Yum Cha, Beheading Orcs, and the Freezing Cold

So far, this Wednesday and Thursday has been quite amusing and possibly the most active I've been during my break.  Needless to say, I was sick two weeks ago and that pretty zapped most of my energy then.  In addition to that, there was a lot of sitting around and eyes glued to an illuminated screen.

Wednesday was dim sum day.  I was looking forward to this day very much.  I went out with two friends, Lily and Lisa, to Chinatown for a lunch.  We ordered 11 or so items and our bill totaled up to roughly $26.  Our bill practically shrunk from the last time we ate together which is pretty cool.  The restaurant we went to was emptier than usual because it was an extremely cold day; 23 degrees Fahrenheit with windchill.  Our food came very quick after we ordered which was a good thing.  I was practically dying for restaurant style food because I hadn't eaten out for at least two months.  My two friends ordered a congee which they remarked that it wasn't piping hot like it should be.  Here's my review of the food.  All English names associated with the foods are my own loose translations or accepted translations.


凉瓜汤圆 Bitter melon sweet ball: This is a dessert made with bitter melon and glutinous rice.  It has a black sesame filling and the finished product is deep fried.  Not every restaurant has it on their menus so I usually order it.  Even though it has bitter melon as an ingredient, it is not bitter at all and you cannot taste the bitter melon (most likely because they didn't add it in the first place).  This one I had was deep fried a little too long and had a layer of grease over it.  So I let it sit for a while so the oil was soaked up by the paper.  Otherwise, it was enjoyable.

虾饺 Shrimp dumpling  虾肠 Shrimp rice sheets 烧卖 Shu mai: These are the usual and most popular dim sums.  If you mess these up, I'm never coming back.  Well they didn't mess up.  Shrimp was large and didn't have weird flavors.  My only criticism was that the chef in charge added a little too much white pepper.  It was either to cover up the fact the shrimp was not fresh or the chef was simply accustomed to heavier flavors.

牛肉丸 Beef balls: I usually don't order this because it's not my favorite dim sum.  This one did not come out pretty.  The flavors weren't that great because there was too much starch added and most likely baking soda and/or some form of meat tenderizer.  You can also taste a hint of dried tangerine skin.  When used properly dried tangerine skin can enhance flavors of steamed beef.

炸两 Cruller rice sheets: This one is a dim sum that gained popularity in the recent years.  It is a Chinese styled cruller wrapped in steamed rice sheets.  It sounds simple enough, but it is delicious.  They drizzle it with soy sauce, but I personally feel you can eat it plain because there is already salt in the cruller itself.  The cruller this time was crunchy.  If your cruller is a bit chewy, this dim sum was made some time ago to have moisture from the rice sheets absorbed into the cruller.

凤爪 Chicken feet 蒸排骨 Steamed spare ribs: No doubt my two favorite dim sums since childhood.  They scored well in this restaurant.  Steamed ribs however was actually layered with taro (oh those sneaky bastards).  Chicken feet irks some people (cowards just kidding.  If you're not exposed to it at a young age of course you won't accept it) so I guess more for me to enjoy.

蛋塔 Egg tart/Egg custard tart: You know the kind you get in Chinese bakeries?  Well the lady with the cart wouldn't leave us alone so I picked the egg tart.  They were mini egg tarts and they were our appetizer.

Overall, it was a pretty good experience.  Some hits and misses, but I would come back to try it again.  People find it odd that three "youngsters" like us would gather at a dim sum place rather than a modern cafe/Starbucks setting like "other young people".  Frankly, I don't care.  I'm supporting a local business and enjoying good food.

Thursday was my movie day.  Once again it was cold.  Like 30 degrees cold.  Last year I watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with my friend, Will, and we couldn't wait its second installment, Desolation of Smaug.  We had decided on a date, but had to delay it further and further due to bad scheduling.  Finally, we saw it.  We were waiting for it so eagerly and we were not disappointed at all.  It's past spoiler season because the movie has been showing for a month and the book has been out for several decades.  Still I don't want to reveal too much.

We got tickets to the early morning show and there were so little people.  Yes, we thought.  Good seats guaranteed and nobody in front us with a huge order of MickeyD's.  It happened last time when I watched Despicable Me 2.  The smell of chicken tenders permeated the air.  It was a long movie to watch.  With the trailers and commercials in the beginning, we pretty much sat for three hours.  When the music started playing, I was so pleased.  I thought to myself, this is it, I've entered in the Tolkien universe.

The pacing was fast and was really good.  Scenes transitioned smoothly when they switch from the Company of Dwarves in Mirkwood and Gandalf in Dol Guldur.  I really like how Peter Jackson combined material from Tolkien's Appendices and other writings to add to The Hobbit.  Characters like Tauriel, Legolas, and Radagast did not appear in the book at all, but they added more content to the story and contributed positively.  Tauriel was a pretty badass female character, because she can fight and look pretty at the same time, and be honorable.  We seriously need to see more strong female characters in movies.  I really enjoyed all the fighting sequences and my favorite scene was the barrel scene.  It was funny and exciting.  Seeing thirteen dwarves thrashing about in barrels with a clinging hobbit in white water rapids is pretty hilarious.  With weapons and attacking orcs is even better.  Don't forget the elves too.  The final scene with the dragon was awesome.  So much running, chasing, and execution of the grand plan.  One word, gold.  Literally and figuratively.  Bard the Bowman was a great character as he's the most sensible character carrying the burden of his ancestor, Girion.  He has a great sense of responsibility.  The "government" of Laketown is perhaps a very good interpretation of today's politics in advanced countries.  Lee Pace was a very good Thranduil, sassy and handsome.  A good reason why dwarves hate elves.