11/28/2013

Korean cuisines(한국 요리)!!!

Hello! I'm Heidi. Had you ever try Korean cuisines(한국/조선 요리) before? There are many Korean restaurants in Hong Kong as Hong Kong is a international city. Are they have the real “Korean style”? Actually, there are many different kinds of cuisines in Korea. I would like to introduce different Korean food to you all in this article!

The street food of Korea are delicious actually!! My favourite one is “Kimbap”.

This image was originally posted to Flickr by jqn at http://flickr.com/photos/48045641@N00/290210441. It was reviewed on 5 April 2007 by the FlickreviewR robot and confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.
“Kimbap”(김밥)
It is the Korean style sushi. But the different with the Japanese sushi is the Korean one does not use rice vinegar but rather sesame oil. I used to eat this for breakfast in my Korea trip few months ago. There are a famous restarant in Korea which call “Kimbap Heaven (김밥천국)”.But there are many Korean restaurants in Hong Kong sell Kimbap too! So that I can recollect the pleasant flavor of this yummy food!


Tteokbokki(떡볶이)

“Tteokbokki” is another Korean street food made from soft rice cake, fish cake and sweet red chili sauce. My friend loves it very much! She thought that it was spicy and a taste of sweet. She always said “맛있다”(It means yummy in Korean) after she tasted this food everytime.


 

Japchae잡채

“Japchae” is a Korean dish made from sweet potato noodles (called dangmyeon ”당면”), stir fried in sesame oil and lots of vegetables (typically thinly sliced carrots, onion and mushrooms), sometimes served with beef, and flavoured with soy sauce, and sweetened with sugar.

Sweet patato noodles which means dangmyeon ”당면”. It calls Cellophane noodles (粉絲) in China actually. I like this dish also as the taste of this is quite sweet and tasty. Also, I can eat lots of food in this dish as it includes vegetable, beef, mushroom at the same time.

 

Actually, I love Korean food very much! I can try many Korean cuisine in Hong Kong. I want to go to Korea again to taste the local Korean food. Honestly, they are more delicious than those selling in Hong Kong. I miss them a lot!! Haha! I hope I can visit Korea later again!

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11/11/2013

FUSION LYRICS?!


Hey guys!!Do you enjoy listening to popular songs as your pastime? If you do, I bet you must notice one interesting point whenever you come across with a fusion song. Let me share more about it with you!:PP

 

The following song is called "Simple Love Song" sung by a Hong Kong band--Rubberband. Try to take a look at the lyrics! Can you spot any elements of bilingualism? xp

 

RubberBand
SimpleLoveSong
作曲:正@RubberBand
填詞:Tim Lui
甚麼反應算是動心 飄遠了靈魂
誰人說話總聽不到站也不穩
真切美麗情感
獨我一人 有所聞 只欠觸碰質感
未看到真相 早已被轉讓
或當我很愛這對像 離開只叫我原諒
I can't write simple love songs
Just can't write simple love songs

只想結局完美 付出不依正比
最尾卻受被掉棄
繁複的戀愛又怎知愛是簡單的道理
難保一世白費心機
睡不好腦裡又重溫 這冷冷凌晨
和誰愛著總太曲折動魄驚心
三角佇立情感 純粹不幸
每一人 都也壯烈犧牲
未看到真相 早已被轉讓
或當我很愛這對像 離開只叫我原諒
I can't write simple love songs
Just can't write simple love songs

只想結局完美 付出不依正比
最尾卻受被掉棄
繁複的戀愛又怎知愛是簡單的道理
情歌寫到陣痛泛起
I can't write simple love songs
Just can't write simple love songs

只想結局完美 付出不依正比
最尾卻受被掉棄
繁複的戀愛又怎知愛是簡單的道理
難保一世白費心機

I would like to recommend this song to you all because it is a melodious masterpiece, with well-written lyrics as well as the cozy atmosphere created. I feel relaxed and calm. The music is so soulful that it reaches my heart:P Okay, I think I should get back to the track haha. The above highlighted lines are written in English. The main reason behind this is because the English line is simple and direct, it will be easier to memorize. That is, also the hook of the song in which the melody may lingers in the listeners’ mind because of it.

 

Indeed, it is very common to see the adoption of bilingualism or even multilingualism in popular songs. This may due to the cultural change nowadays. The world is turning into a global village, in which people become more aware of other countries’ culture and language. In this case, adding in the elements of mixed code may arouse more people’s attention. Besides, it can expand the size of the target listeners. It will not bound to one specific type of people only but maybe foreigners may understand some of the lines and deduce the context of the song. The market of the music could be expanded into a larger scale.

 

It is a brand new era that music is not limited to a certain group of people anymore but to all countries. Anyone who shares the same interest towards music can be friends. Let’s hope for the fruitful blossom of more good music!:D

 
p.s. do listen to the song!:)

10/20/2013

Let's visit my hometown ---- Hong Kong!!!

Hello !!! It's Vanessa again :) 

Let me bring you to my hometown --- Hong Kong this time!!!

Hong Kong was a colony of Britain form 1842 to 1997,when China resumed sovereignty. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated area in the world, which has 7 million people on a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi). Hong Kong's population is 93.6% ethnic Chinese and 6.4% from other groups. It's an international city where you can always see people from different countries here. Thus, Hong Kong is a multilingual city where different languages are used here. Cantonese is the dominant language here, followed by Mandarin and English. 

Hong Kong is also a city in practice of cultural bricolage. Take Hong Kong's architecture as an example, some of the architectures were built in European style as Hong Kong was once a colony of Britain.

File:Legislative Council Building HK.jpg

This is the legislative council building (Old Supreme Court Building) in Hong Kong. It was designed by a British architect, so you can see that it is in western style. The Exterior of the Old Supreme Court is now one of the declared monuments of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is well-known as the Pearl of the East.

File:Victoria Peak Panorama.jpeg
Here is Victoria Peak. You must come here once if you visit Hong Kong!!! It's a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong. You must not miss this amazing night view!!!!!!

Hong Kong is famed as the Gourmet Paradise. I can't agree more with this reputation. You can taste different delicious local food and food from other countries in Hong Kong. 

Cha Chaan Teng(茶餐廳) is a kind of restaurant which is very common in Hong Kong. It sells local food which is full of Hong Kong's features.

File:HKStyleFrenchtoast.jpg
This is Hong Kong-style French toast. It looks so delicious,right?

File:Yuanyang (drink).jpg
This is called yuan yang (鴛鴦), which is a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea. It is originated from Hong Kong. It's creative, right? 

Dai Pai Dong(大排檔) is also a kind of Hong Kong feature. It is a type of open-air food stall .It is a collective memory of Hong Kong people.



I think you must love the food there if you try it once!!!!dip tau fan (碟頭飯), Chiuchow-style noodles(潮州粉麵) and you name it !!!! They are so yummy !!!! XD

You must come to Hong Kong once in your life ,if not ,you must regret it!!!!!






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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_pai_dong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_chaan_teng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Hong_Kong

10/19/2013

A unique and refreshing country---Mongolia

Hello everyone! How is your weekend? It is Natalie writing again:) Do you know something about Mongolia (蒙古Монгол улс)? It is a country bordered by Russia to the south and China to the north.Mongolia is completely enclosed by land,therefore it is landlocked .Ulan Bator(烏蘭巴托Улаанбаатар хотis the capital of Mongolia and it is also the largest city in Mongolia.

Mongolia has a country with multilingual culture as Mongolian can speak various languages. In general,ninety-five percent of them speak the official language,Mongolian. Meanwhile,dialects of Oirat and Buryat are spoken in some regions in Mongolia.Some of the Mongolian can speak Russian and Mandarin due to the geographical proximity to Russia and China.The most shocking fact is that Korean is gaining popularity in Mongolia as there is a big population of Mongolia work in Korea.


What can you think about Mongolia?Can you think of the nomadic(游牧)life there?If yes,you can't forget to do a horse and camel riding there! Since It is the best way to have a glimpse into the true life and feel the unique heritage in Mongolia.If you wish to do the camel riding,you should go to the Gobi (戈壁 Говь) in June or September. As the scenery at these two month is the most beautiful and the weather is also good.How is different riding camel from riding a horse? In fact, riding a camel is much more suitable and comfortable as camels walk slowly and gently.
 
At the same time, Mongolia is a popular place for doing adventure sports, like canoeing and mountain biking.
The wide variety of roads and landscapes in Mongolia caters to the needs of mountain bikers.They can enjoy the the challenging route in the northern Bulgan province or the Khan Khentii National Park.

Do you want to get more familiarity with this amazing country? Let's go and watch a video together!

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http://www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn/index.php/things-to-do/sport-and-adventuring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia

Explore more about Spain with Vanessa!!!

Hi everybody!!!! Are you interested in Spain ?? Let's us explore more about it!!!

Can you guys guess which language is used as an official language in Spain? Yes, you're right. It's Spanish!!!Spanish is one of the most widely spoken Romance languages. It is the most popular second language learned by native speakers of American English. From the last decades of the 20th century, the study of Spanish as a foreign language has grown significantly, in part because of the growing populations and economies of many Spanish-speaking countries, and the growing international tourism in these countries. Thus, you can see that the dominance of Spanish is actually positively related to the power of Spanish-speaking countries.  However, Spain is not a monolingual country which use Spanish only. Catalan, Basque, Galician are also languages used in Spain. This shows that Spain is actually a multilingual country!!!

Spain is also a country in practice of cultural bricolage, which means the mixing of different cultures together. Spanish cuisine is a good example to show it!!!! A significant portion of Spanish cuisine is derived from the Roman, Jewish and Arab traditions. For instance, there are three major elements indicate the influence of Arabic cuisine: sugar, saffron, and spices. 





Oh my god!!! They look so yummy!!!!
Have you ever tried the dishes above?? Let's try them when you visit Spain !!

The architectures in Spain are also worth us going to Spain to have a look. Due to its historical and geographical diversity, Spanish architecture has drawn from a host of influences. Iberian architecture started to take shape in parallel with other architectures around the Mediterranean and others from Northern Europe.




File:A coruna torre de hercules sunset edit.jpg

Let's go to Spain and explore more with your friends next time !!!

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Spain#Painting_and_sculpture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Spain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2010/06/02/18078/