Silver Case

…Can’t wait.

I’d almost prefer to hitchhike the final 800 miles to Pittsburgh overnight on an 18-wheeler.

I’ve been using the Noguchi Filing System for a couple years now. Verdict?  It works well.  I do no color-coding or categorization whatsoever.

One of the nice things is that I can commingle all sorts of files.  In a single filing cabinet (I have a four deep drawers of them) I keep everything from old bills from 1999, bank statements, computer parts manuals, creative project ideas, and important safekeeping documents.

The only problem is that I’ve filled up the stupid file cabinet and it’s hard to fit everything in.  When I moved to 41 Springleaf Height, I’m going to get some big, heavy James Jesus Angleton style 5′ high combination-locked steel filecabinets straight out of 1953 Washington.

…number of books published “by” Mr. Ludlum since Mr. Ludlum died?

Twelve.

Prepare our video applications to be P. Diddy’s man-servant valet.

Although I think it will be very hard to top the parkour moves in

I think I figured out the secret to good meat patties. Not hamburger patties, but patties of things where you blend meat and other ingredients, then pan-fry (or maybe bake? (yuk)).  Often they turn out to be very dense ingots of Things.

I was making a thai-style dish tonight.  Pork, pancetta, lemongrass, lime leaves, chilli peppers, garlic.  Rather than buying minced pork, I bought a piece of pork collar.  To avoid the heavy, ingot-y feel, I prepared the “mince” they same way good French restaurants prepare their steak artare — I hand minced it with a knife.  Basically I painstakingly cut the meat into loose bits approximately 1/4-1/3 cubed.

It resulted in a much nicer texture to the patty and it also seemed to cook faster. Perhaps because there is more space between bits for the steam and oil to permeate.  The little patties turned out damn good. It also helped that I didn’t over-cook them — just canola oil pan-fried on hight heat till they made a nice hard, brown crust then flipped.

I have a plate left of them. They could do better served with something sweet against them. I told Ling to prepare julienned carrots and corn tomorrow, softened in butter with a bit of dark sugar.  That should offset the heavy spice of the chilli padi I used.

4 Tbsps toasted white sesame seeds

2 tsps dark or light soy sauce

3 Tbsps dashi

1 Tbsp mirin

Toast sesame seeds then grind in a suribachi till flaky and paste-like. Add other ingredients and blend well. Dressing should be creamy. Prepare just before using.

I’m going to try this today. It comes from “Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art” by Shizuo Tsuji, which seems to be modelled after “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

Roger, have you found any other recipes so far?

Edited:

I did this tonight.  I only had a rough mortar-pestle, not a proper suribachi, so it was hard to turn it as creamy as I wanted.   Make sure to toast the sesame seeds.

This recipe seems to make the sort of dressing that comes with cold dishes at the beginning of a meal. Not really the sort of sauce you’d pour from a jar.  Consequently I had to thin this down with several tablespoons of water till it got to a semi-pourable/pasty consistency.

Taste was pretty good. I used tamari sauce rather than soy, which was maybe a bit too far on the soya vector.

I just ate it on a bowl of fresh spinach we bought yesterday.

Looks like I’ll get the “keys” (the place is unlocked and empty) to my house a day before we go back to the US for the better part of a month.  Tuesday I sign the loan documents and on the eighth I’ll sign the final papers.

A builder/contractor/designer is already working on some drafts for the renovations.  I had to spend an hour last week poring over three separate spools of microfiche (ugh) to find all the architectural and structural plans to my house.   I printed these and gave them to the builder.

Finding the plans was a chore.  My house is a part of a large project.  For any house their are two sets of plans, structural and architectural.  I had to find a master map of the project, realize my house was a “Type B” home, and then read through the whole project’s plans, pulling out anything that was general or for Type B homes.  It appears that the diagrams for a type B home are for the left-hand side homes, and mine is a right, so all my blueprints have to be reversed when you read them.  A further nuisance is that errata are filed against the original plans.  In my case, my project had three tiers of errata for both the architectural and structural plans.

Hopefully I pulled out 98% of what I should have. I am sure I missed a piece here or there. If so, tough, my contractor can go retrieve whatever is missing or wrong.

Delighted little man

Originally uploaded by karavshin.
Got back at 1am on monday. Went to bed at 4am on monday, and have been busy and tired ever since. Adding insult, I was sick on friday. My muscles have never ached more. Was wondering if I somehow caught dengue, except when i woke up today, no more fever, just stiff. Have a lot to do…we leave for the US in only two weeks.

Lots of new photos on Flickr.

There’s mean a constant dripping rain in Tokyo all day Saturday. Only this evening, when I ran into a colleague, did I find out the reason.

Sunday followup:  Looks like Man-Yi rolled to the east too fast to strike Tokyo on sunday, so we just got a windy drizzle most of the day, and by this evening the rain seems to have ceased.

Had the pleasure of having dinner at Les Bouchon’s second restaurant, Rive Gauche, at Robertson Quay, underneath/beside the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Drank a liberal quantity of Kirs, enjoyed some nice merguez sausage with that bizarre chilli sauce (red chilli, garlic, cumin, and coriander) that is very morrocan, and finished it off with a decaf (yeah, I’m old) and a creme brulee (yeah, I was slumming).

It was fun and nice and they really made the restaurant look amazing. And of course the food was typically perfect.

…I couldn’t figure out how to get iMovie to rotate the movie 90 degrees. ugh.

Photo Mosaic Maker is the program Shyan Woei used to make the picture of Luke. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other applications to try, too.

Luke Bike

Originally uploaded by karavshin.

Luke get’s his nightly bath at 6:30pm and is in bed by 7pm. Today, by 5:30 Ling had had quite enough of him. So I threw him on the back of the bike and went out for a ride. We rode to the next neighborhood over, Dalvey Estate. This is serious, old money neighborhood. Old bungalows on 50,000sq feet plots. Enormous, lush trees everywhere. It’s really pleasant quiet.

So as we pedalled, I was talking to Luke asking him different things, “what sound does a chicken make, a cow make, etc.” At some point he got bored and quit answering.

About thirty minutes later I was headed home, and passed a maid walking someone’s dog. She smiled, laughed, and I thought I heard her say to the other maid that Luke was asleep. I doubted that, but checked anyway. Sure enough the little bugger had fallen sound asleep on the back of the bike and was dozing contentedly. I guess the gentle rocking, cool breeze, and tree-shadows knocked him out. It helped that he only napped for fifteen minutes today.

As soon as he got home, though, he was ready to get back to work playing.

Luke and the Sandpit

Originally uploaded by karavshin.

Friends of ours bought Luke a sandpit for his birthday. Today I bought him some sand for it. Of course he loves it. Now he feverishly runs between asking to play with his play-dough (somehow 13$ of play-dough has the same entertainment value as a 1000$ of legos and scandanavian trains) and play with his Bob the Builder toys in the sand.

Had an opportunity to view Picasso’s “Vollard Suite” today at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.  I don’t know  much about the techniques he used “aquatinint” “etching” “drypoint” etc, but they were interesting to look at.   Was mos interesting how sometimes simply drawn details, often hands or feet, could look amazingly realistic, despite being minimalist and the rest of the details looking far less real.

Met a designer at our house today to have a first go at the house.

Several interesting things came up.

My workshop can be expanded by about 7′ back. This increases shop size by 25-30%.

He envisioned moving the maid’s room and toilet to the back of the house, near the washing area, and making the kitchen more of an L-shape, rather than a long, narrow corridor. He says that will give it more light and make it less industrial.  As well, I find it gross to have a bathroom immediately off a kitchen.

Good news about the attic.  I brought out my ladder and jammed it into the roof hatch.  Turns out the elaborate steel trellis-work up there is simply bracing to hold up the false ceiling.  He says it’s eminently possible to turn the attic into a large room of good height and approximately 20×30ft?  I may have him make the access to the attic from my study.

I requested my building plans from the Building and Construction Authority already. Hopefully I can pass them to the designer before I leave for Japan on Thursday.

Most pieces are in place now for finishing up escrow. The money is ready, the government approvals granted, the assay finished. I think the only thing left is another search by the lawyers.  Hoping that we can finish this in the next few weeks.

Starting off the evening with a few fingers of some single malt whisky I bought today, a limited edition Bowmore Islay scotch.  I was asking the dealer for something new.  I told him I’ve enjoyed Highland Park 25y and Bruichladdich Infinity, so he suggested this.  Not as oily as the Bruichladdich, but a nice long finish like them.  It’s signal characteristic is its amazing smokiness. It’s like drinking Lapsang Souchong tea.  It’s bottled straight from the cask, so it’s something like 53.8% alcohol, so it needs cut with a touch of water.  A pleasant sip.

I’m afraid I buy scotches faster than I drink them. I guess that’s bad for me, but good for guests that enjoy scotch.

Created by Uncle Shyan-Woei.

A few weeks ago I bought a Dahon Mu Xl folding bicycle. Sort of on impulse. But wow, it has been money well spent.

Although the bike looks like a cross between a young giraffe and a clown bike, the angles and distances between seat, pedals, and handlebars is very similar to my Trek Liquid 20 mountain bikes. I find it comfortable and endurable, but still quick enough. It feels very solid at low speed splitting traffic and still feels confident on faster descents (25mph?). On the way home tonight I tried to pedal it without hands, something I can do on all my bikes. It seemed to jump away from me, but I think it’s my fault, a combination of: carrying 20lbs in a messenger bag, being tired from a fast sprint home, and not really concentrating. Maybe also because the pedals don’t have clips.

“Pedals don’t have clips?” That sounds like a problem, but surpisingly it’s ok and I’m getting along alright without them. On 20 minute rides, the efficiency losses aren’t that huge anyway. The reason these pedals don’t have clips is that they can fold up. I’m sure I could upgrade or replace them, but I’m satisfied with them. The other accesories on the bike are superior. I’ve got used to the feel of Cane Creek elastometer shock-absorbing seat post. The little dynamo+Hella front light do goo duty at night and, I think, catch a bit of attention. The shifting of the 8-speed hub gearshift is flawless. The range between high/low gears gives good coverage of the shifting spectrum. I love having a hub, rather than derailleuers. Can shift whether I’m moving or not (good for setting up to dash from red-lights) and I never miss a shift. For urban biking, definitely worth the weight tradeoffs. Speakng of weight, this bike weighs about as much as a normal, generic mountain bike. I find that good enough. The V-brakes are sufficient too. Tonight I came to a very hard stop and actually pushed the seat post down the center tube an inch or two. (clearly I hadn’t tightened it quite enough)

How have I been using this bike? Commuting to/from work every day (except last thursday because I was hungover) and riding Little Boy around the neighborhood on the weekend. The commute is great. Oddly, the commute time is the same, whether biking or driving (some perfect storm of distance, traffic density, and signage), and I still have a lot of the thrill of freedom and elements on a bike that I had when I was a kid, so I WANT to ride to work. It’s not like forcing myself to goto a dull gym or to do calisthenics. (As an aside, I think a bike is probably the most wonderful object in the world. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, it’s liberating. )

So, in conclusion: I think the Dahon Mu XL is a wonderful urban commuting bike. I will be interested to see how it functions for me trying to commute from my new house. My current route is something like 5.5km. I do it in 20 minutes (averaging 10mph I guess… I stop at lights). My new place, depending on the route will be between 15 and 20km. So I guess I’m looking at a commute time more like one hour. Hmmm. Well, presumably I’ll go faster then 10km because I’ll have longer stretches of uninterrupted pedaling, but still, that means it’s a struggle to commute both ways (2hours a day pedaling?!).