Polite Savages (tm)

New York Chinatown Bakeries

I love food.  I love Chinese food and I mean real Chinese food.  Not the stuff of local takeouts that cater to a bland palate.  One of the things that most Americans don't experience about Chinese food is the Chinese bakery.  The Chinese bakery in America is a fusion of Western baking techniques and the Chinese palate.  The baked goods range from sugary goodness in the middle of a napoleon walnut cake, the savory goodness of a pork thread bun and my favorite, the egg custard tart.  Of course there is so much more for sale like roast pork buns, curry puffs, hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry, sweet white pullman bread and the list goes on . . . I could eat at a Chinese bakery everyday. 

A couple of blogs and websites provide fantastic advice on  navigating the menu and ordering etiquette at a Chinese bakery.

Ed Levine provides a detailed guide to New York's Chinatown bakeries.

This is a general New York Chinatown blog.

Fay Da is one of the most prominent and accessible bakeries in New York's Chinatown.

These bakeries typically provide trays, tongs and wax bags.  It's self-service but sales attendants are always ready to help customers especially the ones that look confused.  Please do not use bare hands, put baked goods into the wax bags.  Move from left to right.  Pass your tray to a cashier who will tally your purchases.  Pay quickly and get out of the way.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  Finally as always, say thank you and please and smile.

Enjoy!

Robin Sparkles

Robin Sparkles is Robin from How I Met Your Mother on CBS. Robin was a pop star in Canada and the video parodies that they do of Robin are hilarious.

Happy Slapping, Insult Chat Rooms

      This is a still shot from a "happy slapping" incident that resulted in the death of a homeless man.  For all my fellow Americans who are thinking just what the heck is "happy slapping"  "Happy slapping is a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone or a smartphone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping, even rape and sexual assaults have been classified as "happy slapping" by the media."  (from Wikipedia, September, 17 2007).  That's one trend that I am proud to say that did not originate in the United States.  Perhaps we are smarter than that or perhaps it's because of our litigious society so the average person is savvy enough to know not to create any hard evidence of an assault. 

     But seriously, I heard about happy slapping for the first time on BBC Radio One which I receive on my satellite radio service provided by Sirius which I love.  Apparently, some teenage boys dropped kicked a cat (who lived to tell), recorded it on mobile phone video and then distributed it to their school chums who then reported it to the authorities.  First of all, those boys must be sociopaths or seriously misguided (and to those boys, try to sue me for slander and let's see how far you get).  Secondly, why would you be so proud of drop kicking a poor defenseless animal.  It really does shock the conscience.  For those of you who have a shred of feeling, I assure you that  those boys were punished.

   In a similarly disturbing vein, I recently learned that there are insult chat rooms where people enter to trade jabs and ribbings.   On March 21, 2007, Kevin Whitrick was in such a chat room with about 50 other people.  He threatened to kill himself on a web cam and his audience urged him on.  He was successful in his endeavor. 

Do I need to write more?