A Beautiful Slice of Blueberry Cheese Cake

I cannot imagine that this piece of Strawberry Blueberry cake (top left photo) looks so beautiful through my camera lens.

Flooded with bright light, the half strawberry at the top of the cake looked juicy and shone with lustre. The translucent skin appeared an inviting red colour. Its meat in the centre was a completely different white. It is usual practice to place strawberry halves on cakes showing their red skin, but this one was an exception.

The white cheese cake was topped with a layer of whole and mashed blueberries and thick cream. The creamy round wall of the cake was well decorated with a few pieces of chocolate. On the chocolate chips were printed some “Treble Clefs” which were musical to the mind of the diner.

To me, those mouthfuls of multi-taste - fruit, cream and cheese (as a dessert) were perfect and enjoyable soon after I finished the main course at Ladies’ Purse, JC.

Renovation

Our favourite fastfood shops such as Fairfood (last day today) and 一粥麵 (suddenly disappeared earlier) at Ngan Shing Commercial Centre, City One, are forced to close down recently owing to renovation.

We love the congee, rice rolls, won-ton noodles (雲吞麵) and potted rice (煲仔飯) served at 一粥麵. The prices of breakfasts here are usually fifty cents cheaper than those at Café De Coral although they belong to the same party.

We notice that 一粥麵 is often the base where some mothers of the students of the nearby primary schools assemble each school morning. These mothers sit at two different tables after they have taken their children to school. They talk of their children's progresses, the school activities, the teachers and the funny things that happen at school. One of the ladies has a strong voice that we can hear every word she speaks.

We are satisfied with the breakfasts, afternoon snacks and dinners at Fairwood except once we were disappointed to find the price of food at dinner time was not proportional to the quantity, some thirty dollars for just a few pieces of chicken, rice and an almost “clear water” soup.

Now that the centre is under renovation and soon it will have another look in three to four months' time, we are sad to say goodbye not only to Fairwood and 一粥麵, but also to the shops that we often step into. Most likely, the centre will bear a new face with shops like a Park-in Superstore and a “Fortress” Electric Shop this October.

Disappointing Soccer Matches in the First round

It is this soccer that makes the World crazy these days. Soccer fans support their favourite teams. I am not an exception. This year I support the Spanish team. They showed their skill in 2006, but unfortunately they could not enter the finals.

In the first tournament, the Spanish team lost the match to Switzerland by 1 goal. I felt as if a pail of cold water had been poured onto my head. How depressed did I feel!

The soccer is made in China. Football players say that it is light and so it is likely that the ball will fly over the goal instead of going into it. If the players cannot get used to the nature and weight of the soccer, obviously they will miss the ball when passing or lose control when they strike at it.

Looking at the first round of matches, I find that most of matches are in low scores. The average number of goals is 25/16 which is 1.56.

Group A: South Africa – Mexico 1 : 1 ; Uruguay – France 0 : 0
Group B: South Korea – Greece 2 : 0 ; Argentina – Nigeria 1 : 0
Group C: England – U.S.A. 1 : 1 ; Algeria – Solvenia 0 : 1
Group D: Serbia – Ghana 0 : 1 ; Germany – Australia 4 : 0
Group E: Holland – Denmark 2 : 0 ; Japan – Cameroon 1 : 0
Group F: Italy – Paraguay 1 : 1 ; New Zealand – Slovakia 1 : 1
Group G: Ivory Coast – Portugal 0 : 0 ; Brazil – North Korea 2 : 1
Group H: Honduras – Chile 0 : 1 ; Spain – Switzerland 0 : 1

I believe the matches in the second round will be more exciting. Some teams will fight for a Win, or otherwise they will leave South Africa.

Vuvuzelas have landed

Today I chanced to pass a KFC fast-food shop. I was surprised to see several vuvuzelas placed on a table. This was of course a promotion to KFC food . To redeem one, on top of at least HK$20 of food, a customer has to pay another $15 for the toy.

It is not bad to own one. If they are meant to be gifts to small children, it will be a nightmare at home. The noisy sound may reach 127 decibels which is really harmful to the ears of young kids.

A Pictorial World Map

How incredible it was to see a large pictorial map of the World displayed on the field of Soccer City Stadium in South Africa during the Opening Ceremony of World Cup Soccer 2010!

The world map was created by a number of large colourful cloths linked together in such a way that they formed up our Continents of which Africa looked the biggest with the island of Madagascar in an attractive pink colour.

In a matter of a few minutes, the world appeared before the spectators of the event. Most probably, the footprints indicated the marks left by the footballers of different countries of the World.

Were they drying bed sheets?

In the Opening ceremony of the World Cup Soccer 2010, some colourful cloths were spread out. Were they bed sheets to be dried in the sun?

Why were the people spreading out the large cloths at that time?

10 South African Stadiums for 2010 Soccer World Cup

The final 10 stadiums to be utilized for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa are:

Five of South Africa's football stadiums have undergone major renovations for 2010:

[1] Soccer City Stadium (足球城球場) in Johannesburg
Capacity: 95 000
[2] Ellis Park Stadium(埃利斯公園球場) in Johannesburg
Capacity: 60 000
[3] Loftus Versfeld Stadium (洛夫托斯球場) in Pretoria
Capacity: 45 000
[4] Royal Bafokeng Stadium (皇家巴佛肯球場) in Rustenburg
Capacity: 40 000
[5] Free State Stadium (自由邦球場) in Bloemfontein
Capacity: 40 000

Two new stadiums have been built or another three rebuilt:

[6] Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga (newly built)
Capacity: 40 000
[7] Nelson Mandela Stadium (曼德拉灣球場) (newly built) at Port Elizabeth
Capacity: 50 000
[8] Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane (rebuilt)
Capacity: 40 000
[9] Moses Mabhida Stadium (德班市球場) in Durban (rebuilt)
Capacity: 70 000
[10] Green Point Stadium (綠點球場) in Cape Town (rebuilt with a retractable dome)
Capacity: 68 000

These ten stadiums were introduced on a very large screen in the Opening Ceremony (June 11) in Soccer City Stadium and the directions of these stadiums were indicated by ten lines of colourfully-dressed performers in the centre of the field.

Vuvuzelas

It is interesting this year to see soccer fans blow their long colourful plastic horns, vuvuzelas at World Cup soccer matches in South Africa. Although they are quite noisy when blown, they could have added much fun and good atmosphere to the matches.

The vuvuzelas are blowing horns, approximately one metre long. They require some lip and lung strength to blow and emit a loud monotone sound like that from a foghorn or an elephant.

The name vuvuzela may have originated from Zulu for "making a vuvu noise," directly translated "vuvu-ing".

Elegant Fishing Boats

Thanks to these fishing boats and fishermen that bring and sell seafood to the tourists at Steveston. The names of these boats “Jalun River”, “Bold Venture”, “Seldom Come By”, “Judy N” and “Neon Moon” appear very interesting. They park at the pier so that tourists can pick and buy the seafood they like .

I remember that our late CCSC supervisor, Mr. Cheung Yok Lun, owned a large luxurious boat called “Senorita” (金枝玉葉). The word “Senorita” means “a Spanish maid” (未婚的西班牙小姐).

Each summer, he used to invite the teachers of CCSC to a launch picnic so that the teachers could get to know one another well. The destinations were usually the waters around Clear Water Bay, south of Sai Kung. Afternoon tea and buffet dinner were served.

Through such launch gatherings in those early years at CCSC, the teachers became very good friends. Thanks to our supervisor, Mr. Cheung, who aroused our morale in teaching and team spirits in everything at school. His hospitality, generosity and love of CCSC should be praised!

A Three-dimensional Puzzle Soccer

This is my first time in making a 3-dimensional solid from puzzles. Unlike ordinary puzzle pieces which are flat, here the puzzles are so curved that when assembled, they together form a solid. This time it is a sphere. To be exact, it is a "plastic" soccer. On it are printed the names of some countries which are likely to become the champion in this year’s World Cup Soccer held in South Africa.

Each puzzle piece has a number behind. I do not need to look at them because I am quite sure it is easy for me to assemble it. My tactic is to assemble separately the patterns for the countries “Brazil”, “Spain”, “Portugal”, “Chile” and the trade-marks of Coca-cola and then link them up finally.

The price of each box of such 3-D puzzles (60 pieces in all) is HK$29.9. This is not only a toy, but a "symbol" that reminds me of the world soccer matches which will start shortly tomorrow.

A Guessing Game

Here were the photos I took at Steveston where piers, statues, houses, restaurants, cafes, cannery and museum can be seen.

If I name my photos from left to right and down from top as:

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16

[1] Which photos, do you think, show the Cannery?

[2] Which is the Museum?

[3] Which photos show the flag of British Columbia?

[4] Which photo shows the board "Fisherman's Wharf"?

Our activities at Steveston

Speaking of weather, Vancouver still has fine weather in mid September. The sunshine adds much warmth to us when we reached Steveston, the historic fishing village at the south-west corner of Richmond.

Walking on the wooden platform at the pier and seeing fishing boats around us could bring us a feeling of a fishing village. There were strong breezes of wind at the time of our arrival. The flags of British Columbia were flying high.

Sherrien was my student at CCSC, my daughter’s classmate at U and Philip’s classmate at Regent. She came along with us too. Abby followed this little auntie’s footsteps at the pier.

Philip bought us some fish and chips, clam cakes and soft-drinks from “Pajo’s”, a famous floating fast food shop with people lining up at its counter. Grandma and Abby were sitting at a table before Pajo’s. Abby held her hands on the railings and grandma held her tightly from behind, fearing that Abby would fell into the water below.

We were lucky to find an empty table for seven of us. It was interesting to see some circular holes drilled into the table. Later we learned that they were holding the cone-shaped paper holders for food. Fish and chips were good to taste, but the quantity is a bit small, not enough for me and Philip.

Having half-fed up, we walked about the shore where restaurants, cafes and eateries were crowded with people. A slanting walkway brought us to a leveled long parking platform for fishing boats. The fishing boats here displayed their catches of prawns, fish and other sea-food for sale. Philip and I took quite a number of photos here.

Back to shore, I went into a shop selling souvenirs. I did not miss the chance of buying a 3-D pictorial map of Vancouver and some small souvenir magnets home.

Connie and Philip bought Abby a cone of Italian ice-cream called Gelato. While Abby was enjoyed licking at the cone, I strolled about the few streets at the village. I chanced to see the Museum (a singled wooden house). I did not go into it because I believe it was too small to house anything interesting.

I turned towards the west to find the Gulf of Georgia Cannery. I just took its photo and that of the statues before it from outside. I did not intend to go inside because my family members did not know where I went and they might be waiting for me. I rushed to take some other photos of the shops, houses and buildings to get a better picture of the village. Finally I returned to find that Abby had not yet finished her cone and she was so generous to give me a bite at it.

Please click the photo to take a better view.

Location Map of Steveston

This is a map showing the location of the historic fishing village, Steveston in Richmond, Vancouver. The map comes from a pamphlet, being magnified and again magnified.

Please click the photos to enlarge them.

The attractions of this village are:
8 Britannia Shipyard NHS
A Fisherman’s Memorial Needle
6 Gulf of Georgia Cannery NHS
B Japanese Canadian Culture Centre
C Japanese Fisherman’s StatueD Kuno Japanese Gardens
18 London Heritage Farm
E Martial Arts Centre
F Scotch Pond Heritage Co-op
21 Steveston Community Centre
G Steveston Museum
H Steveston Landing
16 Steveston Seabreeze Adventures
10 Vancouver Whale Watch
P Parkingi
i Tourism Richmond Visitor Centre (seasonal)

Marsh Mallow

In the central picture, Abby, the big sister, is biting at a huge head-sized marsh mallow. The colour of the marsh mallow is a strangely blue. I wonder if its taste resembles some of our medicine.

I believe Abby cannot finish the mallow at one time. Most probably her parents would help her finish eating most of it.

Elly is so small to eat such sweet candy with her three little teeth. What she can only do is to lick or touch it with her hands. Sooner or later she will be eating the same kind of mallow together with her big sister Abby.

A Statue at the Museum of Flight

The statues that we often see are great men or women, heroes, heroines, composers, musicians, artists, stars, discoverers, governors, presidents, rulers, kings and queens.

We seldom see statues of young boys or girls. Here is one. In front of the Museum of Fight at Seattle is a statue of a young lad looking at the toy plane in his left hand. A bird that lands on his shoulder also finds interest in the plane.

The copper statue looks hard, but the boy looks “real” in his T-shirt and wrinkled trousers.



I like the composition of the whole statue. It seems to me that this boy has a dream of flying someday ahead.

Do you know the title of this statue?

It is “Team effort” which has been aroused by 2 team pilots, Katharine B. Lenhart and Lieut. John J. Lenhart, U.S. Navy.

A Wall-painting at CCSC

As a teacher of CCSC, I am happy that the school is so open to let students paint one of walls of the school with the designs of four animals, representing the mascots of the four houses, namely Red House, Yellow House, Blue House and Green House.

I think the designers and painters of this wall picture should be praised.

These are my views on this wall-painting:

[1] The animals are well-chosen:

(a) The red dragon looks energetic and full of life in its twisted 3-D body. Its front paws are snatching the first “C”.

(b) The flying yellow eagle was flipping its wings and lifting the second “C” with its sharp claws.

(c) The blue wolf is cunning, but clever. It uses its mouth to carry the “S” instead of his legs. It is his usual biting skill at its prey.

(d) The green flying horse is lifting the last “C’ with one of its front legs. The head looks straight, being full of confidence.

[2] The painting is in good harmony because the animals are looking at one another. Though they are competitive, but they are good friends.

[3] The radiant rays of light sent out from the sun (the school) are bright and distributive. They create four colour sectors of blue, green, yellow and red.

[4] The photo on the whole has united the spirits of the four houses of students. It promotes not only their team spirits, but also house and school spirits.

Inside and Outside Travelodge

This dramatic photo (top right) shows two parties inside and outside Travelodge at Seattle. Philip and Connie were behind the window. Elly was still somewhere inside. She might be lying on the large king-sized twin bed or in her private car-seat (better say a cradle) ready to be carried.

Grandma and Abby had been out of the motel because I suggested them to go and see the beautiful red “beetle” outside. I was holding my camera, clicking the shutter button to capture a few photos before we started our way to the Museum of Flight.

What a historic photo of Abby seeing her parents from outside where she was with her grand-parents outside in the cold!

Burnaby Village Museum (2)

[5] Interurban Tram 1223 Barn

Inside the tall wooden barn was stored a large strikingly red tram, numbered “1223”. To board such a heavy electric tram, we had to walk up several steps on a stair-case. The control panel looked very much like our trams in Hong Kong. The colour of this section was also green.

The tram windows are large and the compartment was quite spacious. It was well illuminated with bright lights. The yellow seats looked clean and comfortable. They were convertible in such a way that the passengers could sit face to face or in the same direction. Philip talked to the handsome gentleman (the receptionist on board) who gave us a brief description of the operations of the tram.

What an interesting experience of our going back to the old days of Burnaby on which these trams carrying passengers.

The bottom photo shows the Wrigley’s of Greater Vancouver in 1936. The map indicates the several lines of street cars/ trams that ran at that time.

(1) Burnaby Lake Interurban Line – the “white” route
(2) Hastings Street Streetcars Extension – the “purple” route
(3) Highland Park Streetcar – the “green” route
(4) Central Park Interurban Line – the “orange”route
(5) New Westminster-Eburne Interurban Line – the “blue” route

Burnaby Village Museum (1)

To the east of Boundary Road (like our Boundary Street in Kowloon) is the growing multicultural urban centre, Burnaby. People can shop at Metrotown, Canada’s second largest mall and look at the towers and buildings on Burnaby Mountain.
Near the Deer Lake Park is the Burnaby Village Museum, where people can explore the 1920’s village and ride the historic carousel.

Here it is the layout of the Village:

[A] Orientation Plaza –
At the main entrance are the Administration Building & Discovery Room.

[1] Tom Irvine’s House –
The 1911 bachelor’s house features simple Christmas decorations from the past.

[2] Church –
It is a very small church which can hold about 50 people at one time. Inside Church music (conducted by machine, I guess) is always playing.

[3] War Memorial Fountain –
It is a fountain as small as a washing basin at our home.

[4] Vorce Tram Station –
The 1911 B.C. Electric Railway station was recently restored to its original appearance. The station was used on the Burbaby Lake line.

A giraffe at meal

I was able to capture a photo (top right) of a giraffe eating leaves of some twigs from a bag hanging on a tree at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. I believed someone at the zoo must have prepared these leaves for the two giraffes living here as lunch. It was interesting to see the giraffe close her eyes and enjoy the fresh green leaves with some white flowers as desserts.

Let us study the feeding and sleeping habits of giraffes from Wikipedia:

The giraffe browses on the twigs of trees, preferring trees of the genera Acacia, Commiphora and Terminalia, and it also eats grass and fruit. The tongue is tough owing to the giraffe's diet, which can include tree thorns. In Southern Africa, giraffes feed on all acacias, especially Acacia erioloba, and possess a specially-adapted tongue and lips that are tough enough to withstand the vicious thorns of this plant. A giraffe can eat 65 pounds (29 kg) of leaves and twigs daily, but can survive on just 15 pounds (6.8 kg). The giraffe requires less food than typical grazing animals because the foliage it eats has more concentrated nutrition and it has a more efficient digestive system. During the wet season, food is abundant and giraffes disperse widely, but during the dry season they need to congregate around evergreen trees and bushes. As a ruminant, it first chews its food, then swallows for processing and then visibly regurgitates the semi-digested cud up their necks and back into the mouth, in order to chew again. This process is usually repeated several times for each mouthful. The giraffe can survive without water for extended periods. A giraffe will clean off any bugs that appear on its face with its extremely long tongue (about 45 cm).

The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between ten minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging 1.9 hours per day.