Ah Fook at NYC Pride Day Parade 2007

Today I have a very interesting day in NYC, as this is my first time experiencing pride day in NYC.
Pride day is historically started off in Greenwich Village in 1969 NYC. And since then there is a pride parade every year around USA.
"A pride parade is part of a festival or ceremony held by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of a city to commemorate the struggle for LGBT rights and pride."Wikipedia.

This is a day of fun and colors. I may not be a gay, but I do admire their spirit to be free of rules and traditions and be what they want to be without hurting anyone. It is a fun parade that is filled with festival atmosphere.





















I think it is a very unique culture in USA, and I do admire them. However, I guess i am not on their side when it come to my sexual inclinations. Hence, I doubt i will join in their march in the future, but i will definitely come and watch if possible. It is really a fun afternoon.

Ah Fook working June2007

Hello, another week has passed by and I am getting better in cooking. It is part of my daily routine to cook and enjoy my meal.

Chinese Dumpling day has just passed, so went to NYC chinatown to get some "Zong Zi" for USD 2.99 I have to frozen dumplings. The taste is not as good as the one I tasted in San Fransico, but i guess it is nice enough. It is the typical cantonese dumplings with meat and beans.
Then I learn some new tricks to do rice last weekend from my mom. Hence, these are my new creations, bake rice!! I got loads of rice to clear stock before July. And I tried the tradiational method and the western cheeze melt verion.

Cooking vegetable is not as easy... did not taste well.... implies..... I need more practise.... haha... do not need to be a scientist to know that.


Here is a view of my working life:)

One of the group's student Marco Polin graduated... yappie!! Happy for him, their phd exams are more relax and the examiners are very friendly. Their discussion are nevertheless very demanding. And here, the advisers can help defend the thesis.... very interesting. My work here is going to be very similar (or should I say an extention) to this work. It is on 1-D phonon coupling due to hydrodynamic interaction.

And this is Macro and David after the exam. They are both extremely happy. Now we have one more "Doctor" in the group:)

Reminded me of my own PHd defends..... good old days.
My working environment is very nice. Below is the view of my lab.

Then this is the office space I have been given to work. Not alot of space, but cosy enough for me to spend hours in here.


My lab equipments
The next few photos are my babes.... I have to use them daily to work.
I introduce U to Maxwell, currently my slave.... haha.... which i am torturing with 20 hours of work last night. It is a standard optical tweezers setup with loads of optical equipment. Not easy to align. The optical train is control by the SLM link to a computer. Very cool tool.

Next, I have to share lorentz. It is another SLM optical tweezers system coupled with holographic imaging capability. It is the most hot machine in the lab. Everyone is fighting to have it.

The lasers used in both systems are very good, they are minimum 2.5W with fine control of the laser power. I am impressed and very happy with both tools. I will work them out really well in the coming few months.

Ah Foo visit to Columbia University

Another wonderful summer weekend, and a nice walk in uptown New York. Went to see columbia university for a visit.

This is very interesting squrriel in the park. She seems to ignore me and enjoying her food.
This is a Columbia University, a nice a big university. Very conducive environment for studying.

And as a experimental scientisit, I am willing to try more new food this week, and these are some of my latest work of art and science.

This is a difficult dish to explain, it is a fusion of chinese and western dish. I called it Zi Ma Ceral, as the name suggested, it is a mix between ZiMaHu and Ceral. Very interesting, U can try it at home and the mix is actually very good.

This is my second shot at spaghetti with mix vege and Chicken Wings.

My pork chop skill is improving daily, and it is getting better with sauces and vege.

This is my first try of pizza, which i got from the supermarket. Very nice looking, but the taste is not very good. I guess USD3 for the small one person pizza, what can you ask for? Nevertheless, i think I shall try to make my own pizza in the future.

Finally, this is the latest inventation inspired from my mom. It is called Cheong Baked Rice. Haha.... try and guess the recipes.
TTFN

More updates coming your way soon

Ah Fook can cook so can U

Following advise from my friend WeiGuo, he asks me to improve on my cooking. So I spend more time inventing out dishes than inventing out nanotechnology.
These are some of the examples of good food created out of Ah Fook's stove. Now, beside being yummy, they are looking more and more presentable. There are no secret recipe in my cooking, I just use what I have and can affort and draw out the taste I can image and create a nice dish out.




It is very amazing to me, that I can create edible and nice food by myself. Nevertheless, I still need some help in deserts and some modern cooking products.


This is my first "Zi(1) Ma(1) Hu(1)" Seaseme Seed desert. Not bad for a first timer.


Then I venture into Little Itay of NYC today, and I find it a very crowded weekend market and with classy restraunt along the road. It is really a nice atmosphere. I love to walk around here in Summer.


The typical fire escape in NYC building. Something U watch over the movies and now seeing physically is interesting.


Being a poor lad in NYC, I can affort limited food and take aways. Hence i have to cook daily, and most of my food is from NYC chinatown. The food there is similar to what Singapore NTUC have, so it is easy for me to shop there.


My father will love this place, they have chinese words everywhere, even in MacDonald's have chinese translation. The main language used in Chinatown here is Cantonese, so it is easy for me to communicate.

The overall price in NYC is expensive. However, u can still find some reasonable pricing in Chinatown

On the way back, I come across a group of people protesting on some rights issue, and they just parade the street and calling out their logons and demands. Very interesting, they are like partying on the streets and at the same time voicing out what they feel. This kind of things u will definitely not find in Singapore. Hence, this is a real eye opener for me:)



A nice day outing, and a slip of fruit juice with Ms Regina the teddy bear, does make this weekend slightly nice and relaxing.