9/29/06

Frost

有自唔在﹐攞苦嚟辛﹐是我人生的寫照。不過生既有涯﹐而死後飄渺﹐倒不如有生之年浩浩蕩蕩向前大步走。

The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

9/28/06

食 - 廚房

昨天煮了一夜﹐做到身水身汗﹐今早七時才在sofa上睡著了﹐睡了五小時﹐仍要繼續準備。其實為人做菜﹐隨了博聲讚賞﹐最重要還是滿足自己的肚子。自己不喜歡出街吃太多﹐太多味精外﹐也不夠乾淨。高級食府嘛﹐不要自欺欺人(我做過收你$580一塊10oz(實8oz)牛扒的地方)﹐我第一次行過入工業廚房後﹐就不敢出外吃飯兩個月。後來也是拚著﹐不吃也吃了這麼多年﹐死就死喇的心理﹐才再光臨食市。在廚房我就講了句笑話: "what you don't see you don't know, what you don't know can't hurt you." 正是看到另一廚師拾起塊跌在地上的牛扒﹐要出碟時說的。SKII 都高價賣了多年喇!

有時不寫太多飲食的文章﹐也不標明職業做過廚子﹐是因為覺得香港人...修養少﹐脫不了下意識想到"廚房佬"等如沒學識的老伯。是我的偏見嗎? 我敢大膽說不是的﹐曾經在舊文文人的網頁 女王的教室﹐就提起香港的所為文化人﹐眼光也是多麼狹窄的。不要說他人﹐連自己的內心也曾經爭鬥一番才可放下成見。這些成見卻有一半是對的﹐廚房真的是很髒﹐尤其在香港﹐廚師通常是為工作的。除了自己﹐還未見過有為興趣的。在外國﹐為工作的人故然有﹐為興趣的也不少﹐曾經有個女同事是Sociology既教授。哈﹐有次還和另一個電腦programming學生在清洗雪櫃房自瘧笑到:"Here we're at one of the crudest place in modern society, talking about Socrates and poems of Robert Frost, yearning for theories up so high. It's funny when you think of the irony in that." 對方答曰:"Yeah? I'm goddamn freezing, and the frost is blocking my view to see the irony in that."相顧大笑﹐自有苦中作樂之感。

9/27/06

燒烤

星期五搞燒烤(18人加個BB)﹐這兩天可會忙得不可開交!

沙律/冷盤類:
coleslaw﹐蟹柳青瓜沙律﹐日式豆腐冷盤﹐泰式鳳爪﹐滷水牛展﹐日式卷蛋﹐五香豬手﹐菜
飯/意粉:
肉醬意粉﹐墨西哥燴飯
燒烤類:
泰式燒雞扒﹐越式香茅豬扒﹐串燒牛肉粒﹐香腸﹑肉丸﹑魚丸﹐蜜汁蒜香雞翼
另外:
蕃薯﹐棉花糖﹐綠豆沙﹐白果腐竹糖水
飲品:
啤酒﹐氣水﹐涼茶

9/26/06

地上執到寶﹐問天問地囉唔到

看了這篇報導: Man who plucked winning lottery ticket from trash settles suit。 一個八十三歲的流浪漢拾到別人的獎券拿了約港紙七百萬﹐後來四十九歲的物主訴訟﹐並與其後不久心臟病至死﹐正式係"唔係你財﹐唔入你袋"。老翁為了"enjoy the windfall(*1)"﹐免除麻煩﹐便將約七分一的受益撥歸死者家人。

*1:Windfall, 原來是一套 NBC 說廿幾個學生中獎券暴富後的行為的劇集﹐金錢可改變你的什麼呢?

9/22/06

Tannins & Anthocyanins

Still remember I once spend a few weeks in the library around the 90's reading about the process of winemaking, from harvesting, pressing, fermenting, aging...etc. During the fermenting process, there's two chemical affecting the character and colour of the wine, of course the chemical process is much more complicated. This essay'll just introduce the Tannins, and Anthocyanins in wine.

Tannins present in grape seeds, stems and skin. When grapes are pressed, tannins end up in the fermenting wine. Red wine contains a greater quantity of tannins than white wine due to extended skin contact during winemaking. However, it is not entirely uncommon, to discover tannins in white wine. Such tannins likely originate in wooden barrels used to ferment oak-aged Chardonnay. These polymeric phenol concentrations in red wines range from 100 mg/L in very light wines to more than 1000 mg/L in very tannic wines. Tannins, treated the right way, allow wine to age gracefully. Winemakers have discovered that tannins prevent wine from oxidizing prematurely, maintain color in red wine and can even impart an additional sensory dimension in wine - a little something called mouthfeel. When using words to describe the tannins in wine, you could probably use: Dusty, Gripping ,Mature & Round, Young & Slightly Astringent, Silky, Soft & Integrated...etc. Hopefully, you won't taste rough, bark-like & leathery in your wine.

Besides chlorophyll, anthocyanins are probably the most important group of visible plant pigments. It also acts as an antioxidant, therefore, we heard so much health effect of red wine, blah, blah, blah...But this chemical is what give red wine it's color, it will interact with tannins, giving wine's colour a higher stability. Polymerization of anthocyanins happens most rapidly during fermentation and maceration, but the process continues through the life of a wine. As wines age, a greater proportion of their anthocyanin content is polymerized. Like the other wine polymers, precipitation may also remove anthocyanin polymers from wine.

It usually take 2-3 years for wine to reach it's first ripe period, which is a good time to enjoy new wines, with more brilliant color and characters, and freshness of the fruit. For aged red wines, it usually reach it's second peak from 10 years and onward. Some wine even acheive their peak around 20-22 years or so. At this time, some part of the pigment will break down, leaving the wine with an orangie-reddish colour. But further on after the peak period, the wine will only diminish it's qualities. The peak of wine varies with the variety of grapes, and sometimes to a particular batch in a particular year. But of course, a bottle of crap is always crap, a bottle of aged crap isn't any better than when it's young, so don't get too excited when you see a bottle of aged wine. Also because even a good bottle of wine can be ruined easily with wrong handling & holding: temperature, humidity, infestation...etc.

9/20/06

A Short Guide to Comparative Religions

Taoism: Shit happens.
Confucianism: Confucius say, "Shit happens."
Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit.
Zen Buddhism: What is the sound of shit happening?
Hinduism: This shit happened before.
Mormonism: This shit is going to happen again.
Islam: If shit happens, it is the Will of Allah.
Stoicism: This shit is its own reward.
Protestantism: Let this shit happen to someone else.
Calvinism: Shit happens because you don't work hard enough.
Pentecostalism: In Jesus' name, heal this shit!
Catholicism: Shit happens because you deserve it.
Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?
Zoroastrianism: Shit happens half the time.
Marxism: This shit is going to hit the fan.
Atheism: No shit.
Seventh Day Adventist: No shit on Saturdays.
Existentialism: Absurd shit.
Agnosticism: What is this shit?
Nihilism: Who gives a shit?
Deconstruction: Shit happens in hegemonic meta-narratives.
Christian Science: Shit is in your mind.
Moonies: Only happy shit really happens.
Jehovah's Witnesses: Knock, Knock, shit happens.
Scientology: Shit happens on page 152 of Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard
Hare Krishna: Shit happens, Rama Rama.
Hedonism: There's nothing like a good shit happening.
Rastafarianism: Let's smoke this shit.

9/15/06

無賴隨筆

這幾天也很疏懶﹐沒有多大的衝勁﹐在新春秋的留言又預著不要濫發。的確﹐一係就幾日無出品﹐一係就一日幾篇﹐的確很難為人消化。不過﹐上星期寫好了﹐逐少發放﹐自己便停了幾天﹐卻發覺連那股幹勁也停下來。哈!況且寫的也不是什麼好文章﹐就是糊亂的幹著﹐像‘神行’一篇﹐可要連自己的臭史也搬出來。嘻﹐和倉兄談過﹐更認為我態度囂張﹐警戒若不慎言﹐倒如茅廁點燈。不過說實﹐也不過是想多點興風作浪﹐否則個個好似交閱讀報告﹐又引reference﹐ 又引penal code﹐想信必定很快沉悶不堪。左兄既法律﹐Zeke既猶太教﹐趙桐生既藝術﹐雖未見其人﹐但看過他們的出品都是萬般佩服﹐自己一介寒儒﹐長處嘛﹐還是要尋找的。個個驚講錯﹐就似將會要考大考﹑交論文﹐重邊有人(隨一兩個考試熱愛者吧?)會有興趣寫文章呀?(教育制度扼殺了不少人的創造力﹐有點興幸自小無乜聽書﹐學期頭賣番來就睇晒﹐聽乜鬼呀﹐臨考試咪看多兩眼囉﹐所以成績就有點﹐嘻...天才式既白痴﹐也有點像恆指﹐大上大落﹐看看心情和運氣了﹐所以嘛﹐結果是很少放在心上。)文章呢﹐還是要寫﹐不過各方大佬們﹐有乜講錯﹐唔好踩得甘行呀。不過和流氓﹑小混混滾的日子﹐無賴的性格也學了幾分﹐面子﹑假面具如晨早放到地上﹐別人也損不了幾分。做人還是變通點﹐樽鹽呢我就求其劈入廚房﹑廁所喇。最後第八篇雖然話就寫好﹐但是總像不稱心﹐咦﹐來篇永遠在修改中的文章也不錯。

行邁靡靡,中心搖搖。
知我者,謂我心憂;不知我者,謂我何求。

9/7/06

新神識惰 舊神假情

新張 神話 識限 慣惰
做文四篇﹐慶賀倉海兄創立之新春秋
【一】慶賀新張 八折任飲 酬客未周 時間轉移
【二】兩個神的對話
【三】知識產權的界限
【四】系統性惰懶

再來四篇:
舊譜 神行 假銀 雪情
【五】舊式樂譜
【六】神行太保
【七】真假白銀
【八】雪夜情 (本來寫了﹐後來看不順心﹐決定刪除﹐說情之文﹐還是另link 一篇。)

9/1/06

垃圾文章 文章小碟

噫! 結果也過了這個八月﹐發現60篇登出的砌字破詞中﹐有33篇是八月寫的。倉海兄也罵過我痴線﹐難道我終日也寄於電腦前打字? 其實不過一二﹑兩三小時罷。如果全力製造垃圾﹐一個星期三十篇也不難。只不過是把見到的文章文字﹐綜合﹐截錄﹐修改﹐打個主旨﹐又有何難? 寫高然闊論就難﹐寫小道垃圾數篇﹐能花多少時間? 其實自小也養成寫文不用擦子膠的習慣﹐如果用原子筆寫﹐寫錯了便一劃﹐跟著又全文起頭抄起﹐到後來﹐為免手指活受罪﹐千百字也可只剩兩三字寫錯﹐正是「三抄成書」。只不過在腦中先把文字具體化﹐跟了平常使用的有限字彙﹐再從新用手寫出來。不過這電腦的cut and paste﹐又帶出了我懶惰的本性﹐喜歡三讀四改了。

午間在看〔死神Bleach〕﹐另外一篇文章﹐斷續修著。突然想﹐頗喜歡‘神鵰俠侶’中‘人廚子’這個名字﹐其中帶烹人之義。其實如果用以形容管理階層﹐也頗貼切﹐明白材料的性質﹐加以運用﹐就能煮番餐﹐是好是壞﹐還看廚子工架。‘文廚’者﹐以雜文為主料﹐以文義作題﹐以出處作佐﹐以笑料調味﹐最後以筆炒作﹐成一小碟。再待賢人品評﹐何不樂焉。最近和倉海兄閒談﹐說起某些網站真奇怪﹐什麼人也有﹐為了某些小事便文槍舌戰﹐也不是問題﹐就是人身攻擊﹐辱罵祖宗。其實嘛﹐老套說句﹐雖然我絕不信「謠言止於智者」(世界邊有甘多智者呀!)﹐卻信「見怪不怪﹐其怪自敗」(人只不過貪新鮮﹐八卦新聞之最長時間﹐應可要算當年美國的OJ Simpson 了﹐現在已變了一個案例)。使我想起多年前寫某文章也提到過蘇軾的"八風吹不動﹐一屁打過江"*1﹐人們善意批評﹐就該接納﹐惡意批評﹐也由他評去﹐不過說是這樣說﹐記得某次辛辛苦苦打了篇五﹑六百字既論文﹐後面個留言只是:"Haha, I don't know what you're talking about, you're stupid." 真的如焚琴煮鶴﹐哭笑不得。其實就是沒人品評﹐自己閒時拿來下酒﹐豈不快哉。

*1:蘇軾寄佛印一偈「稽首天中天﹐毫光照大千﹐八風吹不動﹐巍坐紫金蓮。」求評。佛印於紙背批「放屁!」並寄回。蘇軾怒﹐至寺欲找這個佛印理論﹐焉知寺門﹐門閉而貼一紙曰:「八風吹不動﹐一屁打過江」。愧甚回。八風是利、衰、毀、譽、稱、譏、苦、樂,四順四逆八種境界。

版權法 II

唔唔﹐曲兄﹐多謝你指出錯處的留言﹐我下次會 research 清楚點先寫﹐混雜了港美法律嗎? 的確之前看過幾篇﹐卻疏忽了出處﹐非常感激你陪我癲﹐你杯紅酒卻卻之不恭了﹐哈。不過原意只是想話﹐如果活物也可當商品註冊商標﹐有點﹐唔... strip off morality of man as a being just for convinience. 例如話:我道士個人就係商標﹐把人的本性刮奪﹐經好似以 cooperation 的形式登記之下才存在著, 便可買賣﹐註冊商標﹐千祈唔好比人拆股分分細就好了。當然﹐在法律上﹐是不道德的... 唔﹐就好像‘死亡筆記’這套戲﹐主角就是在一個沒有 consequence 的情況下﹐選擇把心內認為應該殺掉的人殺掉﹐和 Plato's Ring Of Gyges 有點相近﹐道德﹐該如何去界定呢? 唔...我想我還要追看埋上次見到那本 morality of law 先可繼續寫下去﹐的確﹐我慣性忘記太多﹐也一知半解太多世間的人和事﹐走馬看花的人生就是這樣。

同時﹐今早睡得矇矇糊糊中﹐又繼續想: 其實﹐再追溯下去﹐為什麼一張背脊相就可以搞到滿城風雨? 是和我們有原罪的關係嗎(吃了禁果﹐知羞方衣)? 為何法律要管制我們穿不穿衣服? 就像我現在剛睡醒﹐的確是赤條條的在打字﹐自出娘胎就是這個樣子﹐你知道這情況我也無罪﹐但為何我卻要擔心如果打開窗簾﹐你或某人看見就會隨時觸犯法例呢? 是否若果我們沒有衣服﹐在路上撞到心宜的人﹐就是否會獸性狂發的要交媾﹐甚至拿起棍來打殺情敵? 一張相可令雜誌加印再加印﹐是代表了社會上幾多個層面出現問題呢? 在歐美﹐有些地方女子和男性一樣﹐喜歡赤著上身便赤著上身﹐是否可解脫某些人心中的某種欲望(非慾)?在溫哥華﹐夏天我也有去天體沙灘﹐只見到﹐通常著得全身密實﹐卻喜歡四圍行﹐四圍看的﹐止有中國人﹐那刻身為中國人的羞愧遠勝身上沒有衣服。在日本﹐韓國的溫泉﹐也只有香港人﹐才特別的顯得遮遮掩掩。其實﹐無論說文化背景﹐對性的看法﹐和宗教思想各層面還可伸延下去﹐不過才疏學淺﹐今天輒止於此。

五體不勤 五穀不分

這個時代的人﹐要俾錢做運動﹐又要吃得康。前幾年無人問津的粗米﹑雜糧﹐現在居然因高纖的關係﹐越炒越貴。做做運動是好的﹐其實五穀比較小用的小米﹐也自有一番風味。

五谷者,最早見于《論語》,之前的《詩經》、《尚書》中,只有“百谷”,而无“五谷”的說法。
但對五谷究竟指明哪五种作物,則出現在漢朝。五谷所含,有說法二。一曰:稻、黍、稷(粟)、麦、菽(大豆)。然据《大戴礼記》所載,卻是麻(大麻)、黍、稷、麦、菽。合来,就得出稻、黍、稷、麦、菽、麻六种作物。《呂氏春秋》中“審時”篇論栽种禾(稷)、黍、稻、麻、菽、麦六种作物的情况;“十二紀”亦如是。《三字經》中,将稻、粱、菽、麦、黍、稷為六谷。

禾(小米)、黍、稻(米)、麻(大麻)、菽(大豆)、麦

禾﹐小米,古稱稷﹑粟,因其粒小(1mm),故名。原產于北方黃河流域,古之重要作物,所以夏﹑商属“粟文化”。粟耐旱,种繁,稱有五彩,亦有粘性小米。早期的酒也以小米釀。其茎、叶較硬,可作飼牛等。北方俗稱之為谷子,南方則稱稻為谷子。谷子地里的雜草樣子非常像谷子,其苗曰莠,“良莠不齊”出之於此。

黍,一年生草本植物,果實叫黍子,是一種具有黏性的稷,黃色小圓顆粒性黏,碾成米後稱作黃米。可磨作粉糕,也適宜釀酒。蒙古人以此製作炒米─先將黃米放入水鍋裏煮到米嘴開裂,才能放人大灶與砂子一同爆炒,趁著鍋熱了趕緊將砂子與米糠過篩,炒米便可食用。

大豆﹐古稱菽,是一种其种子含有丰富的蛋白質的豆科植物;說到大豆,一般都指其种子而言。大豆呈橢圓、球形,顏色有黃、淡綠、黑等,故又有黃豆、青豆、黑豆之稱。