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Showing posts from January, 2011

Birthday Dinner at Bistro Ka

This is a post from my wife, Charong Chow's yummy young-foodie blog Eating With Hudson about the wonderful dinner we all shared for my birthday last week at Bistro Ka at the Topanga Mall. Many thanks to Charong, Hudson and Paradise - and to head sushi chef Ron at Bistro Ka! Alexander's B Day Dinner at Bistro Ka Head sushi chef Ronald Asato. We headed to our favorite sushi restaurant,  Bistro Ka , at the Topanga Westfield Mall. A couple years ago, we discovered it by chance. I usually avoid mall sushi establishments, but Alexander and Hudson love sushi. The half-price sushi discounts lured us in, and we thought why not? We are very happy we did. We used to sit at one of the booths in the stylishly modern Bistro Ka, but one day recently Hudson said he wanted to sit at the sushi bar. I recommend all families to sit there. Children are in awe of the sushi chefs preparing the sushi, and they love to order directly from the chef. Crane out of a carrot for the kids. Hawa

Sunset in Saqqara, Egypt

Photograph posted by Jean Ann Esselink on TwitPic An incredibly beautiful photograph of sunset in Saqqara, Egypt on "our day of wrath" - Friday, January 28 2011 - posted by Jean Ann Esselink ( @uncucumbered on TwitPic ). May this be an image of the peace that will return to Egypt once change has come.

Astonishing Change in Egypt

Praying Amid Protests - photo: Women Worldwide Initiative For anyone fascinated by the Middle East, as I am - or in the vital role of social media such as Facebook and Twitter in events such as Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution - the events of the past four days in Egypt are truly remarkable. As I write this at Friday lunchtime, Los Angeles time, I am watching and listening to Al Jazeera English's incredible Live Streaming coverage online - without doubt the best source of news out of Egypt right now - and it is impossible to keep up with events on the ground in Cairo and throughout the country. The Egyptian capital is "ablaze" - the ruling National Democratic Party's headquarters are on fire, with no attempt to extinguish the flames - and there are astonishing images of ordinary people climbing onto tanks and military vehicles, apparently welcomed by the soldiers. At least part of the Egyptian army and police appears to have shifted allegiance to the prote

Hudson's Map of the World

I love this map of the world that our six year old son created recently. It connects us in California with China, where Charong is from, England, which is my birthplace, and Morocco, which we have been talking about a lot lately. The Hudson River also features - in a location that may surprise many New Yorkers! The lines across the ocean are shipping lanes and flight routes, linking us all.

Changes

I am currently in the process of redesigning this blog - so please bear with me while some elements may not appear in the right place! Thank you, Alexander.     

Good Day Today - David Lynch

Check out this incredibly cool song by filmmaker and Buddhist David Lynch ( Blue Velvet , Twin Peaks , Mulholland Drive ) - I love it! Listen to a fascinating interview with David Lynch about the project, by KCRW's Jason Bentley, archived at Morning Becomes Eclectic.       

Point Dume at Sunset

Photograph: Alexander Chow-Stuart We were at a children's party in Malibu yesterday afternoon until sunset...and what a beautiful sunset it was, dipping down over Point Dume in the distance. Our daughter had wanted to pet a dog she spotted earlier and I talked to the dog's owner, a friendly woman who had lived in her house on the beach for over 40 years (she bought it for $36,000 in 1968!). We were talking about possessions and how little they mean - although not always in Malibu.  (She said her books were the things she cared about most.) The beauty of the sunset underlined the fact that it's the moment that counts, and whom you are sharing it with. Nothing else can come close.   

Martin Luther King Jr Day

    Martin Luther King Jr's truly remarkable and historic speech is always worth hearing any day of the year. Astonishing how profoundly stirring his words remain. We still have some way to go to achieve his dream. I believe we live it - but as yet we live it with our eyes partly closed.   

Dawn Saturday...

     Photograph: Alexander Chow-Stuart  Dawn was exceptionally beautiful this morning...a great way to greet the weekend!

The Shootings in Arizona...and Mork From Ork

   Image courtesy of The Mudflats It is hard, as someone who believes absolutely in peace and beauty, to comprehend the shootings in Arizona yesterday, though clearly they were the actions of a seriously disturbed individual or individuals. But it is also impossible to divorce what happened from the ugly rhetoric that passes for political discourse and commentary in this country - a country I love in my soul, not because it is "better" (or worse) than any other nation, but because it is naturally beautiful, its history, though conflicted, is fascinating, and its people, on a personal level, are mostly very warm and welcoming. I became a citizen for many of those reasons, and because my wife and young children are American, and events such as yesterday's - or my childhood memories of the political assassinations of John F and Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King in the 1960s - do not diminish the hope that America offers. Ideally they rekindle the desire for pea

The First Snow of the Year

  Photographs by Alexander Chow-Stuart 'Twas the day before school started again and there had been heavy snow up in the Grapevine area of Los Angeles - and nearby Los Padres National Forest - so we decided we'd try to take Hudson and Paradise sledding...even though Interstate 5 was officially closed to all traffic! In fact, because of the weather reports and road conditions, our initial plan (after a quick dash to buy snow chains for our car) was to try to drive to Wrightwood in Angeles National Forest - farther away from us but potentially more reachable, given the road conditions. So we set off, bundled up in our warmest clothes and with our sturdy plastic sled in tow, and started north on the 405, intending to turn east on the 14 and 138 toward Wrightwood. Then as we were driving, we heard that I-5 had just reopened, although chains were required, so we kept going north, merging onto the 5, and found the freeway relatively free of traffic - although there were sti