Tivo-ing Life

I held off for a long time in getting Tivo because I worried it would only feed my TV-watching habit.

Even with cutting three shows out of my regular viewing schedule, I'll still be watching eight others come September: "House," "The Office," "Pushing Daisies," "30 Rock," "Chuck," "Ugly Betty," "Law & Order: SVU" and new show "Fringe." ("Mad Men" and "Project Runway" will be winding down by the time the fall season really gets going and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" doesn't start again until November so I won't count them. "Lost" is a mid-season show.)

However, I justified purchasing Tivo in two ways: 1) my VCR was possessed by bad TV demons and would not record shows unless it was in the mood too; 2) with the fast-forwarding power of Tivo I get through shows twice as fast.

Speaking of fast-forwarding, I would like to thank Tivo for making my Olympic-watching experience a breeze. I could condense eight hours of competition into an hour and a half of viewing time. Swimming - good. Beach volleyball - click, click, click and it's gone. I discovered the joys of table tennis and the marathon thanks to the handy DVR.

I just wish I could Tivo my way past those election year sign wavers that stand by the road during my daily commute. I refuse to wave at anyone since I often don't know who their candidate is or whether I'd vote for him or her. But I feel embarrassed every time I pass them by and avoid making eye contact. And there's no click, click, click to speed by them.

Let's Talk Movie Etiquette, People

I went to see a movie this evening, on a weeknight when the theater had maybe 15 other people in it. And yet the following still happened in that small crowd:
1) A toddler was allowed to wander around the seats (though to the parents' credit, they took the kid outside when he started yelling). This was not exactly a family movie.
2) THREE people in front of me were texting with that annoying cellphone glow as a distraction.
3) Another person actually answered their cell and whispered through a short conversation (it did not sound like an emergency to me) during a relatively quiet, emotional scene.
4) There were the loud guffawer/commentators sitting off to my right.

What are the odds of all that happening in a small audience? Or maybe the offenders felt more at liberty to forget all movie-going etiquette because there were less people? I just don't know. It seems like common sense and respect to not text, talk loudly, let a toddler roam around or answer a cellphone during a film. I especially curse the day that texting became popular.

All I have to say is urgh.

A minor cooking success

DISCLAIMER: This entry falls under the "my roommates are still not back from summer break and I have no one else to share this with that would care other than my mother ... and I already called her" category.

I recently had a small kitchen triumph. I cooked a pork chop for myself and didn't burn it, cook it until it was too tough, or over season it. This may not seem like a big deal but for someone who is not a master cook, it was a successful hunk of meat.

Mark Bittman is responsible for my almost perfect chop. I followed the New York Times' Minimalist columnist's recipe "Sauteed Pork Chops (with Vinegar)," which I found in my copy of "How to Cook Everything." I read Bittman's column and print out recipes pretty religiously even if I haven't made half of his dishes. He makes cooking seem simple and he emphasizes basic ingredients and none of that prepackaged stuff, which he says doesn't really save you that much time. He hasn't completely convinced me of the latter but I can follow his recipes. His cookbook is also written like he's standing over your shoulder giving you advice.

Back to the pork chop. All it took was a little dry white wine, red wine vinegar, olive oil, butter, salt and pepper and rereading the recipe five times while I was preparing the chop to make it come out nice and firm but not tough or dry. OK, I did manage to set off the fire alarm when I added the wine to the sizzling hot pan, creating a billow of smoke that hovered in my house for the next ten minutes. And the chop might have been just a tad too vinegary, but overall I gave myself a pat on the back.

I happily ate the pork chop with a oil/butter reduction and some vegetables while watching "So You Think You Can Dance." It was a gloriously content little moment. After all, it's the simple things that make me happy.

Back from Sydney

Ah, Sydney, what a city!

I was in Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day from July 13-23. First off the negatives: It was peak winter season in Australia, and I underestimated how warm my clothes should have been. It was a nippy 47 degrees F the night we slept out at Randwick Racecourse, and I must have been wearing five shirt layers along with sweat pants under my jeans. We also walked a lot to various events as that was often the only way for pilgrims to get out of these large, gated areas. One day we did a five-mile (not exaggerating) pilgrimage walk from The Domain to Randwick. The next day we had to walk back from the racecourse to our hostel, another three miles. Both times we were lugging all our sleeping bags and camp-out items! I had some blisters after that.

But honestly, even with the cold and the walking, World Youth Day (which is actually six days long) was an amazing experience. Seeing people from all over the world, singing, chanting, carrying their nations' flags and just full of the spirit is something I won't ever forget. And I saw the pope!

There he is. Doesn't he have the best car ever? I need me a popemobile, without the pope part.

After the official events were over, my group spent two and a half days playing tourist. I'd already gone to the Sydney Opera House for a Sydney Symphony performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis on July 18. The view from the opera house's northern foyer windows of Sydney at night is breathtaking. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera that evening, but here is a photo of the opera house taken during the day from a ferry.

We were on the ferry because we were headed to Taronga Zoo, just on the other side of the Sydney Harbor. We saw lot of iconic Aussie animals like kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, Tasmanian Devils, echidnas and ...

KOALAS! This 2-year-old female was just hanging out and eating when we photo ambushed her (actually me and three others split the $20 cost to take a photo with her).

The giraffes have an enviable waterfront home with a million-dollar view of the city.

The following day we went to the Blue Mountains, a 2-hour train ride west of Sydney, and took an Explorer Bus around the Katoomba/Leura area. Here are the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation with an accompanying aboriginal legend about a witch doctor that turned, you got it, three sisters into rocks for their protection.

You can sort of see that blue haze that gives the area its name, apparently caused by the sun hitting the eucalyptus oil in the air at a certain angle. We had a great time traipsing through nature after being in the city for the past week. It was a beautiful area, but even more beautiful of a sight was my lunch at a corner store in Katoomba, the infamous (at least in my mind) Burger With the Lot and a side of chips (a.k.a. french fries).

You can't really see it but at the bottom are beets and a pineapple circle and at the top an egg and ham. It was really tasty, especially after all that hiking.

We had to leave Wednesday afternoon to get to the airport for our evening flight, which brought us back to Hawaii the morning of the same day. That's the closest I'll come to time travel. Before we left, I and two other girls took a ferry to Manly, a suburb across the harbor from the CBD (Central Business District) that is right on the Pacific. It's normally a popular beach destination, but when we went arrived it was drizzling and cloudy. That did not stop the surfers out that day as you can see below.

It was still a lovely area even on a gray day and I managed to find the cheapest Cadbury Dairy Milk bars I'd seen so far at a Coles supermarket. By the way, I did a taste comparison when I got home between a Dairy Milk Caramello made in Australia and one made in the U.S. by Hershey and the Aussie chocolate won out. I'm afraid I won't be able to go back to Hershey's bars anytime soon.

I'm already wanting to get back to Australia. In the meantime I will have to live vicariously through the Aussie families I babysit for.

Australia-bound

I've been busy the past two weeks getting ready for my work trip to Australia. At the tail end of it, I'll get two and a half days to do what I like. The Aussie families I sit for have given me lots of suggestions. Among them:

• Take the ferry to Manly: Northern Sydney peninsula with a nice beach and the ferry ride there is supposed to be great.
  
• Order a burger with "the lot": An Aussie specialty burger with cheese,pineapple, bacon, egg, lettuce, beetroot (pickled beets) and tomato. That should be interesting. Other foods they said I need to try in Oz are a proper bacon and egg sandwich, fish and chips, and a cappuccino.
• Visit Taronga Zoo: You need to take a ferry ride across Sydney Harbor to get there, but it's supposed to be great, plus there's a sky tram across the zoo.
• Take a day trip to the Blue Mountains: West of Sydney and apparently a gorgeous area to hike and explore. I would love to do this, I just hope I'll have time.
• Go to Bondi Beach: Famous surfing beach, though supposed to be a bit touristy. I was told if I had to pick between Bondi and Manly I should pick Manly.
• See a performance at the Opera House: Which I am doing! I have tickets to a symphony performance there and I am thrilled about it.

Well, this post has gotten me more excited about exploring Sydney and the surrounding area. Now I just need to pack and wish I had an Australian accent.

"Up the Yangtze"

Here's my first movie recommendation on this blog. I just saw "Up the Yangtze," a recent documentary abut the Three Gorges Dam, which is causing the Yangtze River to rise, and how it is affecting people in China. It's far more compelling than I can convey here, but trust me, you should try and find a theatre that's playing it or rent it.

The film mostly follows a poor family, living on the water's edge and just getting by with farming and odd jobs. Because her family can't afford to send her to high school, the eldest daughter, who is 16, goes to work on a tourist boat cruise sailing up and down the Yangtze. We see her and a 19-year-old boy starting their work on this cruise ship. The girl's parents are shown trying to figure out what to do after the water has risen over their current home.

There are some hilarious moments, like the etiquette class for new cruise ship employees on how to interact with tourists (don't call them fat or pale, don't compare America to Canada, never talk about any serious political topics like Northern Ireland). And there are some heart-tugging moments like a man talking about how difficult it is to be a common person in China and the sight of the poor family at the side of the risen Yangtze looking at where their home and crops used to be.

Five years ago Peter Hessler wrote about the relocation caused by the Three Gorges Dam project, the largest hydro-electric power station in the world, and it continues today. I enjoy reading Hessler's work (including his two books, "Rivertown: Two Years on the Yangtze" and "Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present"), particularly since he backs up his writing with a real understanding of the Chinese people. He speaks the language and has lived in China since he first came there as a Peace Corps worker in the mid-90s.

Still photo from "Up the Yangtze"

The Painted Desk's Origins

Blame it on a quiet house.

My roommates have left for two months of summer break, and the house is dead quiet except for music streaming from Pandora on my computer. There is no 1-year-old yelping out happy cries and toddling into my room to pull down blankets, stuffed animals and figurines from shelves. I can't bother his parents with my random thoughts nor talk them out with the toddler, who is a great listener, by the way.

Instead, there I was this evening sitting at my new writing desk and chair, which are painted a bright turquoise blue and decorated with birds and flowers. The desk lifts up to reveal a red interior with compartments. Every time I look at it, I get these lovely waves of happiness. And so I decided to start The Painted Desk blog to get the random thoughts out that I can't tell my housemates.

I imagine this blog will be a tangle of posts on TV, movies, books, 80s childhood nostalgia, and other things I would normally blurt out to live people who are unfortunate enough to be in my general proximity.

And I hope it inspires me the same way my painted desk has.

Photo: Pier 1 Imports