2008-04-12

Unexpected job

I found a job.

I found this job in a hotel working with the chef who just won himself the championship of culinary competition in Islas Baleares. Actually I haven´t really worked together with him so far cos he´s now preparing the national culinary competition coming in few days. For the moment i´m now working with two of his assistants, who by the way are really nice guys.

I start from 11h30 till the end of the service which could be between 3h30 to 4h30. Then we have about 3hrs of break and start again from 7h30 till midnight. The wages are much better than previous job plus tips and I have Sat. morning off and Sunday which means i wont be able to meet Pep so often.

My legs are almost destroyes the 1st weeks and extremely tired. I miss a lot working in the office and chatting with friends on line during the job. The guys are nice to me but it´s quite different working with foreigners in a unfamiliar country. I feel such relief everytime I send out the last dish and the urge of getting myself a glas of champagne. I start to realize why Pep is not able to get to sleep right after working cos last week I spent more than 1h before getting myself fall asleep. However a little bit of alcohol helps a lot. Welcome to the metier, says Pep.

Above.

p.s. here is the hotel- http://www.conventdelamissio.com/

2008-02-08

i think i´m a useless human being

I´m 28 year-old already, married and i don't have a steady job yet. all the money in my bank account comes from my all-mighty mother(well, a bit from my hard-working husband), thanks to her that now i could sit down in front of this computer and mess up my own life. I feel quite empty since coming back here. I don´t know how come i put myself into this...well, chaos.

I dont know what i want to do as career, or I DO know what to do but I need to go out of this island and i dont see that happen. all right, this morning my boss called me up asking if i´m ready to get back to work. the thing is i dont even know if to keep working in pastry or to find something else. also, we want to have a baby this year and i cant keep a pastry job and a baby at the same time, i´ll be exhausted. meanwhile, the global warmimg and the pollution totally upset me and spoil the idea of giving birth to a small tiny baby. what for? to suffer from the tragedy of the planet? before leaving home, i bought 2 more trash cans for my mum and told her the best thing she could do for her grand daughter is to keep clean the planet and it could be done just by recycling. however we dont know if the taiwanese govenment really RECYCLES afterwards.

anyways, i think i should go back to my previous job before finding another even i really dont wanna go back there and let the mother fucker take advantage of cheap labor. or i could stay at home fooling around like a spoiled girl( or woman) until i get a new job.

well, i thought that if i say it out loud i´d feel better, but i dont feel a shit.

2007-11-30

Que pasa aqui



Dear friends,
Has been quite a long time that i did not post anything because i´m fxcking lazy. during these 784 months a lot happened.First of all, I fought with the responsible of mallorcan immigration office for not giving me the nationality TAIWANESE, instead i have CHINA as nationality on my god dxmn ID, which made me really mad, and i´m still mad. Secondly, somehow, the cold war between me and my mother-in-law launched. well, that is a long story and things are cooling down so, world peace. Thirdly, after you, you and you made me belive that you were coming to visit me on this deserted island, i spent the whole summer waitting, whining, finally, MR. Andres came, i love you Andres, esecially now u lost weight. For this, Andres, i forgive you for having crashed my master piece of sugar on our finaly exam in school, no matter it was an accident or out of jealousy. 4th, we moved out of pep´s parents´, and i got a shitty job in some pastry shop, starting in middle october and you can not image how tough this job is, nothing like sitting down in your little office dealing with numbers...seriously, or i have to become chef really quickly or i have to change career or i have to win lottery.

anyway, my computer is in coma and we have problems understanding each other, so chinese version is not available. but dont worry, i´m going back to taiwan in january. those who need CAMPER, ZARA, BELLOTA J5, etc, please email me. And you, cross the ocean, let me know if you´re interested in any of my jam. For the 3 sisters, the olive oil is ready, dont worry. Miss sophie, hope you´re not working 10hrs/day, 6days/wk like i do. dear fish, i bought the ticket to TOKYO already!!!!!To those who i did not mention, i miss you too.

ABOVE.

2007-07-12

健康生活之野生黑莓大採收

這兩天我跟劉小貝開始我們的晨走生活,一大早九點多就起床去運動,路徑由禮物家大門出發,一路走到村莊裡的教堂,接著轉進教堂右後方的產業道路,穿過一大片荒野乾草原,在產業道路出口的加油站,右轉接著走一段省道,然後在路上的第一個井口右轉回到家,路程大概有半個小時的時間吧。因為夏天太陽非常早就開始囂張,所以出門前一定得來一層防曬油,再加頂棒球帽,我甚至還想過要穿長袖,但是這裡的人熱愛夏天、崇拜艷陽、狂愛曬肉,如果我一個長褲長袖的會顯的奇裝異服,再加上我的東方人臉孔,大概會被路過的神父抓去感化吧。

就在我們晨走的第一天,我因為不甘心劉小貝在野地上發現一隻野兔跟兩支野雉雞,被激起也要發現點什麼的鬥志(我真的很無聊),在產業道路上一路東張西望,但不是看見麻雀就是看見路上已經被輾過曬乾的老鼠屍體,一點新意也沒有,太陽那麼大,又沒吃早餐,口很渴,要擔心曬黑,還要爭一口氣,,只能說一路上真的很忙……眼見產業道路已經快走完一半,我什麼鬼都沒發現,就在這當頭我的本能完全被激發,馬上就眼尖的發現有吃的東西,那一顆顆在峙熱的陽光下閃閃發量的黑野莓,紅的、粉紅的、黑的、綠的(註),喔嗚~~~真是太令人興奮了,當場摘了起來,因為四下無人,我們還闖進了私人產業大肆摘採,還好我們都帶了帽子,可以拿來裝盛戰利品,果然早起了鳥兒有蟲吃,哈哈哈。

就這樣今天已經是我們健康生活的第三天了,這三天下來的最大收穫是-1.2㎏的野生黑莓,打算拿來做成甜點,經過一番討論的結果是---果醬,因為可以放很久,也不怕壞掉,而且我終於知道為什麼超市黑莓這麼貴,除了要人工一顆顆摘採,還要小心不被樹枝上的荊棘刺到,不小心一個用力捏就爛掉,非常的嬌貴。

打定主意要做果醬之後,我就開始找食譜,哈哈,講的好像很積極的樣子,其實我也只有一本果醬的書,講到這本書,可不是什麼隨隨便便的果醬食譜喔,法國名廚 Alain Ducasse 還為他背書呢,本書的作者可是果醬界的第一把交椅,亞爾薩斯的傳奇人物-Christine Ferber,現在在台灣也買的到她的果醬喔!

重點是,我跟著這本食譜做了兩種果醬,但是真的甜到一個不行,雖然說果醬就是要甜,但是一公斤的水果配上八百公克的糖跟一顆小檸檬的汁,真的是很甜,我只能說大概是她用的水果甜度比較低吧,或是糖比較不甜,或是檸檬比較酸,或是我們比較不能吃甜……

所以之後我學聰明,把糖的份量減半,然後熬久一點,這樣出來的結果好比較合大家的口味,不過這還是我第一次用野生的水果來做,不知道最後會怎樣。

以上。

2007-07-07

泳泳池 II


有一個自己的泳泳池的好處真的很多,想游泳就可以下水,不用擔心有人尿尿在裡面或是水質有問題,又隨時隨地都可以來個池畔的燭光晚餐,或是午餐前躺在舒服的太陽椅上來杯沁涼的開胃啤酒,嘖嘖嘖,C’est la vie, mes amis。

禮物家的泳泳池不大,大概有 500m X 200m 吧,深度則是從我的大腿到滅頂不等,我看到蓋泳泳池時候的一些照片,當初開挖這個池子,可是硬生生的拔起好多橄欖樹啊。泳池的兩旁種了一些松樹跟一些會掉很多葉子的樹,這就是所以每天早上安東尼都得拿著那根大網子打撈樹葉的原因,凱蒂家的池子就沒有這個問題,不過呢,有一些造景還是比較有感覺。在池子的一端搭蓋了一個大涼亭,涼亭的屋頂不知道是用什麼葉子還是乾燥的樹枝湊成的,很有大溪地味道,涼亭的周圍擺了一些盆栽,有馬格利特、竹子跟一些自己從盆栽蹦出來的小花,涼亭的左後方有一間石頭蓋的小屋子,用來放置泳池專用的機器設備,裡面還有一個馬桶跟冰箱,方便上廁所跟存放飲料;在泳池的前後兩端各有一個簾澎頭,這樣游完泳就可以馬上把身體沖乾淨。泳池的左邊置有兩張公園樣的鐵製白漆長椅,右手邊則有一張木製的長凳,在白漆長椅旁還擺了一個路燈,如果不是旁邊有一個泳池的話,整個就是在公園的感覺,不過這些椅子我們平常不會去坐就是了,純粹是一種視覺上的享受。

平常閒來沒事,我們就會跑到涼亭裡享用午餐前的開胃小點跟啤酒,躺在大太陽椅上,帶個墨鏡,假裝自己是有錢人,然後再回屋子裡吃午餐(有沒有很做作,哈哈哈!)。有幾次劉小貝休假,我們就跑去買香檳、J5、fromage,然後在傍晚的時候去泳池泡泡水,在池畔享受美酒美食,順便感嘆人生之類的。

說了這麼多,有沒有人要來找我玩?

以上。

2007-06-21

今天


今天下午沒事做,我跟劉弟弟跑到海邊泳泳。

我不是會跑去海邊曬肉的那一型,但是午後的海邊真的非常迷人,我們開車到一個沒什麼觀光客的海灘,下午的陽光不再那麼強烈刺眼,泡在海水裡漂啊漂的,陣陣的海風吹來,無比的愜意。

享受了陽光、沙灘、海水之後,我們驅車前往市區,目的是一家擁有三百年悠久歷史的café,我跟劉阿貝幾乎每個禮拜都光顧,他們的招牌杏仁冰淇淋真的是一絕,還有一種叫做「ensaimada」用豬油做的麵包,我吃了很多家不同的 ensaimada,這一家的真的特別好吃,他們的熱巧克力也很受歡迎,還有各種當地的點心,在每一本旅遊書上應該都會介紹這家店,所以來錯時間的話還得排隊才能進去,這裡可以說是 Mallorca 的觀光景點之一了。總之我點了一個杏仁冰淇林跟草莓冰淇淋,一杯咖啡牛奶,劉弟弟點了一杯熱巧克力、兩個海綿蛋糕跟一個豬油麵包,就這樣解決的我們的晚餐。

以上是兩個禮物家不事生產的米蟲的一天。

以上。

2007-06-20

泳泳池


最近這兩個禮拜天氣開始熱的很有規律,不再突然的出現陰天或下雨,泳泳池的水溫到了下午四五點就非常的適合游泳了。

前天早上,我跟著安東尼爸爸學怎樣打掃泳泳池,這泳泳池的水一年到頭都是滿滿的,就靠一台抽水循環過濾的機器跟泳泳池專用化學藥劑來維持水質,除了這些以外,每天早上還要打撈浮在水面上的昆蟲屍體跟落葉,這麼多的清潔工作,只為了一年裡三個月的夏天,當然是得卯起來使用才不會辜負安東尼每天早起打掃的辛苦。

總之,只是想跟你們說,有一個私人泳泳池的感覺,真的是很過癮……

以上。

關於西班牙文

西班牙文開課當天我才知道班上只有我一個學生,所以上課時間從原本四個小時縮短到三個小時,我的老師是一個剛從大學畢業不久的23歲小女生,有一次上課的時候她問我她的名字要怎麼弄成中文,我把她的Veronica翻成-薇若妮卡,當場覺得自己好像是龐畢度中心前面擺攤的小販-VOTRE NOM EN CHINOIS。

雖然我還不很懂西班牙文,不過覺得她的口齒非常清晰,而且超有耐心,她還幫我虛擬了一個同學-Tomas,好讓我可以練習複數人稱的動詞變化。不過幾次上課下來,讓我覺得我的老師真的需要加強一下她的流行資訊。for example:她竟然不知道鼎鼎大名的咖啡連鎖店-Starbucks,珠寶品牌-Tiffany……好吧,或許我不知道很多電子科技類的大品牌,不過我還認得Samsung、Pansonic……雖然說在這個島上並沒有這些品牌的店,但是也不至於不知道吧,還是我的發音不夠標準他聽不清楚?

總之呢,西班牙文是一個非常複雜的語言,每個人稱的動詞結尾都不同這一點跟法文是一模模一樣樣,不過基於法文字尾不發音,唸法大致相同,但是西班牙文是看到一個字就發一個音,所以把難度又提升了三個等級。

舉例:現在式以 «AR »結尾的規則動詞【Hablar】:

我 hablo
你 hablas
他/她/它/您 habla
我們 hablamos
你們 hablais
他們/她們/它們/您們 hablan

法文的過去式一般說話時頂多就用到:passe compose、imparfait、plus que parfait,passe simple只有在書上才看到,幾乎口語已經不再使用。但是,朋友啊,西語可是蝦米都用到到,弄得我頭暈暈腦漲漲……更別說還有虛擬式、命令式、未來完成式+未完成式……再加上林林總總大概七八個左右的過去式……

總之,非常不容易學。

以上。