Food and Restaurant: Sapporo @ Sai Wan Ho (2nd & 3rd Revisits)

Great food is never enough for anyone, and this is particularly true when dining with great students. On the 20th November, I was invited by my students to have dinner (and lesson 11) at a Japanese restaurant no other than Sapporo in Sai Wan Ho. It was simply brilliant!

First came the Truffle Salmon Salad -- juicy Italian truffles on fresh orangy salmon placed above red and romaine lettuces served with a special Japanese vinegar of secret recipe. (For more lettuce names: please read Lettuce - Condor Seed Production in Yuma, Arizona)

Special dinner with special treatment! Extra truffle!

Yesterday, I went again wtih my girlfriend and almost had the same salad. A double or triple more critical food critic she is than I am, she gave a 5 out of 5 for the salad.

Back to our lesson 11, our next dish is Boiled Periwinkles in Sake. Great for snack!

Do you know what the bamboo skewers are for?

Then came another salad but this time, with Thai Pomelo, tomatoes, shrimps and shrimp roes.

Many pieces have disappeared before taking this picture, just because it tastes too good! The liver of an Monkfish, called Ankimo in Japanese, eaten after preparation using Sake. Definitely a scary to look at, but the liver is as smooth as foie gras, tastes as rich as hairy crab roe, plus the creaminess! Also, 5 out of 5.

Monkfish

Image from Wikipedia

Then came Oden,   関東煮（おでん）, a dish that will make Japanese weep to see in Hong Kong, a bowl of daikon radish, fish cakes, fish balls, Chikuwabu, wrapped Japanese chewy rice cake, deep fried tofu and boiled egg in seaweed-based soup, sold in a food cart in Japan, may look a bit like the Hong Kong style's food cart noodles side dishes, but definitely must try the rice cakes and the daikon (turnip).

Then came the fresh of the fresh mackerel. Because of the freshness, we were asked not to apply sauce or ginger and just to have the sashimi plain, it tasted incredibly gorgeous!! Normally, a fish like this will somehow tastes or smells fishy, didn't happen for this lovely one!

The head and the tail were later deep fried and turned into...

this!

and this!

And later ended up in our stomach as well.

Next, the Okonomiyaki お好み焼き, Japanese seafood pizza of the Kansai region, crispy and crunchy and cheesy and hot! Made everyone want more!

Then finally, my noodles! We ordered Miso soup ramen,

and salt soup ramen with butter,

Just by looking at the noodles won't explain how chewy the noodles were, how crunchy the preserved bamboo shoots were, how clear the soup were, and how happily full we all were! You must try some day!

Last but not least, the ice-creams. Many liked the green tea, but I ordered the red beans, because I know, Japanese red beans ice cream are not easy to find.

It was only this day that I knew, that Sapporo in Sai Wan Ho is not just simply a great noodles restaurant. There are many more good dishes, and I will try them in my next visit. Be sure I will bring my Olympus camera!

Resources:

Food and Restaurant: Sapporo @ Sai Wan Ho

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/10/food-and-restaurant-sapporo-sai-wan-ho.html

Lettuce - Condor Seed Production in Yuma, Arizona

http://www.condorseed.com/seed_lettuce.htm

Monkfish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkfish

Ankimo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankimo

Food: Serious Crab Time!!!! @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/08/food-serious-crab-time.html

Oden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oden

Okonomiyaki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

Technology: My First Micro Four Third Camera -- Olympus PEN E-PL1

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/11/technology-my-first-micro-four-third.html

Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 4

So we are back to our writing again on Friday.

So by now, I hope you are trying out the exercises I posted and are reading newspaper articles carefully to learn how other write. Today, I have 2 questions for you, one of which I have mentioned in Part 1 but haven't answered,

So now, it should be easy to see which one will sound more professional in terms of lexical density. But exactly,
how can we write using sentence structures that has higher lexical density?  does "higher lexical density" = "better writing" in ALL CASES? 

There are many situations when we will write with high lexical density, but other than trying to sound more professional and formal, money is also a concern, such as in,

• newspaper articles on newspaper (because the printing price is high for each word)
• news magazines, finance magazine ($$$$)
• academic reports, essays (to sound more persuasive)
• argumentative writing in secondary schools (to sound more persuasive)
• emails to the superiors in business (bosses and bosses' bosses)
• emails to business clients or partners (to sound respectful and pro)
• emails to internal staff whom you are not close to (inter-department communication)
• emails to someone you highly respect (your idol?)

However, high lexical density is not favoured in the following cases:

• emails with friends (sounds too formal)
• emails with internal staff whom you are close to (again too formal)
• emails with internal staff whom work for you (too formal and they might not like it)
• emails of instructions (you don't want them to ask you face to face, again and again)
• emails of purchase or any kinds of money related matter (the simpler the better with money)

Homework 1: Think of more to add to these lists.

The other question is, is there any other easier way to calculate my lexical density? Well, of course there are! This one is pretty handy, called Text Content Analysis Tool. It has a few other funny functions such as Word Frequency Cloud, Hard Words, etc.

You are highly recommended to read this article for more online calculators. If you don't like to go onto the internet and try, you can just use your Microsoft Word to help you, here is the instruction page of how to find it. The most common test for readability in Microsoft Word is Flesch-Kincaid Index, you can click on the link to read up about it, as to why the formula is as mentioned in the page is beyond our discussions.

Do remember that softwares may still produce errors, particularly when you write using people's names and numbers, so do not fully rely on it. Use them with care.

Homework 2: Read the resources below and play with some of the software, then tell me what you think about the software.

Resources:

Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 1

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/11/business-writing-how-to-write-like-pro_12.html

Formula for Lexical Density Test:

http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/lexical-density-test.html

Text Content Analysis Tool

http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php

Smileycat.com

http://www.smileycat.com/miaow/archives/000875.php

Test your document's readability -- Microsoft Office

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/word-help/test-your-document-s-readability-HP010148506.aspx

Flesch-Kincaid Index

http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/flesch-kincaid-index.html

Test Your Writing Quality With These 8 Readability Web Tools

http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/test-your-writing-quality-with-these-8-readability-web-tools/

Website & Vocabulary: Talk Music, Music Talk

Hi guys, another short entry today because I am still very busy, but I will have more time after this weekend so I will be sure to offer some really cool stuff. As for today, let's just look at a couple of nice websites for you to learn to use music-talk vocabulary (or maybe find some free songs to listen to?)

As you know, most people will simply say, "nice" when they talk about songs and music, which isn't enough as you know, so we need much more in order to make us sound more expert-like!

The first website is RoyaltyFreeMusic.Com, mainly for beginners. There you can find some words under the drop lists on the left side of the page.

There you will find words such as 

• Style: Hip-Hop, Dramatic, Easy Listening, ...
• Category: New Age, Holiday, Romantic
• Tempo: Slow, Midtempo, Uptempo, Varies
• Mood: Romantic, Angry, Comedy
• Genre: Asian, Indian, Classical, R&B, Reggae
• Instrument: Harp, Piano, Cello ...

(You are strongly advised to listen to some of those music or songs to get a feeling of what the word really means, otherwise, it is hard to understand by just looking at the words.)

The second one is the one I like best, called Stock Music,

I like this one better because it offers many many more advanced words, best for expert learners like you guys!

Of course, if you like to learn from songs, do check out my recommended songs under Songs label, and find out how to use songs to learn English under Learning Methods label.

Resources:

Royalty Free Music
http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/music-search.cgi?row_offset=6740&order_by=track_tempo

Stock Music
http://www.stockmusic.net/

Songs @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/search/label/Songs

Learning Methods @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/search/label/Learning%20Methods

Usage:Asking for Directions

A short entry for a busy day.

I got an email from one student asking me how to improve their English in telling directions. I found a very useful video here with subtitles, real life one, no drama! Take a look!

This is quite fake, but the language is alright. Maybe a little too simple though.

This is obviously too much of a planning, but their accents are nice.

Do get back to me if you have any questions.

Resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUD6SkItQVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC42oeU3uFw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tRvWNld_t4

Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 3

Blackadder and Baldrick
Image from leighkcunningham

So did you guys enjoyed the show? I wrote an article recommending this TV series to advanced learners on 21st December 2009, titled TV Drama: The Black Adder (for English lovers). It was meant to be a Christmas present recommendation for those who enjoy learning English through TV dramas. Thinking about it, it is time to rewatch it again. You know I am a big fan of Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and "S Baldrick" Tony Robinson.

The Black Adder series really allows me to appreciate the beauty of the English language in a hilarious way. Learning English can be so much fun!!!

Image from filmonic.com

Oh, by the way, Rowan Atkinson is NOW IN HONG KONG to film Johnny English 2 !!! I would dream of a chance to speak to him and tell him how much I appreciate his work! But I guess I will have to wait outside his Tsim Sha Tsui hotel all day and have the ability to lose his bodyguards first! HAHA!

Anyway, let's get back to our homework check (Note: There are many ways to rewrite this, I'm just showing one of them):

Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Great Britain. He was born on 18th September 1709. He was an author and he is most famous for his work Dictionary of the English Language. The dictionary was published in 1755. The dictionary took him 9 years to finish writing. Black Adder the Third is a English TV series. In the episode Ink and Incapability (1987), Dr. Samuel Johnson has only one copy of his dictionary. Blackadder's servant Baldrick burnt it and Blackadder has only one weekend to rewrite it. *************************** Locky's Version Born 18th September 1709, British author Dr. Samuel Johnson is most famous for his work Dictionary of the English Language which he spent 9 years to complete prior to its publishing in 1755. In the episode Ink and Incapability (1987) from the English TV series Black Adder the Third, Dr. Samuel Johnson's only copy of dictionary was burnt by Blackadder's servant Baldrick, forcing Blackadder to rewrite it in one weekend.

From the new version, we can see that the sentences flow because the object in one sentence is always chained to the subject of the next sentence, so forming one new sentence.

The first two sentences of the original version are easy to combine,

"Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Great Britain. He was born on 18th September 1709."

just take away the repeated "He was born",

"Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Great Britain on 18th September 1709."

In the next sentence,

"He was an author and he ..."

we only need the word 'author', so you can put it before the name,

"Author Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Great Britain on 18th September 1709."

Then we look at the rest all together,

"... and he is most famous for his work Dictionary of the English Language. The dictionary was published in 1755. The dictionary took him 9 years to finish writing."

removing all 'The dictionary', you can add some words to help you link up the sentences,

"... and he is most famous for his work Dictionary of the English Language which was published in 1755 and took him 9 years to finish writing."

Now, if we combined our two new parts together,

"Author Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Great Britain on 18th September 1709 and is most famous for his work Dictionary of the English Language which was published in 1755 and took him 9 years to finish writing."

Now, do a little "facial" for the sentence and you might arrive at my final version too!

Homework:

Now, try the second half my yourself, step-by-step, and post them as comments for me to see.


Resources:
Previous Entry -- Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 2
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/11/business-writing-how-to-write-like-pro_19.html

TV Drama: The Black Adder (for English lovers)
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/12/tv-drama-black-adder-for-english-lovers.html

News Article from Filmonic.com
http://filmonic.com/gillian-anderson-dominic-west-rosamund-pike-join-jonny-english-reborn

News: Rowan Atkinson takes his life in his hands as he shoots scenes for Johnny English Reborn in London
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/10/news-rowan-atkinson-takes-his-life-in.html

Message: New Way to Comments on the Playground

Hi guys,

I have added some new buttons for you all to make simple comments even if you are too tired (or lazy) to write me comments.

Selected articles will be added the Facebook "Like" buttons as well.

Friday article will be posted today, don't worry!