Slow Food 1

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慢吃.快活

旅居曼谷十年，三餐皆外食也，有朋自遠地來，肚子一餓，多半時候，都在市井裡的深居陋巷解決，探覓道地的原味美食。

舊攤口，小肆，騎樓，老店鋪，外觀不甚起眼，食物卻出奇的美味。

泰皇五世朱拉隆公愛吃是出了名的。他赴歐遠遊，常在日記里緬懷家鄉味。一國之君尤此，影響其子民之深，可見于當今泰菜的多元特色口味。

曼谷固然不缺氛圍雅致的餐館，然其商業味重過食物的滋味。

曼谷之大，除可尋幽探秘，最佳者乃途徑一深巷巧遇美食而就地品嚐。

吃上了，一晃即是十年，竟給我吃出一份美食地圖來。

好友到訪，從不為景點名勝，多為吃而來。

慢慢品吃的快活。

Slow Food 2

梅園鴨麵

拉瑪四路華隆蓬火車站附近的梅園老店，不識貨者不止步。皆因店面陳舊，桌椅五色參雜，又近大路，塵土飛揚食物難免會加料。

嗜食者不拒外境之干擾，椅子一拉，坐下，來一碗正宗的暹羅鴨麵。

麵條鬆軟又嚼勁好，鴨肉之嫩滑不在話下。它的湯頭，可謂嘔心之作。香料全，火候小，慢熬始能入味。

喝一口，有椒香氣，有薑沖氣，亦有八角和桂皮的藥香味。鮮香也！

常見食客總是整碗湯喝下，那口感超爽。

營業從早十一至午二時，趕不上中餐的話，午四時至七時倘有一回。可早點到，坐著等，聞著大鍋中傳出的幽幽湯香味，不餓亦難。

湯頭好像也帶點茶味。

Slow Food 3

四方城椰子冰淇淋 

單看那快要倒塌下來的老店口，已吐露出店主六十年來的苦心經營。

不賣別的，只專冰淇淋。

那串串肥美椰肉剛鮮挖出來，用菜刀細細切碎，再混進用椰奶制出來的冰淇淋，配上花生仁及亞答仔，一道生津止渴，沁人心脾的甜品上桌了。

問過店主，單靠椰子冰淇淋可否維持生計。他說大小餐廳訂單源源不絕，生意之好，實不相瞞，一天至少得用幾百個鮮椰，且只用泰南鮮椰。椰不佳者概不選用。此商業道德可喜也。

德不孤，必有鄰。這家座落在“秋千紅門”的老字號，連日本雜誌亦慕名而來，可見慢工出細貨，自有欣賞者也。

老店口的木桌木椅也有一把年紀了。桌面上的輪紋磨出一般神韻，每每用完冰後，竊想把它搬回家的衝動。

 店主的老店口

Slow Food 4

鉛筆街廚神    

提起廚神（Krua Apsorn），當地人都知道它是已故的泰皇姐的偏愛。

相信尋遍整個曼谷市，也找不着一家餐館是在晚間八點打烊的。

晚上八點在台北，香港，上海或東京，人們才剛要外出用餐呀!

主因是，門市生意太好，店主知足，不想累垮，故提早關門。

單這點，叫我佩服他的經營理念。

常叫的那幾道菜有：木瓜絲涼拌，炸雞翅，清炒遙馬力菜。

蟹肉長豆炒紅椒，海鮮冬粉，酸橙湯也不賴。

它的炸雞翅，外皮酥脆，內肉鮮嫩；因醃醺久故五味已入肉，咬在嘴里爽韌有味，甚是絕品。

稍晚些去，較好的菜色多已售罄，叫個“炸蛋”就著半碗白飯吃，不亦美乎？

這兒的小菜都很下飯，胃口不佳時尚值一試。記得晚間八點前到。

 廚神的香辣很下飯

Slow Food 5

一晚一桌

店名叫“一桌”，擺明了不多做，一個晚上就只做你一桌的客人。

缺點是：得湊足十人一桌，才有幸吃到林哥的拿手好菜。獨來獨往的老饕沒口福了。

這家位於曼谷唐人街濕巴剎對面的老字號，只接預定，且得提前一兩個月, 謝絕walk in。

有人嘆說老店已沒啥好吃了，口出此言者，不是內行人。

“一桌”的菜色，上至鱈魚，河蟹，下至滷肉，高麗菜，各有風味；且鮮，因只供一桌的菜，材料全部符合菜單，想叫多一碗白飯也不成。

價格略嫌貴了些，但想到整家餐館就只有你一桌子人在大快朵頤，也就物有所值了。 

材料只夠供一桌的菜。

Slow Food 6

海外天醬清鳕鱼  

耀華叻(Yaowarat Rd)路口貼近交通燈旁的海外天，其泰式中華風味全曼谷市最是深濃。

店面不甚雅觀，幾近頹廢，若不是事先有人告之，打死也不進去的那一類食店。

可偏偏醜店常出美食，店主把全副精神放在食物上，也難怪無暇點綴店口了。

我常來這吃，且常叫那鍾愛的三道菜：醬清蒸鱈魚，蝦仁魚鰾和芹菜羊肉。

蒸鱈魚最關鍵的，在那一匙醬清。

店主自詡祖傳訣竅的醬清，我懷疑該是加了其他成份。

或是蛋白？或是梅子？店主不說，無人知曉。

炒羊肉，何以如此誘人？連不嗜羊者如我亦不能拒之。

羊肉多腥，切成薄片和芹菜一起炒，腥味即除；再撒些蒜蓉及豆豉，已近清香灑逸。

這些材料皆為常用品，不知為何加在一起即成佳味，非廚藝高超者實難為之。

美中不足處，鱈魚小的一片要450泰銖，大片550泰銖。炒羊肉也要350泰銖，魚鰾蝦仁400泰銖，三樣小菜也得花上千銖。

我所謂之“常來”，非每星期一兩回，而是每年三幾回也。

豆豉和醬清，會用即成佳味。

Slow Food 7

阿里站菜包

捷運阿里站周遭不乏高檔餐館及咖啡廳，最叫人回味的卻是Voraporn菜包。

此素味，集沙葛，香菇，青蔥及蘿蔔絲于一身，咬起來菜汁四溢，連包皮也不必剝開，質感細柔，口感極佳。

Voraporn每天賣出上萬個包子，並以連鎖店的方式在城裡五個熱點出售。不標榜什麽“得獎美食”的陳腔，卻依然門庭若市。

除菜包外，尚有肉粽，也極好，裡頭含肥肉，蝦米，豆仁，豆沙及香菇，還附加一粒白果，鹹中帶著一絲甜，糯米油卻不膩，吃它兩大個也不反胃。

初一十五齋日，菜包尤其搶手，中午前即售罄。

阿里站這家包店剛好毗鄰麥當勞，但明眼人一瞧店裡的客流量，心中已有數。

菜包的香餡都是真材實料。

Slow Food 8

丁財發蝦丸麵  

不是基于同一姓氏，才特別光顧這家位於蘇恭維路62巷的蝦丸麵。

拌麵的香料當然是自加的四大天王（糖，醋，辣椒粉及花生粉）。

手擀麵條是QQ的， 微沁醬汁，加上豆芽及豬油屑， 叫人食指大動。

最絕活的乃其蝦丸，融進了蝦的鮮味，稍微輕炸後才入湯，肉質是白里透甘紅的那種蝦色（日本牌襯衫最常見此色）。

店主說蝦丸是自家的秘傳，只用一種叫黑花蝦的蝦子，其他蝦子一律不用，用雙手一粒粒捏出來。

簡樸的拙作卻因食材鮮而成了雋永好味。

一碗才放四粒蝦丸，價格卻比外面的麵食貴一倍，故顧客多為識貨者，吃兩大碗貴過一個巨無霸漢堡。

手擀麵加蝦丸，一絕也。

Slow Food 9

水牛橋源發雞飯  

水牛橋捷運站近大路旁有一家小館子以雞飯馳名，而且一賣就是五十多年。

每天約可賣出150隻雞的源發，橫掃美食獎項，曼谷五大電視臺（第三，五，七，九，十一臺）皆有特約報導。

論店面，甚無特色，還有點淩亂，舊墻上掛滿了大明星光顧此店的玉照。

它的雞飯，香在米飯上，不油膩，粒粒米飯都飄逸出薑，蒜及米的清香。

醬料也是一絕。指天椒，薑絲，蒜蓉，加上醋及醬油；這五味雜陳之濃醬淋在細嫩的雞肉，更為佳配。

有人說單油飯一碟，也能吃出味道來。

配飯的高湯是雞骨和冬瓜燉出來的，香甜又不嗆喉, 喝了也不口乾，絕不是外頭那種用味精調出來的湯味。

門市生意旺，但店主依然親切，服務好，雞腿肉也不像新馬一帶的食攤要額外收費。

最好在中午前到，要不，最好的雞肉部位都被人搶光了。

飯一碟，也能吃出味道來。

Slow Food 10

耐人尋味

有許多個人喜愛的小館子，尚未一一介紹。只好留下店名，讓“知食”份子好好研究。

1.楊家炒（皇園路近朱拉隆功大學)
2.霓姐芋條（近十月十四紀念塔）
3.新光粥館（暹羅廣場）
4.國際菜館（暹羅廣場）
5.肥姐suki（皇園路朱拉隆功大學旁）
6.燒土小吃攤（Jatujak週末市集）
7.黑糖涼粉（Jatujak週末市集）
8.嗨！木瓜絲烤雞（席龍路）
9.香蕉葉食館（席龍路Central大廈）
10.大戶屋日本料理（Paragon購物中心）
11.金山費姐乾粥（老城金山區）
12.金山泰式炒麵（老城金山區）
13.日落街印度煎餅（老城日落街）
14.霜月街七十一炸魚丸（老城霜月街）
15.三宴巴剎阿嬤韭菜糕（三宴路）

近席龍路的老店。

Be an island

心的依止

我們所遭遇的每件事，都是修行的一部份。

順境還是逆境，都是成長我們的因緣。

有次在尼泊尔，途中車子拋錨，許多乘客為此埋怨。

我下了車，趁機松松筋骨，透透氣。

順便拿起相機拍下幾張照。 

在修理車子的司機。

Once in a lifetime

11/11/11

Today, people around the world will enjoy a numerically auspicious hour and date unlike any other in the modern times: 11:11 on 11/11/11

Thousands will gather for ceremonies or trance dances, while numerologists and metaphysicists are looking for signs of some broad humanistic awakening.

Good day or bad, it is truly up to your mind.

The sun does not set, it just rises up from

the other side.

Happiness is...

享樂像止痛藥

我們所謂的享樂,只是建立在痛苦暫時的舒緩.

那一剎那舒緩快感,我們誤執為快樂.

享樂就像止痛藥,只是暫時將痛苦舒緩,却沒有將痛苦的因連根拔起.

它只是將病痛部位的神經區麻木却沒有將病根除掉.

我們以為不痛了問題就解決了,它只是在等待下一次更沉重的出擊.

止痛藥只是暫時舒緩痛苦。

Inspired Moments

無聊最好

人一靜下來便會覺得無聊.非得找些事情來做不可.這是自我努力求存的一種手段.

所謂的無聊,是我們疲于奔波的心不能適應突而其來的寧靜空間.所以自我便命令我們的心找一些消遣來填滿這個空間.

這個寶貴的寧靜空間,若能好好利用,既是靜坐冥想的第一步.

自我是靠源源不斷的活動來支撐自己,所以製造出許多名相來制服我們的心.

心一有空檔的時刻,自我便乘虛而入.將它標籤為無聊.

心若不採取行動找尋慰籍,自我便會責怪它無所事事,浪費生命.

心，無所事事...最好

Traveller notes

Watch our reactions

Everytime we have a thought appearing in our mind, if we react to it, we create actions - negative or positive - which will leave imprints on our mental continuum.

This is the way how karma keeps binding us to Samsara.

The next time you have a thought, do not react to it immediately. Watch your thought. See where it is coming from and where it will be going. Soon you will see the thoughts go into nowhere. It is just like wind, leaving no trace at all, if we do not react to it.

Reactions create actions. Actions create negative and positive imprints. All the imprints create karmas. All karmas create Samsara, the world in which we live in.

If we trace back we will find the culprit. Not the reactions themselves. The creator of our reactions is our self cherishing mind, our grasping ego.

Walking and cycling in Marakkech, Morocco.

Our true nature

Kalu Rinpoche said: The mind in its natural state can be compared to the sky, covered by layers of cloud which hide its true nature.

Our buddha nature (the sun) is always there. It is just our delusions (the cloud) which obscure our mind and make us "blind" to the truth of ourselves.

Clouds seen from Four Seasons Hotel, Lisbon.

little words

人不可無癖

清朝詩人張潮曰：

花不可無蝶。
山不可無泉。

石不可無苔。
水不可無藻。

人不可無癖。

人之一癖，說穿了，乃無始劫之習氣也。

好壞應看個人造化了。

Moss garden, Kyoto, Japan

Words that click

Henri Cartier Bresson

on composition

Our eye must constantly measure, evaluate.

We alter our perspective by a slight bending of the knees; we convey the chance meeting of lines by a simple shifting of our heads a thousandth of an inch...

We compose almost at the same time we press the shutter, and in placing the camera closer or farther from the subject, we shape the details - taming or being tamed by them.

I captured this decisive moment in a street

near Toledo, Spain.

In a sense

The Paradox of our age

We have bigger houses, but smaller families; more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgements, more experts, but more problems; more medicines, but less healthiness.

We have been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever before, but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods, but slow digestion; tall man, but short character; steep profits, but shallow relationships.

It is a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

[By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama]

Kyoto, Japan.

tree of life

剛剛好

很多人都曾經見過路邊的大樹，但我們不曾好好地觀賞這棵大樹；覺得它的出現和我們無關，好像我們只是碰巧遇見它似的。

這棵出現在路邊的大樹和我們相遇絕非偶然，而是萬緣具足的情況下才會顯現在我們的外境中。

假如我們走錯了路，這棵樹便不會出現。

又或者在夜間沒有街燈的環境中經過，而沒注意到它。

若剛巧發生林火，這棵大樹或已遭殃。

早三十年走這條路，我們也無緣和大樹見面。

要是不走路經過，而是坐在車內的左側，這棵在大路右邊的樹也會悄悄的從我們的眼界中溜逝。

或在車內，有人和我們說話而套住了我們的注意力。或手機剛好響起，我們急着接應而忽略了這棵大樹的存在。

若有一位伐木工人在我們之前先經過而把樹砍了。我們也無緣見到這棵樹。

雷劈也會取了大樹的生命。白蟻能夠將它化為烏有。酸雨久能使之腐朽。

這棵樹早在幾十年前只是一粒種子。經由一只小鳥，松鼠或蜜蜂的傳播而落身此地。經過陽光，雨水，泥土，垃圾養份的滋潤，還有二氧化碳的催化下，這棵大樹才有可能茁壯成長。

我們能夠只是說，和這棵大樹相遇，只是我們剛好經過嗎？

只要缺少或碰上以上其中一個外緣，我們就沒有機會和這棵大樹擦身而過。

老實說，我們有好好去欣賞過這棵大樹嗎？

有細細地看過，摸過，抱過或爬過它嗎？

萬事出現在我們的人生境界中絕非湊巧，而是無以計

數的前世因緣成熟，才有可能浮現。

不只是一顆大樹，一切的人，事，物應作如是觀。

好好珍惜你生命中的每位朋友，你生命中所發生的每件事，和你生活中所出現的每樣東西。

它們並非剛好出現，你也並非剛好經過。

Make a difference

Work a day for Rinpoche

My precious root guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was developing manifestation of sickness and now hospitalized in Australia.

Beside donations, I have also worked together with Diana from FPMT on a series of downloadable posters which are to be posted on the FPMT website.

Each poster carries a wonderful message from Rinpoche himself, together with a photo which I have taken from my trips in the Himalaya.

Hopefully these posters will serve as a reminder to all students of Rinpoche to practice dharma in their daily life.

New covers on the shelf 2011

Old Penang Old Stories

For those who have been to this oriental island, whose shape is like a turtle and about 5 kilometers off the peninsula, these books are a pure delight of those sweet old memories.

I knew the writer well and was quite depressed when his book hit the stand. I told him that the cover design could have been better. I could have helped him out with the design, if I have time.

The next thing, he came to me abruptly one day, saying his books will be reprinted, and the publisher was happy to have a new cover. I was in.

Cover for the old children songs in Penang

Cover for the old roads in Penang

New cover on the shelf

An anthropologist in the rainforest

Recently I am working on a new cover for a book written by an anthropologist who stayed at a small village called Semaq Seri, isolated from the world outside for centuries.

I combined an illustration of forest with real photos of plants to create a mixture of reality and illusion, trying to send the message across that our preconception of life can sometimes be realistically unreal.

The plants and trees are shot at different locations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The native kid was shot by the author himself.

Rainforest with stories to tell

Van Gogh's words

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

Conscience is a man's compass.

But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.

A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.

If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.