海苔煎饼

物价高涨，形同减薪; 日头赤焱焱，随人顾性命！（台语）
穷则变，变则通，想吃没钱就得想办法，以为后代留榜样。
从成本低，售价高，味道好的东西入手，试做海苔煎饼，尚在调试阶段，所以颜色不一。
味道倒挺好。

吃或不吃

在送安白上学的路上，我俩玩“吃或不吃”的游戏--我问安白吃不吃某样东西，他回答吃或不吃。
本是无聊，纯为打发，他却玩的起劲的很。以下是清单：

• 不吃：凡冠了“可爱”，“小”，“可怕”，他都不吃，如：老鼠，猫，猪，鸟，老虎，乌龟，兔，火鸡，金鱼，蛇，毛毛虫，蜘蛛。唯一的例外是“可怕的小矮人”。他吃“可怕的小矮人”；不吃“可爱的小矮人”。也不吃虎头，猪头。
• 吃： 把完整的东西拆解成零部件，他吃某些“部位”：老虎尾巴， 狐狸尾巴，猪肠，猪脚，鸡脚。唯一愿意吃的完整东西是“可怕的小矮人”。

酸白菜

製作酸白菜相當簡單，只要把任何一種大白菜2顆，掰開、洗淨、切
絲，直接放入桃太郎玻璃罐一半的高度，然後放3撮鹽、1撮小茴香、1粒八角。打開熱
水龍頭，灌入剛剛有點燙手的熱自來水(??)，鬆鬆地蓋上蓋子，等3天就有一缸充滿自然發
酵酸香鮮美的酸白菜。

她說，為了方便取時而不浪費，不妨把它連湯汁分成8等份，放入塑膠袋，擠出空
氣打結，丟到冰箱冷藏。她說，如果想做酸白菜火鍋，就再加1公升熱水，接著放入1塊
豆腐、1把粉絲、1包肉片或魚片，煮滾了就好了；如果是想吃酸白菜炒肉絲，一樣剪開
1包酸白菜，倒入鍋中，中間用筷子讓出空間，放下1包肉絲，肉絲上淋一點油，等肉熟
了，把肉絲和酸菜絲攪一攪，就可以了。

Ruthless, bloody and foolish fairy tales

This may surprise you, but it is true--most fairy tales are ruthless and bloody; they convey wrong values. The purpose of the stories is to scare a kid to a death rather than to soothe him on bed.

Recently, Anbo and I listened to several fairy tales together. Unfortunately, some of them are very bloody; some foolish; some very wrong:

In the story of the "little red hat", the belly of the wolf was cut open and filled with stones. Finally, the wolf was drown in the river. Surely, it is bloody.

In the story of "glass mountain", the little girl set off to a journey to look for her seven brothers, who were cursed into ravens by their father. The girl found her brother in a glass mountain. The girl has to cut off one of her finger as a key to open the gate. Yes, it is bloody. Inside the mountain, the servant told the girl that her brothers were out and not back yet. The girl then ate the seven dishes on the table. The story is not only bloody but strange: apparently, her brothers live very well; they even have a servant.

Here is a very dumb one: a kind girl met different kinds of beggars in a journey. She gave out what she owns. Eventually, she owned nothing and became even naked herself. The stars in the sky fall down and became her clothing and her fortune. This girl surely is a fool and the story conveys a very wrong idea--believing in a miracle.

You can disagree with me about the previous story; but I am sure that you will agree with me with this one--Frog Prince. In the story, a princess had a frog. The princess treated it very bad for its ugliness. Somehow, the frog transformed into a human form and became a handsome princess. Immediately, the princess and the prince fall into love and had good lives afterwards. What lesson can you learn from this story? Judge a thing by its surface?

However, my comment toward these tales madded Anbo. He disked me calling these stories foolish.

Many Koreans I know are Christians. Why?

This fact has been puzzling me for many years--many Koreans I know are Christians--but why?

Christian, surpassing other religions, is now the dominating religion in Korea; more than 70% Koreans are Christians and the number is rapidly increasing. Considering Korea is a Asia country and Christian was never one of traditional Asia religions, this fact becomes a surprise.

One has to look into history for answers. In geology, Korea is a small country between China and Japan. In history, invadesions from Japan and from China have never been stopped. Along with invades, both Chinese and Japanese cultures influenced Korea heavily. After World War II, Korea wanted to be independent from China and from Japan especially in culture. Having a 'national religion' that is different from Chinese's Buddhism and from Japanese's Shintoism became urgent. Christian is the result of that decision.

Normally, people tend to regard personal religion choices as private matters. In fact, it is not true. From the example above, we see that how a national policy could drive a personal decision. To be a truly independent person is not easy. One has to be both brave and wise to cope with peer pressures.

To read or to travel

I like to read; I like to travel. Reading leads my imagination to the places where, by nature, are not suitable for an ordinary visitor; traveling sharpens my feeling about the places where I only read about.

I would like to read about the stories of a Congo expedition, but would not like to be part of the expedition team; I would like to travel to Paris and to enjoy authentic French cuisines there rather than to stay at home and to mouthwateringly look at French cuisine photos in the book! This is my attitude toward reading and traveling.

好像好多苍蝇在飞

安白的学校昨天举办家长会，放假一天。我请了半天假带小孩。天朗气清，安白与我都想出去走走。安白提议去山上打老虎， 于是安白带上他的打虎棍，我俩驱车到附近的Seneca Creek State Park.

安白一心找老虎，我则是藉湖光山色舒展郁闷的心情。落叶纷纷，飘扬在湖心上空，衬着远方彩虹般的秋林，风光的确秀丽。突然念动，随口问安白，这缤纷落叶盘旋扶摇湖上，像什麽？这满头大汗忙着找老虎的小子心不在湖光山色上，他回答，“好像好多苍蝇在飞！”

这小子才能显然不在文学上。我记得世说新语上一则谢安问白雪纷纷何所似的故事。一侄答曰“空中洒盐差可拟“；另一侄女答曰“未若柳絮因风起“。文采上，侄女胜于侄儿。沈复幼时也把夏天的蚊子比作群鹤舞空。 彼等皆于年幼时已展现化现实为浪漫的文才，我家的小子倒是化浪漫为实际，而且太实际了吧。