China Gaoshou 中国高手, Mountain Man, Food Maven

  When it comes to national parks, California has an abundance of riches.   It is home to 9 out of America’s 63 national parks, more than any other state in the country.   Four of these parks—Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Lassen Volcanic National Park—lie along the state’s eastern mountain spine, comprised of the Sierra Nevada and southern end of the Cascade ranges. Within this group, Yosemite, followed by Sequoia and Kings Canyon, receive by far and away the most visitors.   This makes Lassen Volcanic National Park a poor stepchild to its more renowned counterparts.   That is a shame, as Lassen has quite a lot to offer.   As the name implies, the park is home not just to the Lassen Peak volcano, which underwent a major eruption in 1914, but several other volcanoes which could blow in the future.   All four basic types of volcanoes can be found here:   plug dome (Lassen Peak), shield (Prospect Peak), composite (Brokeoff Mountain), and cin...

Fudging socioeconomic data to make things appear better than they actually are in China has long been a standard practice of its government.  One could even say that manipulating data ( 操纵数据 [C ā oz ò ng Sh ù j ù ]) regarding the economic and social conditions is in the DNA of this regime.  Thus, in his extremely insightful and still very useful read on the Chinese economy, CHINA’S GUARANTEED BUBBLE, brilliant Tsinghua University economist Zhu Ning devotes an entire chapter entitled “Voodoo Data” to debunking official Chinse Government economic statistics.    Skepticism about these numbers extends to top Chinese leaders.  In a private conversation that became public, President Xi Jinping’s former Premier, LiKeqiang ,  frankly declared that he did not trust the official GDP growth numbers.  Li added that he instead looks at figures for coal and electricity consumption to better gauge Chinese economic growth.  In his book, Zhu notes that the offi...

Sponge cakes, also known as “Swiss Rolls,” are among the oldest baked sweet goodies in Western Cuisine.   One classic sponge cake from Portugal, outside of Lisbon, called the “P ão de Ló,” was featured a while ago on Christopher Kimball’s “Milk Street Radio” program and recipe website.   I’d never baked a sponge cake and since the recipe for this version of it was pretty straightforward and doable, I decided to give it a try.   I was not disappointed. Unlike most cakes, Portuguese sponge cake doesn’t have any butter.   Its oil/fat consists of a bit of extra virgin olive oil.   Besides the dry ingredients, the cake consists mainly of eggs.   When baked right, this simple, eggy cake features a sweet center, bordering on being gooey, below its upper crust in the center.   When recreating this cake after encountering it Portugal, Kimball and his associates added an uncommon twist from Nuno Mendes, author of the book, MY LISBON, who puts in a quarter cup ...

  As is the case for most people in California, the Chumash Wilderness was, prior to last year, off my radar screen.   I first visited the wilderness at the end of April last year, searching for more summits to climb in the spring “shoulder season,” when it is difficult to bag peaks in the High Sierra, due to lingering snow.   I was also curious to explore a little traveled backroad into the Wilderness, the Lockwood Valley Road. The Chumash Wilderness is named after the Native Americans who inhabited this area before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.   It rises up from the southwest corner of the Central/San Joaquin Valley and Kern County.   The wilderness covers an area of 38,150 acres and is part of both the 85,000-acre Mount Pinos/Cuyama Badlands Roadless area and the much larger Los Podres National Forest.   Elevations here range from 4,200 to 8,848 feet, making Chumash the highest wilderness area between the Sierra Nevada and Southern Califor...

  Xi tells Chinese College Graduates unable to find work to “ 吃苦 ,” while a top Chinese Economic Advisor Issues a Dire Warning about the Fallout from this Problem Chinese Government officials and advisors are not known for honestly discussing their country’s economic and social problems.   Thus, a recent report issued by the China Macroeconomy Forum at prestigious Renmin University on the fallout stemming from high unemployment among Chinese college graduates comes as a breath of fresh air.   This 110-page document   is authored by a top Chinese Government economic advisor, Liu Yuanchun and his Renmin University colleague, Liu Xiaoguang, along with Yan Yan from the China Chengxin International Credit Company.   It did not mince words about potential threat youth joblessness poses to political and social stability in China.   “If not handled properly,” the authors warn, limited work opportunities for young Chinese “will spark other social problems beyond...