Street peeps get creative in London

I love how people make bits of random street art in London. Whether it's a stylish or an amateur creation, it always cheers me to think that somebody has thought about it and actually done it! Here are two examples from the past week..

Nice touch to a 'no entry' sign on Golden Square

Someone made this red block on Junction Road, Archway, into a local 390 bus to Notting Hill Gate!

Encrusted with dust

I haven't forgotten you! In a ridiculously busy timeline at the moment. Hopefully back to cultural observations and creativity in couple of weeks! :o

In the meanwhile, here is JAL's new Hello Kitty Plane. (Trying to compete with the Neko Densha?)

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/boeing/article/Japan-Airlines-debuts-Hello-Kitty-Boeing-777-2517857.php

From the Malay kitchen: Kari Ayam (chicken curry)

 What you need:

1 medium onion (chopped chunkily)

2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1cm chunk of ginger (chopped)

4-6 chicken thighs with skin

1 big potato (peeled, cut into 4-6)

Coconut milk (packet is best*)

Malay curry powder**

A little oil

Salt & pepper

A big casserole or saucepan with lid.

What to do:

Make up the coconut milk (see below)

In your saucepan, sweat the onion, ginger and garlic in a little oil, with 1tsp of curry powder, s&p

Add the coconut milk - this is your base

Add curry powder – I would recommend you do this teaspoon by teaspoon to taste. It’s quite spicy!

When contents start to bubble, add the chicken and potato. Stir

Cover, simmer for around 40 mins.

Serve with cooked white rice.

* Coconut milk

Generally, the packet mix has more flavour than tinned coconut milk. I tend to buy ‘Coconut King’: add one 200g packet to around a pint (0.5 litre) of water, and mix. You can add a bit more water to your pan if you need to cover the chicken.

** Malay curry powder

I use the Adabi or Baba's brands for meat (it will say something like ‘serbuk kari daging’ on the packet if not in English! ‘Daging’ means meat.)

 

I normally buy the coconut and curry powder from the New Loon Moon supermarket in London’s Chinatown (they have a Malay section in the back). I am sure they are available in other Asian food shops and online too.

 Variations

1. Throwing in a handful of green beans at around the 35min cooking mark adds crunch.

2. I think there’s a vegetarian version of the curry powder. And of course you can make the above without meat, or add another ingredient instead. I once used aubergine and it was good! (Add the veggies much later so they don’t get overcooked, or you can par-boil the potatoes first.)

Martial Art of the Month: Korea - Taekwondo

I had to start with this one! As some of you already know, this is my absolute favourite martial art – it is accessible, dynamic and a lot of fun! There are several styles of taekwondo, the most popular of which is WTF* style. (This is what you will see in the Olympics.) I will focus on this style.

I seriously recommend taekwondo if you want to enjoy a martial art. As with many martial arts, though, you don’t do taekwondo to keep fit; you keep yourself fit to do taekwondo!

Quick outline:

• It means ‘way of the foot and fist’
• Its ancestral forms date back over many millenia, when it was used in warfare by knights of the (then) Korean kingdoms
• In the 20^th Century, the Koreans were damn nifty at promoting taekwondo worldwide, which is why it is so accessible in most countries today (South Korea still holds the top Olympic medal tally, though)
• Very broadly, modern WTF tkd has three main components: sparring, patterns, demo.

Sparring

Yep, this is what you see Sarah Stevenson, Wu Jingyu, Steven Lopez and other Olympians doing. People kick and punch each other. I’d say modern taekwondo sparring is more of a sport, than a defence art. The key aim is to score points, not damage your opponent (though people do still get damaged!) Kicks are your main arsenal for sparring. And it’s fast.

Competitors wear body armour (head, gums, arms, shins, groin, mitts and a red or blue body guard or ‘Hogu’). No grabbing, holding or throwing allowed. Punches to the torso only. Kicks are allowed to the torso and the head. Headshots and spinning/turning kicks score more highly. The protection looks hefty, but honestly, if someone with skill hits you, you know!

Traditionally scoring is done by a group of three or four corner judges observing and using electronic equipment to register each fighter’s shots. More recently electronic Hogus and foot-shields that automatically register impact, have replaced a lot of this work. Scoring is still a contentious element of sport taekwondo though!

Sparring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fsjDMylcAs&noredirect=1

Patterns

Often called ‘Poomsae’, these are set, choreographed sequences of fight and defence moves. There are competitions for Poomsae too, but it is not on the Olympic syllabus. Competitors usually perform alone, showing their technical skill. (It is not a fight.)

As you rise through the taekwondo belt grades, the Poomsae you must know become more complex. Patterns and sparring are two must-haves to grade.

Many moons ago (apparently) Poomsae were the main way that the Korean military taught taekwondo to its soldiers. There are many moves in there that we no longer use in modern sparring! But it’s still very good for developing balance, control, economy of movement etc.

A team practise Poomsae:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqItAi2ytyw&feature=related

Demo
This usually entails a gymnastic team performance of impressive kicks, flips and creative board-breaking. Some demonstrations also include choreographed self-defence sequences. It’s a show, basically, but you have to be ultra-fit to do it!

Here are the Korean Tigers, a famous demo team from S. Korea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUvtk0_zbqM&feature=related

 

*WTF stands for World Taekwondo Federation (based in S. Korea)
Photo courtesy Global Martial Arts

NEW! Monthly Martial Art series

Because I know that all of you are simply bursting with new year energy right now, I thought I'd start this new series. (The other reason is that I am totally obsessed with martial arts..)

East Asia covers off a huge chunk of the world's most famous martial arts styles, though I hope to include a couple of the less famous ones too.

If it inspires one of you guys to start one of the disciplines too, even better!

Snack of the day: キャラメル (kyarameru)

Another lovely gift today! Some Japanese 'salty' caramel. (Though the salt is from France, apparently.) Chewy, buttery and not too sweet; nice :)

London's impressive NYE firework display!!

So perhaps the Olympics' ceremony will be a goodie after all? Here's a link for the show in its entirety (not mine - thanks to whoever posted this on YouTube!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J--WBdwnyvI

And of course...

新年快乐
Selamat tahun baru
明けましておめでとう
Happy New Year!

(I don't know more languages, but using Google translate I could possibly say "your eyeballs will be coming around the corner", "may your llama jump happily" etc etc, in others ^^)(So I thought it best not to try...)