什么是时尚？

在华人上为到底年薪多少才该买小香以及如果只能买一个名牌包包到底是买小香还是机车还是囧包还是爱马士而争论不休时，看到了这张照片。各位MM呀，还争什么争呀，赶紧找找你们上大学时去洗澡时用的小篮子吧。

Japanese Noodle House

我们村新开了家日本拉面馆，Ren's Ramen。装修时我和Mike每次从门口过就说等开了张一定来尝尝，其实就是对敢在90%人口都是拉美裔的我们村里开日本拉面馆感到非常好奇。于是在今天100度的高温下打了场网球后，我们决定今晚就吃拉面吧。

推开玻璃门后是日本店里常见的白底黑字布门帘，店面很小，一共九张桌子，除了一个四人的之外全是两人桌。三个店员都像是拉美人。菜单只有一张纸，封了塑料膜，一面英文，一面日文。菜式很简单，四款拉面，三种小吃，分别是煎饺、炒饭和...白米饭。菜单上和墙上的挂幅都写着：本店拉面是从日本北海道空运来的！就连一次性筷子的包装纸都是Made in Japan。我有预感，一定正宗。

我点了菜单上头一种拉面，觉得一般卖面的最好吃的都放在第一个。Mike点了蔬菜面。我们还点了一样小吃，猜也能猜的出我们点的什么，难道还点白饭呀。等的功夫，Mike说不会呆会儿上来就是韩国店卖的方便面吧。

面上来之后，一大海碗，但面只有多半碗。面条看起来还真像方便面，曲里拐弯的。但入口很有劲道，不愧是北海道空运的。虽然一碗面10块，有点小贵，不过味道还不错。Mike和我一致决定把这家列入我们的定点食堂之一。

Six-Word Love Story

Can you sum up a relationship in six words?

Here are some of my favorate readers' posts on NYT website:

Met in leftist group; felt right.

Sheep in wolf’s clothing. Thank God!

She died before I loved her.

I wish I could freeze time.

After 20 years, now I nag?

He was my kung fu teacher.

.....

I give up. There are 125 pages! Summary: too many happy couples, too few good story tellers.

腊八腊八，小孩要炮，姑娘要花

2011第一锅

今天开了2011年第一锅，宾主尽欢，肉尤未尽。

Before & After...

Hometown

Hometown always brings me mixed feelings. It is a place I spent 24 years, but for almost half of the time I couldn’t wait to leave, to see "the outside world". Now, from the outside world 6,500 miles away, every time I go back, I can’t help feeling relieved that I only come to visit. That sounds cold-hearted. It’s more cold-hearted to say I feel more connected to a city where I only worked for less than four years, than to my birthplace, where my old ma and pa live, and where I forged the strongest friendship with three friends since I was 19.

I blame the economic boom, which has flattened the house I grew up in, widened the shaded lane where I used to shop fabrics from street vendors, and moved my high school out of the city to the “high-tech development district” where it used to be corn fields. So hometown has become just the town of homes of the people I love. My parents live in a building that didn’t even exist when I left the town. The only thing in their apartment that can bring back my teenager memory is the sticker on a chest door.

Walking on the street to the farmer’s market with Dad, I found I was looking at everything through a tourist’s eyes. That felt strange. Apparently the women Dad was buying eggs from thought I looked strange too. She asked me why I took pictures of her egg baskets. I told her I was just waiting for my Dad to pick eggs. She was glad I was not from the Administration Bureau of Business and Commerce to check her license.

新年第一帖

新年第一帖，是用来回顾的。2010年最后一个月的故乡行为去年画上了一个完美的句号。

这次行程很短，又是冬天，冷呵呵的，本来不打算去哪观光的，但热情好客的家乡好友一定要给远道而来的中国功夫爱好者Mike展示一下我们中原武林圣地，于是驱车四个小时前往少林寺，结果没领略到什么少林功夫，倒是颇为领教了河南人民的彪悍民风。啥都不说了，上图。

看到山上的卧佛了吗？

金庸大师到此一游。

千年古刹见证了时代的变迁，在塔林的石刻上可见和尚也追求现代的科技与便利：汽车和电脑。

小和尚和老和尚。

塔林卖野菜的婆婆和草丛里打盹的老汉。