Christmas trees, fake or real? That is the question. Sure. Santa won't mind one way or the other. If Santa, as a heavy figure, has no problem climbing down the skinny chimney, he surely would not mind bending his big belly to hide his gifts under any trees, fake or real. The question is for us home owners: which one do you prefer to have in your house this Christmas?
This year is our third year of using a fake tree. Before that, we have always used the real trees and believed in the myth of a real tree. But we find out in the fake vs real battle, this is the golden rule: once fake, always fake. If you used a fake Christmas tree one year, you will not go back using a real tree next year.
Reasons for a fake tree:
1. You have already inherited a fake tree you bought from last year. Why buy a real one?!
2. It has longevity. You can display your tree way longer. I started putting on the tree even before the Thanksgiving. You can even display it all year around if you are not afraid of being accused of being a redneck. Real trees stay green and fresh only about 3 weeks max.
3. It’s less a fire hazard in the house. You can leave it lit unattended without worrying about causing a fire. Plastic won't catch fire as easy as wood. A real tree gets dry after being in the house for a couple of weeks and becomes a fire hazard.
4. There is no watering. No need to check the water and add water every so often.
5. There is no needle shedding. Real trees shed needles. You have to clean the base area every so often.
6. There is no disposal. After the season is over, you don't need to think about how to dispose of it.
7. There are no spiders. Spiders hatch in the real trees and they come alive as soon as you move them from the cold outdoors into the warm indoors.
8. It’s more economical. You only need to buy a fake tree once and most of the fake trees come prelit. The best time to get a fake tree is right after the Christmas. We got ours at a 75% discount price. That alone should score a lot more points in this economy.
9. It’s less time consuming and less hassle. You save the time going around looking for a tree and bringing it all the way home. In addition, you save a lot of hassle hanging the lights on it.
Now let's give some credits to the real trees.
1. They look real. Obviously they are. (But come to think of it. They are real dead trees. The minute a tree was cut from its root, the life was taken away).
2. They give wonderful smell. (But for another $5-$15, you can get a tree smell warmer that emits any tree smell in the house).
3. You have a different tree every year. (But with the money spent on the tree itself each year, you could buy tons of ornaments, enough to cover the whole tree that you don’t even notice it’s a different tree).
4. They require no storage. You dispose them after Christmas so no storage is needed. (But isn’t that what your garage is for?)
5. Blank. I'm thinking. If you can find more, let me know.
Proudly present my fake Christmas tree 2009 I still hear those opposing arguments from the real tree believers. I live in a town which was once called “Christmas town of USA”, so often times when I tell people here that I have an artificial tree, they tell me what a shame. Other times, I got the look that made me feel as if owning plastic in a tree gave me the suspicion of having plastic silicone in some parts of my body. I also heard the arguments about which one is environmentally green. I think in that aspect, it's a wash. The plastics making process is maybe not green but tree cutting and water consumption are not green either. Believe me, I was once an all-things-real believer at one time. Especially, being a Chinese, besides the legitimate reasons of believing real things are better, I have my own superstitious reason in disliking plastics too. Plastic is not one of the five basic elements in Zen. Don’t use it because it’s a bad luck! Even many years ago when I had to be frugal in grocery shopping, I had no second thought in bringing home real cut flowers every week, and replacing real indoor plants diligently. I not only had to buy them fresh but also had to make sure they were out of the door when they were half way dead. When I left for travels, I had to either hire someone to water the plants, or risk the chance of having them all killed from drought. I denounced plastics because they were not beautiful, not fragile, not lively, and in one world, not real. Until I purchased my first fake orchid plant from Pier 1 Import a few years ago, the same year I got my first fake Christmas tree, I fell in love with the freedom and savings in plastics, and needless to say the plastic beauty too. From there on, I give plastics a second life. When you are young, beauty is all that matters. When you are at my age, practicality matters more. That's the main reason why I favor fake Christmas tree.
Fake or real, what's yours and why?
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Chinese Prose "In a Hurry"
Below is one of my favorite Chinese prose’s "In a Hurry", written by Zhu Ziqing in 1922. One Chinese man, two generations before me, had the exact same anxiety about time passing as I have now, and expressed his feeling of helplessness about time passing as precisely as I have been feeling all along. I used to be able to recite the full contexts but now I am only able to recite the first paragraph. I'm now attempting to translate the prose into English. I've done a lot of translations in my old days in China, mostly technical, and many of them have been in prints/publications. I'll be embarrassed if I see some of my old translations now. Who knows. This translation below might bring me the same embarrassment many years from now when I read it. Translations have their limits. It's inevitable to have the essence of the literatures "Lost in Translation". So I'm posting both the prose in original Chinese and my translated English here.
匆匆
燕子去了，有再来的时候；杨柳枯了，有再青的时候；桃花谢了，有再开的时候。但是，聪明的，你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？——是有人偷了他们吧：那是谁？又藏在何处呢？是他们自己逃走了吧：现在又到了哪里呢？
我不知道他们给了我多少日子；但我的手确乎是渐渐空虚了。在默默里算着，八千多日子已经从我手中溜去；像针尖上一滴水滴在大海里，我的日子滴在时间的流里，没有声音，也没有影子。我不禁汗涔涔而泪潸潸了。
去的尽管去了，来的尽管来着；去来的中间，又怎样地匆匆呢？早上我起来的时候，小屋里射进两三方斜斜的太阳。太阳他有脚啊，轻轻悄悄地挪移了；我也茫茫然跟着旋转。于是——洗手的时候，日子从水盆里过去；吃饭的时候，日子从饭碗里过去；默默时，便从凝然的双眼前过去。我觉察他去的匆匆了，伸出手遮挽时，他又从遮挽着的手边过去，天黑时，我躺在床上，他便伶伶俐俐地从我身上跨过，从我脚边飞去了。等我睁开眼和太阳再见，这算又溜走了一日。我掩着面叹息。但是新来的日子的影儿又开始在叹息里闪过了。
在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么呢？只有徘徊罢了，只有匆匆罢了；在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩些什么呢？过去的日子如轻烟，被微风吹散了，如薄雾，被初阳蒸融了；我留着些什么痕迹呢？我何曾留着像游丝样的痕迹呢？我赤裸裸来到这世界，转眼间也将赤裸裸的回去罢？但不能平的，为什么偏要白白走这一遭啊？
你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？
In A Hurry
Swallows gone but time to be back. Willows dry but time to re-green; Plum flowers dead but time to re-bloom. The genius, please tell me why our days gone but never to return - Could they be stolen by someone? Who is that someone then and where is he hiding them? If they themselves have escaped, where are they now?
I do not know how many days they gave me but my hands seem gradually empty. Counting the days silently, over 8000 slipped away from my hands; Like a needle tip, a drop of water falls into the vast ocean, my days drop in the flow of time, leaving no sound, nor shadow. I could not help but sweating and tearing up.
Though let bygones be bygones and forth comings come forth, what a hurry is it between the comings and goings? In the mornings I get up, my little room is lightened by the slanting sun. The sun ah the sun he has feet too, gently and quietly divertes away. I also follow his movement, rotating blindly. So - When washing my hands, days are washed away from the basin; When eating, they are eaten away from the rice bowl; When gazing in silence, they are gazed away right in front of my gazing eyes. I notice his passing in a hurry. I reach out my hands to slow him down but he runs away from my fingertips again. In darkness when I lie in bed, he crosses over my body and flows through my foot tips effortlessly. Opening my eyes to see the sun off entails that another day has just gone. I cover my face and sigh but a new day casts away in the sighing.
In the days fleeting like flight, and in the world of million thresholds, what can I do? Only wanderings and wanderings only. In the hastily fled days of 8000 and more, besides wandering outside, what's left for me to do? The past days are as smokes, blown thin by the breeze, and as mist, melted into vapor by the early sun. What traces did I retain? Have I ever retained a trace as slight as a moving silk worm's mark? I came to this world naked, and in the blink of an eye I will be gone naked? But this is not fair. Why are we born to walk this circle in vain?
You genius, tell me why our days are once gone, never to be returned?
匆匆
燕子去了，有再来的时候；杨柳枯了，有再青的时候；桃花谢了，有再开的时候。但是，聪明的，你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？——是有人偷了他们吧：那是谁？又藏在何处呢？是他们自己逃走了吧：现在又到了哪里呢？
我不知道他们给了我多少日子；但我的手确乎是渐渐空虚了。在默默里算着，八千多日子已经从我手中溜去；像针尖上一滴水滴在大海里，我的日子滴在时间的流里，没有声音，也没有影子。我不禁汗涔涔而泪潸潸了。
去的尽管去了，来的尽管来着；去来的中间，又怎样地匆匆呢？早上我起来的时候，小屋里射进两三方斜斜的太阳。太阳他有脚啊，轻轻悄悄地挪移了；我也茫茫然跟着旋转。于是——洗手的时候，日子从水盆里过去；吃饭的时候，日子从饭碗里过去；默默时，便从凝然的双眼前过去。我觉察他去的匆匆了，伸出手遮挽时，他又从遮挽着的手边过去，天黑时，我躺在床上，他便伶伶俐俐地从我身上跨过，从我脚边飞去了。等我睁开眼和太阳再见，这算又溜走了一日。我掩着面叹息。但是新来的日子的影儿又开始在叹息里闪过了。
在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么呢？只有徘徊罢了，只有匆匆罢了；在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩些什么呢？过去的日子如轻烟，被微风吹散了，如薄雾，被初阳蒸融了；我留着些什么痕迹呢？我何曾留着像游丝样的痕迹呢？我赤裸裸来到这世界，转眼间也将赤裸裸的回去罢？但不能平的，为什么偏要白白走这一遭啊？
你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？
In A Hurry
Swallows gone but time to be back. Willows dry but time to re-green; Plum flowers dead but time to re-bloom. The genius, please tell me why our days gone but never to return - Could they be stolen by someone? Who is that someone then and where is he hiding them? If they themselves have escaped, where are they now?
I do not know how many days they gave me but my hands seem gradually empty. Counting the days silently, over 8000 slipped away from my hands; Like a needle tip, a drop of water falls into the vast ocean, my days drop in the flow of time, leaving no sound, nor shadow. I could not help but sweating and tearing up.
Though let bygones be bygones and forth comings come forth, what a hurry is it between the comings and goings? In the mornings I get up, my little room is lightened by the slanting sun. The sun ah the sun he has feet too, gently and quietly divertes away. I also follow his movement, rotating blindly. So - When washing my hands, days are washed away from the basin; When eating, they are eaten away from the rice bowl; When gazing in silence, they are gazed away right in front of my gazing eyes. I notice his passing in a hurry. I reach out my hands to slow him down but he runs away from my fingertips again. In darkness when I lie in bed, he crosses over my body and flows through my foot tips effortlessly. Opening my eyes to see the sun off entails that another day has just gone. I cover my face and sigh but a new day casts away in the sighing.
In the days fleeting like flight, and in the world of million thresholds, what can I do? Only wanderings and wanderings only. In the hastily fled days of 8000 and more, besides wandering outside, what's left for me to do? The past days are as smokes, blown thin by the breeze, and as mist, melted into vapor by the early sun. What traces did I retain? Have I ever retained a trace as slight as a moving silk worm's mark? I came to this world naked, and in the blink of an eye I will be gone naked? But this is not fair. Why are we born to walk this circle in vain?
You genius, tell me why our days are once gone, never to be returned?
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thanksgiving Dinner 2009
This will be our fourth year on the roll to host Thanksgiving dinner for our family. Our family so far consists of us and Richard's extended family. Richard came from a big family so our house was crowded during Thanksgiving dinners. I also invited one of my good Chinese girlfriend's family in Seattle - a family of five to join us this year. I assume as long as we don't move away to another state, Thanksgiving in our house will be an unwaiving family tradition. Most of the Americans don't take food seriously unless it comes to Thanksgiving. They'd rather vote for someone who used the change theme "Change We Believe In" all the way to the Whitehouse than to change their traditional Thanksgiving menu. In the past, I have suggested to spice up our menu a bit as to add a few of my specialty Chinese dishes perhaps but that bill was killed before it had a chance to pass for the House majority voting process. So this year I'm going to stick to the same traditional menu, which actually makes my hosting job so much easier. Richard is responsible for the main entrees turkey and ham, sweet potatoes, plus drinks. Speaking of drinks, I'm always amazed how well Americans are educated on wine and liquors, and how sophisticated their alcohol taste buds are. Except that some of the dishes are brought by guests, I'm responsible for mostly everything else. Below is the traditional menu in our household for Thanksgiving dinner.
Appetizer:
1. Deviled Eggs: To avoid hectic schedule, I make this dish a day ahead of time.
2. Cheese, Crackers, Smoked salmon: We like to use smoked or aged cheese. Whatever plain crackers work. and our local store has the best smoked wild salmon
3. Fruit Plate: whatever handy at the time, usually strawberries, grapes and mellows. I have planted strawberries and grape plants a couple of years ago but it will be a couple more years before I can harvest the fruits for Thanksgiving dinners.
Food:
1. Organic Turkey: Richard is an all thing organic believer so we are going to shop for an organic and the leanest turkey we can find this year. We never stuff the turkey for oven cooking. Instead we cook the stuffing stovetop separately with some fresh herbs and other vegetable ingredients. Richard believes that's a more sanitizing and scientific approach. I already bought the gravy from Trader Joe's a few weeks ago this year. My sister-in-law Amanda's mom Fay was a big help in gravy making but she won't be able to make it this year.
2. Spiral Ham: This is the only type of ham that we've known so far has real meat texture, not tasting smarshy or cardboardy. Richard also cooks some ham sauce to apply on the surface of the turkey before serving. We then use the bones to make soups with some of the leftovers after Thanksgiving.
3. Pork Roast: I will crackpot roast a big chuck of pork with sliced union, finger potatoes and dark beer for 6-8 hours. I will also cook this one day ahead, and then let it sit overnight in the refrigerator so I can take out all the fat on the top before reheating it on Thanksgiving Day.
3. Green beans: Fresh beans, not frozen kind. I sauté them with cold-pressed virgin olive oil, freshly grounded garlic and bacon bits.
4. Vegetable salad: Usually baby spinach and mango/orange, green onion and avocado; or lettuce and feta cheese, green onion, avocado and freshly chopped herbs
5. Smashed Potato: Richard's cousin's wife Elisabeth makes this. Basic ingredients are potato and butter
6. Cranberry Sauce: The best cranberry sauce is from Costco. Homemade cranberry sauce is not even as good as the one sold by Costco before Thanksgiving (of course a matter of personal opinion only)
7. Bread: I bake the dinner rolls before serving with butter. Spread a sprinkle of chopped fresh rosemary.
8. Sweet Potatoes: Richard says he will cook a lot more sweet potatoes this year. He boils them and then adds brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows
Desserts
1. Ice cream. I always use coffee flavor and vanilla flavor ice cream, topped with fresh blueberry and Carmel.
I'm not really a sweets fan so I have never really learned how to make desserts. But a meal without dessert is not a meal in the States. When Richard and I go grocery shopping, he usually has to drag me away from a small flower section, and I have to drag him away from a large dessert section. I never remembered having craves for sugar since my adulthood. I symbolically eat a tiny slice of cakes here and there at other people's houses. Richard craves for sugar the same way as I carve for Laoganmao hot sauce. His eyes sparkle at the sight of white frosty which I consider throw-aways. It's almost funny an organic and nuitrition enthusiast like Richard who is meticulous about reading fat and nurtrition contents on every grocery item we purchase, when it comes to sweets, he suddenly becomes blind-eyed. Richard’s mom and practically every American woman I know are experts in dessert making so they my lifesavers in our Thanksgiving dinner making. The desserts they brought over usually end up being:
2. Pecan and fruit pies. Richard mom Kari has some fruit trees and she made apple pie or blackberry pies etc previously. I have a jar of homemade apple filling from one of my girlfriends Gale. She made it from the apples she picked from her yard. I admire women who are that domestic. I might attempt to try making an apple pie this year. Scary thought!
3. Fruit cake. Kari already gave me a loaf she made last week.
We finish the dessert off with hot coffee and tea. We bought some pea berry Kona coffee from Kona, Big Island of Hawaii this summer. Starbuck Christmas blend is also very good. Every year I go to China, I buy some leaf green tea (That's a tiny Chinese thing I'll start trying to sneak into the Thanksgiving tradition as most of them are not used to drinking leaf tea).
Every time I mentioned to my parents in China I was to host a relatively large party or holiday dinner, they sounded concerned on the other end of the phone. They don't know their spoiled daughter learned a few cooking skills besides boiling water so they still have that trusting issue with me. Wish I could have them here for at least one Thanksgiving dinner to ease their worry. Of course, my parents and sisters in China are such terrific cooks, I would never be able to catch up with their cooking capabilities. My sisters have been making their own wines for a few years now, something I always wanted to do but have not started yet. Richard and I always say for the amount of money and time spent on Thanksgiving dinner, we could invite everyone to a nice restaurant for a feast. But then when you think about it, there are reasons why Americans make such a big deal about Thanksgiving dinner and its traditional menu. Thanksgiving dinner tradition gives us a chance to share food, entertain others and have family get-together. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is not only a fun thing to do for the host and the guests alike, but also suggests a comforting thought of being surrounded by those familiar faces and familiar food in this ever changing world. That alone makes one feel warmer when the outside temperature is getting colder at that time of the year. On that note, Thanksgiving and Christmas are always my favorite holidays.
Appetizer:
1. Deviled Eggs: To avoid hectic schedule, I make this dish a day ahead of time.
2. Cheese, Crackers, Smoked salmon: We like to use smoked or aged cheese. Whatever plain crackers work. and our local store has the best smoked wild salmon
3. Fruit Plate: whatever handy at the time, usually strawberries, grapes and mellows. I have planted strawberries and grape plants a couple of years ago but it will be a couple more years before I can harvest the fruits for Thanksgiving dinners.
Food:
1. Organic Turkey: Richard is an all thing organic believer so we are going to shop for an organic and the leanest turkey we can find this year. We never stuff the turkey for oven cooking. Instead we cook the stuffing stovetop separately with some fresh herbs and other vegetable ingredients. Richard believes that's a more sanitizing and scientific approach. I already bought the gravy from Trader Joe's a few weeks ago this year. My sister-in-law Amanda's mom Fay was a big help in gravy making but she won't be able to make it this year.
2. Spiral Ham: This is the only type of ham that we've known so far has real meat texture, not tasting smarshy or cardboardy. Richard also cooks some ham sauce to apply on the surface of the turkey before serving. We then use the bones to make soups with some of the leftovers after Thanksgiving.
3. Pork Roast: I will crackpot roast a big chuck of pork with sliced union, finger potatoes and dark beer for 6-8 hours. I will also cook this one day ahead, and then let it sit overnight in the refrigerator so I can take out all the fat on the top before reheating it on Thanksgiving Day.
3. Green beans: Fresh beans, not frozen kind. I sauté them with cold-pressed virgin olive oil, freshly grounded garlic and bacon bits.
4. Vegetable salad: Usually baby spinach and mango/orange, green onion and avocado; or lettuce and feta cheese, green onion, avocado and freshly chopped herbs
5. Smashed Potato: Richard's cousin's wife Elisabeth makes this. Basic ingredients are potato and butter
6. Cranberry Sauce: The best cranberry sauce is from Costco. Homemade cranberry sauce is not even as good as the one sold by Costco before Thanksgiving (of course a matter of personal opinion only)
7. Bread: I bake the dinner rolls before serving with butter. Spread a sprinkle of chopped fresh rosemary.
8. Sweet Potatoes: Richard says he will cook a lot more sweet potatoes this year. He boils them and then adds brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows
Desserts
1. Ice cream. I always use coffee flavor and vanilla flavor ice cream, topped with fresh blueberry and Carmel.
I'm not really a sweets fan so I have never really learned how to make desserts. But a meal without dessert is not a meal in the States. When Richard and I go grocery shopping, he usually has to drag me away from a small flower section, and I have to drag him away from a large dessert section. I never remembered having craves for sugar since my adulthood. I symbolically eat a tiny slice of cakes here and there at other people's houses. Richard craves for sugar the same way as I carve for Laoganmao hot sauce. His eyes sparkle at the sight of white frosty which I consider throw-aways. It's almost funny an organic and nuitrition enthusiast like Richard who is meticulous about reading fat and nurtrition contents on every grocery item we purchase, when it comes to sweets, he suddenly becomes blind-eyed. Richard’s mom and practically every American woman I know are experts in dessert making so they my lifesavers in our Thanksgiving dinner making. The desserts they brought over usually end up being:
2. Pecan and fruit pies. Richard mom Kari has some fruit trees and she made apple pie or blackberry pies etc previously. I have a jar of homemade apple filling from one of my girlfriends Gale. She made it from the apples she picked from her yard. I admire women who are that domestic. I might attempt to try making an apple pie this year. Scary thought!
3. Fruit cake. Kari already gave me a loaf she made last week.
We finish the dessert off with hot coffee and tea. We bought some pea berry Kona coffee from Kona, Big Island of Hawaii this summer. Starbuck Christmas blend is also very good. Every year I go to China, I buy some leaf green tea (That's a tiny Chinese thing I'll start trying to sneak into the Thanksgiving tradition as most of them are not used to drinking leaf tea).
Every time I mentioned to my parents in China I was to host a relatively large party or holiday dinner, they sounded concerned on the other end of the phone. They don't know their spoiled daughter learned a few cooking skills besides boiling water so they still have that trusting issue with me. Wish I could have them here for at least one Thanksgiving dinner to ease their worry. Of course, my parents and sisters in China are such terrific cooks, I would never be able to catch up with their cooking capabilities. My sisters have been making their own wines for a few years now, something I always wanted to do but have not started yet. Richard and I always say for the amount of money and time spent on Thanksgiving dinner, we could invite everyone to a nice restaurant for a feast. But then when you think about it, there are reasons why Americans make such a big deal about Thanksgiving dinner and its traditional menu. Thanksgiving dinner tradition gives us a chance to share food, entertain others and have family get-together. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is not only a fun thing to do for the host and the guests alike, but also suggests a comforting thought of being surrounded by those familiar faces and familiar food in this ever changing world. That alone makes one feel warmer when the outside temperature is getting colder at that time of the year. On that note, Thanksgiving and Christmas are always my favorite holidays.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Solitude
Solitude. I'm a sucker for this word alone. Amid the bombardment of information, communications, social networking, events, politics, religions, definitions, people vs food...., solitude calls me to it and draws my vision to water.
http://www.pingsun.com/pingyima/interiordesign
http://www.pingsun.com/pingyima/interiordesign
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