No We Can't

in parallel to Obama's Yes We Can, Hong Kong gives you No We Can't.

No We Can't. We cannot vote. You have not read me wrong, and I'm telling you, no we cannot vote in, say, 10 years. If we are not even able to defend our 'high autonomy' and exercising 'Hong Kong People administrating Hong Kong' when we've only returned to China for 12 years, I can't imagine 10 years from now. And for those who did not vote today, you have my sympathy for not even participating in a political activity that not every citizen around the globe is allowed to be involved in. I'm not even talking about civic responsibilities (enough of indoctrination) but it's a right. (For some procedure problem, I cannot exercise my voting right yet but if I could, I would have been the first one queuing up at the poll station. Oh no wait there isn't even a queue.)

Choosing not to vote doesn't mean you are any more intelligent, insightful, disapproving the so called referendum/the resigned legislators approach or aloof from any interests that only 'peasants' would concern. In the end, when the statistics show that there are less than 20% voters showed up and HK is again being criticized that 'politically unconscious', thanks to you, non-voters.

It is discouraging to see how nonchalant people are. I mean, puh-lease, the money is spent on printing the ballots anyway, its no longer about being eco-friendly or whatsoever. If you're talking about wastage, leaving the ballots untouched is the worstest wastage EVER. if you hate the re-electing legislators, vote for someone else. if no one can possibly represent you in the LegCo, throw in a blank ballot! Pourquoi pas?? At least you've made your stance clear. What is this, absent?! Absent =/= Abstain, no?

Everyone has different political views. That's a given. And that is exactly why we need to vote. Well, now that no one shows up, I guess we've come to an almost-unanimous decision, and that is... Ta-Da! We don't care! Awesome, I cannot wait to see how our decisions are made by our dear Central Government in China.

Don't even make a noise, not to even mention complaint and moan, when No We Can't really takes place. You did make your choice today, Hong Kong.

No We Can't.

breakfast at lily's

sorry for the cheesy title i came up with... cant come up with a better one yet. my brain is pretty malfunctioning these days. or maybe i'm recently more in need of it which makes me realise it has never been functioning at all.

so since today was mama's day. what could be more simple and sweeter than making breakfast for my adorable mrs. lee?

the whole plan was a bit arbituary...it all started from searching for mothers' day ideas at Vogue.com, then looked up for recipes on Nigella Lawson's blog, some grocery shopping plus a bit of dad's cover-up and white lies. it may seem to be a bit too casual (if the yardstick is in terms of the money spent), or too smooth to be true (comparing to the bookings and gift-shopping people usually do), but surprisingly, it turned out to be the best mama's day so far. and i just loved how simple it is. minimalism sometimes does apply on me.

basically i just made an avocado brushchetta, cut some smoked salmon into strips and placed them nicely in a zigzag pattern, garnished with a piece of lemon, lime and a bit of olive oil. oh and how could you not start a day with a cup of tea? so i just bluntly grabbed a can of earl grey tea leaves (my lovely souvenir from harrod's. ah i miss london...i should've bought more!) and pour searing hot water into our transparent little teapot.

and i just heard my stomach right after typing the previous stanza.

it may all sounded nice, but it still wasn't good enough (though i'm not a perfectionist) - the brushchetta was over-grilled, the avocado was too fresh thus too hard to be smashed, the parsley flakes i sprinkled on top of the open sandwich cant be tasted at all, the originally breakfast tray was moved from bed to living room by mama (cos she cannot risk messing up her nicely made bed), it was not earl grey but tea with milk in mrs. lee's style that she loves... and the list could go on forever. and when mama demonstrated what it really should be like to work in the kitchen and made me the real brushchetta, i just wondered, when will i ever be able to cook like mom? what would life be like if i don't have mama's breakfast?

mom used to teach me how to remember the word 'breakfast' when i was only 4. she said, breakfast means break fast. you stop yourself from fasting after hours of sleep. and i never understand why breakfast is so important, especially when i usually don't have appetite in the morning.

until a few years ago.

a few years ago, someone told me by slacking off breakfast you'll reduce your appetite and eventually lose weight. and i can tell you, having tried that for two weeks, yes i've lost 10 pounds (plus insane lunch slacks), but i gained prolly 20 afterwards. it does no help at all cos you'll obviously rebound but you'll simply fall into this desperately-crave-for-more pitfall and literally emotional depression.

breakfast is the key to brighten up a day. it could come in different forms, it may be a great session of swimming under the perfect weather, it may be some stretching and namaste yoga, but what i'm trying to illustrate is that, we all need some sort of power to energize ourselves and actually wakening our minds up. and given that not many of us have time to exercise in the morning, but (presumably) no one could possibly skip breakfast without feeling hungry a few hours later. plus, breakfast indicates the start of the day, it basically determines how good your day is, just like today! *teeheee* and in the end, food is love! why not treat yourself a little better by eating something green or something you love at the beginning of the day?

i would say i'm a very fortunate kid for being provided with mom's well-made sandwiches every morning, and hence being brightened up every morning. serving her back for one single morning is simply nothing but something most worthy of doing.

i love food, because my mom shows me what food really is.

i love life, because my mom taught me to.

i love my mom, simply because i do.

to all the mothers

and extra love for my grandma(s), my friends' moms, and my lovable lovely mom,

happy mother's day.

xo

p.s. i watched the proposal at home with mom to have some entertainment. i highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh. (though i basically laugh at everything.) no seriously its good.

p.p.s. still owe my lovely blog loads of articles. just some highlights of upcoming posts: orabrush review, original version of my article for youtube artist/miss brand new star 2010 robynn yip, more on food, la mode, music...

p.p.p.s i can't believe i didn't take a single picture of the breakfast. so i'm sharing my source of inspiration here.

from Nigella's blog - the Breakfast Brushchetta

also from Nigella's blog - the presentaion of smoked salmon(?)

suggested by Vogue.com - Restoration Hardware tray

and of course - The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock