Hong Kong decided, I think collectively, to put everything on sale.
Like, everything. Seriously, you need a list?!
Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Paul Smith, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Tod's, Dior, YSL, Columbia Sports Company, Nike, Cole Haan, Lacoste, Givenchy, Juicy Couture....
It goes on. The English department store Harvey Nichols, considered one of the most exclusive stores in fashiondom, is having a 40 percent off sale.
Why do they have to be so cruel? The only store not being cruel is Chanel, who thankfully, never puts anything on sale. If you didn't know Chanel burns everything they don't sell. That makes my day.
Ken
Today Covet Item. Take a wild f'kin' guess.
Showing posts with label cantonese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cantonese. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Saturday, September 30, 2006
For our next course....
Before I left the U.S., I had dinner with a few family friends about their trip to Hong Kong. They gave some great advice. But, they did warn me.
“Watch out for the fancy dinners.” ~Rene.
Oh, Lordy – Mom, you can tell Rene that she was right. I just lived a scene out of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” No snakes. No monkey brains. Now, I am an experimental eater. But… this?
Yea…
Tonight was my hall’s High Table Dinner, one of three we are required by the University to attend. It’s a very important function for the Hall. I was excited to go.
Now, Chinese food is served differently here than in the U.S. Traditionally, you serve one dish at a time, and you finish off one/two dishes at one sitting, and then another set will be brought to you.
Let’s start with the first course:
Suckling Pig. That pig was served to me with its face facing me. I had to stare the pig in the face while we ate. And the meat served was not the interior of the pig... it was the outside. I had to eat the skin off a pig... while it looked it at me.
I suddenly wasn’t that hungry. Allison, oh lordy, Allison.
After the pig, here we go.
Shrimp. Now, I like shrimp. But, I don’t enjoy having my food look at me when I eat. And I swear one of them moved. No one else believed me. I actually won’t have Shrimp at Sushi restaurants anymore because I went to one that served me shrimp with the eyes. I don’t want to look at my food while it's looking at me.
Things just kept getting worse. Damn fish...
I am missing a photo of the whole chicken that was served to us... head and all. Again, the bird looked at me while we ate. I miss Chicken Nuggets.
This pastry was actually good. I have no idea what was in it, and how my night was going, I didn't want to know.
In all our table was served something in the neighborhood of 15 dishes with tea. The majority of the food was quite good. I just like not..... well, looking at my food.
And the endless combination of Pork, Shellfish, Dairy, Beef and Dairy taints my body so much, that God himself would ban me from ever devoting a life to Kosher dietary laws.
After dinner, we had a series of speeches (given in Cantonese) and other stuff. Again, I bring up the mentality of the Chinese compared to Western thought. We had the whole series of applause again for people. We were introduced to committees of students and alumni. Everyone in that echelon of power wore the same outfit.
Anyways, the dinner was quite good, despite the looking at my food thing.
Please Mind the Gap, and stop looking at me!
~Ken
“Watch out for the fancy dinners.” ~Rene.
Oh, Lordy – Mom, you can tell Rene that she was right. I just lived a scene out of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” No snakes. No monkey brains. Now, I am an experimental eater. But… this?
Yea…Tonight was my hall’s High Table Dinner, one of three we are required by the University to attend. It’s a very important function for the Hall. I was excited to go.
Now, Chinese food is served differently here than in the U.S. Traditionally, you serve one dish at a time, and you finish off one/two dishes at one sitting, and then another set will be brought to you.
Let’s start with the first course:
Suckling Pig. That pig was served to me with its face facing me. I had to stare the pig in the face while we ate. And the meat served was not the interior of the pig... it was the outside. I had to eat the skin off a pig... while it looked it at me.I suddenly wasn’t that hungry. Allison, oh lordy, Allison.
After the pig, here we go.
Shrimp. Now, I like shrimp. But, I don’t enjoy having my food look at me when I eat. And I swear one of them moved. No one else believed me. I actually won’t have Shrimp at Sushi restaurants anymore because I went to one that served me shrimp with the eyes. I don’t want to look at my food while it's looking at me.
Things just kept getting worse. Damn fish...I am missing a photo of the whole chicken that was served to us... head and all. Again, the bird looked at me while we ate. I miss Chicken Nuggets.
This pastry was actually good. I have no idea what was in it, and how my night was going, I didn't want to know.In all our table was served something in the neighborhood of 15 dishes with tea. The majority of the food was quite good. I just like not..... well, looking at my food.
And the endless combination of Pork, Shellfish, Dairy, Beef and Dairy taints my body so much, that God himself would ban me from ever devoting a life to Kosher dietary laws.
After dinner, we had a series of speeches (given in Cantonese) and other stuff. Again, I bring up the mentality of the Chinese compared to Western thought. We had the whole series of applause again for people. We were introduced to committees of students and alumni. Everyone in that echelon of power wore the same outfit.
Anyways, the dinner was quite good, despite the looking at my food thing.
Please Mind the Gap, and stop looking at me!
~Ken
Monday, August 28, 2006
Leaving on a Jet Plane, part 2
I present this challenge: Get from the United States, to a small six-story building in eastern Hong Kong, and do it without knowing a word of Cantonese.
This has been my challenge of the day. I learned very abruptly that none of the taxi drivers in Hong Kong speak any English. Now, I wasn't surprised, just that there really isn't a solution for this. I was told by people over there that I have to write out what I need, use a translation program and hope it does a good job.
So... I had to figure out how to write:
"Dear Taxi Driver, I need to get to Simon KY Lee Hall at The University of Hong Kong's main campus. Please take me there." Note: Simon KY Lee Hall is not necessarily 100 percent translatable.
This has been my challenge of the day. I learned very abruptly that none of the taxi drivers in Hong Kong speak any English. Now, I wasn't surprised, just that there really isn't a solution for this. I was told by people over there that I have to write out what I need, use a translation program and hope it does a good job.
So... I had to figure out how to write:
"Dear Taxi Driver, I need to get to Simon KY Lee Hall at The University of Hong Kong's main campus. Please take me there." Note: Simon KY Lee Hall is not necessarily 100 percent translatable.
I got this:
"亲爱的出租汽车司机, 我需要获取对西蒙KY 李・霍尔香港的主要校园大学。
请采取我那里."
请采取我那里."
That's Putonghua, or Mandarian (not commonly spoken in Southern China). I had to write that out. I've never written a Chinese character in my life - and I had to copy, character by character, that sentence onto some paper. It took me an hour.
According to BabelFish, that translates into: "Dear taxi driver, I need to gain to Simon KY Li Hall Hong Kong's main campus University. Please adopt my there."
Pray for me, and pray that my taxi driver can somewhat comprehend my Mandarian chicken scratch. I then realized today, "Ken, you're going to a place in the world that you don't speak a word of their language, and somehow live, survive, and work." It's a humbling thought.
According to BabelFish, that translates into: "Dear taxi driver, I need to gain to Simon KY Li Hall Hong Kong's main campus University. Please adopt my there."
Pray for me, and pray that my taxi driver can somewhat comprehend my Mandarian chicken scratch. I then realized today, "Ken, you're going to a place in the world that you don't speak a word of their language, and somehow live, survive, and work." It's a humbling thought.
Again, Pray.
~Hong Kong Ken
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