Coffee Bean's Honeydew Oolong Tea

Best thing to happen to me all of last week: finding out that Coffee Bean is bringing back its Honeydew Oolong Tea. I actually screamed a little when I read it. While alone in a parking structure.

This tea has a honeydew flavor and scent that somehow matches perfectly with the taste of oolong tea, which is somewhere between black and green tea. Its taste is not as deep/strong as black tea, but it does not have that somewhat grassy taste of green tea. Amber colored and almost sweet.

They stopped making this tea about two years ago, and I have been unsuccessfully trying to find an adequate substitute since. Republic of Tea makes a Honeydew White Tea, but it doesn't come close. It got to the point where I actually emailed Coffee Bean to ask if they would ever bring it back (and I never email companies over things, even when their products cause me great suffering/joy) (and there are few things that go away that I am not able to just forget about in a short time). I like to think that my single email made this whole comeback happen. Haha.

So yay! It's back today! And I noticed there is also a new Orange Blossom Oolong tea too... mmm sounds good. Good enough news to somewhat offset the other big news of the week: my future firm conducted mass layoffs and we 3Ls are faced with quite the difficult choice over start dates (and worries about job security in general). -__- Sad.

Back to studying for my Property Tax final.

Asian Americans in the Obama Cabinet

I am pretty surprised and impressed with the diversity of ethnicity and gender in Obama's cabinet (highly qualified people obviously, not just applauding diversity for diversity's sake). While I of course support the diverse character of the cabinet, I wouldn't have been as surprised if it was 'diverse-minus-Asians,' as I feel is often the case.

The first and second picks were good and received well, but I have to admit that I am especially surprised to find that there now might be up to four Asian Americans serving in the Cabinet (three Chinese Americans, at that!). My surprise comes despite knowing that Obama was raised partly in Indonesia, has a half-Asian sister and a Chinese brother-in-law... I don't know, I just didn't expect it. Anyway here they are:

Gen. Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veteran's Affairs

New York Times profile

Stephen Chu, Energy Secretary

New York Times profile

Gary Locke, current top pick for Commerce Secretary (two previous nominees withdrew)

(A little ironic that Obama's first nominee (Bill Richardson) angered some Asian Americans-- in particular Chinese Americans because of Wen Ho Lee-- and now things have ended up where he will nominate a Chinese American...)

and Chris Lu, Cabinet Secretary (does that count as a fourth cabinet member? Okay maybe not technically but I'm going to say it does.)

New York Times profile

I feel so "angry asian man" right now haha but I think it's a pretty significant situation. Anyway, more importantly, hopefully all the cabinet secretaries will perform well in their roles, Asian or not.

Mobile posting test

Driving back from the bay area... Good weekend. Finally gave in and
got an iPhone. it's awesome.

Random eats in Hong Kong

Was going through my pictures (some people play Spider Solitaire or that bubblehead-shooting game during downtime in class; I browse my Picasa or review Chinesepod PDFs hahah) and wanted to share some good eats I had in Hong Kong.

Fun idea :) These didn't actually taste like beer, but they were still good. Maybe they're just supposed to go with beer, because even on the box it says "black and white pepper." If only I could read the rest of the Japanese.

These next few dishes are from W and I's favorite Sichuan restaurant in HK: San Xi Lou in the Midlevels. It has awesome spicy dishes. Here is their Shui Zhu Yu (水煮鱼)... I think it means "water cooked fish" but really it's fish cooked in hot oil and chilis. So there are pieces of fish fillet underneath all that firey red chili pepper goodness! See below...

So they serve it and then take out a good portion of the chilis before you dig in. I LOVE ma la spiciness... it's a sort of numbing spiciness, rather than a mouth-on-fire spiciness. I think it's the kind that I can handle the most. I've found it in the SGV but it's not the same.

These were so awesomely delicious. They are huge prawns cooked in this egg yolk batter. Heart attack central, but worth it.

Shui zhu yu is W's favorite, but this is mine. It's a spicy pork short ribs dish that is cooked in a pumpkin. The flavor gets into the pumpkin meat inside, so both the short ribs and the pumpkin itself is sooo good. Kind of like the clam chowder in a sourdough bowl concept :)

Of course we have to enjoy some Beijing Olympic Tsing Tao while watching the Beijing Olympics! Lame yet so super fun ^_^

Last but not least, Mangosteen! OK I actually discovered these in Singapore first, and they are really more of a Southeast Asian fruit, but why have a separate post for that? Now that I know what they are, I've seen them randomly here and there in LA, but they still remind me of my time in Singapore/HK.

The best way that I can describe these garlic-looking little pieces of fruit are that they are like a delicious cross between lychees and soft white peaches/donut peaches. Mmmm they are appropriately referred to as the "Queen of the fruits" (Durian being the "King of the fruits"-- more questionable... haha). Tasty AND whimsical-looking? Definitely one of my favorite fruits.

That's it for now! I'm hungry... rarr

---
While looking for info on Shui Zhu Yu, I came across this Chinese pop song that basically goes, "I love you like I love eating Shui Zhu Yu"... there's some Chinese romance for you.

LACMA & the BMW Art Cars

Stopped by the LACMA to check out the BMW art cars and the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum. I really like this light installation at the entrance (Chris Burden's Urban Light). It's nice and somewhat surreal to pass by it while driving down Wilshire.

Renzo Piano designed the new LACMA expansion, BCAM. Without any pretense of knowing much about architecture, I think it's such a let down from the Wilshire side. It could have been a landmark, something to really draw people's attention to LACMA. Instead, to me, it looks boring and already dated. On the other hand, I think the east and north sides are much better.

The east wall obviously borrows from Piano's Pompidou Center design in Paris, and the north side has a cool long escalator that brings you up past an industrial red and grey staircase structure and to the top floor of the BCAM, where you are to begin your visit. Nice.

So we were there because W suggested that we go to see the BMW art cars. Four of the cars are making two stops in the US, and LACMA is one of them. These rarely leave Germany so it was pretty exciting for W to see them. They are apparently legendary cars in their own right, then made even more significant by being given to famous artists (such as Andy Warhol, above) to have their way with them. Really cool.

Roy Lichtenstein (1977)

Frank Stella (1976)

Robert Rauschenberg (1986)

Andy Warhol (1979)

Yummy Lead

I think these old school ads are funny. I mean, sad too, but funny. I wonder which ads & products we take for granted today will become the ridiculous ads of the future. Claritin causes cancer? Teddy Grahams contain innuendo? Kleenex is an derogatory word?

Source

Btw, this Chris Brown and Rihanna story is ridiculous. I didn't really expect to, but I've since had several thought-provoking conversations about domestic violence. Speculations aside, a lot of people seem to first ask why would anyone, esp someone who is beautiful and successful like Rihanna, stay in a relationship where there is even a hint of abuse. On the one hand I also wonder about this and could not be more against and revolted by dv, but at the same time I know (really) that it happens and sometimes you just "reason" your way out of things. Things often look so different from the inside than the outside. Also I think that sometimes, when you grow up with something in your home or life, you know it's wrong, but you see/react to it differently than the people who have never experienced it. Sad.

These two topics do not belong in the same post. But this blog is about random things.

Zombie Attack!

This has been circulating around the internet. Apparently these road signs are incredibly easy to hack, and people have been taking advantage of this oversight to warn of the zombie apocalypse in Texas.

Yes it could be considered a public hazard (go ahead and question my faith in mankind, but I know someone out there took this seriously)... and is illegal... but... it's pretty hilarious


Gizmodo: Hacking Road Signs is Surprisingly Easy and Funny (and Illegal)

A follow up

Btw, see my shared RSS items on the sidebar -->

Street Art

Saw this the other day while driving through downtown. "Keep Our City Clean & Safe... Do Your Part." Who doesn't like a little irony?

I personally don't mind the idea of graffiti. I just wish that everyone who graffitied actually had some artistic talent. When I see good graffiti, I [usually] think it adds character to the area. It's really impressive. In Buenos Aires, I loved all the random graffiti art covering the walls in San Telmo; I did not appreciate the crude lettering that tarnished the obelisk in their main plaza. Or consider what British street artist Banksy has done with the 'medium.' I guess, in my layman view, it comes down to whether it was done to express & enhance vs. just to make a mark and desecrate. Obviously this is no eureka on my part, as there is a thriving culture of street art.

Good (Buenos Aires)

Still Good (Buenos Aires)

Borderline, but I still like this (Buenos Aires)

I love Banksy

Imagine if all the graffiti along the walls of the "LA River" were thoughtful, creative pieces. It could actually be something amazing to see..