MAN OF STEEL.

In this over long 143 Minutes of Man of Steel.  The first 10 minutes reminds me of Avatar, the last 30 minutes reminds me of Avenger and then you have a little bit of Martix, a little bit of Transformer , little bit of Star Wars, The war of the world and Independent day , mixed with the dark world of Batman Begins and you got this new superman. To be honest. I was really excited to see this movie, I am a fan and superman was my first " superhero" but I almost fall asleep during the movie and i can't believe myself wanted to leave in the mid of this supermess. I have to say, this movie is really boring.
I thought they will do something new and exciting but sadly this is just another Alien-want- to- take over- the world- movie, I have seen it all but this is suppose to be a superman movie? right?

This movie does not do justice to Superman, Not even for a person who doesn't know anything about Superman and if you are a die hard fan then this movie is going to be a disappointment. The biggest problem of this film is because it doesn't make sense, unlike Avatar, Matrix or even Iron Man  they created a universe that have their own logic therefore the audience can get into the film.

To me what's make superman good is his care for human but in man of Steel , he didn't seems to care that much. In many fight scenes, he throws a bad guy through buildings? I don't think so , superman will never do such thing,  superman will lure the bad guys far away from the city , fight over a mountain or ocean, even if the fight have to take place in the city, superman will always save the people 1st , and also you really don't know why he will like people so much? he spent all his life being called  freak or weirdo and it seems like no one ever like him at least that's this story suggested, same thing is you don't know why all of the sudden without real interaction, Clark and Lois falls in love , how did it happen? one key element of Superman is the romance and how Clark try to hide that he is superman, now Lois know who he is then the film become less interesting and it disconnected with the Audience., the only secret and the bond between us and superman is no more. now we are just people who is watching how SUPERMAN flying and destroy every building, the good old fun that he will try his best not to damage anything and protect people part is gone and superman now is just become a "HOT" guy who can fly.

Sure, it looks great and the special effects are generally well done. But some people need their movies to at least make some sense. Maybe all superhero now days need a dark side even superman.

Leslie Cheung

I had a chance to share a few moments with Leslie Cheung. One time was at a filming location of Lam Gong Juen (Arrest the restless)  directed by Lawrence Ah Mon, as everyone knows that Leslie was a hard working actor and also wanted things to be perfect, before the shooting I saw him hiding himself in the conner and fixing his hair and try to make sure it was perfect, he walked a few step like he is dancing and when he was in the shot , he is ready to be in his character... he said, not just the look has to be perfect but also the body movement, if you are rebel in the 50’s and love to dance, that’s how they should move, movement is part of the character. 

Other time I met him was in a recording studio doing the dubbing for the same film,  he was focus and  patient, dubbing dialog for film is a long process, it took a long time in a cold and dark  recording studio. As who he was , a super star, he could have got someone to do it for him but he insisted that  his voice is part of the acting and he didn’t want to cheat his audience.

Then the very last time I met him was 1997  in a lobby café in Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong. It was just a brief 30 minutes before he was heading home for the game of mahjong, a Chinese traditional table game which he loved.  In that 30 minutes, we talked about the restaurant he liked and the movies he watched,  he talked about anything just like everyone else.  He sipped a coffee and lit a cigarette just like he did it in his movie, at the moment I saw this person in front of me, one of the brightest artist in Hong Kong, deep
down is just a guy, a guy that who is kind and down to earth, you saw that who ever he played  in his movie, rather is Master Twelve in Rouge, the Yuddy in The Days of Being Wild, Cheng Dieyi  in Farwell my Concubine and the Ho Po-Wing in Happy Together or even Jim Law in his last film Inner Senses, you can see they all have a part of Leslie in them, not the look but the spirit, a sentimental, stubborn, perfectionist that’s always felt there’s something missing in his life and he will do his best to get it, maybe his broken family up bringing or maybe his love of his Art, he dedicated himself to what he wanted to be.

Someone who lived and breathed with love. You can listen to his songs in the later time, he is trying to tell everyone that he is just a person and hoping to find someone who will really listen to him and love him for who he really is.   He always felt alienated like he is in other planet.

In 2003 April 1,  his story ended, like Sakura.  Farewell the Little Prince.

Giant Yellow Rubber Duck

I saw the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck floating on the water with that familiar look and that familiar smile, when is the last time you were taking a bath with a rubber yellow duck? When was the last time you took your time to take a bath at all? Not to rush and not to worry for 30 minutes.

To be happy is always began by learning to let go, stop thinking so much because life is full of accidents, sometime it is good and sometime is bad, but life is a journey, we are all here to learn and we shouldn’t take life too serious, blah blah blach , you get the picture ….  When we were born, the first thing we did is to have a good cry  “oh no, here we go, let’s see how I am going to handle my life the next 70 years. If I am lucky”, even if you don’t cry, don’t worry the kind doctor will make sure you do, oh so much of expectation from the first minute to the world.

Many people out there, they are living in stress,  anything can worry them, We learnt to worry, worry about your grade, your job, your height, your weight, am I good enough?  she loves me ? is he going to marry me? will the world end? if not now? when? is the food bad for us, don’t eat this, don’t drink that, don’t drink too much, don’t eat fat, eat fat, don’t smoke, will I get cancer? am I good in bed ? I can’t feel my toes, what happens? I want people love me, why he is always calling? I want my space, why didn’t she call, is there something wrong with me? The list can go on for ever, but do we have to be worry all the time?

Some people see the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck , they will be excited and feel happy, some other will just think why some so-called Artists will do such thing? What for? Some people never happy, what ever you do for them they will find a problem with it. They will never understand life but they will try to tell you how to live yours, they are always the  expert on everything, especially come to health, don’t smoke it will kill you, why are you drinking? you must be an alcoholic, I bet those people even think everyone should have sex with Missionary position.  Some people always think that they are right , they can’t stand to be wrong but OK you are right then what? what’s the different will that make? Just relax because no one really care about what you think. Some people want to control everything not just themselves but people around then, why can’t they just let things be? if you let other to be who they are, and let’s see how things turn out, I am sure it will open new doors, OK, I understand sometimes you want things the way you want, but if you try too hard, and push too much then you will only became Nazi…Why don’t you just learn to relax a little , allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel. Stop blaming others. Stop complaining. Stop trying to impress other people, stop looking in the past – move on! Because you gotta!  Don’t live your life to other’s expectation. Yes, even if they are your parents! Just live your life and own it.  Learn to forgive, learn to love yourself and be happy and the most important, not to Fear!!  Just try it. Worse come to worst, try again!  Most things you fear about, it only happen in your mind, just like first day at school…. We only live once, so embrace it, live it and enjoy it, if you are still stressed, go get a yellow rubber duck and make yourself a bath.

I like that Giant Yellow Duck, what a great idea to make a bath out of all the major harbor around the world , maybe one day we should all jump into the water and play with the duck with lots of bubble ? what?? you are worry the water is dirty? then bring a bar of soap!   

This page is dedicated to one of my best friend Joshua. 

Sweet and Sour Pork

One of my  childhood favorite dishes is sweet and sour pork. When I was a child I liked this dish so much, so each time I went to Chinese restaurant I would order it even tho my father thought it was a joke to order such sweet dish. And now I am grew up and I still like it every now and then. This dish is originally from Canton, China, a crispy pork nuggets coated with sweet and sour red sauce and my recipe is using the combination of white vinegar and ketchup mixed with plum sauce, it will give the sauce a more complex taste.
This is a easy to make recipe and all you do is to give it a first try and then the second time you will do it better because you know what it looks like and you can adjust the taste the way you like it. I always tell people that cooking recipe is just a guide, my taste might be very different than yours. So just cook the food following your taste, I myself like a little sweeter so I put more sugar, you can skip the plum sauce if you don't have any.

Last week, I cooked this dish for my house guest and their kids and they liked it, this sweet and sour pork is a international dish which everyone loves.


Ingredients:
1 kg of pork scotch fillet  (semi-lean), cut into 4cm cubes
Oil for deep-frying
One can of pineapple

Sauce:
5 tsp ketchup
1 tsp tabasco
3 tsp plum sauce

3 tsp pineapple juice from the can
3 tsp sugar - to taste
2 tsp white vinegar - to taste

Marinade for pork:
4 tsp corn flour
1 egg
1/2 white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp pineapple juice 

Vegetables:
1  onion
3 pieces of ginger
1 small green capsicum
1/2 can of pineapple cube

Method:

1.  Marinade the pork with the  ingredients for about 10 minutes. Set aside.
2.  Cut the vegetables into big cubes.
3.  Heat up enough oil for deep-frying. Turn heat to medium.  Fry the pork cubes piece by piece.  Fry until 90% cooked and crispy, remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Allow to cool.
4.  Heat your wok or pan and put about 2 tsp of oil in the wok. Saute the ginger, onion and green capsicum until fragrant then put in the cubed pineapple.
5.  Put in pineapple juice, white vinegar, sugar, salt, ketchup and plum sauce, a few drops of tabasco sauce, bring it to boil.
6. Pour in the fried pork nuggets,  mix well to coat the pork with sauce.

2 Days in New York

2 Days in New York is a Woody Allen style of movie about a French family visiting their daughter who lives in New York with her boy friend.  It's a funny movie about family and cultural differences. But beside culture or habbit, some people I know just basically don't get it. They don't know the basic manners for being a house guest. They have no idea on how to respect and consider other people. At first I was trying to understand them or even make excuse for them, then I noticed they are just plain "ignorance".

As we all know there are some basic rules and manner if you are visiting and staying at someone's home. Remember, what ever I am going to write in the following, the people I know actually did the opposite.

1. Letting your host know your plans and communicate clearly about your comings and goings from their home, make sure that you are not going to inadvertently inconvenience them. Don't leave their home, even for a short outing, without telling them! Your host should not have to guess whether you went out or you're in your room with the door shut.

2. Make a conscious effort to adapt to their patterns. To be clear, ask about their expectations of you during your stay. For example: ask if you are expected to share meals with them, what time they prefer you to turn out the lights, etc. It is especially important to arise when your hosts do (or at least when your own children do), and accept that others have to live in the house too. Realize that if your kids are creating chaos at 7am on the weekends (and you are still sleeping), this is probably something you should acknowledge that your hosts tolerate.

3. If you have your own bedroom, keep the door open when you are not in it, with the bed neatly made and your belongings neat and tidy. Take care of the sofa , don't roll your suitcase inside the home, Don't put your things around the house. Remember that this isn't your home - this is someone else's home, no matter how close you are with the host.

4. Clean up after yourself. Do not leave your dirty dishes in the sink. Even if you find that your host leaves their dishes piled in the sink, doing this yourself is considered very rude. You should leave the kitchen cleaner than you found it. If you notice that the floor needs to be swept offer to do it.

5. Be reasonable about sharing a bathroom. If the house only has one bathroom, ask when it is convenient for you to use it, knock before you enter, only children will go to a shared bathroom without knocking  and make sure you do the following:

• Flush the toilet and put the lid down.
• Be clean. Check that you have not left hair on the floor, or toothpaste splatters in the sink. Make sure to always leave a clean toilet behind.
• If towels are not placed out for you in the guest room, don't presume that the fancy towels in a shared bathroom are for you.

6. When getting up in the night or very early in the morning, remember to be careful not to disturb your hosts. Loudly banging doors, flicking on lights outside their bedroom, or generally making a lot of noise will ensure that you're remembered as that guest they will never want to have stay again. Guaranteed.

7. Always offer to help at meal times. There is nothing more debilitating than having guests who sit around waiting expectantly for all meals. This is when a stay crosses over from being homey to like being in a hotel.  Collecting plates, carrying out dishes, offering to wash up or stack the dishwasher, cleaning off the counters, and taking the garbage out. You could even offer to cook a meal or two yourself. If you're not sure what to do, ASK! Even if the host may say "Nothing!", insist that you do at least one thing. If you are taking the time to cook for yourself, cook enough for your hosts - especially if you are using your hosts' kitchen staples and supplies.

8. Unless you are specifically told to "help yourself to anything" in the refrigerator or pantry, always ask before taking something, and never take the last of anything. This is especially true of left-overs which are not easily reproduced, or expensive items. If you must eat your host's food, a good idea is to pick up some more to replace what you ate. Follow the "you ate it, you replace it" rule and remember: buying the same product but keeping it in a separate area  or eating all of it yourself, or taking it with you when you leave does not mean "replacing" it.

9.  Offer to make contributions. Even if you're not eating at your host's home, offer to purchase the groceries (after all, you still need their toilet paper!). Remember that they have probably already been shopping for extra groceries and spent a considerable amount of time and money to get ready for your visit. You could either paid their next supermarket trip, or you could offer to go out and buy things for both yourself and for them (ask them for a list). If your host is embarrassed to give you a list, make regular financial contributions, like accompanying your hosts to the supermarket and paying at the checkout, or leaving money out in an obvious place on a regular basis clearly indicating it is for groceries.  Whatever the length of your visit, you should at least offer to take your hosts out for dinner. It should be the restaurant of their choice.

10. You're not staying in a hotel and your host will have to wash your sheets and towels when you leave. Make it easier by removing sheets, pillow cases and any other linens. Place them in a neat pile on the foot of the bed or in the laundry hamper. Better yet, start washing them for your host. If your host use a housecleaning service then offer to pay for it. You may even offer to contribute to the cost of cleaning supplies and laundry costs.

11. If you have to leave really early in the morning, say your farewells the night before. If you see your host come back home, say Hello. It's important to be polite.

12. Don't behave as if it's your own home. Be respectful of their belongings and adapt to your hosts' lifestyle.  

13.  Never, ever, gossip about or criticize your hosts, their homes or family members, It's disrespectful and rude.

14.  The Big No No- Don't be cheap. Nobody likes anyone who is cheap, especially a cheap house guest. If you're truly having financial issues, be humble and show appreciation and offer to do things around the house. You should feel even more grateful that your friend and his family is willing to help you out during a time of need. The wrong thing to do is float to the couch after a meal they cooked for you, not helping with dishes or other chores, and leave without  leaving as much as a thank-you note. If you weren't helpful, you should at least be grateful -- Cheap House Guest .. that is a nightmare of a house guest.

There are more than 14 points but I think the above is the basic list and everyone should follow. Some people said manner can be learnt but how to learn if they don't even care. Those ones who do not care are just totally ignorant and they don't even know how to teach their children, because they themselves behave like 10 years old,  they are being selfish and such a waste of time. The sad thing is, when those "Cheap house guest" reading this, they don't even know this is talking actually about them. Oh boy, they are the lucky ones, and I have to quote Sweet Brown here "Ain't Nobody Got Time for That".

Sorry this is not really a film review. But I hope someone learnt something from this.

Argo

Look at this year the Oscar Nominess -

"Amour",  "Argo", "Beasts of the Southern Wild", "Django Unchained", "Les Misérables",
"Life of Pi", "Lincoln", "Silver Linings Playbook", "Zero Dark Thirty"

When I look close into it this year's Oscar seems to be about revolution, politic and a little bit of the people who are forgotten by the society, the young, the old and the mental ill.

When Lincoin fighting for the 13th Amendment "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction", we have Django to revenge, when Argo is to save the Americans out of Iran, we have the American hunting for al-Qaeda terrorist leader in Zero Dark Thirty, while the French is preparing their June revolution, we have Life of Pi to question about religion, what will you choose to believe and beast of the southern Wild  about childhood and innocence, Sliver Linings Playbook about bi-polar and Amour is about test of love ...
Seems to be cover everything I guess?! but so far I think Argo is the best movie among them all.

The reason is simple, because this film has built up the tension a thriller should have, there is no blood or action but you can see it in your mind, something "bad" is happening or going to happen. This is one of the movies like the old fashion thriller, you have to watch it from the start, you have to understand the story and the reason the tension is built upon the information the director has given us. There is no real bad guy, just the situation, the opening was great, in a short 15 minutes, it tells the audience that the US the CIA and MI6 helped organized the overthrow of the elected government to install their puppet the Shah to Control the oil. The Iranians are angry, the Americans are nervous, you know there's something bad is going to happen, you edge of your seat, biting your nails, and wiggling your feet.

It has been long time I have not seen such "exciting" movie. Unlike any James Bond movies or action flick such as Taken, Die Hard, they are using "action" and visual to create the excitment but Argo is using their story and the situation to involve and engage the emotion of the audience. The difficult part to make a political thriller is to tell the truth, Movie like All the president's men, Munich and Hotel Rwanda, they did their best to stick with the truth and try to make it as exciting as possible, Argo is the same, you might complain about a few things, such as the director seems to forget the time zone issue between America and Iran, and why the solider can not stop the plane from leaving just calling the control tower? we know this is only for the "thriller effect" and it's far from the actual event. Many people said Argo make Iranians all "bad guys", which I don't agree, I can see the director and the writer is trying to be as neutral as possible. You can see they are pointing their finger to the CIA more than anyone else, after all they are the one to decided to drop the hostages, and they are trying to tell us why the Iranians were so angry, do they have their reason?

Maybe Argo is not as fun as Django unchained, or as meaningful as The Life of Pi, but Ben Affleck brilliant directing proves of his talent as a director.  And I do like his 70's look in this movie, I think he is now very mature and a better actor because he stoped acting.

Steam Fish - Hong Kong Style

I love fish and there are many ways to cook it and today I want to talk about one of the best ways - steam fish.
Europeans usually fry, grill, roast their fish or maybe the Spanish and Italian might bake the fish with salt but steam is almost never, also mostly they will only eat fish with lemon juice or tomato sauce, maybe because there not many fish is fresh enough and they are mostly frozen so they have to use the lemon juice to cover the fish smell? but I think if you can find "fresh fish" the best way to cook it is to steam. It not only gives the best flavor but it is also very healthy.

Here is Hong Kong Style steam fish,  after you learn this, you can try to do it differently, using different ingredients.  So have fun and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 fresh fish (about 500g - 600g),
2 stalks green onion,
1/2 cup finely chopped, thinnest strips ginger,
1 cup thinnest strips scallion,
1/2 cup coriander
2 red chili – thinly sliced
4 tsp sunflower or peanut oil or any veg oil but don't use olive oil.

Seasonings:
4 tbsp light soy sauce,
1/2 tsp sugar,
3 tbsp water,
a pinch of white pepper
1 tsp Shaoxing wine to pour on fish prior to steaming (or any cooking wine like dry sherry, but I like to use brandy)

Equipment:
A plate to hold the fish & large pot or wok for steaming.  Big enough to put the plate inside. If you don’t have a steamer insert, take a small bowl and invert to use as a stand.

Preparation :
1. Clean out the fish inside, pat dry. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Take some strips ginger and scallion stuff inside the fish.
Beside strips ginger and scallion, I also like to put inside some small and thinly cut pork belly.

2. Cut scallion into long pieces,  place them on the plate, put the fish on top, then put ginger slices on fish.
Personally, I like to cut up some tofu and place them on the plate instead , the seasoning and fish juice will go to the tofu after cooking and it will give an extra taste to the dish.

3. Soak strips scallion in cold water for 3-5 minutes, drain.

Cooking:
1. Add 6cm of water to your large pot or wok.
Put the fish into the steamer when the water is boiling (if without steamer, put the invert small bowl in the wok or pot and put the fish plate on top,  cover the pot or wok), turn down the heat to medium.
Cooking times:
- Whole fish 500g : check at 12 minutes, add 2 minutes for every 100g
- Fillets 3cm and thicker: check at 10 minutes, add 2 minutes for every 1cm more thickness

Tips: to steam the fish, best to put a dish towel in between the lid and the fish , so the steaming water will not drip back on top of the fish.

2. When the time is up,  check the fish to see if its cooked:

- Check the fish to find its thickest part. This is the part that will finish cooking last, so if this part is done then the rest of the fish is fully cooked.

- Stick the chopstick or fork gently into the thickest part of the fish. The flesh should be easy to separate and almost flaky. Usually after tun off the heat I leave the fish inside the pot with the lid on for extra 2 minutes, while I wait I will:

- heat up 4 tsp of oil in fry a pan

- now 2 minutes is up, take the fish out carefully, put the fish on a serving plate, pour over the fish juice and the seasoning, a dash of wine, the scallions, strips ginger and red chili on top of the fish

- you should see now your oil in the fry pan is smoking hot, add gingers and strips scallion, have a quick fry and pour over oil on top of the fish and you will hear the sound "Sizzzzzzzzz now eat...".

Thai Seafood Curry Pumpkin

Cooking curry is very easy, everyone can do it.
The best thing about cooking curry is we can do it in different ways, sweet or hot, with or without coconut milk. You can add fish, chicken, lamb, beef, pork, vegetables. The key is to cook it together with the curry sauce.  I love curry so much I can eat it all the time and won't get sick of it, one of my all time favorite is curry beef brisket with potatoes, the beef is so tender it is melting in your mouth, potatos filled with the taste of curry it taste even better than the beef itself. All vegetables are good with curry too. I never heard anyone failed to cook curry, so if you want to impress your girl friend or boy friend, just make curry for dinner, if you want to make it fancy then I suggest that you make this Seafood Curry with Pumpkin. This is really easy to make and simply impressive, the curry sauce and the pumpkin are the perfect match, it taste so good it is almost like a dessert. If you like prawns add more prawns. If you want it to be sweeter, put more sugar. Set up the table, light up some candles, put on Oscar Peterson and open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc ... you get the picture. Yes, its a bit cheesy but she will love it.  If she doesn't like it? get a new girl friend.

Ingredients 1 small pumpkin
seafood mix -  salmon/white fish fillet, scallop, prawn, calamari, mussels, etc
1 onion, chopped to bite-size
3 cloves shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp green or red curry paste.
2 tsp curry powder (more if you preferred)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 cup coconut cream (more if you preferred)
3 tsp evaporated milk
2 tsp plum sugar (more if your preferred)

Instruction
Preheat the oven to 200C.
1. Rinse the seafood under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Scoop out some pumpkin flesh, blend it to mash and set a side.
3. Bake the pumpkin in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size of the pumpkin.
4. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and set the oven to 220C.
5. Saute the onion with some butter until soft. 
6. Lightly fry the seafood mix with some butter separately, remove and set aside.
7. In a larger pot or pan, fry the shallot and garlic with some butter.
8. Add the curry powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and plum sugar and fry for a little while.
9. Add in coconut and evaporate milk, fish sauce, pumpkin mash and stir well until the pumpkin is like the texture of a thick sauce, if too dry, add coconut cream.
10. Return the onion and seafood in the sauce.
11. Add seafood mixture into the pumpkin and bake in a preheated 220C oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
12. Garnish with coriander, spoon on a little circle of coconut cream.

To be served with rice or bread 

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

3 medium yellow onions  about 750 g
2 tbsp  butter 
1 tbsp  oil 
1 tsp brown sugar 
1 Liter beef stock 
1/2 cup dry white or red wine /or without 
1 bay leaf 
1 small baguette 
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature 
1 to 2 cups grated gruyère or emmenthal cheese

Instructions

• Chop onion in half lengthwise and slice them all. 
• Heat butter and oil in a large wide saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, then sprinkle with sugar. Cook, uncovered and stirring often, until very soft and caramelized, about 15 min. Reduce heat if they brown too quickly.
• Add beef stock, wine, seasonings and bay leaf. Scrape up brown bits from pan. Bring to a boil over high. Then cover and simmer over medium-low for 30 min to develop flavour. 
• Place oven rack in top half of oven. Preheat broiler. Cut bread into slices, Butter both sides of each. Toast until lightly golden, about 2 min per side.
• Place soup bowls, ladle in soup with a toasts on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Place bowls in oven. Boil until cheese is bubbly, 2 to 4 min. Serve immediately. Now you have it .. enjoy your soup in the last month of winter.
• But if you are in Australia, woo hoo the winter is on its way so you can have this soup over and over again and then when the Australia finishes, we people in Europe will take over and have this soup again...
• I was going to do a history on this soup but I guess I am quite lazy this month so I think I will just tell you how good this soup is... "yes, this soup is good, so try it ".. told you I am lazy. 
• Everyone loves onion soup!! You might hate to do the chopping but you will love the soup. Some people who really into studying hitrory of food said this soup is for poor people in France back in the when ever time, and the farmers and poor people love it so much even the King had to try it and make it a "FRENCH NATIONAL SOUP", I guess poor people always have better taste. 

Silver Linings Playbook

One of the best movies this year... They say and I don't see it.
Is Bradley Cooper a Best Actor? I think not.

If the critics call this movie just a usual romantic comedy - drama, I will take it, but once they are trying to push it to be an Oscar Best Picture or call it the best movie of the year then right away it becomes a major turn off to me, I don't know why this movie and Bradley will get the nomination,  when this film is not as good as "When Harry met Sally", "Garden State" or  "As good as it gets"?..

Maybe I am a bit bipolar right now because I don't understand why everyone thinks this movie is so amazing? Are those people being paid to say that? Or they have watched the uncut version? I don't understand why this movie to be nominated for 8, yes you are right ...  8 Oscars! The only nomination I agree with is best supporting actor and beside that, the other reason I can think of is that the Oscar  are trying to build a movie up to be the Oscar best picture, so they need something weaker to do it, so the Silver Linings is just that. Or maybe they don't have any other choice? Who  are the judges anyway? Bradley Cooper doesn't act very well and almost like he wasn't there for the whole film, he is not convincing as a bipolar patient. Oh wait, maybe that's the method acting, he actually was on Effexor.

From experiences,  I happened to know a few people have OCD or BPD and I can tell you, no one can really feel better just by themselves and drugs can only do little help with their mood swing but it will never fix anyone,  they can try their best to control it tho, but in the end it is not as easy as it seems in this movie, obviously Bradley or the director hasn't done much research, somehow I think he didn't even read about bi-polar disorder. Yes, they can shout and panic under stress, but the truth is mostly they will just shut down and don't want to interact with anyone, they are living in their own world, they will cry and depress with no reason, but when they panic and stress is because some kind of emotion triggers them so they will be filled with emotion – there is a scene where Bradley is screaming but you can't see him with any emotion at all, comparing to Robert De Niro with his great supporting character here, his role as a father who has OCD is just brilliant and he really seems to do it just right. This is De Niro's best performance in quite a while and I think he is now in other level of Acting.
He is famous to lead and act in a way that will make every actor around him come alive because he just knows the method and how, he understands acting and how the camera works, he can make someone acting without their knowing, just like in Ragging Bull, De Niro asks Pesci "Did you fuck my wife?" both him and Scorsese did not tell Pesci that the script called for him to be attacked. So, if you think Bradley doing well with De Niro together, I think is because De Niro knows how to make Bradley to act with him. I really hope to see more of the relationship of De Niro and Jakie Waver, I think it could be more interesting movie to watch and they are much better Actors than both Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Copper. 
Oh, Jennifer Lawrence also nominated? Whats wrong with you Oscar? She is doing a good job but not really a Oscar worthy performance but then again, she is much better than Bradley. I don't want to make this to be a Bradley hate mail, so i better stop now.

Overall, Sliver Linings Playbook is a OK film, forget about the flaws, It has some good comedy moments, some great performances and is a fairly good film to watch  but I don't see it should get any Oscars – but then you never know because this could be the sliver lining film.

Django Unchained

Django is a black slave who is separated with his wife and gets his chance to save her  from the hands of a plantation owner Calvin Candie with the help of a German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz.

This is Quentin Tarantino's movie and I can say QT movies are all gangsters, from his debut Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds and now Django Unchained, no doubt it's funny and bloody and is the most entertaining movie this year for the Oscar anyway.

Like many spaghetti western before Django, espeically compared to Sergio Leone's classic like Once upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, QT makes his western gangster movie with a modern touch of James Brown music and plays with the humor like Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, “I watched my wife working all day to get 30 bags for you ungrateful sons-of-bitches and all I can hear is criticise, criticise, criticise”, you will never look at the Ku Klux Klan the same way again.

Surly the violence in this movie is a bit overdone but also well choreographed, it reminds me the gun battle shoot out ending of  John Woo's Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow II, also the relationship between Dr Schultz and Django are quite similar to Mark and Sung Tse-Ho (played by Chow Yun-fat and Lung Ti ), we all know that QT is the big fan of Woo, so I am sure when he wrote the script, he  thought about the movie like A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, The Killing and Bullet in the Head more or less.  I remember in True Romance, a script written by QT, even tho it has been changed a lot by Tony Scott but if we look closer then you will see Clarence and Alabama are the past life of Django and Broomhilda.
 
I can't say this is the best movie of Quentin Tarantino, I think Inglourious Basterds was much more fun, or should I say Django is like a twin movie but set in different time zone? I think QT has been looking for a perfect representative for him in his movie and Christoph Waltz maybe just the guy, every director has a reflection of himself in his own film, Martin Scorsese has DeNiro and DiCaprio, Hitchcock has Jimmy Stewart, John Woo has Chow yun-fat and Wong Kai-Wai has Tony Leung.  An actor and director are like body and soul, and Waltz served QT writing  better than anyone,  he is like Quentin in a much gentle manner and funnier.

When you watch Django or any QT movie, you have to think like him and understand his moral. In QT 's world, you can not take everything so serious, you have to understand you are not watching Lincoin or Les Miserables, you are here for fun, to be thrilled. Don't ask any questions like why there was Australian Bounty Hunter and why QT has to play a part? Don't ask why the movie is so long and it should end 20 mins earlier? why there is so much blood? and why Django can shoot so well.
     
This is a QT BBQ Western chili sauce movie with rap and James Brown mix of Ennio Morricone's music blood porn with Uncle Tom on Acid, a real live Japanese Manga inspired by Playstation TV game. Why some people like to go to Strip club? because they like it!! Some people think this movie doesn't look realistic but I think this is far more realistic than Sliver Lining Playbook. Why I think QT movie is fun because it is.  I will not even talk about the N word? at least the N word he used in this film is much more reasonable than in Pulp Fiction, one thing will make the second half of the film more suspenseful is to make Samuel Jackson character's more quiet. It will make "motherfucker" more powerful and the dinner more scary.

Django is a summary of QT's movies, self indulge exercise. I wonder what he will do next? He did crime, war, kind of kung-fu, western movie. So, maybe a film noir like Hitchcock?

Tortilla - Spanish Omelette

Ingredients:

    2 eggs

    1 potato, cubed and boiled until half cooked 

    Half of onion, Chopped

    4 slices of spicy salami, chopped up or  dice bacon

    4 tsp of Aioli (garlic mayonnaise)

    Olive oil and Butter

    1/3 cup of flour x 2 tsp of Milk

    Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Put a frying pan with 3 tsp of olive oil and fry the chopped onion with 1/2 tsp sugar and butter, fry until the onions are fully caramelized.

2. Add in the chopped salami and fry with the onion.

3. Add the half cooked potato and stir with the chopped onion and salami, add 2 tsp of Aioli, pepper, salt and garlic salt to taste,  pan frying it slowly until the potatos are tender and fully cooked then take off the fire.


4. Mix  flour with Milk , beat 2 eggs together and then stir in the potatoes and onion mixture.

5.  Heat olive oil on medium heat in a small to medium non stick frying pan, and pour the eggs and potato mixture into the frying pan and give the pan a quick spin so the surface will brown evenly, this is important for the omelette to be crisp around the edges but we don't want it over cook, so carefully lift up one side and see if the omelet is slightly "browned" if so then it's time to flip  the omelet to cook the other side.

6. Place a large dinner plate upside down over the frying pan. With one hand on the frying pan, quickly turn the frying pan over and the omelet will “fall” onto the plate.

7. Place the frying pan back on the fire and put just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, put the Tortilla back  in the pan and cook for other 20 sec and turn off heat and place the tortilla on the plate, remember this version of tortilla should be brown on both side and creamy in side, spread on some Alioi and sprinkle some dry parsley to serve.

 If you want to make a smaller  Tortilla, put less ingredients, or put more when you want to have it big. You can put anything you want inside, some people I know even put cheese, some like it dry inside and some like it soft, it is really up to you. Important thing is to make it tasty, the first time maybe is not good enough but I am sure if you keep doing it, someday you will master it and your Spanish friends will be proud.

Anna Karenina

All I can say is, Anna Karenina is a disappointment and a fail attempt to make a movie out of a great classical novel. I am very confused about what is the director Joe Wright want to show us, I can only see this movie is a mess. I was looking forward to this film, when I said film, I expected this film to be like "The Last Emperor", "Elizabeth",  "Gandhi" etc, but instead the director gave us a "Moulin Rouge on Absinthe MTV", it is totally out of control and led me to think they do the film like a theater just because they don't have the budget for locations. They keep changing the sets, I can't even focus on where and who they are, they show you a toy train turned into a backstage, then suddenly everybody are dancing and no, its not the ball room yet ... everything in this film looks fake and so is the emotions of the characters, all the actors acted like toys under the director's command, I assume. Jude Law is doing his best but since the whole setting of this movie is distracting, I can't see his experssion very well and for Keira Knightly as Anna is seriously a miscast, I see Keira acting her self and dress up like a Imperial Russian girl, but I don't see her as Anna at all. Yes, I  know she is not Meryl Steep but can she try to speak with Russian accent in the movie? actually not just her but everyone in this film.  I know they said don't ever compare the movie to the novel, but this is just way out of line. If they call this movie other name it could be better.  

Many people said the visual part is great in this film and I disagree,  the whole film is over done and lame, I can see the director is trying to experiment a new approach to Tolstoy but making a non musical dancing movie surely not a good idea. Maybe the director wants to show us how fake the Russian society was in that time and that's what Anna has to deal with? or maybe the director doesn't want us to compare this film to "The Age of Innocence"  that's why he has a stage play on film with moving back ground. I don't know how the Russian people will react to this film. Yes, the dress might look good but are they matching the time period? Wait I cant really tell because the restaurant now has turned into a bed room.

Anna Karenina is a story about jealousy and heartbreak but this movie makes me so jealous that Joe can have an opportunity to direct this film but I am sure I can do a better job than him breaking my heart. 

Slow Braised Pork Belly

This is what I call "The Magic Dish", if you don't like to eat pork, this dish might change your mind and if you love pork, then you will love pork even more.  The way the pork falls apart and the fatty bit melts in your mouth like a jelly candy. The Chinese call it Dongpo Rou and the Japanese call it Buta no Kakuni, the difference is the wine they are using but basically the same. I know many people especially the women who want to watch their weight, when they hear the word "pork belly or pork fat" will run away. The good news is, really the fat bit is not such bad thing, some even say it is good for the skin, I will say anything is better than margarine, just try to wash it away from  frying pan you will know how bad that is. Some people say animal fat is bad for the heart, I will say if you eat it everyday maybe, but every once in a while I don't see it can really make your heart so bad. Now a day everything is bad for you, don't eat this and don't drink that. If people listen to that, might all end up dead because of depression, why not just try a good dish every now and then, it won't kill you but only makes you happier, beside this is a easy cooking, everyone can do if you have a bit of time. Try to cook this dish for your pork eating lover, this will make them love you to death, not a bad way to go.


1 kg/2lb pork belly, cut into 8cm cubes
3 tbsp sugar or more to taste
4 slices of fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small red chilli – optional
1 star anise
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
½ cup soy sauce
5 tbsp mirin/optional
3 tbsp Shaoxing wine/Sherry or Sake 
Water

To serve
2 sliced spring onions
English mustard

Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake and some water, bring it to boil then put in the pork, put in all the fresh ginger, garlic cloves, 1 small red chilli, star anise, cinnamon powder and stir to coat the pork for 1 to 2 minutes then add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to the boil again, and cover it with a aluminum foil, or the Japanese will use a wooden lid called  Otoshibuta (cut a sheet of aluminum foil that covers the diameter of your pot, fold the edges up into a circle so that the lid fit inside the pot), then simmer very gently for about an hour. Check the sauce, the sauce should taste a bite like a Christmas cake, you will taste the sweet star anise and cinnamon, but everyone tastes it differently so you can adjust the taste to your liking, if not sweet enough, add some sugar, if not salty enough add some more soy sauce, add water if its too dry, cover with the aluminum again to let it simmer for another  hour, until the pork is meltingly tender. Then boil down the sauce until thick and syrupy. Remember, the key is simmer, give it a time, watch a good movie when you are cooking this, go on facebook and tell people about my Blog.., ok now the hour is up, your pork should be ready. Now you know the basic, next time you can do it your own way, put different kind of sugar ? or even cola? want it a bit sour and add some vinegar.

Now is ready to serve the pork pieces with some sauce and a scattering of spring onions. As you eat, add a little mustard if you like.

Sometimes I put fresh Shiitake mushrooms and bak choy in the pot for 3m ins before I serve this. It will give the pork a nice flavour and green color. This dish is just like life itself, add flavour according to your taste, make it sweet, make it lovely and melt in your mouth, give it some color and do it slowly otherwise if you burn it then you might have to do it all over again.

Ang Lee

"Selecting the ingredients is like the pre-production work and the filming, and actually cooking the food is like the editing”  - Ang Lee 

Ang Lee's story is a love story. A love story with his family, a  love story with his wife and of course a love story with his films.  One of the stories is about dumpling. When "The Wedding Banquet" which was Oscars nominated for best foreign-language film, the night before he was to fly off to Los Angeles, Ang made 200 dumplings and kept them in the refrigerator so his children won’t starve. Ang Lee is a good man and a good father, he understands struggle and that's why his film is filled with compassion, "Brokeback Mountain" is not just a film about romance of gay cowboys in love but is about the true feeling of human being and pain. We can see ourselves in his film.

"There's a private feeling to the movie, an intimate feeling. I think eventually everybody has a Brokeback Mountain in them. Someone you want to come back to. And, of course, some people don't come back."

 

In Ang Lee’s film, you can also find that his characters are persistence or even stubborn, rather it is Chu in "Eat Drink Man Woman", Elinor Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility", Li Mu Bai in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Bruce Banner in "Hulk", Jack Twist in "Brokeback Mountain" , Wong Chia Chi in "Lust, Caution", Pi  In "The life of Pi".  They take risk and devoted and Ang trying to show us  that our believe and the sense of crisis is part of adventure and challenge, it could be a marriage, sexuality, love, taste, identity, tiger or just a stolen sword.

"Nothing stands still. That's important in my movies. People want to believe in something, want to hang on to something to get security and want to trust each other. But things change. Given enough time, nothing stands still. I think seeking for security and lack of security is another thing in my movies."

Some say his movies have strong father figure, but i see his movie is even more about a Child, finding his way, the impact and the conflicts between old and young, east and west, animal and men, believe and disbeleive, you can see that they always want to find a home, somewhere they belong and developing their inner self during the process and discover the "new" identity, rather this identity is good or bad but it is something "belonging" to oneself. You can notice his development in "Lust, Caution" or "The Life of Pi" even "Sense and Sensibility".

 

After he finished film school, he was down and out unemployed for six years. During this time, he was a  stay at home full-time house-husband,  but with his wife’s support and understanding, Lee did not abandon his dream to be a film director but continued to generate new ideas and wrote several screenplays during this time.  Ang is not a traditional man, can you imagine this now world famous director, was the same man years ago, cooking in the kitchen, doing laundry and making dumplings for six years at home?  At the same time, this Struggle of him also became his inspiration that became his films, without his persistence and devotion , today "The Life of Pi" won’t exist. Time and time again Ang says that he would never have succeeded without his wife - Jane's love and trust, but Jane said "I did not support him, I just left him alone". At one time, Ang wanted to find a job quickly, but Jane disagreed. She simply would not let her husband go out and find just any job, because Jane trusted Ang and believed he was made to be a genius film director - only his time had not yet come. Jane is right of course.