Dimsum Stir Crazy

One of my crazy theories is that when you have Chinese blood, no matter how insignificantly small it may be, can give you unusually strong craving for noodles, and in my case, dimsum too. My grandparents, as far as I know were not Cantonese, so my dimsum craving has a deeper connotation I suppose.

Because I have given up eating pork it has been doubly hard for me. I am also avoiding shrimp so dimsum really should be dead to me but there are evenings when I just dream of succulent hakaw and well-made siew mai. I will not even venture to start on paos. All my experimentation in making a vegetarian siew mai has reached a dead end. A chicken substitute for the pork is not very satisfying so I have given up for now.

Going through my Mom's Dimsum recipes is like dangling a cigarette in front of someone trying to quit, but I am imagining the taste. It's enough for now.

Hurray For Green Lantern!

No doubt Marvel fans will want to tear me apart for saying this, but as a kid I always thought that Green Lantern was the coolest of super heroes. Maybe it's my predilection for green men and aliens but there was something about him that always gave me a thrill. During the dark ages of pre-computers and portable media players a comic book was enough to fuel young imaginations that took one to places that existed only in the mind of the author and now in yours. Cool.


I don't care and I will not read any review concerning the new Green Lantern movie. I saw it, I loved it and it is still playing in my mind. It was enough to bring back all my childhood fascination and I can't wait for the second installment. I'm so glad that they chose Ryan Reynolds to play Hal Jordan. His quirkiness and not-taking himself too seriously, in my opinion, gave the movie just the right amount of fun and light-heartedness (and a sense of wonderment) that is missing from most of the celluloid super heroes today. With the departure of Tobey Maguire from Spiderman it's good that I have something to look forward to again.

Image taken from Green Lantern Wikipedia

New Acquisitions: Hotel Bemelmans, Star Trek Vulcan's Forge and Akitas: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual

Alright, I did try my best to limit my book buying to about 1 a week, but I swear, The book just literally screamed at me to buy it. It's Vulcan's Forge, for goodness sake! It's Leonard Nemoy on the cover folks and it's hard-bound to boot (not to mention it only set me back US1.50) so I just had to have it. Sarek was unspeakably good so I can't wait to get started on this one. It might have to wait  though because D recently gave me Keith Richard's Autobiography and I don't want to hurt his feelings by telling him that I would rather learn about Spock's past than to read about Keith's drug taking.

Hotel Bemelmans I had to buy because I've always wanted a copy and I never managed to score one until now. Besides, this particular edition has an added intro by Anthony Bourdain, so it is extra delicious because of that. The Akita book I have no excuse. That face just turns me to mush every time I see it, whether in print or in the flesh. If we lived in an ideal world, with plenty of space, and I had the time and energy I would get one in a heart-beat. For now I will content myself with a book.