Mission: San Diego

I was in San Diego this weekend, and to my chagrin, it's much prettier than Los Angeles... It's so not fair! How come they got such a nice piece of real estate, and we are stuck with the congestion and pollution?! Evil thoughts come to mind -- maybe we could plan a secret invasion and take over San Diego while the wide-eyed San Diegoans are out at Sea World petting Shamu... muahahah, what an ingenious idea.

Here is our secret agent team that infiltrated San Diego on Segway this weekend. The USS Midway is behind us. (Btw, highly recommend the Another Side of San Diego Segway Tour if you are in SD... Joe was an awesome tour guide!)

Can you spot Secret Agent Cat in this picture?

What about this picture?

Me taking classified information on the Shamu petting schedule

My side kick Secret Agent L transmitting the Shamu petting schedule back to LA...hehehe, San Diegoans think it's just an artsy looking giant kaleidoscope!

Here Agent L scouting enemy territory on a Segway!

Cat: ewe, San Diegoans are such perverts, they have a giant statue of two people making out! GI Joe: I missed it, show me show me!

Party on the USS Midway, how come I wasn't invited! Boo.

Los Angeles Navy's Pacific Fleet all ready for the pending invasion

Bye bye San Diego... soon to be part of LA Municipality, hehehe.

Special Day...hehe

Somebody had a birthday... and this is her preferred method of cake eating... sharing is so overrated!

Ok, ok, I'll be faux nice for once!

When lamb met cumin...

... yumminess ensued. Whenever I am in Beijing, I always get lamb kabobs... the spiciness of the cumin plus the gaminess and tenderness of the lamb... Mmmm... Anyhoo, here is an American version of lamb kabob (or yangrouchuan). Warning: do not follow this recipe as first, I did not have skewers, and second, I did not have a grill... so it is very much a bastardized version.

Step 1: season with plenty of ground and ungrounded cumin

Step 2: sautee the lamb

Step 3: turn off heat and shower lamb with fistfull of chopped cilantro...

Step 4: bon appetite!

Laborers

I saw these pictures on a website today. They are day laborers working in the Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen. They haul bricks for a living... some of them have been hauling bricks for decades. They probably make no more than US$100 a month, if that. The glittery buildings in China are literally built on their backs.


The temperature is over 100 degrees ... or 41 Celcius.

Drenched in sweat...

Most laborers live far away from their families in shabby dorms and they go home only once a year for the Spring Festival.

Tour de France Update

Week 2 of my Tour de France training went something like this:

Pedal pedal pedal... Yay, I know how to ride a bicycle now... the wind feels so good in my hair, yipeeeee, go Cat! Eh, curb in front, need to turn, not enough time, brake, brake, ahhhhhh!!! Crash. Bang. Splat. Waaahhhhhh! Sigh. No pain, no gain.

Anyhoo, tks C and D for letting me borrow your spare bike... here is the little rubber squeaky whale on the handlebar.

Tomato, Seaweed and Eggdrop Soup

Here is a simple Chinese home-style soup... In Chinese tomatoes are called either 番茄 (Fan Eggplant) or 西紅柿 (West Red Persimmon). As you can tell, the Chinese couldn't decide on whether tomatoes were more eggplant-like or persimmon-like so both names stuck. Regardless, based on the names, most likely tomatoes were introduced to the Chinese by foreign traders via the Silk Road as the word 番人(Fan People) is often used during ancient times to describe Caucasian people who traveled to China along the Silk Road. The second name, West Red Persimmon, is pretty self explanatory...

The ingredients are simple: White People Eggplant, Purple Veggies (the Chinese actually divide seaweed into two categories: seabelt (海带in Chinese, is a tougher and thicker type of seaweed) and purple veggie (紫菜 in Chinese, is a softer type of seaweed with a purple hue), a few eggs, a little bit of dried shrimp (didn't have it today) and a little bit of chopped spring onions (didn't have it either)...

Chop the tomatoes into large chunks, beat the eggs and shred the seaweed.. When water is boiled, put in tomatoes, seaweed and dried shrimp, when it comes to boil, let it cook for a minute or two, then toss in the egg batter and stir well... add chopped spring onions and turn off heat. Season it with salt and a little bit of sesame oil. Here it is: tomato, seaweed and eggdrop soup.

Summer Day...

Another beautiful summer day in LA... Hmmm, not much is going on, but here are some flowers for you! I saw them at the Farmer's Market in Century City.