one girl two dogs

Toy Maniac

I promised my sis to promo her book《The cyclopedia of Ga-Cha-Pon》on my blog long ago. I'm still waiting for her to send me the new one which was just published in February 2005(her first book was published in 2003). Since I have not read it I don't know what to say about it; but I post some of the pictures of her book for those who are interested to have a look, and of course, it's written in Chinese.

My sister is a toy collecting maniac, she collects the kind of toys which mostly made by Japanese, called Ga-Cha-Pon. Both of her books are talking about the acknowledge of collecting them, including its history, varieties, how to take care of them (that's right! they need to be taken care), how to search them from the auction website, etc..

She invested a lot of time and money on them; moreover, she hosts an online club which has established nearly 3000 members.

I always think it would be cool if she and me both are writer or artist and we can collaborate on a book. Now she is more famous than me and she is always too busy. Hopefully someday we will achieve this goal.

很早以前就答應妹妹，要幫她在我的blog上打書。她的第二本書《扭蛋大百科》已經在二月出版了，不過她到現在都還沒有把書寄給我；既然還沒看過書的內容，我就不知道該說些什麼讚美之辭了，不過我把她的幾張書影貼上來，有興趣的朋友可以點進去看看。

妹妹是個玩具蒐集狂，專門蒐集扭蛋、食玩等這些日本廠商製造的小玩意。她的兩本書都是以扭蛋專業知識為主，談論談論扭蛋的歷史、種類、如何照顧扭蛋(沒錯！扭蛋是需要被照顧的)、如何在拍賣網站尋寶等等。

她不但投資大量的時間和金錢在扭蛋蒐集上，並且還在網路上主持一個扭蛋家族「扭蛋大作戰」，目前已經累積到將近三千名會員了。

我一直希望我們兩個可以成為一對作家姊妹花之類的，可以一起合作寫一本書。現在她可比我還要出名了，每次跟她提寫作計畫，她都說等她忙完再說(可惡！)……。希望有一天這個夢想可以實現。

Remembrance

I had my ears pierced again.

He was there holding my hand when the needle penetrated my ears. I had no fear. I felt so brave as if nothing can hurt me in this world, as long as I could be with him.

Is it the power of love? Love makes me stronger, and no matter how difficult it would be, I will always have strength to face our future. All I need is his faith to believe that one day we will be happy together.

If we still had to say good-bye unwillingly after we make every effort for our relationship, I will always remember how happy I was this afternoon. These two tiny marks on my ears would be the eternal remembrance of him.

***

我又去穿了兩個耳洞。

當針穿過我的耳垂時，他緊緊握住我的手。我沒有恐懼，彷彿只要與他在一起，我就可以勇敢得像是世界上再也沒有任何事物可以傷害我。

這就是愛的力量嗎？愛情讓我變得堅強，無論我們的未來有多少困難，我都有力量去面對。只要他也能夠有信心，去相信有一天我們會幸福地在一起。

如果在努力愛過之後，我們仍然不得不說再見，我會永遠記得這天下午我是多麼地快樂。在我耳垂上這兩個小小的記號，將會是他留給我的永恆紀念物。

悲傷的Couscous

My Prince likes couscous.

He promised he would visit me; thereupon I shopped the food for him three days ago.

The happiest thing is to cook for the beloved one, then to watch him gulping his meal.

Toasted Pine Nuts Couscous with Orange-Dijon –Glazed Chicken. Slightly pan fried chicken with butter. Bring jam, honey and mustard to a boil in a small saucepan. Simmer until thickened, spreading the mixture on chicken evenly. Bake chicken in the oven. Every ten minutes, take out chicken and baste with sauce from bottom of dish. Cooking and love, both require care and patience.

After thirty minutes, honey orange sauce shines on chicken with golden-sweet gloss.

It looks delicious. My Prince definitely would like it.

However, in my Prince’s heart, I am not his Princess. I am just a mermaid who lost her tail and voice for love; I will disappear in the air like froth, and I'll vanish from his memories. That is my destiny.

My Prince did not come.

I lost my appetite.

*********************************************

我的王子喜歡吃couscous。

他說週末會來看我，於是我在三天前就準備好食材。

為心愛的人做飯，然後看他吃得津津有味，是一件最幸福不過的事了。

香煎松子couscous，再配上蜂蜜橙醬芥茉烤雞。雞腿先用奶油稍稍煎過，表皮呈金黃。柳橙果醬、蜂蜜和迪戎芥茉調和，用小鍋煮至濃稠，淋在雞腿上，送進烤箱去烤。每隔十分鐘要把雞腿取出，用湯匙把烤盤裡的醬汁均勻塗抹在雞腿上，烹飪和愛情一樣，都需要細心與耐心。

三十分鐘以後，蜂蜜橙醬在烤雞上散發著金黃色甜蜜的光澤。

我把煮好的couscous舖在盤中，冒著熱氣的烤雞疊在鬆鬆的couscous上，再灑一點青蔥做點綴，這道菜看起來如此美味，我的王子一定會喜歡。

然而在王子的心中，我不是他的公主，我只是為了愛情失去自由的尾巴和美麗聲音的人魚，我的命運是如泡沫般在空氣中蒸發，如同從他的記憶中消失。

我的王子沒有來。

面對著誘人食慾的couscous，我才發現我一點胃口都沒有。

Ozzie’s, long time no EAT

它沒有華麗的裝潢，也不在熱鬧繁華的地段，就是一棟門面破舊的木屋，座落在荒涼的公路旁。然而它的鄉村式自然風格和頂頂新鮮的螃蟹，讓許多饕客不遠千里慕名而來。

Ozzie’s對面是著名的印地安河(Indian River)，河裡生長的印地安河藍蟹，是大自然在柑橘類水果之外，給佛州的另一樣禮物。這種螃蟹全身殼呈靛藍色，蟹肉飽滿。Ozzie's得地利之便，每天跨過馬路就可以從河裡，捕捉最新鮮的藍蟹來賣。螃蟹老饕來這裡吃藍蟹，都是以打為單位，十二隻肥碩鮮美的藍蟹只要十八塊美金，可以選擇蒜烤或馬里蘭州風味(Maryland Style)，我的建議是兩者都要嚐嚐。

吃的時候每人發一支小木槌和小塑膠桶，桌上舖了報紙，用木槌將蟹殼敲開，再用手掏出蟹肉來。在這裡吃螃蟹是顧不得形象的，千萬別盛裝打扮，也別跟剛開始約會的異性朋友來，因為最後總是會吃得雙手汁水淋漓，還要忍不住去吮手指頭。

──《來一打印地安河藍蟹》，2003年2月8日，自由時報

上週末跟他開一個多小時的車到Melbourne，為了去吃螃蟹。上一次吃Ozzie’s的螃蟹是在2003年，妹妹和表妹來美國度假，我帶她們去大快朵頤，三個東方女生吃螃蟹的功力嚇壞在座的美國壯漢朋友，服務生都來不及幫我們清裝蟹殼的塑膠筒。那年剛好幫自由時報寫生活散文專欄，我就把這家螃蟹屋給大大讚頌了一番。

螃蟹屋卻還是老樣子，斑駁而毫不起眼的舊木屋，沒有改裝翻新，卻也不顯得更舊一些；就連螃蟹的價格都和兩年前一樣，去年的接二連三的颶風似乎也沒有對它造成什麼影響。

兩年前我還是個羞澀的台灣女生，英文能力還是一知半解的程度，這回來我可以自己點菜，跟服務生開玩笑，並且非常融入餐廳裡美國南方式的熱鬧。

牛仔裝扮的老歌手在台上唱著鄉村歌曲，看見我拿起相機就咧開嘴露出兩排白閃閃的牙齒對我笑。一個老奶奶上台跟牛仔合唱，不時還賣弄風騷扭腰擺臀，老得可愛，贏得台下食客一片掌聲歡呼。

我們兩個是餐廳裡唯一的東方面孔，吃起螃蟹來卻是挺不顧形象的，連交談都省了，光是埋頭猛吃。兩人手上都沾滿蟹黃蟹肉，配著一大壺生啤酒喝下肚，只覺得吃得豪爽又滿足。

後來我們聊起，都覺得那地方實在不適合第一次約會的時候去；換言之，我們已經是熟到某種程度的朋友了，可以舒舒服服地一起吃飯，不用勒緊肚皮裝優雅。當然，像是金髮妹妹那種上流社會富家女，乾乾淨淨的手，恐怕是連碰一下裹滿蒜泥的螃蟹都不可能吧？

(這裡除了螃蟹以外，蛤蠣濃湯也是超讚！湯頭鮮美濃稠，裡面蛤蠣馬鈴薯多得不像話，配上小餅乾，一個馬克杯就讓人有飽足感。)