He joined a gang and became a tough street fighter who as an adult would boast, "I was the baddest Oriental come out of West Oakland".
But enough half-baked philosophising, suffice to say, the plot is looking good, the leaves are still heartening up, the tagetes putting on a late spurt, the Orientals coming along.
From the menu's "Oriental Specialties" comes lobster Cantonese ($18.95), cut into pieces with the shell still on, in a bath of white sauce thickened with cornstarch and pork.
As you drive across the bridge to the tiny isle of Brickell Key, just off bustling Brickell Avenue, the yellow and cream-colored 20-story-high Mandarin Oriental, Miami comes into view.
It's also a product of his current musical obsessions: the stark, almost empty-sounding guitar riffs are influenced by Chris Isaak, the oriental melodies come from Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, and the electronic elements spring from Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Competition between Mediterranean nations for control of Asiatic commerce gradually narrowed to a contest between Venice and Genoa, with the former winning when it severely defeated its rival city in 1380; thereafter, in partnership with Egypt, Venice principally dominated the Oriental trade coming via the Indian Ocean and Red Sea to Alexandria.
It is also possible that other sources of oriental bloodstock came from what was called the Nisaean breed (possibly akin to the Turkoman horse) from Iran and Anatolia, another type of oriental horse brought back from the Crusades.
Premier Jour is a floral with a light oriental feeling that comes from sugared almond, a confection distributed in France at weddings and christenings.
Like Stravinsky, Mr. Lindberg appreciates the clowning capabilities of bassoons -- in the first movement of "Aura," for example -- and the big climax of that work's second movement comes with Oriental gong crashes that sound at once weird and jokey.
With its roof and pinnacles covered in wildly patterned multicolored tiles, it resembles some flying Oriental carpet inexplicably come to rest in Burgundy.
