Family dyanmics

Here is an interesting article about some of the consequences as a result of the financial crisis in America. It focuses on the issue of family and friends sharing living spaces out of necessity as a result of the economic conditions that exists in America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/us/29families.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

It is well known in America that children are expected to be independent once they reach college age. There is such a culture of independence and freedom that exists in America that one feels stifled under a communal environment. I think most Americans have reached a certain level of affluence where independence is economically feasible. However once economic conditions deteriorate and people are forced to share things again, people have a tough time adjusting.

In China, there is much more of a culture of sharing and community, at least within a family. Families remain intact until the children get married and in many cases it could be intact even beyond that. It is common to see 3 to 4 generations living under the same roof. It seems each member of this extended family have less trouble finding a role to play within it. It is inevitable that are tension at times under these living arrangements but somehow the tolerance level seems to be higher.

What I am noticing is that these types of living arrangements is becoming less prevalent in Shanghai (a prosperous urban center) as compared to the rural areas. Economics definitely plays a big role.

It is interesting to see the opposing trends in the two countries.

the China World Expo

Its now August and I have discovered that I did not comment at all about the biggest thing that is going on in China that nobody else in the world knows much about - the China..er... World Expo.

The amount of hype that has gone into this event here in China has a very nationalist feel to it. Unlike the Olympics this is very much a China event whereas the former was a global event. In the media, you can't go a day without a mention of the Expo in some way. It has certainly been the event of the year in China. Seems like everyone in the country wants to come to Shanghai to see it. And this all makes a lot of sense.

As someone who has travel the world a bit and had access to cultures from abroad in a city like New York, the most enlightening thing about going to the expo was the myriad of interesting architecture that are standing side by side. The energy of the expo from the Chinese citizens is also very interesting to observe. The exhibits in these pavillions, however are not terribly intersting.

However, from the eyes of the average Chinese this is probably the only chance for them to see exhibits from all over the world and actually get to meet the citizens from other countries who are working there. These are people who have never travel abroad and perhaps had some misconceptions dispelled by attending an event like this.

Whereas the Olympics was an opportunity for China to showcase itself to the world, the World Expo was the world's chance to showcase themselves to China.

上海话

我也住在上海有几年了。 不过我还没学上上海话。 现在只能听懂比较基本的词。 有可能我这几年还在漫漫掌握中文和普通话。 我在外面听到上海话我也没去注意他们在说什么。 上海话对我来说就是背景噪音。 其实这也很可惜， 学上一个新语言对一个人很有成就感。 我希望再过一段时间， 我可以起码说一点上海话。

Drastic changes

Well, I guess its finally going to happen to me. I am going to be a father soon. This is the event that I have been avoiding for the longest time because I had other interests to pursue and things to see.

I think i just went through the most interesting 5 years of my life. To be able to have the courage to extricate myself from the daily grind that I found mundane and going down a very unusual path has been so fulfulling that my outlook on life is that anything is possible. Nothing seems unusual to me now, because there are always very simple reasons behind them. I am now able to empathize with people that I would have otherwise not understood. The great thing is that I have a partner in life who went down this path with me with the same outlook in mind.

Now that we are on the precipice of parenthood, I think I am as prepared as I can be to become a parent. I don't think the full impact of this has hit me yet, but I now feel absolutely ready to take on this drastic change in our life. There will be a new addition to continue on our very interesting journey.

Time marches on

A few days ago, perhaps just an afterthought in the newspapers was the the news of the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr at the age of 40. Ken Griffey was a superstar player for the Seattle Mariners and Cinncinati Reds for much of his career. I grew up an avid baseball fan and even though I was a fan of the New York Yankees, Ken Griffey was an symbol of my youth. I am only 2 years younger than him and his retirement from the sport of baseball reminds me again that I am getting on in age. I still remember Griffey as the young player who debut in the major leagues at the age of 18. He was one of those players who was so natural and graceful at the sport of baseball that made it a pleasure to watch. In his prime, Griffey was probably the best all around baseball player I have ever seen. He was truly a baseball polymath.

To me, his retirement reminded me that there is nothing more relentless than time.

The Pizza Tour: Epilogue

My recent pizza tour in New York was a really fun way to catch up with friends, visit various parts of the City and gorge myself on the best that pizza has to offer. Its funny how I never thought of doing these kinds of things when I was still living there. Now that I only go back once a year, there is incentive to think of creative ways to explore the city that I was raised and see the familiar as well as the changes. In some ways, I feel that the quality of the time I spend in those two weeks in NY as being better than while I was living there. This pizza tour was just one of the many wonderful experiences for me this time back.

Now, to summarize my findings over this pizza tour. My rankings of the 7 pizzerias that I visited:

1. Keste
2. Co.
3. Luzzo's
4. Grimaldi's
5. Veloce
6. Artichoke's
7. Posto

Considering that the number 1 pizzeria in my book prior to this tour was Grimaldi's and I discovered my top 3 pizzerias on this tour I would consider this was a very enlightening experience.

The only problem is now my standards has been raised, its back to Shanghai where Papa John's is considered good pizza. Oh, the pain....

Pizza Tour III

On one of my last days back in NYC last month I met up with my buddy Joe, another pizza lover to taste the number 1 pizzeria rated by New Yorker Magazine. During my trips back to NYC in recent years me and Joe have always had pizza when we meet. I feel like he is my kindred spirit when it comes to the humble bread from Italy.


Keste Pizza & Vino
271 Bleeker Street
New York, NY 10014
212-243-1511


http://www.kestepizzeria.com/menu.html






So I met up with Joe at 6PM after a day of last minute shopping before going back to Shanghai. Joe just got off work and insisted on meeting early because he heard that the lines at Keste was really long after 6:30. Keste is in the heart of Greenwich Village surrounded by restaurants and bars. That area has some of the best that NYC had to offer. I've always wondered how students of NYU can focus on their studies in an area like that.

I walked into Keste and I realized why Joe was probably right. Even though there were a few empty tables, the place was fairly long but narrow with seating for about 15-20 people. If this is indeed the best pizzeria in NY then it is probably too small to accomodate the hordes of pizza lovers. In a place like Manhattan you find ways to make things fit into small spaces.

Joe showed up about 10 minutes after I arrived and we proceed to order two personal pies - my standard Magharita and Joe orders a butternut squash pizza. During our wait, I inquired about the making of our pies. Our server informed me that these pies are cooked in 900 degree ovens in a brisk 57 seconds. Our pies arrived and it looked strikingly similar to the other two Neopolitan discoveries - Luzzo and Co. I took a bite into my Magharita and it was just as I expected, crispy and airy crust, sweet tomato sauce and just the right amount of mozzarella and basil. I was in heaven again, savoring every bite. I sampled Joe's butternut squash pizza and it was quite interesting to say the least. It was quite sweet but the butternut squash sauce just didn't feel quite right being on top of a pizza. I think I will stick with my Magharita. Its a classic for a reason. After washing it down with a cold Italian beer, I was content. Hard to beat great pizza and a cold beer on a spring day on vacation in New York.

Pizza Tour Part II

My first weekend in NYC in a long while rolled around, and I sold the idea of the pizza tour to my buddies Ari and Bryan. Ari is more adventurous when it comes to food while Bryan pretty much disqualified himself from enjoying meals with a myriad of self-created food allergies. Of course being allergic to tomatoes does not bode well for a pizza tour but Bryan accompanied us anyway because he hasn't seen his buddy in about a year.

The day started with me and Ari traveling to Manhattan from our suburban enclave of Little Neck. The plan is to hit a pizza joint before meeting up with Bryan for the rest of the day.



Co.
230 Ninth Ave. (near 24th St.)
New York, NY 10001
212-243-1105

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/co/menus/main.html




After getting out of Penn Station we headed to the nearest restaurant on my list - Co. The restaurant's layout was wide and open, the walls were of wood paneling. There was a contemporary showroom feel to it. The menu consisted of soups, salads and of course pizza. We decide to share a personal Margherita pie since we plan on going to about 4 other pizza places throughout the day. Our waitress was very friendly and we discovered that she was from Chicago and an aspiring actress. We told her that our plan for the day was to hit as many pizza joints as possible and she joked that she wanted to join us for the day. When our pizza came, it looked very much like Luzzo's. The crust was slightly burn and the crust is airier than Luzzo's. Again, it was the classic Neapolitan pizza cooked under a very hot (700F) oven for a short period of time. The mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil were all perfect toppings for the crispy but airy crust. I think so far, Co has taken over as my favorite pizza with Luzzo's a close second.



Posto Pizza
310 2nd Avenue (18th street)
New York, NY 10003-2724
(212) 716-1200

http://www.postothincrust.com/inhousemenu.html

After a delightful snack at Co. we got a surprise call by my other buddy Qi. Qi had told us he was expecting to work on that Saturday but he called us at around lunch time to take a break for his midday meal. Instead of going to one of our other planned destinations, we detoured to a Zagat rated pizzeria - Posto's. Posto's was to be a very different pizza experience. I read that they specialized in ultra thin crust pizza. The restaurant was on the corner of 18th and 2nd and from the outside it looked like a cafe with outdoor seating but the interior looked like a bar. I didn't pay attention, but this place probably doubles as a bar in the evening. We proceeded to order 3 personal pies. These pies were a bit of an anomaly. The crust was indeed very crispy and thin, but they were so thin that it crumble under the weight of the toppings. The taste was well, disappointing. After experiencing my 2 favorite pizzas in the past 2 days, expectations were running high for a new pizza experience ultra thin style. The experience, well crumble under the weight of expectations.



Artichoke
328 East 14th Street (1st ave)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-2004

http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/artichoke-pizza/menu






We said our goodbyes to our friend Qi as he returned to the Saturday grind and we proceeded to meet our other buddy Bryan on the L train station at 14th and 1st. There we hit Artichokes Pizza. Unlike all of the other pizzerias that I have reviewed so far this was not a sit down place. It was basically a store front with a cash register with guys kneading pizza doughs next to pizza ovens in the back. There was very basic foyer before the cash register counter. A nondescript place by all descriptions, except for one thing: the line. The line was just as long as two nights ago when I passed by and it was about 20 people deep. Normally I would just leave upon seeing such a line, but what the heck it was a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging with my two buddies and our mission was a search for good pizza. When you have three guys debating about the Mets and Yankees time really flies.

When it came to our turn to order, I stuck to my methodology of Margherita. Ari went off the deep end ordering a slice - yes by the slice - of crab. There wasn't much to choose from anyway - the other choices were artichoke and Sicilian. There was no seating in the place so we went out to 14 street to eat al fresco. The slice was actually kind of sloppy, a thick dense crust with mozzarella and oil dripping off the side. I was a bit apprehensive as I prepared to take my first bite. The first bite met my tempered expectations. The crust was dense as I expected (almost Sicilian like) and the toppings was very greasy and the oil exuded probably from the mediocre mozzarella. I took another bite for confirmation and I proceeded to throw the rest of the slice into the garbage bin. I did not dispose of the majority of my slice because it was so bad, but my belly was already full of pizza and I had one more place to go so there was no space for any more mediocre pizza - Posto had already taken up enough room. For 4 bucks a slice, I am not entirely sure if it was worth the price. I did have a chance to sample Ari's crab slice and to be honest it was interesting. Maybe next time when I am not as full maybe I will give the crab slice a chance. Honestly, if I had this pizza last year, I think I would have been quite satisfied with it but after having tasted Luzzo's and Co.....



Veloce Pizzeria
103 First Ave., nr. 6th St.
New York, NY 10003
212-777-6677

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/veloce-pizzeria/menus/main.html






As we approach our next destination - Veloce I was already quite full. Veloce rated very high on New Yorker Magazine's survey - and the reviews were that it was a different type of Sicilian pizza. The three of us walk into the restaurant and the entire restaurant was adorned with bottles of wine on wine racks. It felt like a wine bar and as expected as we ordered, the waiter recommended wine to go with our pizza. Not me, I think beer is better with pizza - leave the wine for steak. Me and Ari proceeded to order a $15 12 inch square pan Margherita while my tomato allergic friend ordered an order of calamari.

The pie comes and it looked a bit different than the normal Sicilian. I take a bite into it and it was indeed quite different. The texture of the crust was crispy on the outside but quite dense and spongy at the same time. The bread had the texture of Ethiopian bread that is used to sop up sauce with. It was actually quite interesting. I asked the waiter what accounts for this interesting texture and he informed me that potatoes had been added to the flour. The sauce and cheese were just OK so overall I would give this pizza a good effort to be different but probably would not make my list of favorites. Its not that it tasted bad, but the taste did not stand out from the crowd.

That concluded my day of pizza gorging, and overall I was very enlightened with the possibilities of pizza. The classic "New York style" pizza will never be the same.

Accountability

I don't consider myself as a tree hugging environmentalist, but I do consider myself a conservationist. What is developing in the Gulf of Mexico is not just solely the fault of British Petroleum, the owner of the oil rig responsible for potentially the biggest oil spill ever. I think this is a much bigger problem than that. Consider the hubris of the oil industry to drill into the sea bed miles below the surface of the ocean. We as a race do not even have a clear understanding of what goes on in the oceans, never mind at the sea bed and we have the arrogance to believe that we can disrupt that delicate environment safely.

Perhaps it's not hubris, but greed that is at play here. Its analogous to Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. People without a real comprehension continue to head down a riskier path in search for higher profits until a tipping point is reached.

Ultimately, we cannot place the entire blame on the oil industry either. We as a society all contribute to the problem. The complacency that exists in society leads us to take things for granted. We expect to have certain conveniences in life and we are intolerant of any disruption of that lifestyle. So can we as a society really put the entire blame on an industry that is there to fulfill a demand? The kind of "accountability" we place on oil companies and Wall Street banks makes it very convenient to scapegoat. We are not even aware of our own role in contributing to the problem. What if we all made a conscientious effort to conserve? Perhaps then the demand would not be high to the point where companies take undue risk in the pursuit of profit.

Let's for once look ourselves in mirror and be accountable.

Pizza Tour - Part 1

I consider this the beginning of my pizza tour. The first place I went to was Grimaldi's - a place that I was familiar with and the standard up to this point. Going back there and re-familiarizing myself got me prepared for the real tour. Let's get started!!

Luzzo's
211 1st Ave
(between 12th St & 13th St)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-7447
www.luzzos.com

On my second day back, I met up with my buddy Siu at a bar near Union Square in the early evening for some catching up and talked about the state of world affairs and other interesting topics. After a couple of hours and a few beers we decided to search for some real food. Since it was my time back, Siu deferred to me to choose a restaurant for the night. I told him briefly about the pizza excursion that I was to embark on. He was OK with it and I thought it would be a good idea to find the place closest to Union Square. Luzzo's was only a few blocks from where we were and it became the destination for the night.

The restaurant was small and cramp - typical by Manhattan standards. I noticed the hostess and many of the servers spoke Italian and for me that was a good sign. I ordered a personal size Funghi ( tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, basil) for $18. The large version was $23. It was a bit pricey for a personal size but being that we are in Manhattan, my only trip to NY this year and a for taste of the future, I happily plunked down the money for it.

When my pie came, I immediately noticed that this was very different from what I am use to. The crust was the first thing that I noticed... it was not dense like the typical New York pizza but airy and light, enveloped by a crispy exterior. There were some burnt spots on the crust which I expected from reading about 900 degree oven that these pies cook under for about 1 minute. I took my first bite into it and immediately entered my personal pizza nirvana. I feel as if I had broken out of consuming mediocre pizza and realized a new realm of possibilities. The crust was as it appeared - crispy and yet light and airy on the inside. The texture reminded me of my favorite bread - nan. I had always imagine that pizza made on nan bread would be a marriage made in heaven and I think this was close. The mozzarella was just enough in quantity and not piled on thick like some pies and most importantly it tasted fresh. The sauce, fresh basil and mushroom just enhanced the whole experience.




The one thing that spoiled the whole experience a bit was the service. They were friendly most of the night, but by the time we were close to finishing up our meal they were kept coming by trying to clear our tables. It became quite annoying as we were still trying to finish up our conversation while this was happening. It really gave the evening a bad ending. However, I was not going to allow the service get in the way of my evaluation of the food since these are separate aspects of the experience.

Here is a link to the menu of Luzzo's

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/luzzos/menus/main.html

Pizza, the next frontier.....

During my preparation for my trip back to NYC, I decided that I have to get my share of quality pizza in NYC that the Shanghaiese can't seem to get right. I spotted the following articles during my research:

http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/57893/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/dining/08pizza.html


I decided to take a pizza tour this time back. I was determined to squeeze as many of these restaurants between family reunions and meals at Sushi Yasuda and Peter Luger. As it turns out I was able to eat at 5 of the top 20 from New Yorker Magazine (http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/57893/) and a two others not on the list which includes a New York institution - Grimaldi's. My mission was clear - to try the "new guard" pizza that has pervaded Gotham while I have been away. Before I go into details of each restaurant, I will say that these excursions have rendered my personal top 10 list obsolete. It is safe to say that my expectations of pizza have changed forever. That really sucks since this elevated sense of pizza does not bode well living in the barren wasteland of pizza known as Shanghai.

The methodology was simple, I will use the standard margherita pizza as the barometer since this represents the essence of pizza. Just the crust, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and basil for a dash of seasoning. No pizza on steroids and whacked out toppings to interfere with the essence. Maybe the next trip I will venture into alternative pizzas but this time I will start with the basics.

I will introduce each pizza joint in the chronological order of my visit.

Grimaldi's
718.819.2133
242-02 61st Avenue
Douglaston, NY 11362

My first night back in NY, I took the family out to a NY institution - Grimaldi's. Everybody knows the original location in Brooklyn under the Brooklyn Bridge, but the one that we went to was in Douglaston, Queens - only a 5 minute drive from my parent's house. This is a place that I am familiar with since to me it represents one of the pillars of pizza in NY, and is a place I have visited every time back to NY since I left for Shanghai. When it came time to order, I had to compromise a bit on my methodology since we had a wide spectrum of palates at the table. From my 5 year old nephew Spencer to my 87 year old father, compromise was a necessity. We ordered 3 pies for a table of 8 - one sausage and two mushroom/onion:





I enjoyed the thin crust, slightly burnt and the fresh but slightly tough cheese. The crust has a bit of crunch to it and the sauce was nice and sweet. It satisfied me but I must admit, it was not as good as I remembered. Even though I was a tad disappointed, to me it still served as the stardard that all other pizzas be compared to. I looked forward to exploring the next frontier now that I had a belly full of good quality pizza.

Back from the Wild West

We just took a trip to Toronto and New York and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For some reason, this time back felt really good. Much better than the last time back. Perhaps getting reconnected with friends and family was the main reason. Perhaps it was seeing the City again that gave me a dose of how good things could be. NYC is a great place to revisit for former residences since we know exactly where to go when we are back. These are places that really represents the essence of NYC. They are not the tourist attractions that a resident never goes to unless taking out of town visitors.

Anyway, this time back I fulfulled my cravings of pizza, steak and hot dogs. I even took a "pizza tour" where I ate at 5 of the top 20 pizza places according to New Yorker Magazine. I will be reviewing each of these restaurant in upcoming entries.

Anyway, I am now back in Shanghai and back to reality for the time being....

distancing friends

Our recent trip to Malaysia over the Chinese New Year period meant reunions with friends and family. My wife was raised in Malaysia and still has many friends who she keeps in touch with. I tagged along with her to many of these reunions and discovered a phenomenon that also exists in my circle of friends on visits back to NY. It seems that our homecoming was a reason important enough to get a group of friends together, but without such an occasion people don't find the time to gather anymore. I had friends tell me that the previous time that they had a group gathering was the last time we were back. Its a shame, but I think its just a reality that exists in us.

It seems as we go through life, there are bonds that tie us together with our friends. However these bonds don't seem to stand the test of time especially when people start to evolve as they age. At one time perhaps it was school that tie some of us together, then it become work colleagues and friends of significant others. It then could become parents of your children's friends.

That being said, when I heard about a classmate in need that I no longer stay in touch with, somehow I still tried to lend support in some way. I guess these bonds never really break, perhaps they just become dormant for a while.

food of malaysia

Another Chinese New Year means another trip to Malaysia, the homeland of my wife. Other than the family reunions and the well needed break from Shanghai, one of the joys of this trip is to indulge in the rich diversity of cuisines that exists in this country. One type of food that I really have a hankering for when I come here is distinctly Malaysian - Mamak food.

To explain what Mamak food is, a very abridged version of Malaysia's history and culture is in store. Malaysia is a diverse country with three main races - the indigenous Malays, the Southern Chinese and the Tamil Indians. Obviously the latter two are immigrants to this country and accounts for a minority in this mostly Muslim country. The Tamil Indians are the purveyors of the delicious but rustic fare known as Mamak.

Mamak establishments started out as inexpensive street food enjoyed by the masses, and has now evolved into an integral part of the Malaysian food scene. Now many popular Mamak fare is served in a more established restaurant partially indoor, partially al fresco. It still has its place as a cheap, informal dining alternative. Many establishments are opened 24 hours a day and becomes a great place to watch football games while enjoying a late snack (there is a 8 hour difference between Malaysia and Western Europe making it a perfect time to catch European Football matches during after hours). This is the type of ambiance that I really enjoy here in Malaysia. As a lover of food and the outdoors, there are few things better than eating roti canai, sipping on a ice lemon tea and watching Arsenal-Manchester United in 25 degrees (77F) nights of Kuala Lumpur along with other football fans that I surreptitiously met that night.

As for some of the favorite dishes that I would order are roti canai, paper dosai, fried chicken, fried fish,satay and nan. Most of these dishes are high in fat and are not authentic Indian food (Malaysianized), but who cares - its cheap, unpretentious and delicious.