Using GIMP Edits Photos

    Using a software to edit your photos is unavoidable. In different situations you may need to corp, paint, or adjust the panel size, white balance, brightness and contrast. In advanced usage, sometimes applying some appropriate effects on your photos will make them more striking.

    I'm a software engineer and I'm very glad to find useful open source to resolve my problems. For editing photos, I recommend GIMP. And in this article, I would like to introduce GIMP and functions of it in common use.

What is GIMP?
    GIMP(GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open source which means it is free and you can have its source code if you want. It is maintained by GNU. The official site of GIMP is http://www.gimp.org/. You can download a copy and get its source code here. They offer different version for installation on Window, Linux and Mac OS. The documents cane be found on http://www.gimp.org/docs/. It is very important to help you understand GIMP.

Auto-Colorizing
     I would like to introduce some auto-colorizing functions first. Those functions are very useful if you want to stress color. Besides, they are very easy to apply to images. Thus I recommend those functions to people who just get starting with photograph.

    You can find these two functions in the path of Colors->Auto. The following figure is taking for reference. I think functions such like Equalize, White-Balance and Color Enhance are common in use. After applying them, your photo's RGB level will be adjusted automatically.

    This is the original picture:

    After applied auto equalizer:

    This is an example before applied with auto white-balance.

    Applied auto white-balance:

    Let's see the last example which shows the difference between before applied auto color enhancing and the result.

    The result applied auto enhance:

Brightness and Contrast
    Sometimes auto colorizing would not be able to work good, especially your photo is too dark or contains people. At this moment, you can try to adjust brightness and contrast manually. The following figure shows the path of this function (Colors->Brightness-Contrast tool).

  Original:

  after adjusted Brightness-Contrast:

Colorize
    To make photos looks like old fashion, normally speaking, it is a good idea to use Colorize to reach this goal. You can find Colorize in the path Color->Colorize.

    This is the original pciture:

    You can adjust Hue, Saturation and Lightness properly to make it look like as following:

Desaturate
    Besides applying Colorize, another to make photos old I suggest to use Desaturate. This function can be found under Color->Desaturate. With using Desaturate, there are three algorithms you are allowed to use. They are Lightness, Luminosity and Average.

    Original:

    After applied Desaturate:

Overutre Y. Chao
06/10/2013

盍各言爾志？

蓮花詩人本月在太魯閣遊客中心辦書畫個展，如果到她的網誌上流覽，不難看出她對這次的展覽相當滿意。

雖然已步入耳順之年，詩人潛心字畫幾年下來，也累積許多不錯的作品；再加上透過不斷的精鍊，一步步邁向藝術更高的境界。然而在做晚輩的眼中，看到她追求的不單純是美感，也在嘗試攀越著人生另一座高峰。

星期五下班時，聽老闆分享這趟商務旅行的收穫... 也許是師出同門的關係，老闆似乎總把我當成小老弟般看待更勝於一位工程師。在陽台上，俯瞰著內湖大大小小的建築，他一邊抽著菸，一面描述著旅程中去了哪些地方、見了哪些人、獲得什麼情報、公司下一步該怎麼走，眼神堅定的望著未來。我明白，他正在做著一件他覺得很有趣、很有成就感的事情，而且清楚知道這就是他想要的。

月底一個朋友要結婚了，搶在喜宴之前，三五好友聚一聚，簡單吃個飯，也順便聊著各自的終生大事。有人是月底結婚，有人是年底結婚；有些人是家庭革命，有些人是小倆口決定就好；有些人是遠距離戀愛，有些人是希望婚後仍保有自由空間。聽著一個個不同的故事，卻同樣都是不斷努力著進階自己的人生。

季路有次問孔子如何侍奉鬼神，孔子回答：「未能事人，焉能事鬼？」；季路接著又問孔子死亡是怎麼一回事呢？

人生須臾，生老病死一下子就過去了；活著，總得有個理由... 為理想也好，是責任也罷，總得給自己一個理由，是吧？

論語中有段記載是孔子與學生們討論各自的志向。子路說：「願車馬、衣輕裘，與朋友共。敝之而無憾。」，顏淵則說：「願無伐善，無施勞。」最後子路問孔子「願聞子之志」時，孔子回答道：「老者安之，朋友信之，少者懷之。」而這個志向在「禮運大同篇」闡釋更加明確：

『大道之行也，天下為公。選賢與能，講信脩睦，故人不獨親其親，不獨子其子，使老有所終，壯有所用，幼有所長，矜寡孤獨廢疾者，皆有所養。男有分，女有歸。貨惡其棄於地也，不必藏於己；力惡其不出於身也，不必為己。是故謀閉而不興，盜竊亂賊而不作，故外戶而不閉，是謂大同。』

這段描述曾經發生在周朝的美好年代，當時大道奉行，選賢與能，人民注重品德與才學；社會繁榮穩定，每個人都有自己安身立命之所，遠離恐懼。

「未知生，焉知死？」是孔子對季路的回答。如果活著的時候都不能好好活著，又何必談論死亡？所以孔子終其一生，想到的、說出口的、做出來的，都是以一貫之；君子任重而道遠，死而後已。

問問自己的理想是什麼呢？自己是否有認真的生活過呢？載浮載沉了三十多年，仔細檢視自己的人生，說真的，我曾認為自己是幸福的：起碼有過不錯的工作和幸福的家庭。可惜那樣的時光並無法維持多久... 接著便陷入是非對錯的泥沼裡，然後在愛與復仇間掙扎著。

在德國徘徊的時候，我到了一個叫做Bonn的小城市，貝多芬的故居在此。我走在Bonn一條條簡單而樸素的街道，小鎮內大多是由石頭鋪成的道路，雜踏著來往旅者的足跡，刻劃歷史的洗練；整個城市以淺黃色系為延伸，兩排的建築不帶有多餘的線條，略帶冰冷的空氣，呼應著萊茵河的歲月悠悠。我喜歡這樣簡單卻將優雅內斂的品味！從建築到態度，從飲食到衣著，大多數的德國風格隱含著簡約的生活格調。

A snapshot of Bonn

「射有似乎君子，失諸正鵠，反求諸其身。君子之道，辟如行遠必自邇，辟如登高必自卑。」當我想到中庸裡的一段話時，竟是意外發現自己如此喜歡簡約態度的當下。

也許是因為發現自己對於生活訴求是簡單的，想想與其繼續在負面情緒中顛倒夢想，倒不如勇往直前。這樣的體悟，讓我在訴訟的最後關頭選擇諒解，獨自重新譜著嶄新人生。然而不論提出告訴或是豁然諒解，都是艱難的決定；也許唯有離開當下的境，才能勘破因緣合和。

新的開始

現在，簡單的看書，簡單的寫文章，聽著單純的好聲音，心無旁鶩的追求工作表現，享受兩人的獨處。

• 【論語】原文：論語譯注。
• 【禮記，禮運】原文：禮記，禮運。
• 【禮記，中庸】原文：禮記，中庸

2013/06/13
O.T.

An Implementation of Channel Converter (from mono to stereo)

There is an experience about sharing how to make a converter between mono channel and stereo channel.

To implement a channel converter is quite easy. The critical part of this kind of converter is to transform the input data as interleaving to output. Let us look the following diagrams that might be helpful.

For example, we get an original input data like table 1.

Seq. (input)	0	1	2	3
Data	0xaa	0xbb	0xcc	0xdd

Table 1. The original input data

And what we want to do is to duplicate the same data interleavely to another one. That will make the left channel and the right channel has the same data as table 1, such like table 2 and table 3.

Seq. (left)	0	1	2	3
Data	0xaa	0xbb	0xcc	0xdd

Table 2. The left output data

Seq. (right)	0	1	2	3
Data	0xaa	0xbb	0xcc	0xdd

Table 3. The right output data

Thus, the output data will be like table 4.

Seq. (output)	0 (L)	0 (R)	1 (L)	1 (R)	2 (L)	2 (R)	3 (L)	3 (R)
Data	0xaa	0xaa	0xbb	0xbb	0xcc	0xcc	0xdd	0xdd

Table 4. The stereo data come from table 1

There is a sample code just for reference:

int converter(int8_t *input_data, size_t size)
{
    int8_t *output_data = (int8_t)malloc(sizeof(int8_t)* size * 2);

    int i = 0, pos = 0;

    for(i; i < size; i++){

        memcpy(output_data[pos],  input_data[i], 1);

        memcpy(output_data[pos + 1], input_data[i], 1);

        pos += 2;

    }
}

However, the format what you are processing is important too. The above one is only for a 8-bits and little-significant(LS) format. If some people who just apply the above sample codec into a 16-bits and LS format, they will find the left data and the right data are totally different. The output is like table 5.

Seq. (output)	0 (L)	0 (R)	1 (L)	1 (R)
Data	0xaaaa	0xbbbb	0xcccc	0xdddd

Table 5. The output data with wrong format (8-bits LS into 16-bits LS)

In this case, there is a result that I record it before and the result showed as figure 1.

Figure 1.  The output data with wrong format (8-bits LS into 16-bits LS)

Therefore it needs another version for 16-bits LS and it will looks like as following.

int converter(int8_t *input_data, size_t size)
{
    int8_t *output_data = (int8_t)malloc(sizeof(int8_t)* size * 2);

    int i = 0, pos = 0;

    for(i; i < size; i++){

        memcpy(output_data[pos],  input_data[i], 2);

        memcpy(output_data[pos + 2], input_data[i], 2);

        pos += 4;

    }
}

Finally we will get the result as table 6.

Seq. (output)	0 (L)	0 (R)	1 (L)	1 (R)
Data	0xaabb	0xaabb	0xccdd	0xccdd

Table 6. The output data of 16-bits LS.

This skill is useful when it need to stream a voice data from a Bluetooth module to an audio codec while playing Hand-Free profile (HFP). In an automotive software system, sometimes our company will offer customers software solution for applying acoustic echo cancellation (AEC). In that situation, the streaming of voice is controlled by CPU and it will make decision how to transfer audio data between a Bluetooth module and an audio-codec. Mostly, a Bluetooth module only support mono channel but an audio-codec need stereo data.

Figure 2. Architecture of automotive audio components

O.T.

Not A Hardware Company Anymore

Chinese People prefer to change their job after Chinese new year. Not only because it implies a new beginning of one year but also many companies pay bonus to their employees before that. During this period, you can see a lot of people leaving their old position and going to a new one. I think people make decisions by their own criteria, but salary is just one of reasons.

Last April I came back Taiwan and join this company. My job is very interesting. My first assignment in this company is to develop AEC via Android. This is a process of acoustic signals which can cancel echo coming with a hand-free phone. Now I am responsible for porting  Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers used in Linux.

In this job I can accumulate more experience of software development in Linux and Android, I also learn a lot of knowledge about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the meantime. Because of these reasons I'm very happy working in this company.

In our company's Year-End banquet at February, our CEO told us that "our company is a software company". Why is it so important to us? Our business is selling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules to our customers. Then these products will be integrated in automotive systems. It seems like a business about hardware selling, however, almost 90% is about software development.

(Picture from http://www.avnet-memec.eu/microsites/wireless-solutions/products/page/csr6000-aec-q100-qualified-wi-fi-platform.html)

Once a new project being to start, of course, the first step is to choose Blueooth/Wi-Fi module.  Then sales representatives will negotiate about how to develop software components.

Normally, in a Bluetooth project,  there are many components need to develop. Such like Bluetooth driver, audio drivers, Bluetooth middle-ware, audio middle-ware, Bluetooth applications(profiles) and audio applications.

However, customers usually outsource some software components to another third party. For examples, GUI and navigation are those components usually be outsourced. Outsouring will increase the complexity of a project. So there are much work to do with software engineering such like analysis, integration, version control, refactoring and regression testing.

About three years ago, the business is fairly easy: engineers only need to check signals of chips and then things are done. But now it is changed. Our company is not a hardware company anymore.

2013/04/16

O.T.

寫一篇文章

點了杯熱可可暖著手心，一個人杵在羅東車站的月台。夜裡悠悠晃晃，讓我懷念起德國小旅行。那是在鐵軌還有點積雪的Garmisch-Partenkirchen。小鎮的月台上，稀疏的遊客，在旁聳立著Zugspitze綿延而下的滑雪場；微微寒氣環繞四周，融雪味正若隱若現。在德國南部純樸小鎮的車站，寂靜的夜空，三三兩兩的遊客，一個十足怪異的亞洲男人，這會是一個怎樣的故事？

一個人獨處的時候，想法最多。三月的羅東車站正挨著鋒面，寒氣逼人的程度似乎還略勝G.P.一籌。打了個哆嗦，啜一口熱可可，看看手錶，也不知不覺晚上22:30，今天又將是一個晚睡的夜。

最近因為案子比較緊湊的關係，常常專心工作，耽擱回家的時間。回到家後偶而還有精神，總會享受在萬籟俱寂的書房裡，悄悄點盞小檯燈，坐在電腦前自以為是的寫些東西：不論是分享工作上的事情，甚至是心情札記，但卻在下筆時常常不知所措。

「文心雕龍」裡收錄一篇劉勰的「情采」，裡面便是以「孝經」、「老子」、「莊子」、「韓非」等經典探討文章的寫法。其中「正采耀乎朱藍，間色屏于紅紫」，便是下筆時常常躊躇不前的原因：既希望為文能夠「五音比而成韶夏」，也希望「五性發而為辭章」。也許在披著創新的皮囊下，其實我有著再八股也不過的靈魂吧！

寫一篇文章，到底有多難呢？文章又是為何而生？又有誰為它閱讀？

人生最失意的時候，我選擇拋下一切去旅行，試圖在旅程中抓住點什麼；就像以前國文課本上讀到的文人雅士，站在低潮時，總選擇放逐自己，韜光養晦。也曾在柏林的夜晚，像這樣點盞小檯燈，靜靜地寫下屬於自己的故事。事實上不論足跡到哪，總喜歡用自己的文字寫下自己的感受。

我喜歡寫文章諸如寫軟體般，儘管兩者同樣不論從哪方面來講都有很大的改善空間。寫文章有趣的地方，是能夠依照規劃發展文章的走勢；而在文章發展的過程中，有層次的表達思考，有部份是邏輯的，有部份是感性的。因此不論寫論說文、記敘文、抒情文或者是小說，只要夠順著心意完成，不但有成就感，也能在字裡行間獲得些許安全感。然而這倒是與發展軟體有著相同興味。

發展一個好的軟體會有安全感，就工作上而言，是因為可免除許多維護上的成本，為未來的案子打下良好基礎；但若說寫文章會有安全感，應該是件很奇怪的事情吧？

在Spree河岸旁散步時，一直都只有我一個亞洲人：既非來這裡工作，亦非來這裡求學... 說實在的，我究竟為何而來？有一天在書桌前心血來潮，隨手搜尋以前讀過的「太史公自序」。太史公司馬遷因為李陵之罪而獲腐刑，此後立志著史記，故成「史家之絕唱，無韻之離騷」。司馬遷並未因自己身上的缺陷自暴自棄，反而更加砥礪自己。

「『夫詩書隱約者，欲遂其志之思也。昔西伯拘羑里，演周易；孔子戹陳蔡，作春秋；屈原放逐，著離騷；左丘失明，厥有國語；孫子臏腳，而論兵法；不韋遷蜀，世傳呂覽；韓非囚秦，說難、孤憤；詩三百篇，大抵賢聖發憤之所為作也。此人皆意有所郁結，不得通其道也，故述往事，思來者。』於是卒述陶唐以來，至于麟止，自黃帝始。(太史公自序(http://ctext.org/shiji/tai-shi-gong-zi-xu/zh))

「此人皆意有所郁結，不得通其道也，故述往事，思來者。」看到這段出自太史公自序的文字，對比當時收到台北友人捎來的短訊，其中敘述著這一段話：「有時總忍不住回頭檢視自己，就像游泳時自由式的划行」，我坐在書桌前沉思許久細細咀嚼。窗外，還飄盪入春後殘餘的雪。

有件事情一定要再三跟自己確認：我有思考的自由吧？正因為有了思考的自由，所以知道自己有免於恐懼的自由，亦有追求幸福生活的自由。我想要自己的未來免於無謂的恐懼，生活能夠幸福，唯有靜下心來看清楚自己過去的錯誤，才能領會屬於自己的未來。我在陌生的國境，無非就是專注的「思考」，還有學會「放下」。

也許寫文章可以帶來的些許安全感，便是確認自己仍保有思考的自由。

O.T.

2013/03/09

Keep Walking (2/2)

During past five years, I changed my job four times. Each time when I decided to leave a company, I told myself "I don't want to work here, I deserve more better!" Thus I always looked forward a better job, which was paid a higher salary, less working time and close to my house. But it is not truth, because there is always a better one can be chose.  In that period I lose myself in an infinite loop until I lose my job finally.

Sometimes I miss my second job, which is to develop software utilities about 3D display panels and touch panels in a TFT-LCD manufacture. Why I missed it? It seems gave less salary than other companies, however it offered a nice place for a R&D engineer to attempt new ideas leading industry. Not only I learned a lot of knowledge about LCD/LED but also earned respect and higher salary than average there.

A process of producing TFT-LCD 

(Photo from http://www.auo.com/?sn=47&lang=zh-TW)

I got a higher paid in my third job but I'm not sure it really I want. One year later, I quit it and decided to slow my step and to think about my life. I went to German and left in Berlin for three months. It was my first time to leave my home place so far and so long.

Through Madeline China, Middle-Asia and East-European, after an eighteen hour flight I arrived German. To go to German is my dream as I was a child. It's so hard to describe how thrilled I could be here. I found a language institute at Berlin to study Germany. Everyday all that I did was to study Germany and be a good tourist. Some people said "simple is best" and I think it is truth. I put my annoyance down and enjoyed being alone.

A snapshot of a Turkey supermarket near my house

Near U-Bahn Schönleinstraße where I left. In the last month in German, March - 2012, I often walked along the river Spree from Kottbußer Brüke to Potsdamer Platz after my Germany course. I've always been impressed with this way. In early spring of Berlin, you can see there are many trees stand on the riverside, and most of them are already green. In a sunny afternoon, some people will sit on the riverbank have a picnic or read books, some people take their children play in the river park, and some people in restaurants are eating, drinking and talking. Can you image the river, the tree and the people?  How this scene is beautiful!

Early spring in Berlin

"Why? Why am I here?" as I was walking on the road, I thought this question. Several months ago, I had a good life: a high paid job and a family, everything looked like good. Suddenly, I lose my family and then lose my job. It was a bad time for me than ever before, but I am still brave to chase my dream. That's me, that's why I went to German.

Even in a bad situation, what I'll never do is doing nothing or self-pity. Further more, I have a determination to make the circumstance be favorable to me. In these months I relearned how to make new friends, how to communicate with other persons, how to plan my daily life, how to do a thing rightly and to think about what is the truth of my life. Until now, when I restart my life in Taiwan the above things are very useful to me. I having a new job and I'm very enjoy the challenge come with it. Besides, I think I'm a very luck guy because there is a nice pretty girl who really love me.

There is an advice from a cartoon named "South Park", said by Kyle Broflovski, "Look, dude. Things around here have changed. Sometimes, the only way to keep going is to make a left turn". I think it is right.

Kyle Broflovski

(Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Broflovski)

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O.T.

Keep Walking (1/2)

I'm a software engineer, my profession is developing software which is based on a operation system (OS) such as Windows, Linux or Android. But now, a new challenge comes to me: driver porting.

My company is a IC module supplier, these modules can drive Bluetooth and WiFi to work correctly. Most of our customers come from OEM or ODM, which produces automotive software systems. These systems can play music, video, and some of them can do navigation and so on.

Bluetooth comes with the raising of smart phones that have a great growth.Today,  people often connect their smart phone to a automotive software system for playing music and holding a hand-free phone. However, acoustic echo cancellation (AEC)is the potential technical issue when people want to use a hand-free phone in a car.

What is AEC? AEC is a process to cancel echo caused by far-end signal on a telephone call. For example, when a person uses a hand-free phone in a car, speakers of a car will play the voice of far-end user. At the same time, normally, a microphone in the car would receive the sound from speakers. Thus, the far-end users would heard their own voice. In this case, an AEC is needed in a automotive software system to remove echo.

A view of AEC
(Photo from http://lakeofsoft.com)

As you know, we are a Bluetooth IC-module provider, obviously our AEC solution is included with our Bluetooth module. This solution we called a "hardware solution". A hardware solution is efficient and easily porting, but the disadvantages are expensive and hard modification. For market reasons, in recent years we begin to provide solutions implemented with software (i.e. a software solution). One of them is development based on Android, and it is my job.

After one half year hard working, several projects start using software solution based on Android. For some reasons, my boss might want to give me more training, then last month he assigned me to join driver porting team.

So, what is driver porting and why it is a new challenge for me? The purpose of driver porting is to deploy a device driver in different operation systems and make it work. Further more, even using the same O.S., different system architectures need different driver configurations. For example, you need different driver installed on your MS Windows and Apple Mac. We can say driver porting is the first class that a module supplier want to sell their products to any customers.

An automotive software application

(from http://www.bluetooth.com/)

However, driver porting is a work that are more close to hardware but far away developing a system middle-ware. A engineer wants to do this work well who need to read data sheet and to check many hardware specifications. That's really my shorts. But... so what? I'm very glad to accept this assignment! :)

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O.T.

年夜飯 - mit Liebe zu kochen (下)

自己做菜除了衛生健康外，重點是可以決定自己想吃的菜色，而不是由餐廳決定可以吃什麼樣的菜。

離開上一份工作後，在外頭閒晃一段時間，也許是為了省錢，也許是純粹覺得有趣，大概是從那時開始學著自己料理食物；而真正開始比較頻繁的下廚，則是在德國遊學的那段時間。回國後迅速結束了一段以走到盡頭的緣份，更在那之後遇到YiFeng，謝謝她給我機會：不只是交往，還願意陪我一起下廚，教我處理食材，還有一起學習新的料理。

2012年六月第一次下廚給YiFeng，那次也是這輩子第一次煮飯給女孩子吃；儘管之前已有不少實驗品(ex: P、Kaz還有德國不知情的室友們)，但還是盡量假裝很有經驗的處理食物。可惜當時的絲瓜漏了陷，沒想到YiFeng對於處理絲瓜很有心得，不過她還是很不挑嘴的吃完那道菜。

後來只要假日有空閒，我們常會一起煮飯，能和YiFeng一起煮飯是件很快樂的事情。也許一開始會手忙腳亂，但是經過幾次合作後，我們開始能夠在廚房找到各自的位置：有時候YiFeng切菜，有時候我切菜，有時候她做這個、我做那個。煮飯的時間越來越短，做事情也越來越有效率；兩個人在廚房裡一邊談笑風生，一道道的料理便不知不覺間弄好了。

只要每次有煮飯，隔天一定會順便帶的便當。能為身邊重要的人帶便當，很幸福。這樣子半年過去，累積了不少料理的經驗，感謝不挑嘴的YiFeng，今天才有自信幫忙準備年菜。

對我們來說，一起做飯應該會是交往過程中最有趣的畫面之一。回顧一下我們有故事的「家常便飯 Top 10」。

No 1. 花椰菜

家常便飯的第一名是花椰菜，這道菜出現的頻率鐵定是最高的。因為每次去大賣場，只要看到花椰菜的價格還可以，我們都會帶兩顆回去。最喜歡的烹調方式是水炒，據說這樣比較可以保存花椰菜的養分。

No 2. 醬爆肉絲
和一般鐵板燒或是便當店吃到的醬爆肉絲略有不同。肉絲同樣需事先醃漬，不過在炒之前會先以洋蔥提味，並且加入九層塔提升香氣。這道菜非常下飯，也是親朋好友來作客時常會被端出來的一道菜。



No 3. 蕃茄炒蛋
這是YiFeng很喜歡的一道菜，也是因為她我才學會如何將蕃茄炒蛋處理得好吃。剛開始做的時候，常會讓炒蛋的部份變得乾燥，吃起來不滑嫩；後來YiFeng提醒在炒的過程中要加入適量的水，而且可加入些許蕃茄醬調味，OT的蕃茄炒蛋才開始進入狀況。(雖然是還比不上YiFeng啦...)



No 4. 桂圓紅棗茶
第四名是每個月都會出現的桂圓紅棗茶。這是和YiFeng剛開始交往時便訂好的約定：再忙，也要親手為她煮碗櫃圓紅棗茶。桂圓紅棗茶用到的許多材料，像是白木耳、紅棗等，產地大多是在大陸；為了安全起見，這些材料都要先泡水一兩個小時後，才會繼續被處理。



No 5. 咖哩
我們煮過咖哩雞肉以及咖哩豬肉，兩個味道我們都很能接受，真是不挑嘴二人組！不過由於對肉的口感挑剔程度不同；還是稍微比較龜毛一點的我，如果是使用豬肉的話，都會堅持先煮過。咖哩是沒有時間開伙時很好的選項之一，而且咖哩的料可以很豐富。我們常用的材料除了雞肉、豬肉外，還有馬鈴薯、胡蘿蔔、洋蔥。



No 6. 皮蛋豆腐
皮蛋豆腐是夏天常被拿出來的冷盤。將皮蛋混著醬油、麻油、橄欖油、烏醋等醬料預先攪碎，再均勻的淋在豆腐上：這個撇步是向扶輪獎學生聯誼會的友人學來。皮蛋本身也是OT喜歡的食材之一。



No 7. 蕃茄豆腐
蕃茄是很好的食材，12月到隔年的6月是蕃茄產季，這段時間蕃茄價格便宜，而且也比較不含農藥。豆腐用的是我們愛吃的板豆腐。板豆腐的功用很多，可蒸、可煎、可煮，相當好用。特別推薦豆腐的選擇，市面上大多數豆腐所使用的黃豆，是基因改良過的；基於健康的考量，雖然非基因改良的豆腐價格較高，但我們還是會購買。這道菜同樣加入少許的蕃茄醬，風味也會大為提昇。



No 8. 蔥爆肉片
名字是叫蔥爆肉片沒錯，不過蔥是用洋蔥，而且也不能「爆」。基本上我們的料理是不開大火的，頂多用中火，所以這道菜的顏色看起來是健康的顏色。雖然味道不重，不鹹也不油，但是肉片散發洋蔥的香氣中伴隨著青蔥的味道，也是常讓這道菜成為餐桌上佳餚的原因之一。


No 9. 大味滷
自從有了砂鍋之後，料理上面就變得比較多元，開始有滷味的出現。如此一來廚房的四個火源：兩個瓦斯爐、一個烤箱、一個電鍋，可以各自使用蒸、煮、煎、炒、烤、滷等五種不同的烹調方式，菜色多元外，也加快上菜速度。豬肉塊和大白菜是砂鍋裡的常客，特別是大白菜，它的甜味以及香氣，還有同時也身為當季的食材，讓我和YiFeng情有獨鐘。



No 10. 鱸魚湯
鱸魚湯的作法也是來自YiFeng傳授，加入枸杞、黃杞、當歸等中藥材，可以作為很好的要膳。上網查一下可以發現鱸魚的功效不少：增加對疾病的抵抗力、預防感冒、抗癌、增強體力、幫助鈣質吸收、健脾、補氣、益腎。鱸魚是很好的食材。

說來說去，雖然一開始提議下廚的人是我，一路以來還真是挺多食材的處理要跟YiFeng學習

。(笑)

接連介紹了年夜飯以及和YiFeng的幸福料理，正在閱讀這篇文章的朋友是不是也想來自己下廚一下？如果激不起你一絲絲想下廚的欲望，但會讓你口水直流或是肚子餓的話，那這篇文章某方面而言也發揮了點價值。說到肚子餓，專心寫作還真耗體力，OT要去祭祭五臟廟了！祝大家新年快樂，金蛇如意。

能做料理給重要的人是幸福的，能跟重要的人一起做料理也是幸福的。人不能自己選擇的事情已經太多了，但起碼要可以選擇自己想要的幸福方式。

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O.T.
2013/02/09

年夜飯 - mit Liebe zu kochen (上)

難得夜深人靜的時刻，享受與自己的獨處，靜靜寫些東西。人生又是新的開始的第三十三個除夕。

附近街坊的鞭炮喧囂過後，整條街恢復了寂靜。剛開始有些此起彼落，互不相讓；畢竟年代不同了，體諒鄰居們睡眠上的需求，早早辦完正事，小賭一下掙點紅包錢更實在些。說到紅包錢，OT要跟大家拜個年，跟各位說聲新年快樂、金蛇如意，順便替今兒個大樂透的的得獎者們恭喜一下！

今年紅包給足詩人老媽面子，一年不到的療傷，竟然還能勉強湊出點銀兩，也許是真有貴人相助也不一定，甚幸、甚幸。詩人老媽也豪邁相挺，出了年菜錢，投資自己兒子練練手藝；事後證實這項投資確實划算，不僅省下安排菜單的精神，也順便交接打理年菜的事宜，每年著實省下不少功夫。

說起來OT會向詩人老媽自告奮勇準備年菜，也不是一時興起；自從OT爸離開之後，這個念頭一直在腦中運轉著。因為OT和P長年在外地工作，說要照顧詩人老媽的生活起居是不可能，但起碼做道菜讓老媽嚐嚐，這種要求也不算太高。幾個年頭過去，能在今年實現真的挺開心，可以說是新的一年有一個好的開始吧！

印象中每次詩人老媽和OT爸準備年菜時總得大費周章，再加上媒體每逢新年又愛配合報導「五星級餐廳年夜飯」、「便利商店年菜」等等教育消費者與其自己麻煩準備，不如請人代勞比較省事的觀念。第一次準備年菜，OT自然不敢托大，考量出菜速度還有料理上的方便，決定有些食材買現成的，回家再加工；這些食材包括冷盤以及佛跳牆的一些食材。

今年一共準備八道年菜，三個人吃八道年菜，想當然爾是吃不完的。不過大過年的，想說要忙的話一次就好，索性煮多一點，一來比較好煮，二來所謂八道年菜，一路發發唄！

第一道年菜就由冷盤開始介紹起吧！冷盤所有材料都是在大賣場買的，清一色是海鮮加工品。其中許多產品以前沒吃過，選擇在年夜飯端出來還可以試試新口味，趕一下「創新」的潮流：海苔小卷、海苔旗魚卷、煙燻飛卷魚子、鮭魚卷等等。雖然在賣場已經試吃過，不過自己擺盤起來，氣勢不一樣，味道好像也會變得不太一樣？(笑)

在切海苔旗魚卷的時候，沒注意到它很容易散開，所以剛開始切片太小，NG一部份，但也因禍得福，OT可以一邊做一邊正大光明偷嚐好料。

海鮮類的配菜除了冷盤之外，還包括白蝦以及鱈魚，這兩道菜料理起來還算輕鬆。白蝦的部份先處理擺盤用的花椰菜：將花椰菜清洗乾淨後水炒；接著白蝦用滾水燙過後擺盤。中間用的是大賣場買的龍蝦沙拉，不論味道或是顏色都挺登對。

這道菜是我喜歡的配色方式，雖然擺盤可能還需要加強，也許換一個大一點的盤子會更好。最底層使用的花椰菜，不僅是綠色蔬菜給人感覺舒服，也因為花椰菜有預防癌症的功能，另一方面來講挺健康的。

年菜的名稱常隱含吉祥如意等含意，是中華文化有趣的地方。過年吃魚意味著「年年有餘」，每逢過年要吃魚，應該是台灣大部分家庭的傳統。以前詩人老媽還有OT爸喜歡用黃魚或是白倉，OT覺得鱈魚也不錯。今年鱈魚是詩人老媽處理的，原因是鱈魚解凍太久，可能也跟OT手腳還不夠俐落有關。鱈魚比較特別的是加入鰹魚醬油，這是YiFeng教我可以提昇鮮味的好方法。

前面三道菜都只是牛刀小試，介紹完海產，後頭來看看陸產準備了哪些菜色。

延續菜名要有吉祥如意的含意，接著這道是以長年菜為擺盤的菜餚，象徵「長長久久」、祝福「父母長壽」等意義。食材裡面的雞向來被當成是鳳凰的化身，所以這道菜又有「鳳凰獻瑞」的意思。

長年菜上面是快炒的雞肉以及海參，起鍋前佐上腰果，讓腰果收入雞肉以及海參的湯汁，腰果應該是這道菜的精華。雞肉在除夕前一晚上預先醃漬過，可以避免雞肉太乾澀，不好咀嚼；雞肉選用的是里肌肉，透過這樣的處理，大火炒過之後仍然保留嚼勁。

不過這道菜比預期中少了一味：原本要在雞肉起鍋後淋上珍菇醬；珍菇醬是打算用現成的罐頭加熱並且加以調味。不過後來找不到開罐器因此作罷。雖然P去買酒時順便帶回一個，不過卻因為時間已近年夜飯，所以很可惜沒用到，辛苦P了！

寫到這裡，自己的肚子好像又有點餓了，不過接下要介紹的這道更加厲害！

第四道是年菜裡比較費工夫的「佛跳牆」。因為家裡沒有甕子，所以用砂鍋代替。材料包括現成滷好的豬舌、牛肚、豬腳，以及必備的干貝、海參、芋頭、栗子。海參、芋頭以及栗子需要預先炒過以提昇香氣。此外OT還放入了自己愛吃的雞胗、冬粉、白木耳。

為了讓食材能夠入味，佛跳牆從除夕前一晚開始處理。在熬煮過程中詩人老媽數度受不了香氣，一直嚷嚷著要試吃！沒辦法，老媽有令，做兒子的只得妥協。不過也順便牽拖她一下，自己吃了一些。雖然沒有鮑魚和魚翅，但味道整體來說還不錯。

接下來介紹的三道菜包含兩道主食以及一道湯品。年夜飯的主食其中之一是臘味飯。主要的材料是香腸、香菇、蛋、大蒜苗、青蔥。因為飯是白米加上五穀米，所以在炒的過程中容易因為五穀米出水無法讓米飯粒粒分明。辦法是用醬油跟米飯一起炒，這樣炒法的好處是可以比較容易炒開五穀米，再來則是香氣，而且還包括色澤好看。

前幾個星期跟YiFeng去大賣場採購的時候，剛好遇到炒菜鍋特價，而換鍋子正是我們一直在計畫的事情；當時家裡的平底鍋已經不堪使用，再加上平底鍋的容積不太夠大，每次菜量稍多一點就不敷使用。因緣際會下，買了新的炒鍋。拜新鍋子所賜，製作臘味飯的過程很順利；不僅一次可以處理3~5人份的食材，而且沒燒焦也沒黏鍋，OT自己覺得成果還算不錯。

圍爐當然要有火鍋，所以年夜飯的另一個主角就是火鍋了。

湯底是蘿蔔以及大骨熬成，算是清雅而不膩。其他的火鍋料是詩人老媽嚴選：福州丸、芋頭丸、虱目魚丸、魚版、蟹肉腳、豬肉片、澳洲牛、魚頭，皆是盡量選擇新鮮材料。全家一起圍爐，一邊涮肉片，一邊鬥嘴，是一年剛開始最有趣的事情。

第八道選用的一樣是以雞為主的食材，熬煮時搭配蘿蔔、長年菜、黃杞、當歸、蓮子等中藥材，取其「富貴吉祥」的意思。因為雞熬煮的時間較長，且需小火慢熬，這道也是在除夕夜的前一晚開始準備。果真一整天熬煮下來，味道不差。

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O.T.

2013/02/09

Deutsch lernen - Welche Feste und Feiertage gibt es in Ihrem Land?

Bei uns feiert man das chinesische Neujahrsfest, Drachenboot-Festival und Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan. Neujahrsfest ist sehr wichtig, weil es nach dem chinesischen Kalender das neue Jahr ein leitet.

Am letzter Tag des chinesische Jahr die Leute hat ein reichhaltigen Festessen zusammen. Man isst Hühnchen, Fisch, Neujahrkuchen, Rettiche und Sellerie. Oft man trinkt chinesischer Wein. Nach dem Festessen spielt die Leute immer Mahjong.

O.T.
11-August, 2012