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Help me find the name of this Asian film about a love story in three different time periods.

jaywalker — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:50:14 -0800

Help me find the name of this Asian film about a love story in three different time periods. A few years ago I saw a preview of an Asian film that I'm pretty sure was either Chinese or Japanese, about a love story between two people that takes place (vaguely speaking) in ancient times, then the 40s or 50s, then modern day. It came out 2 or 3 years ago and looked very romantic.

There's a scene where the woman is on a big boat, sailing away. In another scene she's wearing a poodle skirt or something. I was unable to google the answer and I really want to see this movie! Thanks!

I want to make Asian noodles from scratch. Can you help me?

flibbertigibbet — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:07:49 -0800

I really really love all types of Asian cooking that involves noodles (banh pho, udon, ramen, whatever!). Problem: kosher asian noodles are crazy hard to find in my neck of the woods. Could you help me out by suggesting cookbooks or websites with great make-it-from-scratch noodle recipes? I found this, and there's a book on Amazon--somewhere!--that has a recipe for udon noodles. Other than that, I'm lost and alone.

Yes, I realize this will take me a long time to master in some cases.

Identify this Buddha

Joe Beese — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:44:41 -0800

BuddhaFilter: Where is this, who made it, and how big is it?

Pre-Red Pepper Asian Cuisine?

melissam — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:13:08 -0800

Help me find Asian food before the Columbian Exchange? This article mentions ancient Indian curries before the Portuguese brought red peppers to the subcontinent

Much of the food is worth the wait. Take the chicken pepper roast ($9.95), a splendid heap of irregular poultry tidbits thickly coated with black mustard seeds, coconut shreds, and crushed black peppercorns. Recipes such as this are ancient: They date from before the Portuguese introduced chilies to the subcontinent, sometime in the late 16th century. Indeed, the Sanskrit term for black pepper is "kari"—a word that evolved in succeeding centuries into the colonial catch-all expression for spice combinations: "curry."

Reminded me of this absolutely delicious black pepper tempeh I once had cooked for me by an Indonesian friend. Does anyone know of any good recipes for Korean/Indonesian/Indian food before the arrival of the red pepper? What would the major flavors have been besides black pepper, coconut, and mustard? Would kimchee have tasted like German sauerkraut?

Un Chi Chien Andalou

cloeburner — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:54:12 -0800

Does anyone have any details about this East Asian song? I found a cassette at the local free bookshop yesterday. There was no case and no mention of an artist, but there were vague tracklistings on the cassette. The name of the song is "Shou Hou Chi Chien". Can anyone translate the lyrics or tell me more about the artist/song [was it famous?]

The tracklist:
A1. Black Forest - Hei Sen Lin [This appears to be a Chinese movie from the 60s]
A2. Take Off Your Veil
B1. Shou Hou Chi Chien
B2. Ying Bin Wu
B3. Taiwan Hau

I really like the song and would like to do a remix of it, and the more details I have, the better.

Thanks in advance.

ancient 1980s secret, huh?

roger ackroyd — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:07:39 -0800

Another lost-childhood-book-filter. Time period: late 80s. This chapter book aimed at middle readers was a collection of Asian (Chinese or Japanese) folk tales centering on a wise man who served in the court of the emperor. The one story I remember involved the emperor receiving a gift of a priceless vase which he loved far too much; the wise man ultimately threw the vase to the ground, cracking it, so that the emperor would get over himself. The illustrations were done in a style similar to Usagi Yojimbo. I believe the wise man was an actual historical figure, but it wasn't Confucius. Possibly Zhuangzi.

Ring any bells?

Because nobody likes airplane food

Diagonalize — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:05:03 -0800

What is the ideal food to welcome someone home with after a long flight, keeping potential delays and an long commute from the airport in mind? Bonus points for late-night Boston/Cambridge delivery recommendations! I'd love to have a super tasty meal waiting when my boyfriend gets back from Europe in a few days, but besides stew, does anything still taste good after sitting for several hours? Without a car, picking him up will take me at least a couple of hours round trip, so while I like cooking, I'd rather not have to, given all the time and stress unknowns.

He's expressed a strong interest in almost any manner of Asian food, so while I'd be more than happy to just pick up some Chinese or Thai, I'm worried that a late arrival on a Sunday night will seriously limit our options. He really does not want pizza, and eating at the airport seems...non-ideal. I thought about stashing some sushi in the fridge, but that seemed iffy with the timing. Are there any take-out/delivery options that lend themselves especially well to reheating/eating cold? We're near Harvard Square, if that helps any.

How do I get my skin, as a guy to look so clean and shiny?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:09:49 -0800

Male skin filter: I want my skin to look like this. How does he get his skin to be so shiny? Photoshop? How can I get that doll-like look? I am also asian. What products do I need to use, and is there a quick and easy way way of doing so.

or is it a child's half-remembered, lunatic dream?

Allee Katze — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:25:42 -0800

In the early 70's there aired a kid's after school program. Simple to identify, right? Course not, this is where you come in. This show aired on Mexican TV, specifically in Acapulco. It was a dubbed, 30 minute, Asian children's program involving live action/animation; a chubby little boy, his nanny/aunt/housekeeper/caretaker and a cartoon sorcerer. The nanny-ish person possessed magical powers and was often at odds with the sorcerer. There may have been another girl/boy involved but I'm not so sure. The particular episode that stuck with me was sticks and leaves and dirt and such transformed by glamour to appear as a delicious banquet for the children.

I've tried Googling but can't pin down the search terms enough, or maybe I dreamed the whole non-existent thing. Either way, please identify this program so I can finally put it to rest ... I'm spending way too much time picking away at my memories of this!

Flying witch heads!

One Second Before Awakening — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:56:21 -0800

Help me identify this weird asian movie featuring a swordsman fighting demon woman whose head flies off, and whose lover hallucinates men in communist uniforms! Today my girlfriend and I saw the band Infinite Groove Orchestra playing at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersberg, Florida. During their set, they projected various bizarre clips from random films. One clip seemed to be from an Asian kung fu movie of some sort. I think the language it used was a dialect of Chinese. There was a man peering into a room where two lovers were in bed. He saw that the woman had half of her face peeled off, and an eyeball drooping out. He powered up his sword so that it glowed yellow, and then charged into the room and attacked the woman. She turned out to be some sort of demon and they squared off.

At one point her head came off and flew at him. He threw his sword at the head and hit it and it exploded, but then came back together again. She then hypnotized her lover, some ordinary human, into thinking that the swordsman was some kind of military or government man in a tan uniform, waving money around instead of a sword. He then attacked the swordsman. I think after that the witch flew out of the window and then the whole place started exploding.

The clip was really fun to watch, and now I'm dying to know what film it was so we can watch the whole thing!

What food or drink should I bring to a dumpling party?

mathlete — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:19:33 -0800

What food or drink should I bring to a dumpling party? I'm looking for something that's not filling for the dumplings and not what everyone else will bring. Asian themed would be good.

Richard Nisbett's "The Geography of Thought" over-generalised and realistic?

Knigel — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:19:40 -0800

Help me determine the accuracy of Richard Nisbett's "The Geography of Thought : How Asians and Westerners Think Differently". I haven't read the book yet; however, I was shown a video associated with the book in my class. While watching the video, my skeptical senses tingled; therefore, now I'm trying to find criticisms of the book. From my perspective, the concepts of difference seemed too far generalised and "Western" and "Asian" seemed too black and white. The book seems popular; however, is it more pop science than real science? How scewed is the hard science of the book?

I think I want to find my own wife now.

reenum — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:10:57 -0800

I'm from a South Asian culture and made the mistake of allowing my parents to start looking for a girl for me. How do I get out of this? First, some background: I'm a 30 year old male, originally from the Indian Subcontinent. I've been living in the US since 1990.

Recently, my parents began bringing up the topic of marriage. They said they could find some girls for me and there wouldn't be any obligation for me to take things farther with them unless I really wanted to.

About a month after I gave them the go-ahead, my folks presented a prospect to me. She was nice looking, but had spent 8 years in undergrad. This was a red flag, and I decided not to talk to her. This girl was my uncle's friend's daughter, so my parents and my uncle and aunt were on my back to talk to this girl. I firmly said no, I had no interest. Eventually, all parties left the matter alone.

Over the last month, I've been talking to another girl. She's the niece of a family friend. The girl seems nice enough, but I don't feel a connection. I told my dad to let her dad know it would not be moving forward. My dad told me to think about it before he gave the final word to her parents. I thought about it and still said no. Then, my parents started pressuring me to go and meet this girl, so I could "see what she's really like". I said no thanks.

So, yesterday, my dad calls me up and gives me this big lecture about how I need to think this over again. I have no interest in meeting this girl, but he doesn't seem to want to let it go.

I'm now very disillusioned with all the pressure being put on me to move forward with a girl I don't think would be compatible with me. I feel like this whole process was misrepresented and I want no part of it any longer.

How can I tell my parents to back off and that I no longer want an arranged marriage without hurting their feelings? If hurt feelings can't be avoided, I need a way to tell them that will minimize hurt feelings.

Thanks!

Must-have ingredients for Asian recipes?

specialagentwebb — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:28:42 -0800

What are some useful, delicious, and hard-to-find ingredients for Asian cooking? My brother enjoys cooking, and also likes Asian Food. I live next to an Asian grocery mart, so for Christmas I figured I'd fill a basket with all kinds of hard-to-find ingredients that he can use for his cooking. Unfortunately, I don't know all that much about Asian cooking, so I figured I'd turn to you guys for help. Here are my criteria:

1. Useful in several recipes.
2. Relatively non-perishable. I can do produce, but only if it will last for a few days un-refrigerated.
3. Not readily available (like sesame seeds, soy sauce, etc).

Examples I've come up with: Pepper paste, dashi, packs of nori, tonkatsu sauce, good sake.
Examples of things that won't work, for various reasons: Whole durian, whole freeze-dried squid.

So what are your "must-haves" for Asian cooking?

Looking for a real, live pandan plant.

Xere — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:18:00 -0800

Where can I buy/get/steal/harvest/whatever an actual Pandan plant in the Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena area? They're readily available in various supermarket freezers, but I'd like the real, live plant. Pictures of pandan are here, from Google.

Asian Food in San Francisco

timelord — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:19:52 -0800

What are your favorite Asian restaurants in San Francisco? I'm traveling to San Francisco in a few weeks and while I'm there I'd like to sample as much good Asian food as I possibly can. Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Indonesian, and more. Preferably, I'm looking for places that are mostly authentic and relatively inexpensive, but I'm open to all suggestions.

I found quite a few good suggestions in this thread, but that question was quite a bit more general. One thing I'm already looking forward to is getting some Banh Mi in Little Saigon.

ancient chinese

colusa — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:42:50 -0800

This is an ancient chinese inscription on an antique vase... thousands of years old. Can anyone translate it or let us know what kind of dragon this is or if it realates to any story... anything would help. Thanks your help is greatly appreciated Hello,
I recently aquired a vase, which is of asian decent, which I have done intense research on and cannot find what the Japanese writing on the vase says. I would greatly appreciate input from anyone with any info on this item or opinions.

Thank You!!!!

To start, it appears to be bronze.the vase is a standard oriental vase shape that sits on a tripod base with legs that curl under. The texture on the tripod base appears to resemble the leatherlike rough skin of maybe a dragon. It covers the area of the base stopping on the third tripod leg,witch then becomes a smooth texture, maybe resembling the tail of the dragon.

Starting at the base, which sits 1 1/2" up, tenticles begin to protrude from the surface. Between the first and second tripod leg, there are two claw like tenticle shapes protruding. The first one containing 5 fingers to the claw, sitting atop four more tenticles. The second set of tenticles contains 6 curved swirly claws coming from it. Between the 2nd and third tripod legthere are two more protrusions ( sitting closer to th 2nd leg.) the first protrusion contains 6 small twirled tenticles, while the second contains 9. between the 3rd and 1st tripod legs, there is a claw with four fingers, one finger is curved under and there are 3 curved claw nails.

Now the vase begins to become intriquite and very detailed.
The 1st tripod leg is the smooth textured leg resembling a tail. above that, the tenticle that protrudes form the surface, comes out about 2 inches and works itself into the shape of a dragon. The dragon appears to have a scales texture and as it reaches higher up onto the vase, begins to develop claws with distinguished sharp nails. the first foot has 2 claws (sharp nails) the texture and protrusions then for a mass array of details and dragon like objects, that covers half of the vase.
In the objects appears to be one dragon foot with 3 claws and one dragon's foot with 2 claws. The dragon appears to be on a rocklike strructure with its head covered in spikes peering out.its scaled tail also protrudes from the vase with arow of about 15 spikes on it.
The prtrusion concludes on the right side with a big swirl, while on the left it is a rock like texture.
This protrusion sitas on the vase's side. The rest of the vase is a dimpled texture with a thick glaze like texture dripping down the vase.( appears to look like lava dripping down a volcano.

it looks like this:
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq174/collectableusa/100_1353.jpg

Under that is this marking:
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq174/collectableusa/100E1305-1.jpg

Recommend some non-white kids' books

featherboa — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:24:41 -0800

Can you recommend some children's picture books that don't just feature white faces? I run a kids' bookshop and it's been bugging me that almost none of the picture books we stock feature a non-white child as the main character. I'm trying to remedy that.

I'll probably be getting My Two Grannies, but ideally the storyline wouldn't be particularly about race. I do stock Rastamouse and that's probably closer to what I'm looking for, except it's about a mouse.

The shop's in London, and I try to keep the books skewed more British than American, but if you have a favourite from anywhere in the world, please let me know.

Similarly if you want to recommend a kids' book without pictures that fits the theme, I'd love to know about that too.

Foods that wiggle, foods that jiggle

brain cloud — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:36:17 -0800

What exactly is the appeal of jelly-textured foods? (Pardon my rash generalization here): I've noticed that among some east-Asian cultures (Japan specifically, China too somewhat, though it's more varied food-wise), jelly textured food is quite popular. In fact certain foods seem to be prized as a delicacy specifically because they have this texture.

In western cultures (again, generally) jelly-like foods tend to be sweets or candies, unless you want to get all fancy and talk to me about aspics, which are hardly an everyday food for most of us. But in eastern Asia jelly foods run the gamut to all parts of a meal, and are quite common.

Partially because I find jelly texture repulsive, and partially because I'm genuinely curious...what's the deal?

Asian Grocery Item Needs ID

franklen — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:39:51 -0800

Help me identify this Asian grocery item. An old roommate of my current roommate left this item in the cupboard, and I have no way to get a hold of them to ask about it. The package is yellow with all Asian language text of some sort. There is a picture of some beans and nuts. Inside are individual packets that seem to contain crushed seeds and/or nuts. What is this product, and what is it used for? i was just going to open it up and sprinkle on my oatmeal in the morning?

Asian stereotype: why the exaggerated front teeth?

sweetlyvicious — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:41:32 -0800

Asian stereotype: why the exaggerated front teeth? So I stumbled across this comic Wun Cloo, Detective off the LJ community Scans_Daily. Now the depiction of the main character is of the stereotypical Asian man at the time (1940's). I understand the slanted eyes and pigtail, but why the buckteeth? What's the reason or history behind this?

Anyone recognize this antique?

Lord_Pall — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:34:59 -0800

Any ideas what this asian antique is? This is for a friend of mine. He's in Alaska so he can't do a whole lot of research.

Pictures 1 2 3 4

It's big and apparently breaks into 3 pieces.

His grandfather got it as payment for doing surgery on an Asian man around WW1.

It could be Japanese or Korean and has some sort of Buddhist parable about a lion or dog(I can't tell)

It was appraised by a potentially shady dealer in the 70's who mentioned 'haida iron work' but that is suspect.

Any ideas? Or just an old Asian thing?

Please help me translate!

macsigler — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:14:09 -0800

Khmer/Cambodian and Lao/Laotian food translations? I need to figure out how to write "Khmer food" and "Lao food" in their respective languages. Preferred would be both the traditional script and romanized versions (pronunciation). It's for a website I'm making for Southeast Asian recipes at http://www.silhou.net . Thanks so much!

Need help identifying Asian antique.

lucia__is__dada — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:59:57 -0800

Help me identify the origin and theme of the decoration of this asian cup and saucer. My grandmother bought this cup and saucer in the late 1980's in Portugal at an antique shop. Not the fancy antique shop type, more like the neighborhood's old junk shop so no information about it was provided.

Can anyone read the inscription at the bottom of the saucer? (I'm guessing it's the maker's name).

From my googling, this looks like it was inspired by the 8 immortals myth but there's only 6 of them! I don't know much about asian mythology so I may be missing out on something. Or maybe it's just a bad quality export for westerners.

Hat, hat, where you at?

rhoticity — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:31:50 -0800

Need to find very specific type of hat on the INTARWEBS. First seen in San Francisco's Chinatown. Picture follows... I was just in San Francisco and while perusing the imports shops in Chinatown my friend and I stumbled upon these adorable little hats, touted as "children's hats" on the price sign with no more description.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/potassiumiskay/n2912649_31529877_939.jpg

Yes, that's me. They must not have been TOO small, because they did fit my average-sized head nicely. In case it's hard to tell, they're just normal sewn cotton fabric hats with earflaps and ties. The features are embroidery and felt, but the features aren't the focal point of this quest.

I was basically broke at this point in the trip and so I did not buy the hat while I was there, but would really like to buy something similar online for me and my friend. I don't even know where to begin googling for this since I don't know the technical name for this kind of hat.

Additionally, I do live in Chicago 11 out of 12 months of the year, so someplace in our Chinatown to buy these (specific store, please) would also work.