You can't always get what you want - The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger rocks...


You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
Well you just might find
You get what you need

Rugby World Cup - England versus South Africa

After almost one week of competition, we can finally look forward to some evenly contested fixtures, at least on paper it certainly appears to be so -- England versus South Africa (Springboks). Wow! Surely can't give this match a miss, no?

One is the defending champion in England, the other one is the traditional rugby powerhouse in Springboks. I watched England played USA days before. Their performance were not impressed at all. Although i missed the Springboks opening game, i still reckon both teams had reserved their energy and strength for this match.

So far, New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies had undoubtedly come out of the blocks pretty strongly with their all-conquering and all-round displays in their respective opening games. Personally, i would like to see New Zealand All Blacks winning this year Rugby World Cup.

Chicken Dishes All Over China

Dedicated to those who like to eat chicken.

江蘇 Jiangsu

• 蝦子二泉醉雞：Drunken chicken; simmer together with rice wine and shrimp roe
• 叫化童雞：Beggar's chick; you could be forgiven to see this in someplace else, after all, there's beggar everywhere
• 油雞：Oily hen; boiled hen top with sizzling hot oily soy sauce
  
• 清炖狼山雞：Double-boiled free range chicken
• 竹葉蒸雞：Steamed chicken with bamboo leaves from Yangzhou

遼寧 Liaoning

• 溝幫子燻雞：Smoked cockerel; first boil with herbal soup, then briefly smoke with sugar

吉林 Jilin

• 人參雞湯：Ginseng chicken soup; boil with what regarded as the King of all Chinese traditional herbal medicines: Jilin renshen (or ginseng in English)

浙江 Zhejiang

• 清湯越雞：Double-boiled cock: Shaoxing wine is used in the stock
• 糟雞：Wine-lees braised chicken; boiled chicken marinated with lees from the kegs of Shaoxing wine
• 醉雞：Drunken chicken; Shaoxing wine is used, again

甘肅 Gansu

• 百歲雞：Hundred-years-old chicken, or roasted chicken; so named because the creator wanted to have his store last one hundred years

安徽 Anhui

• 曹操雞：Cao Cao chick: honey the chick first, deep-fry it and then simmer with herbs for total tenderness

江西 Jiangxi

• 三杯雞："Three-cups" chick; a cup of rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce each. The Taiwanese are very good with this chicken recipe too
• 瓷泥煨雞：Clay-baked chicken of Jingdezhen; the clay used is the same for the delicate porcelain wares produced here

山東 Shandong

• 德州扒雞：5-flavored boneless chicken; boned chicken hard-press, glaze with syrup and simmer with five different spices for over 6 hours
• 手撕雞：Hand-tore pullet; swiftness is the key in tearing the flesh otherwise the chicken will get all cold by the time it gets to the table
• 芝麻香雞：Poached chicken sporting sesame sauce
• 濟南肴雞：Boiled cock with spices and lacquered with red koji
  

河北 Hebei

• 蘆花雞："Reed flowers" hen; deep-fried hen garnished with Chinese ham, minced ginger and spring onions -- it's got nothing to do with reed flower by itself

內蒙古 Inner Mongolia

• 卓資山燻雞：Zhuozishan smoked hen; hen boil to half done, then smoke with woods and syrup

河南 Henan

• 桶子雞："Bucket" chick; soyed chick press to shape of bucket
  
• 道口燒雞：Daoko roast chick; honeyed chick fry till golden, simmer with spices and thick broth until dry
  

湖南 Hunan

• 東安雞：Dongan pullet; braise with vinegary and spicy sauce
• 麻辣子雞：Numbing, spicy chick; similar style can be found in Sichuanese cuisine too, but the latter chop into dices and buried under a sea of chili peppers
• 左宗棠雞：Zuo Zongtong chicken; one of the most famous 'overseas' Chinese dishes; the real deal in Hunan is a whole lot hotter

廣東 Guangdong

• 普寧豆醬雞：Puning bean sauce braised chicken; Puning is famed for her excellent bean sauce
• 白切雞：Poached chicken from Chingyuen
• 鹽焗雞：Salt-baked cock from Dongjiang
• 鮮奶雞：Milk-boiled hen from Chiuchow
• 檸檬雞：Lemon chicken nuggets; stir-fry and toss in lemon sauce
• 霸王雞："Tyrant" chicken; boiled chicken covered heavily with ginger & shallots dressing
• 太爺雞："Great-great grandfather" hen; soyed hen boil in hot oil and then smoke with tea leaves
• 五味雞：Five﹣flavored pullet; braise with five kinds of sauce
• 炸子雞：Crispy chick; a process called "skin-up" is done first in which the chick is masked by maltose syrup and vinegars, then the chick is fried twice -- first time in slow heat and second time rapidly for a crusty skin
• 風沙雞："Wind & Sand" chicken; similar to the crispy chick recipe but this one is marinated with fermented tofu sauce first and deep fry later, and served alike the style of "typhoon shelter" crab
• 糯米雞："Sticky rice" chicken; oh no, not the sticky rice in lotus leaf staple dim sum found in the teahouse, we're talking about a whole chicken with stir-fried sticky rice stuffed inside

雲南 Yunnan

• 汽鍋雞：Steam-pressed chicken
• 蟲草閹母雞：Double-boiled castrated pullet with vegetable caterpillar from the Wuding county. You may have heard of capon, this is the female version. They say the meat is more tender and juicer after the surgery -- a surreal specialty that can only be found in Yunnan

廣西 Guangxi

• 紙包雞：Paper-wrapped chicken; stew with the chicken sporting a paper wrap
  

海南 Hainan

• 文昌雞：Steamed chicken from Wenchang, so called the grand daddy of Hainan chicken
• 椰奶雞：Coconut juice-boiled chicken
• 椰蓉雞：Chicken baked with minced coconut

四川 Sichuan

• 辣子雞：Spicy chick from Chongqing
• 宮保雞：Kung Pao chicken dices
• 怪味雞：Spooky-flavored chicken; got its name because you can find all kinds of flavor in the chicken (a good one for inexperienced chefs)
• 棒棒雞："Bangbang" chicken -- chicken cooked and battered by drumsticks to puff
• 麻油雞：Sesame oil stewed chicken
• 口水雞：Spicy-sauced or, literally, "drooling" chicken; not the chicken but you who slobbers, or else we'd have the bird flu scare all over...
• 泉水雞：Chicken braised with spring water
• 白果燒雞：Braised pullet with ginkgo nuts in claypot, said to be invented by a well-known Taoist priest
• 大千雞：Daqian chicken nuggets invented by famous painter Zhang Daqian; stir-fried with chili soy beans sauce

陝西 Shaanxi

• 貴妃雞：Guifei or "Concubine" hen; so called because it's a recipe beloved by Yang Guifei
  
• 葫蘆雞：Calabash hen from Xi'an; hen bond to the shape of bottle gourd, steam for 2 hours and deep fry before serving

貴州 Guizhou

• 罐罐雞："Can-can" chicken, steam inside a claycan with heavy dosage of herbs

福建 Fujian

• 豉油雞：Soy-sauced chicken

Culinary Blogs

Hey,

I believe when it comes to food, there are always some recommendations you tend to get from friends. Word of mouth easily spread the great news of the great food in town. If you guys are looking for a place to eat, to drink or to celebrate a friend's birthday, check it out at some of the links that i have added.

“世界上什麼問題最大? 吃的問題最大!” ~毛澤東 "What is the biggest problem in this world? Eating is!" ~Mao Zedong

2007 Rugby World Cup

An old saying goes like this -- Football is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans; rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen.

Looking back, i have little doubts about it. Though rugby may appear violent to some people, rugby actually is the most disciplined team sport in the world as far as i know. Team consists of 15 players, far more than football. Every players must play his role in the team. You attack and defend in unison. Unlike football, in which normally you attack with the forwards and defend with the defenders. Thus, making football a little less than a team game. Furthermore, i never heard of rugby is played by women as yet. This reaffirms the statement of gentlemen's game in a sense since football is also played by women now. But not rugby, not yet.


Still remember 2003 Rugby World Cup when England won the William Webb Ellis Cup (the Rugby World Cup). Jonny Wilkinson, the England flyhalf, was certainly the MVP of that year tournament. His ever accurate drop goals had scored so many points and certainly won the Rugby World Cup for England -- thank to his drop goal in the last minute of extra time against Australia in the final.

Of course, this year tournament will be held in France comes this September. Northern Hemisphere nations can certainly look forward to it. Though i still think Southern Hemisphere nations will win -- either New Zealand (All Blacks), Australia (Wallabies) or South Africa (Springboks).

Ole! Ole! Ole!

Movies

Watched a few movies recently.

1. The Illusionist (Meet Edward Norton.)
2. The Prestige (Chirstian Bale is impeccable here, recommended.)
3. Casino Royale (The reboot of entire 007 series. James Bond had just earned his licence to kill. Prepare to be dazzled.)
4. The Devil Wears Prada (Adapted from Lauren Weisberger's novel of the same name. How to say...superb! Just love it.)
5. Blood Diamond (Of Sierra Leone illegal diamond trades. Leonardo DiCaprio, huh?)

Mr Bear is Knockin'

Hey hey hey,

Mr Bear is finally comin', no? After some previous false alarms, this time Mr Bear had come for real. This time, he really made a big entry. Rest assured, he will stay for a while. I think the Bull had overstayed his welcome. It's time for him to leave and take a sabbatical rest. Although my flirtin' with the Bull was brief, it was still the best time of my life. Miss you. See you around when you are back next time, kay? So long. Don't over do yourself. Take good care. I would like to see a great healthy Bull that last longer distance ya.

When you go shopping with Mr Bear, people give you huge discount since his reputation precedes him. No questions asked. They just want to get rid of the stocks in their hands as quickly as possible. But the point is are we seeing the rock bottom price cut yet? I don't think so. For those whose investment horizon is short, better take profit or cut loss now.

Please welcome Mr Bear! Kinda miss you too. Hope to do some nice shopping with you.