Judging a face

I know I've heard this comment a lot, and I'm sure everyone else has well, and regardless of how many times I continue to hear this comment, it never fails to irritate me when I hear it. I hate when people outside of the Asian race continuously clumps all Asian ethnicities together as one, assuming that all of us are one particular ethnicity, rather than trying to get to know what other ethnicities are out amongst them in society. I've noticed that a lot of Caucasian people tend to assume all Asian people are Chinese or Filipino. What in the world is that all about? Chinese people and Filipino people don't define the Asian race, thank you very much. There are plenty of other ethnicities and cultures that come together to form the Asian race, such as Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, etc. that are also under the Asian race umbrella, but everyone fails to address these other ethnicities and shed light on them so that people are more willing to learn about them.

I've even had times when people would literally ARGUE with me about my ethnicity - I mean, really? You're going to argue with me about what ethnicity I am? When I tell you I'm not Chinese or Filipino or Japanese, that usually means that I don't fall under either of these ethnicities and that I'm a different ethnicity classified under the Asian umbrella, so get over it - you're guess wasn't right, better luck with the next Asian girl that comes by. I know that I don't look like your average Vietnamese girl - I hear these types of comments all the time...

"You look mixed - are you half white and half Chinese?"
"You look Chinese because of the shape of your eyes."
"Are you Filipino? You have to be Filipino. Look at your hair!"

I mean, maybe it's because my eyes are more almond-shaped than other Vietnamese girls, or maybe my colored contacts throw people off. I think I look Vietnamese, but apparently, to EVERYONE else, I don't. I look like a mix of various things that no one can figure out. In a way, that isn't a bad thing, and in a way, it is. I know when I had light brown hair and thick blonde streaks in my hair, people would think I was Filipino all the time, and then they'd sit there and have the audacity to argue with me about my ethnicity. I mean, I've even gotten mistaken for Mexican and Caucasian before... THAT assumption was a new one. Whatever the reasons are for clumping us all together like we're a whole bunch of nobodys that fail to exist, it's crap. From time to time, it does offend me because people are just making assumptions based on what they claim as [ignorant] knowledge. I try to brush it off and just forget about it, but lately, I hear it consistently, all the time and it's frusturating to hear.

I mean really? What defines an Asian girl as "a typical Asian girl"? I don't think people should make assumption based on what they see in someone's appearance, because that doesn't really tell you much about anything... instead, people should be more open to learning about ethnicities and cultures unknown to them.

--Kim [=

Doggie Appetizer?

Okay So I've been totally out of the loop for this blog thing. I thought we were doing it in order? Oh well, I'll blog anyways even if I'm not suppose to . Lol.

So I got a puppy a few weeks ago & I'm extremely excited but I feel so pooped because it is LITERALLY like having a kid. Jesus. Anyway, I work at a Asian food joint & I brought the little guy in to let him meet my manager. A group of regular customers ( older asian american men) came up to us & immediately told me to take it away from my manager ( who is a chinese woman) because she will cook him for an appetizer. I nervously giggled at the comment but almost instantly I thought about Asian American Cultures class because this topic has been brought up previously. I looked at my manager & she just ignored the comment and kept her eyes on my puppy (his name is Kupid btw).

I was quite offended by the comment although I knew it was a harmless joke, my guard went up. A couple of moments later before they left, one man came up to the register & before he said his good-bye's he reminded me to be careful about my puppy. I mean AGAIN?! Do you need to remind me AGAIN?! That is like my baby, you are warning me about being eaten. Not cool.

I freely googled " Why do asians eat dog?" & many forums, question-answer sites, and archives came up as results. Immediately we conclude that this tradition is "wrong", "weird" and "WRONG". We all know that the world has it's own share of ignorant people. People who continue to judge others and their culture rather than respecting it. Moreover, having people who reply to these forums by saying " Because asians are weird." only pisses off the the individuals who are knowledgeable about the dog eating issue among Asians, particularly the Koreans and Chinese.

According to Korea Animal Rights Advocates(KARA), the Chinese have been eating dogs for the last 7,000 years. It became a tradition for the Chinese and it was copied by the Koreans at some point. The dog meat was a delicacy before, but is very rarely seen in the U.S. As americans, some can freely eat cows, chicken, and pig with no problem. But because we are familiar with having dogs as our pets, we have trouble imagining their puppy on their dinner plate. In all, dog eating was a part of their asian culture. We, as americans also have our own crazy culture. Just because it is something Americans do not agree on, it doesn't allow us to disrespect the culture of others.

When do you EVER see "DOG" on the menus of Korean/Chinese joints here in America? Never. So stop feeding the stereotype.

-dolene

Food Challenge

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Hope you guys managed to stay DRY and WARM in the cold wind and rain. [=

So I know I'm a little late with this post, but I just wanted to congratulate everyone for working so hard on the food challenge. We know we did our best, and that's all that matters. Besides, we had fun that night, haha. Although we lost, we all know that we deserved to win as well. We all tried our best, researching and concocting all sort of ideas for our dishes... and on top of that, we spent HOURS cooking the chicken and marinating the shrimp for the salad and spring rolls, and good thing we did because they came out fabulous! =D

Anyway, I honestly felt like some of the judges were unfair when it came to the judging because they didn't really ASK what they didn't understand about the dishes. Yes, there are shrimp in spring rolls... but not garlic butter shrimp that's been marinated for 2 hours, and that's how the dish was original. Like Ryan said, it really was like having shrimp scampi in a rice paper. The lemon grass chicken salad was different because it was spicy chicken rather than just grilled chicken. In a sense, it was like we flipped our dishes - the salad was the American dish with the Vietnamese twist, and the spring roll was a Vietnamese dish with an American twist. I also felt like some of the judges were a little bias, and a little more critical on us than our competitors, and I know my team agrees with me when I say that.

When some of the judges said our dishes were "unoriginal", I feel like they didn't take the time to really taste the differences in the dishes, particularly with the spring rolls. The lemon garlic butter sauce drizzled on the plate was what really brought the spring roll dish together, so if the judges didn't eat the spring roll with the sauce, the full effect wasn't there, and thus, caused our dish to fall flat when it clearly shouldn't have. I read our competitors blog [210's Finest], and I do have to agree with Jiawei when he said the judges need to realize that we're all extremely busy outside of this class, and that all the time we spent late into the night cooking wasn't something easy to do. We all work, and we all have other classes that we need to study for, but we invest a great deal of time into this. I mean, I spent time at work researching recipes and trying to combine two dishes so that it would taste good and still fulfill all of the guidelines presented to us. I also agree with him when he says that this competition did bring out the best of both teams because it's evident that both teams put a lot of time and effort into their dishes and presentations.

Although we were extremely upset that we lost, we know we worked our asses off and that our food was delicious. [= And, I do congratulate 210's finest for winning - it was a close competition, but don't get cocky because we only lost by 2 points. You guys got lucky! Haha. Anyway, I included the 2 recipes for the lemongrass chicken and the garlic shrimp if you guys want to attempt making it on your own. Add and take out spices and seasoning if you'd like - we did. We adjusted it to fit our taste buds. [=

--Kim [=

PS: Donna - can you post up the pictures from that night? Thanks hun. =D

Chicken in Lemon Grass and Chili (Gà xào xã ớt)
Ingredients:
3 lb chicken
1 large onion
Salt to taste
1 tbs ground chillies
1 tbs granulated sugar
1 cup water
4 garlic cloves
3 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs minched lemon grass
4 tbs Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
1 tbs caramel sauce
Directions: Rinse chicken and dry well. Cut into small pieces. Peel garlic and slice finely. Cut onion into halves lengthwise and then cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips. Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt, garlic and onion. Fry over medium heat until onion becomes translucent. Add lemon grass and chili. Fry 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned. Add fish sauce, sugar and caramel sauce, mixing well . Add 1 cup water and cook 45 minutes or until chicken is tender . Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary. Serve hot with caramel sauce.

To prepare caramel sauce: Mix 1/2 c sugar with 4 tablespoons of water in heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let boil until mixture changes color. Turn heat down to low and heat until brown. Add 1/2 cup water to mixture. Remove from heat.

GARLIC BUTTER SHRIMP
Ingredients:
· 2 pounds jumbo shrimps, shelled and deveined, tail left on
· 1 large clove garlic, crushed
· salt
· juice of 1 lime or lemon
· 1/3 cup olive oil
· garlic butter, below
Preparation:
Use scissors to remove shells without disturbing tails. In a non-reactive bowl, combine crushed garlic, salt, lime juice, and olive oil. Put shrimp in bowl; stir to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Thread shrimp onto skewers and grill 5 to 6 inches from coals for about 12 to 15 minutes, turning frequently. Remove tails if cooking under broiler.

Garlic Butter for Dipping
· 1/2 cup butter
· 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
· 1 tablespoon lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
· 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
· 1 large garlic clove, crushed
· salt
In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add remaining ingredients; heat for 1 minute. Serve with shrimp or other seafood.

My Wonderful Weekend ! ! !

so my weekend started of on Thursday as usual. I got kidnapped after school. My friends didn't wanna take me home and I was tired out of my mind and needed rest for the night. So dinner started around 8ish at Tony Romas at Jack London Square. It was a good dinner and the bill wasn't so bad. Afterwards, everyone headed to D&B for happy hour and fun fun fun. I was sober all night :) because I had to drive. 0n Friday I had work til 6. Got home and ate then rested for a bit. Got ready to head to the city. I must say it was the worse night ever. First we got to Dirty Martini and my boyfriend forgot is ID. I mean come on, that's the first thing you check for when you leave the house. So I didn't get to go in with my other friends and stayed outside with him. Of course I was mad :) but I got over it. But he realize that he his ID wasn't at home either but his friend had it the whole time, luckily that they were headin' to the city also so he brought the ID w. him. Met up with the others at Whispers to get the ID and for some reason the others wanted to stay idk why cos it was 18+. But I didn't mind as long there's a bar there I'm good to go. So my friend was working and got my girls and I in for free then my other friends were still waiting in line to get in and we felt bad so we lefted and waited in line with them. Security walked by and told my friend that his shoes were appropriate because there's white on the bottom so he couldn't go in. WOW and just 3o minutes before this a guy with all white shoes got into the club. Racist ass security, just because we're Asians. So we all decided to leave and head over to Broadway to Club Sutra 21+ YAY! VIP so we didn't have to pay. we all got in, but my night was already ruined and I was sober. Plus we was only there for about an hour and a half so I sat the whole night looking at all my drunk friends fallin' left and right. ROFL. After the club we all headed to Fortune restaurant to eat. Got home and K0ed. Saturday was a busy day for me. Woke up and headed to the Party warehouse with my friend to buy decorations and balloons for my boyfriend's birthday. It was a HELLO KITTY theme. LOL. don't ask we just thought it would be cute. So we all got ready about 6ish and we were suppose to be there at 8pm to set up but we were lagging with our hair, makeup and blah. You know how girls are. :) So we end up getting there at 9pm and people were expected to show up around 930ish, so we all rushed to put the decorations up and set everything up. It went pretty well. The surprise was a hit and the party went smooth except that I was prettty drunk towards the end of the night so I don't remember much of anything. :( I was planning to stay sober because I thought my boyfriend was gonna be drunk. So the party was coming to an end, and next thing you know Boom a fight broke out but it was all good none of my friends got hurt. HarHarHar. Can't bring Oakland Kids anywhere. So everyone headed back to the block to talk about what happen and next thing you know, I guess the people they fought with followed us and drove by to the house, bad idea for them because they only had 5 people and knowing that the whole block was filled with people. But they end up driving off afterwards. After we headed home because I couldn't walk anymore so I was carried upstairs and next thing you know ran straight to the garbage can. Ugh, I never wanna drink again. I hate the after feeling. Woke up early in the morning because I couldn't sleep anymore and was craving for some VH. It was on hit!!! After a night of drinking, VH makes you feel so much better. And now I'm in bed blogging and tired :( && to top that off, I'm cramping. Sucks. At least I have another day to sleeep in and rest. Which is what I'm finna do now.

******IMPORTANT*****

Host:	SYTFU
Type:	Party - Barbecue
Network:	Global

Start Time:	Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 1:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 12:00am
Location:	The Alameda Naval Base (near the USS Hornet)
Street:	707 W Hornet Ave
City/Town:	Alameda, CA

Who - Everybody!
What - SYTFU 4th Annual BBQ meet [b]charity event with donations to the Children's Hospital[/b]
Where - The Alameda Naval Base (near the USS Hornet)
Address: 707 W Hornet Ave Alameda, CA 94501
When - Saturday, March 21, 2009, 1:00PM - End of the day
Why - Meet, Cars, Photo Shoot, People, FREE FOOD!

Yup, you heard that right, we are doing it again this year. Last year's events was successful thanks to the 250+ cars, 60+ motorcycles, stunters, and the gigantic crowd from all different forums who showed up to support our event. This year we're looking to make this one bigger and even better than last time; better yet, we are doing this years event with a great cause! [u]We are accepting donations for the Children's Hospital - donations are not required but would be gladly accepted and forwarded on your behalf..[/u] We can't do it without your support! Tell all your friends, crews, brother, sister, mom, dad, grannys, etc! If it gets rained out, we will move the event to the next available sunny weekend. Don't worry, we'll let you guys know ahead of time... we're watching different weather forecasts.

This is a SANCTIONED event by the Alameda Naval Base and the City of Alameda, so as usual, no drama, fighting, burnouts, unnecessary rev'ing, racing, etc... Anyone breaking any rules and causing our event to be at risk of termination will be asked to leave. There will be officers patrolling the area, so we ask you to please be on your best behavior for everybody's enjoyment!

100% of PROFITS ARE DONATED TO THE OAKLAND CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL!

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!
We also attained a 200 thousand square foot hangar with 50ft high ceilings which would fit approximately 300+ cars inside the hangar and 300+ cars outside... Rain or shine, it is going down!

***Due to a crazy response about reserving spaces in the hangar for different crews/groups/forums, we are having to require a $5 donation per car on a first come first serve basis per group to reserve indoor spots. But don't worry! If not, we have plenty of out door space right in front of the huge hangar doors (that will be open all day) for no charge

xoxo
Julie Joi

More than just getting your nails done...

So I just read Julie's blog about the Vietnamese woman that was talking crap about her when she went with her friend to get her nails done at the salon, and it's so ironic because I had the same incident happen when I went to go get my nails done a few weeks ago in Stonestown. I don't like to tell people that I'm Vietnamese when I go get my nails done for the simple fact that if they're going to talk crap about me, I want to know. This often works because no one can tell that I'm Vietnamese because apparently, I don't look like I am. Go figure. Anyway, people talking crap about me when I'm getting my nails done don't usually happen, but it did this time. I mean, for as long as I have been getting my nails done, I have NEVER EVER EVER had such a HORRIBLE experience!

So when we came in, the lady that offered to do my nails seemed helpful enough... and then slowly she just became irritatingly pushy. It's like they don't understand the words NO THANK YOU. Goodness! So what happened was that she wanted me to do my nails with gel on gel, but I wanted gel on acrylic, and she was getting upset because the gel on acrylic is cheaper, and I tend to get my nails taken off and redone every 2-3 weeks so it wasn't worth it to spend $40 when I'm going to get them off shortly after. Then, she was complaining in Vietnamese about how I was CHEAP and about how she forgot to tell me that she was going to charge me $5 to get my nails taken off, and then she presented me with an ultimatum: either I do the gel on gel for $40, or I do the gel on acrylic for $32+$5 to take off my old set. I mean, seriously? You had to trick me into doing that?! And then she was muttering about how if I hadn't agreed, she would've just drawn a design on my finger, not tell me, and then charge me for it so that I pay the amount she wants me to pay. She continue to rant on and on and ON and make all of these rude comments and I just couldn't believe it. On top of that, she put my nails on TOO CLOSE, the shape was CROOKED (and no, it was NOT my finger, thank you very much) and the gel was put on unevenly so it looked like I had mole mounds on my fingers. GREATTTTT. She tricked me into paying more, and then in the end, made them look like shit.

Even though I'm Vietnamese myself, I do have to agree with everyone else when they say that nail salons consist of nothing but Vietnamese workers. Not only do they consist of nothing but Vietnamese women, but a lot of them are filled with ladies that are trying to trick you into doing things that you really don't want to do! For those of you who haven't seen Anjelah Johnson's Vietnamese nail salon skit - you absolutely need to! It's hilarious, and sadly, it's also completely and utterly true. I've never ever actually had a full on experience like the one Anjelah was commenting about until I walked into that nail salon in Stonestown. Anyway, for those of you who commonly get your nails done, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say Anjelah Johnson's skit hit the nail on the head.

The main thing I think I have to complain about though is that the women in the nail salons can either pinpoint that you're Vietnamese, or they just assume you aren't if you don't look the part. The way they determine if you're Vietnamese is if you dress a certain way, act a certain way, or have certain "features" that make you Vietnamese... well apparently I don't dress Vietnamese, or act Vietnamese, or have Vietnamese features because that lady didn't hesitate to say all these rude ass comments about me when I'm literally a foot in front of her. I bet she regrets not asking if I was Vietnamese to begin with. Would've saved her the trouble of me calling her out on it and her realizing I wasn't lying when she saw my credit card.

So FYI for you ladies out there - DON'T get your nails done at Stonestown upstairs. They suck.

--Kim [=

Judging a race by its face (cover)

In an article titled Judging Asian Americans by Our Book Covers, the author laments on the stereotypical covers, symbols, and etc. used for Asian writers. I for one have mixed feeling regarding the lack of genre diversification. More often than not, we make judgments based on the outlook that we ‘see’. After publishers saw the success of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, they continued to exploit the formula because it was profitable. The book should have served as a turning stone for Asian writers but that somehow went awry. Instead of acting as a stepping stone for expanding genres, writers became stagnant in their style and limited their ability to think outside a box. Many modern day writers need to diversify in anything else besides historical fiction and proverbs.

At the same time, it is difficult for another Asian writer, let alone any writer, to redefine a genre that has become a selling point for many. Critics complain about the ‘chinkiness’ of the novels because of the disproportionate parity found in the writing. To them, the cultural themes and images overplay the underlining message of the story. In defense of the Asian writers, they are merely adding their personal flare. There is no definitive manor in which to define ‘chinky’. Varying viewpoints will skew the stereotyping along a wide spectrum. In any case, the disparity between ‘normal’ writing and ‘ethnic’ writing is so pronounced because we base our criteria upon western literature. Consequently, the conflicts that critics have with the novels are often socially biased. They fail to see the nuances in western literature because they have been trained to turn a blind eye to it. Without a doubt, Americans writing and adapting their stories for Asian countries will have a ‘Yankee’ twist.

*Can someone send me the info as to where I send this letter to. I am totally clueless and don't have the syllabus on me.

**Just another shameless plug. I usually blog about less objective things there.

A stereotype as i see it...

i hate to generalize or judge books by their covers, but due to the fact that i work in a public place i have noticed that stereotypes and generalizations present themselves. i took notice to a stereotype just the other night, and i apologize for being the shallow, ignorant person to even take part in emphasizing this stereotype which is the white-asian couple. you know you've seen them too. most of the time i see an asian woman with a white man as opposed to an asian man with a white woman. i do see them too though. most of my cousins are in this type of relationship. my last relationship was this type of relationship. yes, yes, i lived 1 year and 8 months of my life being a stereotype, and i did not care one bit (at the time of course. i then realized later that he was a stupid guy. not because of his race of course.)

so i work at a restaurant. and like i said, generalizations and sterotypes present themselves. i'm a server and i get this table with an asian woman and a man looking at the menu, which was covering his face. my first thought: "i bet he's white." he puts down his menu, and he is. my next prediction: "i bet she has an accent." and they order their drinks:
the man: "i'll take a coffee"
me: "regular or decaf?"
the man: "regular"
me: "and for you ma'am?"
the woman: "i'll hab ur-ange joos"
me: "sure. i'll be right back with your drinks"

ok this blog is turning into an anecdote. lol. so i proceed into the kitchen where i tell my co-worker about my new table and he explains to me that he thinks his parents were like that once. and he told me how his parents married after a month of meeting. his dad his white and his mom is filipino. and my head jumped straight to the idea of citizenship. my mind is tainted so much with sterotypes, i'm embarassed to say i even think like that!

i think we need to break the stereotype. and this is just one racial stereotype to break. i don't know what i'm talking about anymore. haha i just needed something to blog about :P

-donna ;]

the nailshop

so this morning my friend and i decided to go to the mall because we had a long break. we got there at 9:30 thinkin that the mall opens at 9 but it opens at 10 instead. so we headed to micky d's for breakfast. (something that i havent had in such a long time because i cannot wake up for it) . after we had breakfast we went inside the mall and i bought my hello kitty lip gloss! yay. it was so so cute but they didn't have many selections. my friend wanted to get her nails done so we went to this one place called "super nail shop" somethin' like that i forget, but i thought i wanted a pedicure but then i changed my mind and it's so funny because the workers there didn't realize i was vietnamese so they were talkin shit about me!!!! i just laughed and listen to what they had to say. they kept saying why am i here if i'm not gonna get a pedicure and how they were gonna give me a discount if i did, but i didn't want to. i'm telling ya, vietnamese people tryna hustle for their money they will do anything. i'm pretty sure everyone has seen the comedian anjelah johnson "the nailshop" "Hi hunnay, what you u need today"? hahahaah. FOB. i know i shouldn't be capping on them but it's just so funny. But i rather get my nails and pedicure done at my nailshop that i've been going too for over a year now because they know how i like it. My friend got her full set for $45. I think that was too over price for a damn full set. After school, i went to the nailshop and got my nails, pedicure, eyebrows and lip for only $40. yup, come to KIMS NAILS in oakland if ya wanna get it done.

so i have a shitload of homework to do tonight and i havent even started. :( and i need the weekend to come by a little faster. cos i wanna party! :)

Remember D&B Thursday everyone! Happy Hour. Yayers!!!!

xoxo
Julie Joi