Togo afterthought

我花了兩個晚上看了一部電影叫做 Togo.  在講一隻狗的故事。  這是一個真實的故事。  事情發生在西元 一九二五年的一個大風雪中。  當時為了要救一個偏遠村落的眾多小孩，Seppala 君和當時的一群狗狗雪橇手在大風雪中接力把救小孩的藥給送到那個村落。  總共是廿個雪橇手，一百五十隻雪橇狗，共六百七十英里。  其中兩百六十英里是 Togo 跑的。  這事情是當時的大新聞， 被稱作： Great race of mercy 和 The great serum run.  

我很喜歡這電影。  這裡面有很多危險場景，當然是電腦繪製，但是我覺得有超過一半的場景是去 阿拉斯加實地拍攝的。  畫面通常不是很重要，但是我覺得現在能夠看到實地拍攝的場景是很難地的。  那些狗狗的表演也因為真實，常常讓我驚嘆！

電影不斷在過去和現在的場景交替出現，我覺得這應該是很正常的事。  因為要給觀眾看到 Togo 和 Seppala 君和其夫人那種濃厚的關係，這種手法有其必要。  但是在節奏上掌握得很精當，不會給我有任何搶鏡或混亂的感覺。  另外在回憶的時候，我覺得演 Seppala 君的 William Dafoe 君和演Seppala 夫人的 Julianne Nicholson 在情感上掌握的十分恰當， 不會過分感情化。  也因為這樣， 感情壓抑更襯托出激動的時候，情緒翻湧的強度足以撼動我的心情。  

狗的名字叫做 Togo，來源是 東鄉平八郎。  我查了一下，名字其實是聽過的， 但是有點不確定。  是日本最有名的海軍元帥。  成名之戰就是和日俄戰爭中，率領日本海軍一舉擊潰太平洋列強之一的俄國，當時無人看好日本。  在電影裡， 給這隻狗取這個名字是因為 Seppala 君一開始也不看好 Togo，甚至兩次想把它給掉!  Togo 最後以八個月的年齡取得雪橇狗的資格。  在電影裡，Seppala 君給這隻狗取這個名字， 因為他覺得 Togo 和 東鄉平八郎一樣， 都是 "underdog" ！

食譜: 杏仁豆腐

There was a time when my uncle's friend was sharing her  世界日報 with them.  We got a chance to read them as well.  It always came with a special magazine 世界周刊 on Sunday.  My mom loved the recipes from those special magazine.  She clip those recipes into her folders like when she's younger.  That's an old habit of hers.   She used to do that for herself, then when we were born, she used to do it for us, from newspaper like 國語日報.  

We are in a heat wave these few days.  Lucky for me, Mom was already preparing for it.  She dug into her collection of magazine/newspaper clips.  There it is: 水果杏仁豆腐!  2009 08 30 世界周刊, by 葳莉.  

The name has "Tofu" in it, but it does not have contain tofu.  It combined evaporated milk with unflavored gelatin to make something looks like Tofu.  It was really good.  It taste cold and refreshing withou overwhelmingly sweet taste.  I really liked it!!  

The recipe is here:

Ingredient:

Evaporated Milk (1 can of 354 ml)

Almond powder Instant (5 tsp) (My mom made from Raw almond, roasted, then food processed)

Gelatin (unflavored, 21g, little inner page should be 7g/pack)

Pure Almond Extract (1/4 tsp)

White cane sugar (10 tsp for gelatin mix in Large container, 5 tsp for the last step)

Can fruit (1 can of 425g)

Steps:

1. Open and Pour out Evaporated Milk to a Large container.  Put the empty can aside.  

2. Put Almond Powder (my mom roasted the raw almond and ground the almond using a processor) instant 5 tsp into the empty can, filled it with hot water until 2/3 full, stir until the powder and water mixed, then fill the can until full.  Then pour everything into the Large container with milk.  Repeat the process, mix second Almond Powder instant  with hot water , and pour into the large Large container. (total 2 cans of mixed Almond Powder instant water mix) 

3. Repeat step 2, but with 21g. of Gelatin, with only 1 can of hot water!  Pour into the Large container, then add Pure Almond Extract(1/4 tsp), and White cane sugar (recipe asked for 10 tsp, my mom added only 5, and it tasted just fine).  Wait for it to cool, then put in the refrigerator for consolidation.  

4. Pour a can of fruit in a Large Bowl, and use the empty fruit can to put 2 cans of cold water in the Large Bowl.  Then added White cane sugar (Recipe asked for 5 tsp, my mom added 2.5 tsp, it tasted great), mixed it well.  In the Large container, use half of the gelatin, cut the gelatin into small rectangular shape, 3-4 cm height, pour into the Large Bowl.  Put in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours, or until the almond flavor from the gelatin seeped into the the mixture.  Take it out and serve after 1-2 hours.  

5. The other half gelatin can be stored for up to 2-3 days to make another batch!!  

Cannot use flavored gelatin.  

I want to make a video out of it.  Need to plan how.  

Random

Mei said her sister has some clothes for my mom.  So I went and got it today.  

It was quite empty compared to the last time I went to Boston, maybe last year?  Mei kept telling me there're more people today since Covid-19 broke out.   And most of the stores were still closed, many of them boarded.  Those are for the protesters though.  There were temporary signs forbidding parking at meters for special events, which I guess are protests.   The whole thing felt kind eerie.  

I went to a Chinese market, it still filled with people though.  And the places are so small and narrow, there's no room for "social distancing".  Then I drove Mei to brookline.  It was quite pretty, so I got off the car to take a walk.  There are so many brick houses, and everywhere I see interesting landscapes.  Not every house are designed, but most are.  So as long as you keep the house relatively quaint, it will be just fine.  The place I live was already quite pretty, but brookline really breathes with age, which brought something entirely different.  

I am not jealous though.  Just thinking about the upkeep makes my head ache.  lol  

The clothes were quite small for Mom, but she will keep some.  Mei asked me if I want to go in to see her sister.  I said no.  Mom thinks I should, at least to see how petite her sister is.  Mom cannot imagine such a petite lady.  

I saw Balitmore Oriole while walking around the Brookline neighborhood.  Its coat was shining with orange and black stripes.  I think it is Baltimore Oriole...  

----------------------

My sister went to Connecticut.  She told me that one of her brothers there past away.  Sadly I did not have much memory of that brother.  But my sister was quite emotional, said that brother really reminded her of our father.  That brother also came to Boston Chinese meeting every month when the Chinese group first started in 1990s.  Mom was shocked when she got the news as well.  

rant

i haven't really talked significantly today.  then i just ranted to my mom about some talk shows she loves to watch, saying those shows talk none sense and ridiculed the show right in front of her.  

WHY??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

i already told myself not to engage in such conversation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

those people talk with what they thought, i did not.  and i literally ranted!  

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

樹和他的蟲子們

I cut my shrubs all day today.  all 8 of them.  I know they were infested, but not sure the extent of it until I started to cut them.  It was kind gross and scary, the powder just flied out of the shrubs as I was cutting them.  And the white egg sacs were all over the leaves on the tree and off the tree, like a snow or sugar coating.  I told mom and then we went to a garden center in Tewksbury.  The people there seemed knowledgeable.  When I showed them the picture, the person there said it's a hemlock.  But they showed me a solution to kill the bugs not by spraying, but by feeding the root system and when the bugs drinks the sap from the shrubs, they will be killed.   Sounds like the Roundup, but instead of killing weed through roots, this time, bugs.  And it also said don't do it until the flower season past, otherwise I guess the bees will get hammered.  So we came home and I said I will finished cutting the shrubs first and wait until flower season is over to apply the chemical.  

But man, oh man, it was like a convection sugar...  It was spooky.  At night I was trying to research what is a hemlock.  The name refers to 2 kinds of plants actually.  One is poison hemlock, the other is actually an evergreen, looks just like my tree.  Yew in Chinese is 紫杉；hemlock is 鐵杉。  The only telltale sign maybe its fruit.  Yew produced a red berry like fruit, hemlock the evergreen produces something that looks like a small pine cone.  I also remembered the garden center person mentioned my bug's name is wooly adelgid.  So I looked it up, but I thought my bug is actually mealybug, although I do wonder why I never see a bug similar in pictures.   But the wooly adelgid's picture was not right either, the reason the eggs showed in pictures were shown lying along the leaf shoots, and although eggs are white, but the shape is rounded.  And finally, I saw another page by Umass Amherst about pest for taxus and other plants, one of them is cottony camellia scale.  Their egg sac are white, underside of leaves, and long rectangular shaped.  I think this is the bug!  

I was thinking of cutting all the shrubs, but it's expensive to cut and replace.  I hope my spiders and other bugs could hunt the infestation, but looking at the spread, I don't think so.  But I resist the idea of spray in fear that it could harm my other bugs.  Looking the chemical I got today, it's worse...  I don't see another way out though.   

PS, I see mealybugs now, lots of them, while I was cutting crown of the trees.  I saw spiders and other bugs.  I am really nervous I might killed the whole squad of them.  I am thinking I might have multiple pests, scales, and mealybugs...  

老房子

I watched a few Old House video today.  One was about patchy lawn, another one about how to prevent ice dams, another one about whole house energy audit, and the last one was how to fix a crack in the concrete foundation.  

I suddenly see this show as an important and integral part of the whole construction industry.  The show is mainly educational.  But while they demonstrate many how to's, explain the process, and industrial standard, they also let common people feel empowered to do it by themselves.  And they showed people what option they have if they want to find  contractor.  Like the one with crack in concrete foundation, I was amazed on new industrial inventions; and the ones in whole house audit, it showed off the infra light camera to discern the cold and hot space within a wall, and the low pressure test?  I mean we had energy guys came in to do the work, but they did not use low pressure test.  That would be way cool...  

I will recorded what I saw today about lawn:

1. They used a thatcher on one lawn, but not on a new lawn, the guy said it can wait for another 3 years before using a thatcher machine.  

2. They used a  core aerator machine to pull plugs of soil out of the lawn, so the water, air, and nutrients are easier to go into the soil.  

3. Then in order to improve the soil, the guy always used compost.  He throw the compost on the lawn directly all over the place, then use the back of the rake to flatten the compost.  He said to put half to one inch of compost.  

4. Then he used a high phosphorus fertilizer to promote the roots growth.  Phosphorus promotes root growth, the nitrogen promotes upper, grass blade growth.  The best time to do the seeding is fall.  Summer is too hot, disturbing the soil too much, it will dry out.  And then your seeds need to compete with Crab grass and other weeds.  

5.  Rye grass is more shade tolerate.  Blue grass is sun tolerated.  

Oh, and I also watched crab apple tree pruning and how to deal with ants.  

Tomorrow, I am going to cut my yews, it was infested with mealy bugs to the point, they are on my lawn as well.  My strategy is to do extreme cutting, it's going to be ugly and the tree might die during the summer...  But I don't want to do the spray thing...  If all fails, I'll have to cut my yews down.  Then my front house would be bare...  

南瓜花捲

Mom wanted to make a traditional Chinese pumpkin braided rolls.  She already had a video prepared for quite a while now.  I think if she slept well on Saturday night, she would be doing this yesterday.  But I accidentally put Sound of Music on at 9:30 pm.  She could not stop watching it until the movie finished.  She did not sleep all night after the movie.  I guess there're certain point at night that she has to go to bed, otherwise, she does not have time to get enough rest.  

She's not well today though better than yesterday.  I helped her doing the rolls by providing muscles while she was doing chili.  The first thing was to cut the pumpkin to small pieces, seeded it, and steamed it until tender.  Then we meshed the steamed pumpkins without skins.  We mixed the meshed pumpkin with flour and yeast.  The flour and pumpkin ratio probably around 2:1.2, in weight?   We made 南瓜饅頭 before, but the color was disappointing, it's off white, virtually no yellow at all.  This time, we made sure no extra water were added, mixing with just flours using moist from steamed and meshed pumpkin.  I knead the doll for almost 2 hours because I'm not sure how much flour did I need.  The above ratio was only a guideline, so that when I want to do it next time, I could have a baseline of flour, rather than adding 1 cup, mix, adding another cup, mix....to see if the dole was ready.  

I used the whole pumpkin, but at the beginning, I only planned to use half.  I used all, because the recipe video mom used did not give us a quantity of the pumpkin used.  It only mentioned how many yeast, and how much flour, which was 800 g.  Anyway, I end up using whole pumpkins with 800+ g.  

Those 2 hours of kneading was quite frustrating.  the dough was shaggy for a long time, I tried to knead and wait for 15 minutes a couple times.  But it stays very shaggy, I even pull out a little piece and tried window pane test.  After almost 2 hours, I gave up, the dough was forming and improving.  But when I pulled a little piece from it, the edge was still shaggy.  The dough did start to spring back to shape.  Mom checked the dough and said it's ok now.  But she must observe my frustration.   

We wrapped and oiled the dough and wait  for about an hour and half.  The dough grew in size nicely, the color was pure gold.  and the result was pretty good as well.  It's soft and slightly sweet, without sugar!  Hope we could recreate the process next time.  

Robin the bird

在烏洒的麻州有一種鳥非常容易辨識。  每年見到這種鳥就知道春天來了。 他褐色的背上有一點黑紋，胸腹部是橘色的。 就是那個橘色，讓人一見就不容易忘記。  我查過他的名字，叫做 Robin。  介紹的文章還說這種鳥在歐洲也有的。

但是，如果仔細看就會發現歐洲和烏洒的 Robin 很不一樣！  原來，同樣的名字卻是兩個不同種的鳥。  光從圖上比較，我覺得烏洒的 Robin 有脖子，歐洲的沒有。  另外身子大小也是明顯不同。 烏洒 Robin 的頭飾黑色的。  所以我再深入的查一查，發現 烏洒的 Robin 屬於 Thrush Family；歐洲的 Robin 屬於舊世界的一種鳥叫做 Flycatcher (或著應該是全名是 舊世界 flycathcer)。  烏洒的 Robin 實際上應該是北美洲 Robin，冬天的時候會飛到南方甚至墨西哥去避冬，春天回到北方甚至加拿大北部和烏洒的阿拉斯加。  另外，北美洲的是歐洲的兩倍大！

有趣的地方是， 討論串提到， 在英國歐洲 Robin 通常是冬天的鳥，當人們看到他時，人們就知道冬天來了。  這和北美洲布一樣。  另外，我想當歐洲人的移民第一次見到北美 Robin 時，第一時間就叫 Robinobin，一定是那鮮豔的橘色。  一般動物的名字總是以第一印象為主， 全世界大概都是一樣的。  但是， 生物學家不一樣。  到了現在， 還往往要用 DNA 再次鑑定分類。  但是，科學的第一步就是看見不同，聽見不同，嚐到不同，碰到不同，之後再逐漸斷怎樣不同。。。  DNA  似乎否定了某些感官上的不同，但是其實 仍離不太遠吧。 



















                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     






















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外婆過世

這是我剛剛出生一兩個月的事情吧。 我外婆過世了。  外婆的死因是蜘蛛網膜出血。 

媽媽昨天提到這事情。  我剛剛出生，住在日本的外婆堅持要回來帶外孫。  他們家的老大雖然在大陸十年前就有孫子可以抱了。  可是外婆抱不到，因為海峽兩隔。  或許這也是他堅持回來的原因, 雖說媽媽叫他不要回來。  2013 年我去蘇州的時候，大姨提到那時在日本的外婆是很累的。  因為外公的喜好，外婆剛從美國回來不久就為了打掃在日本的屋子，忙得不可開交。  或許也正是外婆剛從美國回到日本， 母親不要外婆回台灣帶孫子。  但是，他還是來了，結果一到桃園機場，就摔了一跤（忘了是誰說的，要考證）。  

媽說，那一天，我剛好滿月，可是帶我的奶媽有事情離開，他當時一個人在景美，分身乏術。  外婆那時在南昌街他們的舊家。  毛婆婆打電話說外婆頭痛的厲害。  媽媽只好先把我放到大嫂愛秋家。 同一時間，外婆已經被送去宏恩醫院了。  之後，頭痛依舊。  媽媽在和舅婆通過電話後，他們轉到中心診所。  外婆以前就常去中心診所，一去就去看他們經常去的腸胃科醫生（頭痛卻去看腸胃科, 不懂），黃天賜醫生。  醫生一看外婆的眼睛，就斷定是腦血管破裂。  馬上轉腦神經科。  這故事我聽過很多遍，但是我從來沒問過爸爸作為中醫有沒有說什麼。  昨天就問問看, 媽媽說爸爸沒有看出來是腦神經吧。  

問題診斷出來後，接下來的問題就是要否開刀？  爸爸在把過外婆的脈後認為已經不行了，媽媽說她相信爸爸的診斷，認為開刀只是帶來痛苦，並不能挽救回來。  結果外公很生氣，甚至還跟葉婆婆說媽媽不孝。  最後在這個情況下，外婆進入了開刀房，再也沒有醒來。  之前，外公要媽媽給手術醫生三萬塊的紅包。  在我的認識裡，這種事是很常見的事。  媽媽說住院, 紅包都是媽媽自己的錢。  

寫出來只是稍微紀錄一下。  

7/20/21

媽媽看了我寫的到舅舅家紀錄的故事。  稍微又補充了一下當時的情況。 我出生十一月廿日，剛好滿月的時候，十二月廿日外婆去住院。  住了將近一個月，都是媽媽陪伴，他的精神恍惚，連護士都看的出來。  他說那時他在中心診所那邊到處吃飯，都是買最好的。  因為精神上實在有點撐不住了。  後來是中心診所的護士長問媽媽， 怎麼只有你一個人陪在這裡。  護士長知道了情況後跟他說，你一定得要把在日本的老爸叫回來。  護士長的言下之意就是，情況不會好了。  外公也即刻來了，但是只請了一週的假。  七天一到，就在外婆要開刀的那一天， 他大概想開刀了就好，也就要回日本上班了。  那天護士長問媽媽：你爸哩？ 我媽說他要回日本上班了，他只請了一週的假。 這個護士長認為開刀在即，怎麼能現在離開？！  護士長竟然親自打電話到機場的飛機公司，那時外公都已經坐在飛機上了，被人請下飛機。  

根據媽媽的說法，護士長也不認為要開刀。  開刀當晚就進入深沉昏迷，在也沒有醒來。  媽媽還說外婆雖然在深沉昏迷中，可是還是會流眼淚。