| | windy city action.
i'm on my first solo business trip! i decided to combine business with family by staying with my mom's cousin, whom i refer to as ABY. ABY is a trip. true to shih (my mom's mom's side of the family) form, she is charming yet domineering. in ABY, it has evolved into a strain so strong that she makes my mom seem easy-going and me downright laidback. sometimes i just don't know what will set her off so around her, i play it safe by taking the position not just of a beta, but the omega.
that said, the shih women are actually excellent hostesses. i only know of 2 people among my mom's peers who cook better than my mom, and she is one of them. i hinted to her that i would like some of her homecooking while i was here, so today she gave me the option of having her cook and i took it. watching her is a treat. she's so different from my mom that i picked up quite a few tips by just watching her cook 4 dishes. for a starter, we had mussels-in-shell with large shrimp-with-heads in an egg custard broth steamed in individual bowls. i wasn't hungry, but that was one of those dishes designed to "open your appetite." after that, i was all over the steamed doban fish (finished with fresh scallion in hot oil), along with pickled mustards with pork (which she cooked b/c she knows it is one of euni's favorites) and stirfried regular mustards. even her rice was different: a fragrant bhasmati short grain interspersed with a bit of wild rice.
after that, she took me downtown to see a few of the many new things since i was last in the city 8 years ago. 3 things especially stood out, all around millenium park. my favorite was the giant silver jellybean whose surface is so polished that it gives a brilliant reflection of the chicago sky/skyline. then as you pass underneath, you get at least 10 different reflections of yourself of various shapes and appearing from various distances. next door is a water fountain with 2 structures the shape of an average building. a picture of a person's face appears on each structure, changing every 2 minutes but always showing the eyes, nose and mouth of each face in the same proportion. in the last 30 seconds, the mouth on the face opens up and water comes out. the last was "the serpentine bridge" leading to the amphitheatre. like a real snake, it winds back and forth on itself as it spans the distance across columbus ave. the bridge itself is like a hollowed out snake such that the sides are curved and covered with metal tile "scales."
in other news, ABY and i had dinner with allen and bernie last night where i was i able to offer my personal congratulatons on their recent engagement. ABY commented on bernie's rock, which is pretty big. bernie's only reply was that to point out that mine was bigger. actually, i find it extremely funny that a girl like her is marrying my most frugal cousin, tho i have warmed up to her over the years despite her obvious HMness. speaking of which, i couldn't resist stopping by NM (in the same mall as one of our retailers) this morning to check out their private shopping event and yet didn't buy single thing! sometimes i surprise even myself. (still going to check out the sales at another NM and saks tomorrow as i end my day on michigan ave.) |
| | Posted 5/8/2007 9:12 PM - 2 comments
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