Sassy’s Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Guys! (2012)!

Last year I contributed to the Sassy's Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Guys and this year, let's keep the momentum and check out what sort of cool items I have recommended for this year's Christmas! My favourite got to be the Herb-savor but apparently it is no longer available in Hong Kong so I need to see where else I can get it!! Argh! ... Now that I am into travel, I tend to check out more travel gears and accessories so I will start posting more frequently on food, travel and gadgets, I promise. I have been trying to adjust and settle in at my new role as a Travel Consultant with Flight Centre Hong Kong and I can confidently say that I am now ready to get back into action to ... SHARE! Want a sneak preview of what's to come? click to Read More! :)

Untitled - My Rare Rant on Current Affairs

I wanted to write something on macro economy for a long while but never found the time and I think it is a good time to do so mainly because I am in the mood to do so. Marco economy may not be the right term for what I am going to talk about but something in relation to that perhaps. Hey, I am just expressing what I have in mind aka BLAH! ... Anyhow, here we go. Over the past year or so, the world economy has been in turmoil for various reasons, one key concern is of course the EU debt crisis. I am not here to talk about that but rather on the overall development of China which the whole world has been paying attention to for more than we care to admit.

Tour Eiffel - Paris (June 2012)

We often travel with the objectives to find the best restaurants, hunt for bargains or even to find the best location to photograph (with) iconic structures as an alternative to having a signboard saying "I was here." Hey, I am guilty as such at times but is that the best way to experience a city, to understand the culture and ... travel in general? It is an open-ended question for all of us to think about but my recent trip to London and Paris, I tried something different, I travel without my DSLR and only with my iPhone with me. Yes I mentioned about that in my previous post but in additional to illustrate smartphone photography as a valid category of photography, I wanted to travel through my own eyes and not through the viewfinder.

What is a meaningful job?

I am not certain if I posted the following personal entry on this blog before but I am doing so because ... I can. The entry was written almost 2 years ago but nothing seems to have changed in terms of my view towards the topic. We are all working towards some sort of an objective in life and to attain that we often have to take the path less travelled. Some are more fortunate to have the option to do while some require a bit more effort in doing so. The reality is, at this stage of age, it is almost impossible for everyone to start the race from same starting line. Accept this fact and work towards overcoming such disparity if you like to call it as such. There is no point in whining about it because it would not change anything just because you say so. What prompted me to say all these? Someone recently asked me for career advice and my reply was quite straight forward, "there is no such thing as a career nowadays, create your own career and build on it." Perhaps it was a bold statement for the kid about to enter university but I personally think if one cannot understand the changing definition of a career, he/she is in for quite a surprise down the road. The ability to anticipate change is very important and it takes more than piles of textbook to learn about it. I was then asked or more accurately been informed the ideal situation is to find a job that is meaningful. OKAY, there is no such thing as a meaningless job, it may be meaningless to you because you labelled it as such due to your dislike of it but it surely is meaningful to someone else you may or may not know. Guess what, someone may even envy your so-called meaningless job for many reasons. While the word meaningful is very subjective, do think of the following passage the next time you want to use the word to describe the job you picked.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee - London (June 2012)

Like I said, the best camera is the one that's with you. I was quite serious when I said I will document (visually) my recent travels using just my iPhone instead of my DSLR. As promised, I carried just my iPhone in my jeans pocket during my recent visits to London & Paris. The results and overall experience turned out to be quite satisfying. Smartphone photography has its technically limitation but with enough practices, one can overcome them with different smartphone photography software as well as acquired skills. Let me share some of the images I took in London using my iPhone with post-processing applied using Snapseed, Instagram, Camera+ and TiltShiftGen.

The Danger of Generalization

Recently the "food blogging" community in Hong Kong has been under a degree of pressure or more frankly speaking direct criticism from media as well as the F&B industry in Hong Kong. Alright, criticism maybe a strong word, perhaps, for a lack of a better word, concerns for the rapid growth of the so-called "food blogging" industry in recent months. Criticism is a natural byproduct of increased popularity and unfortunately it is the case in question with regards to "food blogging." First of all, one must understand the difference between "food blogger" and "bloggers who blog about food," because there is a difference and I repeated, there is a difference between the two and it is wrong to put both under the same category as "food bloggers." Such generalization is very dangerous indeed. I am not trying to distinguish myself between the two and I really see no need to do so because it matters not ... really. Let me show you a few examples:

Happy Birthday!! I am 3 already?!

Time flies! I just realized the blog has turned 3 sometime last week and I almost forgot about it. Yes, I have been blogging for 3 years and mostly on food obviously and lately general lifestyle. However, I think it is time to turn a new leaf once again and do something different! I am still going to blog about food of course but it will be photographically driven with just the right amount of words. Details of the the new approach will follow along with a new face lift for the blog as well. Stay tuned!

In the meanwhile, something of a preview perhaps + shameless promotion? Many of you know how I have a growing interest and passion into photography as well as smartphone photography in recent times, and I plan to further promote / share my experiences in my upcoming trip to part of Europe (TBC) on the go! Smartphone photography is more than just the ability to capture the moment using your phone almost immediately, it is the ability (or possibilities) to share images almost instantaneously through different social media channels such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Sina Weibo and of course Instagram. In other words, you are able to tell your story through your images almost real time!

If you are interested in my upcoming travel(s) on the go, please do stay in touch via one of the following channels. (Click to access)

Instagram / Twitter / Sina Weibo / Facebook / Foursquare 

The Art of Bullshit

I wrote this following post quite a while ago on my personal blog (which I no longer update because I plan to consolidate all my thoughts and express them here on this platform). What triggered to dig up this old post was the large amount of bullshit I have been hearing recently. I have no doubt that we all have our fair share of bullshit but when one is being bombarded by them in a short period of time, headaches!

So do you like to bullshit? Why do we bullshit? How do we distinguish a lie from a bullshit? I just finished reading a book titled On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt attempts to answer the above questions in a philological approach. The following introduction and excerpts I found to be rather interesting. What do you think?

One of the most salient feature of our culture is is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in it ... we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves ... 

What bullshit essentially misrepresents is neither the state of affairs to which it refers nor beliefs of the speaker concerning that state of affairs. Those are what lies misrepresent, by virtue of being false, since bullshit need not be false, it differs from lies in its nonrepresentational intent. The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristic is that in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to. 

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University Press, 2005.)

Social Media Week Hong Kong 2012

Time for shameless promotion! For all social media enthusiasts out there I am sure you are aware of the Social Media Week happening around the world during Feb 13-17, 2012. Hong Kong is hosting a series of talks and events throughout the week and Hong Kong is the only city in the Greater China Area having the luxury of hosting. One of the events is Getting Social with Smartphone Photography of which a panel of smartphone photographers will be sharing some of their works and how they share (or over share in come cases) their images online using various social media applications. What so special about the event? Well, I am one of the panels and will be sharing my experiences on stage. Wish me luck!!

Travel - Amsterdam (Jan 2012)

If you are travelling to Amsterdam for the forst time and you doing so by yourself without joining any tours, no worries, the city is very tourist friendly. As soon as you step out of the departure gate of the Schiphol International Airport, there are many transportation options for you to get into the city, "domestic" trains being one of the cheapest and quickest option in my opinion. Why did I put a "quote" around the word "domestic?" Stay tuned and I will tell you why "international" trains / routes via NS Hispeed is a shocking story worth reading!

Flight Experience from Red Packet

When I was young, I thought about becoming a pilot, a commercial pilot to be exact. Yes, Maverick from Top Gun did contribute somewhat to my desire in becoming one but it was the love of flying that really interested me in wishing to become one. Obviously that dream was not realized, the closest I get to be a pilot was in front of a computer monitor playing Flight Simulator series of games. Finally after all these years, thanks to Red Packet Adrenaline experience package, I got the chance to try out an an actual size flight simulator at the Flight Experience located at MegaBox. There are many other options with the package but flight simulator topped my list because it is not an everyday activity one would attend.

Just another story ...

I came across an online story recently, written by J for Jerk. His blog is written Chinese but the untitled  story was interesting enough that I have decided to spend some time to translate it into English for sharing.   The story is about a teenager and his life experiences which many of us can relate to in some ways. It is (or was) quite relevant to many of us or perhaps all of us who have been through the teenage years.

Travel - Taipei, Aug 2011 - (Day 1 / 4)

Like most people, I do enjoy afternoon naps whenever possible. After checking into HOME Hotel around 4pm, I spent 20 mins or so doing interior shots followed by a 5 mins rest on the sofa which turned out to be a 20 mins nap thanks to the comfort of the sofa!! Almost every time I attempt to take a 5 mins nap on this sofa, it ended up nothing less than 20 mins, it happened at least once every day during our stay! By the time I got ready it was 5pm already and our lunch was ... plane food, therefore we were quite hungry.

Food Photography (Random Sharing @ Canton Deli)

It is no secret that I am a food photography enthusiast and I take advantage of any opportunity I come across to capture food images. Many asked me for tips on food photography but I would not call it tips, perhaps sharing is more appropriate because I am learning as well. I mentioned a few pointers such as minimal use of flash photography in my previous post but like to expand from there in this entry using images taken on my recent invitation to Canton Deli 廣東茶居 at Harbour City 海港城.

Am I Math-Challenged? (Ranting)

iPhone 3GS image

I am not a big fan of numbers despite my semi-technical background but I got challenged recently by a restaurant-not-to-be-named on my ability to do simple math such ... adding! I did not plan to write about it but with the overwhelming comments on Facebook where I posted about the incident, I think it is worth sharing.  Detailed explanation is not required, a picture is worth a thousand words perhaps?

Food Photography (Revisit)

It was truly an honor to be interviewed along by SCMP's weekly Food & Wine section on the topic of food photography. It is quite true that with the advancement of technology, the use of digital cameras has been widely popularized over the last 2 years. More people capture their dishes before eating and it has become  more of a norm than trend nowadays. Diners and restaurants alike are more accustomed to such a scene with many welcoming such an act. There are two schools of thoughts on whether such "snap then bite" is an acceptable act but it is a topic of extended discussion, not what this article is about. (I am pro "snap then bite" of course!) This article, titled "Bites, camera, action" by Nan-Hin In is about tips on food photography. Professional photographers and subject experts (I am an enthusiasts at this stage!) provide useful tips on how to take better food photography on a daily basis, without any bulky gears of course. As mentioned by one of the experts, built-in camera flash is a no-no and in my opinion, flash photography in general should be minimized at restaurants especially if you are simply dining out on a regular / personal basis. Aside from the quality of the images, built-in / external flash photography would affect or disturb other diners at the restaurant. It is out of simple respect that food photography enthusiasts should restraint from doing so in most if not all circumstances. Solution? Visit during lunch time if natural sun light is available or upgrade your gears and/or lens!

Hiro Sushi (Toronto)

Not much of a review this time around but more of a sharing. Hiro Sushi has been in business for over a decade, situated in the downtown Toronto area headed by Hiro-san himself almost every single night! His dedication and joy of being at the restaurant serving diners inspired me in re-thinking about one's dream and possibly how to achieve it with passion, patience and perseverance, the 3P which l like to call it. When young, many of us have been asked what you want to become, some wanted to become policemen, some doctors, some firemen, some bus drivers, some lawyers, some chefs and some even wanted to become rockstars. As for myself, I honestly don't remember what I wrote or if I came up with anything as a matter of fact. I strongly believe that there is nothing wrong in having a progressively developing dream(s). Hiro-san's passion to food has re-sparked my quest in evaluating, prioritizing ... and realizing my dream(s).

Please think before you speak (Ranting)

The story goes something like this. I was calling a so-called hip restaurant situated in Causeway Bay requesting information on their afternoon tea set and seat availability at its massive outdoor terrance. The following is the phone conversation between the (S)taff and myself (J).

S:          Thank for calling XXXXX, this is YYYYY speaking, how can I help you?

J:           Hi, I would like to ask if you have any afternoon tea set during weekdays?  

S:         Yes we do, we have afternoon tea set from 3 to 5pm during the weekdays.  

J:          Is the outdoor terrance available during the afternoon tea period? 

S:         It is if weather permit ... 

J:          Great! How about reservation? Do I need advance booking? 

S:          [pauses] ... business is sort of slow nowadays ... so no need to book in advance .... 

J:          OOOKKK .... thanks! 

I am sure you can spot the concern I have in regards to basic communication skills. The use of words in both Chinese or English is of utmost importance not just in the F&B industry but in any situation or human interaction. One simple tip (personal tip of course) is to think before you speak and treat yourself as the person at the other end of the conversation. It is not that difficult is it?

My 7 Links (Blogosphere Project)

Not only am I excited but I am honored to be invited by e_ting to be part of this Tripbase's My 7 Links Project! Not only does the project "unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again," it serves as a timely self-reminder on why I started blogging back in 2009 and my commitment in sharing my travel and dining experiences.

The Pleasures of Taste (Random)

While reading a recent post by HK Epicurus, his name reminded me of a few passages by Alain de Botton which I came across quite a while ago on the subject of ... general philosophy.  The philosopher's name Epicurus (or its verb Epicurean) has been associated more than often with good food and wine, but there is more to Epicureanism than simple enjoyment of culinary excellence. Epicurus philosophy focuses on the attainment of "happiness" with a strong emphasis on sensual pleasures which includes the pleasure of taste thanks to his love of excellent food.

The beginning and root of every good is the pleasure of the stomach. Even wisdom and culture must be referred to this. - Epicurus