KITCHENETTE

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)

Preparation

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.

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. |

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). |

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.

Classic Cantonese soups use 3 ingredients

Fuzzy Melon, Shitake Mushrooms, Dried Tofu •

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.

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.

The

Andy Warhol Cocktail

| 1-1/2 ounce Cognac. | 1/2 oz. Benedictine. | 1/3 oz. Lillet Blanc. | 2 dashes Orange Bitters. |

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.

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. |

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. |

Mary Ann Hee

Smoked Salmon

•

“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.

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

Haschich Fudge

This famous 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.”

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. |

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

Add salt to various combinations of above. Mix well. Store until fermented.

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.

And of course 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.”

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. |

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

Knead to make dough. Shape dough in pie pan and leave enough for top.

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.

Green Goddess Dressing

| Blend together Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, Chevril, Chive, Tarragon, Lemon Juice, Black Pepper, and one fillet of Anchovy. |

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. |

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.

STEP 2

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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-¦ November 2019 ¦-

WHAT THEY SAID

Sun Tzu

GREEN GODDESS

In 1871 Hong Kong fell under the sway of a Victorian conception of a rebuilt Eden, gaining clout since the 18th Century, one that can be classified – and caged – for the edification and education of humankind. It is one of the oldest gardens of its kind in the world; and in its turn has been tendered to, coddled at, and dissected every one in a while.

Thirty years after the island, a stone’s throw from the mainland of China, was established as a royal crown colony by Britain, in 1871: a large parcel of land on Government HIll, 500 feet above sea level, where construction was going on to build Government House (begun 1860) and where the sitting governor was temporarily housed, conducting official business all the while puttering in his backyard w/ the young science of botany, applying his office to re-create the first garden; and w/in sight of the eastern realm of the celestials.

Within a few seasons, the appropriated space became enclosed ground, under the guidance of careful hands and inquiring minds. Flowerbeds and paths w/ gas lamps. Stonework and grand staircases. Even an animal enclosure (one of the first in the world). Here, and elsewhere in their colonies, the Victorians set up yet one more living laboratory, studied the flora and fauna, forget to look at themselves.

Since it began life in 1864, when still tendered personally by the governor, until today, the gardens have always been open and free to the public. In 1975 it was renamed, but locals have always known it as (in English) the Botanic Garden. The Chinese call it, have always called it, 兵頭花園 (bing tau fa yuen), “commander-in-chief’s garden”.

East of Eden

In 1871, a Victorian laboratory was set up by the British Botanic Society in Hong Kong. It began as a garden behind the Governor’s House, halfway up the Peak.

Hong Kong Botanic Garden

By the time the first governor of Hong Kong laid down the beginnings of what will become the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, his wife had a hand in the planning. And subsequent governors carried on the work. And their wives too, as well as gardeners, builders, and laborers, all took charge and began to tame the unfriendly slope, sweeping upwards to meet the Peak. Into the ground went palm and trees from near and far. Banyans were tucked about to create backdrops. Ferns sheltered the much-sought-after sensitive plant, a natural wonder. The only india rubber tree for miles around can only be found within these grounds. Indigenous plants met their tropical and sub-tropical selves.

The first superintendent of gardens was a British botanist by the name of Charles Ford. The front entrance is on Albany Road, right side, which became the Old Garden. His domain extends over to the left side of the road also, the New Garden, a space of about equal size. The whole surrounded by Robinson Road, Upper Albert Road, Garden Road, and Glenealy.

Ferns took to the site very well and produced profusely, offering shade and, more importantly, privacy. Overnight, this open air conservatory had turned into a living paradise for Adamses wanting somewhere to take their eager Eves. The helpful illumination of the paths and staircases w/ gas lamps that stay lit until midnight offered even the animals in the zoo some measure of a safe haven.

It was deemed safe enough that late into the evening, dating couples took to strolling among evening shadows, listening to birdsong and holding hands. Here was where the norfolk island pine can be seen, nodding its airy fingers at the royal palms. Over there a white jade orchid tree perfumes the nearby, grateful, bench. Roses, mock lime, orange-jessamine, sweet osmanthus, and the “kwai-fah” add other scents. And other paths.

Francisco Mattos — Jules Verne in Hong Kong At the invitation of botanist Charles Ford, Jules Verne travelled to the colony in 1865 to help document the life aquatic. Verne was doing research on *20,000 Leagues Under the Sea*, and spent six months learning the local language and taking down oral history. Sadly, going to the best sources for authentic information on the underwater world of HK didn’t make it into the final book; set in 1866, it came out in 1870. An article on his searchings and findings finally appeared, in the June 15 1884 issue of *L’Algerie* magazine, featuring artwork by Alphonse de Neuville, Édouard Riou, and Macau-based George Chinnery.

The Old Garden, w/ its shady boulevards and flowerbeds, came w/ an aviary and a green house, where ferns, bromeliads, orchids, climbers and house plants lived contentedly. The focal feature, the Fountain Terrace Garden, had a fifty feet wide circular pond, raised just so to allow sitting along the rim, w/ fountain works in the center, and home to water lilies. The terrace was edged on four sides w/ herbs and year round flowering shrubs. Around the bend a children’s playground could be heard [need photo].

On the western side of Albany Road is the New Garden, started in 1876 to house animal enclosures, ending up chock-a-bloc w/ uncomfortable mammals (none larger than an ape) and reptiles commingling their noises and odors. All came in carted, and unbidden: the american flamingo is left to woo the hawaiian goose, the red-crowned crane steers clear of the greek tortoise, a young burmese python hiding from the too-curious emperor tamarin.

After a hundred years of ignonimity, major renovations were undertaken in 1976, and the beleaguered beasts given new digs and modern zoology practises. Forty new or renovated enclosures to separate the reptiles from the mammals, and everyone from the birds, on the other side of Albany. Twin programs were established to study captive- as well as conservation-breeding techniques; and co-existence can once again have try-outs.

A pedestrian tunnel under Albany Road has always connected the two sides, creating a grotto where none had existed. Today 900 species live side by side and learn how how to get along in a very crowded city.

| BOTANICAL GARDENS NOTES:

[1] In 1975, the garden complex was renamed the HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It is second in size, after Victoria Park, in public space; together they cover 215 acres of parks and playgrounds.
[2] Native plantings include carpnell’s camellia, grantham’s camellia, the rare yellow camellia, the local ailanthus, the dawn redwood, and the amazing orchid tree.
[3] Based on reporting by Gene Gleason, Jan Morris, chinahighlights, lonelyplanet, travelchinaguide, HK Government Report for the Year 1961, and Wikipedia.

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WHAT HE SAID

W.H. Auden

On seeing Hong Kong for the first time

Excerpt from “Hongkong” by W.H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems 1927-57. In 1939, W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood traveled to China and wrote a book about it.

TEA TIME

One Lump or Two

The must-dos for brewing a proper pot of tea, and how a constitutional drinking game, made palatable w/ sugar and milk, calmed a nation’s nerves.

C R E A M O R L E M O N — A steadfastness in dutiful habiting is a core definition of Britishness in all matters related to tea, and it’s now due for a review:

… the official six-page specification for how to make a cup of tea, is officially "under review". But don't panic. It is standard procedure for the British Standards Institution (BSI) to do a "systematic periodic review" of each of its many specifications which, piecemeal, define nearly everything British. |- ¶ -| Belying stereotypes of peremptory rigidity in anyone or anything that officially tells the populace what’s what, the BSI is nice about what it does”. British Standards are voluntary in that there is no obligation to apply them or comply with them," it says. The standards are "devised for the convenience of those who wish to use them". That sentiment appears in the 44-page specification, copies of which are available free of charge.

In 2013, Christopher Hitchens gave an account of the golden rules of George Orwell for making tea:

… Just after World War II, during a period of acute food rationing in England, George Orwell wrote an article on the making of a decent cup of tea that insisted on the observing of 11 different "golden" rules. Some of these (always use Indian or Ceylonese—i.e., Sri Lankan—tea; make tea only in small quantities; avoid silverware pots) may be considered optional or outmoded.

Sardines (Garden tea party game) 1. Pair up. 2. One pair is designated to hide. 3. All other pairs who find them must stay put, aka hidden. 4. Last pair to find them is the loser.

But the essential ones are easily committed to memory, and they are simple to put into practice. |- ¶ -| If you use a pot at all, make sure it is pre-warmed. (I would add that you should do the same thing even if you are only using a cup or a mug.) Stir the tea before letting it steep. But this above all: "[O]ne should take the teapot to the kettle, and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours." |- ¶ -| This isn't hard to do, even if you are using electricity rather than gas, once you have brought all the makings to the same scene of operations right next to the kettle. It’s not quite over yet. If you use milk, use the least creamy type or the tea will acquire a sickly taste.

Ruggles of Red Gap In the 1935 movie *Ruggles of Red Gap*, Charles Laughter is a British butler transplanted to America, where he instructs the town spinster on the importance of making tea properly: She: (looking at water) It's hot! ¶ He: Can I be of any assistance? ¶ She: Oh no. Men are so helpless in the kitchen. (Picks up kettle, proceeds to pour into teapot.) ¶ He: Oh no. Always bring pot to the kettle, never bring the kettle to the pot. ¶ She: Well listen... I've been making tea for longer than I can remember- ¶ He: Don't let's get into difficulties about this. But you must listen to an Englishman about tea ... we're making tea: When making tea, always bring the pot to the kettle and never the kettle to the pot. ¶ She: Oh, your knowledge is surprising. ¶ He: Don't see why you should say surprising ... the best cooks have always been men. I myself have pronounced views on the preparations and servings of food. She: Have you? ¶ He: Oh yes. ¶ She: You know something nice that would go w/ tea? ¶ He: Eh yes, yes. The ingredients are quite simple. Do you have a little flour? ¶ She: Oh would you ... ¶ He: Flour, butter, milk and salt. ¶ She: Oh ... you seem so at home in the kitchen. ¶ He: Ah ... it would be difficult to describe the intense satisfaction that I've always derived from cooking.

|- ¶ -| And do not put the milk in the cup first—family feuds have lasted generations over this—because you will almost certainly put in too much. Add it later, and be very careful when you pour. Finally, a decent cylindrical mug will preserve the needful heat and flavor for longer than will a shallow and wide-mouthed—how often those attributes seem to go together—teacup. Orwell thought that sugar overwhelmed the taste, but brown sugar or honey are, I believe, permissible and sometimes necessary.

In 1997, Morrissey was asked in a sit-down interview: Do you ever get sick of drinking tea? Given the moment, he expounded on how this custom is still practised:

I absolutely never get sick of drinking tea. It’s a psychological thing really, it’s just very composing and makes me relax.’ It’s just so much a part of your culture. ... ‘Oh yes yes, I’m very avid, I have to have at least four pots a day.’ ... For those of us who don’t know how to make a pot of tea, what do you do? 'Well you really have to put the milk in first which many people don't.' Put the milk in with the water, before you boil the water? 'No you're confused already no, you put the milk in before you pour the water in or the tea, whichever.' Well I would do that without even thinking about it. 'Right and also you have to use real milk you can't use the UHT fake stuff, you have to use proper milk.' Okay, so what about the actual brewing of the tea? |- ¶ -| ‘The brewing of the tea, it’s very important that you heat the pot before you put the water in, if you use a pot. I know most people who just throw a teabag into a cup but in England of course you have to make a pot of tea and you have to heat the pot first with hot water and then put the teabags in—I can’t believe I’m saying this—and then put the hot water in and then just throw it all over yourself, rush to Out Patients and write a really good song.

| TEA TIME NOTES:

[1] Excerpt from “The correct way to make a cuppa is being reviewed,” by Marc Abrahams The Guardian 4|29|2013.
[2] “How to Make a Decent Cup of Tea: Ignore Yoko Ono and John Lennon, and heed George Orwell’s tea-making advice” by Christopher Hitchens, slate.com, 7|5|2013.

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WHAT HE SAID

Gary Hurstwit

Invisible Typeface

A documentary by filmmaker Gary Hurstwit, Helvetica the Documentary (2007) posits this “unseen” naming-convention as the most user-friendly of fonts.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE RECIPIENT

Al-Zubarah, Qatar

Buried under sand for hundreds of years, slowly being dug up going on years now, is Qatar’s largest archaeological dig, and a very fine example, preserved, of a merchant town c.1800s. This site is the ruined coastal port famous for its walls and known as Al-Zubarah. Founded by merchants in the late 1700s, this settlement had thrived as a pearl-fishery industry and also as a trading post — it is centrally positioned on the main sea route in the Persian Gulf.

2013 UNESCO Archaeological Site Recipient In 1811 there was a successful siege and what remained was abandoned and eventually was covered by sand. The property Al Zubarah Archaeological Site which comprises the 2013 UNESCO World Heritage Site is a fortified town, built w/ traditional Arab technqiues, that faces a harbor, w/ an original sea wall (exists still in part). A second, inner wall came later. The original fort still stands, there is another fort, two more walls, and a canal to the sea.

The largest domestic structure dug up gives a sense of the wealth enjoyed by the town’s richest, and why so coveted by its attackers: Nine inter-connected courtyards inside a building complex, surrounded by a high wall and having corner defense towers. Water fountain features are to be found, incl. ponds where a game played by children, called turtles-&-pearls, takes place underwater. Using a pet turtle, each player attempts to shoot a colored pearl into a row of different-colored pearls, w/ an aim of hitting out another pearl of the same color, all the while not disturbing the rest. 2013 UNESCO Archaeological Site Recipient

| back |

WHAT HE SAID

Guillermo del Toro title=

ROUTE 66

SF > DC w/ Walt Whitman

I was once tasked to help deliver a car cross country btw. Christmas Eve and New Year, so when the time came I piled into PC’s SUV, driving Route 66 to move him East for graduate school, ❛❛ … in the full presence of Nature, under the sun, w/ the far-spreading landscape and vistas, or the sea rolling in.❜❜

❛❛ These carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I see, for completion I dedicate to the Invisible World.❜❜

❛❛ The main shapes arise! Shapes of Democracy total, result of centuries. Shapes ever projecting other shapes. Shapes of turbulent manly cities. Shapes of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth. Shapes bracing the earth and braced w/ the whole earth.❜❜

❛❛ After a long, long course, hundreds of years, denials, accumulations, rous'd love and joy and thought, hopes, wishes, aspirations, ponderings, victories, myriads of readers. Coating, compassing, covering -- after ages’ and ages’ encrustations, then only may these songs reach fruition.❜❜

❛❛ This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done. Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best: night, sleep, death and the stars.❜❜

❛❛ Here first the duties of to-day, the lessons of concrete: wealth, order, travel, shelter, products, plenty. As of the building of some varied, vast, perpetual edifice, whence to arise inevitable in time, the towering roofs, the lamps, the solid-planted spires tall shooting to the stars.❜❜

❛❛ And whence and why come you? We know not whence (was the answer). We only know that we drift here w/ the rest, that we longer’d and lagg’d -- but were wafted at last, and are now here, to make the passing shower’s concluding drops.❜❜

❛❛ I wander all night in my vision, stepping w/ light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping, bending w/ open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers.❜❜

WHAT SHE SAID

Dorothy Parker

TIME TRAVEL

“That Human Wilderness”

LONDON 1908 — The protagonist of H.G. Well's novel, Tono-Bungay, has come up from the provinces to work in London, and here gives an account of his train journey into the city:

“ … I got London at last with an exceptional freshness of effect, as the sudden revelation of a whole unsuspected other side of life. I came to [that human wilderness] on a dull and smoky day by the South Eastern Railway, and our train was half an hour late, stopping and going on and stopping again.

+
John Updike

AN ACCOUNT OF A TRAIN TRIP DOWN TO NEW YORK … date unknown

After Providence, Connecticut ... the green defiant landscape, unrelieved except by ordered cities, smart and smug, in spirit villages, too full of life to be so called, too small to seem sincere. And then like Death it comes upon us: the plain of steaming trash, the tinge of brown that colors now the trees and grass as though exposed to rays sent from the core of heat – these are the signs we see in retrospect. But we look up amazed and wonder that the green is gone out of our window, that horizon on all sides is segmented into so many tiny lines that we mistake it for the profile of a wooded hill against the sky, or that as far as mind can go are buildings, paving, streets. The tall ones rise into the mist like gods serene and watchful, yet we fear, for we have witnessed from this train the struggle to complexity: the leaf has turned to stone.

I marked beyond Chilselhurst the growing multitude of villas, and so came stage by stage through multiplying houses and diminishing interspaces of market garden and dingy grass to regions of interlacing railway lines, big factories, gasometers and wide reeking swamps of dingy little houses, more of them and more and more. The number of these and their dinginess and poverty increased, and here rose a great public house and here a Board School and here a gaunt factory; and away to the east there loomed for a time a queer, incongruous forest of masts and spars. The congestion of houses intensified and piled up presently into tenements; I marvelled more and more at this boundless world of dingy people; whiffs of industrial smells, of leather, of brewing, drifted into the carriage; the sky darkened, I rumbled thunderously over bridges, van-crowded streets, peered down on and crossed the Thames with an abrupt eclat of sound. I got an effect of tall warehouses, of grey water, barge crowded, of broad banks of indescribable mud, and then I was in Cannon Street Station – a monstrous dirty cavern with trains packed across its vast floor and more porters standing along the platform than I have ever seen in my life before.

TIME TRAVEL NOTES:

[ 1 ] Herbert George Wells was born on the 21 of Stepember, 1866. The cusp of Virgo into Libra, he is blessed by a pair of angels, holding his hands as he sought a possible reformation of society, a "new system of ideas". science + humanity = future. He was born into a poor family, one of four children. Through luck and chance, his father eked out a livelihood while his mother did occasional domestic work.
[ 2 ] 1908 map of London Underground.
[ 3 ] Excerpt by Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells, 1909.
[ 4-VIDEO ] 02|19|14 — A Solitary World — Dir: James W. Griffiths – Published on Feb 19, 2014 – Narration adapted from the works of H.G. Wells. Excerpted from the following: The Time Machine (1895) – The Island of Dr Moreau (1896) – The First Men in the Moon (1901) – In The Days of the Comet (1906) – The World Set Free (1914). Director, Producer, VFX Artist & Colourist: James W. Griffiths – Director of Photography: Christopher Moon – Editor: Marianne Kuopanportti – Sound Design & Mix: Mauricio D'Orey – Composer: Lennert Busch – Narrator: Terry Burns – PBS Digital Studios Original Shorts Series Producer: Matt Vree.

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PIXELS

The Fastness@HomoHenge (ChicoTopia) has repaired his Mothership Antenna Fountain and it is once again operational.

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)

Preparation

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

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Classic Cantonese soups use 3 ingredients

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

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.”

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Trifle

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Haschich Fudge

This famous 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

Add salt to various combinations of above. Mix well. Store until fermented.

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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.

And of course 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

Knead to make dough. Shape dough in pie pan and leave enough for top.

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.

STEP 2

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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OBIT

76 | Pamela Rita de Oliveira Mattos Zauberer

❝Great cook, talented at crochet, creative, child-like, excruciatingly honest, tenacious, compassionate and sensitive; my mother was all these things.❞
— Jasmine

5.2.1940 – 5.3.2016

|- Pam led a glamorous life as a 1960s airline stewardessfor Cathay Pacific Airways, based in Hong Kong, where she was born and raised. At work she would be pulled into photo shoots when film and television stars flew in. | Chosen to represent the airline, she participated in fashion shows, ad campaigns, and public relations as the face of flight. She traveled around the world, accruing trinkets from all cultures and a lifelong admiration of all cuisines. She traveled to all the airports in Asia, and in her suitcase out would pop magazines from everywhere else. | After landing in America, she struck out to be on her own and moved to New York, abandoning us all here in California. She dated the house photographer at Mad magazine, and lived a stone’s throw from Maxwell’s Plum, a “…flamboyant restaurant and singles bar that, more than any place of its kind, symbolized two social revolutions of the 1960s — sex and food,” located at 64th and First Avenue in Manhattan. Her walk up had a bathtub in the kitchen, sharing a hot faucet w/ the sink. | While helping a friend (wo)man a street fair booth, Pam met many people, including a man who immediately offered some helpful advice. Pam shot back and challenged him to come around to the other side and manage the booth himself, since he “...clearly knew what to do.” Laszlo disappeared and came back w/ two hot dogs and a lemonade, walked around the booth, and sat down next to her; two weeks later they were married. | Laszlo Zauberer, native of Hungary, was driving a cab in NYC when he met Pam on his one day off. An accomplished painter of the school of naive art, and the love of her life, they remained inseparable for the next 40 years. | After the birth of their daughter, Pam and Laszlo made the move to upstate New York. Never one to shy away from conflict, her generosity, thoughts and sometimes vengeance were doled out as she saw fit to those who crossed her path. Whether it was redeeming a raincheck at a grocery store or haggling over an item at a yard sale, her sense of fairness and authority got her into heated debates. | On the night of May 3 2016, Pamela Rita de Oliveira Mattos Zauberer passed away at home and in her bed w/ Laszlo and Jasmine by her side. In true stoic fashion, she had no complaints of pain. She had just celebrated her birthday the day before, and ate carrot cake, her favorite. She was 76 years old. -|

69 | Benjamin Leung Gok Wing

2.7.1944 – 9.4.2013

|- Ben visited Hong Kong at the beginning of 2013. What he must have thought about his hometown he is not aorund to tell me, but I know it’s the first vacation he’s had in a while. | It was there that Ben met my sister Sylvia, when they were both young and working in the same office. At that time my sister was learning to drive a stick-shift car and for hours and hours after dinner she would be out taking driving lessons w/ an instructor to god knows where. | Ben would also go off on his own as a young man, but where he went you can always find on a map: a local swimming pool, or the nearby basketball court. He left these pursuits behind when he came to San Francisco, and eventually took up gardening: on 44th Avenue, and later out on Bay Farm Island. Both had sandy soil, hard to take care of. | On Bay Farm he had a wisteria in ground next to a loquat tree in a pot. Ben was fearless and grew everything. And those that took to his care, he made green. -|

93 | Regina Maria de Oliveira Mattos DaSilva

2.28.1921 – 11.28.2013

|- My father’s youngest sister. She ran the concession stand on the Peak, and took the Peak Tram to work everyday, after crossing the harbour by ferry from Kowloon side. -|

87 | Renee Lym Robertson

8.4.1928 – 1.4.2015

❝I bowed 3 times at the casket of Renée Lym Robertson. Auntie Renée died at the age of 87 in her stunning Nob Hill apartment. She was the daughter of Art Lym, the founder and head of the Chinese Air Force under the Nationalist government. She was born in Shanghai and fled to Hong Kong in 1949 as a refugee after the Communist Revolution. She was a noted beauty in her day and was a fixture in the international Hong Kong society that centered on the Peninsula Hotel; where she caught the eye of Clark Gable and became his girlfriend and lover. I will miss her beauty, her style, those jungle red nails and lips, the jade and diamonds, her stories and her wicked wit and wisdom. Auntie Renée was my Auntie Mame.❞ – Wylie Wong

33 | George Choy

2.6.1960 – 9.10.1993

|- George was rocking a mohawk, so I took a pix, to remember our Passage through a rather brief moment in time. He now has one of the many plaques lining Castro Street. -|

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-| November 2019 |-

WHAT THEY SAID

Sun Tzu

ROUTE 66

SF > DC w/ Walt Whitman

❛❛ These carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I see, for completion I dedicate to the Invisible World.❜❜

❛❛ I wander all night in my vision, stepping w/ light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping, bending w/ open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers.❜❜

WHAT HE SAID

Guillermo del Toro title=

GREEN GODDESS

East of Eden

In 1871, a Victorian laboratory was set up by the British Botanic Society in Hong Kong. It began as a garden behind the Governor’s House, halfway up the Peak.

Hong Kong Botanic Garden

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WHAT SHE SAID

Dorothy Parker

TEA TIME

One Lump or Two

The must-dos for brewing a proper pot of tea, and how a constitutional drinking game, made palatable w/ sugar and milk, calmed a nation’s nerves.

C R E A M O R L E M O N — A steadfastness in dutiful habiting is a core definition of Britishness in all matters related to tea, and it’s now due for a review:

Sardines (Garden tea party game) 1. Pair up. 2. One pair is designated to hide. 3. All other pairs who find them must stay put, aka hidden. 4. Last pair to find them is the loser.

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WHAT HE SAID

James Garfield

UNESCO ::: 2013 SACRED SPACE RECIPIENT

Mount Fuji

Blessed by superb symmetry, taking on its shape five thousand years ago, locus for ascetic buddhism of the shinto blend, standing alone in the center of the country, source of artistic inspiration since the 11th century, Mount Fuji’s conic silhouette has been copied by Japanese potters down through history and in due course has left blueprints on mid-century kitchen gadget design, chockful with its ergonomic effortlessness and sensuous surfaces. The designation by UNESCO of this mountain as the 2013 World Heritage Site Sacred Space Recipient consists of 25 properties including the mountain itself, shinto shrines, five lakes, and a haunted forest.

Shinto has been practised in Japan since at least the 7th century, and its cosmos is populated by a kami (diety) living in every imaginable natural formation unto a blade of grass. Mount Fuji’s kami is the Princess Konohana-sakuya, the shinto embodiment of nature, and you will know of her presence by the sight of cherry blossoms on the way up a very attractive mountain. The fujiko school of shinto adds a soul and believes the mountain to be a being. While all this bonding is going on, the buddhists sit back and regard the mountain as a gateway to another world. The crater is ringed w/ eight peaks and a walk all around takes a couple of hours, could this be what the buddhists had in mind?

The area around Fujisan-konohana-sakuahime (“Fuji causing the blossom to brightly bloom”) also contains other mystical marvels. Five lakes, the Fuji-goko, ring the mountain.

The northwest quadrant is a 14-square mile pine forest, the Aoki-ga-hara-jukai (Sea of Trees), which can be alarmingly dark during the day, forming a half moon around the base. This forest is home to goblins, demons, ghosts, and has been a destination suicide spot for many years.

It has come to pass and for as long as anyone can remember, there is and always has been a choice of only four trails leading pilgrims to the summit. All things here being of a magical quality, these four paths might very well allude to the Four Elements in a cosmic setting: rarefied Air at the summit, plentiful fresh Water within reach, Earth in its proudest seasonal garbs are all visited by the fire goddess Fuchi once a year, taking off her buddhist beads for a powwow w/ the princess. This takes place end of summer at a trail stop in the village of Yoshida, rife w/ rustic rumors insisting on a peculiar religiousity shared by fire festivals everywhere including the most famous, Burning Man, although it must be noted that the Yoshida Fire Festival is done and over with in a night and the following day, involving ceremonies to conclude the climbing season.

Sunrise as seen at the summit by all-night climbers has its own dedicated name, goraiko, as in “my goraiko was obscured by clouds with rain blotting out the horizon.” For the fortunate ones, though, words like "awesome" and "bright red" and "a figure" readily roll off their tongues when recalling the alpine sight of the sun peeking over a watery horizon, the shedding of darkness around the self, the wonderment that immortals are hovering nearby, a palpable sense of alignment with gravity again, maybe even new eyes for the descent. It has been likened to something we all know happens regularly and “see” but not see; kind of shinto. It is one of Japan’s three Holy Mountains, together with Mount Haku and Mount Tate, and is on the island of Honshu.

Fuji is an active and relatively young volcano 62 miles south-west of Tokyo. It sits on a “triple junction” radiating techtonically down to the Filipino Plate, west to the Eurasian Plate, and east towards the North American Plate, the Okhotsk. It has erupted 21 times, the last was on October 26, 1707 (an 8.4), and destroyed 72 houses and three buddhist temples. It was powerful enough to blow a scoop out at the tip, becoming an actual new crater on the eastern flank. On February 4, 2013, a metereological ticker tape came through the wires:

The volcano remains calm. However, an increased number of small quakes near and under Mt Fuji are visible on our latest data plot of nearby earthquakes (within 30 km radius). While all of these are very small and the number is certainly not alarming, the volcano remains interesting to watch….

| MT FUJI NOTES: [1] Four views of Mt. Fuji. [2] The Princess Konohana-sakuya is patiently gazing around wondering what is taking so long for her date Fuchi forever to arrive. [3] (top left) The Sea of Trees. [4] Four photographs taken from the summit at sunrise – a goraiko; anime of a sun goddess by Jayne Aw. [5] Mt Fuji in fact and fiction. | Fujisan (富士山). Names of the five lakes: Kawaguchi, Motosu, Sai, Shoji, Yamanaka. The four trails are Yoshidaguchi, Subashiri, Gotemba, Fujinomiya. Photos by Brian Chu, Daisaku Ikeda + screen captures.

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WHAT HE SAID

W.H. Auden

On seeing Hong Kong for the first time

Excerpt from “Hongkong” by W.H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems 1927-57. In 1939, W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood traveled to China and wrote a book about it.

TIME TRAVEL

“That Human Wilderness”

LONDON 1908 — The protagonist of H.G. Well's novel, Tono-Bungay, has come up from the provinces to work in London, and here gives an account of his train journey into the city:

+
John Updike

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-| November 2019 |-

Mormon Tatter Tot Surprise Casserole

Potted Crab

Watercress Salad

Klaus Nomi

Keylime Tart

Classic Cantonese soups use 3 ingredients

Fuzzy Melon, Shitake Mushrooms, Dried Tofu •

Caldo Verde

Marilyn Monroe

Bird Stuffing

The

Andy Warhol Cocktail

| 1-1/2 ounce Cognac. | 1/2 oz. Benedictine. | 1/3 oz. Lillet Blanc. | 2 dashes Orange Bitters. |

Soy Sauce Chicken

a la Rick Cheng

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. |

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. |

Mary Ann Hee

Smoked Salmon •

“Holy Smokes”

Sacrapantina

Trifle

Haschich Fudge

Cock Ale

Garum

Traditional Roman Fish Sauce

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.

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. |

Fish Pie

Green Goddess Dressing

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. |

Cold Cucumber Soup

✶|Tiger Balm Gardens

—|“Dumbbell” Island

—|Stanley Prison

‒|Walled City

76 | Pamela Rita de Oliveira Mattos Zauberer

69 | Benjamin Leung Gok Wing

93 | Regina Maria de Oliveira Mattos DaSilva

87 | Renee Lym Robertson

33 | George Choy

✈¦ Western Australia

✈¦ Papua New Guinea

✈¦ Japan

✈¦ 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.

✈¦ Hollywood

✈¦ India

GOA | ¶ | An early photograph (c.1975 or earlier) of the crown of hippie flea markets, Anjuna in Goa.

— 4L83R7 31N5731N

The United States of America v. Susan B. Anthony

The only alleged ground of illegality of the defendant's vote is that she is a woman.

Earth Pig

2|5|2019 – 1|24|2020

✈¦ Western Australia

✈¦ Papua New Guinea

✈¦ Japan

✈¦ 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.

✈¦ Hollywood

✈¦ India

GOA | ¶ | An early photograph (c.1975 or earlier) of the crown of hippie flea markets, Anjuna in Goa.

✶|Tiger Balm Gardens

—|“Dumbbell” Island

—|Stanley Prison

‒|Walled City

-¦ November 2019 ¦-

East of Eden

In 1871, a Victorian laboratory was set up by the British Botanic Society in Hong Kong. It began as a garden behind the Governor’s House, halfway up the Peak.

Smoked Salmon

•

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.

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.

GOA

| ¶ | An early photograph (c.1975 or earlier) of the crown of hippie flea markets, Anjuna in Goa.

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.

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.

GOA

| ¶ | An early photograph (c.1975 or earlier) of the crown of hippie flea markets, Anjuna in Goa.

Smoked Salmon

•