a visit to tsukiji market

I visited Tsukiji Market in in Tokyo in the spring of 2010. It is certainly a must see for a foodie. The footage was shot in a Canon 7D DSLR. I was very inexperience at the time and I panned the camera too much. Seeing all these amazing selection of fresh seafood really make me wanting to go live in Tokyo a year or two.

tokyo trip - 2001

Still more photos from old album. These were from a business trip to Tokyo in 2001, taken with a first generation digital camera. It was my first visit to Japan, a country which I would return many times.

macau - 2008

I was browsing through my old photo albums today. I found some photos that I had not posted previous and here they are. These are from my trip to Macau in 2008. While Macau is very small many of these photos were taken off the beaten paths of tourists.

pizza my way - part 2

I have been in a pizza making spree this few days. I want to improve the result through practice and experimenting the ingredients and techniques. This is the third pizza that I made in the last three days. I would call this a break through as I was able to achieve the best crust which had been elusive until now.

pizza my way - part 1

It has been nearly 8 years since I last made pizza. There were a time when I would regularly make pizza from scratch. My first really great pizza experience happened when I first arrived to Portland, Oregon.

pining for a bbq pit

I have joked about my toy smoker before. I bought the toy smoker when I wanted to try smoking and didn't want to invest heavily until I learn a few things and decide it is something I would continue to do. Now I know I would.

low clearance damage

Brunnhilde is a tall girl. She is the tallest vehicle I've ever owned. There is one potential disaster when driving in a lapse of attention. That is to inadvertently drive through roadway with low clearance. While it may seem like a relatively easy accident to avoid, in reality there are often danger lurking that are easy to overlook. There were many owners of this camper (Westfalia James Cook) experience damage to the high top. Many of these accidents are quite catastrophic.

you too need a galaxy gear

That is if you think this ad is cool

To see what reactions from the web just search for "galaxy gear are you geared up?"

All I can say is - fire your ad agency and your promotions department staff that worked on this.

Love this comment on facebook: "Back when I did not have this "gadget", my life was empty. It had no meaning, an empty void. But after possessing it , I can do anything with passion and commitment. My life has meaning. In fact, I just learned Chinese while flying a plane upsides down blindfolded in outer space! Thanks Samsung!"

washoku 和菜

I was watching NHK World recently and learnt the word washoku 和菜. UNESCO recently has identified washoku to be designated as a culturally intangible heritage. Washoku 和菜 means traditional home cooking that is passed down by generations. The host said that a lot of younger generation Japanese now have little idea what washoku 和菜 really is. Some surveyed thought it includes food dishes such as curry, fried pork chop (tonkatsu) and fried chicken. These dishes are yoshoku 洋食 - meaning they were western dishes that had been localized.

hummingbird slo mot - part 2

I posted a short clip of hummingbird slow motion video a few days ago. Today I have a chance to capture a few longer clips.

watching movies and tv in brunnhilde - part 2

There were some unfinished business with my setting up the streaming movie and TV in Brunnhilde.

home made hummingbird feeder

To say that I am less than impressed with hummingbird feeders sold on the market is an understatement. Similarly is my dim view on most pet and garden products in general. Most of these feeders sold here are cheap craps made in PROC and sold at inflated price of 10x to 50x of whole sale prices. Hummingbird feeders on the market are the most gaudy and cheaply made products that you can waste your money on. Don't get me started about the red dyed nectar.

squid, prawns, and celery stir fry - 鮮魷蝦球炒芹菜

My recent diet have not been good to my stomach. I can feel the increase of waistline after a few meals cooking with the sausages I recently made. I wanted to switch to a few meals of lighter dishes.

hummingbird slo mot

It was frigid outside this morning and I went to check to see if the hummingbird feeders need topping up. In very cold days the hummingbirds often will fly up to drink from the feeder while I am still holding it. I thought I could use this opportunity to capture a slow motion video with the iPhone's 120 FPS (4x overcrank in motion picture jargon) video capability.

update: the original video was rendered sub-optimally for Youtube, i rendered this new one 

It is just a very short clip that is rendered to 1/4 speed of real time. Love to see how she can stop and reverse on a dime. Yes, it is a girl anna's hummingbird! You can hear the hum from the wing beat as well as the chirp she made.

servicing brunnhilde's kitchen extractor fan

In this autumn I noticed the kitchen extractor fan in brunnhilde began to labor and make noise. I thought to myself the bearing must be dying due to lack of lubricant. I refrain from using it as much as I could to minimize damage hoping I can extend the life of the electric motor.

asia trip - winter 2013 part 13

The last of my blog posts on my recent trip to Asia.

asia trip - winter 2013 part 12

More photos from Bangkok that was a part of my recent Asia trip.

thai cookware shopping - part 2

I am a cookware junkie. I cannot resist in buying cookware especially those that has cultural or ethnic significance. I either buy them for functional or entertainment reasons. I should fashion a bumper sticker "I Brake for Cookware".

One of my favorite travel activity when in Thailand is go shopping for Thai cookware. In my recent trip I brought back some more.

watching movies and tv in brunnhilde

I have been wanting to set this up in Brunnhilde for quite some time and finally the time is ripe. I recently upgraded to a iPhone 5S from a 2-year-old 4S. For this application it is my iDevice of choice for watching movies and streaming TV online in the home on wheels.

lilyhammer season 2

How can you not love Netflix? They just sent me an email that the season 2 episodes of Lilyhammer just become available. While it is nowhere near as good as The Sopranos it is quite entertaining.