shamu

Some people demand to see more details of the sushi. I can’t disappoint my fans.

Like George said, we like to try new cooking at home. Recently we (read: my wife) conquered Japanese food. Of course, I did the photographing.
The first one is vegetarian, with avocado, cucumber, and carrots.

The second one has a shrimp, similar to California roll, only better.

Then there are the hand rolls. Contrary to my imagination, they are easier to make than sushi.

The spinach dish is my wife’s innovation:

While it was easier than we thought, it did take a lot of time.

We headed out to dinner in a TexMex restaurant (where else?) in Austin.
The time is approaching dusk, and we find ourselves driving in the traffic on 360, also known as the Capital of Texas Highway. This has been voted the most beautiful highway of Austin many times and it is not hard to see why. Even sitting in traffic, we cannot help but enjoy the great view of hills.

After passing a road named 2222 (twenty-two twenty-two), we are suddenly on this road cutting through limestone hills:

In front of us is the famous Loop 360 Bridge over Lake Austin:

We are heading to Maudies Milagro, a local TexMex favorite that is in a plaza called Davenport Village right next to the highway (and a wealthy neighborhood). I have never been to this place before but it was an easy choice when I searched for Austin TexMex restaurants as it had won Austin Chronicle’s Best Enchilada in Austin two years in a row.
The restaurant is up on a hill (as always in Austin) on the second floor and there is a balcony at the back overlooking the highway and the sunset.
I did not take a picture of the entrence, but here is a picture i found on the web:

Before sitting down, we checked out the views. The sky is a little cloudy for a good sunset. Nonetheless, people are having a good time, and the view is terrific:



The inside is also lively with young people sitting at the bar:

“Do you want to sit inside or outside?” Asked the waiter.
Tough choice.
In the end, we gave in to the view and the atmosphere on the balcony.
The food did not disappoint either.
First, the mandatory chips and salsa. I also requested guacamole, our favorite:

DXM got Chipotle Shrimp Quesadilla:

It is *tempting*.

And I went for the “Rockin’ Ruthann’s”, a chicken enchilada:

What a great meal!

We are spending the spring break in Austin, TX, where I lived for six years before heading north. We are enjoying every minute of our stay here.
Some pictures.

上学的时候开个破subaru,右转弯的时候被后面轻轻顶了一下,现在想起来是个福特金牛,保险杠撞歪了,没什么大事.下来正想跟他理论呢,那哥们儿说是公司的车,找保险公司吧,很痛快的留了保险公司电话就走了. 撞的很轻,我自己仔细感觉了一下,好像身体没事,就不准备计较了.
给保险公司打电话,原来在加州,根本本地没有,就让我去修车铺估个价传真给他们.俺估计这个小case一个, 发个传真他们就写个支票完事儿, 根本连牙缝都不用剔.俺穷学生哪能放过这样挖资本主义墙角又顺便发点小财的好机会啊,于是去了三个body shop(现在想起来, 俺早在N年前就深刻贯彻”三个代表”了! Step aside, JXX!). 当然去了先强调一下是别人的过错,保险公司陪的,指望着能给估个好价钱(deal精神咱融会贯通!). 开始去的那个看了看俺的破车,说这个问题不大,不用换零件,敲打敲打就够了,也不容我分辨,大笔一挥,$179.给我这气的!
走,咱找别人去!俺听别人说修body是最贵的,要不大街上怎么那么多撞了以后歪瓜裂枣的也不整整容就出来晃悠的车那,怎么到了俺这就这么便宜?打发叫花子哪!
于是就开着车在大街上xue2me (这两个字怎么写?),终于看见一家门面极为讲究的汽车美容院, 大摇大摆把俺的破车开过去停在门口—都这样了谁怕谁呀! 进了屋,你说档次不一样就是不一样嗨, 墙上挂满了各种锦旗奖状证书啥的(噢, 记错了,老外人家不兴锦旗的).相比之下刚才那一家就像个街头摆摊的. 老板(也许是颇有老板意识的伙计)明明看见俺开着破subaru过来,仍笑脸相迎. 俺照例把开场白讲了,他说,”您慢等,在这休息室凉凉快快儿的,喝点水,或者咖啡. 我马上给您做.” 总之是在休息室里好吃好喝了一会,就见他已经拿着打印好的估价进来了.一共$759. “谢谢”, 俺终于舒了口气, 我觉得这车跟我这么多年了,不会关键时候不给俺争气的么! “让我先和保险公司联系,再回来修.”我嘴里这么说,心里想着拿了这钱,干什么不比把这歪屁股弄正强!
出了这一家,还不放心,回家的路上又拐进一家店估了价, 这回不高不低, 四百多. 感情人家第二家就是质优价高! 当即对自己宣布,循价结束. 然后拿着估价单,一路哼着小曲儿开回了家.
接下来的事虽然俺是第一次, 也再容易不过了–把估价单传真给保险公司. 过了两个星期,收到一个电话,让俺签个免责声明, 确认以后不会再纠缠他们,收到以后就可以寄支票给我了. 我又仔细感觉了一下脖子,嗯,好像真没事儿,就一切照办了.
回想起来,这是俺到美国以后赚的最容易的钱了.
什么,车修了么? 您说那?
=========================
Moral of the story:
别替别人想太多,很多人或者是公司的保险,或者保险里有第一次免责的优待.只有你自己才会为自己想.

I came upon this Rice Cycle photo essay made by an American (?) traveller.

My first reaction? I am ashamed. I am deeply ashamed of never knowing, until today, how rice, the staple food for all Chinese, is grown in our motherland. I wish this photo essay were a part of my primary school textbook.
To be fair, I’ve seen pictures similar to some in there, but to see the whole process from start to finish, it’s just unbelievable. The power just cannot be matched by any subset of the whole thing.
My second thought after seeing this laborious process is probably in line with what most Chinese my age who grew up in the city–that it took so long and so much work to grow this thing. And I began to recall how my parents (and all parents) used to tell me we should not waste a single piece of rice if only to respect the work that goes into growing rice and putting it in the bowl on the dinner table.
I’m sure I’ll see more of such shocking pictures. Hopefully not from a foreigner’s travelog.
On a second thought, maybe it doesn’t matter where I see them. Or maybe it’s even more meaningful if they are found through foreigners’ eyes.
今天看了一组让我震撼的图片.一组住在中国的”老外”拍的关于稻子的照片.虽然这是中国的农村再平常不过的百年不变的日常生活,对于我却是第一次这么清晰.
忽然有些感动,对于这稻子的生命力,这稻田中耕耘的水牛的生命力,在收割完稻田中觅食的鸭子的生命力,以及终日在曝日酷暑下耕耘的人的生命力.

也许有人又要跳出来,说我只喜欢看老外暴露中国阴暗面的东西.如果你真这么想,我也没什么可说的了.
链接

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终于又有时间写了一些－－在坐火车的时候。也许能看出来写字的时候有点颠簸。
越写越象流水帐了，大概因为这样不费脑子吧。 呵呵。

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Being a Texas Longhorns fan (that’s my alma mater), nothing was bigger than last night’s game.
Texas 41, Southern California 38.
We are now National Champions!
For the next few days till this weekend, the UT Tower will be lit orange with a big #1 on each side, as shown here in this photo from UT’s web site:

There is a real-time tower cam. If you visit this page during night time in the Central Standard Time zone from now to this weekend (January 8, 2006), you should see the same picture as above.

Like Lee Corso on ESPN said, this game will go down in history as one of the best college football games EVER played. I know, he’s a little opinionated, but hey, nothing is too exaggerating when you describe the heroic comeback, especially what Vince Young has done with his magical legs.
What makes this game extra interesting to me is that my sister and her husband are actually students of USC now. So you can imagine, above and beyond all the hypes built towards this game, between two undefeated teams one looking to three-peat (USC) and the other to finally win that game after winning all but the big ones (Texas), our little extra twist makes the game so much more special.

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从小巷出来，向左转，进入一条略微繁忙一些的但一样狭窄的胡同。两边是拥挤的院落。从门口望进去，是蜂窝煤炉冒出的烟下笼罩的简易的民房。从院子里闪出来的面孔和他们说话的口音判断，这里大多是外地来京打工的人租住的。就像他们的居住的位置，他们生活在城市的边缘。他们做着平常没有人注意，却又不可缺少的工作，比如买菜，做早点，修鞋修表–很多人已经如此习惯以致忽视他们的存在，只有在过年大多数外地人回家才意识到他们的重要，发现他们也和其他人一样支撑着这个城市。而他们用劳动换来的，比起那微薄的收入更重要的是对明天的期望和更多的机会。我想，开始我刚到美国的时候，心态和他们没什么两样。正是我们这样的移民，心甘情愿地以极低的报酬努力的工作，去追求自己的忽然非常实际的梦想，给这个城市，或者这个国家，作出不成比例的贡献。比起当时的我，他们的要求可能很低。他们不奢求本地人的尊重，和完全的平等。只希望能有机会，用自己的勤劳和智慧让明天比今天更美好。
我向Ron和John解释着我关于这里居民的猜测。不知道他们是否能体会到这些人生活的艰辛，但我看着他们专著的望着所有身边的人和事的眼神，知道他们对中国的兴趣和认识已经超越了长城，烤鸭，假名牌的层次。能理解这些好像生活在离他们自己的世界远的不能再远的人，也就能理解很多当今的中国，这个生产着几乎所有他们日常所用物品的国家，这个人民对美国爱与恨交织的国家，这个大多未曾亲眼目睹的美国人看来象外星一样无法理解的国家。连我这样一个生于斯长于斯的中国人也好像一下子认识到如何能理解当今中国的最直接有效的方式了。
我忍不住对他们说，“Welcome to the Real China” (欢迎你们到真实的中国).
穿出几条胡同，怀里揣着蝈蝈（好像还没有任何动静），我们回到了酒店。我们展示着我们的成果。其他学生有点羡慕的看着我们的蝈蝈。我想他们还不知道没有看见的，比这两只蝈蝈要有意思得多。
至此我们的旅程的第一天才刚刚开始。