I don't normally dream. I'm the type that once I fall asleep, I would sleep like a log and descend to the dark quiet ocean floor.
Once in a blue moon I would dream but I would dream of ordinary stuff. No fantasy, no nightmares, no excitement, nothing weird. Just normal everyday stuff.
I had a dream last night. I dreamed that while brushing my hair, I discovered that my ponytail had a white tip like Dexter's tail. I flipped my hair (in my dream) and found that all the hair underneath was white!
UGH!!!
I woke up and realized that it will happen to me someday. Maybe it's a sign that I need to check out hair colors soon.
That was a very scary dream. *sob*
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Red Tomato and Soy Sauce
How do you eat a tomato? When I was a kid, I loved to eat my tomato like an apple but I liked to dip it in coarse brown sugar first. The sweet crunchy sugar made the juicy tomato tasted like candy. Adults, on the other hand, liked to dip tomato in a thick sweet savory soy sauce laced with freshly grated ginger.
Wait a minute, you might say, I never had it like this before. This is actually an old recipe that's very popular in my parents' hometown, Tainan. It can be an appetizer or a afternoon fruit snack.
The color contrast of this dish is striking too. Black and red. How beautiful is that? Sweet and salty. Mild tomato and spicy ginger. A simple dish but it makes your senses explode.
I saw some nice looking fresh tomatoes yesterday and they reminded me of this dish. I got some and asked mom how to make the sauce. Dad was really excited because he hasn't had this dish for a very long time. He kept reminding me, "Need ginger, lots of ginger! Need sugar, Make sure you get that sweetness!"
As I was preparing the sauce, I was thinking that there are actually many dishes that have contrasting elements like this red tomato and soy sauce combo. To name a few:
So this is not a funky dish. It takes some imagination, but, heck, it's not odd.
Here's the thick soy sauce recipe for your fresh tomatoes:
Wait a minute, you might say, I never had it like this before. This is actually an old recipe that's very popular in my parents' hometown, Tainan. It can be an appetizer or a afternoon fruit snack.
The color contrast of this dish is striking too. Black and red. How beautiful is that? Sweet and salty. Mild tomato and spicy ginger. A simple dish but it makes your senses explode.
I saw some nice looking fresh tomatoes yesterday and they reminded me of this dish. I got some and asked mom how to make the sauce. Dad was really excited because he hasn't had this dish for a very long time. He kept reminding me, "Need ginger, lots of ginger! Need sugar, Make sure you get that sweetness!"
As I was preparing the sauce, I was thinking that there are actually many dishes that have contrasting elements like this red tomato and soy sauce combo. To name a few:
- Deep fried crispy noodle with gooey sauce on top
- Sweet and sour dishes and drinks
- Fresh mango and sticky rice
- Cucumber and hot chili sauce
- Grilled bacon and mochi
- Deep fried ice cream
- (I'll add to the list as I think of more)
So this is not a funky dish. It takes some imagination, but, heck, it's not odd.
Here's the thick soy sauce recipe for your fresh tomatoes:
- Boil soy sauce and some water
- Add enough sugar to balance the taste
- Add a dash of licorice powder
- Thicken the sauce with corn starch
- Add freshly grated ginger to the sauce
- Let cool. Serve with tomato slices (refrigerate the tomatoes until serving)
Give it a try, peeps. Try other combos too. Let your taste buds go wild!
Monday, May 06, 2013
Need Matching Bags
On April 22, 2013 - Earth Day - few counties around SF Bay Area started banning use of plastic bags and started charging for reusable bags if customers did not bring their own bags when shopping.
Environmentally, I'm all for it. I never liked plastic bags and very annoyed with ones that were super thin and ripped easily with a slight stretch. What's the use for bags when they can't even hold stuff? But of course, these plastic bags - with holes or not - can be useful for other purposes. I mainly used them as garbage can liners and dog poop bags. They were also great as dust covers. I know I'll miss the free supply of plastic bags when mine is depleted.
San Francisco was the first county to ban plastic bags. It took some getting used to. The question you hear all the time now is, "Do you need a bag?" The most frequent scene you see on the street now is people's hands full of their purchases if they don't have a bag. People adapt though, and you see all sorts of bags, boxes, sacks, baby strollers, etc... anything to hold stuff and not pay that darn ten-cent bag fee.
One thing that I keep thinking is how businesses feel about people using bags from their competitors in their stores. Would I want to see a Lucky's bag coming out from a Safeway store? Do I want to see a Walgreen's bag going into a CVS store? I don't think so, but how do you stop customers from advertising/marketing the wrong brand?
Case in point: I was at BevMo yesterday with a red Trader Joe's wine bag in hand. I had a good chat with the Store Manager and picked up couple of wines at his suggestions. He saw me putting the wines in my TJ bag and handed me a green BevMo wine bag and said, "Here, this is from me. Tell the cashier no charge." I joked, "I used the wrong color bag, huh?" He smiled and said he hoped I will use their bag for shopping next time. We had a good laugh and I felt obligated to transfer my wines to the green BevMo bag before I walked out the store.
Very soon, I think this will become a business problem. How to increase your visibility and minimize inadvertent advertisement for your competitors? Is there a way to convince shoppers that they should use your store's bag when shopping in your stores? Better yet, how do you make shoppers carry and use your bags even if they go shopping elsewhere? Hmmmm.... I think this is a good thesis topic, yes?
For me, I'm thinking of using a basket for my shopping like the old days. I remembered Mommy - liked all other moms - leaving the house with a basket when they went grocery shopping. There were no plastic and paper bags back then. Everything was placed in the basket. I also remembered that moms liked to recruit somebody to tag along to carry the basket for them. Observation: the newly in-love men would happily tag along; kids usually dreaded being volunteered.
Anyway, welcome to the new brave world where plastic bags will be a thing of the past and fashionable shopping bags will become the norm.
Use Matching Bag!
Environmentally, I'm all for it. I never liked plastic bags and very annoyed with ones that were super thin and ripped easily with a slight stretch. What's the use for bags when they can't even hold stuff? But of course, these plastic bags - with holes or not - can be useful for other purposes. I mainly used them as garbage can liners and dog poop bags. They were also great as dust covers. I know I'll miss the free supply of plastic bags when mine is depleted.
San Francisco was the first county to ban plastic bags. It took some getting used to. The question you hear all the time now is, "Do you need a bag?" The most frequent scene you see on the street now is people's hands full of their purchases if they don't have a bag. People adapt though, and you see all sorts of bags, boxes, sacks, baby strollers, etc... anything to hold stuff and not pay that darn ten-cent bag fee.
One thing that I keep thinking is how businesses feel about people using bags from their competitors in their stores. Would I want to see a Lucky's bag coming out from a Safeway store? Do I want to see a Walgreen's bag going into a CVS store? I don't think so, but how do you stop customers from advertising/marketing the wrong brand?
Case in point: I was at BevMo yesterday with a red Trader Joe's wine bag in hand. I had a good chat with the Store Manager and picked up couple of wines at his suggestions. He saw me putting the wines in my TJ bag and handed me a green BevMo wine bag and said, "Here, this is from me. Tell the cashier no charge." I joked, "I used the wrong color bag, huh?" He smiled and said he hoped I will use their bag for shopping next time. We had a good laugh and I felt obligated to transfer my wines to the green BevMo bag before I walked out the store.
Very soon, I think this will become a business problem. How to increase your visibility and minimize inadvertent advertisement for your competitors? Is there a way to convince shoppers that they should use your store's bag when shopping in your stores? Better yet, how do you make shoppers carry and use your bags even if they go shopping elsewhere? Hmmmm.... I think this is a good thesis topic, yes?
For me, I'm thinking of using a basket for my shopping like the old days. I remembered Mommy - liked all other moms - leaving the house with a basket when they went grocery shopping. There were no plastic and paper bags back then. Everything was placed in the basket. I also remembered that moms liked to recruit somebody to tag along to carry the basket for them. Observation: the newly in-love men would happily tag along; kids usually dreaded being volunteered.
Anyway, welcome to the new brave world where plastic bags will be a thing of the past and fashionable shopping bags will become the norm.
Use Matching Bag!
Thursday, April 04, 2013
It's Bath Time!
I'm having my bathroom remodeled after all these years - 20 years to be exact. In the 20 years that I'm in this house, we have remodeled/updated the house one section at a time. It's now the bathroom's turn - HURRAY!!The bathroom has been as is ever since the house was built in the 70's. Oh, correction: we had to install the shower and tiled the bathtub area when we first moved in. Everything else was there since the beginning. All these years, it just quietly serves its purpose. Functional, utilitarian and nothing to brag about.
But of course all things deteriorate over time. Tiles started falling off, paint peeling off, toilet wobbly, exhaust fan struggling. I think its day has finally come.
OK, bathroom, you're next. First of all though, we need dough! From having enough dough, deciding on the new look and feel, picking the materials, searching for discounts to chasing down the contractor, it took me one and a half year!!
At last, we started work on March 19th. Since I'm finally doing it, I decide to go all out. Everything was torn down and the toilet relocated. I even put in a sun tunnel.Like how bones are jointed at the right places, everything has to click for things to fall into place. The project was moving right along until this week. We have to stop work now because the darn vanity cabinet is not here. It had to be reshipped, the guy said. "There was an accident." What accident? Did you give my order to someone else? Ugh!
So this is the jointing bone effect: the baseboard can't be installed because the contractor needs to know the exact location of the vanity leg in order to cut the baseboard. The toilet can't be installed because the baseboard is not in. The medicine cabinet and the vanity light can't be installed because we need to know the exact center from the cabinet. Towel bars cannot be installed until all these are in place. Oh, can't forget the shower door too, which will go in last.
So close... so close... just hang in there, Suts. It will eventually be bath time. *sigh*
Update: the bathroom was finally done on 4/21/13 and the shower door installed on 5/20/13.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Littlest Wu Just In
Just One More! We thought Carli was going to be the youngest Wu. Jason and Jennifer sure did not plan to have 4 kids, but eight years after birth of Carli, they are back to diapers, formulas, car seat, stroller, burping and sleepless nights. Good luck, Brother and Sister!!
Within 24 hours, Justin has more photos taken than any babies in the family and his pictures were seen by family and friends all over the places thanks to Facebook and other digital communication. He was even on Facetime within minutes after birth. Talking about having a good connection, huh?
This picture of Justin was taken within 10 minutes after he was born. He was face-timing with Daddy who was in DC and not able to come back for his birth.
A Growing Circle! So another Wu at the dinner table. Our table is getting crowded. Mom and Dad started with a small table for two. Then, it was a bigger table for 5, then 6,7,8,9 and now 10 (oh, and I didn't count Robert and Karen yet). It takes more than two to make a round. We are a perfect circle.
Happy Birthday, Justin! We are so happy that you join the party!
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