Sewing lessons with Mum

Some time ago I said to my husband, I think I should get a sewing machine. They sell fairly cheaply at Costco. And he said, Oh. And then that evening he brought one up to the house. He said, Here you go. Brand new. Client didn't use or want it. Such is the way we do things here.

So it sat unopened for a few months. And I thought, I'll wait till Mum and Dad come and then we'll whip it out. And we actually did. I found cute baby doll patterns online to practice on. Here is my first attempt. Sewn completely on my own with Mum's steady guidance behind me. I'm a little ashamed to be so old and just learning to sew... But so be it.

Serious business

Everyday exotic

After a surprisingly dry and warm Chinese New Year, the rain has come back. And with a four day holiday and Daddy busy with work, the only thing to do is stay indoors. And while the girls play dress ups in the bedroom, I get my cooking on..... One of my favourite chefs, Roger Mooking of Everyday Exotic was on the travel and living channel last night cooking Chicken in Papaya BBQ sauce. Delicious!!! Look at that papaya.... so gorgeous. This recipe is divine...... 

His recipes are great and the ingredients are readily accessible here. YUM!

City slickers..... country at heart.

Today we had BSF. We had to turn up half an hour early for a fellowship meeting with our group. That means we had to leave 30 mins earlier to make it on time. No problem, can do!

But it also meant that we were right in the thick of the early morning peak traffic, transport and foot traffic alike. We walk 20 minutes to the subway. It's a 30 minute ride. We navigate 7 elevators and three different stations, we ride over the top of Taipei City on the way to our change over station and then we go deep into the belly of the city all the way down to B4. And today, at the point where we change stations, we navigated ourselves through literally thousands of commuters. Thousands upon thousands. The escalator from the second floor that travels all the way down to B3 is so steep that one might actually think they were travelling vertically.... (we skip that for the elevators of course, no strollers on that!!)

The whole station was packed to the eyeballs from every angle.... barely room to move. We have to scoot in and out of these people and I must say, we are pros! My girls are city slickers... Tilly handles the elevator buttons for me, she handles the swiping of the card, she keeps up right beside me. She knows how to dodge. We push that stroller through and we get to the other side and there is no stopping us!! But that might be because Taiwanese people are generally polite and accommodating, even in a packed subway station. But I like to think it's because I'm super mum.

Of course there are other subways in this world that are a whole lot busier than that. But this is enough for us.. My girls can handle themselves in the big smoke. Tilly now rides her bike without training wheels all through the streets. She stays close behind me, obeys the rules, stays sensible and gets to the destination in one piece. But all that aside, we went back to Australia recently and there is no mistaking it - these girls are actually country girls at heart. What they really love is:

.....digging like this.

.......gardening like that.

.......dancing like this.

.......chilling like that.

........dressing up like this.

.......watching that.

.......making hard to remove art mess like this.

.....making discoveries like this with uncles like that.

......watching daddy get his man on like this.

.......eating dinner with favourite loved ones like these. 

.......being as free as that.

.......learning to jump like this.

........bouncing like that!

......getting their crazy on like this.

....working hard like this.

....chillaxing like that.

These, without a doubt, are some of their favourite things - these country girls at heart.

Happy New Year ~ Year of the Snake!!

Chinese New Year usually passes us by, as we're in sunny Australia about this time of year every year. We've stayed put at least till nearly the end of new years this time round. And we're hosting the New Years Eve dinner tonight and the traditional 'Return to Mother's Home' dinner also. Which happens on the 11th of February, or officially the 2nd day of the Chinese lunar calendar. If I was Chinese, (and I'm not.....) this would be my day of the holiday to go back to my mother's house. Traditionally this was the one day of the year in which all married off daughters were allowed to go back to their mother's homes to see their family. As my husband is the eldest boy in the house, he's decided to take on the hosting of the return to mother's house for his sisters sake, who has her mother in her house and technically never has the chance to 'Return to Mother's Home' as she's always there........ We'll not be hosting in the house as we are tonight, we'll be taking everyone out for dinner.

I often miss this time of year travel wise and I forgot the general buzz in the air as everyone hurries to prepare for the week off. The one whole week of the year that the Taiwanese go easy on themselves and take a break.... This morning I took the girls to the market and it was alive with excitement. My usual vendors had hired extra staff, the market was full, people were walking about everywhere with bags bulging with meats, fruit and vegetables. The markets will shut down until the 17th, so now is the time to buy up. Of course, 7-11 and  places like supermarkets won't shut. But most Taiwanese get their produce fresh from markets.

I've always wanted to take photos of my local market. But I hate looking like the big white foreigner in the midst of people going about their normal business, with a camera in my hand. But today I just couldn't miss it. It was too much fun and I had to get the camera out. Yes, they all thought I was a bit soft in the head. But who cares. Most of them know me anyway.

My nuts and dried goods vendor. 

She sells fresh free range eggs too. 

Vegetables galore!

Pineapple ~ in Taiwanese the word for pineapple sounds like the Mandarin Chinese word for good luck. Get all that? 

My favourite fish vendor. I get my prawns from here. I'm not much into dealing with whole fish.

Nice and fresh. 

Noodle stall. The boss man was covered from head to toe in flour. So was my camera at the end of it. 

Just made this morning. Fresh as can be. 

Noodles being wrapped around in the machine.

Getting bigger and bigger. It looks like leather getting wrapped up. He's holding a bag with flour in it and bouncing it up and down on the wide strips of noodle to stop it from sticking. 

Out it comes into beautiful strips of fresh noodles. Noodles are for longevity at Chinese New Year, and generally just for yummy-ness anytime else. 

Selling new years banners and ornaments to hang in the house. 

Happy New Year!!

How does your garden grow?

Yay for us! Nature has done it's thing and we have vegetables!!

School break

Public school kids are off now until next month. Everyone had a half day today and here are the girls after class. On the way to get passport photos for Tilly's Taiwanese passport. 

Someone received a special invitation to go to school with her big sister today! At just two and a half years of age Evie-lyn spent her first full (half) day at school... Crazy I know. I would never have been so bold with Tills. Haha. Tilly's teacher invited her to join them, without me, today as it was a play day only. All the other children were besotted and she was well taken care of. Even played out in the playground of the school. She sat down in the stroller at 11:45 and crashed. Just before I was able to take this shot, she had actually been sitting up in the stroller with her eyes shut. She fell back down and got herself comfortable and is still there now, snoring her head off, in our bedroom. Here she is minutes after leaving the school.

I'm not even sure she can legally go to public school kindi! In fact I'm pretty sure she can't. However, she is very well acquainted with Tilly's three teachers and happily waved me goodbye and Tilly's teacher is the Principle of the kindi, so...... Just a one off... 

Here she is last night. This is pretty typical for Evie. She was shopping.