Longkang Jwee

Today is possibly (and probably) the last time I'll see YW before he wanders off to north (and south) America for the rest of the year. I still can't believe that somebody can enjoy Whistler-Blackcomb on the pretext of work while work for the rest of us ordinary folks means slogging away in our cubes! Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, we had steamboat, chou dou fu and drinks in the Bras Brasah area. What better way to chill out after a hard day's work? Of course, as always, the company was more important than the food!

It's funny how chou dou fu (aka smelly toufu) just smells so bad, almost like longkang jwee (drain water), but once it enters your mouth, it just tastes soooooo good!!! It's crispy, and once u take that first bite the smelly juice just flows around your tongue and you get that "high" feeling! Just close your eyes and let it get to you.... So how does this correlate with the theory that 80% of taste is smell? Sometimes the best things in life are those that appear the least desirable....

Anyways, enjoy yourself YW, and remember to bring back the Sam Adams! Bonus points if you can find the special "Winter Brew"!

Villa Bali

I had dinner at this place called Villa Bali last night. Getting there was like going to some place in the middle of nowhere... Dark unlit streets with no sidewalk and all (maybe we just happened to get in by the back door)..... It was a pretty nice place, Balinese architecture and decor although the food and music wasn't the least bit Balinese. Food was Kashmiri or something, basically like Indian. The ambience was great, the music was soothing, the cushioned seats were so comfortable, but most of all, the company was excellent! A wonderful night out indeed!

Engineers

I'm posting too many posts at one go now. But I've just read a real interesting quote and how can I resist?
"Mechanical engineers get paid to make weapons; civil engineers get paid to make targets."
- Ray Seed, UC Berkeley Professor

California Dominates Stanford In Big Game, 27-3

Headlines today:
"California Dominates Stanford In Big Game, 27-3"
"Cal's inspired defense sacked Stanford's two quarterbacks eight times in another one-sided edition of Northern California's biggest college rivalry"
Does StanfUrd's football team suck or what?
Go Bears! We got the Axe!!

California Dreamin

"If you want a laidback lifestyle, I begin to think, you should go to Perth; if you want beautiful beaches, head to Thailand; if you want cutting edge youth culture, turn to Japan. But to say all this is to be shortsighted about aspiration. We are as dogmatic in our dreams as in our beliefs. We need to have a place we can retreat to in our imaginations when we're sitting under house arrest in Burma, or battling traffic in Lagos. This place is called, naturally enough, "California," and it has a life more resilient than any reality, and is sustained by every rerun of Baywatch or reprise of "California Dreamin'," every new screening of City of Angels...
... It's hard for many of us in California to accept that we're leading lives that other people dream of. But the evergreen Shangri-La dreamed of and diligently preserved in every corner of the global imagination is the place where we're hanging up the wash and going to see the lawyer this afternoon."

- Pico Iyer, California Monthly, Nov/Dec 2005