February 11, 2012

Dad drove up to Sacramento today with his former museum colleague Nora to attend the Bat Mitzvah of Mira, the daughter of another former colleague, Wendi.

It took place at Congregation B’nai Israel, the first congregationally owned synagogue west of the Mississippi, dating back to 1852!  Dad wasn’t previously aware of its significance and was very impressed to learn about its rich history.

We’ve known Wendi since before she got married and had Mira. Coincidentally—even strangely—Wendi, Nora and Dad made up the Education Department at the Blackhawk Museum and, although they didn’t know each other previously, they all turned out to live within minutes of each other in the Berkeley/Albany area—and the only ones who didn’t live near the Museum. In fact, it turned out that Wendi lived only a block away from Dad…and on the same street! How weird is that!

Two months ago, Mira and Wendi drove down to San Francisco to attend Mira’s friend’s Bat Mitzvah. Wendi and Dad arranged to get together at Chilango, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Although they originally thought that considerable travel (by car and BART/Muni) would be involved in order to meet at this slightly out-of-the-way location—but that the good food would make the effort worthwhile—it turned out that it was only a block away from where the Bat Mitzvah dinner dance was being held and the car was parked! Another very, very weird coincidence.

Just before he was ready to leave for the City on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), Dad talked to Wendi by cellphone and wondered why Wendi’s description of her parking-lot location sounded so strangely familiar.

Perhaps they’re forever destined to have some sort of spooky Rod Serling “The Twilight Zone” block-away connection in future meetings.
 

Dad said it was wonderful to see how Mira has grown into a beautiful, capable and confident young woman, much thanks to her parents.

He couldn’t help but think back to my own Bat Mitzvah, which now seems so very long ago. Wendi and Nora attended and seem to remember more about it than Dad does. Maybe he was just in a fog the whole day.

Last weekend in Hawai‘i, Grandma’s side of the family held their annual Chinese New Year luncheon…at a Korean barbeque buffet. Not exactly in the Chinese tradition but, in the “Hawai‘i tradition,” if the food is good, nevah mind! The first local requirement has always been that the food be good and generous!

On Monday, Grandma, Aunty Mary and Uncle Michael helped Aunty Carol celebrate her birthday at an Italian restaurant in Manoa. They said it was very good and served such ample portions that they went home with leftovers.

February 5, 2012

JANUARY NEWSLETTER. Well, it’s been a quiet month in Lake Woebegone—lots of work and life maintenance after the holidays. Also, it’s been intensely cold. So this newsletter could also be called, “indoor activities for the winter-shy.”

Things I did in January:

• Won a raclette set in my office gift exchange! Or, depending how you look at it, stole it from my colleague in exchange for a piggy bank shaped like a cassette tape. For those of you unfamiliar with raclette, it’s melted cheese on a grill, poured over various other foods to distract you from the fact that you’re eating melted cheese for dinner. It is heaven. And thus totally worth alienating any number of work colleagues.
  
  
  
  Uncle Michael asked how the device works and what kind of cheese is used, since he hadn’t heard about it before I was introduced to it shortly after I arrived in Paris. It’s so popular that there is actually a cheese called raclette and every winter, fromageries all have big grills outside on the sidewalk. You can buy the melty raclette cheese to eat with a demi baguette. Yum!
  
  The top surface acts as a grill for a variety of meats or vegetables and the little pans (two on top of the grill in the picture) are used to hold the cheese. The pans are placed under the top grill—you can see their handles sticking out the side in the photo—where the cheese is melted by the hot grill element above. (More information and history at Raclette Corner.)
  
  [Dad’s note, September 21, 2012: While we were looking around the kitchen and cooking store Complete Kitchen at Ward Warehouse in Honolulu, Naomi showed me that they indeed had on display and were actively selling a raclette grill in Hawai’i.]
   
• Finally got my French health insurance in order. After learning that I get 300 euros per year to spend on glasses (EVERY YEAR! Every! Year!), I went out and got myself a pair of Gucci architect glasses and switched on my webcam…
  
  
   
   
• Watched lots of Downton Abbey and resisted the urge to drop Dowager Countess-isms into conversation. In particular, I’ve been hoping for the opportunity to remark that, in moments such as these, you can normally find an Italian who isn’t too picky. SO TRUE.
  
  Dad found an interesting article (RTF text file here) about the “real Downton Abbey.”
   
• Went to the Chinese New Year’s parade (see the January 29 entry below) in the 13th arrondissement, Paris’ biggest Chinatown. As we did last year, some friends and I shivered our way halfheartedly through the parade before plopping ourselves down at the Imperial Hot Pot Palace for the next two or three hours. Dozens of dishes later, we roll ourselves over to the Chinese hypermarches (think: Chinese Costco) to stock up on ramen and sriracha and nori, so that we should not be deprived of makizushi during the apocalypse.
   

Things I'm looking forward to in February:

• Catching up with Scarlet Fire (the house where we lived when at Stanford) alumna Kristen Primus, who, I recently learned, is in Paris working on her dissertation. (See Friends > A scrapbook of Stanford friends.)
   
• Preparing for my mom’s visit in early March. We already have a rather ambitious agenda that includes restaurants, bakeries, day trips, and pieces of furniture that I apparently “need” for my apartment, such as a “table.”
   
• Baking, because I’ve learned that my oven is more effective than both of my radiators combined.
   
• In the further pursuit of central heating, I’ll be checking out the Danser Sa Vie exhibit at the Pompidou, and seeing all those Oscar-nominated movies that just came out in France…such as Titanic.

Useless URL:

• Once I sent myself a reminder to deal with a “virement bancaire” (bank transfer) only to receive an alert the next day about virulent bandages. These are way worse: Damn You, Autocorrect!

February 2, 2012

Today is cousin Ed’s 83rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Ed!

This is the cover of his first CD, released in 2007, and available on Amazon, along with his other two, including the just released Born To Be Blue. Take a look at his website to learn more about his music.
 

We’re very proud to have a singer of his talents and well deserved rapidly growing fame in our family.

January 29, 2012

I just got back from the Paris Chinese New Year parade and our lo-o-o-ong Chinese lunch!…which turned into dinner.

The parade wasn’t as well organized as last year but there were lots of lion dancers and Franco-Chinese associations…and lots of firecrackers, of course! They probably had more firecrackers than in Hawai‘i! It’s a shame that Hawai‘i is cutting back so much on fireworks with restrictive new laws and regulations—not like the good old days that Dad remembers so fondly.

My friends and I went to a restaurant right along the parade route. We ordered so much food: roast duck, ginger chicken, chow fun with black bean…and, of course, har gao for good luck! Or, as they call them here, “raviolis aux crevettes,” i.e., raviolis with shrimp.

Won ton soup is called “soupe des raviolis au porc.” Manapua (or char siu bao) is “brioche au porc.” Ong choy is “liseron.”

We have several Portuguese interns and staff in the office now and they eat a pastry exactly like dan tat (custard tart). Dad and I wonder how much the world’s cuisines were influenced by the early Portuguese explorations worldwide but especially in Asia, particularly Macao.

Ong choy (Chinese spinach) with harm ha (fermented shrimp sauce) is easily available in Paris, surprisingly. Harm ha is called something like “sauce des poissons fume,” or “stinky fish sauce,” which is a pretty accurate description.

Dad suggests that someone should create a food dictionary app that tourists could use to know what they’re ordering and enjoying wherever and whatever they’re eating around the world. The literal translations might even be a constant source of amusement.

Mom is visiting Grandpa in Seattle this weekend. She’s still not fully recovered from her trip to Indonesia.

Dad watched the Pro Bowl from Aloha Stadium in Honolulu tonight. It brought back fond memories from the ’50s, when Grandpa was a member of the Hula Bowl committee planning the Hula Bowl, in the days when the pros played against the college all-stars in the OLD stadium—the original “termite palace” at King and Isenberg. The photo below is from the old 1996 Star Bulletin article.



Grandpa, Dad and Uncle Michael enjoyed watching many “stock car” races there. The star driver was Jerry Unser, who unfortunately died in a crash at the Indianapolis 500 in 1958. His brothers, Al and Bobby Unser, and his nephew Al, Jr., went on to achieve racing fame, all winning the 500.

Dad’s neighbors across the street, the family of his primary school playmate, knew Unser and he used to visit them in Kuliouou.

Dad had a chance to meet the Hula Bowl college and pro stars…