Yet another film to look forward to-- The Illusionist by French animator Sylvain Chomet. I don't know if you saw The Triplets of Belville but I had never seen anything like it before, a beautiful hand-drawn animated movie capable of bringing out so many emotions. It has been eight years and I can't even imagine how many millions of hours has gone into making the The Illusionist, but I am going to have to find some way to persuade my grandfather to see this with me (though we'll have to wait until we're back in NY.)

Now, meditate on beautiful music.

This is my favorite time of the year to go to the movies. There are so many good options as it nears the Oscars. We watched "The Fighter" last night and although I've still got a list of movies to see before the year ends, this is going to be a hard one to beat. You need to see it too!

Regression

When I start asking my grandfather for a cigarette and, this may sound really strange but, when my sister starts re-watching Bollywood movies late at night... we know that things are starting to fall apart again.

I don't know what it is exactly... perhaps it's the snow and the cold weather, or that this time of year inevitably reminds us of the losses we've experienced... or maybe it's simply because we are shopping at the Walmart every other day! But the holidays are always a weird time for us.

But hey, at least there's always one movie that can cheer us up! 

 

It's -6 degrees celcius today! And sunny too! Lovely day for taking a walk, although it's still very, very cold. 

Here's the beautiful cowl my sister knitted for me. 

Now... try to sing along to all the "oh"s in the last part of "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side!"

I saw "Diner" the other day during my flight and I wondered why I hadn't ever gotten around to seeing this sooner. It came out the year I was born! If you've never seen it before, it's about 6 friends whose favorite hangout is the diner. Not much really happens-- you just see various moments of their lives-- but it's these scenes that reveal so much about their characters. Yea, it's old and some parts seem cheesy now, but there are also some really great moments. Plus, you get to see Mickey Rourke in his prime!

I didn't realize I missed Cali so much until I got here! It's so beautiful. Just being here makes me happy... Maybe one day I'll find my way back for good.

This is major Tom to ground control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in the most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

I'm back in Manila, back in the heat and humidity. The elevator wasn't working in our building and I walked up and down the stairs all day-- we live on the 11th floor! I'm sitting in an air-conditioned cafe right now in the middle of Chinatown, Manila, sipping on this really good sesame tea latte. There is an ant or some other creature crawling on my cake but I don't even care. I continue eating. Roaches probably crawl on me at night for all I know. I've mostly been packing all day with my grandfather, getting ready to head back to Toronto soon.

Being in the Philippines is always a funny time for me. It's the place where I'm supposed to fit in the most-- as it's the place of my birth-- but I almost always feel completely foreign and uncomfortable. Plus, there are so many customs and certain ways of doing things within the subculture of the Philippine-born Chinese community that are even more difficult to grasp and understand. I don't want to say anything negative or sound ungrateful, so I'll just leave it at that. In the meantime, I've mostly been staying at home watching Mad Men (seasons 1-3) and chatting with my grandfather and a few special people that sometimes drop by. Also, really enjoying the food as always. I guess eating is one thing that can always unite people!

The good stuff.

 San Hsi Tang teahouse, located on the 4th floor of the National Museum. One of our best meals, with great dim sum and nice selection of tea (we had Tie Kuan Yin.) Our favorite dishes were the beef noodle soup and taro cake dessert.

Food court at Taipei 101, too many stalls and so little time! I had tan-tzu noodles with sides of tofu and veggies. Warm tofu-hua with peanuts and tapioca pearls for dessert.

At Ching Yeh, where we waited 30 minutes for a seat. This is the food I grew up on, except that I never knew people actually served it in restaurants! It probably originated from Xiamen, where my people-- and the Taiwanese-- are originally from. I can also get this type of food in the Philippines, in Chinatown, but not this good! Above, my comfort food: sweet potato congee with radish omelette.

Honestly, I can't get enough of all the "small eats" that Taiwan has to offer. Our last meal, breakfast at the famous Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang, or "Soy Milk King" We paid 200 NTD one way in taxi fare for this 150 NTD meal! Soup dumplings, fried you tiao, and of course, the warm sweetened soy milk. We also ordered fan tuan and radish cake. So good!

Taipei, Taiwan

The tea of cool.

Look what my grandfather found for me! Indeed, I am content =)

Two months since my last post. I've not been very good at streaming my life on the web! All I can say is that things have taken an unexpected turn for me and although it hasn't been easy lately, I realize there's lots to be grateful for and I'm happy to be living one day at a time. I'm always eager to make plans-- vacations, classes, my next career, haha. And though making plans is a good way to set goals and keep life organized, sometimes I think I need to just focus on the present.

So presently, I am in Taipei, Taiwan with my grandfather. We are taking a short vacation before we head back to Toronto. The last time I was here was 1996 when my sister and I stayed the summer with our grandparents. Taipei reminds me a lot of the cities we visited in Japan-- except that I can actually understand what people are saying! I'm loving the food and I don't think I've ever had better tea. Heading out now to start our day!

Finished the first layer of my painting last night. A little nervous, as it was my first time picking up a paintbrush but I was surprised at how much easier it is than drawing. It's also really calming. Looking forward to the rest of the semester.

By the way, how awesome is this weather we are having, so cool and breezy. I love fall!!

Enjoyed the last of three days off in a row, went to Shake Shack for lunch and walked around the city. Tonight, just finished watching Blood Simple on Netflix, which is a great movie to see before going to sleep, haha. Actually, I couldn't stop laughing at the end. But anyways, Frances McDormand looks so young and pretty-- it was after all her first film. Now I want to re-watch all her other Coen brothers movies she did throughout the years. And I'm also curious to see Zhang Yimou's remake of the film, A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop, which is now playing at the Landmark. Too bad I'm going back to work tomorrow night, and for the entire long weekend!!

My (Post) Midnight Snack

Tomatoes and berries from Greenmarket today and Neil's yummy blueberry pancakes.

Recent Trip to Toronto

Following my sister around downtown.

Finally got to see I am Love last night.

Seems like I only update this blog when I'm on vacation. In Toronto right now, just for 3 days, but nevertheless enjoying the nice weather and, um, daylight in general-- basically very happy I'm not at work!

For anyone that's interested, I have been meaning to share this Terry Gross interview with the creator of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner. And since I have no one to talk about the show with in NYC (and my husband has about as much interest in it as I have for watching the YES channel), and because there's only so many times I can re-watch an episode while waiting an entire week for the next, I have been reading the TV club entries about the show on Slate. Three more days until the fourth episode!

Neil's off cooking in the Hamptons tonight. Gonna enjoy the food he left behind for me, including this couscous dish with baby scallops that we made together.

Nothing Beats Home-Cooked Food!

More pics from my trip to the Philippines. 

From the Philippines

Adobo pusit (squid) from Cafe Romulo

Fried banana with calamansi sorbet for dessert

Suman for breakfast (rice cooked in coconut milk and steamed in banana leaves)

Freshly baked pandesal in the morning

Garlic rice with lunch

During my layover at Korea, I found bubble tea-- BUBBLE TEA!-- at Dunkin Donuts! Nevermind that it kept me wide awake for the entire 13 hour flight back to NYC... it was worth it!!

First batch of our fruit share from the Park Slope CSA!

Interesting NY TImes article about home-grown, hand-made food at the Greenpoint Food Market in Brooklyn. Next market is June 26th, 2010. I will try to go, even though I will have just worked a 13 hour graveyard shift... sigh, such is my life.

A Lovely Weekend in Portland, Maine

Breezy, seaside weather. Great company. Really good food. We tried as many eateries as we possible could in America's "Foodiest Small Town". Favorites were omakase at Miyake, dinner with friends at Fore Street, and poutine at Duckfat.