Top Taste Dishes

This venison dish is a family favorite.

A favored restaurant: tasty dishes. That should describe Kai Xuan, a halal Chinese restaurant at the Puteri Pacific Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

One of the dishes that we inevitably order is the venison cooked with green onions and ginger. The meat, as usual, was tender and the flavors subtle enough to enhance, but not overpower, the taste of the meat.

Chatting with the staff, I picked up a tip about its preparation. Coating the meat with a little cornflour gives it an attractive sheen and texture. Both thin and thick soy sauces are used, plus a pinch of sugar. It’s interesting to learn this, though I don’t think I’ll venture to cook venison any time soon.

Another dish we tried was the prawn noodles. It was tasty, and the secret was in the carefully-prepared stock.

As usual, the service was quite impeccable, and the restaurant continues to remained a favored choice.

The prawn noodles was also very satisfying.

Read Full Post »

Citrus Harvest

It's a great feeling to pluck the oranges from my backyard.

It’s been a good harvest: from my two orange trees. The California Navel orange and the Valencia orange trees yielded enough fruits to share with friends and family.

The general consensus from those who sampled them is that the oranges have a right blend of sweet and sour notes. It is indeed a good feeling to nurture something from the earth.

Read Full Post »

The Language of Names

Palin...wants to trademark her name. (Pic: Reuters)

Sarah Palin is taking steps to trademark her name, it was reported recently.

The former 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor filed paperwork with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register the trademark.

“Sarah Palin listed usage of the trademark for a website featuring information about political elections; political issues; and educational and entertainment services, including motivational speaking in the fields of politics, culture, business and values, “ Mercurynews.com reports.

Palin is a figure who often excites strong emotions, from both her supporters and critics. Since we are on the topic of the usage of names, let’s talk about an interesting aspect of language. That is, how new words are created out of names of people or objects, and then assume popular usage.

Palin’s name, for instance, based on her performance in the 2008 elections has led to the creatioin of a new descriptive word “palinesque”. It has mainly negative meaning such as “superficial, lacking in depth”. The Urban Dictionary defines it as “When someone doesn’t answer a question, and immediately changes the topic.”

In the case of object names that have become verbs, two come into mind: the Xerox printer and Google search engine. Some years back, the name Xerox soon became synonymous with “to make a photocopy”, as in “Can you please xerox this for me?”

More recently, the name Google has become verb which means using the search engine to find out more information. As an example: sometimes, when you meet a person at an event and are curious to find out more about him/her, later you Google the person’s name. (A friend thinks this practice invades a person’s privacy but I suspect most people have done this.)

Glenn Close in Fatal attraction, which means an out of control attraction. (Pic:knowthemovies.com)

And then there is the title from the movie “Fatal Attraction” starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. The phrase “fatal attraction” has been absorbed into the language to mean an obsessive and dangerous attraction, or when a spurned partner becomes vengeful.

It’s quite fascinating to see what other name will capture people’s imagination, and take on its own meaning in the living language that we use everyday.

Read Full Post »