the bar were quite interesting and packed plenty of punch, the above policy, plus the fact that the waiter wouldn't let us take photos, put a huge damper on things. The food overall was pretty good. Not bad, but not rave worthy. I had been looking forward to the basteeya, but it came out rather bland and disappointing. The better dishes were the couscous Aziza and wild mushrooms in phyllo. I'd come back if either the food or service shined, but the first was not outstanding, and the latter was sorely lacking (2.5/5)







The best service of the three was at Azie, which didn't have our table available when we arrived, post-snowboarding. Instead we got a free calamari appetizer from the hostess while we waited at the bar, under the stairs to the mezzanine. Shortly after (basically before we got to dig into the deep fried calamari with shavings of green onions and chili), we were lead to our booth, complete with curtains for added privacy. Unfortunately, the asian-fusion cuisine met my asian-fusion cuisine expectations, which is to say, not very fantastic. Like most asian inspired western cuisine, the asian elements stood out, but never really fuses. For example, the green onions in the dish looked asian, but didn't add to the blandness much. The deep fried calamari with salt and black pepper you'd get at a chinese restaurant would easily put this one to shame. On the service alone, I'd recommend this spot, but alas the lackluster food doesn't warrant a return trip. (3/5)

Gluttony

Shortly before Christmas, I went snowboarding up in North Lake Tahoe with a couple of other guys, taking advantage of a $15 a night at the Fitzgerald's hotel in Reno (the deal is gone, but it's been replaced by another one). On the saturday evening we went to a casino buffet at the Atlantis, where Billy commented that the excess of food was a demonstration in gluttony. I actually didn't eat all that much, considering buffet food is rarely all that great, and casino buffets are no exception.

I present the following however, as an answer to the common question "How was Hong Kong?", and as an exhibit of true gluttony. It's a list of our meals in HK with some of the highlight menu items (unfortunately, I can't remember everything I ate):

Dec 25th
Lunch: Chesa (the Penninsula Hotel)
- waldorf salad with smoked duck breast and duck confit
- filet mignon with foie gras ravioli and salsify
- cheese fondue
- blackberry charlotte
When was the last time I had a 3 course lunch?







Dinner: Lei Yu Mun
This is an area in HK known for seafood. Generally you peruse one of many stalls that feature live seafood (fish, shrimp, bivalves, lobsters, cuttlefish etc.) in large tanks. Many stalls also have a large (huge!) specimens of fish or lobster that are not for sale, but mostly to attract visitors. You select your seafood and tell them to deliver it to one of a number of restaurants, that will then cook your meal for you. You then pay at the restaurant, a combination of the seafood price plus cooking and service charges.
- shrimp
- fish "so mei" (parrotfish?)
- deep fried "pissing shrimp"
local delicacy that looks something like this, about a foot long and light green in colour. Tastes something like shrimp or lobster
- steamed abalone
- steamed scallops
- shark's fin soup











Dec 26th
Breakfast: at home
- noodles with hairy crab meat
Hairy Crab is a seasonal Shanghainese delicacy. The crabs are small, maybe 3-4 inches wide with small legs. They're desired for the tasty eggs, which are in season in late November/early December. My grandmother usually freezes some of the crab meat for our visits. Yum.
Lunch: Cuisine Cuisine Dimsum (IFC Shopping Center)
- fancy cha siu bao (with a sweet crust)
It seems to be a new trend to have baked bbq pork buns with some sort of sweet crust (if you're familiar with chinese "pineapple buns", or "mexico buns", it's similar). The traditional steamed rice flour buns are of course, still available.
- stir fried rice cakes with roast duck











Dinner: Amigo
I think this place was one of my introductions to fine dining, decades ago. It comes complete with candlelight, flowers, attentive waiters in bow ties and white gloves, and a seranading mandolin and string trio that makes its way around the restaurant, from table to table.
- Escargots
- Caesar Salad
- Lobster and Rock Clam Linguine



27th:
Breakfast: at home
- stir fried rice cake
I was gonna skip breakfast this day, but when it came out, I couldn't resist!
Lunch: Sabatini (Royal Garden Hotel)
- antipasti buffet
- Ravioli Amatriciana
- Profiterole cake
Dinner: AMC
My aunt booked a karaoke suite for dinner. Half the suite included a long dining table for our family, and a small dance floor. The other half had a living room type setup with couches, a front projection screen and a karaoke setup. Family Karaoke night! There is a house in New Orleans...
- garlic prawns
- sharks fin soup
- steamed abalone
- baked tapioca pudding with lotus seed paste



28th:
Lunch: Dimsum
Had lunch at some fancy new Dimsum place in Wanchai. Miss CoolBeans came along, but even she didn't remember which restaurant it was.
- deep fried tofu excellently crispy on the outside, velvety on the inside.
- crab meat xiao long bao
- fancy cha siu bao
Same concept as the ones at Cuisine Cuisine, but better here.
- drunken chicken
Dinner: The Wai residence
Miss CoolBean's uncle invited me over for dinner at their home, catered by a vietnamese chef.
- deep fried spring rolls
- stuffed crab shell
- soft-shelled crab (an entire platter of it)
- curry beef brisket

29th:
Lunch: Hugo (Hyatt Regency)
The hotel was closing at the end of the year, and apparently the 30+ year old restaurant's reservation list was filling up with nostalgic customers. Luckily my Dad's uncle got a lunch spot before the place closed its doors.
- appetizer platter
They have an appetizer cart (essentially a buffet they cart to your spot at the table, you select items and they put it on the plate for you) which features enough delectable items that the cart would suffice for a meal. The mangoes are always popular. I haven't quite decided whether it's a good thing or bad that there's an excellent prime rib to follow. It just makes it hard to decide what to save room for.
- prime rib
- fresh berry bowl for dessert
Dinner: hotpot at Aunt Lily's
I'm not a big fan of hotpot, but this dinner was good. It qualified as the best hotpot, ever.
- kobe beef (5 lbs of it!)
- top sirloin
- fresh shrimp
- various fancy clams, including baby geoduck
- mussels
- gourmet fishballs
- a variety of mushrooms
- ... too much good stuff



30th:
Lunch: Sapporo Ramen
- ramen
- gyoza
- deep fried chicken
The chicken was well done in terms of crispyness, but too garlicky for my taste.
Dinner: Shanghai Fraternity Association
Private club requiring Shanghainese ancestry for membership. Good food though, probably the best xiao long baio I had on this trip to HK.
- jellied pork, preserved duck egg, other appetizers
- sauteed shrimp
- "dee pong" braised pork leg
- sharks fin
- deep fried duck
- sweet glutinous rice with red bean paste
- crabmeat xiao long baio featuring hairy crab meat... yum!!!





31st:
Lunch: Maxim's (Hong Kong International Airport)
Had dimsum with my grandmother and my parents before my parents left
- dim sum
Dinner: Four Seasons
My grandmother treated the whole clan (sans my parents, plus Miss CoolBeans) to a fancy dinner and countdown at the Four Season's Hotel (as opposed to the AMC party we went to in previous years). I was quite surprised when it turned out to be the Hong Kong Dental Association's Annual Ball. I got a bad vibe from the speeches (in which all the Hong Kong Dental Association Ball Committee organizers praised each other), and the well-dressed hag that gave me a dirty look for not contributing to their raffle. After that though, we ended up having fun with my family. The unlimited (bad) wine was enough to get the whole family in a conga line by the end of the night.
- cream of forest mushroom soup
- braised beef cheeks
- many other courses, spread out over hours



Afterparty: Chapter 3 (SoHo)
All the cousins went out for drinks after the countdown. I only stayed for two rounds before Miss CoolBeans had to be sent home to bed, but I think we need to do this again sometime. Too bad none of my cousins took me out for underaged drinking when I was 17!

1st:
Lunch: "Mak's noodle" (Central), "Law's Congee?"
- wonton noodles
- congee with salted pork and preserved egg
- deep fried fish balls
- fresh samosas
- fresh roti
- fresh squeezed grapefruit and starfruit juice
Miss CoolBeans declined lunch at the Peak's Cafe Deco for some more down to earth delights as we hit up the best wonton noodle place in HK, as well as a nearby congee spot and some street food stalls for lunch
Dinner: "So jeet"
I don't know what the English name for this restaurant is. I think it was "The X and Y Residents Association", where X and Y were some unpronounceable Chinese provinces or towns. Another member's only place, but supposedly the best Shanghainese food on the island. The xiao long baio were a close second to the Shanghai Fraternity Assocation (they had a thinner skin), but everything else was probably better here, especially the "dee pong".
- shaghainese pork and vegetable wonton
- sharks fin soup
- "dee pong" braised pork leg
- fish in wine sauce
- crabmeat xiao long baio
- "tai koo choy" with bamboo shoot shanghainese vegetable resembling a flattened baby "bok choy"

Belated Christmas Blog

"This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger."

I had my Christmas thought of the year, sitting in my American Airlines economy class seat on the way from San Jose to Narita. I suspect the lady sitting in front of me (although it could have been the guy on my left) was lactose intolerant, given the fact that she kept ordering milk when refreshments came along, and the continuous farting whenever she was sleeping. And by continuous, I actually mean regular, like every minute or so.

At one point I gave up trying to hold my breath and hung out at the back of the plane with Heller's Catch-22, and considered how the manger must have smelled, and how far off it was from the lights and glitz of today's commercial Christmas.

Christmas is interesting in Hong Kong, because despite the rampant consumerism, it's still a visibly religious holiday. The political correctness here doesn't prevent people from writing "Merry Christmas" on big signs, or playing Christmas hymns in shopping malls. In contrast, Christmas in the States is highly secularized. Our company pushed hard to remind employees of the Spirit of Christmas, which mostly involved giving or family. Christmas themed stories, such as the book "The Giving Chest" and "Polar Express" also push a secularized Christmas morality. While it's certainly "better" than "buy buy buy", it's ironic how all these tales of the meaning of Christmas miss the true meaning of Christmas.

Whiners make for entertaining blogs.
It's true. The most entertaining blogs tend to be people who complain and whine a lot, especially if they do it with a flair. It doesn't have to be about anything significant, or even intelligent. It could be the most inane drivel, but I'll probably still read it for its entertainment value.

Frankly, I just haven't had much to complain about in the last while. I can recall one thing. It involved going to the mall in search of some costume for Halloween (I ended up spending a couple bucks on acrylic paint and brushes and making a papier mache mask, yes, my inert creativity was busting out). One of the stores (speaking of busting out, the very brand had a fashion show on TV recently) was playing Christmas music, at Halloween.

It doesn't really "feel" like Christmas right now here, given it's California, and either sunny or rainy. It certainly didn't feel like Christmas a month and a half ago, when every other store was decorated with pumpkins and skeletons. Corporate marketting does, in fact, amaze me every so often.

I haven't updated much lately, which most likely reflects the fact that I haven't been doing much reading, and thus haven't felt creative enough to write anything. I certainly don't have flair; when I'm lucky I can bite the style of some Pulitzer Prize winner that I have been reading. Hopefully, if you're interested, the photos on my Flickr (see the left sidebar) have been sufficiently entertaining. I can think of three updates worth mentioning.

First, I celebrated my birthday by being treated to the "best" restaurant in the United States, The French Laundry. Once upon a time, I was easily wow'd with food. In retrospect, it had a lot to do with novelty. The first time you experience a new food or preparation, you're blown away. It might still be good, but it certainly loses its ability to blow you away when you get accustomed to it. I still order foie gras and duck confit, and although it's often good at whatever new restaurant I try, it rarely has a wow to it.

French Laundry wow'd me at least four times. The cauliflower pasta was very good. Not "very good for cauliflower". Just very good. Wow. I think part of the trick here is, none of the portions are large enough for you to be satisfied. You want more of every dish that comes to you. This is a prime example. They did something to the apple served in one of the cheese courses. It was a brand new flavour, and that's not something I get often. Wow. The elements of the blue cheese course combined to form something entirely new. If you put the cheese in your mouth along with the watercress, candied walnuts, and grape jelly at in your mouth at the same time, it is a profoundly different experience than just savouring the cheese. Not something I had expected. Wow. Finally, I've had plenty of dried fruit, but I've never had compressed fruit. That's like, pineapple flavoured paper. Wait, it's real pineapple? Cool. Wow. The rest of the photos are here, if you haven't seen them already.

Speaking of which, at 27 you feel old. I think 25 sounds like you're still on the line. At 26, I was in denial. This year, I had to face the fact. I'm a quarter of a century old. Actually older than that. Can you imagine? Btw, thanks for all the birthday pics.

I don't feel like it. Except for my memory. Incidentally, I've had the word "biter" at the tip of my tongue all day, and it's just clicked minutes ago.

The second item is that I've realized I'm perfectly happy writing computer code for 80hrs a week. Really. However, tell me I'm in charge of people and my job is to go to meetings with higher ups and set schedules; I'm leaving work at 6 each day. Go figure.

Lastly, I've learned the joys of shooting my photos in RAW. You can recover a heck of a lot from a poorly exposed shot. It just takes a lot of time. I had a great time going to Death Valley over Thanksgiving. My highlight was definitely taking photos of the crazy landscape. The weekend up to this point has mostly been spent postprocessing and uploading the pics. There's definitely more there than you'd be interested to see.

Post-lastly, congrats to Toby and Clara, but you knew that already.

I was about to have breakfast this morning (yes, you read it right, me and breakfast in the same sentence) when I was about to say grace, as I often do when I remember. Now instead of the usual "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub" (although, since I was standing in front of the sink, it dawned on me that it was in the condition where it could use a good rub and scrub), I actually thought a moment about the whole act.

Now the popular belief is that religious people (ie Christians) say grace, whereas non-religious people are exempt. In reality, the 11th commandment, which says "Thou shalt say grace before thine meall; hors d'ouvres, coffee, tea, scones, desserts and alchohlic beverages are exempt when not accompanying an entree" does not exist. It is not recorded in the Bible. Believe it.

The whole point of saying grace is to express thankfulness and appreciation for the things we have (ie, food). It then occurred to me that this is something I haven't been doing much of lately. Perhaps it's fitting that it's the month for Thanksgiving. That's right, Thanksgiving is in October, when we can be thankful of the crops that are harvested. Although the Americans might have a point for putting it at the end of November, where there's a chance you can say "Thanks for the whistling snowstorm outside, and that we may go snowboarding on the morrow".

So as I tossed my curried turnover into the microwave, I was thankful for Miss CoolBeans, for picking it up for me with her spare change at the chinese plaza while some crazy lady was having her way with my hair (my attempts to grow it long never seem to work out). I was thankful that I'm living in a place where such asian delicacies are readily available. And I was thankful that God made the mystery meat thats stuffed into those turnovers. It then occurred to me that all those anti-Creationists are taking their cows for granted. What the heck.

The summer's flown by. If this were high school i'd be quite disappointed by the way it's disappeared so suddenly. Haven't blogged much, but there's an assortment of photos from the summer on my flickr.

It's ironic that I'm on vacation and I haven't been this sleepy in ages. It's mostly because I haven't been able to fall asleep at a decent hour, and I've been waking up earlier than I do for work.

So far, aside from the fact that it's 30 degrees in September when I'm expecting it to be 15, Toronto's been great. I've enjoyed the familiarity of church here. I've missed the way everything's so accessible by subway and walking, the whole sense of bustling metropolitan liveliness.

On Sunday morning, I went to church service, then I went to a second service up the street, mainly to see some friends. After that I rushed and barely made it to my goddaughter's baptism. I wonder about the significance that Matt 22 appeared in both the sermons at the morning service and at the baptism.

I caught my first ever Toronto International Film Fest flick on Sunday night. "Mary", by Abel Ferrara was a thought provoking film, ultimately asking about the significance Of Jesus. The movie depicts Matthew Modine as an egomaniacal bad boy director who hopes the controversy generated by his movie of a gnostic Jesus would capitulate him to fame and fortune. Forrest Whittaker plays a TV talk show host with a series investigating the views of Jesus from people of various beliefs, and whose own beliefs, or lack thereof are challenged in the course of the film.

I enjoyed the way this movie presented a myriad of perspectives on Jesus. It's certainly not a Christian film, as it presents some very non Catholic views of what is commonly called the "historical Jesus" in some scenes. On the other hand, I also would not consider it an anti-Christian film; it argues strongly on the behalf of faith. The weakest part of the film was that it seemed to see Jesus as a significant figure, but could not recognize why.

This confusion, and the lack of any particular stance was reflected in the Q&A with Abel Ferrara, Matthew Modine, and the film's editor. Their different backgrounds came together to present a film about a contraversial film about Jesus (heh), but I think "Mary" will not raise much convtroversy in it's attempt to appeal to everyone's opinion.

2.5/5

Upcoming Reviews: "You Bet Your Life", "Bubble", "Everlasting Regret", "All the Invisible Children".

Under the Influence
I'm trying to finish off a bottle of Graham's Six Grapes I picked up at Costco that's been idling in my fridge for some time now. I think the taste is starting to turn; it's not sour, but it doesn't seem like the original flavour. I'm not sure how long port keeps, though I suspect this is safe. Back when we lived at Burbank, my mom had a bottle of port in the fridge for what seemed like years.

Speaking of Costco, they have San Pellegrino for close to $1 a bottle. This bubbly water reminds me of family vacations in Italy. I still fondly remember the trip to Rome I took with my sister. Next thing you know, I'm sitting in my room, downing glasses of bottled water with bubbles. Yes, that's right, I'm bourgeois.

This morning, er, afternoon, I woke up at 14:00. Now normally even when I work all night, I end up waking naturally to the sun around 10:00. I have no idea how I managed to sleep until the afternoon, but it's incredibly jarring to see the clock say 2 when you expect it to say 10, maybe 11.

As a result, I actually need to get in around 9 tomorrow, and it's now 2. Hopefully Graham will help me out, because All the President's Men kept me awake.

I was originally going to blog about the recent story about a Chinese man (Chinese, as in, in China) who killed an associate over some virtual property in an MMPORG, and the launch of WoW in China.

The last generation of Chinese grew up in the dying throes of Communist China. The next generation will grow up with a partially censored Internet where North American games seep through. We're not only moving towards a global economy, but a global culture of sorts.

In the meantime, I think I will try to make it to work by 9 tomorrow. Wish me luck, I haven't done that in weeks.

Blue moon light
It used to be that I'd write blogs at some odd hour. In the starlit hours it was as if words would write themselves, bleeding onto the screen from my fingertips, bypassing my brain as they'd dance out of my head.

I've felt pretty drained lately. For the past two years I've been part of the intern program at my church. In the past few months, it's become somewhat of a struggle, living up to a responsibility of the past. On Friday morning I finished my last paper. On Friday night I got the PBC diploma over dinner with the other interns. It felt like a sigh of relief. For almost the past year, I've went to bed ever night with the sense that I still had something to do. It's a strange feeling, having it finished.

"Really?" you say, "studying God's Word is draining?". You bet. Is that an indication of my spiritual life? I don't know. I hope I can at least be honest about it. There are days when I am writing something so incredibily dry, just a bunch of words on the page. Scroll down some if you'd like an example. It is as if I can find a lot to write about God, but I'm not sure how much bears any relevence.

I just watched Mystic River. If you haven't seen or heard about it, it's depressing. It reminds me of Psalm 39. I don't have my head wrapped around it yet, but somehow it's so comforting.

The word cancer seems to be popping up at least once a week lately. My life is quite straightforward, but I don't know how to unravel some of the complications that I know of. Knots in lives that won't be undone. Aren't we called to minister to people where things are stuck? This is where we need to be relevent.

I will miss my breakfasts with Danny very much.

Today's Lowlights
- It's raining, in June, in California. This is not supposed to happen.
- The flowers are out. They should be dead by now. My allergies are killing me.
- I did not have my camera with me today.

Today's Highlights
- I poked fun at 4 pastors simultaneously.
- Generic Claritin costs $14.99 for 180 tablets at Costco.
- Free Haagen Dazs ice cream bar.
- Parked next to a black Ferrari 612 Scaglietti at work.

Righteousness for everyone

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word "righteous" as "acting in accord with divine or moral law". In the 1950s through 1970s, the word was slang for something that was exceedingly good. However, that usage has fallen by the wayside as the current American culture's postmodern worldview challenges the idea of a single divine or moral law. The idea that any single definitive moral law may apply to everyone is repulsive to many. It appears discriminatory and intolerant of differences between people. To claim that one has the final moral law sounds presumptions. To claim righteousness borders on arrogance. It is no wonder that churches full of righteous Christians are unpopular with the less righteous public at large.

In Romans Paul discusses righteousness in the light of the gospel. Jesus Christ changed the entire framework of relating to God. Righteousness, as the state of being acceptable before God, gained a new meaning in this shift. Early in Romans, Paul introduces this new sense of righteousness, saying "For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17). Paul elaborates on this “righteousness by faith”, which in some ways were drastically different from the common idea of righteousness at the time. Much of Paul's address is to those accustomed to the Jewish paradigm. For the Jews, the symbols of their acceptance by God lay in God's covenant with Abraham and the Law bestowed upon Moses. The covenant is described in Genesis 17, where God says "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you... And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you" (Genesis 17:7,11). The covenant of circumcision represented the acceptable relationship between the descendent of Abraham and God. Later in Exodus, God says to Moses shortly before giving him the Law, "Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6). Hence the Law was the symbol of Israel's status as God's priestly nation.

In Romans 2 Paul criticizes the symbols of circumcision that was held dearly by the Jews. In Romans 2:25, Paul argues "For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision". Although a symbol of the covenant, righteousness was in fact attained by obedience to the Law. Having the symbol did not automatically include one in the righteous elite. Only someone who fulfilled the Law could be considered morally flawless and righteous.

Paul challenges these classic ideals for righteousness. He summarizes the gospel like this:
"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:21-24).
The latter half of this passage points out the problem with the Law. It defines the requirements for moral perfection, but in the process it effectively puts righteousness beyond the reach of mortal man. The old thinking considered Jews as the righteous chosen people of God. Paul quickly shot down that line of thinking, defining righteousness by moral perfection according to the Law. This leads to the conclusion that no man is righteous. Paul’s option is the "righteousness of God" which is "apart from the Law". This is the gospel message in a nutshell, that God has offered a new reconciliation to righteousness for all those who failed via the Law. This redemption is a gift by the grace of God to all who have failed to earn it. It is available to all those who believe; it is not only the Jews who are privy to God's grace. This is a gift made possible by the death of Jesus Christ. God had paid the price to reconcile mankind to Himself. The way to righteousness by the Law and circumcision are not able to reconcile people to God.

If anyone portrays themselves as the righteous elite, then it is certainly not this righteousness of God which is offered to all. Faith in Jesus Christ comes with the confession that one is woefully insufficient on ones own, and that one is no more righteous than his fellow man. God's intention was that mankind in general could be reconciled through his chosen priesthood. However, not only did they fail at proclaiming God's righteousness to the world, but they themselves routinely fell into following other gods. Throughout Israel's history, God routinely forgave the wandering Israelites and restored them after a period of punishment. God had set a precedent for grace through the books of the Law and the Prophets.

Now the church can learn much from Israel's history. At times Israel seemed to have taken their place as God's chosen people for granted, and fallen away into sin. In Romans 6:1-2, Paul says "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?". One cannot claim to accept God's righteousness yet turn around and mindfully act contrary to it. In Romans 6:17-18, Paul uses the analogy of being "slaves of righteousness", and likewise in Romans 8:12 he says "we are under obligation, not to the flesh". We are not to be obedient to God in order to achieve righteousness. Rather it is a response to God's love, obedience follows from having been made righteous.

In the end, the actions of the righteous speak for themselves. God had called the descendants of Abraham to be his chosen people, so that his glory on earth might be seen through them. Where the covenant and the Law did not succeed in redemption, God sent his Son. to make men righteous. He did not do this so that the righteous could stand above others, but rather that God's love might be expressed in the world through them. Jesus did not come to make disciples so that they could gloat above others, "so that all the nations might believe and obey him" (Romans 16:26). God's power is not expressed by the church's dominion over the world, but rather that his people act righteously, so that all men may share in his kingdom.

Heard it on the radio

love's such an old fashioned word
and love dares you to care for
the people on the edge of the night
and love dares you to change our ways
of caring about ourselves

3AM Eternal
It's a little like that feeling when you don't get enough sleep. There's a fog on everything. People seem to talk too fast. Or not loud enough.

But I'm getting enough sleep, and I'm still walking around in that haze. I'm walking in it all day long. It's enough sleep if you count the hours.

They are strange hours. A few hours here, a few hours there. I'm awake at strange hours. Some hours here, some hours there.

The worst is 3AM. No one is on at 3AM. Except that girl in Thailand.

My Fortune Cookie
The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Awash

Awash

IMG_0456, originally uploaded by dragonx.

I must admit, I've been feeling rather swamped lately. Days and weeks crawl by at work, a never ending river of tasks. I'm trying to take a break here an there, going hiking at Mt. Tamalpais, or snowboarding in Tahoe.

There are days when I wish I am a professional snowboard bum.

I feel like I'm perpetually trying to catch up. Maybe, one day, when I'm caught up with all the things I'm supposed to do, I can do something I want to do.

Some days I want to regress, absolve myself from all responsibility.

It has occurred to me, what if I don't finish the to-do list before I die? I guess theologically, that won't happen eh? At least not if you believe in divine sovereignty and all that.

Maybe I've just got the wrong list.

Clarity

poofy
I should have brought my camera today. It has been raining lately. Today the rain stopped, but huge, pillowy white clouds hang low in the sky, teasing the peaks of the hills as the slide by, the shafts of the sun streaming through their billowing mounds.

Dr. Amazon.com
or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Impulse Shopping
This story starts a little ways back in history, or perhaps a long ways back, depending on your perception of time. It was the year 2000, the Internet was a different place than it is now. DVDs were still somewhat novel, as was online shopping. There were scores of online DVD retailers, all selling at losses in order to ramp up volume. Amazon.com had jumped into the DVD space, selling deeply discounted movies. Once in a while, they'd make a mistake, people would find out about them, and post about it on forums where collectors and bargain hunters would congregate. One day, the The Insider was released on Amazon for the bargain basement price of $0. Being a fan of all films Michael Mann, I picked it up, for US$7.95 shipping, which worked out to just about CDN$10.

Fast forward 5 years to 2005. It's probably been 6 or 8 months since I've bought something online. I get ads in my email from sites like e*trade, buy.com and amazon.com on a semi-regular basis like lingering STDs from a one-night-stand you've long forgotten about. I normally delete them without looking, as you should. But this one said something about a new 2-disc edition of HEAT, which happens to be one of my all-time favourite movies. How did Amazon know? Because, as their email said, they've noticed that customers who bought "The Insider" also bought "HEAT", and now, I can get it at 25% off if I pre-order. YAY! I already have the DVD (I did mention it's one of my all-time favourites), but I certainly don't have the 2-disc edition). I click on the link in the email. And what do you know, the $20 (post discount) set can be had with Free Super Saver Shipping on orders of $25 or more.

You know that thing about alchoholism, where you can be clean and sober, but that one drink throws you back in the mess. Or maybe it's more like crack. You can't get away from that Free Super Saver Shipping. So you buy more. You search for that last $5 of useless stuff so you can save the $2.98 shipping. But like crack, Amazon doesn't let you off easy, they hook you with ads on the bottom of the page. So down there, striking its sexy little pose, is the 2-disc edition of "Collateral". My, isn't it easier to click on that than to hunt for some $5 item you don't want? C'mon, you know you want more Michael Mann, like you need a kick in the crotch from a talking bear.

So now, after about 5 minutes of seeing email, I've clicked into Amazon, past the shipping and credit card pages (they've remembered my address and my credit card #s, so I wouldn't have to stop to think before entering them again... they even have the now expired credit card I used when I lived in Waterloo and bought "The Insider"), and dropped $40 on 4 DVDs that I liked but had no intention of buying 6 minutes prior. I should just go back to e*trade and buy in to Amazon.com.

Oh, for the record, I haven't given the crack or one-night-stand things a shot yet, so I'm not actually speaking from experience. You'll have to forgive me for the artistic license, but given how boring my blogs have been lately, I figured I needed some sex, drugs and rock 'n roll to keep people coming back for more. Or maybe I should just put up links for you to places you can impulse shop.

Things that suck
Today I wasted a good four hours trying to figure out why my debug session died all of the sudden. The 1394 connection between my debugger machine and the debugee went all wonky, and all of the sudden, it took a minute or more to execute each instruction. It turned out I accidentally yanked the cable, which in turn pulled the 1394 PCI card partway out of its socket. It was in there far enough to somewhat work, but not properly.

Every once in a while, I come home from work at some nutty hour. I stop by the 24 hour Safeway and try to pick up some prepared food that's not too unhealthy sometimes. Sometimes I try the soy protein stuff, I don't know when I'll learn my lesson. I've tried chicken nuggets, buffalo wings, and breakfast links. None are any good, although at this point, I basically treat them as something chewy to eat bbq sauce with. Yum. Yuck. I'm not sure which. On the plus side, it's only $2 for dinner.

Random
Yesterday, I went to the dentist. Now I've been using Onsite Dental for the past few years that I've been here. They have a Winnebago that drives to our campus twice a month. I just go there for an hour during work. My last appointment was supposed to be in August, and I didn't bother with that one, meaning that the previous appointment must have been last February, so it's been about a year. When I got there, it was a different dentist than the guy I've had for the last few years. In fact, he had also swapped with another dentist who treated me on my first visit. The story I got was that they take rotations to work for the military. It's too bad, by my third appointment with him I had figured out his name was Christian.

So I lost another dentist. But in return I got a new one. I haven't figured her name out yet, but it was the most painless cleaning ever. It crossed my mind whether she was actually cleaning my teeth, or merely scratching the surface. But it was much preferable to dentists who leave my gums in a bloody mess.

I was actually intending to blog about books and movies, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with the, er, exciting story of the new dentist.

Now, if you think this post should have been longer, you can make up for the time not spent reading it by playing Kingdom of Loathing.

Steamed Bun

Steamed Bun

IMG_9833, originally uploaded by dragonx.

This is a test of the flickr blogging function.

The above shows the final moments of a steamed vegetable bun in Shanghai, moments before it was devoured ravenously by the photographer.

R.I.P.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Still Jet Lagged

I've been back for a week and I'm still jet lagged. Yay.
I missed church and slept in this morning. Until noon. I dragged myself out of bed, though I think I could have laid there a few hours more. Had lunch with two of the old crew. Went to work in the afternoon.

Now the reason I was working on Sunday afternoon, is that the past week has been totally unproductive, considering I've been getting into work in a daze, somewhat before noon if I was lucky. I think I landed with a flu, the first few days back sucked. Last Wednesday, the 5th, I woke up at 8am, pretty much incapacitated. I checked my email and decided to sleep in until 11. When I awoke, the sky was still dim. I checked my phone, which said 16:30. I needed to change the time zone back to PST. I checked my computer, it said 4:30 PM. I called in sick.

So the sick part is pretty much gone, except for the occasional sniffles and a lingering cough. I'm still awake at 4 AM though.

I finished Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude on the flight to Hong Kong. I liked it a lot, I couldn't stop reading it to watch the Terminal or the Notebook, or the documentary on China that featured monkeys assaulting chinese people (at least, that's what it looked like, I didn't have the audio on). I liked it a lot last year. I like epic tragedies. This year however, I'm going to be positive, so I cannot like it so much anymore, though in the spirit of positivity, I highly recommend it.

I bought a copy of Garden State from this DVD store where the customers spoke German, French, Italian, English, and Shanghainese, hidden away at the back of a coffee shop in Shanghai. I was watching it last night, the video quality was excellent, until the third chapter from the end, where the disc was unreadable. I need to see the end of the movie before I can give it a review, but I'm pissed off at unscrupulous DVD pirates now.

I also finished Purpose Driven Life today. I'm not quite sure what all the hype was about, but I did think there were a few good chapters in there. I find most of these Christian living books rather uncompelling, in the "please, tell me something I didn't know" sense. If anything though, knowing and acting are two different things, and I often need the reminder to act what I know.

Vacation
So the vacation was great, so great that I'm having a hard time kicking myself back into work mode. Or it could be the jetlag and flu I picked up on the way home. My sleeping patterns have been all shot for the past week.

When I was younger, trips to Hong Kong were pretty repetitive. I'd basically follow my parents around all day, every day, except maybe for the days I stayed home and watched TV. We'd have breakfast at home, and then maybe drop my Grandma and mom off to wash her hair. My dad might go to the factory to handle some business with my uncle or Grandfather. We'd have lunch, go shopping, tea at the Kowloon Club, maybe go shop some more, have dinner, go home watch some TV, go to bed. Something like that.

The last few trips have been pretty cool though. My Grandma gave me the keys and enough "lai see" for me to get around. I got a cell phone so I could call whenever I got lost, which wasn't too often. The MTR's incredibly efficient and easy to use, and the taxi's are actually not very expensive compared to North American taxis. I got to wander around on my own and hang out with friends from Toronto.

Times like these I wish I had more time to spend with old friends.

As luxurious as it was to have a maid do the laundry, having breakfast ready in the morning, and awesome food for every meal, part of me is glad to have full control of my laundry, a warm room (man, hong kong winter nights are cold, they don't seem to believe in insulation there) and the option of not eating like a pig is rather comforting now.

I was in Shanghai when I saw the news on CNN about tsunamis hitting Indonesia. At the time they were still reporting casualties in the thousands, which already seemed like a disaster. A few days later I was having dinner with my aunt and uncle and their friends, all parents of east coast prep school and Ivy League kids, talking about their friends who precariously escaped the flooding at Phuket, saying how fortunate we were to be dining at a nice restaurant in Hong Kong and not having to deal with the aftermath.

It's sometimes disturbing to think how life can be so great for some people, yet so dismal for others. I felt guilty that entire dinner, although no one else seemed to disturbed (although some of them were concerned about the waterfront real estate in Hong Kong). But at the same time, emotional socialism seems cruel at best. Should everyone constantly be downcast and mourning? After all every day, I'm sure somebody, somewhere is having an awful day.

So I think at any time, a day of mourning for some may be a day of celebration for others. One shouldn't be jealous of the other, for God gives and takes away. My New Year's resolution is to be positive for a year. So I think it's great that the Canadian government is matching donations to the Canadian Red Cross, but only until January 11th, so hurry!

Quick summary: I left California on December 17 (arriving in HK on December 18). Stayed in Hong Kong most of the time, but took a short trip to Shanghai from December 26 through 29. Stayed in Hong Kong after that until New Year's. I left Hong Kong January 2, stayed in Tokyo for 1 day, hosted by a Canadian friend and her Japanese students, who acted as our tour guides. Left Tokyo and arrived back in San Jose on January 3rd. Here's the trip photos.

reachable at 6475-7844 on Dec 21-26, 29-Jan 1.

Deja Vu
How is it that I've been here before
This place that seems so familiar
I don't recognize your voice anymore
But your words are still the same

I'm still dying here for salvation
How did I slip and fall
Landing so far from perfection
In the silence of your name

To Remember
I just noticed it was November 11th.
Back in the day, old men wearing suits and berets would be selling poppies for a nickel in the subway station. That's how you knew it was time, because people need reminders.

They don't celebrate Remembrance Day here. They've got Memorial Day, but that's earlier in the year, in May.

It's interesting how Rememberance Day is pegged in memory of the two world wars, in hopes that such a tragedy would not occur again. It's notable how significant Dieppe plays in Canada's military history. November 11 is a depressing day.

Memorial Day in contrast is a long weekend. Think Victoria Day in Canada. Now I think it's related to the timing, the onset of summer, but I wonder if the American losses are mostly glazed over by the history of victories.

Just a thought.

I wonder who will sell the poppies when we run out of old men.

26
I hate birthdays. They can end up being so incredibly depressing.
I had wanted to be a hermit this weekend. However friends had planned dinners (without my approval). I had wanted to just skip out, but I'm not one to take friends for granted.

On Thursday we had dinner at Julius' Castle, a little out of the way place near Coit Tower in San Francisco.
-tuna/salmon/seabass tartare
-duck liver pate with black truffles
-grilled lobster tail with black pepper
-crab ravioli with apple curry
-five spice grilled quail
-Molten chocolate cake with vanilla gelato
All the food was mediocre. Everything was either mediocre or below par despite some promising menu descriptions. Apparently the restaurant is quite nice. Our table was in a rather old room with a decent view, but I suspect there was a nicer part of the restaurant that hosted a wedding banquet that evening. We didn't end up checking out the rest of the restaurant. However, because of the wedding, the valet took forever. They did give us free dessert to make up for it.

On Friday we had dinner at ABC Seafood in Milpitas. More like a feast.
- house soup
- Peking duck
- Mongolian beef
- black bean and pepper beef
- cashew chicken
- spinach with thousand year old and salted duck egg
- squid deep fried with salt and pepper
- steamed rock cod
- crab deep fried with chili, black bean and garlic
- peach shaped steamed buns with white lotus paste
- red bean soup
ABC tends to have decent food. We don't go too often, since it's rather expensive, but they usually do a good job with dim sum and big meals.

I spent Saturday at church, collecting cheques for the mission conference. Had leftovers for dinner, which isn't half as bad as it might sound, given what I ate the last two days. Saturday night we went to a bar where my friends knew the bartender. We all got free drinks, then headed back to their place for poker.

We played for a few hours, ending the evening with a three-way all in hand. I had a flush to the ace, beating out the flush to the queen. However, in my excitement I failed to notice two jacks on the board. I lost to the third guy, who held the other two jacks in his pocket. Note to self, must be more cautious.

Got new sheets.

Also got a new snowboard on clearance. I probably won't ride it, I got it more for decoration. The design suits me.

I hate birthdays because it's always a reminder of what you have yet to achieve, and this seems to get worse as I'm getting older. Perhaps it is a worldly mindset to desire achievements to boast about. It is so much easier to say "see, look what I have done", than to allow God to work in our lives, especially when the latter may take time and patience. Regardless, I still feel like I'm getting on, towards that dreaded settled life.

In the meantime, I remind myself how greatly blessed I am with friends. I think I'm being taken out for lunch after church tomorrow. Thank you, sincerely, to all my friends.

Election Day
Given the choice between Bush, Kerry, and Nader, I'm glad I can't vote in this country.

Maintenance Sucks
Spent last Saturday taking apart my motorcycle (managed to change the oil, the air filter and tighten my chain). There's still a bunch of things I have to do, but I think I'll take it to a mechanic. Also took the Camry in for the 90k mile service. Ended up costing $600. I think in 6 months time, it's going to be another few hundred for new tires and brakes.

Also went to a coworker's annual Halloween bash on Saturday night. Missed it last year, I think I was in Toronto. Here's some pics.

Non-Health Fair
Having an Employee Benefits Fair today, where the companies that offer employee services, and some that just advertise, come and promote their products. Everything from health care provider (it's not government provided health care here) to the onsite oil change and hair cut people (they offer services on site, but you still pay for it).

Anyways, it's somewhat branded as a wellness fair, but all I got out of it was a mini Jamba Juice, a Haagen Dazs bar (strawberry cheesecake), a bag of kettle corn (sweetened popcorn), and a bag of halloween candy.

Healthy living, here I come.

Quote of the Day
"Most people don't come to church looking for God. Most people come to church running away from God, and looking for shelter"

Taken in the context of my intern class this week on Matthew 21:12-17.

It Starts... Again
I'm sure I must have mentioned it before, the whole September Syndrome. From the time I was 3 till I was 23, each passing year was marked by September, like the ominous click when all the digits change in your odometer.

There's plenty of other milestones. Birthdays, New Year's, Chinese New Year, all have their requisite celebrations, but it's back to work right after. September brings change. The leaves turn, as does the weather. The summer is over, it's back to school, those institutional walls that have defined progress and success for so many years.

The last two years, I kinda missed the September mark. Working at a tech company, August rolls into October pretty quietly. This year September kicked in with the start of the intern program at my church, PBC. It kicked off with a dessert night at home of one of the elders. I almost skipped out, being somewhat sore since I just got back from the YAF Yosemite trip.

This means starting to try to figure out what I'm going to do for this next year. That is aside from the rather everyday things, what's going to change? I want to start something new.

Fruit Flies
Way back in July I was hurtling westwards through the air. At the same moment, in precisely the same direction, a small mass of shriveled grapes were also hurtling through the air, just a foot away from me in a little plastic dish sitting on the fold-down airline table in front of me.

At that moment, I was drifting from Nick Hornby's How To Be Good, which I was trying to read. Somehow the relatively slow pace of the book made me wonder how old I was getting, how relatively unhealthy I had been eating as of late, how pathetically sad the airline food (especially the grapes) seemed, and how my ever diminishing memory would erase this moment as it apparently cannot seem to hold onto the myriad of more important things it should hold on to, but never does.

That memory thing is funny. It fails at the most inappropriate times, like mid sentence when the word 'ironic' flees from your lips when you're absolutely certain that you knew the word a minute ago, and all that comes to mind now is 'metallic', and so instead you say "the word that describes this situation", which leads only to confused looks all around, since you're the only one who saw the irony in the first place. Or at other times, the opposite happens. Some pseudo-random place, person, smell, sound, song, knicknack, piece of clothing, movie, tv show, whatever, brings back the wrong memory at the wrong time.

The day before I had left San Jose for Toronto for a week, I tossed an apple core into the kitchen trash and watched a puff of dust float up off the garbage. On closer inspection, it wasn't dust but dozens of tiny fruit flies flying from the garbage can. They had been breeding on the remains of what was a pretty sweet canteloupe sitting in the trash.

They were actually everywhere. By the time I had found the source and tossed the trash, it was already possible to find them buzzing around the fridge and the sink. Once in a while you'd even see one in a bedroom or the bathroom.

A week later, after returning from Toronto, most of them were gone. I didn't see any in the bathroom anymore. But on white floor of the fridge, there were a bunch of dead fruit flies. I cleaned them off with a wet towel.

I don't know when the cantaloupe went rotten. The fruit flies have come and gone. Time to clean up the remains.

I need to work from home more often
So my apartment complex has these public grills. Not the little crappy charcoal grills, (though we have those too). I'm talking massive brushed stainless steel gas grills that are built into the ground. There aren't many of them, and I'm having guys over for a bbq tonite, so I came home early to camp the grill.

Now I find myself here under the shade of an umbrella, and the sun peeking through behind the palm trees swaying in the breeze. The weather is perfect, and I'm using VPN and Windows Remote Desktop to code on my work machine.

I also have an open Heineken beside my notebook.

I need to work from home more often.

Camping in Point Reyes National Seashore

Having just finished Faith on the Edge (which, incidentally, I bought at Urbana '00, along with a whole bunch of other books I have yet to open), I started The Purpose Driven Life. The natural cynic in me shivers to think that they'd register the "Purpose Driven" trademark (yup, that R symbol is there on the cover), and the advertisements for the "Purpose-Driven Life Scripture Keeper Plus" and "The Purpose-Driven Life Journal" in the introduction doesn't help. Anyways, my Dad gave me this book since he picked up a few extra from Costco since they've been going through this at church (but they've finished it already), and I figured I'll still give it a chance.

The "Question to Consider" for Day 1 is:
"In spite of all the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself".
It reminded me of a comment I wanted to make a while back, when I noticed that there's a Christian radio station Air 1 that had these little evangelical sound bites, either a pastor with some encouraging words, or a testimony. These would end with the blurb "You are not alone", since the sound bites targetted people who were struggling and looking for someone to turn to. I've always thought it was interested how this compared (and rhymed) with my church's theme from 1 Cor 6:19 "You are not your own, you are bought with a price", which has struck me as an excellent theme, since many Christians (including myself) rarely demonstrate this kind of attitude. And since the verse is permanently inscribed on the main wall of the sanctuary, it's somewhat of a reminder of the lessons I haven't learned, week after week.

One Year Old
Happy Birthday Eugenie

Maybe I'm a sap, but...

Cinema Paradiso
Wow. 5/5

Meditation
Give careful thought to your ways.
You have planted much, but have harvested little.
You eat, but never have enough.
You drink, but never have your fill.
You put on clothes, but are not warm.
You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

Give careful thought to your ways.
Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house,
so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored.
You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.
What you brought home, I blew away.

Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin,
while each of you is busy with his own house.
Therefore, because of you the heavens
have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains,
on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces,
on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.

In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth,
the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come,
and I will fill this house with glory.
The silver is mine and the gold is mine.
The glory of this present house will be greater
than the glory of the former house
And in this place I will grant peace.

Now give careful thought to this from this day on -
consider how things were
before one stone was laid on another in the LORD's temple.
When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten.
When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty.
I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail,
yet you did not turn to me.

From this day on, give careful thought
to the day when the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid.
Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn?
Until now, the vine and the fig tree,
the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.

From this day on I will bless you.

Piano For Sale
click here.

As seen on TV

It's not your fault
your child has
Cerebral Palsy

Not that cerebral palsy is laughable, but whoever wrote that (with the emphases) certainly is.

Napa Saturday
Meals:
breakfast at Chow in Lafayette (near Oakland): Banana Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie and a slice of Apple Pie with Warm Caramel Sauce and Sweet Whipped Cream
lunch at Mustard's Grill in Oakville (in Napa Valley): (shared) Crab Cakes, Deep Fried Morel Mushroom Salad, Seared Ahi Tuna, Fries, Smoked Quail, Strawberry Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream, Warm Chocolate Cake with Jack Daniels Ice Cream
dinner at Chez Simone's in Piedmont (near Oakland): Onion Soup Gratinee and Escargots

Wineries:
Napa Wine Company: $5 for 5 wine tastings plus a glass of sparkling rose. selection of cheese, deli meats and fruits.
V. Sattui: Free tastings
Franciscan: just looked around, didn't check out their tastings
Domaine Chandon: Free tour, $4 for a flute of sparkling wine

Other Restaurants:
Bistro Jeanty: Dropped by before we left Napa. Hoped to get an order of their fries for take-out, but we were rejected since the restaurant was busy. Boo.
The French Laundry: Drove by. Three times. Missed it the first time, since it was very unassuming. Saw it the second time. Billy insisted that we go back for a third pass.












To make up for it, Sunday consisted of:
Meals:
lunch at home: two peaches
dinner at the Bakery in Milpitas: minced pork on rice
dessert: the bottom of a bucket of Haagen-Dazs Rum Rasin Ice Cream

Where is Everybody?
It's Memorial Day on Monday. Got to work today, and the parking lot's empty. Did I make a mistake? No, it's just people taking the extra day off.

Postcards
I've been getting a few of these lately. Almost never got them before.

Just got one from J and her cuties. Made me smile. :)

Not a Long Weekend
Not in the States at least.

Dropped by the other uwcrew house on Friday evening. We had take out, and I worked on the message for Sunday while we watched DVDs, it turned out to be a marathon of father-son movies.

Audition
Japanese horror flick about a widower whose son encourages him to find love again. His TV producer friend offers to help by setting up an audition for an imaginary TV show, in order for him to meet girls. He falls for a girl who turns out to be a psycho. Some extremely disturbing imagery. Henceforth will be known as Johnny's S&M flick, since he picked it. Not worth the time by any means. 1.5/5

Together
A Kaige Chen film about a peasant father working for the success of his violin prodigy son. Interesting characters, touching moments, and a storyline that unfolds rather beautifully. Redeemed the evening from the previous film. I normally avoid cheezy films, but this one was heartwarming without being cliche. I actually felt a little like happy by the end of it, highly recommended. 4.5/5

Rebel Without a Cause
Watched this at home afterwards since I couldn't fall asleep. Not what I expected at all. I was expecting James Dean to play some kinda bad boy, but he plays the only decent character in the film. Interesting portrayal of youthful idealism against the ineffectual Dad played by the old guy from Gilligan's Island. 3.5/5

Spent the majority of Saturday working on the message for Sunday. It was on the same passage (Isaiah 43) I taught for the intern class about a month ago. It went much better the second time around, after having had some useful feedback, and a lot more time to mull over it.

Saturday evening was Sinyee's birthday. We went to Left Bank for dinner, a little early at 6pm. Left Bank's a small chain of brasserie style restaurants owned by the chef of the much fancier La Folie in San Francisco. Food is ok, but not spectacular. We ordered a bunch of appetizers, mussels florentine (with spinach), half a dozen oysters, quenelle (scallop/salmon mousse in lobster sauce), and fried calamari. I got the duck, a seared breast and a confit leg. Duck's always good, though this one was not too special. I tried the lamb which was pretty good, a little better than the duck.

The plan for the evening was to go to the Vbar at Hotel Valencia, but since we finished dinner pretty early, we just hung around for a while. I finally picked up the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album (the singer, Karen O, sounds so awesome). Anyways, we get to the Vbar sometime around 10, meaning it's not quite picked up yet. There's a good number of hotel guests milling around, but the average age looks to be 30+. Couches are all taken, so we went upstairs to check out the rooftop patio. Hung around there for a while, but since it was rather cool, we headed back down around 11. Looked like it had picked up in the bar when we headed out - the music was louder and the lineup was longer. Felt rather old leaving that early, but I needed to finish off the message anyways.

Which I didn't do. Well, I didn't finish writing up the entire thing. I wrote up about three quarters of it, and finished the last part in point form. If I finish writing it up, I'll post it.

Taught at YAF on Sunday morning, not a bad experience, since I was pretty satisfied with studying and preparation. On the other hand, I didn't think it was particularly great either. I just don't have any flair for speaking. I don't think standing up and teaching's my thing, but it was still a good experience in case an opportunity or need comes up again.

Sunday afternoon, drove up to Berkeley for a Dido concert. Popped my new CD in the car CD changer where it promptly jammed. Bummer. At least I ripped it via iTunes the night before. I'm not a huge Dido fan, but it was a welcome distraction. It was odd, being a live concert with a very electronic sound. Given the reverb occasionally added to her voice, I wasn't quite sure if it was real or not. I'm tempted to believe that it was digitally enhanced, because she sounded so perfect. The production was much deeper, more ambient, and with a much stronger rhythm than the CDs. There were a few sets where she tried to get the crowd up, but I was happier in my seat. The only sore point was the overtly PDA couple right in front of me. Hey, I'm usually all for it, but when they're between you and the stage, it gets to be a little too much after the first hour. Anyways, if she has a remix of Life for Rent with the concert sound, I'd be tempted to get it, it was the perfect chill-in-a-deep-couch-with-a-hard-drink music.

White Flag
I know you think that I shouldn't still love you
I'll tell you that
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it
Where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

But I will go down with this ship
I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and destruction
To come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble I understand if you
Can't talk to me again

And if you live by the rules of it's over
Then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet, I'm sure we will
All that was there will be there still
I'll let it pass and hold my tongue
And you will think that I've moved on

I will go down with this ship
I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

Greetings from the Ditch

Been sleeping a lot, which is nice, but I'm never awake. Too much, I suppose. Prov 6:10.

Saw "Troy" this past friday. For a film that's supposed to be an epic, it ends up being one long whimper. Critics of the modern Hollywood portrayal of love and sex would have a field day. There's a good amount of skin, but no believable passion, either in the battle scenes or the love scenes. In fact, the whole film is bereft of any emotional involvement except perhaps the scene where Peter O'Toole's Priam begs for his son's corpse. The decade long seige of Troy was wrapped up in less than a month in the film, any sense of grandeur was equally abreviated. Eric Bana's Hector did come across as both troubled and heroic, probably the best role. Orlando Bloom's pansy Paris was a departure from his Legolas role (although apparently he kept his elvish archery), and Brad Pitt's Achilles came off as more of an asshole than a hero, I'm not sure he could have done much more given the extraordinarily cliche'd script. He was still much better in Fight Club/12 Monkeys. Diane Kruger's Helen wasn't bad looking, but I got the impression that incredible eye make up is what it takes to launch a thousand ships. Interestingly, the gods which coloured Homer's tale were absent and clearly powerless in this film. Perhaps it was an attempt to bring added realism for a secular audience, but at the same time it lost much of the drama that fate brought Homer's tales. In fact without any trace of divine influence the entire war was pretty pointless except for the ambition of a few petty men in powerful places. Oh wait, maybe that was the point. 2.5/5

Watched "Man on Fire" a week ago. All the critics have been talking about the recent spate of revenge flicks, the kind of morals we're teaching to the impressionable audiences, the type of society that demands these kinds of films. On the other hand I found this a rather thought provoking religiously themed film. Having been raised with Sunday school stories of the heroes of the Old Testament, I've recently began to realize that a lot of the moral stories are much more complex than they're often portrayed. Scott's (our pastor) recent series on the narrative of Jacob paints Israel as a rather pathetic asshole, but a blessed and fortunate one. Most of the Old Testament characters are neither good nor bad, but often flawed and redeemed. So then Tony Scott (the director) also has an interesting picture of a troubled bodyguard, Creasy on a quest for justice and his own redemption. Can't really describe why I liked it, it might have been Creasy's solitary character portrayed by Denzel's solid acting, or the gorgeous but gritty cinematography, or maybe the lack of a clean good-guys-win ending. True, there were a few cliched, but well delivered lines, and the artificial jumpy video effects got a little annoying, but despite the length of the film, I was not bored for a moment. In the end, unlike Troy, it made me feel, and it made me think, and that's what a good movie is for me. 4/5

Out of town
Rendez-vous with this rag-tag bunch. Should be back late Sunday evening.

Weekend Catch-up
Figured I'd better catch up with last weekend before I head into this weekend.

Hung out down at Santana Row with a couple people from church last Friday. It's an overly flashy development, but it's got a lot of patios, and the evening weather was perfect last week.

Three of us had dinner at Pizza Antica, which has good thin crust gourmet pizzas. Food there is simply done, reminiscent of the Italy. Fairly crowded and noisy though. A little pricey, as with everything else in Santana Row, but this is probably one of the more reasonably priced joints in the neighbourhood. 3.5/5.

Sometimes I wonder what makes people 'click'. Is it just a matter of time? Sometimes my time here is reminiscent of the days in Loo. I'd gotten along with CCF people fine, but I guess I just didn't quite click with them as well as my high school friends. I did get to know people a lot better starting in 3B. Scary thought is, it's the middle of my third year down here in Silicon Valley. Time has flown.

We moved over to Left Bank for dessert. A bit of a change of scenery. The place is a french bistro style chain restaurant. We got brisk service from a flustered waitress, but the food quality here is relatively bland, nothing to rave about. 3/5.

Conversation over dinner had spun haphazardly around work and life in general. Conversation over dessert was geared more towards the hospitality ministry at YAF. One thing we've realized is that we've gotten rather lazy at welcoming new people over the past few months. The catch is, of course, being welcoming isn't simply a task, a matter of throwing a switch and pretending to be nice and cheery. People notice if they're greeted with open arms when they step in the door, but promptly ignored the next week because they're no longer the-new-person-you-have-to-be-nice-to. One of the things you learn in college fellowship that can be applied pretty much anywhere.

Came home, went to Safeway, bought 4 lbs of baby back ribs, an onion, a bottle of bbq sauce, two 6-packs of Molson Canadian, and one of those disposable aluminum lasagna trays. They're in the import section here. That's weird. Went back home, cut up the two slabs of ribs into a few more manageable pieces and sliced the onion. Rubbed them down with salt and pepper. Mixed the bbq sauce with a bottle of beer, washed the tray, popped the ribs in the tray and onions and beer-sauce on the ribs. Wrapped it up in foil and stuck it in the fridge.

On Saturday, five of us from the usual suspects finally went hiking at Pinnacles National Monument. It took about two hours to drive down. When got there around 11am in the morning, and the day was warming up. However, there was either breeze or shade through the majority of the trail, it was a comfortable hike.

The first half was mostly flat, with small lizards occasionally scurrying across the path before us. It included a short spelunking expedition down through some caves, which was kinda neat. We covered it pretty quickly, being driven by the picnic area on the east side of the park. However, when we arrived, we discovered that the picnic area had been converted to the residence area for park rangers. A stern looking ranger informed us promptly that we were not to eat on their picnic tables. Obviously not happy campers.

We ended up having lunch under the shade of a tree on the side of the trail. The return trip was a bit longer than the first part of the trail, and much more difficult since it actually had an elevation gain to the top of the hills where the lava rock formations jutted out into the sky. The natural scenery was much more striking than the first half. I was rather tired by the end, and it didn't help that I had left one of my two water bottles in the car. We made it back down to the car by 4:30pm, rested for a little and started the two hour drive back home.

Rested up a bit, headed out for dinner at Straits Cafe in Palo Alto. It's an upscale Singaporean/fusion style restaurant. Arislan has a high school friend doing his PhD in Berkeley, this guy had come to to visit his girlfriend at Stanford, which was why we headed out to Straits. Most of us were too wasted from hiking to chat about anything significant. Food was on par for Straits, which generally pretty good. Their more "normal" dishes with chicken or beef tend to be a bit boring, but since Arislan's friend and his girlfriend were vegetarian, we were limited to vegetable and seafood dishes. Straits seafood dishes are generally pretty well done. From past experience, both their crab dishes are very good, but we passed since those are the most expensive dishes on the menu. The standout dish was the seafood green curry, which definitely had a kick compared to some of their other toned down curries. Waitress was very, very cute. Unfortunately, she was way too pushy, which got annoying fast. Would you like some drinks? Thai Iced Tea, that's great. How about a martini? No? You sure? We have a special martini today blah blah blah... The same for appetizers, main course, and dessert. Would you guys like to any desserts? No? Too full? How about I leave the dessert menu for you to look at, just in case you see something you'd like? The worst was when she came back with the bill, after we had given her 15% tip, because we had a party of 7, and she forgot to put on the 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more. Pity. 3.5/5 but it could have been a 4 if the waitress wasn't so damn annoying.

Sunday morning, woke up, showered. Grabbed the tray of ribs from the fridge and stuck it in the oven. Put the oven to 225 degrees, and headed off to church. Stayed for lunch at YAF and hospitality team meeting. Got home at 2pm looked at ribs. Still a lot of fluid in the tray, and the ribs were a pale colour, not dark. Hm, I was afraid it would burn since I was gone for 4 hours, so I had set the heat low. Apparently that was too low. Set the oven up to 350 degrees, gave it another hour before I turned it off.

Headed over to FunnyGuy aka shaven_yak_with_down_syndrome's bachelor pad around 5:30pm for the first bbq of the year in California (already had a pseudo bbq in Toronto, where it was really too cold for a real bbq). Unfortunately, spilled some bbq sauce in the car, so my car smells now. Yuck. Totally sucks. Luckily most of it was on the removable floormat. Got there, the grill wasn't even constructed yet, but the place was clean. We had flank steak, tri-tip, ribs, a variety of hot dogs, sausages, homemade guacamole, and a chocolate strawbery cake to finish it off. Also watched Hero afterwards. Very laid back, good times. 4/5.