Hong Kong International Art Fair

On to a more traditional knockoutgirl post.

The fair known also as ART HK 09 (yeah good job PRs, it is catchier than the full name) opened two weeks ago and lasted four days. It was fun. But looking at my camera phone pictures (I use my phone for no particular reason. I had my regular camera with me. I just felt like it was somehow tradition to use my phone), I noticed something about the pieces I choose to photograph. While the most striking pieces were the many strange or shocking sculptures, I find that I am most interested in keeping visual record of the most traditional - possibly most boring - paintings.

Gotta love Damien Hirst butterflies.

I didn't squash the photo; these two sculptures are actually squashed like if you are watching TV in widescreen when the aspect ratio of the show is the old kind... hate it when that happens.

These are actually deconstructed high heels made to look like insects. They are amazing.

Part of a portrait.

I LOVE this. I don't really know what is going on in this painting but it's something cultural... butterflies flying, feathered mask, photo-realism with the surreal...

Detail of a nude.

I thought this was just a giant butterfly done with loads of paint and two canvases slapped together and pulled apart, but I only realized from the photo that it is also a person's face! Wa!

I accidentally started reading a forum thread that was talking about people's poor health and evil pharmaceuticals (on Amazon. Why do retail websites host non-product-related forums? So distracting. You don't need to be everything to everybody.). One person commented that air conditioning is partially to blame for people's staying indoors watching TV and not getting exercise or spending time with other human beings, whereas without the A/C, people are much more inclined to get out of the hot house in the summer.

I agree completely that lack of A/C forces people to go outside and possibly exercise! When my husband and I were living in a particular apartment in Evanston, we didn't have air conditioning for about 1 year, and Chicago summers are hot. That summer I voluntarily (meaning no whining involved) went to play tennis everyday because I was sweating profusely just sitting at the computer. It was really disgusting, just dripping with sweat not doing anything, and I preferred to sweat on purpose under the sun while moving, wearing athleticwear, and trying to beat someone at a game, with the possibility of feeling a breeze every once in a while.

Ah. Evanston which teeters between upscale college town and suburban ghetto, how oddly conflicting it feels. Hippie art fair under the train tracks. Muggings at gunpoint by the moonlit lake. Darkness and light. Take me, free me.

Saturday, very interesting day.

It is the day that I attempted to fast, and I would classify it as successful. It is also the day that I went bicycling for 5 hrs (with like 1 hr "lunch" break in the middle) at the surreally beautiful beyond-Shatin area. Just look at that sky, and sea, and mountains, and pristine techy paradise-of-the-future california-meets-hk sight. It is also the day I was an accessory at my in-laws' mother's day dinner. It is also the day I enjoyed a concert. It is also the day I didn't go to a toga/luau party. It is also the day I was very hungry and kept falling over from fatigue. It is also the day I became very sore.

Throughout the day I had green veggie drinks, lemon water and a watermelon juice (which I think is somewhat kosher for the fast). To make a long story short, I DID cheat a little with half of a glorious shrimp spring roll and two small bites of bread stick. Around 11pm I had at least 2 bowls of miso soup and 1/4 pear...

I would've thought it'd be easy for me to fast, seeing as how I could go through days barely eating anything in college and post-college. But living here and being out is SO HARD because the food is SO GOOD, and you are bombarded with the smells, and I am never attempting a fast again if I have to be out doing stuff.

Next day, I felt SO GOOD and not hungry and got up to this by guru Kris Carr:

"Remember, it’s not about weight, disease reversal, fixing the blues (or your marriage). Start small. Love yourself at the cellular level."

Oh, the torture!

Really, trying to be good about food.

But, again, writing about food.

Currently craving... feel like if I could only choose one sweet dessert to have for the rest of my life, it would have to be the fritters at Peking Garden. Of course I said the same thing about ice cream mochi when I was eating that. I would've probably said the same thing about a Napoleon I was having on Tuesday.

Back to the fritters. OMG. The menu says taro, but apparently it's a mistake (confirmed)because there is no taro inside, just starchy potato/rice paste with some red date paste. Candied. OMG. (That fateful day six pieces arrived for our table of four, and while each person having one pieces would be 6-4=2, instead of devouring the remaining two like I normally would - the other people weren't as into it as I was - I just had an extra one. Ah, restraint.)

Thing is, I have come to realize I'M NOT NORMAL. Normal people are NOT like this. They do not have these insane cravings for certain dishes, like obsessively salivatingly. I mean, this is a revelation. I've always been 10 times more ravenous when it comes to eating junk food or any other food I like. I've always wondered how people can hold back and not "stuff their face" when eating chips or Corn Caramel, which is literally what I do. I used to think people are just being polite, but now I realize... there's something wrong with me.

It's not until I get really REALLY "this time it's for real" serious about no sugar that I realize just how bad my addiction is. I tried doing no sugar, bread, alcohol and caffeine but literally cannot because of my job but I also really crave it like crazy and find myself cheating even outside of work. However, I have cut WAY back.

For example, last weekend out for dinner, my mom ordered garlic bread, which came in six pieces. I am obsessed with garlic bread. But I was so good I only had one piece. Normally, I'm not kidding, I would for sure have had five pieces in five minutes - leaving one just out of the goodness of my heart to the other diners. Which makes me realize how gross I "normally" eat.