united's new c class

united is re-fitting their international business class with flat bed and all (with high-tech amenities such as usb charger and ipod cradle).

looks impressive but i am going to hold my judgment til i actually see it, and i still won't have any expectation on their food, no matter who they got to endorse it. my only complaint is this will make the screen awfully too far to be watched comfortably.

anyway, let's hope they will have it ready on trans-pacific flights by the time we travel to u.s. next year.

closure

(don't worry - i am not going to give out the ending of you-know-what)

while everyone's already started reading, i am still waiting for my american version order to arrive, and it won't come til aug 1. sigh. anyway, knowing i probably will know the storyline one way or the other before then, i had a peek myself on wikipedia yesterday - just the ending to see who died and how everything came to a close.

all i can say is, from my limited knowledge of it, it makes so much sense - a "fitting closure", according to cnn. well, it's sorta cliché, but hey, what else do you expect? now it makes me look forward to reading the entire book word by word even more. i should start clearing my august schedule to make way for reading. who said summer is not a reading season? ha ha.

frog face fish. hip. entrepreneur.

monday evening we dropped by to visit our entrepreneur friend mr y's soon-to-be-opened new venture - a travel-themed lounge/cafe/bar/club on wyndham st. it's a long story how we knew each other and how his idea of a brand and venture associated with "hip lifestyle" has evolved and turning into reality, but i am glad to see something's happened at last. i am sure i will write a separate blog about this once it's officially open to business.

anyway, after being amazed at the vast library of travel literature upstairs and a well-equipped private kitchen downstairs, both part of mr y's new creation that can easily rival the travel book section of page one, a gaggenau showroom or any michelin-starred restaurant, we strolled down wyndham and walked in to this funkily-named seafood restaurant and treated ourselves to a randomly pleasant monday dinner there. from the decor, you can tell the proprietor of the restaurant does have a heart and vision for doing things right. it's posh, casual chic and their logo - a fishbone - can be seen in almost anywhere from the back of the chair to the top of the ceiling. i ordered the citrus-poached salmon as first course and grilled tuna as main. both are nicely done - salmon's moist with a balanced taste (not being overtaken by the citrus sauce), while the tuna's flavorful - a bit overdone to my liking but unexpectedly good nonetheless. the other food we tried included the daily soup - which was a chilled tomato and pepper soup, salad greens with grilled shrimp, scallop ravioli and salmon tartare. all received decent acclaims from my fellow diners. we didn't order any wine but they do have a wide variety of whites - from what we saw on the other tables and what came out of the bar - which i am sure is a rarity in town yet totally consistent with its seafood theme.

it's just great to spend the time chatting with old friends, catching up with what's happening in one another's lives, enjoying the good food, and looking forward to greater things to come with this hip travel concept. resonate with my earlier thought that it's who you are with rather than what you are eating that makes a truly delightful evening of dining out. well, unfortunately we didn't take any picture of the food, but with its convenient location and reasonable price, i am sure we will go back some time.

details:
when? july 16 2007
where? frog face fish, 43-55 wyndham street
occasion? a casual monday scroll down wyndham street
menu highlights? char-grilled tuna

judgement of paris

i am half-way through this amazing book by a new york times journalist. as the book cover suggests, it's about wine, but it's not just about terroir, nose, bouquet or things like that.

well, the story began in 1976 with a little-known blind tasting event in paris that showcased the best of france and the best of california, and the result was more than shocking (and even embarassing to some people). needless to say, as how all amazing story ends, david beat goliath and the rest is just history. to many (esp the americans), the event's considered to be the turning point that led to the popularization and respect for new world wine still growing to this date.

but the book's more than a mere chronicle of that event - actually the author only spent 5 pages (out of a total 300) describing what happened in that historic day - it went way before from the days of early california settlement, to the decline through the days of prohibition and the "second revolution" of california wine industry after world war ii.

it's also a series of personal stories of the pioneers from all walks of life and all around the world, who shared a vision, chased their dreams, and bit by bit, collectively built napa valley from scratch, and in the process, created a miracle and accomplished the mission impossible. to me, it's particularly interesting to read how those legendary vineyards such as montelena, cakebread and stag's leap wine cellars started.

a chapter was also dedicated to the development of chateaux and vineyards in bordeaux - for example, the author mentioned the first time a "grand cru" estate appears in english literature in as early as 1663, when chateau haut-brion was referred to as "ho bryan". that's a total 200 years before the famous 1885 classification was made. good information for trivia nights.

i certainly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in wine. it told you so much more than any other books around.

the best of times

"最好, 不是因為最好所以我們眷念不已, 而是倒過來, 是因為永遠失落了, 我們只能用懷念召喚它們, 所以才成為最好."

perhaps this is the ultimate irony of life... 人生往往就是如此, 失落了才憧得珍惜. carpe diem, my friend, and make every new day "the best of your times".