another festive treat - sticky rice dumplings

another week, another treat - this time around, the occasion was dragon boat fest, the weekend was spent wrapping and boiling sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves with fatty pork, salted egg yolk, chinese sausage, dried shrimps, chinese mushroom, chestnut & mung bean filling... yummo! wished that i knew how to wrap them bigger (like the ones i saw at BBQ king cake shop)...

words of wisdom

rain had descended on our dry land for the last 2 weeks... our garden got a soaking and so did my seedlings - some of them had been battered (by ultrabig waterdroplets and looked as though they may not survive)... but at the same time, the water storing crystals have expanded many folds and hopefully would serve as my "micro-watertanks" in the coming months...

the soaking stopped though for a brief period during the much anticipated HHDL talk at the domain though! and the sun even shined for a while... while mcduck and snowflaked were hibernating at home, i braved the wind and rain and was rewarded with great inspiration - reminders about cause and effect, compassion, core human values...

the happiness conference and workshop were also worth the buck - i just have to go through the workbooks again to transfer the inspirational ideas from my short term memory bank into my core... no... i didn't bring my camera when i got as close as 3 body lengths from HHDL... everyone started to line up at the exit for blessing and i was too starstruck to do anything - in retrospect, being able to meet someone showing such true compassion, true confidence (not merely being "yes" man & not being overtly nice to as a result of trying to please everybody) was unforgettable (and of course could not have been captured on my camera!)

lets hope the 103 rumour is true and HHDL will be back in oz next year for another inspirational talk / tour...

home cooking update

it's the start of winter... and what better to do (on rainy days) than cooking and eating something made at home to keep warm...

lovely winter supply of organic marmalade - and a jar of candied lemon peel...

then marmalade became marmalade bread and butter pudding...

... and the soyquick arrived as well!! so no more squeezing out from a muslin bag & no more wrinkly fingers... but more tofu and more almond oat milk...

and today... the winter warmer soup - parsnip, carrot, cabbage with warming ginger and pearly barley...