Yakuza Moon

I just love Gaz's book selections for me. Each time I go to the library, I find myself at a loss as to which books I should borrow. There are far too many choices. Gaz has taken it upon himself to choose my books, which is a convenient arrangement since I am undecisive and he usually frequents the library more often.


The latest book he's chosen for me is Yakuza Moon. The book is the autobiography of a Yakuza boss's daughter, Shoko Tendo. In book, she gives a moving account of her wild younger days, strained relationship with her family, destructive relationships with men and eventually her breakthrough in her life which sees her leaving her bar hostess days to become a writer. She is one brave lady. The amount of beatings and rapes which happened to her chilled me, and I do not know how one can handle so many of those traumatic experiences.


One of the most interesting bit in the book for me is in the middle of the book where there are several pictures of Tendo showing off her tattoos. Coming from a Yakuza family, she saw tattoos as very normal (though not usually on women) and saw it as a way to acknowledge her background which she had tried hard to deny and flee. She had most of her body tattooed in beautiful coloured inks of dragons, and Jigoku Daiyu (a courtesan). Although I'm not a big fan of tattoos, I'm impressed by the quality of the design and execution (the cover of the book above shows the tattoo mentioned). It was such an interesting book with an insight into the infamous Japanese mafia society that I couldn't put the book down till I finished reading it two days later.

World's Top 50 Restaurants

Today a list of the world's top 50 restaurants was published. The San Pelligrino World's 50 Best Restaurant has El Bulli, Spain as it's top restaurant for the fourth consecutive year. I don't know any of the restaurants on the list, except Tetsuya's, Sydney which came in at number 17. I don't know how it feels like to dine in one of these restaurants where each bite might set me back an hour's salary. Is it possible to fill one's tummy on the kid sized meals and not feel the urge to rush out for another meal after the meal? I had a look at El Bulli's reservations calendar and it's completely full for the rest of 2009. Recession? What recession?

Kids...

On Saturday we went over to our friend's place in the morning to spend some time with their two kids aged 5 (a boy) and 3 (a girl) so they can get some time off for chores. When we got there, my friend was already out of the house at the hairdresser's (making the most of freedom!). Her husband opened the door for us, and showed us the craft material we'll be using to entertain the kids for the next hour. Then, he left the house to do his own thing.

The first 20 mins passed uneventfully. Gaz was with 5yo, making a windmill. I was with 3yo making a dolphine with lego's (she was more fascinated with rearranging the lego's in and out of the box). Gaz's windmill project fell apart, so 5yo came bounding to where we were quietly sitting and wanted to play with the lego's. Thankfully they were very well behaved kids, who don't throw tantrums or shout at each other.

But 3yo was still annoyed and politely asked her brother to leave. 5yo was undeterred and started fingering the lego pieces. Gaz and I looked at each other thinking, 'uh oh... this could get ugly'. 3yo was becoming more agitated by the second, and 5yo was feeding off the agitation by reminding his sister to share. Luckily, after some mediation from the both of us big kids, the small kids divided the lego's and played separately.

After a while, 5yo had entirely hogged the lego pieces to himself building a light saber so 3yo and I went to the lounge where she showed me a whole box of toy pieces comprising of toy dolls, prams, small toy houses, shops etc. She wanted to play with all the pieces but I just wanted her to play with one piece so if she got bored I have a whole box of backups!
me - Which piece do you want?
3yo- I want... the doll, and I want the telephone, the pram ... etc etc
me - you can only have one piece. Which one do you want?
3yo- I want the doll, the telephone and the pram.
me - OK, you can have one piece, or two piece, how many pieces do you want?
3yo - 2 pieces

She chose the doll and the pram. I felt quite proud of myself....

3yo had a good time playing with the doll and pram while 5yo had come to where we were by this time vigorously throwing a ball around the room wtih Gaz. 3yo joined in chasing the ball around. Then we ran up and down the stairs for fun. They both took turns going into their parents' room to hide from us. An hour passed... then 3yo asks me, "Where's Daddy?". Uh oh... I can just imagine the whole scene of the two kids crying hysterically asking for Daddy and Mummy over and over again. I replied, "He's gone shopping." Luckily, after one more question where Daddy was, she returned to playing with her doll.

15 mins later, Daddy arrived home. The kids were more than delighted to see their father. After lunch, Gaz and I went home, 4 hours after we arrived at the house. In the car, we discussed about the morning just passed. Entertaining kids is hard work!

Sand Sculptures

Some pics from our outing to the Sand Sculpture show at Frankston Beach. This is an annual show but our first time to the show. I'm not a big fan of dinosaurs, but was entranced by the sculptures because they look so real! The entry fee of $10 per person includes a ride on the Sand Express (an open bus-buggy) around the beach, entry into the Easter competition (count the number of Easter eggs around the sculptures), free face painting, balloons, and sand sculpting workshop. Gaz was interested in the sand sculpting workshop so we went to see how the experts do it. But there were kids surrounding the person giving the workshop and we felt a little embarassed to join...

Child of Tibet

Every now and then I pick up a book which I can't stop reading. I would read it through lunch, dinner, on the train, till the wee hours in the morning when I finally finish the book with a triumphant air. Child of Tibet by Soname Yangchen happened to be one of those books. Luckily it wasn't too thick and I finished it in two days. However in its 180 pages contained a journey of her life, through from being a carefree child in a Tibetan countryside Yarlung during the Chinese occupation, a child slave in Lhasa, a working adult around India and a singer in UK.



For me, one of the most memorable parts in her life described in the book was when she was summoned home to see her dying mother one last time. Shortly after she arrived home, her mother passed on. She describes the Tibetan death ritual which was quite disturbing for me. The Tibetans believe that at death, people's spirit becomes unfocused and frightened after finding themselves without a fleshly body that they are not able to find their way into rebirth. Therefore, the Bardo or the Book of the Death are read to them by lamas to soothe and direct them. She then describes the Tibetans practice of sky burials, which is when the body is cut up, the bones are pulverised and mixed together with the flesh with barley flour or 'tsampa'. Then, the vultures are called to feast on the body. In line with the Tibetans' Buddhist beliefs, this ritual is seen as giving alms to the vultures.

Another part of the book describes her three week trek across the Himalayas to escape to Kathmandu for a brighter future. The thing that striked me was how the group was united as one towards their goal of freedom. The author had not brought enough food on the trek, and the group of other Tibetans shared their meager fare with her. Her only pair of shoes broke during the rigorous climb, and the leader of the group gave her his spare pair of shoes. There were no selfishness, no hoarding of resources. The author explains the reason for this - 'Tibetans are not accustomed to thinking 'I don't like him, I can't stand her.' We don't get caught up in that sort of psychology, our minds are flexible, open.' 'I think one reason is because we don't have time. The effort simply to stay alive keeps us physically occupied from dawn to dusk, so that there is no time for the monkey mind to start paying up. Just to make a cup of tea takes two hours!'

The book has opened up a different culture, and indeed a different mindset towards life for me. The concept of karma and resigning to the flow of life reverbrates throughout the book and this is evidenced by how tha author's painful experiences were narrated. There are no bitterness, no hatred, no anger. Only a peaceful acceptance that they are all just part of her karma. Very refreshing.

1000 Steps

Gaz and I went to the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk today. It was something we've always talked about and wanted to do, but have never done despite the park being a mere 15 mins drive away from our place. The track is dedicated to the memory of the brave men and women who fought the Japanese in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War.

The track incorporates a 1km walk, and a thousand steps (stairs) up the mountain. After trekking the 1km up the mountain to the steps, it was already quite tiring. We progressed slowly and steadily up the steps, but had to stop about 3 times to catch in the scene around us and to rest. The steps were narrow and in varying height but there were frequently people running in the opposite direction. Some of the seasoned runners ran past us twice on our journey up! I even spotted an elderly man, about 60 years old running up a steep incline on our way down. These people are so fit! In contrast, my legs were beginning to ache and my thighs were sore from each pounding step on the unforgiving ground.

It took us about 40 minutes to get up the mountain. The view was obstructed by the many trees growing on it, but I could catch glimpses of the two mountains on the side, and some houses dotting the terrain of a mountain in front of us. The afternoon sun was shining onto these houses, and it made very breathtaking view. Too bad I couldn't catch any of it on camera for all the trees obstructing the view.

Kokoda Track Memorial Walk

Incline after incline... walk up the mountain

Two towers reaching up to the sky

Melbourne's version of the Batu Caves steps - don't be deceived, many more of these around the corner!

Giant Eucalyptus tree

Lobster Mornay

There are a couple of roles that Gaz holds around the house. These tasks he does really well, which makes him the designated person to perform it. For instance, he's the garbage person, toilet cleaner and lawn mowing guy. In the kitchen, he's the designated deep fryer person. His battered oysters are absolutely delicious! They're crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Very nice... He also does very good fried aubergines. Another food he cooks well is - lobster!

He's cooked lobsters once before, by grilling them in the shell with cheese. This time, he's cut it in half, scooped out the flesh and diced it into bite size. Then, he prepared a mornay sauce by melting butter and adding milk, cheese, flour and some wine in a saucepan. The sauce is mixed in with the flesh which is then placed back into the half shells. Last step is to place the half lobsters under the grill.

The end product

Lobster served with angel hair pasta

The sauce was so delicious! Very rich for all the butter, cheese and milk. It was just the right texture, and the cheese gave it a nice aroma at the right salt level. It was a very satisfying meal indeed.

Old Cars

Don't you think that old cars have such magnified characters? Like boutique clothes, exclusive and unique.

Bugatti exhibition in the National Gallery of Art



Beautiful lines

View from the back

Smiley likes it too!!