虎虎碌碌 過虎年... table booking accident

Crazy Blog heiress ordered Fortune Chicken without showing up!

Hong Kong, SARS. (Labean Gazette) - A disgruntled local restaurant manager reported that a crazy middle aged female had called the restaurant on 18/02, request to book a table for four and a specially prepared "fortune chicken (富貴雞, aka, 乞丐雞)" without showing up.

This had caused the already financially troubled restaurant suffered yet another harsh blow.

According to the manager this middle aged woman (name omitted to protect the identify of the innocent) called on 18/02 to book a table for four. The manager was sure that she asked to book the table for 19/02. In order to tailor her booking of this specially made famous chicken dish, the restaurant went through a series of detailed preparation without sparing the expensive cost of the ingredients. The manager hoped that this order would revive the troubled restaurant's financial situation.

Unfortunately, due to this mishap, all hope has disappeared for the restaurant.

Our journalist has both side of the story.

According to this anonymous middle aged lady, she had indeed called the restaurant on 18/02, but the date she asked for was for 19/03 when her boyfriend would dine with her bestest of friends. She blamed the mishap to the loud background noise of the restaurant when she called the restaurant for a booking.

Our reporter had relay this lady's message to the restaurant. The manager's reply was that, "Who would be crazy enough to book a table 1 month in advance!!!!!!!!!!"

Our reporter had interviewed a few of the middle aged lady's friends after this incident. Most of their comments about this lady were that she is somewhat of a peculiar and eccentric character. One of her friends even describe her as "living in her own coo coo world.".

No further comment was provided by Ms LaBean the middle aged lady at this time. Both parties involved were not ready to admit any fault.

What did I do this CNY?

On 16/02, my only day off during the Chinese New Year holiday, I finally had the chance to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy.

I know it is a highly rated series, but I was avoiding it for some reason unknown to myself. :D Maybe because as much as I adore Mr. Johnny Depp, sometimes, his movies are just too awesome for me. :D

Anyways, it was on cable on that day and it just started, so I figured, why not. :D

"Oh geez", I said to myself, "How can I avoid watching it for so long?!" :D

It's so full of awesome pirate goodness, after watching the first one, I had to watch the 2nd and the 3rd installation too. :D

Although all 3 movies are fun and exciting to watch, I think the 3rd one is my favorite. 

This reminded me that when Mike took me to San Luis Obispo last fall, we encountered a Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator at the Thursday farmers' market! :D

He did a good job but I think he needs more dirt and facial hair on his face. :D hehehe.

Why is Yam involved in chilly sauce?

My Mom made white radish cake herself this year. :D She always make it herself during chinese new year season. Last year, she didn't though.

So it was kinda nice that she made it again. :D Unlike the store bought cakes, my mom usually put more radishes instead of flour. Making it more fragrantly and softer in texture, the way i like it. :D

The radish cake is not perfect unless there's chilly pepper sauce. :D We have these little packets of chilly sauce stashed in our fridge. :P It's the best time to use them!

These packets taste perfect. :D The perfect hotness for me. :D

Anybody who attended high school with me knows I am crazy about chilly sauce! :D I use to down like 1/3 bottle of the chilly sauce when I was having noodles for lunch at our canteen.

When the canteen owner realized the chilly sauce disappeared faster than they can refill it, they had to resort to diluting it with water. :D It didn't help much though because instead of downing 1/3 a bottle per meal, I just down like the whole bottle :D

Same goes for their white pepper. :D hahah Oh what good old memories of the high school days.

According to the packet, there's dried sweet potato involved when making these chilly sauce. I never would have known if I didn't read the label.

So I guess since I supposed to be on this paleo diet, I should avoid chilly sauce from now on. :P I can still do chilly oil, so no biggy. :D

Traditional new year candy box

I met aunt Rebecca and her family this morning for dim sum. We meet every year during Chinese year so my mom and Rebecca can exchange red pockets for the children. :D

The children being me and Rene and Ernest. They are practically my family when I stayed in Vancouver for that few years before I went to Edmonton. :D

The restaurant has all sorts of decorations for the Chinese New Year. One especially drew my attention was the Chinese Candy Box.

I haven't seen such a traditional candy box for a long time. This box contained all kinds of sweet stuffs, such as, candied lotus seeds, chocolates, assorted candies, candied lotus root slices, candied winter melons and watermelon seeds.

The candy box we have it's not even as festive as the above.

Less sweets, more seeds :D

My March Vacation itinerary

Work was really quiet last night... I get to contemplate in the meaning of life, happiness and the boundless universe... :D

nah.. I didn't think about those meaningful things. Instead, I had drafted the itinerary for my vacation in March and what Mr. MonkeyMan and I can do.

This year, we have decided to stay in Hong Kong instead of going abroad.

Here's the first draft of what I plan to do. :D

date	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday					Saturday
time	12/03	13/03	14/03	15/03					20/03
08:00:00 AM
09:00:00 AM									To the airport!
10:00:00 AM
11:00:00 AM			女皇銀禧紀念盃 -Link-	Hong Kong History Museum -Link-
12:00:00 PM
01:00:00 PM
02:00:00 PM
03:00:00 PM
04:00:00 PM
05:00:00 PM
06:00:00 PM	Meet at HK station	Seafoods at Cheung Chau	Dinner at Mom's friend's restaurant
07:00:00 PM				Secret of Pharaohs -Link-
08:00:00 PM	Check into hotel
09:00:00 PM
10:00:00 PM
11:00:00 PM
12:00:00 PM
01:00:00 AM
02:00:00 AM
03:00:00 AM
04:00:00 AM
date	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
time	16/03	17/03	18/03	19/03
08:00:00 AM
09:00:00 AM
10:00:00 AM
11:00:00 AM		Ma Wan Park -Link-	Ocean Park -Link-	Ride the open deck tour bus -Link-
12:00:00 PM	Glass floor Ngon Ping 360? -Link-
01:00:00 PM
02:00:00 PM
03:00:00 PM
04:00:00 PM
05:00:00 PM
06:00:00 PM	魚一丁 Japanese Dinner			北京樓 Dinner with the ladies? -Link-
07:00:00 PM		Seafoods at Cheung Chau	Dinner at The Peak
08:00:00 PM
09:00:00 PM
10:00:00 PM
11:00:00 PM
12:00:00 PM
01:00:00 AM
02:00:00 AM
03:00:00 AM
04:00:00 AM

Red Pocket Pageant

This year, I had the mood to help my mom put money into red pockets. :D I haven't done so for many years.

I forgot how much fun it was and it was somewhat a bonding experience with my mom. :D

I don't bond with my mom much. :D

As usual, different organizations would have different style of red pockets produced each year.

This year, I am holding a Red Pocket Pageant in my house. :D

Here are the first round of participants. :D

I will have the finalists by the end of the month when I finally can open them and enjoy the 'fruitful bounty' inside. :D

New Year Fair's Loot :D

This year I went to the fair alone.

Normally, when I am alone, I'd go nuts with buying useless trinklets and stupid cuishions and stuff at the fair. (That's why my father always insists on going with me to avoid me buying a huge tree and wasting money on useless junks.) :D

It's rainy this week, so I didn't have much enthuisium when I visited the fair. :) It's no fun walking around a crowded area with people doing umbrella fights with each other.

I only briefly walked along the toys and trinklet section earily on and then headed to the flower stalls to find my bonsai tree :D

But, being an expert on buying useless items, I didn't fail to found these cute little soft tiger stuffed toys. :D

I originally buy them for souveniers for my boyfriend's family when I see them in June, but the more I looked at them, the more I adore them. :D hehe

So I am keeping them for myself instead!! :D

I named the red one "Siu Hung 小紅 (Little red)" and the yellow "Wong Jai 旺仔 (Wong Jr.)" :D hehehe

More of them playing here :D

New Tree for my 4th Year of Tiger... :D (這是我第四個虎年了)

After 4 months of break, I figured I should come back here and write something on Chinese New Year. :D


A New Cycle, A New Year, A New Start.


The last 4 months was stressful at work and other things :D So I was neglecting my brain.. :D All my creative cell in the brain had shriveled up all this time.

This year, I have decided not to get the traditional peach blossom tree. I still want something that is growing instead of a cut bunch of flowers though.

So I looked specifically for little bonsai like plants. I found this.

 
This is called "Japanese Quince" (Formally known as "Chaenomeles" 日本 海棠)

I think it's adorable and less messy than a big peach blossom. :)

Although there are enough blooming flowers already, I thought I needed to make it a little bit more festive. :D

I love little red lanterns. More festive looking this way. :D

So, here's my report on the new year flower. :D

I wish you all a fruitful year of the Ｔiger. :D 虎虎生威，　龍精虎猛，虎中作樂，　虎進金來, 虎父無犬子... :D

Summerizing the trip

• King Tut exhibit at De Young Museum
• San Luis Obispo Cal Poly visit
• San Luis Obispo night time farmers market
• Bubble Gum alley... eeewww...:D
•  Hearst Castle
• Colin finally sorta able to say "契媽" (God Mother) and keeps saying "My Michael" when he sees Mike. :D So cute.
• Saw 2 movies "Zombie Land" and "Paranormal Activites". I enjoyed them both.
  
• Cooking a 8 course dinner for Mike's gang. :D
• Oh! I even visited a farm to pick apples from tree too! That's a fun day
• Saw a shooting star on 26th Sunnyvale time!! :D First time in my life. :D So awesome.
  

Home

Finally got back to Hong Kong, 2 weeks of total relaxation and fun is over. :(

I am on a taxi home now, but encountering huge traffic jam, it's annoying. :D I am so hungry :D I simply skipped the meal on the flight from Tokyo to HKG. I want to raid the fridge once I get back. :P

I hope my parents has some left over food for me to devour. :D

I must praise the HK airport's efficency. :D The custom check out only took 5 minutes, and when I arrived at the conveyor belt to pick up my luggages, my trusty red luggages are already there waiting.

It was so smooth. :D Taxi is also waiting for me with a discounted fair. So painless and worry free. 

I do however begin to feel a bit of a sore throat, hopefully, drinking some five flower tea would help the situation. :)

must.. not... sleep....

Still 1 hour before boarding!!!

Must resist to nap... coz once napped, won't be able to wake up.. and will be like Tom Hanks in the movie "The terminial"......

The airport this time isn't too exciting. The shops are just barely opening up. I am tempted to go to "relay" to buy some magazines... but Imust also resist that coz magazine = waste of money.

I am so sleepy, I will definitely be able to sleep right when I find my seat on the plane.

Northwest airline is merged with Delta now. I am not sure wehther they would still provide ice cream bar as snacks. I think it's a great tradition and it should not be elimiated even after a merger. :D

I must now remeber to fly Delta at lease once every 24 months, because after the merger, my NW miles were automatically transferred to Delta's miles.. which only keep for 2 years if no activities within 24 months.  I am not sure there's a delta airline credit card in HK yet.

hmm... I think i will just go walk around, coz if I keep gluing my butt on the chair here, I will eventually doze off. Not good.

On my way to SFO

Hi there, my long lost readers... :D

I finally get out of my stressful cacoon and heading out to the airport. :) Isn't it amazing that I am writing this in the taxi? :P

I love the mobile internet just a little bit less than I love my boyfriend. :D

Anyways.. I am in hyper mode right now. I got off work at 2am, arrived home at 3, less than 2 hours, I just simply throw everything I needed to bring into the luggage and zipped it and go. :D  So hectic. :D

People at work were so nice, they all wished me a safe journey, and most of all, please return healthy. :P heheh

I think there is a gambling ring going on at work secretly betting whether I would be able to show up for work right on the day I land. :D

Suddenly fee very sleepy :D

The last time I checked, the flight from NRT to SFO was not full yet. Hopefully, nobody sit next to me. :D

Well... I will update again when I arrive the airport. Right now I will just chit chat with the driver to distract him. :D  I am such a socialable person indeed.

Name one single thing that is good that happened last week! :D

I was talking to my dear boyfriend just yesterday, as usual, i rant about the horrible things that happened at work.. and other weird stuff that happened (such as the post about not working network drive below)...

After the ranting was done.. Mr. Monkeyman asked, "Was there any good thing that happened last week?" :P

After much consideration, I declared... "None" :D heheheh

I think I am at a low point in life right now. :D Nothing seem to go smoothly at work... and new toys (network drive) seems to be playing tricks on me too. :P

Anyways, I concluded to Mr. MonkeyMan that, "well, I see it as a blessing in disguise, because if my life is just a breeze, then I won't look forward to the 2 weeks vacation which is coming up in Mid-Oct" :P

This horrible period would make a great contrast to the happy time ahead. :D

Such an optimistic person I am! :D

Well... now I think of it, the one good thing that happened was that I get to have lunch with my pal, Old Lau. :D

What a crazy unnecessary day of wandering

It seems day off is never relaxing anymore!!! :D hehe

It's like everyday off means a day of going out and doing something such as today.

2 days ago, I noticed my mobile network flash drive not working. I have tried 3 computers at home, all 3 not working.

So yesterday, I called up the network hotline, they said that my a/c has no problem and suggested me to go to Mongkok's repair center to get it looked at.

So, what better to squeeze the most out of a day off. So I asked my best pal Vivian to come out and have lunch with me at TST first, then I proceed to Mongkok.

When I arrived at Mongkok at around 2pm, I was totally lost! :P I have no sense of direction in unfamiliar terrorities such as Kowloon.

I have been back to Hong Kong for 15 years, yet, I rarely frequent Kowloon. :P I hated crowded areas such as Mongkok. It's just very suffocating!! :P

Anyways, I got out of the Mongkok MTR station... no idea which way to head to... so I asked some random lonesome guy on the street...

I must say... gosh... If you don't know the area, please just say "no i don't know this area and please ask someone else"..instead of randomly pointing at a direction which is totally the opposit of where I needed to go!!!!

After wasting 1/2 hour wandering around in vain, I finally asked another dude, who seems to know where he is going and he said, "lady, you are at the wrong street!!! the Sai Yeung choi Street is on the other side of Nathan road!! (which was where I was from oringinal before I was mislead by the first guy!!!  ARRRGGHHHHH!!)"

Anyways, I went to the so called repair center at around 2:30.... turns out the repair center is just a 1 man desk.... and he is out for lunch until 3:30!!!! WTF!! :D

So I went downstair again and wander around.  I was quite paranoid about wandering in Mongkok, due to the recent news about someone would throw liquid that would burn your skin just randomly.   So I decided I should just go visit the mobile company's outlet and let them check what's up with the flash drive.

I went there, the store folks were quite helpful. They checked and checked, no problem with my accuont obviously, they tested my flash network drive, also found that they were unable to connect, so they reenforced me that i should visit the repair center.

So I did. :P

Upon arriving at the repair center at 3:30pm, the guy was still not yet returned. so I just sit at his desk and waited...

3:40pm, he is finally back...

very laid back kinda way, he stick the flash into his computer.... waaalaaa... it freaking worked for him!!!!!!!!

WTF!!! So I said let's stick it in my notebook too and try!!!

He stick it, and it worked!!! ARGH!!! You see the irony?? Both me and the mobile company people tested it, didn't work...

Why this repair centre dude have some magic up his sleeve and it worked for him!!!! ARGGH!!!

Such a stressful day..

Now I am at a starbucks and not willing to go home because somehow, I know once I leave the area, this flash drive will break again... :D heheh

Well...that's all for today.:P

$11000 tax!!!!! Screw the environment!!! :D

I freaking forgot to file my tax this year!!! So the Hong Kong Governement decided that I have not been feeding my dear parents and decided I should pay full tax this year, which is a handsome $11000 + !! :D

What the hack!!!

Of course! After I received the Tax Return slip I freaked out like I never freaked out before! :D

I thought I had filed it!! Or.. I thought that when I didn't have to pay tax, the government didn't ask me to file... or some other weird reason!!!

Turns out that I actually selected the 'protect the envorinment, save a tree' option and opt out getting paper tax notice last year!!

Thank goodness the IRA agent I encountered a few days ago was quite nice. Didn't threaten to arrest me for failing to file tax etc.. :D

He politely ask me to refile it online and also file a protest, then they will resend me a new tax notes..

I just finished filing right now.. at 4am...

I clicked on the tax estimate just now and find that I still have to pay tax! Damn that HKCCA Award last year, I actually received about $2000 reward money from my employer which jacked my salary up the notch! :D

Well.. After getting that $11k tax estimate before, paying only a little bit more than $200 is a blessing! :D I am not complaining.

Now I switch back to the "kill a tree by receiving paper tax notice" again... Let's hope they re-estimate my tax payment in time. :P

本周 被 '打尖' 事件簿 (I hate being cut in!)

Dear Readers:

Please do not cut in front of me in the queue!!!!! I will stare at you with my evil eye, then I will sternly talk to you to line back up! I don't care whether you are 10 years old or 70! If there's a designated queue area, please go line the Fxxx up! :P

There is nothing irritating me more than people not lining up!!! I simply hate it!! It simply stir my middle-aged unwed woman symptom!

This week, unfortunately, for 2 HK residents, they get a taste of my lecture. :P

case 1

Location: A local 7-11
What was I doing? Buying a cup of ice cold tea and some fish meat balls.
The Accused: A freaking kid about 10 years old!
What happened: I was lining up at the counter waiting to order my fish meat balls. I was standing at a 1-man distance behind the customer in front of me. The criminal thought I wouldn't notice and sneaked in between me and the man before me!
What did I do? I politely told the kid, "Hey kid, The end of the line is not in front of me, it's behind of me, please go line up!" (小朋友, 條隊係我後面啵, 吾該排隊吖!)
What did the accused do? He pretend he didn't hear me. So I tapped him on his shoulder and said "Kid, I am talking to you" (細路, 我同你講緊呀!) , then I used my clan's ultimate stern stare power (demonstrated below by my clan's Elder, Old LaBean) and damage his nerves, so he finally lowered his head and got behind the end of line (which by now is 3 people away) :P

I must say, my dad has lose his staring power now since he's getting old. :D When I was a kid, his ultimate stare could give me a heart attack. :D

Case 2

Location: A bus stop
What was I doing? Waiting for the bus for work.
The Accused: A bunch of freaking school kids about 15 years old!
What happened: While there's obviously an already well developed line with people waiting for the bus, a bunch of school kids wearing school uniform just standing around the stop randomly. When the bus approached, they tried to get in front of me and the rest of the line to get on.
What did I do? I stopped them and said, "Kid, line is back there, everybody has lined up!" (小朋友, 個個都排緊隊, 龍尾係后面!)
What did the accused do?I guess they are older and smarter, they just gave me a strange look, but realizing I was right, they waited till all the people got on before they got on. So I only used a minimum of stare this time.




I really hate people not lining up!! I Really hate it!! It irritate me like an itch that I can't scratch!! :D


I will not go quiet if someone try to cut in line!!!!!!!!

Mobile Internet!!! :D Rocks!!!

Hahahha.. I am at work in the breakout area!! :D having dinner.. writing blog!! :D

It's typhoon #8 right now in HK... outside is like raining cats and dogs!!! awesome!! :D

Hehe it's so exciting!! :D I can play my mafia wars even at work now! :D

Too bad it's typhoon #8 right now. Most likely, I will have sponsored taxi ride home tonight :D So won't be able to test out the internet on a moving bus.. :D

There's always tomorrow. HAHAHAHAH

The Joy of Mobile Internet Anywhere in Hong Kong!

Today I went to work early to look for a new mobile phone plan. My old one has just expired, and I can freely bring my phone number to elsewhere to get a better deal.

After not much comparison done, I decided to use the "3" network. Not only did I bring my mobile phone over, I also joined their mobile network plan too! :D

It's actually cheaper than what I was using! :D

Old plan at old company:

HK$238 for 1600 minutes
HK$138 for 100mb of mobile internet on my cell phone

The New plan at "3"
HK$128 for 1600 minutes outsiders and 900 minutes inside the network
HK$98 for 50Mb of data, but max at $198 if you used over the quota, which basically mean $198 for unlimited mobile internet usage.

The flash drive on the left is the mobile network connector. :D It also comes with a sim card so you can stick it in your mobile phone when need :D

New Assistant Editor :P

Introducing a new Assistant Editor, Mr. T. :D

You can see here he is busy at work trying to maintain the blog. :D

The netbook he is using is my new Lenovo S10-2 netbook :D  Very very nice! :D

林黛電影放映暨文物展 Linda Linda!

今天仍然是假期, 我又出山看世界.. :)

今日嘅目標係 "香港電影資料館" - "林黛電影放映暨文物展".

It's my day off again today, so I decide to leave my hobbit cave and see the world. :) Today's destination is the "Hong Kong Film Archive". There is an exhibition going on about a super movie star in the 50s and 60s era. Her name is Linda (Lin Dai).

She committed suicide at the age of 30, the prime of her life. When a beautiful public personality died at such a young age, people feel extra pity for her. Same is true for Diana or Monroe or James Dean.

She is most famous for the movie, Love without end (不了情).

Other than the movies she had made during her lifetime, my dad most enjoyed to comment about her allegedly 18 inch waist?!

You can see why my dad would idolize her in this video below. Please pay attention to her less than 20 inches waist!!!

The exhibition didn't allow me to take any pictures inside, so of course, being a master of sneaking pictures, I took quite a few pictures anyways. :)

This is her bedroom. The bed was so tiny (maybe only 4 feet wide x 5 feet long) it made me wonder whether husband and wife sleep together back in those days. :P I kept telling myself, this bed barely fit just 1 of me. :P But then again, one of me = > 2 of Linda anyways.. hahhaha... so in the end, this small bed makes much sense. :P

Her make up desk. The picture is angled because of me having to hide my camera in my hands :P I wasn't aiming! :P

Her coats and shoes and purses. Very classic look. :)

A closer look at her high heels! How can someone walk on such a thin heel!?!?! :D If I were wearing such high heels, the heels would break no more than 2 seconds :P hahah

This embroidered cheongsam (長衫) looks so classy and expensive!

Being a fan of black and white prints, this is one of my favorite cheongsam in the exhibit.

These are her pretty perfume bottles, jeweled cosmetic boxes and hand box-purse. :) She had such romantic and classy tastes.

This is another corner of her room which displays her daily used items, such as her sunglasses, mascara, bracelet and earrings, etc.

A closer look at the diamond bracelet inside the glass jewel box. wow. :)

A few more pieces of her cheongsam and dresses were displayed. The center display is her wedding gown which is so simple but appropriate for the occasion.

When I took this picture, I couldn't help but exclaimed to myself, "What a petite lady she was!" These clothes is a tight fit for a small lady about 5 feet in height, not more than 100 lbs in weight!! Such a heavenly creature!

There are more to see in the exhibit, but these are the pictures I managed to sneak. :) If you are a fan of late night old black and white movies (國/粵語長片), this is a lovely exhibit to spend an hour on a hot summer day.

Here is a discovery channel documentary about her. :) Enjoy, it's in English.

For more of the exhibit, there is this video produced by TRHK.com that you can view on youbube.