寒冬的樂趣

今年冬天比比再訪明州. 十二月中, 剛下過近年來最大場暴風雪的明市, 就像受過劇烈震盪的水晶球般白皚皚的一片. 在這裡, 鮮少因為颳風下雪而停止上班上課, 但因此遲到, 出意外, 雪地遊玩的話題也不繁複的成為和人噓寒問暖的話題.

十二月中一場累積40幾公分的暴風雪

我們喜歡去拜訪各大超級市場. 在這裡, 現成的冷凍食品很暢銷, 只要放在微波爐, 三兩分鐘一頓午餐就好了, 有些牌子還有不同口味的風味飯. 在辦公室裡, 大家會討論哪家出了什麼口味, 這口味好不好吃, 然後微波爐沒停過. 由於將近耶誕假期, 許多生鮮蔬果, 冷凍食品都比平時便宜, 種類也很齊全. 這邊的蔬果依照季節, 許多都是從南部的州運送過來, 每當冬天來了, 價格也跟著水漲船高. 每當從外面寒冷的氣候進到溫暖的超級市場, 看到排列整齊的蔬菜水果和香溢四起的熱食區, 心情都開心了起來. 回過頭想想, 也很懷念在台灣一年四季都有土產的水果.

比比說: 我來後, 你就不用再吃冷凍食物囉! 你每餐都要吃得很營養健康, 還要有很多變化! 好喔

~~~~ =  ="

比比把超市的烤雞做了三種不同的變化, 吃了四餐:)

把Pilsburry的麵團拿來做派皮, 15分鐘就能搞定.
下面是比比用蘑菇濃湯調製的湯料(還有烤雞喔!)

我最喜歡的一到菜之一, 番茄烤飯. 番茄經過處理烘烤
後仍然新鮮多汁!

終於要搬離downtown了, 多謝阿德還有比比
這個小助手

來新家第一件事: 作餅乾! 檸檬起司蛋糕餅乾

亞州風情義大利麵

今年的耶誕大餐是... 羊小排家風外馬鈴薯

...還有南瓜拉提湯!

甜點是烤蘋果火山

我們當晚也組裝了耶誕樹. 希望耶誕老公公
能達成我們的願望!

再訪同一家早午餐廳, 迎接耶誕節

遇到和去年同一個服務生

比比溜冰! 這是剛完成一圈半旋轉後的
姿勢~

兩個無聊小朋友的飯後節目

吃飯後，又是Honey K洗碗的時候。這個時候，有一個小朋友覺得好無聊，於是她就開了音樂跳跳舞。轉轉下，她突然發現飯桌下面是一個可以藏起來的地方。於是，她變得很頑皮，咀角向上淺淺奸笑了一下，靜悄悄的躲起來，打算要Honey K找她一下。
Honey K說﹕「比比，這首歌很熟，是甚麼歌呀﹖」這時比比強忍著笑，把手蓋著咀，沒有回應他。Honey K又問﹕「這是甚麼歌啦﹖」比比還是沒有作聲。過了一會，Honey K 終於洗好碗了。他走到桌子前，不知道搞甚麼的，但是比比已經忍不住了。於是，她突然推推椅子，爬了起來。這時候，Honey K 給嚇到了，他以為是甚麼東西在房子裡。他又笑又氣，至於比比啦...笑到說不出話來。這時兩個人笑到彎了腰，眼水都要流了出來，好幸福唷!
故事講完，又是吃餅干的時候了。

他們這一代

我最近常常在想原始人會怎樣看我們的「進化/退化」﹖ 人們發明了座駕，好使我們可以節省時間，瞬間從一個地方到達另一個地方。然而有了座駕，原始人看我們失去了跑得很快的能力，失去了結實的肌肉，還有一堆變得肥胖的人。

在進化的同時，我們失去了一些技能。技能是依靠環境及天賦鍛練出來的，就是天賦容許我們擁有與生俱來的本領，沒有後天的環境培育，那些技能會漸漸消失，就如孩子在嬰兒期能夠發出多種語言的聲母和韻母一樣，然後因為環境需要的關係，到最後只會發出當地文化所需要的音韻。

每一個產品的發明，改變了文化氣候。自從IPAD/IPOD TOUCH/ IPHONE/NOOK/AMAZON KINDLE 的出現，我們的文化有 了極大的變化。我們不用拿著有重量的書本可以得到我們想要的資訊，我們可以在坐公共交通工具的時候得到無限的娛樂，我們可以用它們「講故事」給小孩子「聽+看」...我們用這些工具隨時和社會互動。

我不是一個反對電子發明的人，可是在這個進化的過程，人們或許會退化，某些能力會漸漸消失。當然達爾文的進化論會認為只有不能與時並進的人，才會不能生存。最近新聞報導某美國小學用IPAD替代上英文閱讀課用的書本，老師強調現在的小孩子不喜歡沉悶的紙張，IPAD有趣有字有聲有畫，可以增加小孩子對學習/閱讀的興趣。作為半個教育心理學學生的我，聽到後面容失色，也只好對美國的教育感到無奈及失敗。教授和我的看法一樣，我們每天這麼努力的工作，幫助孩子在學校學習，就是為了補救失敗的美國教育體際。 


我覺得生氣的原因是因為學校沒有把新發明用得其所。很多小孩子還沒有建立好自我控制的能力，面對一個Ipad，你會相信他們在上課之時可以不看其他東西嗎﹖成人也不能，何況小孩子﹖廣東人有句話說小孩子的「腦未生埋」是有道理的。我們的prefrontal cortex (即是用來控制我們的集中力和行政能力 (executive function) 的腦部份) 並沒有在孩童及青少年期完全發展好，也是說孩子是很依靠外在的人/物去協助他們建立這方面的能力。無奈的是，我們的新發明促進孩子multi task或off task的能力，使他們變得對沉悶的東西毫無耐性。在電子世界裡，我們可以on and off，但在社交的世界中，我們不能說on 就on ，說off  就off。試想想，這些孩子在成長中，他們缺少發展耐性的機會，也缺少集中的能力，不但在學習上會有困難，在社交上也會變得有障礙，不會 pick social cues. 然而，家長和學校沒有意識，也不會建立榜樣，只抱怨說這個孩子有ADHD，這個說法公平嗎﹖難怪美國的ADHD孩子多的是....


沒有妥當的環境，他們這一代會變成怎樣﹖ 進化不到的孩子，他們可以怎樣﹖

Golden Turkey Sausage Roll

Ingredients: 

Pillsburg Crescent Pastry Dough- 1 can 

Turkey Sausages - 2 links diced

Italian five cheese- around 1/2 cups

Fresh Thyme- 2tbsp

Green onions- 2 stalks diced 

Fresh Garlic - 2 cloves minced

Pepper-1 tbsp

1. Preheat oven 350c. Roll out the dough on a pan. 

2. Put grated cheese, diced sausages and green onions in a medium sized bowl. 

3. Mixed in fresh thyme, garlic and pepper. 

4. Put the mixed ingredients onto the dough. 

5. Roll it as below. 

6. Put it in the preheated oven for 15 mins. 

7. Glaze 1-2 tbsp of honey on the top of the dough after baking for 15 mins. It gives the roll a shiny look. 

8. Put it back to the oven for another 5 mins. 

9. Serve it hot as an appetizer or lunch with a side salad. 

Cooking Therapy-Egg in the hole

晨早起來，我給自己做了一個Egg in the hole做早餐，作為給自己這個星期的鼓勵。

材料﹕
全麥吐司1片
奶油1湯匙
少許香菜 (optional)
Salt & Pepper
 雞蛋1隻

1. 首先，用一個圓形的杯壓在吐司的上面，然後拿掉中間的面包。(請不要把不用的面包掉去，那個圓形部份還是可以吃的。)

2. 把奶油和吐司放在平底鍋上煎一下，然後把雞蛋打在中間，用中火烹調。

3. 待雞蛋差不多熟透的時候，放上salt and pepper和少許香菜，然後便可以吃了，做得好的話，雞蛋會留在吐司的中央，不會破掉。

Living with the majority and minority in two cultures: when diversity is an issue?

The place, Hong Kong, where I grow up is pretty diverse.People often refer Hong Kong as the place where "East meets West". There are a lot of Chinese, British, Americans and Filipinos...etc. As diverse as it might seem, I never was educated in a diverse classroom in Hong Kong. I attended an all girls Catholic school (the majority of the students had a middle class background) since I was 6 or 7 years old till the age of 19 when I finally went to college. College, however, wasn't very diverse. Most of us were Hong Kong Chinese and occasionally we had some Mainland Chinese students (from China), as well as international students from America, Europe and Taiwan. Perhaps 5 out of 40 are non-Hong Kong native students in a classroom. Therefore, growing up in Hong Kong does not grant me too much knowledge in living and learning with a diverse population, who may share differences in ethnic background, race, culture and so forth. I did not have any chance to encounter a diversity dilemma or perhaps I wasn't even aware of any because I am the majority. I am the person who share the unspoken privileges within the dominant culture.

Studying in the United States is different. Everywhere is about diversity. People talk about diversity all the time although in my perspective, people aren't practicing "diversity." Here, I become the minority. I have experienced both discrimination and privileges as a minority student. I had language barriers, was being isolated in social situations and not being able to participate in certain situations. However, I have also enjoyed some privileges as an international student.  There are conferences, trips, associations and discounts for international students.

Living in the United States allows me to understand the importance of diversity and how it is embedded in every culture. It is when I become the minority that I am aware of how much privileges I have when I am the majority. For example, some Hong Kong people always hold prejudice against those Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese students were always being laughed at their accents in speaking Cantonese.  People also tended to make jokes about these immigrants or international students from Mainland China. Being a native Hong Kong Chinese, I never experience such discrimination. I was often given opportunity and privileges, no matter in a learning context or working context. With my middle class family background, I can go abroad to learn about different cultures,while a lot of the others just do not have the resources to do so. Because of my native Hong Kong identity and SES, I am more fortunate than a lot of the others.

Lately, I read an article which made me roll my eyes. You may view the article via this link:
http://gawker.com/5623138/middle-school-segregates-class-elections-by-race

I will not mention the details here as you can read from the above link and you can probably spot a lot of issues. However, what makes me angry is diversity is not about BLACK and WHITE. Diversity means more than Black and White. Diversity includes Socio-economic status, race & ethnic groups, gender, religion differences and so forth. I felt just disappointed at how the school tried to be "fair" in this case. It was just sad to see white students are the presidents, while there is only one black student as the vice president. When I was reading this article, my second thought was "how about the Asian or non black and white students?"

Food and Cultural Adjustment

Emily and Kristen were pointing at the moon pies in Cracker Barrel store. 

Thanks to Kristen, I visited Cracker Barrel the first time after living in Harrisonburg for a year. It was crowded on a Friday evening and customers were mostly Americans. Emily and I were probably the only Chinese in this "authentic Southern American restaurant." Kristen said that a lot of tourists actually go to Cracker Barrel due to its representation of Southern American food.

Kristen ordered the famous chicken and dumplings@ Cracker Barrel

I have seen a lot of southern cooking on food network. In my impression, southern cuisine is fried, greasy, corn bread, biscuits and green beans...etc. Dining in a southern restaurant gave me the firsthand experience. It was not all about fried food. In America, you always have options. I ordered a grilled trout, with a side of cole slaw, biscuit and mushroom brown rice. It was fine but the rice was rather salty. The chef probably put too much salt or seasoning into the brown rice. However, the dining experience was great. Kristen talked a lot about her trip in China and Japan and how she missed American food when she was there. I must say that sometimes when I am Hong Kong, I crave American food too. Most of the time, when I am at home, I just make salads and eat fries out of the blue. This is hard to explain.  The waitress was friendly although I didn't like to be disturbed a couple of times when we were talking. I know that this was part of the cultural dining experience. In Hong Kong, waitress/waiter do not interrupt a lot of times when people are enjoying their food. In many cases, you actually have to ask them to come to your table by waving your hand. However, the system is just different here due to how waiters earn their money.

Lemon pepper seasoned Rainbow Trout with a side of Mushroom Brown Rice (which was considered to be vegetables of the day) 

One of the greatest challenges for me is controlling the amount of food I consume in America. For some reason, I eat more in the U.S. than in Hong Kong. Like a lot of the other Asian international students, I always gain weight when living in this country. When I move back home, I usually lose those weights. How does that happen? Butter, cheese, cookies and alcohol  probably are to blame. In Hong Kong, I rarely eat any of the above. It is also more expensive to buy cheese and we don't really use butter to cook Chinese cuisine. My diet is mainly vegetables, some meat and rice. There are no cookies in my family and it is uncommon to have an oven at home. Now, I really miss dumplings and a couple of the Chinese dishes in Peking restaurant. 

Look at them! They are so delicious. 

Cultural adjustment comes with a price. It can be in the form of anything, like your diet. According to one study, among immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for less than a year, only 8% were obese. In contrast, among those who had lived in the country for 15 years, 19% were obese. Scary enough!  How did immigrants put on that much of weight? Driving all the time without walking too much? Eating fried potatoes regularly as vegetables? Wine and Cheese party? Too much junk food or too much cookies? I guess I have to balance out of my diet, cook more often at home and maintain good workout habits to survive in U.S. without becoming obese.