中史.古今

女兒今天問我知道文革的歷史嗎？我概括地解釋了一點當年爭權批鬥勞改的一點情況，老實說我也不知太多，原來她學中文的教材略有提及，那作者有經歷過中國近代史相當黑暗的一頁。然後她又問我知道韓國國旗上的線代表甚麼嗎？我告訴她那來自代表中國文化最精粹的Iching（易經），她聽得一頭霧水，倒是兒子加入回應，問我和老子的道家有關嗎？實在令我有點喜出望外！原來學校教世界文化有提及先秦諸子百家呢。我也簡略地解釋了八卦的卦象，指出那是比老子孔子更早出現的哲學思想。有說外國比中國保存和流傳中國文化更不遺餘力，也有道理。

"Pour over" with AeroPress

My friend bought me some coffee (ground for drip) from Kona (Thanks!) And I decided to experiment with a different brewing method than my usual "espresso made with an Inverted AeroPress" (and dark roasted beans ground more coarse) I bought a Kaffeologie S Filter and followed this video:

I think it works well (and produced a bigger cup :) Come to think of it: this is how the AeroPress is "supposed" to be used rather than the "inverted" method, right? I have actually tried this method when I first got my AeroPress 1 year ago (but with the original paper filter) and the water "dripped" way too fast and made very weak coffee. The comments on Amazon from many users mentioned they found their coffee tasted better after replacing the paper filters with this S Filter. Maybe it's really that good. Who knows?

天下第三行書《寒食帖》

這是本blog第一千零一帖！寫一個我很喜歡的題目，是我十分欣賞的書法：蘇東坡寒食帖。

我開始喜歡蘇東坡的詩詞書畫，當然和我們是「同宗」有很大關係:) 事實上，他的多才多藝，就如（遲他約五百年的）文藝復興時代幾位傑出藝術家。蘇東坡的作品如何有藝術性，各位請看看台灣著名作家、詩人及畫家蔣勳先生的介紹。

回想我練字之路, 幼稚園學寫字但求齊整，當然也充滿童真稚拙，老師獨具慧眼（還是濫芋充數）給我一個寫字獎！之後一味求快任意胡來，毫不追求美感，近年才來個180度轉變，開始學習王羲之，不論普羅大眾還是書家眼中，王體理所當然是美的最高境界！不過喜歡率性而為的我，也被不拘一格的蘇體深深地吸引，縱有個別字醜拙有敗筆，整體上卻是傑出不凡，這篇寒食帖正正體現了他這種獨特風格。（其實我對書法認識淺薄，有錯請指正）