Home of a lil'needlecrafter: Festivity

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Monday, June 18, 2018

Taiwan - The journey with Mom

A journey with Mom in the last five days of May

Thou this is not the first time we travelled, we have travelled many times before but just that this is the first time we are travelling just the two of us and most importantly, we survived, LOL. Travelling with mom may be a joy for some, for me it's different, I need a lot of patience and compromise, for we can have our differences in many ways and I do not want our little spats to destroy our journey. Just because I like to explore as much as I can and doing all the touristy stuff in my travels, doesn't mean that I expect mom to do so as well, she prefers to shop and can take up conversations with just anyone, not me. At her 85 years of age, my concern is her walking long distances and her diet. I also worry she will not be able to go on a long haul fight. Taiwan, a little birdie has told me is on her wish list and I thought I should plan a trip just the two of us so I could be in controlled of our itinerary. Moreso, Taiwan is slightly just over four hours away seem perfect.

Thou I began planning in March, I couldn't get away from work until after April ended and it was only May, end of May that we made the journey. I worked out a schedule of planned itinerary weeks before our departure and making sight adjustment along the way to accommodate mom. I have arranged her to be on wheel chair from airport to airport so she will not have to walk the distance within the airport especially our airport which is a very, very long walk

Our first dinner upon arrival we tried out the famous Yuan Yang Hot Pot in Xiemending,

the most famous district also known as the Shibuya of Taiwan where we spent 3 nights. Here's a brief details of how our journey went in no particular order.

Visited the Chiang Kai Shek Residence , Shilin like a tourist

The former residence of late Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek

and his wife Soong Mei-ling, The residence consisting of Western and Oriental influence garden is now turned into an ecology park. It was a very hot day and mom took shade while I explore a little of

Madam Chaing's favourite Rose Garden, trust me I didn't go very far

In awe with the roses

The garden is huge and filled with many species of roses that I wished I could cart home

I managed to get mom to pose for a few shots and I was rather surprised that she was very obliging

Later in that afternoon, we made our way to SunYat Sun Memorial, a tribute to the Nation's founding father and our timing was perfect to witness the changing of guards

Never knew Mom was ecstatic to be able to witness the changing of guards, it was drizzling a little that day, the only day that rendered a wet day for us.

With an umbrella, I got her to pose with Taiwan's tallest iconic tower 101 in the background

Pineapple Tarts is Taiwan's most popular snacks food souvenir. The fruit itself hold a significant history behind its popularity . The crumbly bite-sized pastries filled with chewy pineapple filling mold into brick size symbolize golden bricks of prosperity. Mom and me had a fun time getting some lessons in molding the pineapples, set a side the thoughts that this is actually a gimmick to get you to buy it's products later and need I say that we did succumbed to it, LOL

Taiwan famous dumplings Xiao Lung Bao must try, I told mom so

By bloggers' recommendation we went to King Ping instead of Ding Tai Fung the original restaurant, said to taste better since the Chef here originates from the later and had made a name for himself.

Two of the famous night markets Shilin and Roahe Nite market are most popular with tourist for their trendy fashion but most importantly fancy street food and especially the Stinky Tofu, seriously it's a Chinese form of fermented tofu that has a strong odor considered the most memorable and classic dish and oh boy! I ain't going to give this a missed.

This it's a must try when in Taiwan and HongKong !

How bad is the odor? Like rotting garbage , LOL

ewwww..not!

Thankfully, the taste is far less pungent than the smell. Normally served with either chili sauce or pickled vegetable to mask the smell and give it some flavor.

Mom was all no-no at first, but I managed to coaxed her to try and she remarked 'not bad'

There you go!

another on my must try from the night market is another signature Taiwan made famous

Bubble Milk Tea. not that I can't get it locally back home, but this is it's birth land

so MUST TRY !!

From Taipei we managed a night at this PeiKong Creek & spa Resort in Nantou

A onsen style resort for a revitalising soaking session in hot thermal water with a breathtaking view

There is even a mini onsen styled tub in it's bath in our chalet for privacy, bliss

Our dinner at the spa was a packaged we took

Since mom is on no seafood diet, they were kind enough to obliged

still somehow, thou our ancestors may originates from the same Chinese land,

food wise is somewhat not something we could get accustomed to while in Taiwan

With a little assurance and encouragement, Mom made it midway onto the scenic suspension bridge, A lil'cheat just for a snapshot, LOL

The journey to Nantou was a bit long and so we had some fun with snapchat

At the Dahu Strawberry Farm and Winery, unfortunately it's strawberries off season

Still mom had a joyful time shopping for souvenirs for her friends back home

and she found the largest strawberry and lolly

Neiwan Old Street, a remote village nestled in the mountain next to a river .

The old street will come alive on weekends with tourist sampling food from the Hakka culture but we went on Friday and thus the old street is almost deserted.

Taiwan was ruled by the Japanese for 50years and such villages existed due to logging and mining industry all over Taiwan and flourished prosperously.

Its popular landmark here is the Neiwan railway station. Mom went back to our van, (yes we had a seven seater van for the duration of our trip just the two of us) with the driver after lunch while I went exploring the streets a little on my own

<Mom looking out into Sun Moon Lake from the Wen Wu Temple

> At the Puli Winery famous for its' earthen pots of wine

The Magnificent WenWu Templed replaced the old temple after the earthquake overlooking the famous Sun Moon Lake . It is located at the foothills of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range and surrounded by forested peaks and has foot trails east of the lake.

By the Wishing Fountain - Her expressions said it all

Five Days In Taipei
Drinking like crazy
ONLY
Coffee and Tea
from the 7-Eleven that mushroom all over Taiwan
and there is one located just right outside our hotel

Coming back home I was thrilled that our local Family Mart has some of these on it's shelves

and so the drinking continues, hahaha

Finally

Our final shot at Taoyuan International Airport boarding gate

She stole a lil'nap while waiting, our flight was delayed for over 2 hours

Like any tourist, we took zillions of photos and mom was very sporting throughout, of the many photos ; selfies, wefies and some with the help from strangers, I love this best, a snapshot in front of the 101 Taipei iconic tallest tower

I am glad I took this journey with mom, I am glad for many reasons; glad that I did this when she is still somehow still able thou abit slow, glad that she still have the strength thou not as strong as she was a year ago, glad that I finally done it and not just wishful thinking but most importantly glad that we had some moments to bond and enjoyed the journey sharing a little joke and laughter along the way.

We can now argue at home :D

Many thanks to all those who came and left comments in my last post

Today we celebrate another festivity

Happy Dumpling Festival

and this is the Nyonya Chang/Dumplings

Wishing all a Happy New Week !

Thursday, March 01, 2018

The final countdown - Spring Festival

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or simply the Lunar New Year is an important festival that begins on the eve up to the last day known as the Lantern Festival on the 15th day .

Before I leave for home. I have prepared for mom, a bowl of gold (Kam) the mandarin oranges is a must have as it symbolized "Gold", sweets and the prosperity sticky cake are part of the things all ready to usher into the new year.

Cherry blossom wreath is all done up like a chandelier, accessorized with Chinese New Year Ornaments and it hangs above the dinning table.

Putting up the " CAI " - The red cloth over the door is an invitation banner to the God of Prosperity, so it was said. While I am merely following hands me down tradition , such practices are more evident by people who are Straits born . Thereafter the festivity, everything will be brought down for another year.

With a blink of an eye, the day came and gone and tomorrow is the last day of the festivity. Here we are, a first photo with mom and MIL. I don't think I had ever took a photo with both

Thank you for visiting me and I hope March brings you wonderful joys

Monday, February 05, 2018

The countdown : 10 days

Countdown to the festivity : 10 days to the eve
My demon bake ! The most difficult bake will have to be this Kuih Bangkit, it's part of Nyonya delicacy, Kuih Bangkit as in Coconut Cream Cookies or literally translated to Rise Cookies takes days ahead to prepare and I need to be prepared mentally to embark on this " melt-in-the-mouth" cookies. So for the third year, I am with my obsession again and some how my dough didn't felt good to begin with. The recipe said knead into a pliable dough and how pliable is pliable when I have not seen one ? Unlike many people who had this hands me down recipe, I had none, for the women from my mom and her generations are the liberal women who actually had careers and don't actually sweat it out in the kitchen. I failed to obtain that "melt-in-the-mouth" texture, thou it's very aromatic from the coconut cream this round, so something is rightly done here, it's just that I failed miserably to achieve that "melt-in-the-mouth" texture. However the cookies improved with a decent softness the next day. Threw away what remains of the dough after two trays. Sigh!

Nian Gao - Always, there is some thing new that caught my interest.

The Sticky Glutinous Cake is a welcome sight every Chinese New Year and it only appears once a year. Traditionally it is a must have in every household as it symbolize progress, advancement and growth. I made my first Nian Gao this year instead of buying from the market. The process is said to be tedious, well, not after one tried at baking the Kuih Bangkit. The hardest is getting the sugar to caramelize to a certain degree (great amount of patient here) to obtain that distinctive color so to pass it onto the Nian Gao when it's done, and the next is most probably time, it takes about 3 to 4 hours of steaming and constantly checking the water on the steamer meaning no sneaking out of the house for a Starbucks grande. I think I am addicted to this !

Project Pyjamas, a charity drive by NWUKMSIA (Nordic Walk UK-Malaysia) to raise awareness for a little bedtime comfort for the children in the foster homes or orphanages held at our Perdana Botani Lake Garden on the last weekend of January. It's been ages since I went for a walk or a jog at this garden in the city. This was a fun Charity project, with people coming in all sorts of their ideal pyjamas wear. SpongeBob , Mickey and Minion print Pjs including some traditional PJs appeared on the scene that morning; spotted also a lady in robe and rollers in her hair, a lady in kaftan, some sporting guys in their sarongs and even teddy bears came along too. The shy ones are in tee and trousers or short. Mommies and kids came too and the seniors came in a groups. The charity drive is aimed at providing pyjamas for the kids in orphanages and the walk is open to the public by registration.

The Lake in the park

The stream

Cascading waters

The weather was beautiful, the sun came out late which made the walk even more pleasant

Jaimis who went with me found the clown who made each of us a baloon crown, LOL

Spotted too are these few ladies who came in their make-believe see thru lingerie

My last bake will be the crunchy seaweed crackers which is house favorite and a cake to bake and getting the house ready for the festivity in 10 days. I still have the curtains to sew and my "cai" to put up.

Thank you Carol, Vickie, Brigitte and Meari for visiting and leaving me your sweet comments in my last post. Seriously, I will need to improve the shape of my Doggie Cookies.

My Cherry Blossom wreath is done Brigitte only that I will need some help in getting a good photoshoot of the wreath , hopefully I have another last blog post before I take a break for the festivity

Till then, take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend

Thursday, January 25, 2018

January

Festivity countdown : Chinese New Year in 20 days today

It is uncommon and almost a trend today to simply go out and purchase your cookies for the Chinese New Year celebration. Cookies by the jars and tins are already on displayed on the shelves from sundry shops to the malls weeks ago. It's been some ten years since I started baking my own cookies for the festivity simply because I wanted to introduce some traditional cakes and cookies to the kids then. It's like I found my reasons to bake.

Having the kids around is like it's never too early for a sweet treat, only it disappear too quickly and might not last till the festivity, since I don't intend to bake a lot this year, the two not so little mouse in the house are warned about the "Do Not Touch" labels the moment the last tray comes out of the oven, LOL

Green Pea cookies is replacing my Peanut cookies this year

It's a doggie year, so the Horlicks Doggie are here to stay. It's a house favorites and these doggies are personalized with character, can never get two a like and definitely not when it's a tray full of doggies

I didn't get to make any Roosters shape cookies for the Roosters year but made a few with this batch to bid the Rooster year a farewell while Diane thought that the doggie should get some extra fun characters away from my mostly frowning doggies, LOL..

I 've learned to fold a doggie origami from the "hongbao " (red packet/envelope) that you see in the above picture.

Cherry blossoms are always associated with the Chinese New Year, after all it is also known as the Spring festival. I'm making a cherry blossom wreath this year. This is still a work in progress.
On a happy note, I have completed my gift exchange for the girls meet in March, now that I got a piece of my mind taken off, it back to the kitchen for more bakes.

The Tun Razak Exchange building caught my eyes for a month or so every morning on my route to Diane's internship at the hospital. I never knew then that this will be our soon to be tallest building in the country surpassing our Twin Towers at 450m above ground due for completion mid of this year. It will be the tallest in South East Asia and top 15 in the world until the next skyscraper made it's debut somewhere.

Till my next post, thank you for visiting and I truly appreciate your time taken to leave me your comments in my last post.

Wishing you a blessed day !

Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Tilda in the house

Fast forward FOUR years later I finally made a Tilda doll this September.

That was how far the urged of wanting a Tilda doll went in October 2013.

Flipping through the pattern from the book Sew Pretty Homestyle by Tone Finnanger, it look tricky to the mind and I can assured you there's a thousand way I can go wrong just by looking

Which I did, but I was determine to not get frustrated, this time.

I have since added four more Tilda's books to my collection

The dress
The easy way out was a draped dress, it look easy peasy to sew, my thoughts but since my doll pattern came from the Garden and Kitchen Angel, I just had to sew her dress, which I am very sure will assist in covering up all dreadful sewing flaws. Now that idea sounded more appealing to embark on such a sheer amount of work to work with

I misread the pattern and cut the wrong pants from the wrong page first time, then it was too short and I didn't like how it look the second time. I remember measured twice and cut once. Yet the result didn't look like in the book.

Luckily, I have enough fabric for my tragic waste or my lil' Tilly will have to be shamefully naked. I am glad I've decided to put away those precious Tilda's fabrics at this stage, knowingly sewing mishap can happen with me.

Crowning Glory
Is there a right way of doing it ? I did the best I could

The Jacket
Piecing together the jacket appear to take decades, every mistake is amplified. Practically I was sewing simultaneously with a seam ripper, even visualizing lil'Tilly without her jacket at one point.
When I decide to not use Tilda's fabric and choose one from my stash, I didn't gave much thought on the color combination for the final piece; the jacket, causing much disastrous choices and much effort later I finally like what I see to go with that polka dots.

Many many night of sewing later, I 've done it ! LOL

I've made her little flower basket too to compliment her "Garden and Kitchen" pattern. I omitted the fairy wing thou. I can assured you it look pretty in picture but there's nip and tuck all over and I cheated with hand basting too.

Next challenge, a second doll is on the drawing board, I hope I improve my finishing skill with the second doll....will see

Mid Autumn Festival
It's the time of the year again where we celebrate the moon. This year, I am not baking any moon cakes for the occasion, so I bought a little to give away and received a little in return which is enough for the occasion. No big prayers for me unlike in some households where they will host family gatherings and pray to the moon with little kids lighting their lanterns to play. It's a beautiful sight to see little kids with their lanterns walking the streets, reminiscing of a bygone era. Sadly the streets are not safe anymore for the little people to go galloping in the streets without being chaperone and with parents having a busy lifestyle these days, the kids are kept to play in their front porch or yard to play.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival, May you glow with the glorious moon !