August 2004 Archives

Sometimes, more than others, I miss the country that I was born in: Burma.
For example, I can't decide what I want to eat usually.. America is so full of choices that I get lost in it sometimes.
In Burma, if I was hungry, I don't go - shall I have Chinese, Mexican or Italian or a sandwich?

I'd usually pick out what kind of meat or noodles I want and I only really knew one kind of food: Burmese (even the Chinese and Indian dishes had Burmese names, so I never thought they weren't Burmese food.

Here are a few recipes/pictures I found of Burmese Cuisine that I really wish I could have some right now:

1. Rice Noodle in Fish Soup
Local Name: (Moat-hin-kar)

Moat-hin-kar is the most typical Myanmar food. It is generally considered as a breakfast food. Although professional cooks prepare this in far more complicated ways using 4-5 kinds of fish, and so on, we've presented you here with a quick brief recipe.

2. Lephet Thote: (Burma) Myanmar Traditional Green Tea Salad
Main Ingredients: Fermented tea leave, dried garlic, dried shrimp, drizzle of oil, peanuts, sesame seeds, fish sauce, chilli, lime, mixed together.

In Myanmar, Lephet Thoke (fermented tea-leaf salad) is more than just a dish, it is an integral part of everyday social culture, just like the cuppa that one drinks in most other cultures. Lephet is served to welcome guests to the house, as a peace offering after an argument, as a snack in front of the TV, as an appetizer or last course, a palate cleanser after a meal, and as a stimulant to ward off sleep during all-night else to munch on, there is always some marinated green tea in the cupboard which can be mixed with rice and eaten as is.

And my favorite easy to make dessert:
3. Sago (a kind of tapioca, I think ) boiled with milk, water, sugar.
Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups plus 1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon butter
1 cup dry sago or tapioca
1 large or 1 1/2 pounds grated coconut
2 cups solid palm sugar OR 1 1/2 cups maple syrup
A pinch salt

yummmm....

Recipes and Pictures thanks to InnWa

Warning: Spoilers ahead, if you want to see The Village and hasn't yet, you might not want to read this:

I didn't really have to try very hard not to scream when I saw M. Night Shyamalan's The Village last night.
Ok, well, i did scream, once. But it was unpredicted and it just came out.

Shyamalan does one thing really well, and it was apparent in the movie this time as well: He knows how to trick his audience. I went in thinking it would be a scary "Sixth Sense" like movie and it turned out to be the absolute opposite.
i liked the movie, maybe I felt a little let down because it was hyped up to be a scary thriller about the unknown or monsters and instead, it was about people.

It was scary on a different level, it was scary, makes you think about society and people in general, kind of crazy. But it also made me feel as though Shyamalan was too cocky this time around, like it was some sort of inside joke that he was playing on us, the audience. Maybe I'm overreading this but at the scene where his reflection was seen on the glass cabinet and Kevin, the park ranger/security guard was stealing the medicine right under Shyamalan's nose and he pretended not to notice - that part was hokey.

So, yeah, I feel all weirded by the movie and I don't know really how to criticize it but it is worth seeing. I liked the movie and it has also made me want to watch the UPN show "Amish in the City" in the Fall. lol.

I only hope Lucius Hunt does get up enough courage to want to go see "The Towns" for himself.