Hosive

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for one year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. we are now into our fourth month. i currently do not have 52 versions but only enough to get started. you can help if you’d like.

this week…..i will call my friend leo, leo and behold! suggested by the brilliant justin!

in the past, i’ve called my friend leo so far:leonardo and leopold, for christmas, noel, leotard, leopatra, leoben(for bsg), leometro, bibliotecha, fileo fish, leodis, leodore, leonazi, leopard, diosleos!, le occitane, speleology.

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis…

i’m a little iffy on the history but i know that this is a popular tofu house in la. its where we go when we are there…for late night tofu runs, for lunch, for dinner, for whatever. theresa loves this joint. after success in la, the brand made it back to the motherland? or maybe that’s just legend?  it’s that good that people believe it to be true.

but for sure, it’s made its way to the east coast and to our city and that makes theresa very, very happy. not as good as the la versions…but that’s the way the story goes with most korean places in k-town. but it’s good enough. another big favorite of ours…we really come here once a month.

it starts out with a plethora of the korean appetizers…pretty high quality stuff……

especially the real treasure……the fried fish…every tofu order comes with one of these!!! i could eat a ton of them alone.

then there are the tofu offerings…….

with beef……

….kimchi…..

and curry….the only place i know with curry soon-dobu. blasphemy for korean culinary snobs. but a winner with me. theresa rolls her eyes but at least she gets to come to bcd.

there are varying degrees of spiciness….and it seems like they started out mild at launch and have elevated the spice level each time we’ve come…so be warned. start slow. and bump up each time so that you are not in flames.

when our daughter is born, i promise not to go nuts on pics…..maybe one update a week on baby….with another one for mommy and(maybe)one on daddy…..this week, we’ll do another test run of this.

what’s daddy doing this week?

having jaq jaq around, we got to practice being parents in the city including looking for kid friendly things to do. here we are at the central park zoo…a tiny expensive zoo by comparison to other joints but an oasis in gotham for kids with monkeys, penguins, sea lions, pigs, goats, feedings and (some)open spaces.

theresa made me do this.

i was hoping that this would be a more cheerful indie movie to take theresa to ala litle miss sunshine. both come from the same producers?  both have sunshine in the title? but this is an indie movie. the best we can hope for is bittersweet…..?

a former cheerleader and high school winner of a girl faces middle age reality and mediocrity as a house cleaning maid, a mistress to a cheating cop, sibling to a dead beat sister living at home and a mom to a surprisingly unlikeable kid. her adulterous boyfriend suggests that she switch over from cleaning up rich peoples’ mess to wiping clean dead peoples’ leftovers….literally.  “its a racket”. forced to make more money, the family gives it a try. the journey from amateur hour to respectability yields some charming moments and some real laughs. but pulled in too many directions, the girls eventually reap disaster.

i thought it was an enjoyable evening with this light comedy. i especially liked the metaphoric moments throughout that grounded the story and gave it a mystical element. typical indie. but I did not like the son who seems to need a good whacking of reality…not more pampering and praising that the family seems to deliver.

theresa was annoyed at some of the characters and found the bitter in bittersweet too bitter.

i would watch this again for the acting, moodiness and bits of inspiration. i doubt that i would own it. this would play well with a good tbs/tnt cleaning up. if you see it on the plane, the sweet might come out more. theresa would watch it again but would only rate it as aiite.

when our daughter is born, i promise not to go nuts on pics…..maybe one update a week on baby….with another one for mommy and(maybe)one on daddy…..so this week, we’ll do another test run of this.

not my baby and not exactly a tsang baby. at the very least, my father’s grandchild: here’s jaq jaq thoroughly enjoying rice to riches rocky road rice pudding. she came to visit for a week and the week blew by. she was still fun and super brilliant impressing many a vision church member with her extensive comprehension. but she was also more willful and defiant; luckily my sister is able to reign her in when needed.

she amused us with her imitation of animal noises: woof! meow! moo! ugh, ugh ugh(monkey)!

but she brought the house down with her imitation of grandpa: snooooore!

this used to be my favorite cereal….note the packaging including the prominent squirrel mascot….one day i could not find this cereal at my local market. but since nyc markets sometimes keep some items on limited stock, i worried not. but i could find it anywhere. maryland, nyc, nj…..it was gone! my favorite cereal! i was sad. at least a little.

but after sometime, i was stunned to find this on the shelves:

they had changed the packaging! this looks like it is targeting adults…then it occurred to me…who was the original beloved packaging hoping to reach? kids with adult sensibilities with a taste for nut clusters and a little bit of honey? adults who’s cereal eating habits are influenced by a cartoon squirrel? not much of a market i suspect. i might have been it. so i do not begrudge them for changing the package.

but…i can’t prove it yet…. the cereal also tastes different. its less sweet for sure. it just tastes flat. its just not the same. looking at the nutritional tabs, seems like there is less sugar and less fat. that would do it?

i might try one more package to make sure but i suspect that i will be sad again.

at least a little.

Posted under Uncategorized

the predecessor to the jon stewarts and the stephen colberts of the world…the one who is the missing link between the fake news of snl and the fake news phenomenon of today(see dl hughley with his show on cnn…cnn!)is craig kilborn. the former sportscenter anchor turned faux headlines anchor turned(now)actor and behind the scenes producer used to have a daily moment of zen on his show. the kids would call it a wtf??? its a crazy, unbelievable, can’t make this up scene that leaves you speechless…and in wonder. i won’t(can’t)do this daily but will post whenever i see something….wow?

here’s your moment of zen:

BAGHDAD — Police say an Iraqi soccer player has been shot dead just as he was about to kick what could have been the tying goal in a weekend game south of Baghdad.

Police Maj. Muthanna Khalid says a striker from the Buhairat amateur team was facing only the goalie during a Sunday match in Hillah when a supporter of the rival Sinjar club shot him in the head in the final minute of play.

Sinjar was leading 1-0 when the shooting occurred. Khalid said a spectator was arrested.

More Iraqis are turning out for sports events now that security is improving. Major matches in Baghdad are heavily guarded but security in amateur games in smaller cities is often lax.

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for one year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. we are now into our fourth month. i currently do not have 52 versions but only enough to get started. you can help if you’d like.

this week…..i will call my friend leo,  speleology! an obscure science! bonus points if you know it without google!

in the past, i’ve called my friend leo so far:leonardo and leopold, for christmas, noel, leotard, leopatra, leoben(for bsg), leometro, bibliotecha, fileo fish, leodis, leodore, leonazi, leopard, diosleos!, le occitane.

Posted under leo-graphy

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis…

i don’t always trust my tastes when it comes to chinese food. sometimes i settle for mediocre stuff. so i go with my parents and make them order.

the real measure of good chinese is of course…where the chinese go to eat. and across the board, congee village is the choice of new york chinese. my parents almost exclusively ask to meet here for the selection, authenticity, taste and price point. on a weekend evening and sometimes even during the week, expect a long wait…maybe an hour plus…and don’t expect people to drop out early either.

this place is consistently named amongst the top cantonese restaurants in the city….it certainly is a tsang family favorite! we are here on average once a month.

meats are popular from the house chicken to ribs to pork chops to stir fried beef. seafood and veggies are also excellent. of course, congee village is good for their namesake. congee is usually an appetizer for the main dishes seen here.

during the holidays, we came here a lot with friends, family and palm: the pastoral and lay ministry group that ministers to ministers hosted their annual christmas luncheon here. we came here for chinese new year as well.

this place is not in the more touristy parts of chinatown but people in the know seek it out. that is in keeping with our food mission statement that i slap on each food post. this also helps with crowds not being completely out of control….just regular busy crowded. we used to live pretty close to congee village, on the lower east side when we first got back to nyc….and miss being able to make late night runs a few blocks away. it was a treasure.

critics of television hailing it as the harbringer of death and the end of western civilization have a specific sign for the beginning of the end: when there are television shows about television shows. when the empty medium becomes its own subject matter. of course, retrospectives and introspectives of tv have come and gone…and can be very popular.

that thought is on my mind as i blog about blogging. my own blogging. have i reached the self indulgent nadir?

a few months ago, someone wrote and asked me why i blog. at first, i blogged to understand blogging. i didn’t understand blogging so i got into the blogging mode and skin to learn about it. i stole the idea from jesus.

but now i blog to capture life.

i have been charmed by the premise of a diary or journal but have always lacked the discipline. but inspired by the challenge to write everyday to become a writer, i started doing just that…writing a little something each day no matter how small.

and what i’m writing about is life…this life i’ve been given under the delusional premise that it is worth capturing…and not just the exciting parts but i attempt to document the very mudane…what we really do…and how we really live.

and even though i write and write…i’ve discovered that i am only capturing a sliver. sobering. but i am capturing a nice cross section….and one day, my now-more-than-hypothetical child will have a living record to see what her old man was like before she was born.

i wonder if the reason i blog will change next year?