It takes me a little while to get used to the phrase “can’t complain” as a common greeting. I am still a little puzzled, but not as puzzled as before. It probably means “can complain, but if complain, you will be considered selfish, rude, inconsiderate, or ignorant.” That’s my current understanding that it means I am content although not completely satisfied. It’s like the baffling meaning of invaluable and incredible, the incomprehensible subjunctive mood, and all the other twisted logic difficult for non-native speakers to grasp.
Well, can’t complain about the weather these days since it’s hovering around lower 80s. Can’t imagine 107 in California or 117 in Death Valley–where is it? In California or in Arizona. Too lazy to look up. There are always so many things I should look up each day that if I do all the things I should, I would go crazy.
Can’t complain of the new dish. Learned it online– stir fry vegetable first in a pan before throwing the whole thing into a rice cooker. Then add rice a little later when things get heated. And finally add chopped chicken meat on top. It’s a little on the soggy side, but that’s the biggest issue of cooking this dish. It’s either too soggy that the rice will not have a granular quality or too dry that the rice is not fully cooked through. The balance is hard to master and I need to try several times more with different amount of chicken stock.
Can’t complain of the books I read–two books of romance, in which the heroine has one new social, legal, personal, sartorial misstep on each page, but her rich and handsome and caring boyfriend just loves her despite everything, and rescues her every time she’s in trouble. I wonder if women ever had such an easy love life even in the good old immemorial days of a matriarchal society. My conclusion is no, but my comment on the books is yes. Dream on, girls.
Can’t complain of my own ignorance since I just discovered “Wired” magazine, which is better than I expected. It was recommended to me by Amazon–the very recommendation is suspicious since I’ve never liked any of its recommendations before. I’ve gone through two Wired magazine and haven’t liked them. However the newest is great, especially the first three articles. The fourth article on the danger of too many videos is nice but I can’t agree with it.
Haoyan Do 