Trick or TREAT? ;P

Do you remember what exciting day is coming? Yes, that's Halloween! Actually I'm not really keen on those horrible things or ghosts. But I always look forward to 31/10 because I love playing "Trick or Treats?' game! Every year, I buy different types of candies or chocolates and exchange them with my classmates or even teachers. After a school day, it's so excited to have new types of sweets that you have never tried before.

There is a survey conducted in America to find out American's favourite Halloween Candy (America’s Favorite Halloween Candy). Snickers, Tootsie Pops, Bazooka, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Skittles are on the top five list. I like Snickers also but in Halloween, I love eating Kisses more! How about you? Are your favourites on the list?

Happy Halloween and Trick or TREAT? :)

Fusion food on food trucks

Have you ever watched a TV programme named "Eat Street"? It is a TV programme intorducing food trucks which serve different tasty food. I would like to introduce to you food trucks which serve fusion food. Let's watch the video!!

You would see that there are loads of transnational elements in the food served. For example, there are use of ingredients like Sriracha Hot Sauce ศรีราชา and Tomato Salsa for the food served by the first truck. These names involve transliteration, which meanings are not comprehended by people who are unfamiliar with their cultures. However, if one know the meaning behind their names, they would somehow realize more about their cultures. Sriracha is a place in Thainland. It is famous for producing serfood dishes. Using the place name Sriracha with "hot sauce" may implies Thai's love for spicy seafood. Salsa is a word for sauce in Spain. However, it is commonly seen in Mexican food. This may imply that culture is always under influence. One's culture would be affected by another culture. Since Salsa would appear in Mexican cuisine, it may imply that Spain and Mexico have strong relations.
In the video, Chana Dal and Sev are intorduced. Chana Dal means Fried Lentils, while Sev means Chickpea Flour Noodle, as explained by the video. They are connected to Indian cuisine. These cases, once again, are related to transliteration. If Western words can be used to explain both terms, why their original langugae is represented through transliteation? It maybe related to the theme of the programme. Since it is to bring different kinds of delicious food which are served on food trucks to audience, and this episode is to intorduce food which have different cultural elements, preserving original language maybe a good way for audince to approach to cultural diversity.
What are your opinions?

Tod Man Pla: Thai Fish Cake

Have you ever tried Tod Man Pla  (Thai Fish Cake ทอดมันปลา)? It is a delicious Thai dish which worth trying! It taste especially good when it is dips into the some sort of spicy sauce (that is my personal experience). From the website's mentioning of Thai-English transliteration, I realise that Tod Man ทอดมัน means something fried, while pla ปลา means fish. If it is not using the name "Thai Fish Cake", non-Thai persons probably do not know what the words Tod Man Pla means just by hearing the sounds or reading the transliterated words. It shows transliteration as a merit of approaching a culture since we would know how a word in a language sounds. However, it do not benefit foreigners' comprehension much because they still do not know how to decode the words they receive into a message. But, when they know the meaning behind the transliteration, they can experience a culture on language level, not only in the form of sound, but also in the form of decoded meassge.
If you like to watch a video of the Thai Fish Cake in order to feel its glamour in a more "lively" way, you can watch the following video. Do you feel they are really yummy after watching?

Sweet Childhood - Gummy Bear!

I'm sure no matter which countries you come from, you certainly know Gummy Bear because this type of candy has accompanied many generations since 1922. But, do you know Haribo? If not, it's a pity and you really should read the following news: The father of Gummy Bear, Haribo died this week.

- Haribo Head Dies: Germany Says Goodbye to Gummy Bear Magnate
- 德國Haribo「小熊糖之父」去世　享壽90歲

I love having Gummy Bear candy while doing my revision as it does not taste too sweet but it can give me energy to keep my work on at night. I feel so sad after hearing the death of this amazing creator. It's Haribo, who makes our childhood that lovely and memorable. Do you agree? Which colour or favour of Gummy Bear candy do you like? For me, I love pineapple, but I always find this favour is the less in every packages!!! :(

    

The Literature, the Candy and the Translation

Have you ever heard of Turkish Delight? If you do, I bet you learnt that from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis! What exactly is a Turkish Delight though?

 

It is probably hard to tell from the text and picture, but it is a VERY sweet piece of candy, as if it were a solid cube of sugar.

In Lewis's words, it becomes delicious for any young (or hungry) readers:

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"

"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

If looking at English doesn't make you hungry, look at the Chinese translation:

「亞當的兒子，只飲不吃是傻瓜，」女王過了一會兒說，「你最喜歡吃什麼東西呀？」
「土耳其軟糖，陛下。」愛德蒙說。
於是，女王又從瓶子裡倒出一滴東西滴到雪地上，地上立即出現了一個圓盒子，用綠絲帶紮著，把它一打開，裡面裝著好幾磅最好的土耳其軟糖。每一塊又甜又軟，愛德蒙從沒有吃過比它還要好吃的東西。他現在感到非常暖和，非常舒適。 

The most interesting note to make from a translator's perspective, of course, is the translation of the candy itself. It is almost impossible to tell from the English name that Turkish Delight is edible, because "Delight", as a noun, only means pleasure or something that gives pleasure. Literally, "Turkish Delight" is best defined as something from Turkey that gives pleasure, which can be anything actually. To be honest, when I first read Edmund's request, I was not sure what he is asking for. For a term that sounds problematic enough in English, how can the Chinese translators handle it?

土耳其軟糖, literally Turkish Soft Candy/Sweet, is less confusing than its English counterpart, because we can at least tell that it is a piece of candy. However, it can still be criticized for omitting the "delight", because soft candy does not always give pleasure.

CLASS REVISION TIME: Is the Chinese translation of Turkish Delight an attempt in localization or foreignization? Feel free to let us know by commenting here!

In the piece of reading which might have brought nightmares to you, discourse studies is mentioned. If you do not study English Linguistics, it may be another term that you don't want to know about. For those who are still interested, here is a bit information on what critical discourse analysts would do to the extracts we have just read:

Notice the words Lewis used to describe the Turkish Delight summoned by the White Witch:
i) several pounds of the best Turkish Delight
ii) Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre
iii) never tasted anything more delicious

and the effects on Edmund - quite warm now, and very comfortable

Know that it is the discourse that is making you feel hungry as you read. Do you think you would be interested on the candy if those words are deleted or replaced by something else?

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of Turkish Delight. Each piece was white and cubic and Edmund ate them. He was less cold now, and less uncomfortable.

茶碗蒸しChawanmushi: "Tea Cup Steam"

Now, I want to introduce to you guys Chawanmushi(茶碗蒸し), which is a Japanese egg custard dish that placed inisde a tea-like container. Click here if you want to find out more information about the dish.

The Rilakkuma teacups are really cute, right? But that is not my main point XD
What I want to do is draw your attentions to the ingredients of the dish.
According to the video, the dish is made of ingredients which have unique Japanese names, such as Shimejiシメジ, Kamaboko蒲鉾 and Mirin味醂. All these add values to the uniqueness of the dish that it becomes a truly Japanese dish. I would like to try this dish, which is an important part of Japanese food culture, if I have chance.
What do you think about the dish?

Homemade Time!

Do you know, last week is my grandma's birthday!!! In the previous years, I didn't have time to prepare for her birthday party due to my busy work but this year, I decided to give her something special. Since my grandma is a vegetarian so after searching on the Net, I decided to make a vegetarian pizza for her birthday present. I found this video on Youtube. Although it is in Hindi, it has very clear English subtitles so I feel comfortable following the steps.

 

My grandma always tells me that she loves pizza but she always cannot enjoy it as most of the pizzas contain meat. Therefore when she saw the homemade pizza last week, I could see how delighted and touched she was!!! I wish I can treasure my time being with her and I think we all should cherish everything around us. You never know what will happen next minute. So, if you get spare time, why not make some snacks for your friends and family to show your love? Any interest on marble cakes? Haha...I love it very much! How about you? :)