Again, a dreadful rain like water fall is pouring plus those scary lightning. The sky is very dark. I do wonder, is the earth angry ? it seems to be very upset with something. Recently the weather is terrible. We seldom see clear blue sky here.

Just a few days ago, while I was driving on the highway, the sky was unexpectedly blue with white marsh-mallow like clouds soaked in light purple color. It was breathtaking.

Whether you trust it or not, in Chinese feng shui, a better relationship results in harmony and peace.

This is working out between me and mum lately. I used to argue with her all the time. When I think of the root cause of any little arguments between us is that we are so much alike - dominant, difficult to please, a bad communicator, etc. I was mirroring what she did. Now she is an old lady, I cannot expect her to change. I need to change. Compromising without losing my stand point is working magic for our relationship. This week, she even listens to my suggestion when she normally turned deaf to what I said. Isn't that wonderful ?!

Not long ago, our whole family was celebrating an acceptance offer from a new school that Gasper applied. Next monday would be his first day there. Tension starts to build up, he has mumbled "I wish I had not changed school." I encouraged him not to worry too much and that he will be fine. However, I was as nervous as he is. Everything is new, I hope everything turns out just fine. Luckily the decision was made by himself (well, of course with my 'convincing words' that I ensured this outcome, though it took a few days for him to make up his mind.) So, he will not blow up.

At lunch time, we had food at Kentucky Fried Chicken. This is on the top list of favourite restaurants of my kids. I ordered 2 hot chocolates. Everyone was very happy with the fried & unhealthy food.

When I nearly finished my hot chocolate, Gasper had finished his chicken burger and took a zip of his hot chocolate. 'Um...so yummy !' one second after he said that, bang ! the glass of hot chocolate slipped out of his hand and the hot chocolate was split all over the place, the table, the floor, the chair, a few drops on the woman sitting next table. The poor cleaning lady came out clean all the mess.

'Sorry, mum.' This time I have the feeling he knew he was careless.
'It is OK.' the moment I saw his clothes soaked in chocolate stains, I wanted to laugh. He was just like me, Mr. Careless & Forgetful.

My sister in law Karina is a wonderful 'chef'. She cooks all kinds of delicious Chinese food, she even makes the best dumplings, no restaurants can make dumplings as good as hers.

A little chat goes on after dinner.
'Have you ever thought of openning up a restaurant ?' I asked.
'No, it is a different thing when you cook for living.' Karina said.
'I find it a lot more difficult to cook for a group of people than just 3 to 4 people.' I said.
'Yes, all you need to do is to have the correct amount of ingredients. I cooked for a gathering of 200 people last month.' Karina said.
'Wow !' I was amazed.

Here is a soup Karina tought me :
Sai Yeung Choi Soup
Ingredients : Sai Yeung Choi, pork bones, carrots.
Steps : 1. boil water and put pork bones together with 1 pc of ginger into the boiling water for about 1 min, when change color, throw away the water, keep the pork bones for step 2.
2. put a pot of cold water, add in all ingredients, after boil, change to low flame
stew for 2 hours.

The time is now five forty-five in the afternoon. (by Raymond Weil) Friday again, it is the happiest day of one week. Just think of tomorrow is Saturday, no need to cook dinner, kids are out at grandma's house.

Tonight we will go to an Italian restauran, yeh, just the 2 of us. (Candle light dinner!)There is an Italian restaurant in Melbourne (inside the Crown Towers) that provides delicious homemade Taramitsu. Last week when my sister in law and I were chatting after dinner, (she cooked the most delicious spegetti with bacon and mushroom in cream sauce that night) That we have found that most Chinese people would fry the spegetti together with other ingradients after boiling spegetti in water. Well, now I learnt from her how to cook spegetti properly.

I am gonna try spegetti in cream sauce next week.

It is finally a sit down and relax. We went to Port Douglas for a holiday last week. Everyone got sun burnt. We took the 3 kids to snorkelling. Gasper did not enjoy the sandy beach at all, after 1 hour of just sitting there, he wanted to try snorkelling, I was overjoyed by his suggestion. However, just a few seconds later he gave u. Charles enjoyed the water very much and also wanted to try snorkelling, but the result is the same as Gasper. Andy, another boy who is the slowest swimmer of the three, put mask on and snorkelled. He is a very persistent and enthusiastic boy. It is the attitude that makes something work.

Today I was going through the wardrobe packing some unused clothes, surprisingly I found so many clothes that I don't wear. Last time I visited a boutique for clothes was a year ago. After I turned 30, I realised that I should stop buying what I want, but only buy what I need. And I followed that rule I set for myself. Now it was clearer that I am right. Possessions are really burdens ? I need to keep them in the wardrobe, clean them because they will get dust, shift them in and out for the season. Instead, I am putting them away in a bag for the people who need them more than I do.

Would it be a nicer world if we buy less ?

What is 'Laishe'? It is a red packet for married people giving to unmarried people during Chinese New Year for blessings. This year my nine year old son started keeping his own 'Laishe' while he usually handed in to me in the past years. Well, that is a change, so I have taken both of them to open up a bank account. They have bought a few toys with that money and treated us in McDonald.

During the Chinese New Year, we had flew to Shanghai for a family gathering. We stayed at Lanson Place near Xin Tian Di. I would recommend this self contained apartment because it was a lot more spacious than hotel and a whole family can stay there. There was also a great coffee shop near by not the Starbucks.