簡單生活

兩個人, 一煲飯, 一碟清菜... 生活, 本來就應該是這麽簡單.

十年前後

homecoming… 一個有趣的tradition 同concept: 一年一度, 一整個周末的活動, 一場球賽, 很多大學的alum都會回到校園參與, 在很多美國的college town, 大學的homecoming 甚至是整個鎮的盛事. 而對畢業了五年, 十年, 三十年, 甚至是五十年的alum (總之是五的倍數吧), 傳統上homecoming 也是他們的reunion weekend.

yeap, 今年已經是畢業十週年了, 所以這次美國之旅其實是plan around johns hopkins 嘅homecoming weekend, 好讓我藉機回baltimore走一走, 到campus 看一看.

baltimore. 一個令人又愛又恨的城市. 住在這裡的時候, 對這裡的一切討厭透了, 巴不得馬上搬走. 離開了之後, 又覺得baltimore 也有其可愛之處… 例如到現在我還是認為在baltimore吃的 chesapeake bay steamed blue crabs是最令我回味的食物之一!!!

hopkins變了許多… decker quad, mason hall, clark hall… 全都是陌生的建築, 座落於曾經熟悉的地方, 害我也差點在校園迷了路. 我在freshman year 住的dorm 外表依然如此, 但就多了個security post 在大門口, 看來是去年virginia tech massacre 之後的新措施吧. 就連campus 附近的地方, 也變得令人耳目一新- 一間間新開的restaurants, bars, bookstore, starbucks… 現在的學生真幸福多了.

十年之後, 地點依舊, 面目早己全非, 感覺也變得複雜, 甚至有點矛盾: 第一個感覺就是: “真的十年了嗎?”- 好像那些在library通頂讀orgo (organic chemistry), 半夜三更到便利店買ben & jerry將整pint “rainforest crunch” 雪糕一下子吃光的日子就如昨天發生一樣. 接着下來, 當reality sinks in, 就感覺到自己真的老了… 看見學生們携着書本在校園疾步而過, 或是在草地上玩着touch football, 就發覺這樣的生活方式對我來說, 早已變成了歷史. 十年前後, baltimore變了, hopkins變了, 自己又何嘗不是變了?

上午在alumni crabcake lunch event, 跟將在年底退休的school president寒喧了幾句, 閒談中, 令我記起十年前在我們畢業禮上的commencement speech, 他談到了運氣在人生的重要性, 當年當然是一笑置之, 現在想起, 卻 特別覺得事實往往確是如此…

下午帶cyy看了她人生第一次(可能也是唯一一次) 的 lacrosse game. hopkins 擊敗了同洲的rival maryland. 今季hopkins 的lacrosse team so far並不怎樣的突出, 且看看這場homecoming game的勝仗能否為他們帶來衛晃ncaa 總冠軍的momentum. 在中場休息時, 十數位1958年畢業的lacrosse team members 在場中央接受觀眾的致意, 我在想, 四十年之後, 自己可有機會到hopkins 再走一遍? 感覺又會是如何呢?

晚上在10th reunion dinner, 遇見一班似曾相識, 又有點兒陌生的面孔, 也顧不了可能在 "寒窗四年" 其間素未謀面, 或只是無數次擦肩而過, 不過同時各自拾回自己大學生活的回憶, 分享舊事, 也交換一下大家生活的近況, 天南地北, 也讓我們樂透一個晚上.

what a surreal weekend indeed.

法式洗衣店 (the french laundry)

"全世界美食愛好者的聖地", "一輩子非得來吃一次不可", "experience of a lifetime", "best meal one can ever dream of", "epitome of fine dining", "米芝蓮三星級餐廳"… 狹着種種美譽, 在Thomas Keller 的 "法式洗衣店" (the french laundry) 享受一頓晚餐從來都是不少foodie 夢寐以求的"目標". well, we finally made it.

興奮是從臨離開香港前一天得知secure 了dinner reservation 的一刻開始. 要知道位處yountville, california 的 the french laundry 只有十七張枱, 每日招待62名"幸運兒", 餐廳每天就接超過400個訂位電話. typically all seating is filled by 10:30am local time exactly 2 months in advance – i.e. within a mere 30 minutes after they open up their hotline and online reservation system for those tables. if you are still not convinced how hard that is, try google "french laundry reservation" and you will find tens of so-called tips and sharing on this "finding the holy grail-like" experience, or try reading this.

anyway, we managed to get the table a week before we are to stay in napa. i am not going to bore you with the details with how we managed to get the table here, but has something to do that little plastic in your pocket. now i know what’s meant by "一卡傍身 世界通行"!

the dinner took place on the first day we stayed in napa valley as part of our overnight trip in the wine country. anticipating what could be our best culinary experience ever, we saved up (our stomach and wallet) by skipping breakfast and having a "light" lunch – a double-double at inn-n-out burger joint, and tried hard to stay sober in the midst of wine-tastings and vineyard visits. we even skipped a couple planned winery stops to get some quiet time in the b&b and gathered ourselves mentally ready for the laundry experience.


the restaurant’s in yountville, a township of population 3500 in the middle of napa valley, in between napa and st helena. it’s about 20 minutes from where we stayed. when we arrived, we were amazed at how unassuming the place looks – a stone building with a small sign just by the walkway. after all, it’s converted from an old french laundry built circa 1900 – hence the namesake. it’s overlooking a garden which also belongs to the restaurant.

upon entry through the famous blue door, we were promptly seated in a room on the second floor. menu’s simple – either a 9-course tasting menu (with choices on several courses) or a vegetable menu. no brainer to us. as the tradition, we started off with the amuse-bouche of dollop of salmon tartare atop a crispy cone – i probably saw the picture of it a thousand times in his cookbook or in magazine articles, but trying it for the first time almost dropped me into tears – a dream came true at last, i said to myself. a dream came true.

signature dishes included “oyster and pearl” – in a literal sense, that’s 奶油西米"沙巴翁"拌生蠔及鱘龍魚子醬. i know that doesn’t sound delicious but i am going to leave it that way. and let me assure you if you have not tried it - it’s not just delicious – it’s HEAVENLY! you just had to wonder how the heck can he come up with such pairing and makes it almost like a natural match from the beginning of earth! for all we knew tapioca only works with coconut cream or milk tea! but with oyster and caviar? not in our freaking wildest dream! other of my favorites include "beets and leeks" – lobster tail with leeks, thinly-sliced fried potatoes (pommes maxim) and red beet essence, and moulard duck “foie gras au torchon” – oh my god!

i am not going to blog about every single dish we have enjoyed that night– because words can never appropriately describe the experience we have had. i was going to use an analogy for this but i dare not here. service is formal, attentive and to the details. more perfect than perfect. for wine, we picked a copain 2002 broken leg vineyard syrah which was especially blended and bottled for the restaurant, which "rises to the occasion" to match with the food, especially the later courses. apparently only 123 cases were produced from this sonoma boutique winemaker – speaking of exclusivity! just as a side thought, during our stay and visit in the napa wine region, we seem to have better experience with the pinot and syrah over the more famous cabs. probably just so happened.

if i really have to find glitches in the whole experience – which is extremely hard to, that would be how tight the tables are arranged. well, cyy apparently didn’t mind as she’s been having fun overhearing the conversations from the table right behind us. and of course, if they didn’t fit a few additional tables in, that would make the already-difficult reservation even harder to get. so that was forgiven.

at the end of the dinner, we couldn’t resist by asking our waiter to give us a brief tour of the kitchen and pay our compliments to the chef. we looked at everything in amazement and “fear” like we are looking at a holy shrine or something. 當然美妙的, 還有廚房裡real-time連線着紐約per se廚房的螢幕... it’s a pity that we didn’t get to meet thomas keller in person this time – an excuse for us to go back there some time in the future? as if we need one.

worth it? absolutely – for the food, for the experience, for the sense of privilege and accomplishment, for the tale to share among ourselves in many years to come and for everything. and we will let the ecstatic feeling going over and around our head for a few more weeks, until we have to pay off that huge laundry ticket bill when the credit card statement arrives.

details:
when? april 8 2008
where? the french laundry, 6640 washington street, yountville, ca
occasion? the dinner is an occasion by itself
menu highlights? everything! start from finish! perfect 10! two thumbs up!
drinks? copain 2002 "broken leg vineyard" syrah

吃喝, 上海

上周末, 跟一班朋友飛到上海玩了幾天, 遊歷就絕對談不上, 吃吃喝喝倒是少不得. 沐恩堂的崇拜, 吉士的本邦滋味, 佳家小店的湯包, 外灘的人來人往, 南京路的喧鬧, 田子坊的特色商舖… 也逐一看過, 嚐過, 感受過; 唯一遺憾的, 或者就只是為什麽肚子容不下多幾個蟹粉小籠包…

回想起來, 上次到上海來己經是六年前的事了, 這些日子, 是上海變得多, 還是自己變得多? 我也說不上…

同行團友的Blog 在此. Also, more pictures can be found here.

暗戀桃花源

兩個劇團不小心訂到同一個劇場做綵排，一團演的是一齣近代悲劇叫《暗戀》，另一團演的則是一齣古裝喜劇叫《桃花源》。訂場地的問題出在哪裡，沒人知道，劇場管理員也找不到。兩個劇團都急著排戲，互相搶舞台，觀眾一下看《暗戀》片段，一下看《桃花源》片段，兩齣戲永遠兜不齊。直到後來，他們終於決定共用舞台，一團一邊，各自把自己的戲排完。兩齣戲因而開始微妙交集在一起。最後，似乎完成《暗戀》的是《桃花源》，完成《桃花源》的是《暗戀》…

看完了香港話劇團暗戀桃花源的演出, 談不上特别的震憾, 也談不上特别的感動 (結尾一段因戰亂而失散的戀人在異地在病榻旁久別相會的一幕, 也只是顯得有點老生常談), 不過, 心中卻倒是多了一個問號 – "what if?"

劇中糾纏著三個故事:《暗戀》講述的是一對40年代在上海相遇相戀的情侣江濱柳和雲之凡在戰亂中離散, 在命運的作弄下, 雖然同逃亡到台灣, 但在五十多年後, 在江濱柳臨終前方再重遇, 然而事過境遷, 兩人早已擁有各自各的生活和家庭, 回望過去, 不勝唏噓。

《桃花源》可算是一套 “無厘頭”的鬧劇, 借陶淵明的 “桃花源記” 作背景而“加鹽加醋”, 講述漁夫老陶 (桃), 因妻子春花 (花) 紅杏出牆搭上了袁老闆 (源), 加上厭棄生活艱難的武陵小鎮而出走, 卻誤闖了與世隔絕的桃花源。雖然在桃花源遇見了他認為是理想生活的國度, 又因難忘己捨他而去的春花而返回武陵。此時老陶發現了春花與袁老闆早己一起生活, 並育有一子, 卻因生計艱困而整日吵吵鬧鬧, 成為一對怨偶。

劇中穿插了一段一個穿紅衣的神秘女子, 不停呼喊尋找一個名“劉子驥”的人。其實劉子驥其人, 也選自桃花源記 - 桃花源記文中末曰: “南陽劉子驥，高尚士也，聞之，欣然規往，未果，尋病終。” 我的理解是也許劇作者想借劉子驥這人, 借喻每個人心目中一個看似實在但又虛無飄渺的“經歷”, 一個永遠都找不到答案的問題 - 一個"what if?"。文中劉子驥聽聞桃花源之種種, 就照辦煮碗的找尋, 最後只獲得病終的下場。想必劇中神秘女子的下場也會是這樣, 沒有結果... 也許 "what if?" 的答案要留在幻想裡才能夠保持圓滿。

縱觀整個故事, 雖然充滿笑聲, 然而並沒有傳統故事的大團圓結局: 江濱柳和雲之凡最終並沒有 “有情人終成眷屬”; 春花和袁老闆滿以為打發走老陶就可以雙宿雙棲, 可是到頭來也是生活逼人; 神秘女子最終也找不到她的劉子驥... 最圓滿的, 也只是江濱柳幻想如果沒有與雲之凡失散的一個美滿愛情故事, 和老陶在夢想國度桃花源遇見的一對長得像春花和袁老闆一模一樣的男女。但再想深一層, 如果江濱柳和雲之凡沒有失散而一起生活, 結果會不會如想像中美好? 桃花源裡的一對男女, 觀察的日子久了, 也會不會變成現實中的春花和袁老闆一般, 終日互相埋怨呢? 更多的 "what if?" , 更多沒有答案的問題。

劇中有一段提到“留白”, 這是中國畫的一個常用手法, 目的是在有限的畫幅上, 留有一點空白, 不單營造了實在的空間感, 也給賞畫人想像的空間, 創造一個虛擬的意境。其實, "what if?" 也可嘗不是一樣, 就是知道這問題永遠都找不到答案, 就令我們有一個永遠任由自我想像的空間, 在裡頭可以自己隨意發揮, 故事的結局也可以永遠是美麗的, 永遠如自己所想的。

what if… 也許這是上帝給我們生命的一個“留白”吧!

p.s. 總括而言, 暗戀桃花源也算是一齣pretty enjoyable的話劇, 在狂風暴雨下也帶給了我們兩個多小時的娛樂。

p.p.s. 同行的mrs m 的暗戀桃花源blog entry 在這裡。