It’s not about how good you are, it’s about how good you want to be!

Dreams and Success

Do you have dreams? 

I think most people have dreams.  We dream about our future, our success and our career, and we work towards our dreams to make our dreams come true. 

But, do we dream about ourselves?

Dreams about Ourselves 

We seldom dream about ourselves. 

Even we have some big figures and big names in our minds, like Richard Brandson, Steve Job, Bill Gates, etc., we dream about their success, but seldom dream about their personal qualities.

This is too true that every one of us could dream, but only a few of us could ever try the taste of success.  What is the magic behind all the big figures and big names? 

When talking about dreams and success, it is always the personal qualities, the characters, the inner strengths, which make the great differences, and eventually bring the success. 

So, why don’t we dream about our personal qualities and work towards it?  Why don’t we think one step forward?  Maybe it’s the trick of our everyday thinking and logic.

For our common logic  of thinking, we tend to think and try to figure out who we are, how good or how bad we are, our strengths and weaknesses, etc.  But our logic seldom draws us to think “how good we want to be? “. 

Of course knowing ourselves better and figuring our strengths and weaknesses are important for our self improvements.  It is even more important for us to think and work out “how good we want to be”, which would give us drive for improvements.

We could never be successful if we have never dreamt of our success.  We could never be a successful and admirable person if we have never dreamt about ourselves, dreamt about how good we want to be. 

Let’s start working on our dreams for ourselves today, let’s start thinking “how good we want to be”.  Very soon, I am sure that you would tell the differences.

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Related posts:

• The magic of feeling good
• The like attracks the like
• The Art of Happiness - the very advice from a great thinker
• Parable of Narcissus: the myth of falling in love
• Let go

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Interview with Chez Patrick

“My dream and mission is to make good thing!“ - Chez Patrick.

     

Meeting new friends with passion and high energy level is always a pleasurable and refreshing experience.  My interview with Chez Patrick last Saturday should be one of those.

After I have posted my article about the restaurants of Chez Patrick in Hong Kong, the article received good responses and many readers like that post very much.  I then have told Patrick about this and he has kindly replied my mail.  I then suggested an interview with him in one of his lovely restaurants and he just simply accepted my proposal.

I met with Patrick last Saturday in his Peel Street shop.  For I would like to mention a bit more about Peel Street.  Peel Street is a small street located in the finance and business centre of Hong Kong, the Central District.  But the Peel Street is one of the old streets in the Central District, near the SoHo Area (famous for numerous gorgeous restaurants).  There are many local “old” Hong Kong shops along the Peel Street.  The combination of Patrick’s fine French restaurant in this small and old Hong Kong street is very extra-ordinary and makes his restaurant outstand in the vicinity.

 

 

Our interview took place in last Satruday’s afternoon, where Patrick’s restaurant was quite full.  I dated my friends to have lunch there and then Patrick came over to our table to have some chats with us.

Chatting with Patrick was inspiring.  He shared his passions towards Hong Kong, his home land Lyon, his restaurants, his family and his believes with us most spontaneously.

Patrick’s dreams and believes

His dream is to make a restaurant, which is relax, homely and comfortable, not a place for showing off, for his clients.  Of course, making very good food for the enjoyment of his clients is his most important believe. 

He also reminded us that good food should be something like an art and music, the taste and smell and the experiences are all conected to our emotions and memories.

Patrick’s root and the effects on his career

His wish to become a good chef takes its root back in his family in Lyon.  For his mother and his grandmother both make very good food, he enjoys cooking since he was small.  In his family, dinner is an important function for family members to gather and share.  The cooking style of his home land places emphasis on the real favour of the ingredients.  He even keeps some recipes from his grand mother.  It is this tradition of his family and the authenticity of his cooking style,  that forms the building stone of his career as a chef and his restaurants.

Patrick’s keywords

“To make good food and good things” should be the key words of Patrick.  For him, the real value of life is to creat good things and good food. 

He emphasised to me that: “if you want to make good thing, you should get as close to the origin as possible.”  His respect to his root and tradition is very admirable. Family links and supports are very important to him. 

Last but not least, “to do the work you like!”  For Patrick, his restaurant and his good food are actually his life!

     

 

 

Chez Patrick Peel Street
G/F., 26 Peel Street Central
Hong Kong
Tel) 2541 1401

Chez Patrick Sun Street
G/F., 8-9 Sun Street Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel) 2527 1408

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Related posts:

• Cenacolo Steak & Pasta - So Italian!
• Enoteca on Elgrin - good wine, good food, good time
• Chez Patrick: a night in Paris
• TOTT: a sparkling afternoon
• my beloved southern france cuisine

Stumble it!

Filed under enjoyment, passion in life, cuisine, hong kong | Comments (8)

The Magic of Feeling Good!

  

I woke up this morning, feeling very refreshed and delighted, and I just wonder what’s the magic of feeling good.

For me, I would admit that I am a bit workaholic type and I like getting my job done well in all aspects.  So, accomplishment would be a neccessary element in my list of feeling good items.  However, only accomplishment is not enough, there should be other things which are also important for contributing to our “feeling good”. 

What would these items be?

To answer the question, I have come up with a “feeling good” list:

• having a good sleep
• doing exercise and taking a hot bath afterwards
• having some quiet moments in the outdoor environment, like beaches and seaside
• going home and staying with my parents peacefully
• chatting with friends and having some chill-out drinks
• sharing dreams and plans with friends
• discussing new projects and ideas with partners
• completing all my tasks in time and in the most pofessional manners
• meeting new people with similar wave lenghts, especially people far away from my own culture
• building up my own brand and reputation
• staying in good mood and keeping my smiles even under tremendous pressure
• being nice to others and being less critical
• ……

Of course the list is in no way exhausive.  And every one of us would have different items filed under our feeling good lists.  However, there are basic elements which are common for us all, and these basic elements are the magic of feeling good:

• physical wellness
• emotionally balanced and stable
• love and support
• social networking
• feeling of success
• accomplishment
• self esteem
• self actualisation

When we get frustrated in our daily life, it is always useful to refer back to our own “feeling good lists” and try to figure out / identify what we have neglected or overlooked or not satisfied.  There is in fact no magic of feeling good, the magic is in fact realisation and action.

Illustration adopted from: esttibalys (the illustration looks like me!)

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Related posts:

• The like attracks the like
• The Art of Happiness - the very advice from a great thinker
• Parable of Narcissus: the myth of falling in love
• Let go

Stumble it!

Filed under self improvements, Success, passion in life, wellness, happy | Comments (16)

Spencer Tunick - the naked projects

 
(Aletisch Glarier, Switzerland, 2007)

A body is a living empathy. It represents life, freedom, sensuality, and it is a mechanism to carry out our thoughts. A body is always beautiful to me. It depends on the individual work and what I do with it and what kind of idea lies behind it - if age matters or not. But in my group works, the only difference is how far people can go if it rains, snows etc.” Spencer Tunick, from Wikipedia

Spencer is an American installation artist.  His interest in human body brings him a famous “nude installation” artist.  He creates his art work by recruiting huge number of volunteer and placing them in various cities or environment in their nudity. The nude bodies in Spencer’s work always look like “living sculpture”.  In his creations the nude form becomes abstract due to the sheer number so closely placed together.

His famous projects include the “Dream Amsterdam” on 15 April 2007 where his installation took place in a tulip field in Schermerhorn wuth around 100 participants.  In 2006, Spencer created serveral installations for the ArtCity events of Dusseldorf’s Quadriennalle of Germany.  In front of the museum building and oil paintings, the nudes either look inhuman or just like some real art work coming out from the paintings.
     

     

In 18 August 2007, Spencer just completed another astonishing project for the Green Peace:  photographing 600 nudes in the Aletisch Glarier of Switzerland.  This project calls for people’s awareness of the global warming and the shrinking of the world’s glaciers. 

  

Oops, at the Aletisch Glarier, the air is cold, but the hearts are warm.

“I will try to treat the body on two levels. On an abstract level, as if they were flowers or stones.

And on a more social level, to represent their vulnerability and humanity with regard to nature and the city and to remind people where we come from.”

  (Spencer Tunick, 2007)

If you are interested in Spencer’s project, do visit his official website.  He is now recruiting for his new project in Miami Beach on 8 Oct 2007 at the Sagamore Art Hotel.  See if you are brave enough to join this interesting project! 

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Cenacolo Steak & Pasta - So Italian!

I can’t resist the drive but to introduce this lovely and tasteful Italian restaurant in Hong Kong to you.

Shortly after it’s opening since a few months ago, I tried this restaurant and fell into it at once.  I have brought lots of friends to this restaurant and they all love the food and wine there. 

In fact, this restaurant is another shop of a famous restaurant in the SoHo area in Hong Kong, the Al Dente(for information of SoHo, please refer to my earlier post: Enoteca on Elgin).  Both restaurants are famous for good quality of food and wine, reasonable prices and very cozy and comfortable dinning environment.

The restaurant has a good collection of Italian wine to match with their dishes.  All the wine selections are of high quality and very reasonable prices.  I especially love those coming from the Chianti region.  

My number 1 favourite dish in the restaurant is their Prosciutto e Brie (Parma Ham & Cheese).  The Parma Ham goes prefect with the Brie cheese: salty, creamy and delicious.  This appetiser is a perfect match with the Italian red wine.  The other appetisers like Antipasto (Parma Ham, smoke salma and grilled vegetable), Carpacciao (Italian raw beef) are very nice choices.

Being an Italian restaurant, their pasta and risotto are the signature dishes.  I love their Seafood Cafafu (lobster and seafood risotto) most.  Don’t miss this dish when you visit this shop.

Another must try item in the restaurant is their rib-eye steak.  The steak is very nicely done, very juicy and tender.  I would say that not many restaurants could compare with the quality.

Some other dishes worth recommending to you include their very crispy pizzas, mussels, lamp chop and smoke salmon salad.  Their freshly baked onion bread is also delicious.

Their desert, the chocolate pudding, is awesome!  This desert is a piece of hot chocolate cake filled with melted hot chocolate cream.  Beside the pudding, there is a scone of vanilla ice-cream.  The contrasting black and white, hot and cold, chocolate and vanilla,  all sum up to a great tasting experience.  Other than the chocolate pudding, the Panna Cotta and Cream Brulee are also my favourites.

The prices of the restaurant are very reasonable.  For a full course dinner, from appetisers down to deserts, with a bottle of sparkling wine and a bottle of good quality red wine, the total expenditure for 2 persons would be around US$120.  This restaurant also serves weekend lunch sets, with 3 courses at USD$16 - 18 per person only. 

My favourite: Prosciutto e Brie (Parma Ham & Cheese)

Cenacolo Steak Pasta
No. 45-53 Gramham Street, Soho, Central
tel) 852 25252430

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Related posts:

• Enoteca on Elgrin - good wine, good food, good time
• Chez Patrick: a night in Paris
• TOTT: a sparkling afternoon
• my beloved southern france cuisine

Filed under enjoyment, passion in life, cuisine, hong kong | Comments (9)

Light & Form

Church of Light (光の教堂), Ando Tadao (安藤忠雄 あんど　ただお), 1989.
4-3-50 Kita-Kasugaoka, Ibaraki- Shi, Osaka Perfecture.   
Tel) 0726-27-0071

Ando Tadao is one of my favourite architects.  His famous artistic creation, the Church of the Light, is a valuable gift to the world.

Born in Osaka, 13 Sept 1941, Ando entered into the profession of Architecture in 1969 after doing self-study and travelling around the world between 1962 and 1969.  He has won lots of architectual awards since 1979.  The lastest one is the 2002 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, by his “Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum, Osaka”. 

Ando’s signature is his favourite material, the fair-faced concrete (清水混凝土, in Chinese).  In his master pieces, one could easily appreciate the contrasts of solid and fluid, dark and light, raw and artifice, hard and soft, form and space, concrete and abstract.  His work always blends well with the natural environment, instead of confrontation and alienation, which shows his love and respect to the nature. 

The Church of the Light is one of Ando’s most famous creations.  Applying his favourite material, the fair-faced concrete, Ando has created a clean, quiet and humble space for people to pray and meditate.  Inside the Church, a cross-shaped opening is crafted on the plain concrete wall at the shrine to allow natural light from outside to come in.  One may find it miracle or even sublime that when natural light comes into the Church, a “light cross” appears at the shrine, a cross that is made form light and form only.  With the non-materialistic “light cross”, one would immediately understands the concept of divine and spiritual and be “enlightened”.  I would say that, the Church of the Light, by itself, incorporates Ando’s philosophy and representation of beauty with sublime beauty.     

            “There is a role and function for beauty in our time. In Japan it may be translated into the concept of Uskuji, which also means a beautiful life, that is, how a person lives––his or her inner life. It’s something beyond appearance, or what only meets the eye. You can’t really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you. People tend not to use this word beauty because it’s not intellectual—but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.”
- Ando Tadao, in an interview by Architectual Record, talking about “beauty”.

Awards

• Annual Prize (Row House, Sumiyoshi), Architectural Institute of Japan, 1979
• Cultural Design Prize (Rokko Housing One and Two), Japan, 1983
• Alvar Aalto Medal, The Finnish Association of Architects, 1985
• Gold Medal of Architecture, French Academy of Architecture, 1989
• Carlsberg Architectural Prize, Denmark, 1992
• Japan Art Academy Prize, Japan, 1993
• Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1995
• Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, 1995
• Praemium Imperiale First “FRATE SOLE” Award in Architecture, Japan Art Association, 1996
• Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, 1997
• Royal Gold Medal, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), 1997
• AIA Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 2002

In progress

• House, stable, and mausoleum for former fashion designer Tom Ford , near Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Expansion for the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts
• Rebuilding the Kobe Kaisei Hospital in Nada Ward, Kobe, Japan
• New Tokyo Tower

Filed under passion in life, architecture, japan, beauty, philosophy | Comments (3)

sophie’s gallery

 

             

    

I was driving along the Western Corridor this evening when I saw the breath taking sun setting scene.

It was Peter KAM (金培達, a renouned Hong Kong film scoring musician, the award winner of the Silver Bear For Best Film Music kudos at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival by the Hong Kong film “Isabella” in 2006. ) who said: “there should be a moment in life, a piece of music, a photo, a song, etc., that touches us.  Artist, is to pursuit, re-create and capture the very moments throughout ones life. ”

This is exactly what photography, art, literature and architecture meant to me.  This is the very reason I wish to share all those breath taking moments with you.

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金培達 KAM, Peter

Peter KAM is a versatile musician. He was first admitted to the University of San Francisco State, and then Dick Grove School of Music to study music composition and arrangement. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he focused on song writing, music arranging, music producing and commercials and film scoring. He has written myriad works for a host of famous Hong Kong artists such as Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Gigi Leung, Jordan Chan, Hacken Lee, Karena Lam, Shawn Yue, etc.

Peter has won a number of awards including “Best Original Film Score”and “Best Original Film Song” (“Fly Me to Polaris”) in the 19th Hong Kong Film Award , “Best Original Film Score”(“Lost in Time”) in the 23th Hong Kong Film Award, and “Golden Horse Award for Best Original Score” ( “Purple Storm”).

The movie “Isabella”: http://www.mediaasia.com/chn/newsLetter2.php?Id=88&subsection=1&file=../newsletter/20060603/

http://www.loveasianfilm.com/features/isabella_feature02.html

Filed under passion in life, touching moments, photography, art | Comment (1)