Labour of Love

Posted on July 14, 2026 by hafong

I had my sticky rice dumplings made and cooked at the end of yesterday. I can’t say I am ecstatic with success. Quite the contrary. I am rather disappointed with the result after many hours/days of labour. I thought this was my first attempt at it but memory brings up I had made them before with my mother some thirties years ago. It was also in July. It was warm and we were working in my newly renovated kitchen and house. It was a lovely time spending the afternoon with my mother.

Then I had her guidance. Now I’m relying on YouTube. The outcome is not the same. I consulted several videos and recipes. I soaked my rice and peanuts too long. The rice came out too soft and not quite sticky. Not all rice are equal. This one came from the Asian market. It’s too long and thin. The one from SuperStore is short and fat. I like it much better.

I could not gage how much of each ingredient to put in. I undersized. Then there’s the folding of the bamboo leaves. I couldn’t get the hang of it till I was almost finished but they’re wrapped and tied with no leakage. Are they delicious? I can’t tell yet. I tried one for lunch. It was too small to pass judgement on. It could stand to have more of everything in it. Would I try it again? Of course. The process is a labour of love, a creation of art besides making food. It is not fast. It is slow. I couldn’t hurry. It gives me time to meditate. It is a learning curve. I will do better next time.

Making Bamboo Sticky Rice

Posted on July 13, 2026 by hafong

I’m having a second cup of tea on this 13th day of July and the Ultimate Blog Challlenge. Good thing it is not Friday, the 13th. I am superstituous. It is a cooler morning. Hallelujah! The last 2 days have been wicked, especially in the evenings. We seldom have the air conditioning on but it couldn’t keep up with the heat. Perhaps cooling via a heat pump isn’t as good as a traditional AC unit. Perhaps there’s a malfunction. Whatever, 27℃ made me cranky and not nice.

I am thankful that we didn’t have any storms here in the city. Other areas in the province suffered storm damages. I am foregoing my walk this morning. Instead, I am starting the next phase of making bamboo sticky rice. I’ve already soaked my rice and peanuts overnight . I’ve fried up the seasoned pork belly and boiled the peanuts. The split mung beans, dried shrimp and mushrooms are soaking. The Chinese sausages will have to be sliced. I have to find the duck eggs. I can’t remember where I stashed them. The frozen bamboo leaves are defrosted. Now, I just have to defrost myself.

I will proceed after I get my head together and a little rest. I’ve read various instructions and watched a few videos. The trick lies in the wrapping and tying. I will wing it and hope for the best. Follow up tomorrow.

Having a Daily Plan

Posted on July 12, 2026 by hafong

Today, the 12th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge not only promises to be a hot day. It is hot already at 9 am. I woke at 6:30 to 24.5℃ in the house. It felt cool to the 28℃ at bedtime. I had to put my housecoat on. It’s all about relativity. Now it is heating up and I am seeking ways to block out the sun in the sunroom where no venetians are possible. I go through this every summer. I should have been more prepared. One forgets quickly once the crisis is over.

I think I will cancel my walk this morning and hunker down in the house. There are lots to do that I have been actively avoided. It helps to have a plan. I haven’t made a to do list yet. Writing this post would be one. I will do the next step in making my bamboo sticky rice. I will watch the video again before I start. Yesterday I prepped 160 bamboo leaves. They are nicely wrapped in bundles of 20’s in the freezer. I am sure they will be easy to defrost. I’ve measured out 1 pound of glutinous rice and defrosting 1/2 pound of pork belly. It’s a small but good start.

We have so much heat. There’s so much hate. Seemed like a good time to watch Mississipi Burning again last night. It’s a long time since 1964 – 62 years. Things have changed and yet they have not. I asked Ms. Google if the KKK is still active today. The answer is: “Yes, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) still exists, but it operates as a heavily fragmented, shadow of its former self. Rather than a single unified organization, it is made up of dozens of independent, small chapters with an estimated combined membership of just a few thousand individuals.”

I am still reading both Heathers’ (Cox Richardson and Delaney Reese)posts every morning. It’s probably not good for my mental health. Yet it is hard to turn a blind eye to what is happening in our world. Whether we like it or not, it is happening to all of us. It is so hard to witness how much hate there is. Yet I must witness and learn from it. At the same time I must not be blind to all the good there is in us. It is good for me to have a daily plan and not fall into sadness and inactivity. So onward to the end of the UBC, morning walks, more sticky rice and more to do lists.

About To Do Lists

Posted on July 11, 2026 by hafong

A hot July Saturday, the 11th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m feeling lethargic, in the slow after dinner slump. The dishes are not yet done, sitting in the sink. I feel least like writing but here I am, tapping away. A few days ago, I started a to do list with just 4 items. One of the 4 is write a post for UBC. Another one is going for a walk. The list works for me, getting me unstuck. I get at least 4 things needing/wanting doing done.

I’ve already gone for my walk this morning. Before that, while it was still relatively cool, I boiled the bamboo leaves for 20 minutes to sanitize them for making sticky rice. I’m waiting for the leaves and water to cool before wiping them down. This method is very labour intensive. I’m breaking it down in daily steps so I can succeed. I love the aroma of the bamboo leaves. I smell it and think sticky rice. I think the process of making the sticky rice will be a good exercise for my brain. I will talk about the next steps tomorrow.

I can feel the heat coming through the sunroom windows even though the blinds are drawn. The house is at 25℃ with the central fan running. I am comfortable though feeling sleepy. Outside it is 29℃ with a 31℃ promised. No thunderstorms in the forecast and none materialized last night. I do not like hot summer days. They drain my energy and mood. They still remind me of childhood days in our small town. Everyone is on holiday and gone out of town. Everyone except the Chinese people with the cafes. It makes me feel as if I have no life.

Funny how feelings and impressions are hard to dispel even if they are erroneous. This time around, having a to do list grounds me. I’m anchored, feet to the ground, a sense of purpose, a sense of direction, a starting point, followed by….and so on and so forth.

The Walk, the Heat, the Pain

Posted on July 10, 2026 by hafong

July 10th. Sunshine abound. The skies are cloudless. A good day for an early morning walk but I did not get going till 10 am. The heat is on. I had to have a rest stop on the way to the mall. Good thing there was a bench halfway. These days my hands and hips are protesting with the heat. My fingers are puffy looking like sausages or bananas. They ache and ache. Now my right pinkie developed into a trigger. Taking tumeric helps some. My trek to the mall was more like a waddle than a walk.

Life goes on regardless, however slowly or painfully. I am not complaining. The whole world is suffering except maybe the 1%. Clearly our planet is complaining. We are not good stewards of our one livable planet. Green grass and trees are more beautiful in this beholder’s eyes than greenbacks. Obviously you can’t live without money either.

A Deer In Headlights

Posted on July 9, 2026 by hafong

Most days I feel like I am treading water, getting nowheres. I vow every night I would do different. When morning comes I fall back into my old self. Later, later, always later. I should vow not to vow no more and just do. I am making good by starting right now, right here in this moment. I made a list last night on things I will do today. They are:

I will clear the dining room table.
Walk to the community garden to water our plot.
Write a post for UBC.
Make doctor’s appointment for August.

I’ve done number 4 and tackling number 3. My mind is not in a great space. We had a thunderstorm and some rain overnight. The good news is that I won’t have to water the gardens. The not so good is that there is a severe weather alert out for a long duration heat event starting tomorrow and lasting well into next week. These heat events are not so good for us older folks. I worry for my father. But we got lucky and have an appointment for him with his respirologist Monday morning.

Meanwhile there’s other storms in the world. The war in Iran continues. President Donald Trump is clearly showing he is not of sound mind at the Nato summit in Turkey, confusing Japan with Iran and Putin for Zelensky. The scariest part is not Trump, but the people who are still allowing him to be president. We are all in danger. I feel as if the whole world is a deer caught in headlights. My apologies for being negative and alarming.

Next on my list is my walk. As you can see, I am leaving the hardest for the last.

Sticking To It

Posted on July 8, 2026 by hafong

It is almost noon on this 8th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am happy and pleased that I am still here tapping out another post. I did not have time for a morning walk but perhaps later this afternoon. I can walk to the Asian Market for some dried Shiitake mushrooms and then stop in to check on my father. The mushrooms are one of the must ingredients in making sticky rice. I’ve developed a yen for making it with lotus and bamboo leaves.

I’ve gathered all my ingredients – lotus and bamboo leaves, split mung beans, peanuts, Chinese sausage, dried shrimps, glutinous rice. I’m running low on the mushrooms. It is a labour intensive endeavour. It sounds so much fun in theory. I got rather cranky after making the lotus leaf sticky rice. The dry leaves are huge. You have to soak them for at least 2 hours before they are pliable to work with. Then you have to clean them because you don’t know what kind of pond they came from and what kind of things are attached to them. Here’s my photo gallery of the process.

soaking lotus leaves in water for 2 hours

For the hours of struggle, it added to only 6 lotus leaf sticky rice. Enough time has passed since I made them. In my mind it is fun again. It will be easier the second time around. My leaves are prepped. They just have to be thawed.

A Certain Kind of Light

Posted on July 7, 2026 by hafong

It’s the 7th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am late coming to the keyboard. Life is busy in this time of my life. My father is almost 95 and every day can be unpredictable. He has congestive heart failure and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). We spent alot of time at the doctor’s, walk-in clince and ER last year after my mother passed. We were thankful that this year has been much better. Still there are episodes.

Today was a doctor day. We were fortunate that we got an appointment. He has been seen, x-rayed and on medications. He is tough and still interested in life and this world of ours. I think he will be okay. I have accepted that this is what is and that I still have a life to tend to. I will be okay also. It was just a little difficult to manage a wheelchair and doors alone. Lucky for me that there were many friendly hands to help.

After the doctor, we went and renewed our application for wheelchair parking permit for another 3 years. Then it was time for coffee at the mall with our friends. Life is still very good and beautiful. Good friends to have coffee with help. Then there’s my gardens. My front yard is so beautiful. It is hard to described. It is bathed in a certain kind of light in the afternoon. It reminds me of the opening line in the Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody. For all the issues I have with my father, I guess I do love him.

“There’s a light, a certain kind of light, that never shone on me”.

My front yard has been an issue with my neighbour for many years. She objects growing vegetables in the fron yard. She calls my raised beds coffins. She has reported me to the city about my messy yard. The city does not agree with her. Maybe all of this is because she really does not like me. I find that hard to understand because I don’t have a relationship with her. Now in these times I wonder if it is because of the colour of my skin. And I am an immigrant. I feel my yard is breath takingly beautiful in a certain kind of light in the afternoon, weeds and all.

Thunderstorms

Posted on July 6, 2026 by hafong

Another sunny 6 o’clock wakening this morning. It’s a good reason to sing Hallelujah! It looks like it could be another hot day and I don’t know what else. We had a very loud thunderstorm last night. It rumbled, rolled and echoed above the gunfire of the Dillinger movie we were watching. I did not check until it and the movie were over. By then, everything looked wet, peaceful and fresh. No damage in the garden that I could see.

Thunderstorms are unpredictable. The one that missed us a few days ago caused quite a bit of damage at our allotment garden. Hope that the storm missed it last night.

sign at entrance to the allotment
garden

Dear reader, I’ve often arrive here late and not tending to your comments. So sorry. Know that I appreciate you. I’ve been experiencing my own personal thunderstorms since my mother passed almost 2 years ago. I’ve been feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all of life. Now, I have turned the corner. I am finding life very challenging. Peace is hard to come by. But at the same time life is very interesting and beautiful. There’s still so much to learn. It is like the garden, always changing, always growing. I will do the same – change and grow with it.

Lovage, goji berry, egyptian walking
onions, winter garlic on right hand side

No Easy Living

Posted on July 5, 2026 by hafong

I woke up to sun at 6 am this July 5th. The first sunny morning all summber. I smiled and the garden smiled. My artic rose is in bloom and so is a peony. In the greenhouse the bitter melons are coming into fruit. I have 3 little ones nodding their little heads. I’ve tagged them so I can readily find them.

It is heating up and I am sweating from trimming the grass and weeds. I am not finished. I’m taking a break as the string trimmer ran out of string. I will have to wind another spool. I am learning to love this tool as it saves me from labourous digging of all those creeping bellflowers. No matter how deep you dig, they keep coming back. Now I am whacking them out at dirt level.

Yesterday, I went to tackle our community garden plot. I was happy to see that my sister was already there and did the weeding and was ready to water it. Two less jobs for me! I staked the two rows of snow peas with bamboo. That was plenty enough work in the heat. Our plot looks pretty good. So does my brother’s right next to ours. We take turns doing the watering.

It is summer time. I haven’t found it easy living like the song suggests. But then I haven’t found easy living in other seasons either. There’s always work, work and more work. But would I have it any other way? I best mosey along before I talk myself into the blues. The battery is charged up and the spool is threaded for more whipping up grass and weeds. I am also charged up.

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity