A Christmas Eve Tradition - Sort of

I've known about a certain ritual for awhile now, but have never had the chance to experience it - Japanese Christmas Eve. In Japan, so I'm told, they don't really get the whole Christ the Saviour shtick so they generally give gifts to one another and that's that. But for dating couples, December 24th is a time for a romantic evening out. Rather than shop oneself daft in a mall, they use it as an excuse to get away and thanks to Japanese efficiency and groupthink, what could be a very elaborate, individual expression of love has degenerated into a bucket of chicken, a bottle of cheap plonk and a night in a cheesy love hotel.

Ali has been working on this for a little while and I'm glad to say that she puts a little more effort into the exercise than what I've heard others do. No KFC for me, instead homemade fried chicken drummets - marinated for 24 hours and dredged in Ali's secret blend of spices. But that's not all. As you can see from the photo, she prepared corn soup in the blue coffee cups (Japanese efficiency), sticky rice with lotus root in the caramel-coloured bowl, a salad where lettuce is just garnish on the plate with the blue rim, and fried tofu cakes blended with chicken in a mushroom consommé. I snatched the candle holders in a secret Santa deal at my new job. Not bad at all. Last but not least a strawberry shortcake made using the finest handmixer money can buy. The thing is older than me, maybe older than Sissy and it still works. Truthfully, the cake is a remake. The first one was a write-off because the recipe is in Celsius and my oven is Fahrenheit. Somebody forgot to convert... but as you can see here, the second version is pretty darn near perfect.

So is this becoming a food blog now? I love food, but no. Thanks to Ali, I'm at my highest weight ever, a whopping 160 lbs. and I don't want to get any bigger. This is still a movie blog, and to that end I watched Baak nin hiu gap starring Sammi Cheung and Louis Koo last night. The opening of this film was so ridiculous that I almost turned it off. The only reason I kept watching is because I like Koo, and though I don't think Cheung is a particularly strong actress, she knows how to make a scene funny - and just the right amount of funny. It turned out to be some hybrid of a romcom and a kung fu flick in which the student must have her heart broken in order to master the kung fu style. Student May, played by Cheung cures an ailing millionaire playboy named Tiger, played by Koo. May's teacher tells her to follow Tiger to Hong Kong and romance him.

The plot becomes a series of stunts in which Tiger tries to make May fall for him, just as he is about to dump her. The problem is, May isn't the jealous type and she continues to love Tiger for who he is. The whole storyline turns out to be nothing but a two hour advertisement for cosmetic firms and shoe companies as Tiger discovers that the secret to mastering this style of kung fu is not to have one's heart broken, but to have one eye open and one eye closed. Phooey!

I'd watch it again, but skip the parts about the kung fu school and stick to the relationship stuff between Tiger and May. It would cut about half the movie out, but it would still be one of the best performances I have seen for Sammi Cheung.

Meri kurisumasu!