Well, since it is not the end of the world, what's better to celebrate this day then to eat something real nice?
Few days ago, I was reading my own post Food: Festive (or Anytime) Local Food In Hong Kong when that golden Hong Kong-style French Toast image triggered my desire and determination to re-experience the long-lost taste.
And on Openrice, I found two Cha Chaan Tengs near Mongkok, ranked highest is Kam Wah Cafe, and second is Man Wah Restaurant, both were very close to where I was at that moment, and my choice was to go for the less reputable one, such that I can keep tasting better toasts the next time.
Man Wah Restaurant is a very special restaurant, they serve all-day Hong Kong breakfast, that is macaroni, toast with ham and eggs and milk tea, as well as Chinese dim sum. People actually go there to buy takeaway dim sum at night! As for me, dim sum wasn't my thing that night. My target was the Hong Kong-style French toast that is served with golden syrup and I was disappointed to know that Man Wah only offers the one with condensed milk,
Image from Locky's English Playground
but when I put the first pre-cut cube of toast inside my mouth, I was struck dumb, because I knew I was very wrong about my prejudice! It was crispy outside and unbelievably mellow in the middle! The butter and the condensed milk actually worked so nicely with the 1.5" thick toast. I couldn't stop after the first piece. One after another, I devoured the seemingly huge, mouth-size, golden cubes.
Image from Locky's English Playground
I have even forgotten that I have also ordered one all-day-breakfast set, but at that very satisfying moment, the clock seemed to have stopped, my stomach seemed to have become hollow, and down went the entire toast in about 5 minutes. I shouldn't have added sugar into my milk tea before the French toast, because it proved too sweet afterwards, but I will remember this next time round. What followed after, meaning the egg, the ham, the macaroni were all great, but all that was visible to my naked eyes by then was that once on-my-plate golden delicacy.
Now I am in a dilemma over trying the toast from Kam Wah Cafe next time or returning to Man Wah for an encore.
Can you help?
Scores:
Look: ★★★★★ 5/5
Taste: ★★★★★ 5/5
Smell: ★★★★★ 5/5
Textures: ★★★★★ 5/5
Temperature: ★★★★★ 5/5
Overall: ★★★★★ 25/25
Vocabulary: Cha Chaan Teng -- (n)[C] (lit.: tea food hall) meaning tea restaurant, is commonly found in Greater China, including particularly Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and parts of Guangdong. prejudice -- (n)[C or U] an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge mellow -- (adj) smooth, soft or developed; not too sharp, bright, new or rough delicacy -- (n) [C]something especially rare or expensive that is good to eat dilemma -- (n)[C] a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you could do encore -- (n) [C] an extra song or piece of music that is performed at the end of a show because the audience shout for it
It seems like all of a sudden, my students start asking me how to train accent, what to watch to learn good accent, so as usual, I recommend them to all the TV shows I love.
Then came a documentary I immediately fell in love with. The British program talks about Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, undergoing a series of tests in order to discover how he becomes such a tremendously exceptional football player.
Honestly speaking, I have always liked Lionel Messi more than Ronaldo, because Messi plays simple yet practical football without the fancy moves of Cristiano Ronaldo, but the following video completely changed my stubborn mind.
Ronaldo is the a well-deserved worldclass player, I have a lot of respect for him. It doesn't matter so much whether Messi scores more than Ronaldo, because football is a team game, given different team mates, their performance will be different. What matters is that they are both footballers from other planets and we are all lucky enough to witness such amazing skills by the players.
Description of Knuckleball in Baseball Image from washingtonpost
After watching the above video, I immediately want to start practising! I'll start with the video below, being able to kick the Ronaldo's knuckleball will be an excellent Christmas present for myself!
Vocabulary:
knuckleball -- (n)[C] or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The lack of spin causes vortices over the stitched seams of the baseball during its trajectory, which in turn can cause the pitch to change direction – and even corkscrew – in mid-flight. seam -- (n)[C] a line where two things join, especially a line of sewing joining two pieces of cloth or leather trajectory -- (n)[U]specialized the curved path that an object follows after it has been thrown or shot into the air
Resources:
Cristiano Ronaldo tested to the limit HD 720p (Full preview) @ YouTube
Stone-fried chestnuts and smoked sweet potatoes, inevitable!
Image from Locky's English Playground
Haven't got the time to change the English Playground's logo to a more Christmas-looking one, hopefully I will have the time to do it this week.
I took the above photo a week ago and this man's stone-fried chestnuts and smoked sweet potatoes gave me inspiration to write this article.
Hong Kong food and snacks
Image from 259dog
Last time I mentioned that my Singapore friend came to visit me in Hong Kong, and because she sent me a Word document of the restaurants and food in Hong Kong, I thought she had it all figured out, until the day I met her and her husband that she told me that was her friend's plan and she had no idea what food to try in Hong Kong. Unprepared I was, I tried to run my brain in hyper speed and came up with a number of very Hong Kong style items.
Scramble-egg on toast
Image from CNN Travel
How can anyone say they have had Hong Kong breakfast without ever trying some scrambled eggs on toasts, Hong Kong milk tea and macaroni with ham / roasted pork slices? Most Cha Chaan Teng offers this dish but Hongkongers will surely say Australia Dairy Company in Jordan is the best. The restaurant is infamous for their rude attitude but famous for their speed and quality. Be warned, do not expect you can sit for too long or eat a little slower, but do expect you can experience the rush-hour-like Hong Kong even when eating.
honey-glossy baked BBQ Pork Buns
Image from foodgps
Baked Cha Siu Bao, or baked roasted pork buns, is my favourite dim sum. It comes in roughly 3 different versions, honey-glossy, white-rocky and pineapple-bun-like.
White-rocky baked BBQ pork buns
Image from goodfoodgoodlife
I love them all, as long as they are served hot. Tim Ho Wan, the Dim-Sum Specialists is named as one of the best, but I also like Tai Koo's West Villa Restaurant's, hot and sweet with a hint of Chinese wine, really addictive!
Baked pineapple BBQ pork buns
Image
Baked pineapple BBQ pork buns isn't bad at all either! Fulfilling two wishes in one go!
Eggette with Chocolate filling
Image from Locky's English Playground
Hot instant made eggette is another must-have! If you remember my recommendation, you know that I think Mammy Pancake at Hung Hom has some filling, chewy ones.
Last but not least of my recommendation today, is the calories-sky high Hong Kong-style French toast, a snack of love-hate. Love because of the irresistible taste and colour, the peanut-butter / apricot jam in the middle, hate ...you already know.
Hong Kong-style French toast
Image from thefoodnomads
CNN Travel has an article titled 40 Hong Kong foods we can't live without and Discover Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Tourism Board has Local Snackstalking about the very unique food of Hong Kong. After reading them, I will have to admit that those recommendations are honestly very truly Hong Kong, but you may not need to go to those specific ones to get a bite if location proves a little too far for your travel.
If you are an internet user / visitor from overseas, Openrice.com is the website you should visit when you're planning your trip to Hong Kong. It is one of the all-time favourite food search engines for the local Hongkongers, and if you have a smart phone, you can download an Android or an iOS app for your convenience. Simply enter the choice of food or snacks and check the ratings of the shops and restaurants which offer the dish of your dream. You will definitely find more results than that from the CNN Travel page.
Image from Discover Hong Kong
The Michelin Guide has also taken a position in Hongkong-diners' heart. Blessing or Curse, this guide book has helped the shops and restaurants' businesses so much that the landlords of the location often use the very same book as a guide to up the rent, forcing some low profit-making or historical food sources to close down.
It is a sad reality, so before these lovely places disappear completely, you should give these restaurants a once-in-a-lifetime chance to serve you and create good memories for you and your stomach (if stomach has memory).
A great news for those of you from Singapore, Tim Ho Wan, the Dim-Sum Specialists will open their first shop in Singapore early next year! Get your stomach ready! Vocabulary: glossy -- (adj) smooth and shiny hint -- (n) [Cusually singular]a very small amount of something eggette -- (n)[U] love-hate -- (adj) (of a relationship) in which you have feelings of love and hate for someone or something irresistible -- (adj) impossible to refuse, oppose or avoid because too pleasant, attractive or strong
I'm not going to repeat the points mentioned in the CNN Travel article, but I do want to add one point to it -- Hong Kong does have a really good internet coverage both wired and wireless.
Recently a friend-cum-classmate of mine, Huiying, came to visit me from Singapore with her husband and probably their main concern is how they could reach me without making insanely expensive roaming calls.
To find me, the easiest way is through Naver LINE. Although Whatsapp is still most of my friend's first choice of communication, it doesn't have the free internet call that Naver Line offers, so personally, I use Whatsapp with acquaintances (eg. property agents, smartphone vendors, computer shop owners, people I don't usually contact with) due to its dull interface and limited functions and use LINE with relatives and close friends with whom I send cute and funny stickers. This is the main reason I think Whatsapp should really be sold to Facebook before it turns into the next MSN or ICQ.
Then again, whether you use LINE, Whatsapp or Facebook, you will need to have internet access, so how can a tourist get internet access in Hong Kong? Hong Kong Extras has a nice article titled Internet Access For Visitorswhich I sent to my friend as reference.
iCentre at MTR
Image from See-ming Lee SML
Thanks to the great Free Wi-Fi coverage, especially at the iCentres of MTR and various shopping malls, my friend could contact me without much difficulty (a minor setback was that the free Wi-fi on the buses generally is a waste of time and my friend's iPhone 4S never got the PCCW's SMS activation code for 60-day free Wi-Fi).
Ricky Wong
Image from SCMP
The reason Hong Kong has such magnificent internet coverage infrastructure, as you probably can guess, isn't because of the government, but one entrepreneur who aimed to make a difference all his life, and that man is Ricky Wong Wai Kay. His Hong Kong Broadband provided high-quality, high-speed internet services at a low price forcing the competitors to lower their charges and upping their standards, thus rocketing the speed of internet wiring across the city and eventually creating a lovely environment for the local Hongkongers to have access to the internet as well as to have the choice to choose their internet service providers (ISP).
Nowadays even normal households can have 1000M LAN connections and 4G LTE in Hong Kong and the price is SO affordable!! Hongkongers are really blessed to have access to internet information so easily and so quickly. In Ireland, where my parents live, this is what they are getting and shared among 5 people,
Image from Eircom
Which is not bad, but not many years behind the kind of speed that Hong Kong netizens enjoy.
So be thankful, Hongkongers, we are all very lucky.
infrastructure -- (n) [C] the basic structure of an organization or system which is necessary for its operation, esp. public water, energy, and systems for communication and transport rocketing -- (adj) rise, increase, or move very quickly: netizen -- (n)[C] a portmanteau of the English words Internet and citizen.
Unlimited apps Multi-Windows
Image from Locky's English Playground
Hi there, sorry for the absence of posts this week. After many entries on idioms and vocabulary, it is time to return to messing around with my Galaxy Note II and towards the end, I will have an extra surprise note on Galaxy S2 as well!
Let's kick off with some updates on the Q & A about GT-N7105.
For your information (FYI), I have been updating my XDA forum thread, currently titled [FAQ] Galaxy Note II GT-N7105 FAQ Compilation (7th Dec 2012), so for the detailed FAQ, you may want to follow that page. Here in this entry, I will select the most important updates I have.
Question 5:
What is the best custom ROM for GT-N7105 you will recommend?
Definitely, deadman12’s N7105XXDLK7 deodexed Rom V1.1 [4.1.2][Aroma][Rooted]. I have installed that on my N7105 today and it works flawlessly and the battery life is great! The phone only ran out of battery after one complete day of intensive use. It has unlimited apps for its Multi-Window feature and now I can split the screen with ANY two apps.
Split screen view of Cambridge Dictionary App
with HKO weather app, impossible with stock ROM
Image from Locky's English Playground
Question 6:
How should I install it? Is there anything I need to know before the installation?
CWM Recovery for GT-N7100 and N7105
Image from technologyandroid
First, you need a rooted phone of course, preferably with CWM Recovery installed. Then you don't need to wipe the data and reset to factory setting, simply install the N7105XXDLK7 deodexed Rom V1.1 over to your existing stock ROM. No data will be lost, so don't worry.
Question 7:
Did you have any problems with the custom ROM? How can I solve them?
Well, a tiny one, a couple of apps cannot be run. The solution was to use a file explorer such as ROM Toolbox Lite and then go to /data/app and delete those unusable app and then reinstall again from the Play Store.
Question S2:
You seem to have forgotten about your Galaxy S2, glad to hear about S2 again, what's the surprising news?
Now, how surprising is the Galaxy S2 surprise note? At least I was shocked when I heard it! And that is, Galaxy S2 is getting almost a clone stock ROM of the Galaxy Note 2!! And yes, it even has the Multi-Window feature for all apps such that your S2 is essentially a mini-Note 2 without a pen!!! True freaking awesomeness!!!
A poster at Facebook Headquarter
Image from TC and Facebook
Some time ago, my student Raymond asked me the ways to attract his customers using English, and immediately I replied, "Word Play".
There are many types of word play but the one I personally like because of popularity and simplicity in today's English is portmanteau.
Humpty Dumpty and Alice
Image from Wikia
According to Wikipedia,
A portmanteau or portmanteau word is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes, and their definitions, into one new word.
(FYI, A morpheme is the smallest semantic unit in a language).
One classic example is of course, brunch, which is
breakfast + lunch = brunch
then the urban (non-standard English) version of lunch and dinner came along as dinch,
dinner + lunch = dinch
Wikipedia writes that the word 'portmanteau' was first described by the prominent Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), in its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1872) when Humpty Dumpty explained to Alice the formation of strange words in the nonsense verse poem Jabberwocky.
'You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.'
For example,
slimy + lithe = slithy,
miserable + flimsy = mimsy
And here's the poem Jabberwocky,
"Jabberwocky"
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
(Possible interpretations of the poem can be found on Wikipedia.)
That said, portmanteau is at its 140 anniversary this year!!! How remarkable!!
As time past, creative beings has expanded this joyful technique of wordplay to infinity and beyond!
First, there is fabulicious,
fabulicious = fabulious + delicious
then on YouTube, Kai Wong of Digitalrevthrew out the word Bokehlicious in several Digitalrev TV videos and successfully turned this word into an indispensable adjective in the field of photography.
bokehlicious = bokeh + delicious
Here's a video playlist of Kai Wong himself promoting the word,
Facebook staff droidfood because Android is winning
the race in popularity.
Image from TC and Facebook
Facebook began their app development based on the iPhones, but the reality is that Android phones have long overtaken the iPhones and so Facebook is putting up posters to start switching to Android and hence test their own Facebook products.
droidfooding = Android + dogfooding
Taiwanese NBA player Jeremy Lin stunned the world with his skills and stories about him flooded the internet, which led to the creation of the word, Linsanity, which literally means that Jeremy Lin is insanely good basketball player!
Linsanity = Lin + insanity
I remember that somebody has trademarked this word but I can't recall who.
Image from deathandtaxesmag
On TV, portmanteau can be easily found as the name of a program. Take dramedy Californicationas an example,
Image from Showtime
dramedy = drama + comedy
Californication = California + Fornication
we can easily see that the storyline must be related to sexual relationships of a married man.
In House M.D., season 3 episode 2, Cane & Able, House was looking at the huge theatre screen for an oddity in a patient's heart, and he found it,
Image from FOX
House: There. Foreman: Where? House: Right there. Left side, no movement. [Cameron freezes the shot.] Well, don’t freeze it! Something’s not moving, how do you see something not move if nothing’s moving? [She restarts it.] I need the laser pointer. Cameron: We don’t have a laser pointer. House: Well, why not? Who’s going to take us seriously if we don’t have a laser pointer? Right here! [He jumps to point at the spot on the screen; as he lands he grimaces and clutches at his leg.] A few thousand myocytes not beating with the rest. Chase: So you found an arrhythmia. House: That’s not an arrhythmia, that’s a no-rhythmia. Myocytes contract, these aren’t moving at all. Go get me those myocytes; I want to talk to them in my office.
English is just so much fun to play with!!! Let's see if you can make up some good ones!
Vocabulary: portmanteau -- (n) [C] or portmanteau word is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes, and their definitions, into one new word. A portmanteau word typically combines both sounds and meanings morpheme -- (n)[C] In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantic unit in a language. semantic -- (adj) (of words and language) connected with meaning: prominent -- (adj) very well known and important sequel -- (n)[C] a book, movie, or play that continues the story of a previous work brunch -- (n)[C] a meal sometimes eaten in the late morning that combines breakfast and lunch dinch -- (n)[C] the abbreviation for the consumption of meals during the hours after lunch but before dinner fabulicious -- (adj) fabulous and delicious indispensable -- (adj) too important not to have; necessary: bokehlicious -- (adj) delicious bohek / blurring effect of an image droidfooding -- (n) testing products on Android platform dogfooding -- Eating your own dog food, also called dogfooding, is a slang term used to reference a scenario in which a company (usually, a software company) uses its own product to demonstrate the quality and capabilities of the product. insanity -- (n) [U] mental illness Linsanity -- (n) [U] Lin + insanity dramedy -- (n) [C] Comedy-drama (dramedy, comedrama, comedic drama, or seriocomedy) is a genre of theatre, film, and television that combines elements of comedy and drama, having both humourous and sometimes serious content fornication -- (n)[U] formal disapprovingsex with someone who you are not married to no-rhythmia -- (n)[U] not having any forms of rhythmic movements arrhythmia -- (n) [U] Cardiac dysrhythmia (also known as arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat) is any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart. The heartbeat may be too fast or too slow, and may be regular or irregular. A heart beat that is too fast is called tachycardia and a heart beat that is too slow is called bradycardia. spork -- (n)[C] or a foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with three or four fork tines. typhooliday / typhoo-liday -- (n)[C] A word created by Locky, meaning a holiday brought about by the issue of high intensity Typhoon signals
Meester and Laurie in House M.D. Season 3 -- Lines in the Sand
Image from FOX
Once of the most itching episodes of House M.D. is the one in which Meester tries to seduce Laurie in season 3 episode 3 Informed Consent.
It was one very very good scene! It is not easy for a girl to act seductive in front of a man almost double your age and still look perfectly nature and real!
But what is even more filmographically intriguing are the dialogues between House and Ali in episode 4 Lines in the Sand.
Image from FOX
House: Listen to me. Do you have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed with me? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up in a jail.
Ali: You’re only saying that to make me go.
House: I’m saying it because it’s true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor – Is there a Victor in your class? If you’re not with someone your age, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ali: What about us?
House: We’ll always have Fresno. I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of two little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that. Now, now – Here’s looking at you– damn.
Now, you may not find this special at all but if you are a movie buff and you are familiar with the movie Casablanca (1942), then you will know the House-Ali dialogues are from this movie (Thanks to a person named TH who left this note in Polite Dissent)!!
Image from IMDb
Rick: Now, you’ve got to listen to me! You have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn’t that true, Louie? Renault: I’m afraid Major Strasser would insist. Ilsa: You’re saying this only to make me go. Rick: I’m saying it because it’s true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You’re part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. Ilsa: But what about us? Rick: We’ll always have Paris. We didn’t have…we’d…we’d lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night. Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you… Rick: And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Girl, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that. Here’s looking at you, kid.
The House fans might feel a little lost after the series came to an end, but there is always a second chance for House and Ali to reunite once more.
image from Crushable
6 years after their first rendezvous, Ali and House are back together for another encounter in the movie The Oranges, this time as Nina and David, the daughter of the Ostroff and father of Walling, two very close families living in the Orange drive.
The movie has come to Hong Kong on the 25th October, according to IMDb, this movie scored a disappointing low in the point scale, just 5.7, still I would like to watch this movie and see how their romance continues.
Vocabulary: seduce -- (vb) [T]to persuade someone to have sex with you, often someone younger than you, who has little experience of sex filmographically -- (adv) about films rendezvous -- (n) an arrangement to meet someone, especially secretly, at a particular place and time, or the place itself Resources:
Polite Dissent » House – Episode 4 (Season Three): “Lines in the Sand” http://www.politedissent.com/archives/1392
