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Welcome to the eastern edition of the online studio of Francisco Mattos, built w/ printed pieces, design endeavors, personal projects, experiments.
ANTONIO AGOSTINHO
≡| Motorist
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After the Second World War, Hong Kong took pains to rebuild its transportation infrastructure. Roads were widened and new routes were created.
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An integrated transportation system came into play, w/ single and double-decker bus service. A tramway running the length of HK island on the harbor side and a second one just for the Peak. Two passenger ferry routes btw. HK and Kowloon and one ferry route dedicated to vehicles.
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User-friendly driving calmed grateful trucks, taxis and private cars, heeding traffic cops and easy-to-spot stop signs and signals.
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My father Tony got his driver license when he was 35 years old. The war had ended seven years ago, and having to drive on bald tires became a thing of the past.
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Tony’s first and only car was a Simca, a Fiat built in France, and he drove it to work every day. He took his wife grocery shopping and his family on regular Sunday drives to every nook and cranny of HK, Kowloon and the New Territories that was accessible by car.
≡| Heir
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My father was born on August 28 1918 at 17A Queens Road Central and baptized a week later in the Catholic Cathedral. Two days later baby Tony received registration papers stating that he was a HK citizen. He went to school at 9 and graduated in 1932.
▶ Tony’s Father
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Tony’s father José was born on February 21 1892 in the parish of Freguesia de São Lourenço, Macau, to Filomena Russurreição da Silva Oliveira (b.1864) and Pedro de Alcantara de Oliveira Mattos (b.1864).
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He was 21 when he married Cristalina Cristiana Collaço, at that time a minor, at the Cathedral in Canton. Their first child Maria Lucia was born, and five years later my father. They had five more: Regina, Victor, Teresa, Adelina, and Gloria Cristina.
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José supported his family as a clerk w/ the Asiatic Petroleum Co., a joint venture of Royal Dutch and Shell Oil in China.
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Then, around 1929, he abandoned everyone, boarded a ship and disappeared.
▶ Tony’s Father
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Tony’s father José was born on February 21 1892 in the parish of Freguesia de São Lourenço, Macau, to Filomena Russurreição da Silva Oliveira (b.1864) and Pedro de Alcantara de Oliveira Mattos (b.1864).
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He was 21 when he married Cristalina Cristiana Collaço, at that time a minor, at the Cathedral in Canton. Their first child Maria Lucia was born, and five years later my father. They had five more: Regina, Victor, Teresa, Adelina, and Gloria Cristina.
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José supported his family as a clerk w/ the Asiatic Petroleum Co., a joint venture of Royal Dutch and Shell Oil in China.
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Then, around 1929, he abandoned everyone, boarded a ship and disappeared.
≡| Graduate
▶ HK Portuguese
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“The Portuguese in Hong Kong”by Cyril Neves
2003 | ¶ | When the British Fleet dropped anchor and raised the flag at Possession Point [in HK] on a January morning in 1841, the first people ashore were clerical staff from the British trading companies in Macau. Ever since, the Portuguese have woven a rich and splendid thread through the history of Hong Kong. ... Everyone knew what a Portuguese was, but after centuries in Africa, India, the Malay Islands of the Indies, Goa, Japan and China, it was sometimes difficult to explain. Intermarriage over the generations had blurred the lines. ... There were no Portuguese who were not Catholics. ...
▶ Air Travel
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“China Cycle”by Richard P. Dobson
1946 | ¶ | I filled in forms and collected the necessary visa in a hurry, and by the following dawn was at Kai Tak aerodrome embarking in a Pan-American Clipper. The Clipper was a mighty machine. I reclined in a bunk, and they brought me tea, then sandwiches, then beer. When I arose there were light refereshments and buffet lunch in the lounge, so the passengers were kept happy until after about five hours the distant blue sparkle of the sea gave way to the vivid green of forest and jungle and soon we hissed smoothly in to the naval anchorage at Cavite. ... Everything was expensive. Manila is one of the most costly places to live in that I know—
≡| Adult
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When the Second World War reached Asia, Tony and his family left British HK for neutral Macau. He and his brother became gendarmes -- armed guards on patrol. He left service w/ a tattoo.
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One of Tony’s duties was to stand watch at the border w/ China. Daily he watched as people fled from bullets and bayonets. One day he caught the eye of someone, who must have also locked eyes w/ him because they most certainly began a love affair.
▶ Macau Falls
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“Birdless Summer”
by Han Suyin
1938
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The offensive of the Japanese against Canton started on October 12 1938; on the 21st Canton was taken, even though there were 200 Chinese troops there. On the order of Chiang Kaishek there was no resistance, they were withdrawn. The Japanese attacked both by land and sea, 30 warships sailed up the Bocca Tigris, 20,000 men landed. 43,000 Canton Volunteers put down their names to fight for their city, but the officials were fleeing, no one would give them weapons. The bridge which spanned the Pearl River and the city was bombed; on the afternoon of the 21st, Japanese motorized units entered Canton. By this action Japan placed her military power in position for a thrust, three years later, upon the British colony of Hong Kong.
▶ Macau Falls
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“Birdless Summer”by Han Suyin
1938 | ¶ | The offensive of the Japanese against Canton started on October 12 1938; on the 21st Canton was taken, even though there were 200 Chinese troops there. On the order of Chiang Kaishek there was no resistance, they were withdrawn. The Japanese attacked both by land and sea, 30 warships sailed up the Bocca Tigris, 20,000 men landed. 43,000 Canton Volunteers put down their names to fight for their city, but the officials were fleeing, no one would give them weapons. The bridge which spanned the Pearl River and the city was bombed; on the afternoon of the 21st, Japanese motorized units entered Canton. By this action Japan placed her military power in position for a thrust, three years later, upon the British colony of Hong Kong.
≡| Witness
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During the war, Tony read history and learned about the world by collecting stamps.
▶ HK Surrenders
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“Tales of Hong Kong”
by Gene Gleason
1967
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Two Japanese divisions invaded [HK] from China on December 8 1941, conquered the New Territories and Kowloon in ten days, and crossed to the north side of HK Island at several points btw. Lei Yue Mun Pass and North Point. Outnumbered and w/out air cover, the British, Canadian and Indian defence forces took their main stand at Wong Nei Chong Gap to prevent the Japanese from driving south to cut the island defences in half. The Japanese defeated the defenders decisively at the Gap and pushed forward to complete the cuf-off at Repulse Bay.
▶ Aftermath
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“Fragrant Harbour: A Short History of Hong Kong”
by G.B. Endacott and A. Hinton
1968
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For nearly four years [HK] remained under Japanese military occupation. British civilians were interned at Stanley in the St. Stephen’s College and Prison area. Under war conditions the Japanese were unable to feed a large population in HK or to maintain health and other public services, so a large number of people returned to the mainland and the population shrank to some 600,000. The war ended in August 1945, and on August 30 1945, British warships entered the harbour and accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison of 21,000 men. The British once again took control of the government.
▶ HK Surrenders
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“Tales of Hong Kong”by Gene Gleason
1967 | ¶ | Two Japanese divisions invaded [HK] from China on December 8 1941, conquered the New Territories and Kowloon in ten days, and crossed to the north side of HK Island at several points btw. Lei Yue Mun Pass and North Point. Outnumbered and w/out air cover, the British, Canadian and Indian defence forces took their main stand at Wong Nei Chong Gap to prevent the Japanese from driving south to cut the island defences in half. The Japanese defeated the defenders decisively at the Gap and pushed forward to complete the cuf-off at Repulse Bay.
▶ Aftermath
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“Fragrant Harbour: A Short History of Hong Kong”by G.B. Endacott and A. Hinton
1968 | ¶ | For nearly four years [HK] remained under Japanese military occupation. British civilians were interned at Stanley in the St. Stephen’s College and Prison area. Under war conditions the Japanese were unable to feed a large population in HK or to maintain health and other public services, so a large number of people returned to the mainland and the population shrank to some 600,000. The war ended in August 1945, and on August 30 1945, British warships entered the harbour and accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison of 21,000 men. The British once again took control of the government.
≡| Fighter
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In his late twenties Tony was paying attention to the buzz on a free Angola. He was careless and for his troubles a letter arrived from the British Consulate in Macau:
13th January, 1945.
Sir,
I feel I must draw to your attention that certain of your associations may in future draw the unfavourable attention of British Authorities. I feel I need specify no further since you will be able to know to what I refer. I suggest that for your own good you sever these associations as soon as possible.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(H.B.M. Consul.)
≡| Spouse
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In 1943, police guard Tony married domestic Patsy at St Anthony in Macau, according to and conforming to the Rite of Saint Mother Church Catholic Apostolic Roman. He signed but she did not, “because she could not write.”
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Tony took a photo of his first-born and captioned it on the back:
▶ Tony’s wife
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Tony’s wife was born on July 7 1918 in Nam-Hoi, Canton. When war reached her village she left w/ two sisters for the coast and never saw her family again.
Eldest sister rests her hand on youngest sister. The eldest would open a tucks shop and die in HK, the youngest would return to China to live. Patsy, the middle sister, went to America.
▶ Tony’s wife
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Tony’s wife was born on July 7 1918 in Nam-Hoi, Canton. When war reached her village she left w/ two sisters for the coast and never saw her family again.
Eldest sister rests her hand on youngest sister. The eldest would open a tucks shop and die in HK, the youngest would return to China to live. Patsy, the middle sister, went to America.
≡| Husband
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His 1946 passport (no. 241) listed Tony as a British subject by birth. Five feet nine inches, dark brown eyes and hair.
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By 1958 Tony was a father to five children. He sent a postcard to his eldest, living then in Manila:
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Tony was living at 51E Wyndham Street in 1936 when he found a job w/ the Hongkong Electric Company to work in its showrooms. Salary was HK$60 per month and hours were weekdays 7 to 5 + Saturdays 7 to 1
≡| Electrician
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After the war, he was rehired and by 1957 was a second assistant engineer. Eight years later he was a testing assistant and was issued a War Department Pass.
≡| Petitioner
| ¶ | By 1966, the Cultural Revolution had spilled over to HK. Red Guards marched to Government House for redressing of past behavior.
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Tony had gone through one war w/ Patsy they did not want to again, not w/ a family. He sought to immigrate and wrote to his mother and older sister in America.
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On May 6 1969, Tony handed in his resignation and was granted early retirement so that he can take up residence in the United States.
≡| Emigré
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In 1969, Tony brought Patsy and their three youngest aboard the President Cleveland, docked in HK. After a stopover in Yokohama, they arrived in Honolulu on June 13, where he declared his intention to immigrate w/ his family to the United States of America.
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In 1973, Patsy suddenly passed away from cancer. Widowed, Tony filled out a statement of facts for a petition to become a naturalized citizen. He was 56.
≡| Widower
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Tony worked in a mailroom in San Francisco, happy to be among stamps. Then his work performance suffered, and in 1980 he was let go. After deductions, his last paycheck came to 301.74.
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Lost in thought, Tony is comforted by his mother.
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Falling into despondency, Tony moved to the Tenderloin, signing in as “Antonio O. Mattos” and taking Room 303 at the Marlton Manor.
≡| Paterfamilias
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Tony was 67 when he passed away. Thirty-seven people went to his funeral, incl. siblings Adele and Victor, and all his children. He liked to go night fishing by himself, and was a member of the Hong Kong Philatelic Society (POB 446) from 1950 until he left his hometown.
TONY’S PHONE BOOK
All his children get listed (incl. their old addreses, employers, roommates), his sisters and their families, his ex sister-in-law in Toronto, and his mother.
Tony joined UMA Inc and stayed in contact w/ his HK friends, incl. the Alvareses, Browns, Carneiros, Carvalhos, Collaços, Gregorios, Ribeiros, Rochas, Rozas, Silvas, and Xaviers. He had many Chinese friends back home, new ones in America; there are at least eight New York addresses.
His primary physician was Dr Gerald Roberts and the secretary’s name was Marilyn. How to contact Medicare, Medi-Cal, Neighborhood Legal Assistance, Mt Zion Hospital, and the Radiation Oncology Tumor Institute.
SF’s Arrow Stamp Co. and Sunrise Stamp Co. Library hours. Bus info. Where to get bait. Two bank accounts. Nearby restaurants serving Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, satay, fish-&-chip. Japanese words daijobu, gohan, ichi ban, ofura, sashimi and what they mean.
KITCHENETTE
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Mormon Tatter Tot Surprise Casserole
▶ Mikal Shively’s contribution to comfort goes well w/ eggs for breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1 package Tatter Tots or Tatter Rounds
- 1 can of any kind of Cream Soup (mushroom, corn, celery, etc.)
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 pint Sour Cream
- 1 pound shredded Cheese (your choice)
- Mix cream soup, milk, and sour cream together.
- Layer Tatter Tots, mixture, and shredded cheese, in a large casserole dish. Add any variation you might want to the layering. | For example, you can add artichoke hearts, bacon bits, frozen sweet corn, hard cheese, mild green chilies, or any combination of savory ingredients, but be sure to match the mixture and shredded cheese.
- Season each layer to taste as desired. Be careful, the Tatter Tots and most cheeses are salty.
- Top off w/ mixture and shredded cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven at 350° until the casserole is bubbling and/or the cheese has melted and turned a golden brown on top. Serve warm, or room temperature.
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Potted Crab
| Simmer equal amounts Sherry and Wine, together w/ 1 tsp White Wine Vinegar, 4 Shallots sliced, quarter stick of Cinnamon. Let simmer and reduce to one-third volume. | Add quarter stick of Unsalted Butter and simmer 10 minutes. Turn off fire. | Add 1/2 pound Crab Meat, 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter, Salt. | Serve room temperature w/ Hot Toast. |
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Watercress Salad
| 1-1/2 cup Watercress (leaves only). | 1 cup chopped and pitted cured Italian Black Olives. | Peel and dice 1 Fuji Apple per person, and toss w/ Lemon Juice. | Combine well the 3 ingredients and serve in chilled bowls. | No dressing needed. No S-&-P. | Goes well w/ Homemade Croutons (chopped semi-stale Bread tossed in a skillet using 1 tbsp Butter, 1 tbsp Olive Oil, Garlic (1 clove per person), and Black Pepper). |
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Klaus Nomi
Keylime Tart
A STORY OF TWO OVENS. | I met Klaus Nomi outside CBGBs and asked him how he could support himself as an artist in mid-80s Manhattan. Having training as a pastry chef before he left Europe, he would make small-batches of sweets in his kitchen to sell to restaurants. Then, when demand grew, he bought a second stove-top oven. | Watch a
video of how to make Keylime Tart.
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3-ingredient Cantonese soup:
Fuzzy Melon, Shitake Mushrooms, Dried Tofu
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Caldo Verde
▶ Homey Portuguese kale soup that can be dressed up w/ Ham Hocks into something similar to Italian Wedding Soup.
- Fry up 2 or 3 Chorizo sausages (no oil needed) until slightly crispy and set aside.
- In a heavy pan melt half tablespoon Unsalted Butter, then Onion, Garlic, Olive Oil, one thinly-sliced Leek and cook 5 minutes.
- Add one cubed Potato, Salt and Paprika.
- Cook for a few minutes then add hot Stock (vegetable or chicken), tsp Tomato Purée, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer until potatoes are almost done.
- Add one and a half cups of shredded Kale w/ the stems removed, and simmer 30 minutes more or until done. Season to taste.
- Top w/ chorizos and best served w/ a good drizzle of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.
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Marilyn Monroe
Bird Stuffing
▶ Found scribbled on stationery from the City Title Insurance Company.
STUFFING
- No garlic.
- Boil Giblet, Liver, Heart in water for 5 to 10 minutes, drain and chop.
- Brown &fra14; pound of Ground Round in frying pan, no oil.
- Chop four stalks celery and parsley and add to one chopped onion.
- Soak French Sourdough Bread in cold water, wring out, then shred.
- Combine one cup raisins, one cup chopped nuts (walnuts, chestnuts, peanuts), one handful of grated Parmesan cheese, and one or two chopped hard-boiled eggs.
- Combine stuffing and add poultry seasoning, oregano, thyme, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Mix well.
- S-&-P inside of Chicken (or Turkey).
- insert stuffing into bird. Then place bird in roasting pan and dust w/ S-&-P and butter, before putting in hot oven.
- Baste until done.
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The
Andy Warhol Cocktail
| 1-1/2 ounce Cognac. | 1/2 oz. Benedictine. | 1/3 oz. Lillet Blanc. | 2 dashes Orange Bitters. |
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Soy Sauce Chicken
a la Rick Cheng
▶ Instead of a whole chicken, this home recipe is for cut-up pieces, making an Cantonese comfort food that much easier to eat.
- Rub pieces of cut-up Chicken (leave skin on) w/ Sugar and set aside.
- In a deep pot add 4 cups cold Water, 3/4 cup of Shaoxing Wine, 3/4 cup of Dark Soy Sauce, 2 large pieces Rock Sugar (wong bing tong), 2 Star Anise. 4 cloves of smashed Garlic, and peeled and smashed fresh Ginger.
- Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
- Immerse chicken pieces and cook covered for 10 minutes.
- Turn heat down and simmer for 1/2 hour and let stand 5 minutes uncovered.
- Remove chicken parts and brush w/ Sesame Oil while still warm.
- Sprinkle w/ chopped Scallions.
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Sweet & Sour Sauce
| Mix together 1 tbsp Vinegar, 2 tbsp Ketchup, 2 tbsp Sugar, heaping tsp Soy Sauce, pinch of Salt, 5 to 10 drops Tobasco sauce. |
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Nuoc Mam
VIETNAMESE DIPPING SAUCE | Mix together 1 Bird’s Eye Chili, finely sliced, 1 crushed clove of Garlic, tbsp Fish Sauce, tbsp fresh Lime Juice, and tbsp (dissolved) Sugar. |
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Mary Ann Hee’s Smoked Salmon
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“Holy Smokes”
Sacrapantina
▶ San Francisco magazine food writer Jack Shelton, “I would no sooner serve a great portion of this delicacy than I would fresh caviar.”
| In 1990, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors honored baker and owner of Stella Pastry in North Beach, Franco Santucci, as the best baker in the world. | His prized creation is the Sacripantina, born long ago and in Genoa, where a feast was given by a king in which a dessert was to be the centerpiece. | Conceived by the queen, it stunned the assembled when they tasted this confection of “cream, air and magic”, conjured w/ Almond Powder, Butter Cake, Cream Frosting, Meringue, Simple Syrup, and Zabaglione. | Here is a similar recipe to a North Beach icon.
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Trifle
| Use a large glass bowl and place a piece of sponge cake on the bottom. | Add in layers from the following: Jellies, Creams, Custards and soft Fruits.
| Add lashings of Brandy or similar btw. layers. | Add a unique topping (e.g. candied pecans) and refrigerate for 2 hours. |
A cold
English dessert
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Haschich Fudge
▶ Pot brownie recipe in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook is from Brion Gysin.
- “Take 1 tsp Black Peppercorns, 1 whole Nutmeg, 4 average sticks of Cinnamon, 1 tsp Coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful of each stoned Dates, Dried Figs, shelled Almonds and Peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of Cannabis Sativa can be pulverised. This along w/ the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, and kneaded together. About a cupful of Sugar should be dissolved in a big pat of Butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or rolled into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient. Obtaining the cannibis may present certain difficulties, but the variety known as Cannabis Sativa grows as common as weed, often unrecognised in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa; besides being cultivated as a crop for the manufacture of rope. In the Americas, while often discouraged, its cousin, called Cannabis Indica, has been observed even in store window boxes. It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green.”
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Cock Ale
A REMEDY FOR CONSUMPTION. | One of several methods, this 17th Century English recipe entails killing and gutting an old Cock (the older the better), placing it in a large stone mortar and then pounding it w/ spices, incl Dates, Mace, Nutmegs and Raisins. | All the while slowly add in 8 gallons of Ale. | Finish w/ 2 bottles of good White Wine. | Stir well and transfer liquid into glass bottles. |
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Garum
Traditional Roman Fish Sauce
“ … As a result of its popularity, the production, consumption, importing and exporting of garum (aka allec, muria, liquamen) was a not insignificant aspect of the Roman economy. Surviving records tell us that citizens complained about the thick stench of fish parts being liquefied and fermented in a potent brew of salt and spices; as a result, fish sauce factories were moved to the outskirts of town – and outsourced to places like Spain.…”
▶ Recipe
- Mackerel Entrails
- Anchovies
- Oysters
- Sea Urchins
- Sea Nettles
- Crabfishes
- Lobsters
- Livers of Sea Barbles
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Century Egg
The crown of Chinese cuisine (pidan) has many names: century egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, millennium egg and a pine-patterned egg.
▶ Salvador Dali has his own recipe
- 1 dozen Eggs
- 1-1/2 quarts of Water
- 5 whole Cloves
- 4 Tea-Bags
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 3 tbsp Vinegar
- 2 Lemons, cut in 8 pieces
- 2 Onions
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon Thyme
- Tabasco sauce
- First, boil the eggs for ten minutes in salted boiling water. Then take them out, put them under cold running water which will make it easier to shell them. In the same water in which the eggs had boiled, add the cloves, sugar, vinegar, a lot of Tabasco sauce, the lemons (cut in eighths) and thyme. Boil for 15 minutes. Shut off the flame, dip in the tea-bag and let them steep for 10 minutes.
- In a jar, put the diced onions and garlic. Add the shelled eggs, and pour the broth so that the eggs are completely immersed. Close the jar and keep it on the lower shelf of your refrigerator.
- Be patient for 3 weeks before opening the jar and serving. These eggs go well with cold meats and fish.”
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Rosa Parks
“Featherlite” Peanut Butter Pancakes
| Sift together 1 cup Flour, 2 tbsp Baking Powder, 2 tbsp Sugar, half tsp Salt; set aside. Mix well together 1 Egg w/ 1-3/4 cup Milk, 1-1/3 cup Peanut Butter, 1 tbsp Shortening (or Oil). | Combine w/ dry ingredients and griddle at 275° til done. |
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Fish Pie
| The only pie stuffed w/ fish. Savory and sweet. Spices w/ spirits. |
▶ Recipe
DOUGH
- 2-1/2-lb Flour
- 1-1/2 cup Sugar
- 16 Egg Yolks
- 2 Egg Whites
- 13 oz. Shortening
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup of Chinese Cooking Wine (Sheung Jing)
- 5 chopped Olives
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan Cheese
METHOD
- Fry quarter pound of Cod (or Sea Bass) w/ Cumin, Coriander, Saffron Powder, S-&-P. When done, let it cool. Then knead into pastry dough.
- Let cool when done. Knead into pastry dough, and leave enough for a filling.
- Cover w/ dough top and bake in 350° oven for 45 minutes or until brown.
- Serve at room temperature. Known colloquially in Macao as Empada de Peixe or just Empada. The version in Fat Rice by Abraham, Adrienne and Hugh substitutes Chinese wine w/ brandy and port, and gives the top a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
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Green Goddess Dressing
| Blend together Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, Chevril, Chive, Tarragon, Lemon Juice, Black Pepper, and one fillet of Anchovy. |
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Golden Milk
| In a small pot add 1 cup of Milk, 1 pitted Date, tsp Tumeric Powder, tsp Ghee (or Coconut Oil), half-tsp Fresh Ginger, pinch of Cinnamon, 1 Cardomon Pod, Black Pepper. | Place covered pot over medium heat until this tumeric medicinal begins bubbling; then low for 15 minutes. |
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Cold Cucumber Soup
| Helen and Earl Kennedy’s 1970s version for their Venice Beach restaurant Chez Hélène. |
▶ Recipe
STEP 1
- 2 Cucumbers
- 1 Leek, white stem only, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp Butter
- Bay Leaf
- 1 tbsp Flour
- 3 cups Chicken Stock
- Peel and chop cucumbers. Saute gently in butter, leek, and bay leaf for 20 minute, or until tender.
- Stir in flour, then add chicken stoc + 1 tsp salt and simmer 30 minutes.
- Put mixture through foodmill and divide into 2 portions.
- Blend first portion, strain through fine sieve into large bowl. Then blend second portion, and strain through fine sieve into bowl.
- Chill in fridge 2 to 3 hours.
- 1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
- 1 cup Cream
- Juice from half a Lemon
- 1 tsp Fresh Dill or Mint
- S&P
- Into chilled soup add cucumber, cream and lemon juice. Mix well.
- Stir in dill or mint and correct w/ S-&-P.
- Chill for 30 minutes before serving. | (Optional: garnish w/ Sour Cream.)
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▶ Daphne du Maurier penned this poem on tiffin talk.
“Please pass the cream – yes – that’s enough (“I knew her years before the war”)
“I’d love some of that sugary stuff” (“She must be at least fifty-four”)
“I can’t believe your dress is true” (“He said his lines in an appalling way”)
“It’s almost a delphinium blue” (“To me he ruined the entire play”)
“The whole thing’s such a terrible disgrace” (“Surely he was the Duke’s adopted son!”)
“If I were in Winston Churchill’s place...” (“My dear, you’re thinking of another one”)
“I always loathed the girl, she drinks and swears.” And everyone was thinking – “Christ! Who cares.”
CORNERS OF
HONG KONG
✶|Tiger Balm Gardens
██ Built back in 1932 to act as the backyard to a tycoon's mansion, the Tiger Balm Gardens in Happy Valley is a one-of-a-kind folly. On the steepest hillsides imaginable, inhospitable to real estate development, Aw Boon Haw ("Gentle Tiger") envisioned a human-size depiction of a moral Chinese universe. At the top of all this is the all-white seven-storey Tiger Pagoda, presiding over the phantasm at its base. On the lower right there is a crop of clouds known as the Blue Mountain.
██ The Blue Mountain in this psychedelic park is a sculpted scenario, based on Daoist descriptions, whipped up w/ plaster-of-paris applied to the cliff-like mountainside. Staircases in the clouds and elsewhere act as bridge btw. situations.
██ Natural ledges and spurs were leveraged by stonemasons for passageways and platforms, galleries and lookout points. Artisans working w/ chicken-wire and cement shaped natural forms found only in dreams. Where none existed before, shortcuts and crossings accrue bringing forth altitudinal alcoves, blessed benches, and rooms w/ scenic views.
██ This garden of steep and narrow steps enhances the mystical acts of ascension and descension: to the Shangri-la of heaven or the stockades of Hell . Vistas retreat, and suddenly destinations take on labyrinthean lengths, up and down, from one scenario to the next.
Entrance to the Tiger Balm Gardens, where the first steps already beguile.
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—|“Dumbbell” Island
TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS
| 1. | THE Lunar New Year Festival on Cheung Chau, held the first day of first month of the new lunar calendar, is total old-school. | 2. | NIGHT TIME is when the Lantern Festival gets going, held on the last full day of the new year festivities, and somewhat akin, in symbolism, to Valentine's Day. As the sun sets, folks carrying red lanterns w/ riddles written on them parade around town, in search of riddle-solvers. | 3. | MARTIAL ARTISTS GATHER every year to celebrate the Birthday of Yuen Mo, a high-ranking deity in Taoism (黑帝 Black Deity). | 4. | DEITY TO SEAFARERS and a sea goddess in her own right, the Birthday of Kwan Yin is observed by sailors who know that her miraculous interventions protect them. | 5. | A RURAL FESTIVAL w/ Taoist roots. Villagers would wander the island decked out as divines. Inside a contraption depicting their avatars as giants, they would re-enact a ceremony to ward off evil spirits. The lineup always will incl. the goddess of mercy (Kuan Yin), goddess of the sea (Tin Hau), god of the south (Hung Hsing), and a revered divinity named Pak Tai. Together they get to sponsor the annual Bun Festival, which takes place over four days and three nights. The original band of prime movers is nowadays attended by a parade of floats, and the majority of them feature children performing acrobatic mojo. The centerpiece of the celebration – and its highlight – is a competition to see who can scramble to the top of a high tower that has been festooned w/ buns, the object being the first one to snatch the very top bun. The core tradition being an example of exorcism, only vegetarian fare is served. | 6. | A ROWBOAT RACE happens around Chinese summer solstice and takes place during the Dragon Boat Festival, to remember a poet and minister, who drowned himself when he was accused of treason. Festival food is a tamale Chinese style: glutinous rice cradling meat and either peanuts or yellow beans, wrapped w/ lotus leaves an steamed. | 7. | MODEL OF CONFUCIANISM, present at the Battle of Red Cliffs, a battle that ended the Han dynasty, then after many exploits became fictionalized in prose, and went on to attain immortality as emperor deity of Chinese folk religion. Buddhists and Taoists alike are welcome, during the Birthday of Guang Gong celebrations. | 8. | HARVESTING TIME is when mooncakes, made w/ sweet bean or lotus seed pastes, and only available during this period, are a good way to fatten up for winter. Welcome to the Mid-Autumn Festival. And if one can agree that films too are festivals, there once was an on-going one, Cheung Chau Theatre, an outdoor cinema .TODAY
Fishing still happens, and Cheung Chau is the place to go for seafood. Tourists now know "dumbell island" and its swimming beaches. Ferry from Hong Kong takes 55 minutes, 20 less if its a high-speed, running every 30 minutes or so depending on hour and day. There are no roads to speak of, it's a land of lanes. Walking the one square mile island is easy enough; and bycicles are a common sight.
—|Stanley Prison
Today
In all, there are now 29 security sites in Hong Kong, w/ a capacity for 8,400 inmates. In correctional institutions, half-way houses, and custodial wards in public hospitals, psychological treatments are offered as a part of the care. | • • | Inmates who are violent, dangerous or criminally insane go to Liu Lam Psychiatric Centre. For women there is either Wu Correctional Institution, which is minimum- to medium-security, or Tai Lam Centre for Women, a maximum-security site. The elderly inmates, those 65 or older and who are of low-security risk, get housed at Tai Lam Correctional Institution.
‒|Walled City
Invisible typeface
A documentary by filmmaker Gary Hurstwit, Heveltica the Documentary (2007) posits Helvetica as the most user-friendly of fonts.
“I saw Helvetica everywhere [in New York City], and watched how people were interacting with -- but not really thinking about -- it. People going about their lives, letting a typeface tell them which direction their subway train was headed, where they could park, where the bathroom was, how much to pay for a hot dog. I felt like I’d stumbled onto a secret language.”
MORE POSTCARDS
✈¦ Western Australia
PERTH
| ¶ |
Going on 38,000 years, the Whadjuk people have lived on the Swan Coastal Plain in the south-western region of Australia. Today, they share the land w/ an administrative center for the Swan River Colony, set up in 1829 and growing into present-day Perth, the capital of Western Australia and the western-most capital in the world.
▶ 2016
• WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Super Moon over Perth.
| ¶ |
Aerial view of Western Australia.
| ¶ |
Geode from Mammoth Cave, a limestone cavern about 1600-feet long and 98-feet deep, and first explored in 1895.
• SWAN RIVER
| ¶ |
“Spanada”, an outdoor sculpture by Elizabeth Quay on the Swan River.
• DOWNTOWN PERTH
Yagan Square is a new area built to honor the Aboraginal beginnings of Perth.
| ¶ |
A repurposed building on William Street downtown, preserving the original facade and building out modernized additions.
| ¶ |
Plaque on building for
J. Crothers Perth, constructing Western Australia since 1896.
✈¦ Papua New Guinea
PORT MORESBY
| ¶ |
Harbor view and on the horizon is the Coral Sea, in southwestern Pacific Ocean.
| ¶ |
Papua New Guinea is a country swept by periods wherein high levels of rape, robbery and murder occur, and Port Moresby is its capital.
| ¶ |
Amongst a rampant gang culture of the Raskol, PNG’s population cope w/ poor healthcare and poverty. Currently Port Moresby ranks as being the worst capital to live in in the world.
▶ Errol Flynn lived in PNG
| ¶ | In his autobiography “My Wicked, Wicked Ways”, the actor Errol Flynn describes seeing Port Moresby for the first time, in 1930: “We piloted our ship into the rather fine harbor of Port Moresby. We arrived during the rainy season and the whole area was brilliant green. The region seemed beautiful to me and I poked around searching its resources. About thirty miles from the port the Laloki River flowed through an emerald countryside. I fell in love w/ it. My partners made their way back to Australia, but I decided to settle there. ... Around me, from Laloki to Port Moresby, was a territory plentiful w/ nutmeg, rattan cane, the okari nut, bananas, mangrove, coconuts, and sandalwood. There was fish in the river, and the natives brought food to my door. For a pence or two I could have the fruit of the region.”
✈¦ Japan
OSAKA
| ¶ |
Night view of Osaka shows the
Yodo River winding through, on its way to Osaka Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
| ¶ |
The megalopolis of Osaka is a confluence of cities and suburbs in the Kansai region in Japan. With an extensive warren of underground shipping arcades as well as the largest slum in the county, the “nation‘s kitchen” is where 19 million people call home.
✈¦ Prague
CHARLES BRIDGE
| ¶ |
Dating to the 14th Century, when it was the only means of crossing the Vitava River, and holding that distinction until 1841.
| ¶ |
This unique “solid-land” connection made Prague supreme as a city on the trade route btw. eastern and western Europe.
✈¦ Oceania
AUCKLAND
| ¶ |
The port city as seen from atop one of the numerous extinct volcanoes ringing it. Towards the horizon the Hauraki Gulf shows the way to the South Pacific.
▶ Waterworld
Located where the sea route incoming from the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific group of islands incl. Fiji, New Caledonia and Tonga, the port of Auckland has long been regarded as the “hub of waterways in all directions” (-Margaret McClure-).
✈¦
Hollywood
GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEATRE
| ¶ | Designated an historic cultural monument in 1968, but built as a movie theater by Sid Grauman in the 1920s, adorned w/ a fantastical façade of oriental-dream motifs, amalgating several landscapes into an intimate space of spotlight proportions — every step can feel like treading the boards.
| ¶ |
Gate posts from the sidewalk open onto a forecourt featuring a water feature cascading into a fish pond, a hut, a scholar’s rock. Guarded by a pair of lions at the front entrance, the visitor is ever seduced to be given access to this enduring edifice’s real purpose.
▶ Cutting the ribbon
| ¶ | On April 30, 1927, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks placed their hands and feet prints in wet cement at the newly opened theatre, inaugurating a tradition of cement immortality. | ¶ | Two weeks later, the curtains came up for the first time, the projector was switched on, the audience subdued as the lights dimmed and Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings was given its inaugural showing.
✈¦ India
GOA
| ¶ |
An early photograph (c.1975 or earlier) of the crown of
hippie flea markets, Anjuna in Goa.
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“Finish the Fight!”
The United States of America v. Susan B. Anthony
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), the daughter of Quaker abolitionists, walked into a polling station in Albany New York and voted. She was fined $100 on the charge of illegal voting, and she refused to pay. Four years earlier, together w/ Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), she had founded the National Woman Suffrage Association. Her examples made possible the eventual adoption of the Nineteenth Amenement, fourteen years after her death.
FIRST DAY
THE PROSECUTION
D.A. Richard Crowley:
May it please the Court and Gentlemen of the Jury: ... The defendant, Miss Susan B. Anthony ... voted for a representative in the Congrees of the United States, to represent the 29th Congressional District of this State, and also for a representative at large for the State of New York to represent the State in the Congresss of the United States. At that time she was a woman. I suppose there will be no question about that ... whatever Miss Anthony’s intentions may have been - whether they were good or otherwise - she did not have a right to vote upon that question, and if she did vote without having a lawful right to vote, then there is no question but what she is guilty of violating a law of the United States ...
• • •
Conceded, that on the 5th day of November 1872, Miss Susan B. Anthony was a woman.
THE INSPECTORS’ TESTIMONY
Q: Did you see her vote?
A: [Beverly W. Jones]: Yes, sir ...
Q: She was not challenged on the day she voted?
A: No, sir.
Cross-examination by Defense Attorney, Judge Henry Selden.
Q: Prior to the election, was there a registry of voters in that district made?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Were you one of the officers engaged in making that registry?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: When the registry was being made did Miss Anthony appear before the Board of Registry and claim to be registered as a voter?
A: She did.
Q: Was there any objection made, or any doubt raised as to her right to vote?
A: There was.
Q: On what ground?
A: On the ground that the Constitution of the State of New York did not allow women to vote.
Q: What was the defect in her right to vote as a citizen?
A: She was not a male citizen.
Q: That she was a woman?
A: Yes, sir ...
Q: Did the Board consider the question of her right to registry, and decide that she was entitled to registry as a voter?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: And she was registered accordingly?
A: Yes, sir ...
Q: Won’t you state what Miss Anthony said, if she said anything, when she came there and offered her name for registration?
A: She stated that she did not claim any rights under the Constitution of the State of New York; she claimed her right under the Constitution of the United States.
Q: Did she name any particular Amendment?
A: Yes, sir; she cited the 14th amendment.
Q: Under that she claimed her right to vote?
A: Yes, sir...
SECOND DAY
THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY
Judge Henry R. Selden:
The only alleged ground of illegality of the defendant's vote is that she is a woman.
“If the same act had been done by her brother under the same circumstances, the act would have been not only innocent, but honorable and laudable; but having been done by a woman it is said to be a crime. ... I believe this is the first instance in which a woman has been arraigned in a criminal court merely on account of her sex. ... Another objection is, that the right to hold office must attend the right to vote, and that women are not qualified to discharge the duties of responsible offices. I beg leave to answer this objection by asking one or more questions. How many of the male bipeds who do our voting are qualified to hold high offices? ... Another objection is that engaging in political controversies is not consistent w/ the feminine character. Upon that subject, women themselves are the best judges, and if political duties should be found inconsistent w/ female delicacy, we may rest assured that women will either effect a change in the character of political contests, or decline to engage in them. ...”
THE JUDGE
The Court: The question, gentlemen of the jury ... is wholly a question or questions of law, and I have decided as a question of law, in the first place, that under the 14th Amendment, which Miss Anthony claims protects her, she was not protected in a right to vote. And I have decided also that her belief and the advice which she took do not protect her in the act which she committed. If I am right in this, the result must be a verdict on your part of guilty, and I therefore direct that you find a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Selden: That is a direction no Court has power to make in a criminal case.
The Court: Take the verdict, Mr. Clerk. ...
Susan B. Anthony after casting her first vote, she was a 26 year-old school teacher in upstate New York, the year was 1848.
THE NEXT DAY
The Court: The prisoner will stand up. Has the prisoner anything to say why sentence shall not be pronounced?
MISS Anthony: Yes, your honor, I have many things to say; for in your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled underfoot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my sex, are, by your honor’s verdict, doomed to political subjection under this so-called Republican government.
JUDGE Hunt: The Court can not listen to a rehearsal of arguments the prisoner's counsel has already consumed three hours in presenting.
MISS Anthony: May it please your honor, I am not arguing the question, but simply stating the reasons why sentence can not, in justice, be pronounced against me. Your denial of my citizen's right to vote is the denial of my right of consent as one of the governed, the denial of my right of representation as one of the taxed, the denial of my right to a trial by a jury of my peers as an offender against the law, therefore, the denial of my sacred rights to life, liberty, property, and-
JUDGE Hunt: The court can not allow the prisoner to go on.
MISS Anthony: But your honor will not deny me this one and only poor privilege of protest against this high-handed outrage upon my citizen's rights. May it please the Court to remember that since the day of my arrest last November, this is the first time that either myself or any person of my disfranchised class has been allowed a word of defense before judge or jury–
JUDGE Hunt: the prisoner must sit down; the Court can not allow it.
MISS Anthony: All my prosecutors, from the 8th Ward corner grocery politician, who entered the complaint, to the United States Marshal, Commissioner, District Attorney, District Judge, your honor on the bench, not one is my peer, but each and all are my political sovereigns; and had your honor submitted my case to the jury, as was clearly your duty, even that I should have had just cause of protest, for not one of those men was my peer; but, native or foreign, white or black, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, awake or asleep, sober or drunk, each and every man of them was my political superior; hence, in no sense, my peer. ...
JUDGE Hunt: The Court must insist - the prisoner has been tried according to the established forms of law.
MISS Anthony: Yes, your honor, but by forms of law all made by men, interpreted by men, administered by men, in favor of men, and against women; and hence, your honor’s ordered verdict of guilty, against a United States citizen for the exercise of “that citizen’ s right to vote,” simply because that citizen was a woman and not a man. But, yesterday, the same manmade forms of law declared it a crime punishable w/ $1,000 fine and six months’ imprisonment, for you, or me, or any of us, to give a cup of cold water, a crust of bread, or a night’s shelter to a panting fugitive as he is tracking his way to Canada. And every man or woman in whose veins coursed a drop of human sympathy violated that wicked law, reckless of consequences, and was justified in so doing. As then the slaves who got ther freedom must take it over, or under, or through the unjust forms of law, precisely so now must women, to get their right to a voice in this Government, take it; and I have taken mine, and mean to take it at every possible opportunity.
JUDGE Hunt: The Court orders the prisoner to sit down. It will not allow another word
MISS Anthony: When I was brought before your honor for trial, I hoped for a broad and liberal interpretation of the Constitution and its recent amendments, that should declare all United States citizens under its protecting aegis - that should declare equality of rights the national guarantee to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. But failing to get this justice - failing, even, to get a trial by a jury not of my peers - I ask not leniency at your hands - but rather the full rigors of the law.
JUDGE Hunt: The Court must insist - [Here the prisoner sat down.] The prisoner will stand up. [Here Miss Anthony arose again.] The sentence of the Court is that you pay a fine of $100 and the costs of the prosecution.
MISS Anthony: May it please your honor, I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. All the stock in trade I possess is a $10,000 debt, incurred by publishing my paper - The Revolution - four years ago, the sole object of which was to educate all women to do precisely as I have done, rebel against your man-made, unjust, unconstitutional forms of law, that tax, fine, imprison, and hang women, while they deny them the right of representation in the Government; and I shall work on with might and main to pay every dollar of that honest debt, but not a penny shall go to this unjust claim. And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim that “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”
JUDGE Hunt: Madam, the Court will not order you committed until the fine is paid.
SUSAN B. ANTHONY NOTES:
[1.]
From A Patroit’s Handbook (2003): songs, poems, stories, and speeches celebrating the land we love, selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy.
[2.]
On November 26 2017, the trial of Miss Susan B. Anthony was reenacted at the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse in Albany New York. Starting time was 6pm, and it was hosted by the Federal Court Bar Association of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
2017 San Francisco Women's March
Al-Zubarah, Qatar
In 1811 there was a successful siege and what remained was abandoned and eventually was covered by sand. The property 
