Irene Eng The Kibbitzer

King made another grand $20, this time off Apple, iPhone is hot, the kids told me …

Hi, 北京哥儿们 look what I’m eating!  Tomato sprinkled with sugar.   It’s so good.  There are few things I miss, duck is for sure, and ranks top; there are also 糖葫芦，四川酱豆腐 .. .. Don’t you people craving them too???

It never occurred to me that the nicknames I bestowed to my kids are inappropriate, not uplifting, uninspiring, with bad connotation.. ..  Maomao, a friend pointed it out, and asking would I call them stupid and why not.  Hmmmm, there lays the drastic difference between two cultures.  In all honesty, Nainai (the hottest courtesan from Shanghai) lovingly dabbed me, among [...]

Colored diamonds have always been rare, one dealer claimed that 1 in 10,000 possesses natural colour.  Hues in yellow and rose are bit more common than blue and red.  One GF who’s little over 5 and slim, bought a 9 carat diamond, and is quick to take it off for admirers; I reckon her hubby is doing well; and she certainly enjoys the wos [...]

King made $28 profit off AMZN and she finally won a match, in doubles.  But a win is a win.  Hooooorrrraaaay …. wtg …. !!

       
There are two in NYC, one on Upper West Side (B’way) and one on 44th Street in Times Sq, part of Mr. Resturant’s empire.  They’re great for big groups, hearty Italian family style, huge portion, rambunctious atmosphere, good service and most importantly, delicious.  My kids love it.  The tiramisu is sublime, and huge, the size of a small [...]

Blair is out of 10 Downing Street today.  NYT editorial gives him a thumb up.  He sure deserves it.  When I first visited UK in the early 80s, London felt like  lifeless, sick and poor.   Everywhere I turned, I saw a has been. The weather didn’t help either.  I was shocked: this is the master of the vibrant [...]

Plenty bars but no ice cream shop in Manhasset …. go figure.

One of the courses Kinglazy is taking is trading the market, starting out with $10,000, in sim of course.  Shall we have a contest?  Slowpoke lost 6:3, 6:1 to an older boy, a level above her.

Another love birds at the Renda BBQ.  He’s a professor and she’s a Yalie lawyer working in the city, just had Lasik - it’s ok, intelligent good looking girl has many privileges, oversized sunglasses just is a small token to tolerate - she tried to explain why she had to wear it.  I always like to joke about Dr. Dello Russo … It turned out, [...]

Chinese use specific forms/titles to address each family member, stressing the relationship, distinguishing generations and branches.
Yeye 爷爷 and Nainai 奶奶 are reserved for paternal grandfather and grandmother while Gonggong 公公 and Popo 婆婆 (or Waigong外公,Waipo 外婆) are referred to maternal grandfather and grandmother, respectively. The titles for the grandparents vary slightly in different regions, but [...]

Tags: Beijing

“.. .. Hundreds of glistening fried thimble-size red Sichuan chilies are piled on a platter with pieces of lobster buried among them. Though the lethal-looking chilies are not meant to be eaten, they are more than mere decoration. They infuse the lobster with pungent aromas and the glow of spice. .. ..” 
This was last week NYT [...]

Kinglazy walked to Lee’s house for his lesson today .. ..  For some reason, he likes to take his lesson at home and Golfer likes his at her house.

Slowpoke played her first match.  When I went to fetch her, arriving at 3:45pm, she’s serving for the match at 5:4, took first set with ease, 6:3.  Then the momentum changed - was I the curse?  The other girl started giving bad line calls .. and took the 2nd set at 6:4; and the 3rd at 6:3.  Both girls [...]

The first president of Renda Alumni in New York, who   started it in 1995 with few others.  Frank attended Renda fuxiao, the Primary School affiliated with Renda University, and Renda fuzhong (he’s few years ahead of me, so we’ve never met on campus), the Middle/High school of Renda, and Renda itself.  He gave a brief speech before handing over [...]

First day at the camps, also first time they’re at different camps!  I’ve long heard that the coaches at PW camp are mostly foreign nationals.  Not sure how do they do it, to keep cost down - fly them in and house them?  (Another camp at the Glen Cove, it’s mostly Americans.)  There are 22 kids, [...]