26 Sept 2012 ~ French Wine Tasting

Listening to:  Hot Tuna ~ I Know You Rider (12/7/2000, Fillmore, SF)


Tonight I went to a Wine Social Meet-up event. It was held at Blush, which is a "Jammin' Artist" studio. Basically they rent space and provide canvas and paints to folks on an hourly basis. I didn't really see any art that impressed me.


The event was for French, Organic and Natural Wines...unfortunately I missed the part that also said it would be only a "sweet" wine tasting. Not my favorites, and a few I outright disliked, but a few I could see pairing with spicy szechuan or Thai food. And I met a few new people.

Here are some photos of the wines.

We might be in a local wine magazine. Hope I can find the issue. I don't think I've ever had my photo in a magazine before.

25 Sept 2012 ~ Hoan Kiem Lake Environs

Listening to:  Emiliani Torrini ~ White Rabbit (2011 Sucker Punch)


For any Grace Slick/White Rabbit fans, I found this to be a pretty good cover.

Supposedly when the French set foot in Hanoi in the latter part of the 19th century Hoan Kiem Lake was an unhealthy lagoon surrounded by huts. Today the lake is encircled by an attractive park. Here are some statues to be found.

 

 

The earth sculpture seems typically communist but I like the country of Vietnam outline as the forefront.

I especially am impressed with the topiary dragons.

A Socialist Realist statue stands at the intersection at the northern end of the lake.

Following up on the turtle comments from yesterday, the lake allegedly still contains some very large tortoises. My guidebook said one was captured in 1968 reputed to have weighed 500 lbs (250 kg).

Of course there is a Wikipedia entry for the Hoan Kiem Turtle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoan_Kiem_turtle



24 Sept 2012 ~ Hoan Kiem Lake

Listening to:  Patti Smith ~ Give Me Shelter (Twelve)


I realized I have been remiss in sharing all of my Vietnam experiences. Shame on me.

Since I haven't been traveling lately, let's get back to that.

I will start with Hanoi and the Hoan Kiem Lake.

The lake is named after an incident said to have occurred during the 15th century. Following a momentous victory against an army of invading Ming Chinese, Le Loi (Le Thai To, reigned 1428-33) was sailing on the lake when a golden turtle appeared appeared from the depths to take back the charmed sword with which he had secured the victory.

Le Thai To's sword assures the Vietnamese of divine intervention in times of national crisis.

Here is a beautiful monument to Le Thai To across the street from the lake.

And a golden turtle statue.

On a small island in the southern part of the lake there is a modest and somewhat dilapidated tower (The Tortoise Tower, Thap Rua), which commemorates the event.

23 Sept 2012 ~ Hooray Bar

Listening to:  Night Panther ~ Fever


Happy Belated Birthday!

After the long work week, a few of us went out for drinks on Friday night at one of the "Top 5 Deck Bars with a View" in Hong Kong called Hooray.

The view itself was not really a view. The air pollution quality was quite high last week. Otherwise all you really see is land reclamation.

20 Sept 2012 ~ Pretenders

Listening to: Pretenders ~ My City Was Gone (9/20/2012, Star Hall, KITEC, Hong Kong)


What a great live show.

Chrissie Hynde Rocks! Not only does she have a beautiful voice, but she plays a mean lead guitar, and is funny to boot.

The guy I sat next to saw the Pretenders for the first time in a park in London in 1979. Tonight was his 14th show.

Chrissie was a student at Kent State during the 1970 student shootings and left soon after for London. She dabbled with the Clash and a few other bands. She's still pretty hot for being in her early 60s now.

 

 

 

I have several video clips, which really turned out better than the stills, but here is what I can share for now.

 

http://youtu.be/XesRg3LUz98

19 Sept 2012 ~ Beer

Listening to:   Willie Nelson with Leon Russell ~ Night Life (1979-04-01), Capital Theater, Passaic, NJ

I tried a couple new beers this week.

This one I would have had no idea what it was except for the small print in English of the website: www.echigo-beer.jp, where I found out it is Koshihikari premium lager. It is brewed with Koshihikari rice from Niigata Prefecture, Japan. "It is clean and simple yet packed with delicious rice flavor."

The second one I tried is from the take out place Chicken on the Run, where I got one half of a salt/pepper roasted chicken and some cabbage slaw (with corn and green apples).  All items, including the chicken, are flown in daily from Australia.

 

The third beer is Black Sheep Riggwelter, a strong Yorkshire Ale. When a sheep is on its back and cannot get up without help, local dales dialect says it's "rigged" or "riggwelted", from the Old Norse : "rygg" - back, and "velte" - to overturn.

 



 

 

Has anyone seen the 2007 movie Black Sheep? It's a New Zealand comedy/horror flick with great special effects. But it's also a little creepy.

15 Sept 2012 ~ Railway Arch

Listening to: Karlie Bruce ~ Paperback Lover

The Corner Watchtower had a nice museum. From propaganda art, to sculptures and lighting motifs.

A very good display of artifacts used to protect the city walls, such as swords and a bow & arrow from the Qing Dynasty.

And miniature dioramas.

In June 1915, in order to lay the railway track for the Round-the-Capital Railway, this arch was built by breaking through the city wall near the corner tower and demolishing the last Dun Tai (which I think is a dumpling house).

Outside the arch are men flying kites.

They are so far up it wasn't even possible to get a picture.

12 Sept 2012 ~ Zacapa Rum

Listening to:   Johnny Winter & Black Kangaroo ~ Come On In My Kitchen (8/10/1973, SF)


On my one night off work this month I went to a rum tasting at my neighborhood club, Angel's Share. This is the same place I've previously been for whiskey tastings.

Tonight was unique in that the drinks were complimentary, so I thought the place would be packed, but it wasn't. Also it was less formal, with only about a 15 minute introduction to rum making, and then after an "on the rocks" tasting, we had the choice between 3 mixes.

I liked the Solaris Journey - it had homemade Cinnamon stick shavings, some whiskey, cacao, white chocolate and orange peel, just to name a few of the ingredients. I wish I had taken pictures, but this was sort of last minute.

But I like the label, and the slogan "Aged Above The Clouds". [Could be a good slogan for a Workday t-shirt or Catina Event.]

Zacapa’s rum is aged in warehouses 8,000 feet above sea level in Tulula, Guatemala, where the temperature is about 62 degrees year round. Master Distiller Lorena Vásquez calls the facility the “house above the clouds.”

While most rums are made from molasses, Zacapa is produced from fresh crushed sugarcane from its own plantation.

The other rum favorite of mine is Pyrat, produced by Patron, by I cannot find that in Hong Kong.

Although I had not been drinking [honest!] in either of these 2 next pictures, it seems appropriate to post them here.

This is an exhibit at the Corner WatchTower Museum in Beijing.

And this was in a neighborhood bar that I really liked the lampshades, so I decided to model with one.

 

 

In the words of William Arthur Ward - "To make mistakes is human, to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity."

 

Boy, I must be really mature, like a fine rum or whiskey!



11 Sept 2012 ~ Beijing Sites

Listening to:  King of Spain ~ Motions (All I Did Was Tell The Truth and They Thought It Was Hell)


Sorry for the delay between posts. Work is keeping me extremely busy....

The Ancient Observatory in Beijing holds 8 astronomical instruments made in the Qing Dynasty. It was built in 1442 and is as known the oldest one of its kind with astronomical instruments preserved in the world.

Unfortunately I did not have time to go inside.

I did make it to the Corner Watchtower. Despite the "face lift" I was able to inside.

This is a former train station inside the walls.

The Ming Dynasty Wall was built in 1419 (the 17th year of the reign of Emporor Yongie). At the southwest corner is the tower build in 1436 (the first year of the reign of Emporor Zhengtong) it is the country's largest and only existing corner tower.

Climbing the stairs takes you inside for a nice but narrow view of Beijing...as well as a museum which I'll post on next time.

5 Sept 2012 ~ Skye Antics

Listening to: The Reflections ~ Summer Days


The pipe under my bathroom sink burst this morning while I was having coffee and reading work email. It sounded like it was raining, but when I looked outside, sunny skies. Then I thought a hose was being sprayed on my deck, so I headed towards the bedroom window. I realized then the sound was coming from the bathroom and ..... whoooshh   ....... water water everywhere!

I found the valve to turn off the water, and luckily the water did not reach the threshold and come into my living room.

To think if I had not been home, my entire house would have been massively flooded!

My landlord sent a plumber this afternoon and put in a new pipe and faucet head. I was working from home this week, so no work interruption, thank goodness.

Speaking of working from home, I'm having a blast listening to the Grateful Dead vault and playing with Skye.

I bought portable door screens (with taint pictures of Tweety Bird), so when the weather is nice I can still leave the doors open and her fly around.

She just loves any kind of cardboard box, no matter where I put them. Every single one becomes her nest. I have actually started shopping with cardboard packaging in mind!

I also bought her this "snuggy" which at first she didn't like, but as you can see, it's now her "vacation home".

Happy Lovebird!

http://youtu.be/9bXf-jOlkuM

4 Sept 2012 ~ Shanghai Backyard BBQ

Listening to:  Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton ~ Tomorrow is Forever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PT9oJiJmc8



After my Beijing trip I headed to Shanghai to meet up with my former Yum co-workers.

Eric's daughter Elaine is already 21 and home from London where she goes to music college. She plays the viola. We had fun hanging out watching the zombie show "The Walking Dead".


The work crew came over on for an afternoon bbq, also to celebrate Eric's birthday. Eric is eyeing the neighbors rabbit that keeps eating his garden, and considered tossing him on the barbie.

Eric's daughter Elaine is keeping tabs on chef Ricky.

We had ribs and drumsticks and stuffed peppers, grilled potato "chips" on a stick, along with salad a fruit. You probably recognize the dragonfruit on the right. The green/brown fruit are jujube - a type of date.

 Eric's wife Nancy is on the left, always the perfect hostess offering more food.

Can't miss the mini keg of beer in the foreground. James brought it over. Eric and Nancy used to live in Milwaukee and that is where Elaine was born, so it's not possible to have a bbq without beer. (And people wonder why we are such good friends. :))

And for dessert, fresh homemade cheesecake!

 

We even got in a couple rounds of Uno.