Cuisine and Culture: Chinese take-away

Spicy stir-fried squid with vegetables @ a Chinese resto somewhere near uni

Just because I missed rice so much! Before going to the library after choir practice last Monday night, Manami and I went for a Chinese meal this time. It’s not an unusual dish but because I’m not keen on something sweet for main dishes I liked the fact that it was salty and spicy. After pigging out, it’s one of those times when you wish you didn’t eat that much.

Chinese cuisine is just popular anywhere, especially Chinese buffets, pig out all you want! Even in Vienna, people love Chinese buffets. Last night a Chinese friend brought me to a higher-end Chinese restaurant in Leeds called Red Chilli (for some reason, it’s spelled with a double “L”) where they serve authentic Chinese dishes. We had this really spicy and massive beef dish, a bit too spicy for my taste but tolerable. But their fried soft-shell crab with garlic and chili totally owned me!

Cuisine and Culture: Bhuna

Meat Bhuna with chapati @ Karachi Restaurant, Bradford

Karachi is one of the oldest curry houses in Bradford just near the university campus. They serve various curry dishes and a couple of English dishes as well. It was recommended by an English friend of mine and we decided to finally try it last sunny Sunday after watching Rango — ah, who doesn’t love lazy Sundays. Bhuna is a curry dish made with medium thick sauce and some vegetables. It’s usually served with chapatis or naan (both are kinds of leavened oven-baked flatbread, a popular South Asian bread). I loved the fact that it’s spicy! Curry dishes has long been part of British culture, especially in Bradford, given its close ties with India and other South Asian countries.

“Raphlin” in Kanji

by Hiroshi Tomita @ the UniBradford’s OneWorld event, 29/3/2011

Such beautiful characters. No wonder the Japanese had to borrow them from the Chinese. The booth of the Japanese students in this event was an obvious total sellout because of this free Kanji writing for everyone. Even from afar, you can spot the ridiculously long queue. Tomi was doing it all by himself, in a relaxed pace. And so it was my turn. But as soon as Tomi saw my full first name, his perplexed face began to reveal. He admitted that the characters were a bit complicated, at least relatively, that he even had to consult one of the other Japanese students. It may just be three characters, but watching him strike each stroke was absolutely astonishing. It is art defined.

New Slang - by The Shins

I’ve always loved listening to this "life-changing" (according to Nat's character in the film) song. Nostalgic, pero di ko pa rin matarok… After watching Garden State (which, by the way, is a great film), I remember, I was loop playing this single track on my mp3 for days, if not weeks. I was literally listening to it whenever, wherever, even when I had to take a trip to brown town! Seriously.

After that, it has been a chain of events for the evolution of my preference in music -- from discovering Zach Braff to discovering The Shins to discovering the Zach Braff-Joshua Radin connection. This series of connections led me to exploring the OST of some Zach-related projects, which eventually led me further to the sounds of other artists like Iron and Wine.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth.
Only, i don't know how they got out, dear.
Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met.
I was happier then with no mind-set.

And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.
Hope it's right when you die, old and bony.
Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,
Never should have called
But my head's to the wall and i'm lonely.

And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the kind of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs,
And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away.

I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find.
Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine?
And if you'd 'a took to me like
Well i'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

Stuck Like Glue - by Sugarland

Stuck like glue din ako sa kantang to. Playlist overplayed.

There you go making my heart beat again,
Heart beat again,
Heart beat again
There you go making me feel like a kid
Won't you do it and do it one time?
There you go pulling me right back in,
Right back in,
Right back in
And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

I'm stuck on you
Whooo whooo
Stuck like glue
You and me baby we're stuck like glue
Whooo whooo
Stuck like glue
You and me baby we're stuck like glue

People can surprise you

People can surprise you. you get used to thinking of them one way, stuck in their roles, they are what they are…and then they do something that shows you there’s all this depth and dimension that you never knew existed.

Modern Family, Season 2 Episode 18

This week! Yumyum. Bran flakes for breakfast, turkey ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes for dinner.