Overseas Chinese Web Guide

I really liked Kylie Kwong’s Simple Chinese Cooking, so I picked up My China: A Feast for All the Senses as well. First impression. My China is a huge book! 484 pages. However, I wouldn’t exactly call it a cookbook. Only 15-20% of the book is devoted to recipes, and the rest is about her travels through China. So, if you are looking for an anthology of Chinese recipes, this is not the book. Secondly, she shows us a lot of photos of regional dishes, like that mouth-watering pot of steamed buns on the book cover. However, feast with your eyes only because you won’t find recipes for all those tempting dishes in this book. And, if you loved the glossy photos from Simple Chinese Cooking, all the pages in this book have a flat finish.

The real test will come when I have a chance to try some of the recipes. The malt vinegar present in all recipes from Simple Chinese Cooking have been replaced with brown rice vinegar in My China.

The Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz, CA, offers young children a close-up look into the world of marine life. The center consists of three small exhibit halls and an open audio-visual space. When I stopped by last weekend, the center was not crowded. Parking was easy and free.

The center is located right along the Santa Cruz coastline. I couldn’t much enjoy the ocean view because it was extremely windy outside. Inside, the center offered marine-themed puzzles for kids, educational stations, many aquariums, and an interactive station where kids and adults alike can touch hermit crabs, sea anemones and starfish. You will not find the aquariums full of Nemos and Dorys here though.

Plan an hour or so for your visit. That’s about the attention span for little kids anyways. The Seymour Marine Discovery Center is about an hour away from Silicon Valley. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors (64+) and $4 for children (4-16). For older children, you can visit the larger and much more expensive Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The Yamaha U1 PE at the Costco Special Event / Roadshow is listed for $6,999.99. This model is part of the silent series, which means that the piano can be played at any time of the day or night without disturbing your fellow roommates or family members. Just slip on a pair of headphones and plug them into the box located just under the right end of the keyboard. Oh, you also need to plug in your piano into an electric outlet for this feature to work. I would be mildly interested if I could hook up the piano to work with GarageBand.

If you only want a standard piano without the gadgetry, the regular Yamaha U1 PE goes for $5,399.99. I think the salesperson will sell you any Yamaha piano, even if it is not being displayed at the roadshow. So, if you want a Yamaha U3 or a Yamaha U5, stop by and ask them about the pricing. For the price, the piano includes a bench, two in-home tunings and a 10 year factory warranty. Delivery is separate and was priced at $125.00.

Last month, the New York Times published an article about the controversy surrounding MSG entitled “Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor.” Now, I’ve seen more than a few Asian restaurants with handmade signs declaring “No MSG.” However, “NO MSG on all gourmet dishes” is not the same as “No MSG,” is it? That “on all gourmet dishes” clause looks like a disclaimer of sorts. But, I’m not one to barge into a restaurant and ask them which dishes on the menu are “gourmet” dishes and which ones are not. I have no interest in being on the wrong end of kitchen cleaver or getting served pre-salivated food. Still, it makes me wonder. There’s no way steamed rice is “gourmet.” What else isn’t gourmet?

With Cinco de Mayo being just one month away, I saw that Jack Daniel’s is already out with their Hispanic Gift Pack. Curiously, I spotted this package at an Asian supermarket instead of the local supermercado. I guess nothing says gracias like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. I need to keep an eye out to see if an Asian Gift Pack is released the next time Chinese New Year rolls around.

Stopped into 7-11 this afternoon and got The Finger. It’s actually a Butterfinger rebranded as The Finger for presumably an April Fool’s prank. As part of the promotion, the wrapper says “Go to Yahoo! and search ”THE FINGER” To find out more!” Besides the Butterfinger ad, Yahoo! also suggests: “Also try: the middle finger.” Uh, great marketing stunt, I think.

Marketing works. Why else are we drilled to not judge a book by its cover? Sometimes our marketing ideas work. Other times, they are a complete failure. And, you will never receive a more honest response than from a child. If they don’t like what you prepared, then they don’t eat it. One easy way to make sandwiches more appealing is to use a cookie cutter. Suddenly, a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich is transformed into a person, heart or a star. On one level, it makes no sense. Same bread. Same peanut butter. Same jelly. But, cut it into the shape of a gingerbread man and it’s delicious.

Keep that in mind the next time you are facing a challenge at home, work or elsewhere. There’s nothing wrong with your sandwich. It’s just the shape of the sandwich. A minor change can dramatically transform your product or career.

Big fan of Costco. Occasionally, the local Costco will stage a roadshow featuring some interesting product. If I don’t buy that very day, I sometimes have to find another local Costco (but further away) that will be hosting the same roadshow. It always takes me a few minutes to track down the roadshow calendar through Google. On the Costco website, roadshows are called Special Events. Pick a region to see what is coming to your local store.

I’m passively looking for a piano and spotted a Yamaha roadshow recently. Here’s the model numbers and pricing. The model numbers are indecipherable. Can someone really explain the difference between all the models in a 30 second pitch? Not sure. Had to jot everything down and look them up on the Yamaha website.

TIME: A Tibetan Intifadeh Against China. Whatever the outcome, though, it seemed to be a turning point in the history of Tibet and perhaps also China. “This is massive,” said one Tibet specialist who was in touch with many Lhasa residents, “it is the intifadeh.”

Nothing more inaccurate than the Western media plotting turning points in modern Chinese history. Sometimes, China doesn’t turn despite the wishful thinking of the West. Why? Media bias.

Here’s another statement from the same article:

Chinese already outnumber ethnic Tibetans in Lhasa, and many Tibetans felt that they might end up as strangers in their own country, a fate suffered by Mongolians in Chinese-administered Inner Mongolia.

Chinese-administered Inner Mongolia? I’ve never been to Inner Mongolia, so I cannot speak about the environment there, but I suspect that TIME is manufacturing conflicts in this instance. Perhaps, a more appropriate conclusion would be that many Tibetans felt that they might end up as strangers in their own country, a fate suffered by Native Americans in the United States. However, if TIME starts printing stories like that, they’re not going to sell too many magazines…in the United States.

China should not be so obstinate and follow the American model. In America, Native Americans can achieve economic independence by building and running casinos. Tibetan stud poker, anyone?

Yahoo/AP: Yao Out for Season with Left Foot Injury. All-Star center Yao Ming is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot . . . .

Currently, the Houston Rockets are 3 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers, the Western Conference leader. However, the Rockets are only 3 1/2 games ahead of the ninth place Denver Nuggets. Yes, the NBA Western Conference is extremely competitive this year without a lot of breathing room between the top eight teams. As precarious as Houston’s fortunes appear right now, consider the fate of the Chinese basketball team during the Beijing Olympics without Yao Ming. A lot of Chinese sports fans are probably studying up on stress fractures right now.