Reading Generation X – twenty years later

A colleague of mine and I discovered that we both liked Douglas Coupland’s writings.  After my admission that I have not yet read his debut – Generation X, he promptly lent me his copy of it.  Thanks, SKA.

This book has been printed many times and that is probably the reason behind the different covers.  I am reading the black and pink cover edition (below).

Below are a few random passages that made me chuckle:

“…Toronto, Canada is a city when I once visited gave me the efficient, ordered feel of the Yellow Pages sprung to life in three dimensions, peppered with trees and veined with cold water.”

I felt that way some times when I visited my folks in Toronto flying from New York.

Describing a dog that edges its face in between two front seats in a car:

“It is a face that grovels politely but insistently for attention.  … The dog meanwhile wears the cheerful, helpful look of a bellboy in a foreign country who doesn’t understand a word you’re saying but who still wants a tip.”

One of the secondary character rages :

“… I don’t want dainty little moments of insight. I want everything and I want it now. I want to be ice-picked on the head by a herd of angry cheerleaders, Claire.  Angry cheerleaders on drugs. You don’t get that, do you ?”

A party in Palm Springs:

“It is a B-list crowd: TV money versus film money; too much attention given to bodies too late in life. Better looking but a bit too flash; the deceiving pseudohealth of sunburned fat people; the facial anonymity found among babies, the elderly and the overly face-lifted.”

The book is also peppered with some cute definitions printed on the margin, here is a sample:

Conspicuous minimalism: A life-style tactic …  The non-ownership of material goods flaunted as a token of moral and intellectual superiority.

McJob: A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no future job in the service sector.

Poverty jet set: A group of people given to chronic traveling at the expense of long-term job stability or a permanent residence.  Tend to discuss frequent-flyer programs at parties.

Occupational Slumming: Taking a job well beneath one’s skill or education level as a means of retreat from adult responsibilities and/or avoiding possible failure in one’s true occupation.

This last one sums up a lot about the characters in the book.

I don’t know anyone resembling the main characters but they are so solidly plausible. The characters mock the baby-boomers and yuppies, and are anti-globalism.  I can see why this book was and still is so popular.

Shiro @ Pacific Place, Hong Kong

Our second last meal in Hong Kong was eaten at Shiro in Pacific Place.  It was raining so we did not want to wander the streets looking for a restaurant. Shiro exudes a modern Japanese ambiance – mirrors with a repeating Japanese-y motif and cured-ribbed walls.  Nice bar, too. Must be packed on a weekday lunch time.

Tiny sushi conveyor.  But we sat at a proper table.

We started with a snow crab-seaweed salad with poached egg)

Then, grilled O-toro maki (grilled outer layer, topped with a tiny gold fleck, chopped otoro underneath and inside) – one of the best creative maki I have had.

Avocado smoked eel maki (right)

Pan-fried tenderloin beef with French mustard sauce.  Not bad.

Sea urchin and seafood fried rice

They also have a great-looking website – Shiro.

Vida Rica @ The Mandarin-Oriental, Macau

We had drinks at Vida Rica while watching the Chinese New Year fireworks.  This bar is right next to the Louis Vuitton Maison VIP salon we visited earlier during the day (see earlier post here.) One side of the bar has triple height floor-to-ceiling glass windows facing the waterfront – essentially front row seats we had.  The fireworks were not as spectacular as others I have seen in New York … but unlike those shows which went on for 15 – 20 minutes, this one lasted for more than 2 hours; it slowed down after a while and started up again … on and on – which created a lively backdrop for our entire time there.

The fireworks exploded right next to bridge.  It must be spectacular up there, but a bit distracting and dangerous for the drivers.

 The interior of Vida Rica is very elaborate, rich in styles – but it is very difficult to describe as it does not fit into any particular period, geo-ethnic theme, or ~isms.  First, it has these high-tech, jewel-studded lighting systems that could have been used as props for a baroque space opera – not techie like Star Wars but more like Dune (if you remember it).

Then, the walls are installed with these back-lit glass/ceramic flower-like glossy/matt objects, which are suspended over richly-patterned relief tiles – there is definitely an indo-asiatic feel here.

Near the entrance is this mannequin+dress sculpture made with broken blue-white ceramic bowls and plates.

The barman was very helpful in suggesting cocktails.  They had a new year special drinks menu – I cannot remembered what I ordered, sounded good on the menu, but did not taste that good.  Should have sticked to the classics.

Metallic-mirrored bamboo room divider.

This is the restaurant next door – again the ceiling lights are really interesting looking – a intimate, almost traditional Japanese ambience made with modern materials.

I think Mandarin-Oriental has created a unique house style here – definitely want to explore this place on my next trip.

Food paradise: home-cooked feast

My young auntie C and her husband KK invited us over to her home for lunch before our return to Europe.  I vaguely remember visiting their home in the 80’s.  Surprising for Hong Kong, the surrounding areas have not changed much at all.

All the dishes were cooked by C and her domestic help while I believe KK made the dumplings from scratch.

First up was a soup made with pork, mushroom, lotus roots, and other good stuff.  For those not familiar with Chinese soups, a majority of them are clear and broth-like.  C’s version is not clear due to the lotus roots but it is not thick like western soups.  Tasted fantastic and no MSG for sure.

Next, we had “Swiss” chicken wings.  We wondered about the origin of the name, but in practice it was made with a marinate of sugar and thick soy sauce.

The other dishes were Malaysian style curry beef brisket (coconut-y and tender), steamed bean shoots (green and light), freshly wrapped dumplings (when you make your own, you would know what meat is used inside), and waterchestnut steamed minced pork (forgot to take a snapshot but it was a treat for my sister).

The pièce de résistance is the steamed fish served in traditional style – ginger, scallion with oil and light soy.  Cantonese and Hongkongers (who live by the South China seas) pay top prices in restaurants for fresh seafood done this way, hence the wall of display tanks in front of the seafood restaurants. Northern Chinese do not eat much fish and tend not to savor the delicate taste.  This steamed fish is one of the best ones I had in recent memories – thick and firm (but not tough) white flesh without too many bones.

To finish, C made steamed milk with ginger juice.  She taught us how to make it too –  the tricky part is to make it congeal as it cools.  I will try the recipe using Swiss milk.

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro (石黒一雄)

This book is my holiday reading for this Asian trip.  We bought it in Zurich in one of our binge of buying English language books.  In the beginning, I did not expect to have time in HK or Macau to sit down and read this book, but I brought it with me anyway.  The day after we returned from Macau, I suffered a three-day diarrhea which kept me home and not far from the toilet.  I lost 5 pounds – the quickest way to lose weight.  Since Sue, IT and I ate more or less the same food, the culprit by deduction was a KFC side dish which came with a bucket meal.  We were a bit deprived at the time since there is no KFC in Switzerland (as far as we know).

Back to the book, apparently, this is Ishiguro Kazuo’s (石黒一雄) first collection of short stories.  I know of him from his book that was made into a movie by Ivory and Merchant – The Remains of the Day – which also won him the Booker prize in 1989.  Didn’t read it.  As for Nocturnes, I agree with what some of the reviewers said that the five stories feel like movements of a piece of musical work – they all share a certain sense of melancholy and yet each has their rhythm, colors and personalities.  It is hard to describe any of the stories without giving something away  … so I won’t say anything other than I liked the 4th story – “Nocturne” – best.

Louis Vuitton Maison @ One Central, Macau

We seldom visit a LV as they sell more or less the same lines of goods, but are curious to know what this luxury brand is doing to keep justifying charging those premium prices. So we wandered into this flagship “maison” which was holding an exhibition of LV’s history and craftsmanship.  I took this picture above from a spectacularly-decorated bar – Vida Rica – in the Mandarin Oriental next door where we watched the Chinese New Year’s eve fireworks – see later post.  This is the entrance of Vida Rica.

The LV exhibition was quite interesting as it shows how rich people in olden days used to bring their entire household in LV trunks to far flung places.  This video showcases a book that included some of what we saw there.

We did not buy a thing there but somehow their “clienteling manager” chose us for a tour of their VIP salon and patio. We were led out of the showroom through an innocuous looking door into a salon – a luxuriously decorated living room with a patio overlooking the street below and the Nam Wan lake.  Pampering your client and making them feel special is one way to make them want to pay that extra $$$s.

I found this incredibly detailed tour of the maison online, and this is an excerpt about the salon.

The jewel of this gallery level is the VIP Suite and Patio designed by Yabu Pushelberg. Measuring 140 square-meters, the VIP Suite commands unobstructed lake and Macau Tower views in a modern, elegant, and luxury setting. An art wall with the Suite hosts a mother-of-pearl inserts, library, sliding screens of glass reeds and linear gilt work to conceal displays and fitting room. Hand-tufted wool and silk carpets, platinum-finish linens and fine dark leather are deployed for an intimate, residential atmosphere. An exclusive elevator transport top clientele from the Ground Floor to the Suite boasting its own washroom and pantry.

The two pictures of the shop below were borrowed from their web site.  The salon is at the corner.

The patio is located to the left next to the signage on the third floor.

翠華餐廳 Tsui Wah Restaurant

Tsui Wah 翠華 is the second restaurant that is worth a mention for its quality, price, and inventiveness.  It is one of the best in a class of restaurants that is similar in spirit to a US diner.  These restaurants serve all kinds of food, local HK style, Chinese regional, “Western”, Northeast (Japan and Korea) and Southeast (Vietnam, Thai, Malaysian) Asian dishes are listed side-by-side on the menu.  Tsui Wah is in fact a popular local chain that is trying to appeal to tourists, and apparently many Japanese visitors come to the restaurant.

On this visit, we ate most of the evidence quickly, so I only have two pictures of what we ordered.  IT ordered wontons, fish-tofu balls and noodles in a fish soup.  Sue had a pasta dish that looked and tasted ok.  I had their Hainanese chicken rice set meal – unlike all the others I had tried, they de-bone the chicken – this is unique.  Unfortunately, my portion was a bit overcooked so the chicken while boneless was a bit rubbery.

We went to the branch near Temple street on the Kowloon side.  It is located one block from the night market and this brightly neon-lit spot got busier as it got later.  Each of our meals including drinks (no alcohol) costed less then USD10 – great value and lively ambience.

On the HK side, a branch of it is located near Lan Kwai Fong (Tsui Wah’s rainbow-colored sign is on the left) and next to Wong Chi Kee (see earlier post about WCK, sign with green color background).  It is across the street from the venerable Yung Kee (Michelin 1-star, not visible in this picture).  My mom who used to work in Central took me to Yung Kee for lunch on many Saturdays when she worked half days.