WellTempered's Homepage

Moving

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 18:11 EST

Check http://spaces.msn.com/members/welltempered/ for updated online diaries

Thank you my friends and happy holidays!

櫻桃很好吃

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:46 EST

長這麽大第一次吃到新鮮的櫻桃，味道比罐頭的可好多了。另外嘗試了用舌頭把櫻桃梗打結的玩法，只有長長的才可以做到，功夫不夠。

櫻桃是目前被公認具有為人體去除毒素及不潔體液的水果，

就同時對腎臟的排毒具有相當的功效，

而且還能有通便的功用有腎臟病不能吃櫻桃。

另外是深紫色葡萄，也是具有排毒的效果，

而且能幫助腸內黏液組成，清除肝、腸、胃、腎體內的垃圾。

如果你不是很喜歡吃櫻桃或葡萄，那蘋果也是不錯的選擇，

因為蘋果內含半乳醣荃酸，對排毒挺有幫助的，

其果膠也能避免食物在腸內腐化。

另外，如草莓，也是一種可以排毒水果，且熱量不高，

內含有維他命Ｃ，能清潔腸胃道和照顧肝臟，

exam period

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 10:51 EST

just pop in and say I'm not gonna update here for a while.......

To be continued

It's tea time

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 14:38 EST

一不小心发现我竟然还有5罐子安溪铁观音，赶忙在桌角set up出茶壶茶杯。一开封，真是香啊~~~好，就看在铁观音减肥的份上，以后再也不喝白水了。即便是这样，这5罐子也不是我个人可以解决的吧……据说还可以炖鸡……据说还可以送人（400RMB per X g呢，好像在喝铜板一样）。家里的紫砂壶是太清雅了，明儿泡个1L的大壶带学校去。

p.s. 铁观音是乌龙茶中的极品，香高韵长，淳厚甘鲜，素有“绿叶红镶边，七泡有余香”之美称。它一身兼具三美：红茶之甘醇、绿茶之鲜爽和花茶之芳香，逐被评为茶中珍品，茶中之王。福建安溪是铁观音的故乡，铁观音在这得天独厚的生态环境中，经过历代茶人的反复精心的筛选培育，其灵妙香远已有近三百年的历史，并形成了灿烂的铁观音茶文化。

my tv list

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:06 EST

HoLa, there is another tv series added to my favorites along with CSI Las Vegas! I mean favorites that equalizes to gluing my eyes to tv screen at the show time,which is 2 days a week and an hour for each.

Boston Legal (ABC, Tuesdays at 10 ET)

This fast paced darkly comedic series focuses on a brigade of brilliant, high priced but emotionally challenged civil litigators in an upscale Boston law firm.

CSI - Las Vegas (CTV, Thursdays at 9 ET)

Gil Grisson, Catherine, Sara, Greg, Nick, Warrick, Archie...I love them all. Besides, I was LOL when I read the joke made by one current resident in Saugeen-Maitland Hall where I lived in my frosh year. It goes like "You know how in every episode of [CSI] there’s semen? In Saugeen, I’ve never seen any semen on the lampshades or walls. These criminals aren’t leaving behind fingerprints, but they’re shooting semen everywhere?” Funny huh?

Altough LOST is overwhelmingly popular these days, for some unknown reason I just don't bother to watch even one whole episode ever since it failed to catch me the very first time.

Annie, an intensely likable musical

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:53 EST

Gonna spend a musical night with fellow VIP's^^ Besides, SDC partly supports the ticket so that it ends up to cost me $15 only. Hahaha, as a fan of musical, how can I miss it?! At least I will squeeze the night out of my compact schedule.

This heartwarming musical tells the story of Annie, a bubbly 11 year-old orphan, who was abandoned as a baby on the steps of a New York City orphanage with only a brief note and half of a locket. Through songs like "Hard-Knock Life", "Maybe", and the show's most famous tune, "Tomorrow", we follow Annie's quest to find her birth parents and leave the miserable orphanage life behind. Along the way, Annie uses her charm, wit, and head full of bouncing red curls to battle cruel orphanage leader Miss Hannigan, and melt the heart of hard-edged Oliver Warbucks, a rich businessman who is transformed by Annie's bubbly personality. This spirited musical will have you tapping your toes while you cheer on the small, but mighty leading lady.

fade to black

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:19 EST

Listen to it from time to time, loving the guitar part. u can also download it at

http://www.31yyw.com/sp31/metallica/fade_to_black.wmv

Artist: Metallica Lyrics
	Song: Fade To Black Lyrics
	Life it seems will fade away Drifting further everyday Getting lost within myself Nothing matters no one else I have lost the will to live Simply nothing more to give There is nothing more for me Need the end to set me free Things not what they used to be Missing one inside of me Deadly loss this cant be real Cannot stand this hell i feel Emptiness is filling me To the point of agony Growing darkness taking dawn I was me but now, hes gone No one but me can save myself, but its too late Now i cant think, think why i should even try Yesterday seems as though it never existed Death greets me warm, now i will just say goodbye Goodbye

well done? probably

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:21 EST

Done my AS 426 presentation on Monday. I thought I did nothing special, just trying to offer all my fellow students a concise yet well-organized overheads. Therefore, instead of following the textbook format, I demonstrated in a more intuitive way, leading them going through Flexible Benefits Procedures. The feedback is positive,expectedly. However, even Ms. Millard thought the powerpoint was impressive. That is something. At least it implies a high presentation mark? Wakaka, anyways, it's just a presentation. And then we got our AS426 midterm paper back. Thank God, they were not handed back before presentation. It would definitely distract some students attention. Well, the unadjusted avg.mark was 58%. An avg. as low as this is not uncommon in my faculty.Mary was generous this time, she adjusted the avg. to 65% i believe. Geez...I just know those economics prof. deliberately maintain 70% avg. in each test! Fine......If I still wanna apply graduate school, better work harder now. An 80's sth midterm is nothing. I gotta ace my Finals as well.

it all reminds me of the food I had back home

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:12 EST

My apologies for not updating my blog especially not uploading the journal about my trip to Quebec. Although I'm supposed to have Thanksgiving long weekend, I am working my butt off on the upcoming 2 midterms, 2 assignments and 1 presentation on flexible group insurance plan. Meanwhile, the student partnership member 1st group meeting was devoted to 'How students stressed out', haha, I saw all my fellow volunteers pouring out their complaints about school, study, time management etc etc. But wait a minute, were we there to identify the long existed problems or were we trying to rectify? Or we just got our emotion an exit?

Okay, not much time for blogging. I'd like to share an article about Shanghai here. It's not about the spectacular outlook of the city nor the east-meets-west city characteristic. It's about food. And I asume by bite and sup, you relax inside.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shanghai, a Far East Feast

Nelson Ching for The New York Times

Nan Xiang is famous for its soup dumplings.

By R. W. APPLE Jr.

Published: October 9, 2005

MADE for trade, the modern city of Shanghai came into being in the second half of the 19th century as a commercial link with the West. British, French, German and American traders settled there, eventually followed by White Russian refugees. They built a metropolis with Asia's first telephones, running water and electric power, a city of drugs, warlords, brothels and legendary riches. And like all expatriates everywhere, they brought their tastes in food with them. To this day, the Shanghainese have an appetite for croissants and French pastry and for Russian borscht (luo song tang, or Russian soup, on menus) although many may well not know their precise origins.

Nelson Ching for The New York Times

Cocktail time at TMSK, in the Xintiandi district. More Photos >

After 1949, the old hedonistic culture was gradually submerged in Communist conformity, with gray tunics and shabby state shops supplanting the chic boutiques and throbbing dance halls that gave Shanghai its reputation as "the whore of the Orient." By all accounts, food, and especially restaurant food, took a back seat to ideology.

"Ten years ago, a good restaurant was one that paid you," said Don St. Pierre Jr., managing partner of ASC, China's leading wine importer, with only modest hyperbole. "Now we're on the verge of being a world-class restaurant town." Richard Bisset, another old China hand, said that 17 years ago, when he came to Shanghai, "the Western food here ranged from Kobe beef to prawn thermidor. Full stop."

China's leading wine importer, with only modest hyperbole. "Now we're on the verge of being a world-class restaurant town." Richard Bisset, another old China hand, said that 17 years ago, when he came to Shanghai, "the Western food here ranged from Kobe beef to prawn thermidor. Full stop."China's leading wine importer, with only modest hyperbole. "Now we're on the verge of being a world-class restaurant town." Richard Bisset, another old China hand, said that 17 years ago, when he came to Shanghai, "the Western food here ranged from Kobe beef to prawn thermidor. Full stop."

Today, Shanghai is again one of the most galvanic cities anywhere, with foreigners once more pouring in to seek their fortunes and the port seemingly on its way to becoming the world's busiest. It makes an old-timer like me long to be young again and live there to share in its drama. For 13 straight years, it has maintained a double-digit growth rate, as the largely vacant landscape on the eastern side of the Huangpu River has been magically transformed into the steel-and-glass financial center called Pudong. With more than 2,000 flamboyant skyscrapers, Shanghai is now a vertical village rather than the low-lying city of the 1930's, much of it built by Jewish merchants of Iraqi or Syrian origin like the Sassoons and Kadoories. The only echo of the Sassoons today is a Vidal Sassoon (no kin) hairdressing salon. But the Kadoories, who control the Hong-Kong-based Peninsula chain, are building a luxurious hotel on the Bund, the boulevard along the river.

The slightly pompous colonial buildings lining the Bund already house some of the toniest of the city's new generation of international restaurants, including the Michael Graves-designed Jean-Georges. Renowned chefs and obscure entrepreneurs from Britain, Singapore, Australia, the United States and elsewhere have flocked to Shanghai on the heels of the bankers and brokers, eager to serve you Italian, Japanese, Thai, German or Mexican food.

Foods from afar compete with heaping helpings of first-rate Chinese dishes, from Guangzhou, Sichuan, Hunan and of course Shanghai. Local river prawns, slow-cooked pork rump, hairy crabs (in season) and above all xiao long bao, the soup dumplings beloved in the United States, are all on offer in classic form.

The culinary renaissance is one reason, in fact, for Shanghai's re-emergence as a prime tourist destination, along with the city's refreshing green "lungs" - the many new parks and the thousands of plane trees in the former French Concession - its matchless new art museum, its Art Deco villas and office buildings, and the endless joie de vivre of its people. Gloomy, unsmiling and reluctant to make eye contact when my wife, Betsey, and I last visited the city a decade ago, they laugh and joke today, free at last to indulge in those old Shanghai pastimes, making money and spending it with abandon.

On the second morning of our most recent stay in Shanghai, we ran into Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his right-hand man, Daniel Del Vecchio, at the Westin Hotel's startlingly polycultural breakfast buffet. That happy accident led to a sampling of Shanghainese food at its most down-to-earth at breakfast-time the next day.

Near the corner of Changle Lu and Xiang Yang Bei Lu, not far from the museum, where banners were incongruously heralding an exhibition about Versailles and Louis XIV, we each polished off a half-dozen steamed, pork-filled soup dumplings, the size of a silver dollar, with perilously fragile skins, without spilling too much of the scalding liquid on our shirts. Unlike most of the other stalls, the place where we ate these actually had a few tables and stools, and even a sign outside. Its name: Maxim's.

Thicker-skinned dumplings, sheng jian bao, fried cheek-to-cheek in shallow iron pans and then steamed, were dusted with chives and black sesame seeds. We followed instructions to dip them in the exceptional black Zhenjiang vinegar. Eye-poppingly good they were, too, although Jereme (pronounced Jeremy) Leung, a member of our noshing group, speculated slyly that the frying oil had not been changed in years.

Skip to next paragraph

Nelson Ching for The New York Times

The Bund, along the Huangpu River. More Photos >

There were crepes at other stalls - delicate cong you bing, or scallion pancakes, and ji dan bing, a kind of breakfast burrito. To make that, a short-order wizard spread batter on a drum-shaped grill with what looked like a painter's spatula, broke an egg on top, added a dab of fermented soybean sauce and threw in some chives, coriander and mustard-plant leaves. The whole process took just a minute. Then he slapped either a salty cruller called you tiao or a piece of crisply fried bean curd skin across the finished product and rolled it up like a scroll. Mr. Vongerichten, in seventh heaven, pronounced it "the best breakfast in the world."

By that time, I felt fat as a Strasbourg goose, but my eating buddies insisted that we stop at a 24-hour noodle shop on Shandong Zhonglu, behind the Westin, to watch a particularly deft cook do his stuff. "No need to eat," said Mr. Leung, a Hong Kong-born Chinese. "Just watch." Sure. We watched, all right, as a huge ball of dough was kneaded and rolled and tossed and hacked into ragged little squares that reminded Mr. Vongerichten, an Alsatian, of spaetzle, and twisted and stretched and flipped and folded into long, supple noodles. But of course I had to sample a bowl of beef noodle soup, lightly curry-flavored, before we left, and of course that spoiled my lunch.

Bao Luo, in the French Concession, is all you might expect a Chinese restaurant to be - big, raucous, smoke-filled, dingy despite the marble on the walls - and more. It's open until 6 in the morning, and it often features a parade of fashionistas in thigh-high white boots around midnight. Its menu provides a primer of home-style Shanghainese cooking, however bizarre the English translations (for example, "lima bean curd with crisp hell"). Cold dishes first - amazingly tender, custardlike tofu, a reproach to the flannel-like stuff often served outside China, topped with coriander and chili oil; ma lan tou, made from the crunchy stems of the boltonia flower (a member of the aster family that I grow, but don't eat, at my farm in Pennsylvania); "drunken" chicken, marinated in rice wine; and kaofu, bran cubes flavored by five-spice soy sauce. This is no cuisine for the squeamish.

Warm plates filled the table as six of us struggled to keep up. Ti pang, the fabulously fatty Shanghainese pork shank, was luscious as foie gras. (One of our six, Tina Kanagaratnam, a Singapore-born food writer, told me, "Shanghai girls say that if you don't eat the fat you won't have good skin.") Crystal river prawns, bathed in egg whites before stir-frying, and yu xiang qiezi bao, spicy caramelized eggplant, were among my favorites. Patrick Cranley, Ms. Kanagaratnam's husband, a fluent Mandarin-speaker from Baltimore, noted that this was originally a Sichuan dish, long ago adopted by Shanghai as its own. "Something in the Shanghainese character," he said, "helps them to absorb, adapt and flourish."

Having emerged intact from Shanghainese culinary primary school, we moved directly to postgraduate studies at an unprepossessing four-table hole in the wall called Chun, a block from the Jin Jiang Hotel, where Chou En-lai and Richard M. Nixon issued their momentous communiqué in 1972. Susan Shirk, the State Department's top China expert in the Clinton administration, recommended it, and Dingli Shen, the Shanghai-born, Princeton-educated executive dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, joined us there. He had never been before, he said, but by the time we finished a lunchtime feast, which cost less than $8 a head, under the naked, unforgiving fluorescent bulbs, he assured us that he had never eaten better in his native city.

That didn't surprise us a bit. Not after Lan-Lan, the round-faced, T-shirt-clad 47-year-old proprietor, who resisted all attempts to discover her formal name, had brought out her wares: among other treats, more heavenly tofu, served with salted duck egg yolk and clam strips; thin-shelled river shrimp, roe still attached, steamed with ginger; whole pomfret braised in soy (with plenty of Shanghai's beloved sugar added) and the pièce de résistance, giant snails whose meat had been removed, then chopped, mixed with pork and spices and reinserted into the shells. I don't know which was better, the fragrant juices we sucked out of the shells or the meat we pried out with toothpicks.

"To be born in Shanghai is a great privilege," Dr. Shen mused. "You get better education, better economic opportunity, better health care, better everything than elsewhere in China." To which I added, "and some of the world's best food."

Soup dumplings are the province of specialists armed with minuscule rolling pins. The most famous of all are made at the three-story Nan Xiang restaurant, adjacent to the ancient Yu Garden, whose teahouse served as the inspiration for millions of pieces of "willow pattern" china. All the world adores Nan Xiang, so reserve a day ahead, or resign yourself to a long wait.

Try in any case to wangle a seat on the third floor, the only place where the most scrumptious dumplings are served - those whose filling includes crab roe as well as the usual crabmeat, pork and scallions. Two things set great dumplings apart from ordinary ones: the quality of the "soup," or broth, which at Nan Xiang has the mellow richness of the best veal stock, and the texture of the dumpling skins, which at Nan Xiang are translucently, meltingly thin. Wobbling winningly in their steamer, these tidbits are rivaled in Shanghai only by those at Din Tai Fung, a branch of a legendary Taipei dumpling house, which also has an outlet in Arcadia, Calif., near Los Angeles.

In the rush to modernize, much of picturesque old Shanghai has been bulldozed, though not the junk shops of Fangbang Lu, where Betsey bought a crystal ball, perhaps in hopes of divining the future of this remarkable city, where communism and capitalism thrive alongside one another against all the odds. In Xintiandi, near there, renovated and reconstructed shikumen (stone-gated) houses have been grouped into a shopping, strolling and dining complex. Wildly popular with Chinese as well as with foreign visitors, it is Shanghai's first big stab at the adaptive reuse of old buildings.

They sometimes call Shanghai Shang-buy, and in Xintiandi you can buy minimalist handbags and sleek silk pajamas with jade buttons at Annabel Lee, velvet blazers and feathered hats at Xavier, and modern design from Scandinavia, Thailand, Italy and even China at Simply Life. You can drink coffee, nibble glorious pastries and buy hand-made chocolates at Visage. You can have a drink at TMSK, sitting on crystal stools at a crystal bar, or at nearby Zin (short for Zinfandel), a nifty wine bar.

Xin Ji Shi is the serious-chow champ of Xintiandi, whose name means "new heaven and earth." It may well serve the best hong shao rou, or red-cooked pork, in town, made from cubed pork belly bathed in a sauce made from star anise, sugar and Shanghai soy sauce, which is considered China's finest. The décor may be upscale, nouvelle Shanghai, all burnished wood and smoky glass panels, but the cooking is traditional. Our meal at Xin Ji Shi was also memorable for a basket brimming with big, rosy prawns, roast chicken and dried chilies and for a bottle of 1993 Corton brought by Mr. St. Pierre, much less so for an eel dish totally overwhelmed by a sweet, sludgy sauce.

Hong Kong, in the form of the handsome glass-and-granite Crystal Jade dim sum emporium, is just a few steps away from Xin Ji Shi. All the southern Chinese favorites - including char siu bao (barbecued pork buns), shrimp-filled har gow and egg tarts, among many others - are prepared to order and served at once, not rolled through the dining room on carts. But this is Shanghai, so there are also more northern delights like crispy won tons with hot chili sauce and, of course, soup dumplings. All are light and delicate, altogether first rate.

You can eat modern Sichuan food at South Beauty's four locations and carefully made vegetarian dishes at Vegetarian Lifestyle's three. But if pressed for time, I would make a beeline for Guyi, which wins as many points for its chic décor, featuring photos of the Shanghai that was, and its smiling (indeed giggling) service from young women as for its delicious Hunanese food. Not every dish is a flamethrower, which is as things should be. Among the high spots of a meal that balanced texture, color and intensity of flavor with unusual finesse: a great heap of green beans flavored by smoky Hunan ham; a short-rib hot pot with ginger, garlic and chilies; and fried prawns on a skewer.

Unless you like to drink at altitude or crave a steak (in which case head for the upper floors of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, housed in the 54th to 87th floors of the Jinmao Tower building), there's no real need to visit Pudong. Stay on the western side of the river and do your gawking and talking there.

For location, location, etc., you can't match Michelle Garnaut's groundbreaking M on the Bund, opened in 1999. With a heart-stopping view of Pudong's sci-fi skyline right there in front of you, as bold as a billboard, and the Bund's brightly illuminated buildings curving away to your left and right, M's seventh-floor terrace is as fine a perch as Shanghai affords. On balmy nights, moneyed visitors and local movers and shakers still throng it, with their champagne flutes or superbly made dry martinis in hand.

Ms. Garnaut, an Australian long resident in China, serves mostly old-fashioned European food, some of it made from prime local ingredients - opulent Chinese foie gras; crisp-skinned roast suckling pig; and (during their brief season) sensationally sweet peaches from Nanhui, like the ones often depicted on famille-rose porcelain.

"We're proud not to be on the cutting edge," she told me. Fair enough. But the jelly with the foie gras was much too sweet for us, the salt-baked lamb was too salty, and the kitchen seemed to lack the consistency that characterizes some competitors, notably the big, buzzy restaurants at Three on the Bund, a converted bank building.

The dining room of one of them, Laris, is drenched in white - white marble, white tablecloths, white orchids. "The food and clients provide the color here," said the man at its helm, David Laris, formerly chef at Mezzo in London. As befits someone of Greek ancestry, he serves great fish, including raw oysters from three continents, scallops with basil and Kalamata olives, and a fabulously earthy cauliflower and caviar soup, not unlike the brew served by Jean Joho in Chicago.

For those who require turf with their surf, there's also a delicious cross-cultural pairing of five-spiced venison with Vietnamese banana leaf salad. And for the sweet of tooth, Mr. Laris makes a remarkable panna cotta flavored with pandanus leaves, which lend a subtle, vanilla-like taste.

Jean-Georges gave us a nearly flawless meal. After a single Kumamoto oyster with a coronet of Champagne jelly and raw tuna with a dab of mayonnaise made with Thai chili paste, the chef de cuisine, Eric Johnson, sent out an exquisite dish of cubed raw kingfish with Taiwanese mangoes (imported under a new trade agreement) and a chili-lemon granita. Peppery, sweet and acidic, yellow, orange and red, in one bite.

Dish after dish of similar excellence followed, as lunch stretched toward the cocktail hour while boats of every kind chugged along the river outside the restaurant's windows - more foie gras, with star anise flowers; peaches and endive hearts with pistachios and goat cheese dressing; crab dumplings with black pepper oil and tiny local peas; sweet scallops from Dalian, a port in north China, seared and paired with clams in a tomato jus; stunningly fresh steamed snapper on a basil purée, topped with cucumber strips for crunch; and Jason Casey's irresistible desserts, which coaxed every nuance of flavor from lush tropical fruits.

The service in the elegant copper-and-blue dining room was silent and skillful, which is more than one can say about the Whampoa Club, in the same building, where the gifted 34-year-old Mr. Leung presides. His Normandie-like setting, with shantung silk, ostrich skin and hammered metal panels, is elegant enough. But the reception was disorganized, the waitresses' heels clattered intrusively on bare floors, and language skills were so rudimentary that we were utterly bewildered until a supervisor came to our assistance. This is perfectly acceptable at $10 a head, but not at $100.

Mr. Leung's modern take on Chinese regional food is delightful. His caramelized minisquid reminded me why I was once addicted to Cracker Jacks. His "lion's head" pork meatballs came in a sumptuous winter-melon broth, with enoki mushrooms impishly used as "eyes." His king prawns dazzled in a mild wasabi sauce. His crisp, spicy eel strips and smoked fish showed the potential of river fish, treasured in Shanghai.

"We begin with traditional peasant-style recipes and try to update and refine them," he said. "Take the smoked fish. Usually, it's fried in the morning and left to cool all day. It often tastes stale, even rancid. We fry it to order and serve it warm, not at room temperature. But the prawns - those, I must confess, are pure Jereme."

Table Hopping

The telephone country code for China is 86, and the city code for Shanghai is 21.

Bao Lu, 2721 Fumin Lu; telephone 6279-2827. As many as 300 people are sometimes jammed into this atmospheric spot early in the evening, but go later and the crush isn't as bad. Classic Shanghainese food, less than $15 a head with beer.

Chun, 124 Jinxian Lu; 6256-0301. Have your hotel concierge reserve well ahead for this tiny place, and take a Mandarin-speaking friend or guide if you want to understand what you're being offered. Cheap (under $10) and authentic.

Xin Ji Shi, North Block Xintiandi, Building 9, Number 2, Lane 181; 6336-4746. The setting is sleek, the service is charming, and for the most part the food is very good. Try the noodles flavored with scallions. With wine, about $25.

Nan Xiang, 85 Yuyuan Lu; 6355-4206. Soup-dumpling heaven in the oldest part of the city. All the xiao long bao you can eat for $20.

Din Tai Fung, 12-20 Shuicheng Lu; 6208-4188. It's just a branch of a Taiwanese dumpling house, but who cares? The dumplings and other dishes are first-rate, and the open kitchen puts on quite a show. About $15, $25 with wine.

Crystal Jade, South Block Xintiandi, House 6-7, Lane 123; 6385-8752. Stylish digs and carefully prepared dim sum (including some Shanghai and Beijing items as well as Hong Kong classics) account for long lines. Typically about $20.

Guyi Hunan, 89 Fumin Lu; 6249-5628. There's a string of red peppers made of satin near the door - a warning that the food is spicy, but also a signal of the stylishness of this place. Good value: $12.

M on the Bund, 5 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu; 6350-9988. Great views, excellent wines and competent (if inconsistent) Continental cooking that sometimes ranges into exotica like Persian salads. Eat on the terrace if it's warm. $50.

Laris, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu; 6321-9922. One of Shanghai's few raw bars, with great oysters and clams to begin, and some of the city's most imaginative house-made chocolates to end. This stuff does not come cheap. About $60.

Jean-Georges, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, 6321-7733. China's best Western-style restaurant, and every bit as successful as the Vongerichten palaces back home in New York. Cheaper, too, at $65. Polished service, gorgeous room.

Whampoa Club, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu; 6321-3737. Jereme Leung takes Chinese food out of tourist class and puts it in first, where it belongs. In season, he works magic with the famous Shanghai hairy crabs. $60.

school starts

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:48 EST

Western Homepage, 1st Week

What is the odds that a random snapshot of campus will have 2 out of 7 students who are from my home department? Moreover, I know them pretty well becoz we are classmates!

Album Trip to Quebec is done!

Sun, 04 Sep 2005 20:38 EST

Pointe-a-Calliere, Place Royale, Place Jacques-Cartier

Yes, I was in Monteal, the 3rd stop of my journey. The full album is done and I need more time to get my words done. More to come~~~

(taken between Notre-Dame Basilica and Bank of Montreal's first head office, old Montreal.)

back to 519

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 09:15 EST

Life is going hectic. Leaving SH, travelling to Quebec and living in Ontario are all happened in this 2 wks. Gosh...give me 1 more day and I'll load up my pictures taken along my journey.

pic from reunion

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 06:46 EST

Last Friday night,Old Highschool Classmates Reunion...shared great BBQ Lamb Leg with other 9 of my old classmates. Haha, yum! Then went to sing K at a newly open place for the whole night, Fun!!!! "Mr.Lu" and Joyce Jiang are outstanding singers. It would be a great loss for Chinese Idol contest not to have these two guys.

Also passed Road Test 1 this morning. I'm a real Parking Queen now ( not party queen ) and celebrated my little success in driving by Karaoke with Ellen. Haha, from driving school to karaoke, I met a super talented cab driver. He could always find the best shortcut and made our journey full of exciting as if we were in those action movies running after The Most Wanted.

new timetable

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 09:43 EST

gonna go to driving school tomorrow, unwillingly. never knew that driving could be that boring especially when it takes u the whole day stuck in the training base for practice. And I just found out that I would not be able to transfer my driver's license here(if i can pass the road test) to G2 which means I hafta take the road test in Canada unavoidably. Argh。。。think in positive way, 2 road tests assure me a safe future, worth it. Talking about driving, what is your dream car for all time or at present? Mine is Lexus SC, hahaha, maybe one day

just found out the new academic year timetable was released and was happy to see that there was no time conflict between my desired courses. Here is my plan:

Statistical Sciences 420a/b, Financial Modelling

Description: Options, futures and forward contracts, other derivative securities, valuation, stochastic differential equations.

Statistical Sciences 421F/G, Advanced Financial Modelling

Description: Martingales in financial modelling, continuous time models, Ito's calculus, stochastic differential equations, discrete time approximations, ARCH models, stock market volatility, exotic options.

Statistical Sciences 437a/b, Topics in Operations Research

Description: Semi-Markovian queueing: the M/G/1 and GI/M/c queues, and matrix-geometric solutions in queues; deterministic and probabilistic inventory theory; decision theory and PERT/CPM; dynamic programming.

Actuarial Science 422a/b, Multi-State Models

Description: Analysis of probability distributions and present values associated with multiple life models, multiple decrement models and more general multi-state models.

Actuarial Science 423a/b, Survival Analysis

Description: Survival models, nonparametric estimation of the survival function, one and two or more sample hypothesis tests, inference for semiparametric regression models, inference for parametric regression models.

Actuarial Science 426F/G, Actuarial Practice I

Description: Introduction to the major areas and issues of actuarial practice, including insurance and annuity product design, pricing and valuation, analysis of the cost of pensions and other employee benefits, asset liability management and professionalism.

Actuarial Science 442a/b, Loss Models II

Description: Limited fluctuation credibility, greatest accuracy credibility, empirical Bayes parameter estimation, classical surplus process, adjustment coefficient, probability of ruin, maximal aggregate loss.

Applied Mathematics 325a/b, Optimization

Description: An introduction to linear programming, simplex method, duality theory and sensitivity analysis, formulating linear programming models, nonlinear optimization, unconstrained and constrained optimization, quadratic programming. Applications.

Economics 141a/b, Principles of Mathematical Economics I

Description: An introduction to mathematical economics, showing the application of linear algebra, differential calculus and constrained optimization techniques to the modelling of decision making by economic agents. Examples include analysis of the consumer resource allocation problem and of the selection of preferred production plans by various types of firms.

simultaneous interpretation

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 09:06 EST

回来之前看的nicole kidman跟Sean Penn的电影The Interpreter，没有想到回国来就感受了一把同声传译的奥妙。去口译部“实习”（我的天，我有时间实习吗？），被安排去听会议现场的同声翻译。会议在同济大学，老清老早赶了过去，才知道是the 6th international symposium on asia pacific architecture.主题围绕mega building. 虽说主要是来学习传译技巧的，不过听了翻译几分钟以后我实在是觉得比较无聊。难道传说中同声传译高手的水平就是如此？有时候根本是在看图说话嘛。不过那个反应的灵敏跟自圆其说的能力是不得不佩服的，还有长时间的精神集中能力。或许应该去更高一层次的会议才能体验到高水平同传的魅力吧。

虽说对同传的表现比较失望，大会的内容还比较有趣。第一个发言的是2010 World Expo Shanghai China的chief planner,主要讲了围绕better city better life主旨的世博建筑规划以及相应物流交通的配套方案。内容非常浅显，更像是一个宣传会，没有让我看出新的设计理念或者创意，或许其间奥妙藏而不露吧。发言使用中文，然后发觉其实中译英的同传难度很大，中文句短但是包含的信息量却很大，有挑战。第二个是荷兰Office for Metropolitan Architecture(OMA)的设计师，主要负责CCTV HQ Building的设计。他关于建筑不对称设计（力学来看，建筑不stable，受力不匀），Loop/Circulation的设计概念的阐述清晰有条例。从审美，实际利用，概念化，物理地质技术各层面逐一讲解，是个成功的presentation。最后也谈到关于historical relic保护的问题，可惜时间不够匆匆带过。个人不喜欢CCTV Building的设计外形，也听说此项目由于设计争议比较大，造价昂贵，一度搁置，似乎是从5月开始正式动工了，有待核实。最后一个讲ecosystem的prof来自英国,语速过快，语音含糊，内容arcane，如果当时要我去做翻译，估计我就蒙了。拼了命研究他的演讲内容，觉得脑细胞迅速死亡，赶忙拿起耳机听专业同传的中文翻译。没想到她也没大听懂，基本在跟着powerpoint看图说话。最后panel members发言，对一个university of new south wales的华裔教授特别有好感，此人态度谦和，才思敏捷，言之有物。另外几个univ of pennsylvania的prof讲起来比较专业。即便如此critique的东西太少，温温稳稳的研讨就过去了。对于专业人士收获有多大不得而知，或许他们也只是把它当作一个social event吧。