12/26 Journal

We did not bring a camp so I took out stupid sleeping pad which I stuck advertisement flyers together at home and laid it on the ground. Then, we slept on it and we became one of vagrants. It was not cold but after 30 minutes, I felt coldness from the ground. I regret not to bring a sleeping bag. As a result, I put on all my costs, and then my upper part of my body was warm. However, my legs were cold. It was hard to fall asleep so I only slept for 2 to 3 hours. After waking up, I was still tired.

The staffs started to arrange lines about 8 or 9 o’clock. Then, we stood to line up for exchanging tickets. Moreover, Vivi and I had to carry our luggage to line up. My luggage became heavier and heavier and I was exhausted by the endless ranks. I had to move and stop constantly so I could not sit down for a nap. Finally, after more than 3 hours, about 12 o’clock, I took the rock zone ticket. There were about 50 thousands people came to see the concert so my ticket number of entering Stadium was a front sequence. We could see Mayday’s performance in a close distance but not just watch the large monitors. It was worthy to sleep on the ground.

A Homemade Dessert – Pineapple Pie

A Homemade Dessert – Pineapple Pie

Recently, my mother has been interested in making desserts, like pineapple pie and cheesecake. I was surprised by her desserts. My mother said that she had some dessert recipes from the neighbor. Sometimes, she would ask us to makes dessert with her. Last month, my mother taught my sister and me how to make pineapple pies, from choosing ingredients to baking.

It was difficult to buy all the ingredients of pineapple pies or other desserts in a grocery store, because some ingredients were only available in a cooking ingredient store. In the store, besides the ingredients that my mother needed, she also bought dessert appliances. For example, pans for making pineapple pies, a food scale and an electric mixer. It all cost her three thousand dollars. Even though the appliances were expensive, for the next time, what she had to buy were only ingredients. Also, fresh ingredients are required. Once my mother used some leftover milk powder make cheesecakes. The crusts of the cakes could not mix together and some were still powders. Then, she checked the expiration date and found it was overdue. We still ate all the cheesecakes because it was a waste of food to throw them away. Luckily, our stomachs were all fine.

The ingredients of 50 pineapple pies included 175 grams of bread flour, 450 grams of cake flour, 150 grams of butter, 60 grams of sugar, 100 grams of milk powder, 100 grams of cheese powder, 2 eggs, 1 yolk, 250 grams of unsalted butter and 1 bag of pineapple filling. To make 100 pineapple pies, we need to double the weight of the ingredients. My mother had bought a food scale so my sisters and I weighted the ingredients. The weight of each ingredient should be accurate if we wanted to eat delicious pineapple pies. After the preparation of ingredients, the next step was to make the crusts of pineapple pies and it was very simple. We put all the ingredients except the filling into a big mixing bowl and mixed them into a huge pastry. The butter should be heated till it melted and cooled. The mixing step was easy but it needed some skills and strengths to mix them completely so we rolled them into a mass in turn. The pastry was the crusts of pineapple pies.

After the preparation of crusts, it was time to make pineapple pies. I took a ball of the pastry and wrapped a small ball of pineapple filling. Then, I round the filling pastry, put it into the pan and make it become square. After that, my mother baked pineapple pies. It was done when the crust became golden or even brown. The cool pineapple pies would be more delicious than hot ones. For me, the proportion between the filling and the pastry was hard to handle. As a result, some pineapple pies that I made were full of filling and some were few. There were several flavors of filling you could choose in an cooking ingredient store, so you could make orange pies or mulberry pineapple pies.

Making desserts is interesting. All my family members can join in the cooking. It is a sense of achievement to enjoy desserts which are made by our own hands. Moreover, while making, we can also chat with each other. As for my mother, she even wrapped pineapple pies as a gift for her friends. They all praised her and often share the recipes with her. To sum up, cooking for my family not only make us full but also amuse ourselves.

12/19 Journal

Last Saturday, Vivi and I went to Taipei to see Mayday’s concert, 十萬人出頭天 in 中山足球場(Zhougchan Soccer Stadium) .It was my first time to go to a real concert. I often see their lives in small place. This time, the concert was held in Stadium so it would be more lively and large.

The concert was free as bought Mayday’s new album. As a result, there would be huge amount of fans join the concert. My friend in Tunghai University heard that some crazy fans had camped outside Stadium on Monday so Vivi and I decided to line up early. My friend said she would set up to Taipei on Friday morning and she would save seats for us. Then, after school, we took bus to Taipei. Karry were also with us because she wanted to go home. It was 2 o’clock am on Saturday while we arrived in Stadium. There were already lots of fans lined up and slept outdoors. They had surrounded Stadium ring above ring and some slept on the ground or camped just like vagrants. It really made me creepy. Moreover, it was really difficult to find my friend in huge crowd. Luckily, I still found her and her friends.

...To be countinued

12/12 Journal

After the songs, it was the time for autographing the per-ordered posters. The entire crowd scattered because some were going to line up for Mayday’s autographs and some were leaving; they just wanted to see to their live. While people were moving, according to my experience to lives, I rushed to the stage and stood there. The reason was that while Mayday were autographing, I would be the first line of the crowd so I could see and photograph them near and clearly.

It was interesting but strange to observe Mayday. Because I was so close to them, it was easy to see what they were doing, like chatting with each other, drinking water. Meanwhile, I was photographing them by my cell phone camera. However, after taking only two pictures, the battery in my cell phone was exhausted. It really disappointed me so I only photographed them by my eyes camera. I stood there and looked at them fall in faces for more than twenty minutes. It’s really freak but fans always did it. Then, finally, I decided to order Mayday’s 7th album. I was released from the purchase struggle in my mind. “Goodbye and see you guys in Taipei,” I said in a whisper. Later, I turned around but finding surprisingly that I was surrounded ring upon ring by crowd. I tried to walk back to the record store. After saying more than ten times “excuse me”, I finally reached to the store and paid for the album. I took the final glance at Mayday on the stage, and then went home.


If you want to see Chinese report and more pictures about this Mayday live, you can visit here
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/gothicverde/8217926

I have tried to post some pictures here, but unfortunately I failed.

12/05 Journal

Some songs of Mayday’s music are singing about teenagers’ hesitation on their roads. The adolescence is between childhood and adulthood. It is a conversion and transformation in my life. Sometimes, I do not know where my position now is. I am floating above the world and have no identification to myself. I said goodbye to my childhood and step into the next stage in my life. However, I cannot see the road under my foot. For me, “future” is far but near; this unclear distance makes me cannot grasp it tightly. I can also find the same feeling in Mayday’s songs so they are great accompanies to me. Although, we are all adrift in this world and do not know what to do. At least, we have each other to be with us and understand our thoughts. This is the reason that I love Mayday.

...To be continued