Archive for July, 2005

What does Bundegi taste like?

We got some friends to try out Bundegi - the Korean soup made from silkworm larvae. Listen to their reactions.

bundeigi

Doyoo Ushino Hi - unagi eating day

Yesterday was “Doyoo Ushino Hi”, the hottest day of the season according to the traditional Japanese calendar. On this day in Japan, people eat Unagi (eel). The vitamin A content of Unagi is supposed to help people survive rest of the summer season.

I tried this dish called unagi omu rice: A slice of unagi with some seaweed dressing placed on a serving of omu rice (flavored rice wrapped in egg omelette).

More information on such special days in Japan - Japanese Cultural Calendar

Blog event at NLB and Singapore Bloggers Conference

Last evening I met a lady from Myanmar. She was in the university during the tumultuous years in the late 80s - regular strikes and harassment by the army was the norm those days. She somehow finished her course but there was nothing much to do in Myanmar. People tried their best to get out of the country. She too moved to Singapore and worked as a maid. She loved reading. There are several used book stores in Rangoon and Mandalay (I have sometimes found some rare old books being sold very cheap) but it is hard to find newer books. She said she was amazed when she discovered the NLB (the public library system in Singapore). it was her library membership that gave her joy during those early years of struggle in Singapore.

A used bookshop in Yangoon, You can often find some rare books here.

I am also a big fan of the NLB. I must have spent hundreds of hours at various libraries in Singapore. So, it was good to be at the Woodlands Regional Library last Saturday talking about Blogs. I was there with Wendy and Mr. Brown introducing Blogs and various ways they can be used. Thanks to Ivan and Roy from NLB for making this possible and thanks to the people who turned up. We had a good time and we hope to do more such sessions with the library.

Here are some links related to some of the things we talked about
Blogging with Blogger.com, Using Flickr and how to subscribe to podcasts (powerpoint file)
Blogs in Education (powerpoint file)

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The library presented us with this bookmark made from a piece of the original public library building in Singapore. The building was demolished recently.

Later in the afternoon we were at Bloggers.sg - the Singapore bloggers conference (event details, photos). We introduced some of our favorite tools and techniques.

Using Bloglines or how to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday (How to use RSS Feeds)
Trackback (from Wikipedia)

Technorati Tags: bloggerssg, puppy

My new “serve the people” bag

Bought this bag in Chengdu last week.

The text says “wei ren min fu wu”. It means “serve the people” - one of chairman Mao’s slogans.

Yesterday in Singapore, I was at an exhibition of Chinese posters and prints. There was one artist there - he was about 55 years old. He spotted my bag and was fascinated with it. Right there in front of the amused audience he showed us how he and his comrades would march during the Cultural Revolution with a similar bag hanging from their shoulders.

This “serve the people” slogan was very popular in 1970s China. Here is the same slogan on a camshaft seal box of the Chang Jiang (long river) motorbike. (From the changjiangunlimited.com site)

Here is another poster from that time

The text says “quan xin quan yi wei ren min fu wu”. It means “serve the people with all my heart”. (From the maopost.com site)

More in Kunming

Met my friends from Yunnan Univ. May and Leon for some dinner

Spicy Noodles

Yunnan has great vegetables too

Ham and cabbage

Chicken soup, though you need to clear up a thick layer of oil on top

May had another treat for me at this food chain called “Brothers Jiang”. This dish is called “Cross the bridge noodle”

Take these pre-cooked stuff

And this bowl of rice noodles

and put them in this bowl of hot soup. Leave it for a while and your “cross the bridge noodle” dish is ready.

Here is another picture of “cross the bridge noodle” dish from an earlier trip to the neighbouring Guangxi province of China. Click on the picture to read about the origins of this dish.

This street near the campus is the food street, with Japanese, Chinese, Korean restaurants, couple of fashion shops and cafes.

A Korean fashion store, There is a also a shop that sells trinkets from India nearby. On the left edge you can see the signage of the Korean restaurant.

My favorite shop, the dong bei (north-east China) dumpling shop. You can see the dough on the table ready to be rolled into dumplings. The tubs below the table contains the filling that go into these dumplings.