Manggong Cake (盲公饼 - literally blind-man biscuit) is a speciality of Foshan city in Guangdong province, China. It’s a traditional biscuit (despite officially named as cake) made of ground nuts and sesame seeds, first created in 1800 by a blind fortune teller… hence the name.
Foshan’s Manggong Cake which my sister bought back from
Guangzhou last week
The Manggong Cake is a popular souvenir for foreigners who visit Foshan or Guangdong… and the most well known brand is Heji (pic above). Not the tastiest biscuit I’ve had to be frank, but we got to appreciate a traditional recipe that has existed for over two centuries.
A Chinese banquet is normally held during special occasions, like weddings, new year, festivals, or sometimes a family gathering or business meeting. A typical Chinese banquet will have 8-10 dishes on its menu.
Some photos of a Chinese banquet, taken during my family dinner at Kok Thai Restaurant in Ipoh, Malaysia last weekend…
The appetiser, or the ‘cold dish’ in Chinese, is often the indicator of how good the restaurant is; the food presentation is vital and sometimes more important than the taste
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Some bizarre yet amazing works from a Beijing based Chinese artist, Li Wei…
The photos are not photoshopped, but a combination of performance art and photography. The illusions are created with the help of mirrors and wire-cables etc… and despite some dangerously looking scenarios, the artist said that the stunts were done with reasonable safety.
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So, what do you think about the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Friday night? It’s a decent show for me; not great, but nice.
The ceremony started off well. The fou (the drum like instrument) performance managed to draw the crowds’ attention, the giant footsteps’ fireworks were cool, and the countdown managed to boost the mood very well.
Then came the splendid fireworks, followed by the formalities of flag raising and national anthem singing.
The masterpiece of the show was revealed after that… the giant paper scroll, which was quite captivating at first. The initial performances still managed to keep me in front on the TV, but things started to turn boring for a few reasons…
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Another day to go before the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics. Some random news and information about Olympics and happenings in Beijing…
The game has started
The women’s soccer tournament of the Beijing Olympics kicked off at 17:00 Beijing time on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony. It’s common for soccer (and some other team sports) to start the games earlier.
Women soccer game, Germany vs Brazil, ended 0-0 (Image from
Xinhuanet)
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The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival) is celebrated by the Chinese on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese calendar (June 8 this year).
The festival is celebrated to commemorate ancient poet Qu Yuan, who jumped into a river and killed himself after his country was conquered by the other.
Locals who admired his patriotism fed rice dumplings to the fishes in the river which he committed suicide so that the fish would not disturb his body… some others also rode on boats and beating on drums to scare away the fishes for the same purpose.
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