There is Good Food

I spent the night at the home of Steve's Aunt Rita in New Jersey, just several miles off Wilmington, Delaware where my Aunt Waifong (Sami)'s house is situated. On this fine Sunday morning we went with Steve's Aunt Rita to her church and then to a Chinese buffet lunch afterward. It was in a remarkably authentic Chinese restaurant, where the waiteresses were all directly imported from China, and from the taste of the excellant buffet spread, so was the chef. Char siew, sweet and sour pork, dumplings that were far more substantial and meaty than any I ever saw in Wuhan, pork chops, beef ribs and assortments of cooked vegetables and salads formed and incredible and exceptionally delectable medley of tantalizing choices.

The most interesting thing however, would be the first fortune cookie that I got. Yes, the one thing that people in the States associate with Chinese restaurants, which I never saw in Chinese restaurants elsewhere, would be little wafers containing a slip of paper inscribed with a cryptic line of words.

I got:

A lively and creative mind is only one of your great attributes.

Isn't that nice? I feel flattered.

Steve got:

A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you

Hmm. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions on that one.

At night we returned to Sami and Uncle Douglas' place for hickory smoked baby back ribs that had been on the grill all day



Don't they look luscious? Uncle Doug seasons them with his special dry rub of cayenne pepper, garlic and onion powder and other aromatic spices. After slow smoking over hickory chunks for the better part of the day, they were tender enough such that the meat fell away from the bone at the lightest touch and boy, did they taste good. Also on the table was a tureen of baked beans cooked with bacon, onions, peppers and apples, some cornbread, a salad , and a bowl of pulled pork (pork shoulder baked on low heat for 10 hours with spices and vinegar until tender enough to pull away from the bone), all courtesy of the guys of the house on their 'guys cook Sunday'. We feasted like kings.

Here's a photo of me and my cousins Eric (with glasses) and Kevin, both of whom, under the close supervision of Uncle Doug, played an important part in keeping the hickory fire going under the smoked ribs:

My aunt, Sami, takes it easy on the 'guys cook Sundays', until it comes to the washing up. Fotunately, they have a dishwasher to help her out. This is a photo taken with her at the 'Wishing Pool' at a shopping mall:



A couple days back, while we were still in Florida, Steve and I cooked dinner together, helped out in part by Steve's mom. We had creamy cauliflower soup (loaded with cream and melted cheese), grilled fish with scallops in cheese sauce, salad and wine.




I'm just eating so well these days. At least my clothes still fit though.

Melbourne, Florida

I'm blogging from the east coast of Florida now, staying for two days at the house of a friend. Yesterday afternoon we went walking on the beach by the Atlantic ocean. It was a wonderful, crisp afternoon, with clear skies and blue gray seas stretching for miles, although the gusting wind was rather sharply chilly. I was rather glad for the jacket.







Piggy back along a stretch of the beach


We saw jellyfish washed up along the entire stretch of the beach. Some were still wriggling in helpless agony. We were careful not to step on fragments of broken tentacles in case they stung.



This morning we went to the Kennedy Space Centre with Steve's father. A few days ago the centre had just launched space shuttle Discovery into space in a successful night launch. Steve's home was close enough that we could see the launch outside his house. On that night, Steve's mom was holding a welcome home party for Steve so that family and friends could drop by and say hi and admire photos and paraphernalia from China. Shortly before the launch, all the guests poured out of the house and stood along the sidewalk in the chill wind craning their necks to look at the night sky.

It was a small streak of light, appearing to be about one cm long at that distance, rising from the dark shadow of some distant trees and steadily ascending into the night sky. At the moment when the orbiter detached from the booster rockets, we saw a bright segment fall away and drop back to earth, while a smaller segment continued on its relentless passage, and vanished into outer space.

At the Kennedy Space Centre, we saw the Vehicle Assembly Centre, where the shuttle was assembled for launch.



It would have contained an engine such as the one on display here:



And have booster rockets like these monsters from Saturn V behind Steve's Dad and I:



Not forgetting a reminder as to exactly which country managed this stupendous feat of launching them into space:



It was an excellant day, with blue skies for miles around the observatory tower:



We finished up with an IMAG 3D movie, which was kinda cool, because some of the images looked almost as if they were appearing right in front of you. I tried a bite of space ice-cream, which was a block of freeze dried cream at an atrocious $3.99 per 21g packet. Now I can say that I've had space ice-cream before, but give me Haagen Daz or designer gelatos next time, thank you very much.

Recovering from jet lag

We went to a place called Starkey Park for a BBQ on my second day here. It was chilly, as a cold front had hit Florida and the temperature was in the range of 10-18 degrees Celsius. We wore jackets and were still chilled.

Our intention was to go there for a BBQ, and actually it was great, with the steaks I marinated overnight tasting exceptionally juicy and tender after grilling on the BBQ pit. We had a little difficulty at first when the BBQ briquets refused to light *ugh*. (reminds me a little of Ben's BBQ farewell when we tried unsuccessfully to coax a little heat from the reluctant charcoals to warm the chicken on the grille). All means of lighting were tried, from dried leaves to cooking oil, until finally we drove to a nearby store to get some new charcoal briquets. They flamed up magnificently and soon we got the steaks done with minimal fuss. We tossed a salad and toasted some cheese and called it a pretty fine meal.



Jet lag caught up with us after the BBQ however and we went back home and crashed for 12 hours, waking up at 3 hour intervals for some reason. It's a bright chilly Florida morning today, and we will be decorating the house in readiness for Christmas. I think Steve's mom has got a couple of batches of cookies to be done too.

First Day in Florida

I'm in Florida right now guys! After a flight that could have been shorter and less eventful. I won't gripe about those past hardships already -- they are of no moment now. Anyway, it is right now a lovely, chilly morning in a typical suburban American neighbourhood. The house is empty except for Steve and I, and he is fast asleep, recovering from jet lag as well.

This morning, we took a spin in Steve's care to drop off Steve's sister Karis at high school. It was a huge, sprawling, single storeyed building with acres of carparks for the students' cars. Over in Florida, everyone drives, including most of the senior students. Most of the buildings are single storeyed, with two stories being the maximum, and sprawled out over large areas of land. Evidently the philosophy towards usage of space is radically, I mean, Radically different from Singapore, and for a good reason: land is plentiful and cheap. I passed a farm with cows placidly grazing, which brought into sharp relief the fact that although this was a pretty big city, there was still land enough to support the gentleman farmer.

Steve's house is nice. Not too large, but comfy and well furnished. Things like warm lighting and plush carpets lend the place a homey feel. Of course, like most American kitchens, I'm told, Steve's place is furnished with myriad of other household conveniences including oven, dishwasher and the like. A fat cat prowls the halls, their Trixie, who lives to jump up onto other people's bed and scare them at night. She and I are already on purring terms.

Steve apparently spent yesterday afternoon helping put up Christmas lights, and the eaves of the house are festooned with little lights. A display shaped like a tree and another shaped like a grazing reindeer stand in the garden, both lit with little moving lights at night. This is apparently how they do up their houses here, come Christmas. We will be decorating the interior of the house tomorrow, I'm told. That should be interesting.