PRgal

Though I was in high school during that time, I'm actually not 100% familiar with the music so far. During that time, it was either (new) country (and probably the only Chinese person in Toronto to actually enjoy it, like I'm probably (one of) the only Chinese Canadians under 50 (and NOT a tai tai from Hong Kong or Singapore) who reads Town & Country) or artists like Sarah McLachlan (and slightly later, Jewel). Country and Lilith are weird combinations, huh?

Happy New Year! I'm a goat! My mom and I are going to the opera tonight. We aren't going to have any family celebrations until the weekend when we go to a revolving restaurant for our annual "spin of prosperity."

But with the servants becoming rich, who'll help them? They'll probably starve before even making it to the 1950s.

Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday, so I'm making (polenta) pancakes to go with beef stew and broccoli. Looks like I can't truly give up too much over the first few days of Lent, since the Lunar/Chinese New Year starts on Thursday!

I was born in Canada, have immigrant parents (Hong Kong) and people can't seem to place me, either! Guys I've gone out with think I have hints of British (what does that mean? I mean, there are many different British accents) for some weird reason. I did live in Bermuda for a year and sang in choirs during middle school and high school with British choir directors.

Question: Did they really say Kin-NAY-Mah (opposed to sin-nay-mah) back then? That's what I thought I heard.

Except the 21st century descendants would likely still be @$$holes/b!tches. Just ones who have to have jobs...

According to Wikipedia, When We Were Very Young was published in 1924. However, Pooh was not referred to as Pooh. He was just "Teddy Bear." Winnie-the-Pooh would not be published for another two years. ETA: Loved Violet's line "He's a man. Men don't have rights!"

I am wearing clear right now because I did my own nails. I cannot, for the life of me give myself a good looking manicure! I also can't wear very "showy" colours on my hands without feeling guilty. Sorry, strict private, university prep school dress codes are so ingrained I still can't make myself wear anything red/dark/weird colours/nail art more than 15 years after graduation.

But there's always curry sloppy joes (curry in burger buns)... :) It would have been kind of like the char siu sandwiches I brought to school growing up.

Personally, I have an issue with the "white woman goes to Africa..." narrative. Who is to say that a non-white, western/developed nation woman wouldn't do the same (e.g. someone from Japan)? Another way of looking at the education thing is that education breaks the cycle of poverty. Also, do we know if there's some sort of dorm that they live in while they work that is, perhaps, funded by another organization? Ditto with water. I missed part of their presentation. As for the bra thing: Love it, but I'm not sure I'd want to have my phone so close to my boobs (though the company sells a phone case that supposedly lowers risks). I'm quite small framed (i.e. my band size is (usually) smaller than a 32), so I'm not sure if "small" will fit me!

Many aristocratic/upper class women had lovers back in the day. But they were married and already had a kid or two. Unmarried women were, on the other hand, outed as hussies.

That's sort of the point, isn't it? That he's pretty "normal," unlike his brothers? However, he IS rebellious by immigrant Asian standards - especially for his love of hip hop (considering many middle class Asian immigrants' attitudes towards black people/African-American culture).

I'd love to see a 40-ish Dragon. It would be nice to have a slightly younger perspective on things. All of the Dragons are 55 or over, right?

Last night: My husband and I went to a cooking class/fundraiser hosted by the Junior League of Toronto (which I am a member of and was in the event's planning committee) and made chicken skewers - we were all in teams of six or seven, divided into eight stations. Other items we got to eat included stuffed mini portobellos, flat bread with tomatoes and goat cheese as well as green pea risotto with beef short rib ragout! Dessert? Apple crumble tartlets and chocolate cake. Tonight: Uber-cold in Toronto (-26 C (-10 F) with the windchill) so we're ordering in...probably Thai food.

If you had a curry in roti, would that have made it a bit better? Or maybe your mom could have gone fusion-y by using a thick, less saucy curry as sandwich filling? A nice mix of old country and new country! :) My parents taught me a bit at restaurants, but I think the bulk of my table manners/etiquette lessons came from Tiffany's Table Manners for Teenagers. My mom gave me a copy when I was around 12. Great gift for any tween or teen, even though it's really dated (even in 1991, when my mom gave it to me)!

Didn't stop me from buying five tubes! Because you never know what they're going to look like under new owners.

Many mainlanders left for Hong Kong or Taiwan after WWII due to communism. Many left the Mainland a few years later (this time, for Hong Kong) because of the Cultural Revolution (or what led up to it). By today's standards, the latter cohort would be considered illegal, but the rule back then was that anyone who stepped on Hong Kong style was automatically legal. Boy, things have changed.

Not everyone goes on a honeymoon immediately after the wedding. A friend of mine went on a "minimoon" shortly after her wedding back in the fall - an extended weekend stay just out of town - but won't be going on the REAL one until this summer.

Definitely true. Perms were waaaaaayyyy out in '95. It was about the Rachel, which really only lasted, what one or two seasons before Jennifer Aniston, more or less, her current look? What was the deal with the cousin and his obsession with Nirvana? By the show's setting, Kurt Cobain would have been dead for a year or so. If he had been a fan, he would have been one BEFORE the Huangs moved to Orlando and Eddie would have known about it.

My mom stopped getting perms around 1988 or '89. I think all those 80s chemicals fried her hair. The saving money thing...is it exaggerated? There's a brand name obsession thing with Asians too.

Interchangeable heels were featured in the Canadian version, Dragon's Den, as well. The line is apparently doing fairly well in Europe and the designer recently opened the first North American boutique in Toronto (she is from Ottawa). I actually own a pair, along with two pairs of heels.

I don't know about other jurisdictions, but I remember "fractions" in Grades 1 and/or 2 here in Toronto. Directions might say "colour in 1/2 of the circle or identify what a shaded part of a shape is (e.g. 1/3).

Learn something new! Still, that plain Greek yogurt is great with it (beans, no beans, vegetarian or meat). Better than cheese. :)

Keep in mind that not everyone can read Chinese. I'd gather that many CBCs/ABCs on this board can't or are barely literate. Out of the seven characters you included above, I can only read three. Can you please let the rest of us know what the characters mean? I the first is some sort of product? Food, maybe? The restaurant is Little (Something) Goat. The Chinese community in Toronto is very established, but I feel that there's a big disconnect between the boomer-aged immigrant generation and the rest of us. Perhaps that's the reason why most CBC chefs are going Jook Sing (hollow bamboo - it's SUPPOSED to be a slur - meaning not one way (Chinese) or another (Anglo). Think "banana")/fusion or western when it comes to establishing restaurants or food trucks. Signed, A Chinese School Drop-Out (actually, my parents took me out because they didn't feel that I was getting anything out of three hour, weekly classes. Not to mention, the teachers were really old country and absolutely HATED Canadian-born kids. We were just a bunch of spoiled brats to them)