The great big Instagram LIE

Near the end of that amazing book by the writer and chef Eddie Huang, he talks about his idea of a neighbourhood restaurant.

Im going to paraphrase here but the essence of a neighbourhood place is one where everyone is welcome. you don’t need to buy anything , and you especially don’t need to make a purchase in order to use the wifi. In other words, the young who often don’t have Money would still be welcome to come in to a neighbourhood joint, because there are so few other options for them. Huang’s sense of generosity is not limited to the customers. He expects his staff to leave him and get better Jobs. Sadly in the real world we don’t put these selfless ideas in to practice. Not only do we expect to have to pay for things that should be free, we are expected to look up to people who go to all these supposedly cool places for free and get paid to promote them to people like you. I’ll save what I think about Instagram for another post. What I’ll say here is I’m tired of people being made to feel they’re not good enough because they haven’t been to some restaurant, or bar, that’s overrated anyway… It’s not only women who do this, although it’s easier for women to simply use their image to get paid to sit around in a Jacuzzi.

Lets face it, these women are getting paid, and if you think I’m lying, when was the last time you saw a typical Instagrammer simply doing something nice for somebody else, not because it was for money, or for more followers, just because they could help someone who maybe doesn’t have the same high-level public image that they are fortunate to have themselves. You can be sure I’m not bitter about this.

The truth is, I can remember when I couldn’t get a date. If you don’t have money, it’s going to be really hard to get a girl interested in you. Then when I was thirty I was finally able to take women out, but we could only share a dinner somewhere or maybe just have a starter each and then leave. As quaint and funny as that sounds, I’d have loved to have been able to do more with women at that time. Being poor is romanticised by people who have money but I’ll be honest it’s really not that much fun.

Hot Girl Supper Podcast

Howdy folks. You have come across two talented Asian women on Instagram showcasing their cooking skills and restaurant visits. These two women are Verna Gao and Ngygen Yeats-Brown

As well as sharing their Asian revcipes and cooking skills, these two have more recently been sharing their views on everything from first dates to friends with benefits. 

The podcast has a definite female slant, but it’s still well worth listening to if you’re a man. 

Let’s have a listen now. https://open.spotify.com/show/2xk4Hi4MhOkRFaHNMxTzuS

AS you can hear, these two have a great chemistry between them. They boince off each other and have an amazing simpatico. The fact is that it’s rare even now to hear women, let alone Asian women, speak directly about dating and relationships. I have enjoyed all of their podcasts. They keep things interesting for the whole running time and it sounds like they didn’t even need to have a script for things to be interesting. 

Maybe they will be a little too sassy for some people not used to hearing women speaking frankly. There;s a lot of stuff they talk about that honeslyt, I had no idea was even an issue for women, it’s helpful to get an honest female perspective on things. 

I fell like they do want to be seen as very confdidnt and empowered women, especially when they talk about the ‘creeps’ who approach them . At the same time, they occasionally let their vulnerability come through and that’s when the podcast is most edifying.  However, I love hearing what they have to say and I would love to have them as friends. They are the funniest people I haven’t met in real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOHGykcgS-Q&t=31s\

3 Sojus reviewed

Soju, the distilled drink has been the number 1 drink in South Korea and is also the world’s most popular spirit.

For most people, soju is a cheap, simple alcohol with little taste. The drink is only made in South Korea and can be distilled from bamboo or sweet potato. It is best drunk with food, barbecue and raw fish for example. It’s rare to see Koreans drinking it in more expensive bars and restaurants. Here are the most popular soju brands.

Chamisul – Jinro

1623401181-082739200

Made since 1926, this is the most well-known brands. The taste is little metallic, almost like a solvent. It’s very clean tasting but it has little flavour.

https://www.foodforfoodies.co.uk/

Chum-churum

I really like this one. At first I was sure I was drinking vodka, the taste is very similar although the ABV is only 17.9. I got some citrus here as well and it would be good to try it with a slice of lemon or lime to bring this taste out. Highly recommended.

https://www.japancentre.com/en/products/15464-hitejinro-chamisu

Jo-eun Day

Jo-eun day is a slightly harsher soju that once had a much higher alcohol content that has been successively lowered over time. https://hmart.co.uk/shop/gb/

Chloe Flower CD review

Flower Through Concrete

Chloe Flower released through Sony Music Entertainment Masterworks

Chloe Flower has released her first album. The self-titled release features original compositions as well as famous piano pieces from the classical repertoire.

The concept album is presented in three parts like a concert programme.

Act 1 starts with ‘Innocence’. Over a beautiful Schumann piece (from scenes from childhood), New Age Faith healer intones that ‘innocence is the symphony of the universe. We have music deep inside our consciousness, and we dance to it before we know the tune’. The original compositions that follow show Chloe’s gift for melody and technical piano playing. ‘Rise Up’ is a pastoral sounding-piece that has some impressive piano runs and is accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments.

Act 2 is titled ‘suffering’ and begins with an extract from Moonlight Sonata and some more Deepak Chopra ramblings about ‘feeling the anguish’, which might come across as grating depending on your tolerance for alternative philosophy. The next tracks are dark and menacing, and here Chloe combines the classical style with pounding hip hop beats. This style has introduced Chloe to wider fame and attention.

The final Act, titled Hope, ends on an optimistic note. There is a cover of the Billie Eilish song Bad Guy features more of the hip hop beats and the final song ‘popsical’ is a summation of Chloe’s genre-mashup of classical and pop music.

Overall, I enjoyed Chloe’s album. The classical pieces are well chosen and fit into the album’s themes. The spoken intros to some of the tracks became irritating. It would be interesting to have some collaborations with other artists to add vocals to Chloe’s talented piano stylings.

Rating: ***and a half

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chloe-Flower/dp/B0948N64JC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4TIQC9XQFT3C&keywords=Chloe+flower+CD&qid=1651782701&sprefix=chloe+flower+cd%2Caps%2C42&sr=8-1