No Venting

A blog should not be used for venting work stress and frustrations. Everyone is on the same boat, pretty much. So I will just not say anything and show you a picture of my lunch.

Place: Cafe 21 at work (300 feet away from my building)
Order: Single Chicken Taco Plate (taco + rice + beans)
Price: $3.00 (Cheap!!)
Taste: Not bad, but slightly on the salty side
Finished? No, only had 26 minutes for lunch today. But I usually can finish the whole thing.

ハッピー

My husband and I made this Strawberry White Chocolate Cheese Cake for the first time this weekend for my sister, and here is our nephew (also our favorite little man) giving his big smile of approval on the outcome!

Nothing gives me more joy than seeing a kid getting all excited with my cooking.
He also told me he likes my cookies and the oatmeal he had for breakfast!
Hurray!! Those have to be the most memorable moments for me this month!

Brunch was enjoyed by the adults but I need to come up with a kid's menu for the little man next time! Maybe sausages, scramble eggs, pineapple, roast potatoes... etc with Yakult!

でも、また月曜日な～～
ちょっと憂鬱な気分にもなるよ～

金曜日

Today our team of 40 people went out for lunch buffet. (I hate nasty $8.00 buffet!!) I took this picture on our way there. The clouds looked pretty dramatic!

The mountains were snow-capped, too! A very rare, maybe once a year scene!
After lunch, we headed back to our office and had Chinese New Year celebrations. (First time in 9 years.) Our managers were serving us snacks while we played Mahjong, Poker, Black Jack and Wii. It felt weird but terrific at the same time! Somehow, I won the overall Mahjong game and received a Dell Color printer. Our senior manager also handed out red packets! How very unusual!

迷った

ほら! 大切な作業文書上の絵画を描きました...か? Jack Skellington! I must be bored. It took less than a minute... Perhaps I was thinking about the Jack cushion I saw but did not get at 自由が丘...? I better focus!! But I actually find the scribble kind of cute. :-P

Gourmet Secrets of Paris

Gosh!! Saw this book while checking the ranking of "Confessions of a French Baker". Looks like another wonderful book to keep, even though I don't know when we will be visiting Paris again with the Euros always so high against the dollar. :-( But if it is full of big colorful pictures and delicious descriptions then it's worthwhile to get and make it a coffee table book. I will also go check out this book! Love the cover of it!

I want this book!

This book is now on the top of the list of books I want to get. I am tired of wasting my time baking stuff without knowing the tricks until later on. I stumbled into 2 amazing full-time housewives' websites (one in Japan, and the other is a Japanese woman living in Hong Kong) and they are pretty skilled baker themselves both mentioning this book in their blogs. Judging from the book reviews, looks like it really is what it claims to be. I will make it point to go to a bookstore to check it out soon.

ラジオ番組

最近友人から、インターネットで日本のラジオ番組の放送サイトを聞いた。
Brandnew J-Wave 81.3FM です。
日本語も、良い音楽も (マーケト情報も) 聞くことができます。 きっとすごい紹介ですね。
会社で任務に集中したほうがいいですけど。。。
多分ひとりで研究室にいる時に問題ないと思います。

ネコ、ネコ、ネコ、

Some people are crazy about their cats.
I have the same problem.

Toby and Bagel.
Can you tell they are brothers from the same litter?

Here is their sister - Bebe.
She has adorable, all-natural white color eye-shadows.
If you have cats at home, you will enjoy your house even more because they are smart, clean, quiet, not needy, and love the same things we do without spoiling it. And most importantly, they make you smile. It was scientifically proven that petting or holding your own loving cats can lower your blood pressure and theirs.

Happy New Year!

もう疲れた

やっと金曜日です! 今週はとても長かった...
他の会社には今週末三連休です、大統領の日から。
うらやましい! 私たちの仕事はやっぱきついですねー...
(写真: 今、外の風景 1時22分 )

痛い!

すごく大きなうさぎはドイツのローバちゃんです。超~可愛いな! でも、彼の主人は北朝鮮に販売しました。もうすぐローバちゃんいくらかの家族の食事になりますよね。かわいそうな! :-(
今度うさぎを食べる前には、この写真を覚えて下さい!

ニュースソース:
www.news.yahoo.com

That's me!

內向(Introversion):
* 從時間中獲得能量;
* 喜靜、多思、冥想(離群、與外界相互誤解);
* 謹慎、不露表情;
* 社會行為的反射性(會失去機會);
* 獨立、負責、細致、周到、不蠻幹;
* 不怕長時間做事、勤奮;怕打擾,先想然後講.

注意內在的世界.會經由向內尋找答案,從思想、記憶和感覺來反射並獲得能量.

外向(Extraversion):
* 從人際交往中獲得能量;
* 喜歡外出;
* 表情豐富,外露;
* 喜歡交互作用,合群;
* 喜行動、多樣性(不能長期堅持),不怕打擾,喜自由溝通;
* 講,然後想;易衝動、易後悔、易受他人影響.

注意外界的人與活動.由和人互動之間以及採取行動獲得能量.

感知(Sensing):
* 通過五官感受世界、注重真實的存在、實際;
* 用已經有的技能解決問題;
* 喜具體明確;
* 重細節(少全面性);
* 腳踏實地;
* 做事有可能的結果、能忍耐、小心;
* 可做重復工作(不喜新)不喜展望.

喜歡實際的數字,發生了什麼事情都注重事實、數字.

直覺(Intuition):
* 通過第六感洞察世界、注重應該如何,比較籠統;
* 喜學新技能;
* 不重準確、喜抽象和理論;
* 重可能性,討厭細節;
* 好高騖遠,喜歡新問題;
* 憑愛好做事,對事情的態度易變;
* 提新見解、匆促結論.

喜歡看"大局",注意事實之間的關聯,希望抓住模式,看重新的解決問題的可能性.

思考(Thinking):
* 分析,用邏輯客觀方式決策;
* 堅信自己的觀點正確,不考慮他人意見;
* 清晰、正義、不喜歡調和主義;
* 批判和鑒別力;
* 規則;
* 工作中少表現出情感,也不喜歡他人感情用事.

經由邏輯思考,客觀分析,找出解決的方法.

感覺(Feeling):
* 主觀和綜合,用個人化的、價值導向的方式決策;考慮決策對他人的影響;
* 和諧、寬容、喜歡調解;
* 不按照邏輯思考;
* 考慮環境;
* 喜歡工作場景中的情感,從贊美中得到享受,也希望他人的贊美.

考慮其重要性,將心比心,促進和諧並視每一個人為獨立個體.

判斷(Judging):
* 封閉定向;
* 結構化和組織化;
* 時間導向;
* 決斷,事情都有正誤之分;
* 喜命令,控制、反應迅速,喜歡完成任務;
* 不善適應.

一切需有計劃,要有秩序,管理自己的生活,並且照計劃進行.

察覺(Perceiving):
* 開放定向;
* 彈性化和自發化;
* 探索和開放結局;
* 好奇,喜歡收集新信息而不是做結論;
* 喜歡觀望,喜歡開始許多新的項目,但不完成;
* 優柔寡斷、易分散注意.

隨性、不想控制生活,最後一刻都可改變,富彈性.

Which one do you think you are?

[ENFP] [ENFJ] [ESTJ] [ESFJ] [ENTP] [ENTJ] [ESFP] [ESTP]
[INTJ] [INFP] [INFJ] [ISTJ] [ISFJ] [INTP] [ISTP] [ISFP]

Check here to do the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test.

Happy Valentine's Day!

These are my favorite cookies. Part butter, part cocoa. I have wanted to learn how to make it from scratch and I finally did it with my husband's help (rolling the dough, rolling the 2 sheets of dough into one and cutting and setting the oven...) (^^;) The first batch we did was a bit too brown on the bottom because I think we were not using a high quality cookie sheet and our oven's heat was too strong, etc. (There are just so many tricks to baking!) This second batch looks good and my house now smells like a bakery!
And it's just in time for Valentine's Day tomorrow! I will save 1 for my husband and bring the rest to work to share with all the guys in my project team. How exciting!! I've got another winning recipe under my belt!!!
Happy Valentine's Day to all!
*People whom I work with directly and people who I have to deal with are 2 different groups of people. The first group will get the good cookies and the second group can have the brown ones. :-P

真係唔明囉!

Should the only female in a meeting be automatically chosen to take the meeting minutes? I don't know why it always happens to me. A roomful of men at grade level above, same and below me are present, but as the only female, I am always asked to summarize and send out the meeting minutes. Why is that?? Are there some chauvinistic or unspoken rules among men that I am not aware of? Are they unhappy that I get the same or more pay and subconsciously want to create more work for me? Or is a female automatically the assumed secretary in any meeting? I really don't think it's a compliment to me or my capabilities but more like punishing the odd (wo)man out.
セクハラじゃないけど、嫌いな行為ですね。

ランチ

めったに会社のカフェテリアで昼食食べました。でも、今日行きました。これは会社の有名なチーズバーガーです。とても美味しかったですよ! $4.00しかかかりません。

Spying

My husband getting bread from the bakery while I was sitting at an upstair cafe across the street. Watching him. This was in Hong Kong. At around 11pm. The last day there before we flew to Japan.

Cafe Comfort

My dear uncle passed away this week. I had not seen him for the last 20 years. I don't know why. A great uncle really means a lot to any young little girl growing up. Especially one with so many artistic qualities, wits, and impeccable good looks and style. In my mind, he stays the way I last saw him. Healthy, funny and care-free. He was never married. He was not gay nor picky. Women loved him but I just never knew what happened in the end. Everything he collected was a piece of art and you can very rarely find it or buy it any where. I love every picture he hanged on the wall, everything he placed on the floor, on the shelves, on the table. He never wore a pair of jeans. He wore only shirts that breathe, and clothings and shoes of earth-tone colors found in nature. My sister fell in the pond in front of his house once when we were kids trying to catch a glimpse of the big turtle under the lotus leaves. It was such a long time ago that it feels almost like a dream now. Sometimes we are not sure if it really happened, but it really did. He had a parrot that talked a lot. He had a wild monkey at one point, too.
I miss him so much. I had wanted to show him where I went to school, go to work and the house I am living now. I would love to see him laughing at my yard and teach me how to fix it. I had wanted to take him to all the different places and hear what he has to say. I thought of him this week while going to work. I suddenly thought of the gift he gave me when I was a kid. That was the first and only time he ever visited our house. I wonder if our minds were somehow connected for that one moment before he stopped breathing... He was just one of a kind. I will never know anyone quite like him again. I had no idea he was not well. In my mind, he's always smiling and enjoying life. I tried to look for any pictures I might have of him after I heard the news from my mom...but I found none. How can that be? Now, all I want is to have some pictures of him. There will be no wake service. No goodbyes. It's sad and just too sad for all of us who loved him.
Work is especially unbearable this week... Seeing a Starbucks is almost like seeing my house and I just want to rush in there and not come out. I wish I could just sit inside all day and go through all my memories of him. May the Good Lord take special good care of him. Amen.

I happened to read about the following in one of the blogs today. That's exactly my mistake, my fault, my stupidity.
我們總是認為未來還很遠，能做的還很多，確不知道，再多的以為都可能在瞬間變成幻影。

純銀粘土

Here is a good idea for personalized gift for kids. They called it Art Clay Silver (アートクレイシルバー). You just mold it, dry it, burn/bake it and then polish it.
URL:http://www.artclay.co.jp/
To buy: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/

舒服

實在喜歡日本寬闊乾淨的行人道。 這只是其一﹐還有很多其他原因。。。待下次續。

飛竜頭(がんもどき)

I love to eat this but I never knew what it's called. (They just called it Stuffed Tofu here.) Finally! And there are plenty of recipes on the web. I must give it a try one of these days.

Rirakkuma

No, it just hangs there. After many people had wasted a lot of money on it. But it's ton of fun to watch anyway.

Ruínas de São Paulo

Macau is only an hour hovercraft ride away from Hong Kong but for some reason, I have never been there until this winter. They just finished some restoration work in November 2006 so we were lucky to get some nice pictures without the scaffolding. The remains of this cathedral has always been the symbol of Macau.

西麻布

Nishi Azabu is a really nice area. I walked around there and went through many backstreets which were all quiet and clean.

Check out the shocking rent of some of the apartments in the area:
Park Towers
Grand Hills