Support the UC Davis Asian American Association Film Festival

It's the first week of the UC Davis Asian American Film Festival (UCD AAFF), which is one the events that Asian American Association (AAA) puts on every year. I know that for the festival, they research and request movies to be screened. I'm not sure how many years the UCD AAFF have been around, but before I was a freshman. Here's a link to their 2012 website, AAA Film Festival website.

There are other Asian American Film Festivals around the country. There's an Asian American Film Festival in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, San Diego, Washington D.C., Oregon, and Philadelphia, and more! With all the Asian American Film Festivals going on around the California and the country, I think UC Davis is fortunate to have its very own Asian American Film Festival. Members of the UC Davis community don't have to drive to far to go anywhere far for the festival.

I know it's difficult for some people to go out to some festivals because it doesn't work with schedules, but the UC Davis AAA Film Festival will be having screenings for two weeks on the dates of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So, there's about 6 (now about 4) chances for you to make it to one of the screenings. Check out the Facebook event page, UCD Asian American Film Festival 2012.

I understand that many movies are expensive these days. Well, the UCD AAFF is free, as they work hard throughout the year(s) to help make it free! I know that other festivals you would have to purchase tickets in order to attend. I've check out the Asian American festivals for San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle and they require tickets to get through the door. Besides Asian American Film Festivals, other film festival do require you to purchase tickets such as Sundance, Sacramento Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. There's the UC Davis Film Festival, the Davis Feminist Film Festival, and Davis Film Festival, which are great festivals to attend in Davis, but you must have a ticket in order to watch the films.

Why not support a film festival that has been going on for several years now that aims to educate people, including an awareness of the hardships and issues that are experienced in America? Why not keep the number of attendees in the film become strong, like they were when I was a Freshman? Have nothing else to do and just want to watch a free movie with a group of people in a building on campus within the next week? The UC Davis Asian American Film Festival is a possible answer to that question. Consider attending and supporting the film festival by watching a free movie!

The First Time you Finish a Big Mac

While I was growing up, my parents liked to order from McDonald's or other fast food places for us kids, but it was mainly McDonald's. There's not a surprise that I'm still a fan of McDonald's today. As a result, the food from McDonald's became a part of my childhood experience and not just my childhood, but that of my siblings.

One of the items that my family likes to order is Big Mac. I don't know why we preferred it over the other burger options, but that is our family favorite burger from McDonald's. However, since we were young children, not all of us finished the Big Macs. Finishing a Big Mac meant that you can eat a lot and finish your meals. It meant that you could eat more than you could before and maybe more than that Big Mac. So, I guess someone crossed a food boundary when finishing their first Big Mac.

My younger sister, Cindy, did not finish her first Big Mac until she about 8. As Cindy was growing up she didn't eat too much and she was less likely to finish her meals, which was why her consumption of an entire Big Mac shocked me and my brother. My sister, Emily, finished her first Big Mac when she was 4. Since Emily was the youngest and pretty small, the three of us siblings were very surprised that she had consumed a Big Mac for herself at that young age. As for my brother, he was already eating a lot of burgers by the age of 6, so it was probably around that age or earlier when he finished his first Big Mac. I didn't finish my first big mac until about 9 or 10 since I had a little phobia about burgers in my beginning years of elementary school.

Now that I think about it, it's funny how we reference that if you can finish a Big Mac it means you can eat a lot. But, my purpose is not to promote Big Macs consumed at earlier ages or even finish a Big Mac in one setting. And, that there would be no way that McDonalds would promote a young one finishing a Big Mac in a early age. It would probably scare a lot of Americans and others that the younger generation is becoming too fat from eating fast foods, especially from Big Macs.

Foods that I Miss from China

Here's another post that I go back in time and discuss my experience while studying abroad. The focus of this post is the food that I miss and was delicious!

I'm surprised that the beef dishes are one of the dishes that I really miss. There were some beef dishes that were still sizzling when it came to us and it was pretty cool. I was surprised to have some beef dishes that were soft and just tasty. Below are two pictures of beef dishes that I enjoyed.

Some beef dish

Another food item that I really miss eating in China are their dumplings. Since China is cheaper, so it their food and many other objects. The dumplings there were around 9-12 kuai. So, that was about less than $2. And, as you can see on each plate, there were at least 10+ dumplings on each plate.

I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of donuts. But, the thing was when I was in China, the smell of a doughnut shop caught my attention and I decided to check out the shop. It was not the only donut shop, as I saw another one from the same company (BestBite Donuts!) elsewhere in Hangzhou. The donut that I've seen in China have different flavors than America. There was green tea and other unique options! What's even better is that the donuts taste so much better in China. It wasn't super doughy and thick as a donut, instead the donut was fun to bite in and was thin. I'm not the best at explaining it, but I can definitely say that I enjoy the donuts there. And, that although something may seem American, it doesn't mean that it will taste the same or necessarily be better in America.
 

I also really enjoyed the boba there! It tastes different from the ones I've had in America. For my study abroad trip, MyGirl was the place that we frequented for boba and their bakery products!

The other food that I miss was the food that was supplied for our breakfast in our hotel in Hangzhou. There was always peanuts. Then, there were fruits, such as watermelons. And, they would have different dishes for us almost everyday. I like that I got to dine with the other students and we had the dining place for ourselves for most of the breakfasts.

For the opening and closing meals for our study abroad groups, we had very delicious, sophisticated and expensive meals that were fit for a king. That doesn't mean that the other meals that I had with the study abroad meal weren't delicious. As a group, we all tried some pretty delicious foods and items that we probably won't be able to if our professor didn't have an excellent knowledge of food & places.

Beggar's Chicken

I have to say that one of the dishes I remember eating is Beggar's Chicken. Don't let the title of the dish fool you. We had Beggar's Chicken for our opening meal in the middle of Westlake and in a fancy restaurant. The chicken was just about perfect and unique. It had the perfect texture and tasted very delicious.

For our closing meal, our professor told us how it was quite expensive. I believe it was at least 5,000 kuai for each table! She told us how she read about this place and how the chef uses rare and some local ingredients to make the dishes. Even the dining spot in Hangzhou was quite stunning.  

Smileys

In America, I usually order fries with my hamburgers. I love eating fries. Fries, however, are usually the shape of a "finger" and aren't in any cute shapes in fast food places. In China, there were also "finger" fries in fast food places. But, they didn't just have "finger" fries, they had "smiley" fries at a lot of their restaurants. I thought they were so cute. They taste like fries, but they are more cutely shaped and more organized than fries that are quickly put into a bag or plate.