烹飪決賽(一)

阿蘇所主持的烹飪決賽氣氛非常好，啦啦隊來自參賽者的家人及朋友。首先比賽的是Mimosa和小霞。

包餃子的食材一早已經切好，被放在玻璃兜內。一開始，兩位賽員要施展包餃子的技術─皮不能厚、餃子型要靚、不可以穿窿。

小霞迎戰的是番茄蛋餃，材料有番茄、雞蛋及芫茜。
Mimosa迎戰的是冬至餃，材料有中芹、蝦米、小蒜、椰菜和豬肉。








以下是兩位賽員的美味餃子，左邊是小霞做的番茄蛋餃，右邊是Mimosa的冬至餃。

比賽包餃子

阿蘇用自己的手機98765432致電各烹飪決賽賽員，通知她們以煮餃子作比賽。

以下是四位參賽者備戰的過程：「想看淸楚牠們的實力，請Click一下有關照片」

[1]豬咪根據阿蘇推崇的餃子店叫了幾款不同的餃子作研究、食材分析及試味，才決定煮那一款餃子參賽。豬咪在家實習時，讓煮好的餃子給家姐及女兒們品評，得以改進一番。









[2]文姐氣定神閒，有超過三十年的煮食經驗，充滿信心，所以沒有多大準備，想著到比賽時才發揮所長便算了。








[3]Mimosa有煮食了得的母親教導下學習包餃子，時常請姪女們試吃她包的餃子。










[4]小霞因未包過餃子，於是跑到先前提及的餃子店向老板娘拜師學藝。經過一番苦功之後，終於學會了包餃子的竅門，返家再作準備。

A Short Look at the Skiing ground on Grouse Mountain

Out of the lodge where we had lunch inside, Edward, Terry, my wife and I walked towards the skiing ground on Grouse Mountain by a path on the right hand side. There was no problem to us because the ground was level. There was a big wooden sculpture of a giant polar bear standing upright. I did not know if it was a “warning” figure or it was a “welcoming” animal to us all.











It was some sixty metres from the lodge that we stopped to take photos of the chair-lifts that carried ski-passengers to the summit of Grouse Mountain. The natural snowy-track sloped at about 10 to 20 degrees to the horizontal. I wondered how people stopped themselves down such a slope. On the right of the track near the summit, there was a giant fan which generated electricity for use by all the facilities at this mountain.

We took photos of our long-legged shadows in memory of our visit to this snowy-topped mountain.

The ground before us began to slope down a little. I asked my wife to take care when walking on. As I moved one of my feet forward for a few inches, I found myself going to slip, so I caught hold of my wife’s shoulder and she helped me stabilize my footholds. It was wonderful that Edward came forward to shoulder me up. Everybody understood that I ought not walk on, so we turned back. On the way back to the lodge, I walked stupidly with Edward’s kind assistance. I had the feeling that I walked totally like an old man. Ugh!

春節小菜

今年農曆新年在某酒樓吃晚飯，席上有特定菜色供顧客選擇。正因為新春關係，全部茶色都冠上好意頭的名稱。

考一考大家，請將以下十二款第一組好意頭菜名與第二組真正菜色作配對：

第一組：好意頭菜名
A. 金銀滿屋 B. 老少平安 C. 世界和平 D. 龍鳳呈祥 E. 金錢滿掌 F. 帶子成群
G. 發財好市 H. 鴻運當頭 I. 橫行天下 J. 遍地黃金 K. 花開富貴 L. 生財就手

第二組：真正菜色
1. 蟹肉扒雙蔬 2. 紅燒大魚頭煲 3. 彩鳳翠蝦仁 4. 發菜蠔豉大利 5. 紅燒乳鴿
6. 生菜炆豬手 7. 羅漢卷脆果素丁 8. 老少平安豆腐 9. 花膠北菰鵝掌煲
10. 瑤柱扒西蘭花 11. 金銀明蝦球 12. 帶子芙蓉煎蛋角

後註：相中是涼瓜芙蓉煎蛋角，沒有帶子，是示範照片而已。

Flower Appreciation

I remember that there is Music Appreciation during lunch time in the school I teach in. Music is played somewhere in the school hall.

Every time after lunch I begin my bitter work of correcting the Mathematics exercise books of my students, but such beautiful music playing upstairs can make me feel better. Thanks to Miss Su, my colleague teaching Music, who gives us peace of mind for half an hour. Very often I don’t know the names of the songs and their composers, but I can recognize the tunes and even sing a little as the song goes.

Today, I would like to bring out a few photos of flowers I take recently. To appreciate these flowers, I think I better pin-point at their shapes and colours and the way they grow.

[1] Paper flowers often imitate the real ones vividly. I think the red flower (石竹花) here is rather difficult to imitate. Firstly, the edges are teeth-like. Secondly, the red colour varies outwards from a deeper red to a lighter one and even to pink at the rims. One interesting thing to see is that there seems to be another small flower at the base (centre) out of which the stamens and pistil(s) grow.

[2] Red flowers of 紅掌 grow in the opposite directions of their leaves bring an interesting look as if the flowers and leaves had quarrelled and they did not look at one another. The leaves as well as the flowers come in “heart” shapes. Are they "sweet"?

[3] I always consider Hibiscus to be red as it is often called 大紅花. However I find some which are in pink colour at Shatin. I just wonder if they are really Hibiscus or at least their relatives. To me, it is a new discovery. Maybe someone will say to me,” You are wrong!”

Capilano Lake

This is Capilano Lake in the District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. The humps (like those on the backs of camels) on the mountain at the far end are "The Lions" twin summit.

We, by chance, found the Lake when we were heading for the base station of the Skyride, Grouse Mountain. We saw an open car-park half-full of cars and people walking on a piece of raised grassland behind the car-park. Philip drove the car in and we all stepped down and walked up the gentle slope to find a grassy park. Before our eyes was a long, narrow lake with peaceful water and beautiful reflections of trees, mountains and sky. We spent some time there taking photos and video clips recording Abby’s somersaults.

Later, on the day Edward and Terry took us up the Grouse Mountain, Edward told me that the lake provided (about 40%) drinking water to the people of Greater Vancouver.

Today, from Wikipedia, I learn that the southern part of the lake is within the Capilano River Regional Park. It is in this area that the lake is separated from the Capilano River's southern portion by the Cleveland Dam. I did not actually see the dam in my visit to this Capilano Lake. I guess the dam is somewhere between the level of the lake and the Capilano Salmon Hatchery and Rearing ground.

入烹飪總決賽

請留意那四位賽員能夠進入阿蘇舉辦的小型烹飪比賽之總決賽。
好明顯，那兩位曾經炸飯及油泡麵包的賽員心知肚明，一定無可能入選的。

經過阿蘇和另一位評判Philip(鮑汁飛)商議之後，選出以下四位賽員進入總決賽：
[1]文姐──因她的炒飯相當好，有薑和蔥的香味及完全不濕。
[2]豬咪──阿蘇感覺到豬咪是她的追隨者，有經驗者。








[3] Mimosa──阿蘇喜歡Mimosa煮菜注重細節。
[4]小霞──阿蘇最欣賞小霞做菜的態度，非常之用心。

醬油王河粉

阿蘇親自示範炒醬油王河粉：

以下是炒該河粉的步驟和秘訣：

[1]炒河粉首先要把河粉撕開。

[2]處理銀芽時需用油，麻油及鹽汆水去除豆腥味。















[3]用兩塊薑片來起鍋。

[4]倒一些蔥及韭黃下去炒一炒。








[5]盛起蔥及韭黃後，可以開始炒河粉，在鍋邊澆一點草菇甜豉油，其顏色是最理想及味道香。








[6]最後倒下銀芽、蔥及韭黃和河粉一齊炒匀便可，最重要是銀芽要多，做成爽脆的效果。

這樣一碟色香味俱全的醬油王河粉就出現在眼前了！

Space Needle

Space Needle in Downtown Seattle is a well-known tower pointing at the sky. So far the name is very attractive to me.

I sometimes see it instantly in weather reports of world cities in TV and have glimpsed at it from the film called “Sleepless in Seattle”.

It showed up to me on November 23, 2009 for the first time when Philip’s car in which I was sitting was running towards the city proper. It stood distinctly and outstandingly from the surrounding houses because of its shape and height. It signalled to us that we had arrived at the city.

After descending a steep road and running a few turns, our car finally arrived at Travelodge, the hotel where we would reside for two nights. A big surprise came to me when I looked up to find the Space Needle standing behind some low houses, not far from me. I guessed it was only a few streets away from our hotel.

The first thing we did was to check in, lower our luggage, eat our home-made burgers and settle down.

We decided not to go to Space Needle that day, so it remained mysterious to me.

On the second day, I took a few shots of Space Needle towards sunset. I might be too close to it that the photos did not satisfy me at all. Before I went to bed that night, I slipped out to take distant shots of the Tower in the night-time.


















After taking breakfast at the hotel early in the morning on the third day, I hurried alone towards the Needle. The sky was clear and carried a strange colour. I guessed it would be good for photo-taking. I walked about the area around the Needle to find better sites for photography. From the photos I took, I consider Space Needle the most beautiful tower I have ever seen.