Three Generations of Mothers

My mom, my grandma and my great grandma.

Gone Fishin'

I wasn't a big fan of fishing. My uncle loves to fish and he would drive hours to some destination in Taiwan in the wee hours in the weekend morning to fish in different streams, lakes and coasts. A lot of the kinds of fish that he went for aren't really big... less than impressive, but he raves about it all the time, saying it was a big feat to catch some of the fish that he caught. I guess this was the reason why I was never really interested in fishing.

Then once a dad's friend took me to deep sea fishing. Basically, we hopped onto this fishing boat converted into a private fishing vessel, deposited our passports and paid the captain to take us out into the ocean. It was like a public bus, but the destination will eventually be where we departed from. We had to have our own equipment. Each person had a motorized reel. At the end of the fishing line were more than ten hooks strung together and a very big lead weight dangled at the end. Once dropped into the water, you can see the depth meter on the reel telling you how deep the line has gone. 160m, 200m.... That's pretty damn deep! For the next 15 min, we just clinched to whatever solid we could and try not to fell over the boat. Then, it was time to retrieve the line. 5 minutes. It took full five minutes for the motor to retrieve the line. Now, five minutes may not sound like long, but it IS very long. Finally, we see the fish on the hooks. Fish from 200m below sea level being brought up in five minutes. Remember the movie "Total Recall" where people blew up when being thrown into a depressurized environment? It was kinda like that. The fish's eyes popped.

May be that was why I wasn't a fan of fishing.

Then I came to Florida.

A friend of mine said," Hey, let's go fishing!"
I thought why not! So we went. He had two rods. We set up the lines and dropped them into the water. This was at a water way connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the inland harbor, so the water channel was narrow with water crafts coming in and out. There were quite a few people fishing as well, and this fit my impression of fishing, which is just wait, and wait, and wait, and chill out. We sat around, ate chips, talked about whatever. Then I thought I will check the line. I held the rod and suddenly felt a tension. "I've got something!" I shouted. Just like that, without any work, I caught a fish.

Then fishing became kinda interesting.

I went to Walmart and picked up a cheap fishing rod. I then went over to the next aisle and picked up a starter kit that included different weights, hooks, floats and fake lures. It was really cheap and I thought what an affordable hobby this is!

For a few weeks, I didn't really have the time to go fishing. I saw a lady casting her rod at the small lake beside my apartment, so I thought I should give it a try just to test it out. This was when I realized that there are so many ways to fish. Different ways to arrange the weight and float and bait or lure for different kind of fish and conditions. I was soon sucked into this little world of fishing techniques, trying to look for tutorials online and figuring out the best ways to do it.


My friend's catch, some sort of bass.

It was only when I had my first real experience in fishing when I realized that there is a lot more to what I thought I knew. It was a canal full of hungry fish. You will get a bite as soon as your bait touches the water, but 4 hours went by and we finished a bucket of live baits, we still did not catch any of them. The Gar fish were just nibbling our baits away without really biting. We were out-smart by some creature with really tiny brains.


My achievement.... I think it's called Spotted Sunfish.

And yes, we let both the fish go.

This reminds me of the movie "Gone Fishing" by Danny Glover and Joe Paci, a down to earth blue collar duo whose only desire was to go on a humble fishing trip using their hard earned vacation, but plagued with disastrous but hilarious events that made their trip unique and unforgettable. For me, I thought fishing was supposed to be a relaxing and peaceful experience, but in reality, it was full of frustration.

Last weekend, I finally got to go out there again to try my luck. It was a last minute idea, so we went somewhere closer and bought earthworms as bait instead. It was not a popular spot, so we weren't sure if there were any fish. We then found this spot where the water is shallow and we could actually see the fish with polarized lens. Desperate to get our official first catch, we started to fish... no, more like, hook fish! Basically, the fish in the water were not really hungry, so we lowered the bait right in front of them to force them to bite. It was pretty pathetic I must say. There was no harmony in our minds. We wanted it bad! Again, the fish took small bites and consumed our baits. We tried a bunch of methods. In the end, we decided that we should put as little bait as possible so that the hook can do it job better. It worked, and both of us caught a fish each. They were puny as compared to what else were in the water, but with this, we can officially tell people that we fish!

Here I shall omit the crazy encounter with a baby alligator wanting to eat our floats.

That night, I cannot remember which movie I was watching, but the thought of right or wrong popped in my mind. Some of my closer friends may remember me telling story of me catching insects when I was young and how it turned out. I realized that I wasn't feeling very good about fishing. Why? Because I was building my entertainment upon the pain and suffering of another life form. Now before you start to think I am going all religious and what not, I am not. There has been a debate on whether fish feel pain, so I did a quick internet search and a recent experiment showed that fish not only feel pain, but remembers it. Fish that were subjected to pain feeling acted wary and unnatural, which goes to show that their brains process the pain into fear, just like humans and mammals.

Will I hook a dog for fun? No. So why should I hook a fish for fun? I wasn't respecting the fish as life forms, but saw them as objects.

I did enjoy the fishing experience. The anticipation, the challenge of trying to out smart them(now this makes me sound really low) and the excitement and feeling of satisfaction when I finally caught that S.O.B were what made fishing addictive. This is a violence based non-violent sport, and I don't know if this is for me. I still think about different ways I can try to do better at fishing, but at the same time, I don't really think it's worth the pain of the fish, and the guilt in me. I still have my fishing rod. I may go for another trip of fishing. Or I may just leave it behind and sun bake with the gators when I am out there.

Tour de Everglades

What was that? 26 miles of butt numbing goodness.


I can chill here all day with a fishing pole, even if I catch nothing at all. It's not really the fish that matters, it's the feeling that "I've gone fishing".


Some gator along the way.







Baby gators. The good thing about seeing baby gators like these is, they are pretty much on their own, means no angry mama gator to watch out for.



Tons of catfish skeletons around the dried portion of the water bed. Looks like someone had a feast!


Water control gates to control the water flow between different water catchment areas, also allows fish to swim from one area to the other.


All kinds of birds chilling.


First time seeing a complete turtle shell, all white! Should have taken it home to make it into a helmet.

Florida is kinda special. It's like the tropical version of Alaska(I've never been there before) in the sense that a large portion of it is protected. It has an amazing wealth of wildlife and relatively easy access to appreciate them. The Everglades was a swamp land.... no, more accurately, it's a giant VERY SLOW glowing river. Humans filled the river and started to live on it. Sounds weird right? It is. So to control the rise and fall of the waters, and to protect the remaining fragile land, Florida built super long levees around the wet lands. The very good thing is, you don't need to be some scientist or hunter to access the great "middleofnowhereness". You can just hike or bike on the levee!





Endless trail on the levee.





Only half way there!





Airboat rides here!







Some bird that figured out that he's better off waiting for some human to feed him instead of catching his own fish. Humans think it's cute, so it worked out for the bird.

It's kinda funny how people outside of Florida react to me going to the wildlife reserves and poke around the animals with my camera lens.

" Aren't there alligators running around?"

Sure! So what's the problem?

Most people are so removed from the nature and wildlife that they see is as "unnatural" when they now live so close to them. Being in Florida, it's not hard to find people who appreciate the wildlife. It's like a heaven for them here. I am not exactly hardcore on knowing every species of birds or waiting in the bushes to see turtles mate, but I love to get out there and watch them in their natural environment, doing they things they do as a natural part of their lives.





Unbelievably Redneck!!!



Thinking from this perspective, 26 miles seems like a good treat. A 4-hour casual ride where everything between the start and finish line is yours to grasp. Also, unlike watching a basketball game, I actually felt that I did something! Weird huh?







Oh, and I made a couple of mini planets along the way.



At the end of it, there are tribes of cute little puppies waiting for our victorious return. Stop humping my leg damnit!

American Entertainment

Miami Heat VS San Antonio Spurs


It's all about the spectacular.


Sport is a very integrated part of most children’s lives. As students, we are most than likely involved in one or more kinds of sports, competitive or not. Even play police & thief can be quite physically demanding. It’s interesting how the level of involvement in sports rises and drops as a person grows and moves on in life. For some, they grew out of it and eventually become disconnected with sports. For others, they may become more and more involved through high school or college. This is when playing sports become more elite and less welcoming. Does this have to be so? Can’t I play basketball even when I suck? Sure, but no one wants to watch you play!


D-Wade bites back!


J-O'Neil puts it in.


First quarter break cheerleaders




Why is being watched important? Because like everything else in this capitalist nation, nothing exists without the ability to generate revenue. Sports is meaningless unless it makes money, and the involvement of money means it has to be big, and big means more. So we have the big leagues like NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL. As of March 2010, I can proudly say that I’ve experienced the complete package of being to all four major league games.


Oh damn, the best half-time show EVER!!!!!!





Heat struggles to fight back...



End, Heat sucked.



Money, muscle, hot girls, sports cars. This is what it's all about.

These major leagues in the United States are truly unique. Sure there are the crazy football (soccer) nuts over the pond, but that’s of a very different nature. I can’t really speak of, or compare these two because I have never been to an European or S.American football match, but from what I’ve been exposed to, the level of fanaticism is much higher over there. In the states, it’s all about fun. The more bang, the more buck. Going to a MLB baseball game is like going to the amusement park. For example, the Detroit Tiger’s stadium has amusement rides in the premise for kids. Going to a game like that is not all about the game. It’s the experience that attracts families where dads bring their sons, grab some hot dogs and lemonade, cheer for whatever team they like, feel like they are involved, go get a ride on the mini roller coaster and have an ice cream cone. It’s almost a half-day trip, and it’s about family, not the sport.


Florida Panthers VS Buffalo Saber (NHL)




I honest think that watching ice hockey is like watching a school of sardine moving around the ocean in a group. They just follow where the buck goes, and moves rapidly just like sardines. I know next to nothing about this sport, so everything looked random to me.

Of course, every team is different. Every sport is different too. Take NFL and NBA for example, both are much more about the sport than the sideline experience. The game duration is relatively shorter. The games are more action packed as well. Also, there is something very different about NFL and NBA, which are the cheerleaders. This is where the difference in crowd matters. In NHL and MLB, there is almost no presence of cheerleaders. People don’t go to the stadium to see the hot energetic girls dancing away. They either go to see players fight (ice hockey) or batters getting hit by the ball (that’s bad). Of all of the sports, I’d say NFL has the biggest sideline culture both in size and variety. Tail gating, BBQ and grill, superbowl advertisements and so on. Is it still about the sports? I don’t know but those athletes sure make a load of money.



Cheerleaders dancing on ICE!!!! Now that's something!
I really think they should have figure skating as cheerleaders instead.


Cameraman shooting a couple, waiting for the cue to appear on the big screen.


Fans


There's a mad cow too!

So what is this whole thing about? I think it about setting a stage that has all the spotlights, the excitement and charm that every Joe can climb onto and feel like being a part of it. Die hard fans…. No, they aren’t die hard about the sport. They are die hard for the franchise. There you go! The ultimate example of everything good turned into capitalistic venture. Some say that’s the reason why they prefer college sports…. Oh well, why not pay big bucks to go watch your neighbors play?



This makes it all worth it.

High school cheerleaders vs professional cheerleaders….. hmmm that’s a hard choice. Depends on whether you are going for the girls or for the dance.

CNY - Making dumplings the old school way

Chinese New Year here is kind of like "You're on you own!"
No major celebration or dragon dance or worship ceremonies, just you and whatever you can do in that day. The good thing is, we are lucky that Chinese New Year fall on a weekend.

A new co-worker from northern China invited me and my other co-worker to dinner at their place. Her parents are visiting and taking care of her new-born, so it was pretty exciting to get a taste of the hand-made dumplings that the northern region of China is famous for.


Making the dumpling skin

Why dumplings? Actually, northern China is famous for any wheat based food because unlike southern China, northern China is dry and has long and bitter winters. The climate doesn't allow rice paddy. Therefore, wheat is their staple food as opposed to rice. Flour based food from northern China is very popular in Taiwan, brought in by the veterans from the Chinese civil war. Our so-called traditional breakfast is mostly flour based food such as egg-wrap, deep fried dough and so on.


Mom teaches daughter


Dad tries not to screw up


The experts at work


Getting schooled

With automation and industrialization, it's getting harder to find hand-made fresh flour based food. It's very laborious as well and takes significant skill to do it right and efficient. However it has also become a desire to have. My mom insists on buying fresh hand-made dumplings instead of frozen factory made ones, even though the first thing she does when she buys them is to put them into the freezer.

Anyways, I suppose Taiwan's dumplings have evolved from its original version after these decade. Like any foreign food in the states, it's probably different, so I was excited to see the original version. How it tastes, what kind of dipping sauce they use and so on.


Just getting started


Don't be greedy! Got to leave enough skin to close the fillings



First think I noticed about these dumplings is that they are smaller than what a typical Taiwanese dumpling will be, about 25% smaller. This means more dough-to-filling ratio, a little more chewy. The filling itself has less herb and spices, but the basic ingredients are the same. The sauce is quite different. I can't really describe the difference, but I think Taiwan's sauce mix provides more flavor. I think it's the difference in soy sauce since every region's soy sauce taste different.

Over all, I think the main difference is the way wheat based food is appreciated. In southern China, or most parts of Asia, rice is the staple food. Our taste buds are so accustomed to rice that I can just eat plain steamed rice and enjoy the starch turn into sugar in my mouth. I appreciate rice as it is, and different region's rice gives a different type of appreciation. When we eat wheat based food, it's more like the "once a while" kind of food. It's almost like a different cuisine altogether. I don't think I can eat wheat based food for more than a few meals straight. I got to go back to rice. However, people who are used to wheat based food eat it like how I eat rice. There's a special sense of appreciation for it that I don't. I like it, but not as much as rice.

However, this isn't the point of dumpling making. Dumpling making is a family activity. You sit down together and make the dumplings one by one as a family in the afternoon. Everyone will be molding the dumplings differently with their hands, therefore create a variety of shapes and sizes. You talk about it, laugh about it. Then as you eat it for dinner, you wonder who made the dumpling that you are eating. Dumpling making isn't really about food, but about you and who you care about and what you share with them.







It's a family business