Awkward Moment

Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, second left, urges Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, to move to a closer position for photo session as other Mekong river region leaders from third left to second right, Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, with Japanese business group Keidanren leader Fujio Mitarai, right, wait before their luncheon at a Tokyo hotel on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The leaders are now here to attend the first Japan-Mekong summit meeting. (AP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno, Pool)

Leaders of Mekong river region, from second left to second right, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, pose with Japanese business group leaders, Fujio Mitarai of Keidanren, right, and Tadashi Okamura of Japan Chamber of Commerce, left, before their luncheon at a Tokyo hotel on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The leaders are now here to attend the first Japan-Mekong summit meeting. (AP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno, Pool)

Cambodia-Thailand Rift: Ambassadors Recalled

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva

And so, the Cambodia-Thailand diplomatic row continues following Hun Sen’s nomination of ousted former Thai prime minister Thanksin Shinawatra. Here is what I woke up to this morning:

Cambodia recalled its ambassador to Thailand Thursday, the deputy prime minister said, hours after Bangkok pulled its envoy in a row over Phnom Penh’s job offer to former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

“To reciprocate the recall of Thailand’s ambassador-designate, the Royal Government of Cambodia decided to recall its ambassador for the time being but regards this only as a temporary measure,” Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said.

Sok An told a news conference in Phnom Penh that the Cambodian envoy would be sent back to Bangkok “only after Thailand has sent its ambassador-designate to Cambodia”.

The Cambodian government announced the appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser late Wednesday, riling Bangkok as it attempts to bring the billionaire tycoon home to face justice three years after he was ousted in a coup.

While I was kinda expecting this, I still find this very insane. I’m just sick and tired of this political drama. The two governments are worse than kindergarten kids, doing what they are doing. Let’s act more like grow-ups, please!

My Food Experiment: Crispy Pork Salad

ยำหมูกรอบ or Crispy Pork Salad

Cooking and me were never good friends before I came to the US. I suppose I was too lazy back then and never cared about learning it since my mom would do it anyways.

Now that I have to live away from home, knowing how to cook has become more important than ever. For a reason, it’s too expensive to eat out over here. I’ll need at least $10 each time to do. Twice a day and 31 days a month, that will total to around $620 a month. Yikes! For another, I can’t see myself eating American food everyday. It’s not because their food is bad; it’s just it is often too rich and that isn’t quite compatible with an Asian system like mine.

So the other day, I tried out this one dish called ยำหมูกรอบ or Crispy Pork Salad, which I had grown to love  and would eat regularly when I was in Thailand this summer. Just like other salads, this salad was quite simple and easy to make. The only time-consuming part, though, was the making of the Crispy Pork itself – which took me almost an hour to make. Unless you don’t have access to a ready-made crispy pork, you may wanna skip this part. But again, it’s always good to try doing something like that at least once and make yourself proud.

For those who wanna make it, below is the recipe:

• CRISPY PORK SALAD
  • Ingredients
    • 300 g of pork belly (សាច់ជ្រូក​បីជាន់)
    • 1 teaspoon of salt
    • 1 cup of vinegar
    • 6 cups of cooking oil
  • How to make it
    1. Thoroughly mix the salt and vinegar.
    2. Boil the pork belly until it is well cooked.
    3. Take the belly out of the pot and leave it until it’s dry.
    4. Score the skin on the belly of pork crossways with a sharp knife.; then paint it with the salt and vinegar you mix and leave to dry.
    5. Heat your frying pan until it’s really hot.
    6. Add the pork strips in batches & deep-fry for about 40 mins, or until the skin has crackled & is golden.
    7. Cut the pork crossways into thin strips, and it should be ready for our salad.

• SALAD
  • Ingredients
    • 50 g of thinly sliced cucumber
    • 50 g of thinly sliced onion
    • 50 g of sliced tomato
    • 50 g of lettuce
    • 50 g of cilantro (ជីវ៉ាន់ស៊ុយ)
    • 1 tablespoon of lime juice
    • 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
    • 1 teaspoon of sugar
    • 1 teaspoon of ground chili
  • How to make the salad
    1. Mix the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar together in a small bowl.
    2. Mix the crispy pork with the cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce and cilantro we prepared in a salad bowl.
    3. Pour the ground chili and dressing we prepared in step 1 onto the salad mix and toss them together.

Then your yummy salad should be ready! Enjoy!

A Taste of Peking Opera

Known as Jingju (京剧) in Chinese, the Beijing or Peking Opera is one of the most treasured art forms in China. Formerly reserved only for the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the Opera combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. Unlike its counterpart in other parts of the world, Jingju is highly renowned for its unique facial paintings  whose designs represent different characters’ roles. For example, a red face usually depicts heroic bravery, uprightness and loyalty; a white face symbolizes a sinister, treacherous and guile character and a green face connotes surly stubbornness, impetuosity and lack of self-restraint.

As a big fan of art and music, I have always longed to see it live. Growing up in a Cambodian-Chinese family, I remember listening to it almost everyday. Though she spoke no mandarin, other than some basic Toechew, my grandmother was a big fan of it. She would put it on all day and would be super mad if any of us ever messed up with her tapes. To her, it was one of the things she couldn’t live without…

And unconsciously, Chinese opera started to sound more beautiful to me.

Two weeks ago, a Chinese friend shared with me that the Confucius Institute was going to bring the dance to our campus at the end of October. The show will be performed by artists from China’s National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, and will include excerpts from some of the most famous stories in ancient Chinese literature.

Finally, the day (Oct 30) came. With 5 other friends, I went to the show with excitement. The show was very interesting, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s simply very different from other shows I’ve been to, in the way that audience could get up close with the performers and try some of the Opera’s beautiful moves. If only all classical performances elsewhere could be the same. That was a smart move to promote one’s culture to the world.

An audience trying out a move with an artist

The troupe’s next stop will be in Alaska and New York City. Do check them out if you are around there. More pictures from the show are available here.