May 12, 2012
Today, we had a picnic with some friends. They brought traditional Taiwanese foods, like steam pork buns, green onion breads, tea eggs, meat pastries with sesame seeds and my favorite, the tofu burgers. The kids got to play and the adults got to talk. It was really hot, but we had a great time. I will miss my friends. Their generosity and kindness is unsurpassed!
April 24, 2012
I made these scapulars for my family. I went to a traditional cloth market in Tainan city and got some dark brown wool. Then, I took the kids to a DIY store to choose embroidery floss. Eli chose blue, Rhiannon got green, Sean asked for brown and I picked ivory. We had them blessed by father Peter last Sunday after mass. I love to see my family wearing them!
I braided the embroidery floss into cords.
I cut small rectangles of wool and embroidered a simple cross on one side.
I sew on the cord in dark thread.
I placed another wool rectangle of the same size on top and stitched all around.
April 23, 2012
This is what happens when I make beets for dinner… sigh … She had her father’s help too! 
I love my family.
April 10, 2012
Easter Sunday was also our Calvin’s birthday. He would have been six years old. Sean, wrote a post over at his blog, Sparrow Canyon Illustrations, where he shares his art.
~ Just click on the image to see Calvin’s birthday post. ~
April 10, 2012
We made our own natural dyes this year. We boiled beets for pink, onion skins for brown, red cabbage for blue and turmeric for yellow. Also, we tried creating patters by tightly wrapping the boiled eggs in a stocking with some leaves and flowers and then soaking them. The kids had a bit of a hard time with that. The stocking has to be snug enough so that the leaves are right against the egg shell and can not move around. After they made a few of those, they decided to switch to good old crayons.
April 1, 2012
Rhiannon was studying magnetism, so we decided to make our own compass. It was very fun and very easy. Since Taiwan is closer to the North pole, our compass points North.
March 24, 2012
This post is for Jen and any other soup noodle lovers.
We got our soup noodles at the super market and then went to the traditional market to get our veggies, tofu, tofu skin and assorted sea food balls and cakes like kamaboko. Rhiannon loves all the shapes and colors that the fish cakes come in. We also like to poach a few eggs. Eli is a nut for eggs. After everything is cooked, we pour the water over our noodles and then share all the yummies. Some BBQ sauce is also nice for dipping.
March 21, 2012
The kids and I spent yesterday at the beach. They ran around, splashed, practiced their fire making skills and made rope swings. I tried braiding some bracelets, but it was so windy. The sand here is so fine that it gets into everything.
March 18, 2012
Our neighbor asked if Sean could help her cut down some bananas today. I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures and a short movie because they were in a difficult place to reach and knew this would be fun. Sean did a great job! I was surprised how heavy they are. Looking forward to making lots of banana bread.
March 7, 2012
I took some pictures on our mother and daughter evening yesterday. First, we went to a night market, where we got our dinner of fried tofu and cabbage, sweet potato balls, quail eggs and ice cream. It is fun to have a little of this and a little of that. We also picked up some squid for Sean. When we got home, we watched Rhiannon’s favorite show, Road to Avonlea.
~ Rhiannon shows off her shot. ~
