Personal Dork Assistant

Home-Style Cooking

Starbuck drew howls of derision when they opened branches in Vienna, understandable in the coffeehouse capital of the world. On the other hand, an American company selling Chinese food in China seems to make a lot of sense.

Diner Frank Li, a project engineer on a trip from Suzhou, says the restaurant's link to KFC and Pizza Hut is a draw, not a drawback. "Those places are good quality," he says. "You know what you're going to get. They are a very professional company that must know what it's doing, and I think the quality here shows that."

Could Panda Express be far behind? How about some PF Changs? Will the Chinese public love the lettuce wraps? Hey, it's been ages since I've had a so-bad-it's-good orange chicken. Given the scary food supply situation in China, a monotonous multi-national backing may not be such a bad thing. Taco Bell in Mexico can just go straight to hell, though, far as I'm concerned.

Fortune cookies is the "dessert" staple of the Americanized Chinese cuisine. I've always just kinda assumed that the Chinese immigrants just made it up when they opened their restaurants in America. Just shows that I'm no historian. Apparently fortune cookies actually originated from Kyoto, from the snack stands that surround the temples of the city.

It was only in the late 1990s, outside Kyoto near one of the most popular Shinto shrines in Japan, that she saw that familiar shape at a family bakery called Sohonke Hogyokudo.

“These were exactly like fortune cookies,” she said. “They were shaped exactly the same and there were fortunes.”

The cookies were made by hand by a young man who held black grills over a flame. The grills contain round molds into which batter is poured, something like a small waffle iron. Little pieces of paper were folded into the cookies while they were still warm. With that sighting, Ms. Nakamachi’s long research mission began.

If you think about it, it's not a surprising finding considering the many Japanese immigrants pre-WW2, and the long Japanse tradition of sweets and crackers. Will definitely have to make a pilgrimage when I make it to Kyoto.

Epic Stylistic Failure

Last year, the Consumer Electronics Show was scheduled directly opposite Macworld. Michael Dell's CES keynote was dissed and overshadowed by Steve Job's show, and the overwhelming gaggle of gadgets in Vegas were blown away by the singular iPhone. This year, CES comes a week before Macworld. Now, I don't pretend to know what Apple has up its sleeve for their big moment in the limelight, but I am pretty sure that they won't have trouble beating out the best that Microsoft could offer, especially when it comes to the design department.

So Microsoft rigged up a fashion show showing off the best that their hardware partners had to offer. Because you know putting a big red heart on a computer will totally make it edgy, hip, and sell to the beautiful people.

The personal computer has transformed from a tool to a fashion accessory, and Microsoft sees this trend continuing into the next year. Kano previously worked under former Windows chief Jim Allchin, who pushed OEMs to develop design-conscious computers. In turn, she wants to establish fashion as a critical element of both software and hardware design, bringing the back the "cool" to Windows PCs.

That's assuming that Windows PC were actually cool at some point in the past. Whatever cool means, I'm pretty sure that Windows ain't it. So forget about Microsoft's fashion faux pas and let's gear up for the next big thing.

新光三越週年慶接力開唱

The SO had to work over the weekend so I was left to my own devices. I savored the sweet taste of freedom and it tasted... kinda boring. Thankfully I remembered seeing a poster on our periodic trips through Mitsukoshi Dept. Store mentioning a courtyard concert as part of their Annual Sale festivities.

It was cool with bouts of misty rain, but a jacket and a cap warded off the chill. Got there early enough to squeeze into a singleton seat near the front, before the rest of the shopping crowd gathered into the Mituskoshi A4's 4th-floor courtyard. The entire A4 building is aimed at the young, fashionable, female shopper, and the concert lineup was aimed at the demographic. Indie, alternative, but not too heavy, for the young women who've outgrown the pre-fabbed boy-bands.

The festivities kicked off at 6:30pm with 宇宙人, featuring kids dressed up in sci-fi getups. Their alien-from-outer-space schtick was kind of endearing. I didn't realize it's so hard to find parking space for a UFO around here. The jam-band style music with the quirky lyrics probably does seem like music from outer-space to the Taiwan audience.

旺福 was up next. They actually had noticeable amount of fans in the audience who could sing along to all the songs. The four-piece two-guy-two-girl band featured a peppy rock sound, kinda like the B-52s, but with a J-pop sensibility and singing in Chinese.

旺福 did a good job getting the audience warmed up on this cold and wet autumn evening. By now the courtyard was really filling up with people for the featured act.

Tizzy Bac is a keyboard, guitar, drum trio offering light, jazzy pop music just different enough to be unconventional but still fun. Picked up their album on a lark a while back and found them to be ray of indie light in the dismal, contrived Taiwan music scene. Tizzy B may not be the most challenging, cutting edge material, but it's a good time without subjecting the audience to saccharine shock.

All in all, it was a great show featuring some solid bands. Got some good pictures. And you can't beat the price. Except for the cold I had to live with the week after.

A Fine Gedankenexperiment

What would the Germans do when there are no rules?

Each day, thousands of cars and big trucks barreled along the two-lane main street, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to scamper for their lives.

The usual remedies - from safety crossings to speed traps - did no good. So the citizens of Bohmte decided to take a big risk. Since September, they've been tearing up the sidewalks, removing curbs and erasing street markers as part of a radical plan to abandon nearly all traffic regulations and force people to rely on common sense and courtesy instead.

Old habits, however, can be hard to break. Especially in Germany, a rules-obsessed nation where people who dare to jaywalk can expect a loud scolding from other pedestrians, even if no cars are in sight.

Even in Germany they are skeptical whether it'll all work out. I can't imagine something like that working in Taiwan...

...on the other hand, the traffic rules are already de facto null and void around here, practically ignored by drivers, riders, and pedestrians alike. So maybe it would all work out, give or take the drunken driver with the suspended license crashing and decapitating his son. But that's just natural-selection in action there.