IN-N-OUT Burger

話說:

某日在台灣和老友相聚吃晚飯時，突然有位夢仙女姊姊提起永康街多了一間 Burger Joint, 味道和北美的有像，因老闆是 L.A. 回去開的。

在座的 JL 聽到後兩眼發光，直說要去看看。。。 雖然我們是在永康街吃飯，但已經九點多了。。。好像有點。。。

後來我們不負 JL 望，還是走去看看了；基本上看起來還好，還算是一間店。。。 有點人在裡面，Menu 還可以，有Burger, Milkshake, etc.，只是，打烊了。。。 不知味道到底如何說。。

回美後探子JL有回報 (忍受不了不去吃的衝動。)：

"It ain't bad....has potential, but I still prefer In-n-Out better for now. But I go back and give feedback everytime (esp on their milkshakes... which started out a bit too liquid)."

嗯，嗯，了解，了解。。。

Which made me crave for In-n-out all the sudden...

Therefore...

Voila~

Mesdames et Messieurs, je me présente vous :

"The In-N-Out"~~

對於不了解 In-N-Out 的人:

In-N-Out Burger is a privately owned and operated fast food restaurant chain in the Western United States.

Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded to Arizona and Nevada, and has announced plans to build in southern Utah.

The restaurant chain has developed a loyal customer base by maintaining a simple menu of high-quality hamburgers and french fries made to order with fresh ingredients.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger

兩句話：只有在美國西部有，加州／內華達／亞利桑那；原料都是新鮮的Made-to-Order。

還好沒在店內宰牛。。。 謀殺土豆倒行。。。

-In-N-Out Menu.

其實以前In-N-Out 在L.A. 開始時是沒有堂食的，都是車子 Drive-Through 就沒了。

現在某些 L.A. 的老店還是如此，如 Alhambra 等。

-新鮮的謀殺土豆成品。老實講，要在七分鐘之內吃完，不然的話，McDonald's 就可以了。。。 它的可撐十五分。。。

- 4 sets of "Double-Double" - a double cheeseburger (two slices of cheese and two meat patties) .

- Strawberry Milkshakes~

- My portion of it... Don't think I can eat four sets...

- Close up of the Double-Double~

- It's actaully thicker than it looks...

下次有機會到美西時，別忘了嘗嘗看～

JL, 別忌妒，我先幫你吃幾份，你再慢慢調教那永康街那間可愛的店。

http://www.in-n-out.com/

節婦吟 - 還君明珠雙淚垂

還君明珠雙淚垂 ~ 哀怨淒美詩的真義

張籍，字文昌，蘇州人，唐貞元十五年進士，官拜太常寺太祝，遷秘書郎。後經韓愈推薦，得為國子博士等官職。許多當時的名士，都樂於與他同遊。

在東平這個地方，有一位李司徒師道，父子三人，割據一方，是當時最為跋扈的一個藩鎮。李師道非常仰慕張籍的學識，很想羅致徵聘他，來為自己效命。

張籍雖是窮官，卻淡泊名利，更不願與亂臣為伍，常以詩歌自誤，逍遙而自在。張籍不便正面拒絕李師道的徵聘，所以，寫了一首「節婦吟」，寄給了李司徒師道：


節婦吟
君知妾有夫，贈妾雙明珠。
感君纏綿意，繫在紅羅襦。
妾家高樓連苑起，良人執戟明光里。
知君用心如日月，事夫誓擬同生死。
還君明珠雙淚垂，恨不相逢未嫁時。

在字面上，這是一首哀怨淒美的詩，其中的名句「還君明珠雙淚垂，恨不相逢未嫁時」，現在也常被人引用，表示對他人的深情厚意，因為時與事的不能相配合，只能忍痛加以拒絕之意。

而在當時的張籍，這首詩的用意，是婉謝而不願就聘。李師道看了，也只好就此作罷，不再勉強了。

Potter Mania #7

July 21, 2007;

A day for those muggles who waited two years for the finale of the magical journey, the death of ??? Hmm, Potter or Voldemort? or ??

Anyway, the postman deliver the book order from Amazon around noon, who said it need to pay extra for shipping?? Love Amazon~~ ^_^

- Yeah~ "Attention Muggles..."

The book cover and the packing slip... ?? When does packing slip became so.... Potterized??? Gee, marketing, packing... what an art to learn...

The entire book cover... seems like Potter and Voldemort are reaching something... the wand perhaps??

Ok, let the cover back to where it belong... I'll put the plastic cover later to 'seal' it.... ^_^

En, 759 pages... ay, why can't English class be this 'marketable' back in my school days.... gee...

Note I

熙卉人生毓馨葳，
回看江山思想起，
茂盛鮮竹隨心性，
院滿茗馨尚佳緣。

絲竹迴音繞廂樑，
百花無語低思垂，
浪中掏玉有幾回？
醉夢白雲至夜深。

夜冠雲月艷霓裳，
深億凡性轉虛空，
罷心安忘入空山，
吶燃托寄笑三生。

虛實有意迴旋到，
展望臘日歸穴處，
輝傲名處岸歸婆，
破訥份取日見心。

-木桐

Note 0

心長春葉禪語誤，音方轉還繞廂樑，花落秋風相識時，回首難見霧中人。

佳人方氣無佳語，心憂它日黯然時，落日黃昏夜歸廳，道卻江山意難禁。

-木桐

What is it???

?

What is it? What is it? What is this black box thing? Is it a new style of coffin??

Course not!!!

It’s a gift from my pal that I received during this New Year… Just that I left on the desk for ‘a while’…

So, what is it?

還牽一條紅緞帶線，搞的跟棺材一樣，要不是有那紅紅的。。。

啊～ 姊姊別打我～ 我沒有毀謗的意思。。

So, now you know what is it 了吧？

答案就是： 我那孟姊姊 "親手" 做的果醬，莓果口味喔～ 問題是：能吃嗎？？？ 這還用問，先放半年再說。。。

姊姊，我不是故意的～ 真的忘了～ 它有乖乖的坐在我的桌上，只是，只是，只是它一直沒和我打招呼說。。。

您忘了加個發聲器："喂～ 時間到了～ 該吃我了～ 我應是會壞的～"

嗯，這是孟姊姊的"騙人招數"，哦，是她的生財工具，喔，是關懷客戶的東東。。。 嗯，是姊姊的心意～

很好看吧？ 那全是姊姊親手打造的，從做果醬，選瓶子，打印，到包裝；搞的廠商都說有必要這麼嚴嗎？用現成的不行喔？

孟姊一句："不行"；廠商乖乖照辦。。。

碰上女土匪了，還能怎樣。。。 唉～

嗯，有那麼漂亮的女土匪嗎？當然沒有囉～ 根本就是天使嘛～ 還是天使中的天使呢～ (有那東西？？)

雖然它說是 7/1/07 過期，但："Best Before Jul. 1st 2007"。 並沒說之後就要丟了，為了不被修理，我，還是吃了吧～ 免的明年什麼都沒有的在家乖乖哭泣。。。

姊姊，夠意思吧～ 我拿您的果醬配皇帝蟹呢～

嗚～ 嗚～ 我的皇帝蟹～ 妳真是命好，能有姊姊親手調配的果醬送行～ 該含笑了吧？

嗯，味道如何？
嗯，這廢話不用問了吧？ 我有膽說不好嗎？ 又不是第一天認識她們。。。

Friday the 13th~

Friday the 13th, hmm, what to do??

Well, we muggles must attend the wizarding world of Harry Potter, to be cure of the curses…

That is, another way to find excuse to ditch work and join Dumbledore’s Army for 2 hour and 18 min.; plus ~20 min. for the previews, and ~20 min. drive to the department of Mysteries’ darkroom #22… Oh, let’s just say Friday is not a day for work…

Death Eaters are coming, got to save the world~

One can’t be hungry when fighting the You-Know-Who; therefore, certain preparation is required beforehand. Luckily, the dept. of Arby’s offer 5 for $5.95 to join the event; how can we refuse their friendliness? Yet its mozzarella is too cheesy… not recommend it… strawberry shakes are better than McDonald’s…

Order of the Phoenix, read it back in ’03 when it first went out, thought it was a bit long and Umbridge’s part stretched too repetitively; the D.A. part was fun to read; and funny interactions between Potter and Snape in occlumency lessons.

The movie done ok, as it can’t compile all the details from book to live, just that the first love Cho was the trader instead, bit sloppy…

The fighting scenes in the movie used too much CG and cut off many details, the final duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore are so Starwar like, remember how Obi-Wan confronts Vader in Episode 4? J.K. Rowling must be a Starwar fan deep down, as many already claim…

To be honest, for the entire movie, I just want to watch Luna Lovegood for some reason… From the first scene she appear in the carriage to the end. The young actress who portrays her, Evanna Lynch, did quite well.

In the book, Luna was bit strange or weird, yet not in any mode during the movie; maybe the director like Lynch so much that ignore this little detail… no dirty blonde hair at all… beautified too much… hmm, maybe because of Lynch… However, I don’t mind… just give her more scenes in the next movie… ^_^

Also, if possible, delete all Cho’s scene would be nice… Katie Leung is not at all, an actor… what a disappointment since Goblet of Fire…

Anyhow, fans of the Potter world will watch the film regardless… I’m just waiting for the last installment to come on the 20th….

Oh yeah, on the way out, I also watched Ratatouille…

Order of Phoenix
http://www.harrypotterorderofthephoenix.com/

Luna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Lovegood

7-Eleven

7-Eleven or 7/11, as a trademark of a popular convenience store worldwide, I’m sure majority of the people knows what 7/11 stands for, that besides mainland China, which still try to penetrate the market.

7/11, to us, it’s about Slurpee and Big Gulp, and, oh yeah, lottery~ Course, never win much…

A drink or two after sport games, a place to gossip about school news, a site for sightseeing… Oh~ those wonderful times…

7/11 in U.S. is not much more than a small shop, full of items that seen to be useful, yet drinks, snacks, and cigarettes are its main source of revenue. Why? Because people shop from supermarket or warehouse store already, with cheaper price.

With the growing success of Walmart and Costco, these convenience stores’ market share is shrinking by day, and the typical customer in store time is less than 2 min; compare to about 25 min. or more in other retails. Course, this stays true for suburbs areas. With the similar distance of car drive, there’s no point to ‘shop’ at 7/11 on typical days.

So, how come convenience stores like 7/11 still making huge revenue? US$10,882 billion back in 03??

I believe it made its profit outside of United State, the land where it founded back in 1927. Those who live in the State would agree that 7/11 chains’ layouts are quite bore without any significance compare to QuickMart or any little stores.

As for stores outside of U.S., especially in Asia, tons of items and hot foods are required to be part of 7/11, without them, it’s not 7/11. Not to mention the endless of promotions and stuff animals like Hello Kitty collections in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan lures customers’ desires.

The other function of 7/11 in Asia I found interesting is the collection of payments, from utility bills to parking fines, all sort of the things that turn the store into daily life necessities, which can’t live without them. That is a phenomenon created by Japan and spread all over Asia, just not U.S. By the way, 7/11 is a complete Japanese owned company back in 05.

So, the convenience store is not convenient in U.S., but in elsewhere… Part of the reason is the spread of land and its lack of market strategy, plus the franchise owners’ will. More promotion means more tasks, more items mean more stocks, and the customer base is uncertain, yeah, it’s hard.

Overall, these are not my problems, my issue is: when will U.S. 7/11 offer Tea Eggs??? Not just tasteless hot dogs…

By the way, they offer free slurpee today, “7-11 Day”, if you didn’t know…

First come first~ till supply drops~

7-Eleven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven