JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

The next time you visit a National Bookstore take a close look at the Art section. You may find some surprises.

The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, edited by Donald Preziosi, from the Oxford University Press, P695.

10,000 Years of Art from Phaidon Press, a compact guide to art history, P695.

I love Taschen Books, they’re beautifully-printed and reasonably-priced. The two-volume boxed set Architecture in the 20th Century retails at P1729; I got it at the last Cut-Price book sale at 50 percent off.

My mother believed in reasoning with her kids so every time we got scolded she would explain what we had done wrong. I tried this with my cat Saffy, who attacks the earbuds of my iPod every chance she gets.

– Do you know why I spanked you?
– Because I chewed the cord of the earbuds.
– And?
– Because when you took them away I scratched your hand.
– And?
– Because I hissed at you and ran screaming out of the room threatening to report you to PAWS.
– You know you shouldn’t chew cords.
– They should not make them chewy, then.
– Remember the last time you ate five feet of string.
– I pooped it all out.
– But what if you hadn’t pooped it all out? Imagine the potential injury.
– Immaterial. I pooped it all out.
– Just don’t eat cords and string. Especially the earbuds.

I put away the earbuds. Saffy pounces on the cord. Start conversation from the top.

The one good thing about being sick and having to stay home: I discovered the morning benders.

Their echomix 2 includes Nino Rota’s score for Juliet of the Spirits, Harry Nilsson, Teen Inc and Paul McCartney/Wings.

Get your echomix 2 download here.

Before there was echomix 2, there was echomix 1. Steve Martin sings in it!

Too cheerful for you? Get the Social Network film score sampler by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross here. You can listen to it while you update your Facebook page.

Long before China conquered the global market it colonized our taste buds. Everybody eats Chinese food. If you land in a strange country and you don’t know what the food is like, just look for the nearest Chinese restaurant.

Crystal Jade, the well-known Chinese restaurant chain which started in Singapore, has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Bangkok, KL, Ho Chi Minh City, Seoul, Jakarta, and Tokyo. Last week it opened its first Philippine branch at Virra Mall in the Greenhills Shopping Center. Before the formal opening the media were invited to a food-tasting.

The most popular item on the menu is Xiao Long Bao, steamed soupy pork dumpling. Or as we call it, siomai na may sabaw sa loob. You puncture the wrapper to let out the steam, sip the broth, then eat the dumpling. I heard many theories as to how they got the broth inside the dumpling wrapper (Did they freeze it? Inject it?). Correct answer: bouillon cube.

Steamed vegetable bun

Radish pastry and Pork dumpling with hot chilli sauce

Cold cucumber with minced garlic in sesame oil

Cold sliced pork roll with cucumber and garlic

Crispy eel Wuxi style, my favorite item on the menu. Next time I go to Crystal Jade I’m getting two or three orders, and that’ll be my lunch.

Spicy and sour soup in Sichuan style. Crystal Jade prides itself on the authenticity of its Chinese cuisine. I’m no expert, but it’s delicious.

Sauteed chicken with cashew nuts in spicy sauce

Noodle with dried shrimp and peanut in spicy sauce

Sauteed string bean and minced pork with olive

Fried rice with diced Chinese sausage, shrimp and egg in Yang Zhou style. I asked a Chinese friend why rice is served at the end of a lauriat, when you’re stuffed and threatening to burst. She said that if you eat the rice, it means you’re not satisfied with the meal.

I was so satisfied with the tasting menu, I not only declined the fried rice but skipped the desserts (Mango pudding and Deep-fried souffle ball with red bean paste). How often does this happen? Never.

This should give you a general idea of the prices.

For more information visit www.crystaljade.com or call Red Dragon Culinary Concepts, (02)5706912.

I don’t know anything about The Game of Thrones, the HBO series that begins in 2011. I have not read the fantasy series by George R.R. Martin. But it has Sean Bean and swords! Boromir! I’m in.

Did you cry at The Lord of the Rings movies because the fantasy realms of your childhood had become ‘real’? I slept through The Lovely Bones but I will always love Peter Jackson.

If you can join us in Makati on Sunday, drop us a line in Comments and we’ll email you details. (I gather some of you live abroad.) You all better be 18 or older because I’m not drinking alone.

Thanks to everyone who joined LitWit Challenge 3.6. We enjoyed your stories and the yucch-meter was not overworked. We also want to thank our models for being such good sports (They don’t know what we’re up to). This week’s Jock With A Book: Matt reading the Complete Short Novels of Anton Chekhov.

The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore. The next one is coming up.