Today, as explained at
great length yesterday, will be brief.
Below is a summary of cheng yu, music
and other media introduced over the last twenty postings on DustyBrine.
Now look here:
whatever you’re having for lunch today, won’t be as good as what I’m
having for lunch today. You heard
me. I’m about to have some fresh,
Shandong baozi. You may well ask: “what is a baozi?”
I’ll tell you. They are a steamed
bread (there is no baked-bread tradition in Chinese cuisine) affair the size of
a flattened softball, filled with meat or vegetarian xianr (fillings). Done
right, they rule. Don’t even try to say
you know.
If you’re going to tell me to my face, that you’ve had baozi before somewhere in the U.S. or
Europe or I-don’t-care-where, outside of China . . . please, just
stop. You’ve never had baozi.
If you want to try to tell me you’ve had Shandong baozi in Beijing, or Shanghai or damn
near anyplace in China outside of Shandong (with the exception, I suppose of Dongbei [a.k.a.: “Manchuria”], which is
all populated by people from Shandong anyway), please, please, please my
friend, let it breathe. You have never
had Shandong baozi.
My wife came back from a business trip to Shandong last
night. On the way she stopped at her
mom’s. We now have two or three enormous
bags of boazi with some pork and
cabbage xianr, some dill and
shrimp xianr. These things are SOOO GOOD. I had five last night. Yes,
they are fattening, I suppose. If you
are gravitationally challenged like myself you need to stare this down and make
an excuse. It’s worth it, while they’re
fresh. Get your soy sauce, some vinegar,
or some spicy lao gan ma dipping
sauce, whatever you prefer ready, steam them up and rip those baozi open, kid.
Now I’ll let you all in on a little ‘world domination’
business idea of ours: we are going to
open a Shandong Baozi place somewhere back home. The name of this little joint? You got it:
“Shandong Baozi.” It may be
futile to try to port the taste overseas.
The ingredients will never be the same, particularly the consistency of
the flour. But it’s worth a try. If you could nail it, people would be lining
up for these things. Northern Chinese
cuisine in general and food from the kingdoms of Lu and Qi (read Shandong) in
particular is rarely represented overseas.
Unsuspecting American college kids, working parents, pizza, burrito,
hotdog lovers . . . they don’t know what is about to happen.
Trash-talk complete, I’m going to go eat.
Summary 40:
Chengyu:
1. 惨不忍闻:
Cǎnbùrěnwén:
too horrible to endure (idiom); tragic spectacle / appalling scenes of
devastation
2. 死灰复燃: sǐhuīfùrán: lit. ashes burn once more (idiom);
fig. sb lost returns to have influence / something malevolent returns to haunt
one
3. 如火如荼: rúhuǒrútú: lit. white cogon flower
like fire (idiom); fig. a mighty army like wildfire / daunting and vigorous
(momentum) / flourishing / magnificent
4. 机不可失: Jībùkěshī: No
time to lose! (idiom)
5. 做贼心虚: zuòzéixīnxū: to feel guilty as a thief (idiom); to
have something on one's conscience
6. 一改故辙: yīgǎigùzhé: complete
change from the old rut (idiom); dramatic change of direction / a volte-face /
to change old practices
7. 秋风送黄: qiūfēngsòngshuǎng: the cool autumn breeze (idiom)
8. 你死我活: nǐsǐwǒhuó: lit. you die, I live (idiom);
irreconcilable adversaries / two parties cannot coexist
9. 温故知新: wēngùzhīxīn:
to review the old and know the new (idiom, from the Analects) / to
recall the past to understand the future
10. 羝羊触藩 : dīyángchùfān: lit.
billy goat's horns caught in the fence (idiom from Book of Changes易經｜易经); impossible to advance or to retreat / without any way out
of a dilemma / trapped / in an impossible situation
11. 似是而非: sìshì'érfēi: apparently right but actually wrong;
specious (idiom)
12. 大快朵颐: dàkuàiduǒyí: to
gorge oneself / to eat heartily (idiom)
13. 绿草如茵: lǜcǎorúyīn: green grass like cushion (idiom);
green meadow so inviting to sleep on
14. 果实累累: guǒshílěilěi: prodigious
abundance of fruit (idiom); fruit hangs heavy on the bow / fertile
15. 废寝忘食: fèiqǐnwàngshí: to neglect sleep
and forget about food (idiom) / to skip one's sleep and meals / to be
16. 黑天半夜: hēitiānbànyè: lit. the black sky of midnight /
very late at night (idiom)
17. 秋风过耳: qiūfēngguò'ěr: lit. as the autumn breeze
passes the ear (idiom); not in the least concerned
18. 未雨绸缪 : wèiyǔchóumóu: lit.
before it rains, bind around with silk (idiom, from Book of Songsd); fig. to
plan ahead / to prepare for a rainy day
19. 愚昧无知: yúmèiwúzhī: stupid and ignorant (idiom)
Music Introduced:
·
The Byrds – “Why”, 1966
·
Orlando Julius, “James Brown Ride On”, 1970
· Fela
Ransome Kuti, “Alu Jon Jonki Jon”, 1972
·
Ike Quebec, “Heavy Soul”, 1971
·
Jimi Hendrix, “You Got Me Floating”, from “Axis
Bold as Love” 1967
·
The Commodores – “Caught in the Act”, 1975
·
Mbuti Pygmy flute playing
·
The Zombies, “Beechwood Park” Odessy and Oracle”
(sic), 1968
·
Sonny Rollins “First Recordings 1957” “Sonny
Moon for Two” & “A Night at the Village Vanguard”, 1957
·
Crass “Banned from the Roxy” from ‘The Feeding
of 5000’, 1978
·
Stan Getz, “Captain Marvel”, 1972
·
The Beatles, “Abbey Road”, 1969
·
Paper Lace, “The Night Chicago Died”, 1974
·
Randy Weston, “Blue Moses”, 1972
·
The Small Faces – “Up the Wooden Hills to
Bedfordshire” from “Small Faces” 1967
·
Vera Lynn, “Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire” 1936
·
The Geraldo Pino & the Heartbeats “Heavy,
Heavy, Heavy” (approx.) 1972
·
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, “Ecaroh”, 1956
·
Radiohead “Paranoid Android” from ‘OK Computer’
1997
·
The Velvet Underground “Heroine”, 1967
·
Sonny Clark – “Dial S For Sonny”, 1957
Media Introduced
· Zhao Jie in “News China”
entitled “Too Little? Too Late?”
·
AfroFunk Forum on Fela Kuti – James
Brown Connection
· Peter Culshaw, “The Guardian” on Fela Ransome
Kuti
·
Fela lyrics to “Alu Jon Jonki Jon”
translated to English
·
Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the New York
Times.
·
Global Business Network on Wiki
·
New York Times article on Starbucks in
China
· Anne-Marie Brady, “Marketing
Dictatorship: Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China”
·
Chinese opera “The Butterfly Lovers” on
Wiki
·
Colin Turnbull, “The
Mbuti Pygmies: Adaptation & Change in Ituri Forest”
·
New York Times blog: “The Scientific 7 Minute Work Out”
· Ian Johnson in The New York
Review of Books:
·
Sonny Rollins: “A Night at the Village
Vanguard” on Wiki
·
Russell Brand on BBC with Jeremy
Paxman, Youtube
·
Stan Getz album “Captain Marvel”, on Wiki
·
Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Ireland
on Wiki
·
New York Times article on Emperor Akihito’s
visit to China
·
Japan Daily Press, Emperor Akihito’s
offer of apology to South Korea:
·
Small Faces “Up the Wooden Hills to
Bedfordshire” on Youtube
·
Vera Lynn “Up the Wooden Hill to
Bedfordshire” on Youtube
Gary Martin, The Phrase Finder
·
“Golliwog” defined on Wiki
· P.G. Wodehouse , “The Mating
Season” on Wiki
·
RetroAfric blog, Fela on Geraldo Pino
·
Gordon Chang “The Coming Collapse of China”
·
New York Times
article on drone strike, which killed the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah
Mehsud
·
USA today on US business man Vincent Wu’s arrest
in China
·
New York Times on Guangdong newspaper New
Express requesting report be released.
·
The Guardian on Katy Perry Lady Gaga banned in
China.
·
The Global Times – on upcoming CCP Plenary
·
Steve Roach – Project Syndicate , on PRC-US decoupling
·
Chengyu explained on Wiki
·
Sonny Clark on Wiki:
·
Rdio online music service:
No comments:
Post a Comment