Kamome Shokudo

Here's a new Japanese movie called Kamome Shokudo (Kamome Diner) which I just saw at the Japan Society. I've known about this movie mainly because of the famous female actresses I love. My American boyfriend among all other Western audience laughed a lot and enjoyed this charming movie.

It's a stroy about a little diner in Finland. One female owner whose background and history is omitted in the film meets other two Japanese females who happened to meet the owner and start helping her. All three are famous in Japan not only for their acting skills but more for their unique character. You love them. And this is not a typical Japanese story that forces the audience to appreciate the Japanese culture. With humor and great script, this movie brings you happiness and appreciation for Japanese food. I'd categorize this movie as humorous drama.

You won't regret.

Setagaya Ramen - Booooooo..

Why no picture for ramen story? Cuz it doesn't even deserve one. Setagaya almost completely disappointed me, hurt my Japanese food-patriotic loyalty.

A long line is a good sign. But if 90% of the people in the line are not Japanese, then it's a not-that-good sign, especially if you are looking for authenticity. Call me racist. Fine. After such a huge expectation and hunger for good, Japanese ramen, we had to try. After 20 minutes wait, we got our seats. Ready to order right away, of course. 95 degree out tonight. First comes a bottle of beer. "We don't have a license yet." What? "Can we bring in our own beer then?" "No. Sorry." What the F!~ I clearly saw BEER on the menu outside. It wasn't covered with a piece of paper or crossed-out like on the menu inside. Right there, an faithful business. Bad feeling.

We gobbled up a cup of water. The salted egg and menma could have been far better with beer but let's compromise. Now the main dish. We all had Shio Cha-shu men (salt flavored soup with slices of pork). Setagaya is known for its salt-flavored bloth. Noodle is way too hard. My friend picked up 10 noodles stuck together as a chunk. It could be for foreign customers who take forever till the noodles melts down to finish a bowl of ramen. To Japanese customer like myself, this was a ridiculous hospitality.

This wrongly cooked noodle totally lower the score. Soup is intricate and complex. If you don't like some scalloppy, fishy flavor, you'd better stick to Menkui-tei. Wait. Everyone should stick to Menkui-tei anyways. But I give them credit for the orinal flavor of their soup.

All I wonder is how the authentic Setagaya in Japan serve its signature dish. I gotta ask my family in Tokyo to go and try this place. At least in NY, they don't get any high score from Japanese. Obviously, there was a few Japanese tonight.

Toy for Curious People

Here's a toy for adults and smart, curious kids. Q-BA-MAZE's new product is series of transparent interlocking plastic cubes that can be constructed in three dimensions. The possible combinations are almost infinite. Let the metal marble run down through a smart, creative tower! Comes in a set of 12 or 36 cubes in a sleek, cool package.

Q-BA-MAZE
www.q-ba-maze.com

Sweetest Card

The Polish co-worker I talked about in the last post brought me a wonderful gift from her 8-yr daughter. It's a pink birthday card with lots of drawing in blue ballpoint pen and decoration with white-out. The bunny on the front says, "You Go Girl" with lots of heart mark. Inside is her poem.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
My mom says your nice
so I like you too.

Another bunny says, "your my kind of girl." I like it.

Peculiar Co-worker

"Maiko, are you getting fucked?" My co-worker, a Polish accounting lady, threw me this shocking question in the middle of the office. I'm known for being inappropriate and maniac among my co-workers. But now, I salute her for winning the Queen of Inappropriateness title.

Little Miko Hits 30s!

My boyfriend and I were supposed to meet some friends at Double Happiness, a basement bar in Chinatown. Walking down the stairs, I heard music—a bit unusual selection for this bar. "What's this music tonight?" I said. Then I saw a huge group of people standing with corn hats in silhouette. I whispered, "Shoot." Someone is having a big party or something." SURPRISE!!" Hell ya. They got me, totally. It took me a while to look at everyone's face and recognize the party was for me.

It was such a wonderful feeling, and somehow weird, to see my friends, from different network. My dearest boyfriend, with lots of help from other friends, planned the whole thing. I had no idea an e-vite with my poorly-cropped headshot was being sent to the world. The best party ever, with the best dumpling—200 pieces. Another surprise was the cake from our local spanish bakery La Villita (I blogged about this place earlier). A plastic sexy naked girl on a gigantic pink cake said "Happy 30th Little Miko."

I even had my private DJ, a very talented one (in the right pic looking at me like I'm an idiot.) I danced all night long. I got lots of presents. And all was thanks to my boyfriend who'd done such a great job while dealing with his own busy work schedule. Perhaps, half of the crowds were there not only to celebrate my b-day but because he's very popular. Can't thank enough to the best boyfriend.

Some guy said, "Are you the B-day girl? Celebrating your 21st?" I guess it's a good thing people thought it was my 21st birthday. I will keep looking young. But I am a lady. Do not fuck around with Little Miko. I have many good friends to protect me too.

Soto Sushi

Another sushi restaurant that has no spicy-mayo on the menu just opened in the West Village. Sushi restaurant Soto is named after the chef Sotohiro Kosughi who had a business in Atlanta for years and recently moved to Apple City.

They still don't have the liquor license (as of June 1, 2007) so we brought our own selection of sake. The interior is clearn, with furniture and linens uniformed in white and natural wood color. A girl from Eater.com commented that it had "absolutely no ambiance." But I really appreciate this clean, brightness because Japanese do enjoy the food with taste, smell and visual aesthetic. For sushi restaurants especially, a bright interior is the proof that their seafood is fresh. You don't want to drop a dim-light over fresh seafood and fine treatment and decoration of dishes. It makes the freshness invisible to customers.

Being my boyfriend's birthday, we wanted to have the best Soto-san could offer. They were not ready with their omakase course, so we asked the waitress if Soto-san can pick up some omakase dishes from the menu. Behind the counter, he happily agreed.

Dish 1 : Super-thin sliced fluke carpacccio (Garnish and flavor of yuzu citrus and kabosu lime matched really well with this fresh, sweet fish). Dish 2: Dobin-mushi (Traditional soup. Bonito stock flavored in a dobin (little tera cotta pot,) with seafood and mitsuba-green. Absolutely comforting). Dish 3: Chu-toro tartar (I personally thought they should use less ponze vinegrette and avocado. It was a bit over-powering the chutoro itself). Dish 4: Steamed bream/snapper with scallion sauce (This was probably one of my favorite that night. Jullianed scallion adds peppery aroma and cruncy texture to the sweet glaze with a hint of sesame oil.) Dish 5: Amadai Kabura Mushi (This is very authentic Japanese dish. Steamed fish ball with graded turnip soup). Dish 6: Langoustine with mushroom cream sauce (The mushroom sauce was really yummy, a touch of marsara or something.)

After all these appetizers, we're almost hitting the wall. But, in Sushi restaurant, gotta have sushi. So I asked the chef to make 8pcs omakase nigiri with less shari (rice). This restaurant doesn't serve extra soy sauce unless you ask. But please try as it's served if you seriously love sushi. They put the right seasoning, whether it's soy sauce or salt, for each piece of sushi.

At the end of the night, we're more than happy but I was worried to open the bill. It was little over $100 per person which isn't too expensive for all what we had. The chef seemed to care every customer is happy with his dish.

Green in Bronx

Here is a must-go one day trip destination. I was dying to escape from the city this Memorial weekend. It's too much to fly anywhere and staying at hotels. Even the rental car can thinner my wallet. Besides, I rather wanted to take a train trip, without worrying about the traffic. Thanks to my boyfriend's dad, we learned there's a garden park in Bronx, Wave Hill. We checked the website, which was promising. The biggest YES was its location. It is only 25 minutes from Grand Central by Metro North (Round trip $6/person). You cannot believe it's in Bronx. The free shuttle picked us up from the Riverdale station and climb up the steep hill and drove for a minute through lovely houses.

It's located on the hill, overlooking the hudson river and beautiful summer green. Pretty and exotive flowers are blooming and the sun-house full of cactus was entertaining. They also have a little pond—due to my frog phobia, I was unable to get too close to this; In fact, there are big frogs. There's a designated picnic area but I am sure you can bring some food and eat on the field, if being sneeky. We spent good 1.5 hours looking through the park. If it wasn't 90 degree, we could have spent more time just lying down and enjoying the nature. If you would spend 20 minutes to get to Brooklyn Botanic Garden, you definitely should go to Wave Hill.

Wave Hill
www.wavehill.org

Beby Baby Baby

My beloved friends hosted their 2-year son's birthday party. Mr. Rubin Miller is one of the most hansom babies I've ever seen. Beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes he got from his dad, and perfectly curled up hair. It makes all the W'burg hipsters who try to maintain naturally-buffy hair seem obsolate and lame. This is a natural-born cuty. There were about 5 babies and they all entertained me. When you hit the corner of 30 and with a little motherhood in mind, I feel like having one myself. When did it start to be so hard to have a child?

Sakura Matsuri

One of the most beautiful things Japan has is its cherry blossom in spring. Huge trees gorgeously bloom only for a week and quickly lose the light pink petals. Not only in Japan and Washington D.C., you can enjoy this beauty in Brooklyn, NY. Annually held, Brooklyn Botanic Garden offers a weekend event in late April called Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom fesitval). I went with my home-made Japanese lunch box of kara-age (friend chicken), tamago-yaki (egg omlet) and onigiri (rice ball), with of course a bottle of sake. There is a designated area where people can eat and drink. In Japan, we call this hana-mi (seeing flower, translated directly). In the spring, most of the companies send a freshman to one of the public parks early in the mornign to reserve a spot. At night, other workers gather around on the field and drink under the cherry blossom tree. It's nice in the sun, but it's undescribably beautiful at night. Japanese cherry trees are much much bigger and the scale of the blooming trees are rather powerful, yet with such sutle pale pink.


The park is a good spot for families, especially with kids. I was surprised to see so many non-Japanese people that day. People were enjoying taking pictures of not only cherry blossoms but other flowers like iris, tulip and lylac. It's probably one of the biggest park events in NY. I arrived around 2pm on the second day and it was still really crowded. You probably want to avoid going by your car cuz it's a mess around the park with the traffic. Admission $8 ($4 for students). Although I unluckily missed the big parade of Hanagasa-ondo (flower dance), I had a wonderful time.

Florida

For my work, an advertising award, I had to stay at Four Seasons in Palm Beach, Fl. This is a kind of city Donald Trump built his member’s club with his famous big flag for which he pays $1,000 per day. Other celebrities such as Rod Steward, Madonna, Versace and many more also own castle-size houses. To my co-workers and me, they were ugly, fake European-house replica.

It’s a work trip. It cannot be that great, especially at the hotel with racist, yappy, rich, tasteless guests. As I write this blog, I see a group of obnoxious men dressed in free golf tournament t-shirts, short pants with ankle-socks in shiny black leather shoes, behaving like brain-damaged monkeys. Yep, one guy is staring at me. Fine. Never seen an Asian girl? I can stare at you back, sir. On the other hand, the staff is really nice. The other day, we were in the jacuzze with other families and kids. The moment my Afrian-American co-worker joined in, the father of 3 daughters took them out of the bath. Ironically, the girls wanted to stay with us. It could have been my over-thinking but my friend also though it was quite obvious. Unlike bitter New Yorkers, event the immigrant workers here seem to be really happy with their lives and offer hospitality from their heart.

The only and best time I had down here was the cruise dinner on a boat. The sunset was really beautiful. It was a good 3 hours. I had great time talking to my co-workers and simply enjoyed the evening. I’d probably not come back here unless forced. At least, I enjoyed the way people work here and I was happy that I lead my life on their side, not the guests’.

My New Red Shoes

A day before my business trip to Florida, I found a lovely pair of red shoes at a boutique in Bedford. Made in Brazil. The sole is rubber, which is actually better than slippery wood. Instantly, I fell in love. I got many compliment from people during the trip. I enjoyed—though they were not as smooth and soft as the pair I tried. You shouldn’t feel any obligation to give a compliment even if you see wearing them, but you’re totally welcome to if you find them cute.

Zenkichi

Until recently, W'burgers only had mediocre places to have Japanese cuisine. Bozu serves good food and fun drinks. But their service is unbelievably slow, always under-staffed. Samurai, Miyako and Wasabi are all alike; typical Japanese restaurant in America. Snacky is more like a bar and the waitress is weird. Zenkichi, unlike any of these places, may become a new heaven for Japanese food lovers in the hood.



Right next to the Tops super market, the building sits on the corner of Wythe and N 6th. Dark-stained wood panels cover the entire extrior walls. With my friends, I walked in to this restaurant on the first weekend since its opening. They were booked out for the eveing. All seats are on the second floor so we failed to peek in this new izakaya. They didn't have a menu for us to get the idea of $ range.

Although we found it pretentiuos and secrative on our first visit, I gave it another chance on one Sunday night. The staff is almost all Japanese. Each seat is a tiny booth and has a wood screen to half-cover for more privacy. The menu is surprisingly simple. They specialize on authentic Japanese tapas and you cannot expect sushi or sashimi (except on a daily special), which I very much appreciate. The best dish we had that day was the stewed pork belly—their signature dish. Meat and fat all melt down and very comforting. It maybe less sweet to my taste. I highly recommend this place, especially on Sunday night when you can easily get a seat without reserveation and it's quiet than other weekend evenings. Is this worth traveling from the city or south Brooklyn? On a quiet Sunday night, I'd think so.

Sweet Pain

I ate too much. Couldn't move. Lying on a couch like a seal.
My sweet boyfriend picked me up. Heavy me. To the bed.
He released himself on the bed,
with me lying over his chest.
To save my darling from being smothered.
I rolled over off his body, like a sushi roll.
In half sleep, I did not know that
we were already on the edge of the bed.
I beautifully fell down on the floor.
My big, fatty butt was not enough cushion.
My left side of the body, head to toe,
was hurting so bad. Especially my hip.
Sweet darlin, I am okay. It was sweet of you.
I got terribly hurt. But it's okay.

MTA Has a Rule

Little Miko was already running a bit late for work that morning. She waited for the notoriously unreliable L train for 15 minutes. A hint of dull pain stroked her stomach. The pain that comes with some shiver before an emergency situation—W.C. Little Miko needed to make an instant desicion whether to remain on her commute and hold it or to get outside and find a place to take care of business, which could cause further delay of her commute. She decided to leave the platform. After quickly coming back from a nearby cafe, refreshed, she returned to the subway station to find that her Metrocard didn't let her through the gate: "Just used." She returned before the 18-min interval was up. She spoke with the lady in the booth. The MTA BITCH (MTAB hereafter) told her the card couldn't be used for 18 minutes after used and she needed to inform the MTA personnel if she needed to come right back. Little Miko explained she was aware of the 18 min but, usually, they let her go through. MTAB went, "If you know the rule, you have to follow the rule." Regardless of Little Miko's plea, MTAB didn't let her pass but made her wait for another 8 minutes standing like a little kid.

How many people know this rule which isn't written anywhere but on the MTA's ugly website in the tiniest font in the hardest place to find. Who has time and space in their mind to go talk to the MTA person when he/she is in an emergency. MTAB should learn that there's something more important than simply following the rule; being reasonable. Little Miko couldn't help thinking that MTAB was overly unreasonable and ungenerous because she is a little Asian girl.

Matzah Ball Soup

Broadway in Williamsburg runs as a drawline between a hip youth neighborhood and one of the biggest Hasidic communities in the States. One block south of B'way can bring you into a very distinctive atmosphere. Men are dressed in black rekel suits with shtreimel hat. Ladies in the morning roam on the street with heibors, wearing a hair band usually in baby pink or blue—in a contrast with their dark, brown clothes.

I researched or actually tried a good Polish restaurant in and around Greenpoint, a pretty authentic Hispanic eatery in east Williamsburg/Bushwick, and covered most of the best restaurants in the central Williamsburg. Now it's time for a representative from the Jewish 'hood. I really don't know what Jewish (Hasidic Jewish) families have on a table. All I've heard is Matzah Ball Soup. Some web-browsing found out there is one deli that serves Kosher Matzah Ball Soup. Gottlib's is a laid-back deli opened since 1860s. The menu is almost multi-cultural: Chinese sesame chicken, Buffalo Wings, Hungarian Goulash, etc. The soft-spoken waiter suggest us start with the chicken soup, aka Matzah Ball Soup. The only way I can describe it is: the best chicken noodle soup I ever had. Matzah Ball is basically a dough made of flower and water, no flavor in and out of itself. Their soup has no veggies. Clear chicken broth with white noodles and white ball. It looks bland but the flavor was really hearty.

The price range of this deli is set a bit high for what they are. Perhaps due to the Kosher ingredients. But the soup is only $3.50. If you are in the hood and crave for a warm bowl of soup, try it out. It's a good dish for kids too.

Gottlieb's
352 Roebling St, Brooklyn 11211
At Division Ave
MAP

Veronica Guerin - The Magdalen Sisters

Last two nights, I watched based-on-true-event movies, both set in Ireland.

Veronica Guerin—an Irish journalist who reported to unveil the drug dealing crimes that particularly contaminated youth. Regardless of the truth, she was depicted somehow as an imprudent female journalist, at least to me. Even a male journalist wouldn't go unarmed alone to confront a perilous gangster, which she did and got beaten up so bad. I admire her determination to continue the investigation even after couple sever attacks. But shouldn’t she be more careful? I feel like there was a chance that she could have win the battle with the brutal evils without losing her life. I probably shouldn’t say this because this was a real event but I don't mean to be disrespectful for her death. It’s also unfortunate that the society didn’t respond until after her death.
(Recommend to learn about her rather than watching this movie.)

The Magdalen Sisters—a story of three Irish young women who suffered and endured mental and physical abuses at the asylum. This is probably one of the most depressing movie I’ve ever seen. The girls were sent to this church-owned "hell" by their own family for the sin they’ve made; being raped by his cousin, being a un-wed mother and being beautiful and flirty. Ironically, the asylum was originally founded as a part of Rescue Movement, founded for rescuing and educating the prostitutes. The depraved discipline and abuses by the villainous nuns have completely lost its uplifting origin but rather made it a hopeless, dehumanizing prison. Coincidentally, the last asylum was closed on 1996, the year Veronica Guerin was killed.
(Movie highly recommended but be aware it’s painful to watch.)

I picked these two tragic stories randomly and ended up thinking about two issues relative to both movies.

Is it necessary or appropriate for the viewer to know that the movie is based on a true event? The viewers may be compelled to feel more empathy toward the film—simply because the event actually happened. But it’s not a documentary. Tweaks and some details are added. Then shouldn’t that be treated and seen as a drama?

Each movie, in a way, illustrates the issue of women’s right. Today, none of the Magdalen Sister wouldn’t be a shame or accused for their "sins." But it’s still not the safe and fair society for many women weather to pursue a decent life or a rather challenging professional career. And the two movies did feature strong women who tried to uphold their spirits and dignity to their lives.

Facial in Chinatown

This winter has been an undeniable proof of global warming. We had a summer-like day with 70 degrees and then 20s next weekend. Cold dry weather is one of the biggest enemies to women's skin. Even those expensive moisturizer won't penetrate well into the dry skin. I have a quite healthy skin, very economical. I barely use cream either. But the recent series of excessive dinning and drinking had given a little problem to my normally egg-like healthy face.

Luckily, I have a Japanese friend who works at a beauty spa in Chinatown. This place uses high-quality european products and a whole process of facial you could get in the city for couple hundred dollars. The regular price for 90 minutes facial is about $60. They have a 10-ticket set which makes a single visit only $40. Chinese customers like to have every pour squeezed out empty, which is actually bad for your skin. But my Japanese friend, unlike other Chinese estheticians at this spa, does a very gentle practice.

The place is right on Canal street and the room is small but clean enough. It starts with cleansing, steaming, pour cleaning, masking, massage. She massages not only the face but the neck and shoulder as well, promoting the blood circulation around the lymph gland. All this for $40 is a very, very reasonable. I've sent a few friends of mine, including a Czech girl who has a very dry, sensitive skin. She liked this facial as well and didn't have any problem with the products they use. With my healthy skin, I don't NEED to go there so often, but I love it for the facial experience as well as the relaxation.

Ci Ci Beatuty Spa
221 Canal Street, 2nd Floor
212-680-3526
MAP
Let me know if you are interested in going!

Bronx Zoo

The off-season Bronx Zoo is almost deserted. All the shops are closed and most habitants need to stay inside the buildings. But I'd rather take a rainy, cold day than a sunny, warm spring when all kids block the view, screaming and kicking the glass window. First animal I saw was three camels in a tiny field. I later found out that they were for the camel ride. I had to question myself: "Should I protest against zoo by not visiting or is my $14 admission used to feed these poor animals who cannot survive in the wild nature any more?"


This zoo is in the middle of Bronx. People from surrounding apartments can probably see some animals through their window. But here I am, I stop worrying and rather enjoy the day trip. Besides the fact that they have lots of frogs in this zoo, I pretty much enjoyed all other animals. My favorite was this long-nose, b/w, panda+elephant animal. It doesn't move at all. Seemed really sad or completely enlightened.


Across from it was two black panthers, with beautiful pattern on their black fur. The zoo is famous for it's exhibition. Their fake forest was quite well done. It's like a mini amuzement park.



Bronx Zoo
2 or 5 train to East Tremont Ave/West Farms Square. 5 minutes wall from the station. 30 minutes from Grand Central. Open 365 days!

Inland Empire

I got completely lost in Mulholland Dr. I did enjoy Straight Story. I was afraid of Elephant Man. I was amazed by Inland Empire.

My friends invited me to see David Lynch's new movie, Inland Empire, in which the reality and imagination loses its boundary. It's absolutely confusing and it's supposed to be so. You see some links between each scene yet it never establishes a linear narrative. It's like a circle that's linked with another circle that's surrounded by another circle that's actually one of the circles within. Everyone would try to re-connect the dots and figure out the story. But at the same time, it might be wise not to try think too much about the narrative. The visuals and actinings are wonderful. Laura Dern is great. In the movie, the portrait of women in Hollywood, or perhaps not limited to Hollywood, seems to be one of the messages/theme.

3 hours is long. Especially since this movie doesn't give you much idea of how far it went. It could continue forever. But after letting myself sank in the story and finishing the task, I found myself refreshingly recalling the scenes and not even annoyed with accumulated halluciantion and intensity of the movie. It's a bit scary—perhaps the digital camera added further creepiness. I was pleased and proud of my capability: Little Miko can enjoy surreal masterpiece!

Elling

A charming, funny movie from Norway about two 40-year-old guys with mental disabilities. Elling, the main character, has spent most of his life alone with his mother until she dies and the Norwegian government sends him to the institution. His roommate in the institution is Kjell Bjarne, a huge guy with strong passion for sex and women, in non-harrassing way. While Kjell has an easier time adapting himself in a new environment, Elling keeps himself inside the apartment, avoiding his life-time enemy: depression/anxiety. This is a movie about mentally and socially challenged men. Yet, the director smartly put it in a unique, humorous way. The script is also very elaborate. If you aren't in the mood for some serious dramas or simply ridiculous comedy, this is highly recommended.

China - Forbidden City

The Forbidden City and Great Wall were the two places I wanted to visit. With a limited time scheudle, I only got to see the Forbidden City.

Once you pass the Tienamin square, where the big picture of Chairman Mao looks out the city, you see the City covered by tall red brown walls.The outside of the square is surrouned by water. In winter, the fog/pollution creates an exotic feel. Sadly, Beijing is renovating many parts of the city for the Olympic, including many buildings inside the Forbidden City.

This is a gigantic square in which the last emperor spend his most of life in. To him, this was the whole world. If you haven't seen the movie, Last Emperor, I strongly recommend it. My vivid memory from some scenes of the movie gave me further excitement and appreciation.

Besides the recommendation of the movie, a guide will help learn the history and trivias you would never know. I had a student with me who visited the City many times with a personal guide. He was full of knowledge and it totally helped me enjoy the tour.

One of the buildings is a treasure library full of lurxious ornaments and objects made with jade, crystal, diamond, coral, pearl, gold... What's surprise more than those visually stunning pieces is the way they're exhibited. Guards are sitting by the entrance but they don't really seem to care what people do. I guess nobody would try do anything crazy.

If you visit in the winter, it's harshly cold. I had a quick 2-hour tour but this place can entertain you for at least 4 hours.

China - Food

It requires a bit of courage and a tough stomach to enjoy real Chinese food. Especially since the local water is not drinkable yet people use the tap water to make soup, my boss and western travel-mates avoided any liquid dish. Luckily, I had both the courage/curiousity and a tough stomach. I tried authentic to internationally-famous dishes like Bejing duck. I rarely have Bejing duck in NY so I cannot exactly claim the local one is better. But the price was definitely cheap. The whole course with appetizer (soup, fried-beancurd, duck's leg skin that was not my favorite) comes with the roasted duck. The crepe had a perfect softness and thickness. All for 6 people came under 40 dollars, with beer!

Off the famous shopping street in Bejing, local street snack shacks line up. Over 20 vendars sell same stuff but a few had something unique: scorpions, crawfish, grasshopper, warm-looking species. Even my Chinese friend gave a disgusting look and I saw no one eating it. It's supposed to be eaten deep-fried.

The weirdest thing I ate during the trip was duck's tongue. It was steamed, still with the throat bone like a deer's scull attached. I could see the bumps. I knew it wouldn't taste good. But since it was an official dinner hosted by the school we worked with and none of my Western travelmates seemed to try, I did it. I kissed the tongue and bit it. As imagined, no taste but just an uncanny texture. Maybe, musturd could have helped.

So far, it was mostly 'fancy' dinners and I was unsatisfied. I wanted authentic, local food. With local students as my guides, we stepped into a very small restaurant—just a few small tables and stools and absolutely no foreign customers. Even the Chinese students asked me if I would want to try, worrying that I might get sick. At that point, I had to fight with my dillenma: 'Try local food nobody else would try' vs. 'I don't want to kill my stomach (it's almost impossible to find a clean bathroom in case of emergency).' I said 'Yes' for just a bite. This was the last place I'd have any soup, like instestin-extravaganza stew, or a sour plum tea. The severly cold weater, however, had me drink up the tea while the intestin soup didn't entertain my palette. My stomach was tougher than I thought. I was content that I at least tried very authentic Beijing food (i.e. lots of intestines and peanut paste dipping sauce). Coutinued walking on the street, we ran into a hot-skewer stand. Skewers with meat, blood jelly, veggies, fish cakes are cooked in a spicy hot sauce. You get a steel plate covered by plastic bag (so that no need to clean the plate) and pick whatever you want. This was my favorite dish and experience. I didn't see this type of vendar anywhere else. It was a night of super local food marathon.

In Shanghai, you must try Shao-long-bao, a steamed dumpling with soup inside. I went to a famous place with my local friend's recommendation. It was good. But honestly, Joe's Shanghai in NYC does a really good job. If I must compare, real Shanghai ones are lighter. What we don't have in NY is a deep-fried soup dumpling. My Shanghainese friend took me to a famous place whose storefront is full of local people. They were so good—crispy bottom and lots of juice inside. This dumplings are huge and the dough is much thicker than Shao-long-bao. I was hungry but 5 pieces was the max.

Do Chinese people eat anything? Pretty much. Some are so dlicately cooked with very intricated flavor. Some are not flavorful, rather bland or a bit stinky with the ingredients' original smell. A suggestion: the information from websites tend to change rapidly, so it's better to make sure that place does exist. I tried to find couple restaurants that were already closed.

China - Beijing

Ni-hao, China! Many people think I'm Chinese. But I am 100% pure Japanese. In fact, I've never been to China. With some good and bad pre-conceptions about this country, I began my 2-week trip in Beijing. Honestly, I was surprised how wide and clean the streets are. NY's one block is nothing compared to the one in Beijing. And guess what keeps these big streets so clean; the cleaning people who literary pick up trash with a large pinset, driving a tricycle from corner to corner. Hats off!

As the city is getting ready to welcome people from overseas for the Olympic and becoming more and more modernized, many old buildings are getting turned down. Most of the old Beijing scenes is now covered by construction walls. Like many other cities, it's a sad development. Even the local people don't necessarily appreciate this modernization. I wish the city tried to keep the exteriors old and renovate interiors. In a long-run, this modernization may keep the travelors away.

Did I get to go to Great Wall? No. It's my plan for the next visit, if ever.

Pacific Coast Highway

Driving could be really fun. Last summer, we had a great time driving rough, curvy roads through trees in Vieques island, Puertorico. This summer, the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) got us one of the most memorable driving experience. SF to LA. 3 days on the road. We could have spent extra days easily.

I didn't think the West Coast ocean scenery could be that beautiful. Part of the scenes even reminded me of the sea in Japan. The waves are high and rough. Huge splash against the coast. Along with many scenic spots, there were some places you could drop by. Local breweries and farmers shop.

Drawn to the sign 'Fresh Strawberry,' we tried a basket of organic strawberries and a cup of strawberry cyder. That was one of the best strawberries I ever had.

In Monterey, we took a detour through the 37-mile drive. It's a reserved residential erea where non-residence pay and drive through. All the houses were like castles! It was so much fun to just see those houses by the sea shore. Another memorable spot is Big Sur, the most exciting and magnificent sceneries along the curvy narrow roads. It leads into the forrest in the mountain. The inns by the river put chairs right in the water. People can read or have beer with their foot dipping in the clear water.