serene’s posterous

I guess it is a little weird to like canned sardines.  My mom used to make sardine sandwiches for me with canned sardines in tomato sauce, plus onions and a dash of freshly squeezed lime. 

I usually just fry up some onions with the sardines and add some chopped thai chilies, and marinara sauce (mixed with a bit of Sriracha).  And I would squeeze some lime juice over everything to cut out any fishy taste.  This time, I stir fried some broccoli and added cherry tomatoes as well to make it a balanced meal.

I am less interested in this year's SYTYCD.  There are just less memorable routines this year compared to last year, so I am generally indifferent about the results.  This week, my favorite was the top 3 guys' routine choreographed by Sonya Tayeh.  I liked the mechanical walking and the synchronized back flips.

Dancing starts at 1:36

I have been listening to this song by Orange Juice obsessively after impulsively buying the mp3 from Amazon.  Yes, it is quite cheesy and with the synthesizers, it also sounds dated.  But I have a soft spot for bands from Scotland (see fellow former Postcard Records bandmates Aztec Camera).  And Edwyn Collins has this distinctive voice!

Here is Edwyn Collins with his band Orange Juice playing along to a prerecorded track of their only hit single:

This is a fun memoir of Ruth Reichl's days as a restaurant critic at the New York Times.  She describes how she needs to put on disguises and take on a whole different persona as she goes about her work.  Otherwise, she will get special treatment at the restaurants and will not be able to form an unbiased opinion of the restaurant.  I love her evocative descriptions of the food she ate.  I remember thinking that I got to go get some yummy sushi and soba soon after reading a particular section in the book.

I think the contemporary by Melissa and Ade, choreographed by Tyce Diorio, was the best of the night.  Unfortunately, I absolutely felt manipulated by the back story of the dance.  Can you say that you hated the "Breast Cancer Dance"?  I wished they just let the audience make their own interpretation of the dance.

The main problem with this season is the ballroom and latin dances have been almost uniformly subpar.  I am not all that familiar with ballroom, but even to my inexperienced eyes, Ade had no hip action in his cha cha, and Brandon was flatfooted throughout his waltz.

The results show was the 100th episode and featured Katie Holmes in a broadway tribute, and a bunch of past season dances.  I wasn't particularly impressed by Katie Holmes's dancing or singing.  But I enjoyed the Ramalama (Bang Bang) group piece featuring dancers from season 2.  Wade Robson, the choreographer, danced in this piece too!

Via the Stanford Daily

Last day of operations is 7 Aug 09.  It is unclear if or when the Thai Cafe will reopen.  I had lunch there Thursday and Friday this week, and made plans to eat there with another friend on Monday next week.  Got to get my fill of the peanut salads, chicken sautes and curries before it is too late.  I had a great peanut salad on Thursday - far better than my last experience in November and the tasty chicken saute (with green beans and mushrooms) on Friday, washed down with a can of Thai iced tea. 

The lady at the counter seemed strangely nice and friendly too...not yelling at my friend for not being ready to order at the front of the line, and not paying immediately.  I will miss this Stanford institution.

Eu-Jin sent me this article from WSJ.

Children with difficult temperaments, who were later placed in high-quality care, had fewer behavioral problems and teacher conflicts and better reading skills by sixth grade, compared with easygoing children in similar care, says the study, co-authored by Dr. Belsky. Those placed in poor-quality care showed the opposite: more behavioral problems and teacher conflicts, and worse academic skills.

and

Surprisingly, laid-back kids didn’t show any lasting impact of high- versus low-quality care.

I think I was the classic difficult kid..."marked by excessive crying, fussiness, emotional volatility, fear of strangers and clinginess".  Apparently I cried for 3 days non-stop when I was placed in nursery school when I was 3, at which point my parents gave up and took me out of school.  I didn't fare that much better in the early weeks of preschool at the age of 5.  Good thing I had great personalized care and love from my family and nanny...

As I was getting back home in the evening on Friday, I spotted a hawk flying pretty close, over my head into the tree nearby.  Over the past year, Eu-Jin and I have been seeing hawks near our apartment.  We think that a pair must have moved into the neighborhood recently. 

It is too bad we have to move from our apartment in a few weeks...I would miss the little birds hanging out by the rafters too.

My favorite dance this week is the contemporary danced by Jason and Jeanine, choreographed by Travis Wall.  The tearing of clothes was a bit much, but I loved how they perfectly tossed the necklace back and forth.  The only dud this week was the paso doble by Kupono and Randi.

The group dance by Wade Robinson was cool.  But I wished he had picked a different piece of music.

I was rather disappointed by the movie so I wished my initial expectations were lower.  The movie dragged at bits - I was half falling asleep.  I think the main problem was that nothing much happened in the movie.  A lot of it was just the set up for the last 2 movies of the series.  The lovey dovey bits with Lavender and Ron were just plain silly.  The main bright spot was Alan Rickman's nuanced take on Professor Snape.