NYC Welcome Corner

I love bookstores with their themed tables, display corners, and books with handwritten “recommended by staff” notes. I also enjoy well-curated tourist info booths, B&Bs, and coffee shops with guest books. When I started to organize things around the apt today, I thought it would be fun to construct my own welcome corner for visitors and friends. Detailed descriptions after the jump.

$1 Daydream (on the $168 Million Jackpot)

These days everyone is dreaming of winning the Mega Million Jackpot. Tough economy, loans, mortgages, increasing cost of living, healthcare and tuition, and many other factors explain the long lines outside the stores that sell lottery tickets, especially on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. We all know the odds are extremely low (damn those statisticians for ruining all our fun). So why do we do it? Recently my wise uncle said to us that the utility of the lottery ticket is not in the prize winnings alone. The real fun is that for as little as $1, you can fantasize about all the things you can do when you win. Think about it, can anything else worth $1 or less buy you an fantastic opportunity to dream? A small coffee? A small pack of gum? A toy ring out of a vending machine? It apparently only takes $1 to motivate me to write a new blog entry, and I’m feeling quite inspired. What a great investment! I have only until drawing time tonight, so here I go. In a way, this daydream and writing exercise near the end of the year can be a good tool for setting my goals for the new year. As it happens, we all know what we want when we have a lot of money. We just don’t realize that we can already accomplish many of those things without winning the $164million jackpot. It’s all about figuring out how we can put our time and energies into these hopes and dreams.

What is my method for picking lottery numbers? I used to write in numbers on those sheets (mostly using birthdays, days of significance, fortune cookie slip, etc). Recently though, I only do random numbers (picked by the all mighty computer) and only put a dollar on a ticket if the jackpot is over $100m (but not every time the jackpot is over $100m). I figure, random is just as good as any of my guess and the process is so much easier. It’s hard coming up with numbers all by yourself! I can’t stand using the same numbers either. And hey, all it takes is one dollar to win, I’m not putting more money down on the line. As an economist, I know that utility value is different for everyone. In my case, $1 is enough to satisfy my lottery dreams. If I had put on $5, I might as well use that $5 for a tasty beef soup noodle for dinner. and yes, before you ask, I do sometimes measure money in food form. and $168 million is a lot of beef soup noodles. haha.

Since my team at work specializes in contingency planning, I try to apply a little bit of work into this lottery dream plan. In discussion of the lottery with my coworkers, I noted that by dreaming out loud and talking about what we will do, and maybe even writing down a basic plan, we are planning for ourselves. Who knows what factors will sway us once we have those winnings? Crazy stories (and some quite tragic) had come to many previous jackpot winners. We may be calm and smart now (yes, first finish payment on house, then loans, then…), but if we win, that hot car, boat, mansion, and gadgets we don’t need and cannot afford will also seem much more tempting and distracting.

This is in no way a legal document, but for entertainment purposes only. I suppose I may put a little bit more thought into the real numbers and breakdowns if I win.

Jackpot on Dec 24, 2010 – Total $168 million. Distribution breakdown:

1. Taxes – $84m. I know it’s less than half of the total but I’m just making my math simple here. And hey, taxes fund scholarships and stuff so it’s a good thing.
2. My parents – $10m. This will help finish payment for the house. I also hope this will be repayment for my expensive but prestigious tuitions. My parents seriously deserve a vacation, if not world tour, then definitely a spa or resort hotel with amazing food.
3. My close relatives (uncles, aunts, cousins) – $10m. They’ve been supportive throughout my upbringing. My uncles and aunts treated me like a daughter and my cousins are the siblings I never had. They are all very successful to begin with but I’m sure they can put the money to good use, especially the young ones starting their career and possibly starting families in the near future.
4. Charities – $10m. At a recent book event I went to, the panelists discussed alternative ways to celebrate the holidays without excessive gifts. After all, what do we really lack? We have food, clothes, shelter, jobs, education, and good health. Do we really need another gadget or designer handbag or toy? There are many people out there who do not have the basics like food and water. Isn’t it much better to help them out and donate to charities and organizations that are doing good in the world? This holiday season I’ve looked up a few of those organizations. Amnesty International is a huge one for human rights activists. I’m also interested in various health/research orgs. I have started donating and will likely continue in small amounts even without winning the lottery, but I think if I had more money I would definitely do more to help. Human rights, education, health, arts, and wild life are some types of organizations that come to mind.
5. Schools – $5m. This includes my high school, college, and graduate school. I think mostly my high school and college because they did more to shape who I am. My graduate school has a decent endowment and I had only spent a year there, so the bond is not quite that strong. I would probably just start scholarships, unless there are green campus initiatives. I’m not sure how much a building name costs, I’d rather buy a brick or dedicate a tree or something on the side for the future generations.
6. Remainder – $49m…Wow, didn’t realize I still had so much left over after all that stuff above! Not going to itemize the rest but will provide a wish list in no particular order.

• Travelling: A Europe trip with T. A Europe trip with TB. A China reunion trip with S. and W., A Brazil and Japan trip with J. Maybe throw in a cross-USA trip (via car or train) in there with a bunch of friends.
• Personal: I actually don’t know what I really need. Basic necessities are taken care of, and I’m not particularly obsessed with hot cars (except for the Porsche Boxster Spyder, which has an awesome catalogue for ipad, go check it…). I wouldn’t mind a boat but really…how long can a person stay on a boat? I’ve done a short cruise and that was already too much.
• Housing: I suppose an apartment in NYC and an apartment in Shanghai would be nice. Best of both worlds. The only problem is lack of storage space, which would be a hamper to my lofty goal of starting a personal library. I’m going to start a NYC book collection and do one room of that theme (black, white and gray only). New Yorker Posters. Minimalist furniture. Beautiful photo coffee books. Various NY themed decorative items, snow globes, statues, legos, building miniatures, museum postcards. In fact, I already have one snow globe and one NY book (500 buildings) to start my collection.
• Education/Self-Improvement: I would actually go back to school as weird as that may sound. While I enjoyed my undergraduate studies as well as more in depth training in my masters program, I am always learning and reading more outside of work. I would like to get back to the investigative/intellectually challenging environment again. Maybe more science and languages this time around, since I have had plenty of English/history/political science etc in my past. Granted, even without a ton of money, I plan to read up on subjects that I’m interested in, so that I may gain an understanding into them. I just think reading alone may not be enough though. I need more discussions and writing and thinking. I need to find more people with common interests and time!

Well, I come away from this entry with some better goals and long term plans. Hopefully I’ll share the good news soon, if not a jackpot winner, I will write about how I’ve worked towards my dreams and goals. What are your plans and goals and lottery dreams? Leave it in the comments and check back next year!

Pound & Pence Pub

So I went to this pub with coworkers to celebrate someone's birthday. When the waitress came around to take drink orders, I asked her about the draft list and ordered a draft London Pride (excellent by the way). Next thing I know, people are asking me why I'm drinking dark beer. Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but apparently girls don't drink beers (even at a pub?), let alone dark beers. I look around and take in other women's orders: red wine (classy, especially with a smart dress), tea (they serve it in a small teapot, wow), and some other cocktails that I don't know the names of, and probably has some kind of fruity taste. I finally explained that I'm just more used to beers and that I don't know much about wine outside of merlot. Light beer is too light for me and Guinness is too foamy for me. and I haven't developed a taste for anything sweet (although my cousin did buy a case of Mike's Lemonade once...and after we went through it in a month I'd sworn off it forever).

Pound & Pence

55 Liberty St.

Between Nassau & Broadway

New York, NY 10005

website | drinks menu

My drink preference:
Yay List 
any IPA, Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn Oktoberfest, gin straight, gin&tonic, Bass, Smithwicks, Becks, high grade tequila, Sam Adams Regular, sherry (extra dry), port, cognac

Nay List
Bud, Corona, TsingTao (this is almost unavoidable at a Chinese restaurant but oh well), vodka (unavoidable at most parties and in most cocktails...argh), margaritas (I don't know why I never cared for them, esp salt rim and umbrella), rum and most rum cocktails. there's probably a huge list of sweet drinks here...most flavored vodkas and rums.

Fav Non-alcoholic
cranberry juice (it looks pretty! Hot Fuzz reference, anyone?), fruit juice with seltzer, coke (yup, I don't care what people say, it's good), coffee and baileys (o wait...it's a bit alcoholic).

The above list may make me out to be an alcoholic but the reality of the matter is, I was just lucky to try a variety of drinks out of curiosity on different occasions. I'm still looking for that perfect, safe drink to get when I go to a bar and can't decide what I want. Until then, more experimentation!

Calculating those drinks

On a totally random topic, the other day K. and I were debating how much calories bailey's actually has. I found the answer (is it for real though? shocking). The not-so-shocking fact is that hard liquors are not that bad (in shotglass quantities less than 100 calories) compared to beers (12 oz. blue moon is 171 calories! damn). So if you're watching your weight, you should drink more hard liquor and less beer. Yea. and absolutely no girly drinks (you know, the sweet and pretty stuff). Referenced site here.

Another alcohol calculator here.

My Oct Get Away

Finally going to leave the city for more than a day or two. About time! Read an article in the Uniqlo magazine about New York and totally agreed with the author. I will try to quote some of the essay here later.

What to do oh what to do!? I've decided to take a week off of the work, which is necessary since I've been in school/work mode without as much as a mini-vacation. Unless you count the graduation I attended in DC in May which was fun but also hectic. Not to mention slightly chilly.

Here's the brief:
DC for 2 days
Chicago for 4 days.
Some travel time involved too, of course, such as train and plane.

I've never visited Chicago before so this will be a fun experience. The whole planning process is taking my energy and making me look forward to the trip a lot more. I did purchase a Top 25 Chicago guide with pretty pictures and a separate map. I think I will be doing a lot of photo/walking/adventuring. For some reason the guide book's section on food was not too impressive. Sausages and deep dish pizzas? I don't know, don't I already get awesome pizza and sausages here? We will see. I'm sure I'll find something good.

DC will always hold a special place in my heart. It's almost like a comforting zone for me to get away from NYC and to reconnect with my undergrad days. I know the metro, I know the museums, and I also know M St. Not to mention my beloved Healy Clocktower and beautiful Dahlgren Courtyard. Can't wait to see them again!

inner zen

deveining shrimp can actually be somewhat relaxing. I think it's because it takes so long and I'm not quite an expert at it. One shrimp at a time, carefully, gently, slowly work a sharp point of a fork between the flesh and pull out the tiny strand of black.

I repeated this shrimp recipe from before, but used a different kind of hot pepper. Still turned out very savory.

cooked good thyme rice with real chicken stock I made from chicken soup. Didn't taste half as good as before though, possibly because the chicken stock is a bit on the light side. Hm...will use canned chicken stock and/or chicken bullion next time.

today's recipe is plantains!

//Sweet pepper and plantain//
ingredients
-2 ripe plantains (outside can be dark brown/black, inside should be somewhat firm)
-1 bell pepper
-1/4 stick of butter
-a few tablespoons of sugar
-clove and cinnamon were recommended on the online recipe I used and modified. too bad I didn't have the above spices.

preparation
1. peel and slice plantains (1/3 inch wide or something like that)
2. slice/dice bell pepper to the size of your liking

cooking directions
1. melt butter in pan
2. add plantains, coat with butter, stir often so they don't burn. keep at it for about 5 min.
3. add peppers, keep stirring
4. after about 4-5 min. add sugar. since the pan may be dry at this point, you can add a tiny bit of water to melt the sugar and soften the peppers a bit
5. cook plantains until golden brown.
6. serve

notes
sweet and soft plantains for home cooking! makes for a very tasty side dish. don't you get sick of the deep fried variety available at all restaurants after a while?

watermelon 2007

First watermelon of the year was a dark green skinned beauty. I have to admit I didn't have to look very hard because the stack of watermelons were all very good. I just picked one off of the top. It's the rounded variety rather than the long oval kind. The inside is red and very sweet and seedless.

I don't know where I can get a seeded watermelon nowadays. I used to complain that seedless watermelons just don't taste as good. Now it seems that I don't have a choice, stores don't carry seeded watermelons anymore.

Many people who know me probably have had a watermelon experience at some point, especially in the summer. We'd go to the store, buy a watermelon, cut the whole thing open, and just sit and eat and chat. It's one of my favorite things to do.

I've been told that some people like to dip their watermelon slices in sugar or salt, or even spike it with vodka. Unfortunately I like the regular taste too much. I don't even care for over-iced watermelon, to tell you the truth. Obviously if I can't finish the whole thing I'll wrap the rest and place in fridge but I'm definitely more likely to enjoy it right after I buy it. No need to wait a day for it to ice before eating. I also know people who have to have their watermelon cut into neat cubes, and eat those cubes with a fork. I prefer two ways, both are easier than the cube cutting:
1. party style: cut it into wedges, serve to everyone.
2. party of two: cut watermelon in half, give one half to your buddy, and save one for yourself. Spoon and eat.

People tell me it is hard to finish half of a watermelon. Actually, it's really just water, you'd be surprised how quickly you'll reach the bottom.

Party on with watermelon. Happy summer everyone!

note to self

After R or F whenever the T is over:
-GH2!
-SC3!
x-E 2, catch up! [best show ever! now to season 3...]
-R, new music!
-I, podcast
-Zzzzs!
-mix CD for H
-mix CD for U
-other G gifts
x-real food [well...restaurant food still counts?]
x-FB [i'm bored already]
-movies
x-fun reading. [starting Wicked]
x-upload photos for blog.
-and the list goes on...damn it.

edit: added x to things I've done and stuff. and added comments in [ ]

Songs that sound good

Ever hear a song that makes you go, "Oo, I should look up the lyrics because it sounds really good"?

I thought I was going to post the lyrics for the following songs, but for one reason or another, they didn't seem appropriate for this page. I guess I'll just do segments.

"Summer Love" Justin Timberlake

'Cause I can make it hot, make it stop
Make you wanna say my name girl
Come on baby please 'cause I'm on my knees
Can't get you off my brain girl
But who would've thought that you could be the one 'cause I

I can't wait to fall in love with you
You can't wait to fall in love with me
This just can't be summer love, you'll see
This just can't be summer love (L-O-V-E)

"Over It" Katharine McPhee

Oh and that’s why
your eyes
I’m over it
Your smile
I’m over it
Realized
I’m over it, I’m over it
I’m over

Wanting you to be wanting me
No that ain’t no way to be
How I feel, read my lips
Because I’m so over

"With Love" Hilary Duff

Baby, you can be tough
Say enough is enough
You can even be blunt
Just do it with love, love, love
You can tell me I'm wrong
That I'm coming on way too strong
Don't think I'd be crushed
Just do it with love, love, love, love

Adjectives

If someone asked you to describe your ideal guy in three words, you'd say:
1. Masculine, polite, and a gentleman
2. Smart, thoughtful, and athletic
3. Wild, outgoing, and funny
4. Offbeat, philosophical, and interesting
5. Artistic, sensitive, and expressive

Came across the above question while doing one of those blog quizzes. I'm not posting the result because I think most of those quizzes are strange. Is it just me or are some of the choices really weird? I'd definitely mix and match a few adjectivies there.
How about smart and funny?
Or sensitive and gentleman?
Or artistic and wild?
Maybe I just see different combinations than the quiz creator.

Tribute to Longan

One of the reasons I prefer southern China to northern China is the differences in cuisine. Sichuan, Hunan, and Cantonese are my favorites and all are in the south. Another key is the availability of fresh (tropical) fruits in the south. I can't imagine living without durian, pineapple, coconut, oranges, kiwis, longan, etc. Globalization does make things easier to obtain, but you've not lived until you bought fresh longans in season.

I bought some fresh longans (龙眼) today. They were very expensive but definitely worth every penny. If you've never tried them before, I recommend them over lychee because too many lychees may leave your mouth rather sore. Supposedly if you leave lychees in salt water it'll make the side effects less severe. I tried it and it didn't work. So I will always favor longans more.

How to eat them, you ask? The fastest way is to wash them in water so you get rid of the dirt on the shells. Then take one and gently bite into it, crack the shell in two, and eat the inside flesh. Practice makes perfect. It's easier to perfect than cracking sunflower seeds (I still can't do that).

Multiple Intelligence

You scored as Musical/Rhythmic. You are sensitive to sounds in your environment, enjoy music and prefer listening to music when you study or read. You learn best through melody and music. People like you include singers, conductors, composers, and others who appreciate the various elements of music. Musical/Rhythmic 89% Verbal/Linguistic 79% Interpersonal 75% Visual/Spatial 75% Intrapersonal 75% Bodily/Kinesthetic 64% Logical/Mathematical 25% The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com

Courtesy of my friend Fyrna. Check out her Livejournal! She has nice recipes and interesting posts, too.

Pure sugar marshmallows

One of the reasons I like consumer culture: they can turn any occasion into commodity items.


Easter peeps- Neon yellow, totally artificial, exceedingly sugary.
I stop at one a day. It's kind of funny to see them in the packaging though. Look at how they press up to the plastic wrap separating them and the world outside. Almost reminds me of the gummy bears from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Cats Rule

Although the website Something Awful has entertained and scarred me for life thoughout my college years, I did find something in the Photoshop Phriday Archive recently that interested me.

What would it look like if your pets were gozilla sized? Check it out.

FLCL

FLCL Ultimate Edition (wiki, review), so hot right now.

Bought from Buy.com, Paid with Google Checkout. Free Shipping, $10 Discount for using Google Check for the first time. The sweet box arrived within days. I've yet to watch through all of the bonuses. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my Ultimate Edition t-shirt to arrive. It'll probably take longer since I had to send a hand-written postcard. Needless to say, I'm floating on clouds.

Thanks to Google Checkout, I don't ever have to create new accounts for any of the stores here again. Why didn't people think of this sooner? I'm glad all of the major players are not on there, i.e. B&N and Amazon. Although Buy.com has so much stuff already I really wonder if I care.

More on the series. It's by Gainax and actually references a famous Gainax series EVA. The soundtrack is by Pillows and you all should check out their music. What genre is FLCL? Hard to say, I suppose it's a growing up series. A bit of action, some comedy, a lot of emotional rollercoaster, and robots (weird ones). I like it especially because in just 6 episodes, you really see the relationship between characters change and grow. Most people think FLCL is a strange series, and I like that.

Besides loving Haruko to death, I also love many of the objects/imagery in the show (not sure if they're spoilers):

-Yellow Vespa

-Blue and white bass

-Symbol on Canti and Naota's head (see second pic above)

-Atomsk

-Black cat with huge eyes

-Manga segments

-Sour flavored soda. I'm guessing it's something lemon lime?

-Riverside under the bridge (with the really good background music playing)

-Red Canti, as opposed to the Blue one

-the Kiss scene, but more importantly, the blush scene right before it

-ramen noodles (eaten by Haruko at the dinner table)

Vitamin Water and drinks from China

I'm usually not a fan of "colored" water but Vitamin Water actually taste pretty good.
My only gripe is the caffeine content of the yellow one called "Energy". According to the bottle, there are 50 mg per 20 oz. bottle. The aftertaste isn't all that pleasant, either, compared to other Vitamin Waters. I didn't have a concept of how much 50 mg is and I had found out from here that a Coke classic has only 34 mg per 12 oz. I know that this means Coke still has more caffeine per oz. but I'm want more after finishing 12 oz. whereas I don't like to leave the 20 oz. Vitamin Water sitting there.

Enough about that, other flavors I have tried and liked:
Name: Multi-V. Color: White. Flavor: Lemonade
Name: Focus. Color: Pink. Flavor: Kiwi Strawberry
Name: Power-C. Color: Red. Flavor: Dragon fruit

Even if the water is called Vitamin Water, it really doesn't contain that much vitamins. I suppose it's better than most beverages which has no vitamins, but Vitamin Water is completely artificial, from flavor (no juice) to nutrition content (added vitamins to water?).

When it comes down to it, I just like the taste. Water gets boring after a while and nothing tastes better than sweetened water that has a pretty color and a funny story (the website has some, although different from the ones on my bottles) attached to it. Of course, it's rather overpriced at our food courts. I usually buy the boxed variety (less flavors, and contains the dreaded "Energy") and try the other flavors randomly when I have too much money to throw away. I remember liking the oranged colored one (Essential) but dislikeing this tea flavored one.

Speaking of drinks, I have to give a shoutout to some drinks I loved during my summer in Shanghai.

康师傅茉莉清茶 Master Kong's Jasmine Tea. light, with just a tint of tea flavor. After you start drinking this (barely any sugar added), you'll never drink Master Kong's green tea or red tea anymore (way too sweet due to sugar content).

康师傅大麦香茶 Master Kong's Barley Tea. At first I didn't like this because I was never a huge fan of barley tea. Later I started to appreciate its taste because it's not sweet at all.

乐百氏脉动青柠 Mizone Lime Sports Drink. Also comes in orange and peach flavors. Lime is the only one worth drinking though. After a hot summer day out (and Shanghai is hot), this is the best drink to recharge. Iced, of course. Someone told me this is the Propel of USA. I was so excited I bought a box of Propel. They're clearly not the same. Propel has some kind of artificial sweetner whereas Mizone doesn't. Although if you ice Propel, it's somewhat tolerable. Never drinking it unless I absolutely have to, though.

三得利乌龙茶 Suntory Oolong Tea. Another favorite, especially if you like the hot Oolong already. Suntory also makes great beer (better than Tsingtao, but don't tell crazy Tsingtao lovers that). In fact, there are many beers better than Tsingtao, which tastes too sweet for me.

Avoid the orange juice type beverages in China like the plague. If you're spoiled by fresh squeezed or even Tropicana, don't buy any orange drinks. You may get lucky at a fancy restaurant and get fresh squeezed orange juice. but don't count on it. Of course, there's also coke and pepsi if you are not feeling particularly adventurous. I was so sad they didn't have Cherry Coke and so angry that the mint flavored sprite (sounded like a good idea) gave me a sore throat. Diet Coke is also catching on in China if you're interested in that.

Amazing Race

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race_application/

If I can find anyone who's crazy enough to travel around the world in 30-40 days while dealing with tons of cultural shocks, jetlags, and TV camera in your face.

I really think the TV camera bit will be the worst. From the episodes I've watched, I also fear not being able to run with the huge backpack. Still, the idea of traveling to so many places is still attractive.

NY Arts List

Art/Museum
MET | Cloisters
MoMa | PS1
Guggenheim
Whitney

Natural History
Museum of NYC
NY Historical Society

Jewish Museum

Neue Galerie

New Museum
Chelsea Art Museum
http://www.nyc-arts.org/

Music
Carnegie Hall
Lincoln Center
BB King Blues Club & Grill

Outdoors
New York Botanical Gardens (Bronx)
Central Park
Queens Botanical Garden
Scholar's Garden (Staten Island)

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Movies
Fandango
Moviefone

IMAX in Times Square | Lincoln Square

On Art Nouveau

Louis Comfort Tiffany is my hero.

My favorite art period has to be Art Nouveau for its flowing wrought iron works and connection with nature. There's also something to be said for clean and curved lines. Yes, sometimes the details in architecture seem too complicated and overwhelming even, but I enjoy that more than the so-call minimalist approach to modern buildings.

I don't claim to be an art historian but I do think New York is full of arts. Just walking around the city, you can find many interesting buildings and objects. Even the subway stations has plenty of art. I know New York is well known for its Art Deco (i.e. Chrystler Building), but if you look closely, you'll find plenty of Art Nouveau as well.

Why the sudden post on art? I was looking at the MET website and remembered how much I enjoyed the Tiffany exhibit, which is still running until May. The MET and MoMa are my favorite museums in New York, although I haven't been to that many. I used to love the dinosaurs and gemstones of Natural History but who can resist going back to the knights and armor room at the MET? Am I the only one who always ends up in that room when I get disoriented by the massive MET?

For those of you who have some time to learn about art, the MET has a wonderful art history timeline which I should take note. I probably would have enjoyed an art history class at college, except for all the people who complained about the endless slideshows in a dark room where 90% of the class would fall asleep. Needless to say, I was not overjoyed to test my ability to stay awake. Funny enough, most of my art history comes from gallery visits and this art project assigned to the class back in Painting 101 in high school. Everyone picked an artist, prepared a brief biography, painted a work in that artist's style, and presented the art and bio to the class. I really had my heart set on Cézanne but ended up taking Chagall. The students who picked impressionists actually did a great job with the style. Looking back, I think I would have had a lot of fun doing research and imitating Amano.

Let's hope I get to visit more galleries and museums soon. New York days and nights go by way too quickly.

NY Phil

http://nyphil.org/attend/season/index.cfm?page=eventDetail&eventNum=938&seasonNum=6

Haven't heard many Schumann works played at concert halls. Maybe I can change that...

In other news, found a new Cantonese restaurant/take out place. Their BBQ ribs are quite decent. Maybe a bit on the tough side, but very sweet. Hopefully I'll be able to try out more foods next time I dine in.