Jung's Weblog

Have been practicing at Yamaha Artist Service Center Taipei daily, where I get to go online with government owned Wifly public wifi which only cost 500 Taiwanese Dollar for 1 month unlimited usage. My parents’ home where I have been staying at has no internet… imagine!!!!

People at YASC Taipei are sooooo kind, they not only let me bang the hell out of their pristine piano in this soundproof room, they worry about my lunch, dinner, and water supply, I am treated sooooooo well here, I almost want to move in!

Here are a few pix of my practicing condition

The Hello Kitty collectable stuff toys and the Hello Kitty cash card with smart chip for 7-11, are gifts from Mr. Hung, the manager here, who on his off duty day just came in to bring me these gifts after he read about my thing with HK on the newspaper (the reporter must have gotten it off my silly blog here… ), did I say I am spoiled here?

At times updating FB for bff Linda, she has all my FB updates sent to her phone, don’t know how she does it, hmm…

Outside of one window, Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world right now! It only took me 3 days to realize it was outside of my practicing room, I guess I wasn’t looking…

Another side of the window, looks a little Time Square like.

Charging my fab new toy Sound Devices 722, just tested the sound yesterday, it is fantastic!!! Don’t know how something so small could be so fabulous — love love love it!

Three thermostats for my comfort… Should I say I am getting really very spoiled? hmm, time to actually practice the piano now…

Saw the Danish Ebelskiver Iron on Williams-Sonoma’s catalogue, thought of the red (Adzuki) bean paste stuffed pancake I was so fond of as a child, I knew I had to have it.

The Danish calls it “ebelskiver”, we Taiwanese makes it in the shape of car wheel and simply calls it car wheel “tcha luan”, and the Japanese makes it in the shape of fish called “taiyaki” (red snaper bake) or in round shape called “dorayaki” which is Doraiemon’s favorite food I guess there is a version of it in every culture… whatever sweet treat it is stuffed with, it is delicious!

Made dorayaki for Ryota yesterday, he has become a very mature looking kid over his summer vocation in Japan. His Chopin F minor Etude Op. 25-2 is sounding fantastic now, I think we will put it on his podcast soon

Just found this on YouTube, I am ordering a Taiyaki Maker… It is just too cute…

Favorite toys used:

Hello Kitty slow cooker to cook the red bean to perfection (then chilled and sweetened with Organic Raw Agave Nectar, which does not effect the blood sugar), grain mill to ground fresh organic whole soft wheat for flour, and Ebelskiver Iron.

May I say I am officially addicted

Saw Yerba Mate Latte recipe at We Like It Raw decided to give it a try. It is fantastic!

Mate is supposed to be the most perfect plant, the leaves of the rainforest mate tree naturally contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants. Well, this is what I found about it on internet, but I like its mild taste and low buzzing effect (less caffeine then white tea).

Instead of the instant Cashew Milk in the recipe from WLIR, I use Sarma’s Brazil Nut Milk Recipe from her book Raw Food Real World. This milk is a big hit with all my students as I did a taste test last week

I have slowly added lots of links to all my toys since people never stop asking me “where did you get this?”

Favorite book and toys used:
(VitaMix to blend, Nut Milk Bag to strain, and Capresso 1500 (discontinued model) to froth the nut milk)

I had no idea vacuuming could be this much fun! After one full day of initial charge, I used my iRobot Roomba 4230 Remote Scheduler Robotic Vacuum for the very first time this afternoon. This thing is so amusing that both BooBoo and I couldn’t help ourselves but followed it around all over the house.

It is like watching a very stubborn blind man, who tries to earn his keep in your house and would not stop at anything. Every time it bumps into an object, a wall, a foot… it turns slightly toward a different angle, going over and over through every part of the floor. It picked up all the kitty hair! The most shocking thing is Roomba found its own way back to the charger, and docked itself, and there the shimmering charging red light appeared… almost in a creepy way

Roomba was on my shopping list on Amazon for more than a year, I can’t believe I didn’t get it sooner!

Update: hmm, there is a newer & improved model since September 2007, darn… iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver

Met the sweetest and the most beautiful 4-year-old female show pug during a walk in Central Park almost 2 years ago, since then, I have a thing for pugs. You can’t really call me a traitor since they are quite small in size, and they look almost, “almost” like Siamese (ok, I am pushing it…) But, hey, they are cute, and much easier to care for than a ChowChow — that is my entire other thing — I love them for their lioness good looks. One day, just maybe one day, I will have a pair of Pugs and a gorgeous cream ChowChow along with a whole dozen of British Shorthair Blues and Lilacs… so I dream on a world where cats and dogs and all creatures live in harmony and peace…

I got this pug purse as a surprise gift, I know an unknow force is trying to end my babbling about getting a pair of pugs, and also stop me from my attempt to turn my home into a zoo. This adds number 4 to my animal purse collection — doesn’t seem like I will grow up any time soon…

During my search for related pug blog entries, I found this touching little video in an entry by Lori, I am not one of those girls who would woo and ahh at the sight of a little kid, but I often feel that an animal is worth a thousand human souls.

That blog entry reminds me of the poor overly sensitive 3-year-old Misty, a gorgeous female Brit in Long Island, New York, who needs a new home without human children. She is from the same wonderful breeder as my boys.

Would anyone give her a loving home?