Mid-Autumn Festival

According to the Chinese calendar, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as Lantern & Mooncake Festival). There are so many stories/legends behind this festival, it's not known which of the 5 versions is the most accurate. Well, I'm not here to debate on it although I don't mind popping a magic pill and float off somewhere. Read Chang O to understand.

Mid-Autumn Festival brings back fond childhood memories for me. My favorite being lighting paper lanterns with birthday candles and hanging them around the garden. Today is my 5th. mid-autumn celebration in NJ. I have three paper lanterns but no patio to hang them. So, I'll just improvise and find some spots around the apartment. *sigh* Without the candles of course. I don't wanna end up homeless!

Photo source here

Well, it's time to break out the tea set, brew some Kuan Yin leaves, divide up the mooncakes and enjoy the day. These days there are so many blasphemous non-traditional types of mooncakes in the market but my favorite is still the plain lotus & sesame paste, no-yolk mooncake.

Last Saturday, I bought a box of mooncakes without any pictures of pretty Chinese maidens. These individual boxes are from previous year's. Don't ya think these ladies look a bit familiar?!

They're my "Anita Mui" Mooncakes. I couldn't find them at the store this year. I supposed they sold out fast.

Ok, I gotta go eat some mooncakes now.

"HAPPY MOONCAKE FESTIVAL EVERYONE!"

Goodbye summer. Hello fall!

Hello pumpkins!

Autumn leaves, shorter days and I am drinking more apple cider than ever. It's time for apple picking, pumpkin picking and hay rides.

Apples at the Demarest Farm Store

The holiday madness has begun! It's getting earlier and earlier each year. Don't we love the last few chaotic months of the year? Utter confusion as to what season should we be shopping for? It doesn't help when we're bombarded with reminders of the impending holiday season from newspaper pull-outs to X'mas ornaments being displayed concurrently with Halloween ghouls & Thanksgiving bric-a-brac at Hallmark stores. And, not forgetting Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot & Hanukah. Hmm, no wonder people tend to get feisty and brawl over parking spaces during this time of the year.

Well, let me tell you something. It's not only the malls that are filled with people. Yesterday, we were at Demarest Farm and the entire place was swarmed with people. The young and the restless, the seniors and their grandkids - all lining up for hay rides, hot-dogs, ice-cream, etc. It sure wasn't what I had in mind when I suggested this activity to Adrian.

Mums to relax the eyes

Anyway, we still managed to find a precious parking spot and made our way to Demarest Farm.

Fall harvest awaits visitors outside the Demarest Farm store

The many faces of pumpkins

The multi-colored Indian corn

These cute mini produce makes great fall decor around the house

A drunk pumpkin

This "wasted" pumpkin is my favorite. He probably had too much hot toddy earlier on. Hic! We thought of bringing him home with us but he might hurl & mess up the car. So, we decided to leave him there to dry out.

Eggnog with brandy, anyone???

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

Photo source here

I know it's too early to be talking about X'mas when fall isn't exactly here yet. Temps shot up to 85F today and it is expected to remain warm until the weekend. So, why am I blogging about Christmas in September? Well, after procrastinating for more than 4 years, I finally bought tickets to see those lovely Rockettes gams & Santa Claus.

Photo source here

I thought myself pretty kiasu cool to be buying tickets way ahead of time but I was wrong! When I arrived at the Box Office, there were 2 persons in front of me who bought nearly $1,000 worth of Radio City Christmas Spectacular/Rockettes tickets. This all time favorite family show is a must-see from November to December 31st. every year. This year is their 75th. anniversary. Yes, the show has been running since 1932. The Christmas Spectacular Show definitely puts one in the X'mas mood.

Looking forward to the Living Nativity Scene...

Photo source here

And all the other spectacular scenes like the Nutcracker, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, White Christmas, etc. ...I'm so excited already!

When words don't come out right

Remember that show,"Kids Say the Darnedest Things"? Well, it can happen to anyone. I'm still compiling mine. Meanwhile, here's some from Adrian. Tee..hee..hee!

Part 1:

One day, we saw a trio of road-kills. First the common squirrel, then the normally bashful raccoon and finally, the rare woodchuck. As we passed by the "hardened" squirrel, Adrian said "OMG, loco-motive". What he meant to say was "rigor mortis".

Part 2:

While reading the paper, my better half suddenly exclaimed, "Look, it's the Harlem Global Trekkers". Huh?! Since when did the Harlem Globetrotters do a segment in Globe Trekker? It's not a bad idea considering the Globetrotters have been everywhere in the world.

The Bridges of East River, NYC

Job search is a full time job. Ever since I joined a professional job search group, I've been pretty busy networking and meeting new people from various industries and fields. Once a week, I go to Brooklyn or downtown Manhattan near Wall Street for a 3 hour workshop.

One of the nicest spot in Brooklyn is the waterfront and loft areas; also known as D.U.M.B.O. (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

Brooklyn Bridge (BB) from the BB Park near D.U.M.B.O.

Manhattan Bridge (parallel to Brooklyn Bridge) from BB Park near D.U.M.B.O.

BB Park esplanade near the Manhattan Bridge
(Williamsburg Bridge in the background)

Manhattan (Financial District) from Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Blimp in the sky

Pier 17, South Street Seaport on the East River (taken from Brooklyn Bridge)

Pedestrians & cyclists sharing the Brooklyn Bridge footpath

Loving Figo, warts and all

My Mom's other "son", Figo is a cunning little fellow. He came to the Ong household on November 2005. We named him after Portugal's famous (now retired) international soccer star Luis Figo. When he was a puppy, his ears were normal like any other dachshund. However, something weird happened along the way. His ears started to grow upwards and eventually side ways. Whenever I see him (when I go back to Kuching), I felt that he looked familiar.

Sister Bertrille of San Tanco & Figo Ong of Rock Road
(Photo source of Sally Field/Sister Bertrille: internet)

Poor Figo looks like the Flying Nun! Needless to say my Mom was, initially, really pissed off with the breeder but we still love Figo all the same. You see, it really isn't Figo's fault that he was born with unique ears. It's a good thing that Figo isn't living in Hollywood. Otherwise, we might succumb to the pressures of plastic surgery. Figo has very sharp ears hearing, I must say!

Post thoughts Montreal

Someone cheekily suggested smuggling sneaking in some "Montecritos", but the forbidden fruit just wasn't worth it. First, one might end up getting deported, fined, sent to the slammer or all of the above. Secondly, Adrian & I are non-smokers nor connoisseurs in this subject matter. I suddenly remembered this when we were lining up at the border coming back to New York. We saw a U.S. Customs & Border Protection officer, of the four-legged kind, going from car to car sniffing out illicit materials. The thought did cross my mind then, "Would Bobby be capable of sniffing out the cigarro?" Woof!

Montreal - Day 3

Day 3 brought us to Montreal's Olympic Park, Biodome and Mont Royal (St. Joseph's Oratory).

The Olympic Park is over 30 years old, home to the 1976 Summer Olympics so I expected it to be a little run down and less sophisticated. I thought by putting such expectations beforehand, I wouldn't be too disappointed when I visited the place. The Park looked abandoned but something was going on over there. There were signs of construction everywhere. No doubt that the Park is going to have a face lift soon.

We took the 2-tiered cable car to the Observatory and took some photos of the City and the Biodome (see below) which houses several interesting exhibits & aquarium.

The Montreal Biodome

Moi outside the Biodome, a long shot

Adrian just outside the Biodome

Stuffed animals exhibit in the Biodome...

In honor of the Year of the Pig (2007), here I am with a stuffed Wilbur, oink!

After the Olympic Park, we drove towards Mont Royal and grabbed a quick lunch on the way. Not knowing where to eat, we thought a short stop at McD's for a light munch made sense. Nothing could go wrong right?! Well, not this time.

First, our soda was flat. No bubbles at all. Second, they ran out of ice so we had to slurp room temperature soda :(. Thirdly, their fries was flat as a deflated tire and to top it off - drum roll please! I saw a kid hurled big time in front of the store counter. Yup! His entire lunch was on the floor in just seconds. They were so short-staffed that day, nobody was interested in cleaning up the mess. Yuck, yuck! Please do not ever go to McD's at Mont Royal Park.

On that note, we quickly left that sorry place and drove on to Mont Royal. We reached L'Oratoire Saint Joseph du Mont-Royal in less than 10 minutes. Ahh...what a sight to behold after such an unpleasant lunch experience.

This is my picture perfect, postcard view of the Oratory. It would have been a better photo if the man in blue shirt wasn't waiting for the shuttle to the Basilica there. Grrr..!

We climbed many, many stairs...pant! pant! Thank God for escalators inside the Oratory. Yes, it's a very sophisticated and modern Basilica.

View of the top (Basilica) - front garden

One of the prettiest and most serene area of the Oratory is the meditation garden depicting the last 12 hours of Christ's life.

Here are the disciples dozing off in the garden...zzz!

Lots of sculptures around the garden. Here's another of JC carrying his cross.

After the Oratory, we drove back to Mont Royal Park trying to find the gigantic cross by the mountain. Unfortunately, it was no where to be seen so we decided to go back to the City. In the evening, we took a stroll through McGill University; whereby we saw a typical college scene. An open field party with co-eds smelling of booze and other booze related weirdness.

Further down the road, we came across some modern sculptures such as this one. Its supposed to depict human reaction when confronted with some kind of danger??? Interesting...

This one is of Adrian trying to steal the boy's apple although it looked a bit like him touching something else??? Maybe he shouldn't have touched the apple.

After the long walk, we had a nice dinner at Quartier Chinois and called it the day.

Au revoir Montreal!

Montreal - Day 2

Parking meters in Montreal are placed all the way to the wall because it snows so much here that plowers would just mow down these meters in the thick of a snow storm.

Sometimes I get the feeling that the streets of Montreal isn't as crowded as I imagined it to be but there's a reason to it. Half of the population are underground. We explored the Underground City on Day 2. A great excuse to get out of the sun and window shop! Yes, window shop only because the US Dollar is now almost at par with the CAD. So, any major shopping is out plus taxes are ridiculous here. Having being spoiled in New Jersey (no taxes on clothing under $300), I wasn't used to seeing GST & PST totaling 13.5%. Yikes! Restaurants are the worst since you have to add tips on top of these taxes.

Anyway, back to the Underground Pedestrian Network. Below the City, is a vast network of walkways with thousands of shops, restaurants, entertainment outlets, cinemas, etc. and connection to several metro (subway) stations. With 20 miles of passageways, you can really spend the entire day underground!

Metro/subway underneath Eaton Center (mall)

Metro station at Bonaventure

Time to surface to the streets....

We took a walk along the shores of St. Lawrence River. It was a beautiful day and just perfect for a leisurely stroll. The Clock Tower was erected in 1919 as a landmark to the port. Next to it is the Jacques Cartier Bridge that connects Montreal island to Jean-Drapeau Park (home of the Grand Prix of Canada).

Plaque on the Clock Tower placed in memory of sailors who lost their lives at war.

View of the port and City from atop the Clock Tower.

Hochelaga - Ville Marie - Mont Royal (Montreal) la nuit

While exploring St. Lawrence River, French navigator Jacques Cartier discovered a village called Hochelaga in 1535. He met some Amerindians who led him to a mountain he subsequently called Mont Royal. Many years after that, Sieur de Maisonneuve founded Ville Marie and this area later become Montreal.

Montreal may have many names in the beginning but one of our "must-do" while traveling is taking photos of historical buildings at night. La nuit, these buildings somehow appear more mysterious when illuminated. Now, I must credit these photos to Adrian since he was the one that took the time to ensure that they were blog worthy enough.

Bonsecours Market

Notre Dame de Bonsecours Chapel

City Hall

Notre Dame Basilica and its "And there was light - sound & light show"

La lumiere fut?! What's this? The lights on the top right was missing and I really wasn't interested in paying another CAD9 to see the light show inside. However, I was a fooled into believing that the lights spiraling out from the windows would be stronger just like the brochure. Hmmph! False advertising, indeed.

Jacques Cartier Place