Obsessions and Failures

Posted on October 6, 2026 by hafong

Lately I’ve been obsessed with making Chinese sticky rice dumplings known as Zongzi. Who knows why I get this sudden urge so late in life. It’s not an easy task. It involves many steps, many ingredient and a few days. Perhaps that’s the catch. I never like the easy stuff. Needless to say, I haven’t quite mastered the art of making Zongzi.

It is an art, a loving proces though at the end, I could be gnashing my teeth and snarling a mean snarl. The preparating of soaking the bamboo leaves in cold water overnight is relatively easy except for fitting all the leaves into a big enough pot. The next day I boil the leaves for 15 minutes. After it’s cool then rinsing and wiping down the leaves on both sides. Now comes the tricky part of making a pocket out of 2 leaves, filling the pocket and wrapping it all up into a triangle and tying neatly with a string. Sounds easy enough but it’s not.

The wrap is my failure. I get the pocket. I add a 3rd leave. Then comes the close up. 9 times out of 10, a leaf cracks along the vein and rice falls out. By the 7th zongzi, my hair is standing on end and I am swearing. I am lucky if I get one or two nice looking zongzi. Sometimes I have to use 4 leaves to make one. I refuse to go beyond 4. The last time I gave up with 3 more zongzi to make. So I have the leftover fillings still in the fridge.

After all the trial and tribulation I have learned a few more things. Never prepare too many leaves ahead. After storing in the freezer, they are weaker. Maybe that was why I was having so much trouble with the splitting. I thought I would save myself more work by preparing all the leaves (180) ahead of time and freezing them till I need them. So I’ve prepared 11 leaves to finish making the 3 I gave up on. This time I added a little olive oil to the boiling water to make the leaves more pliable.

Wish me luck. I’m off for my morning walk while the leaves cool off enough to handle.

An Eggplosion

Posted on September 23, 2026 by hafong

Last night was another one of those sleepless nights for me. I wasn’t in my best this morning. I thought I would take the easy way out with breakfast by poaching my egg in the microwave instead of in a pot of water on the stove top. I put 1/2 cup of water in a microwaveable bowl. I cracked an egg into it and poked the yoke with a toothpick. I put it in the microwave on high for 45 seconds. It looked raw so I did it for one minute. It still looked not cooked. I added 30 seconds. It ended with a loud explosion.

I opened the oven door. There was egg whites splattered everywhere inside. The yoke had escaped the bowl but was intact. I scraped it into the bowl and proceeded to wipe and clean the mess. It took much longer than if I had just poached in a pot. I thought I would be saving time by not having to wash a pot. Wrong! Being sleepless, I had no energy to despair. I just moped and mopped till it was all cleaned up. I am willing to try again tomorrow with this experience under my belt.

I tried to carry on my regular day. I did not do my 5 minute meditation. I have not done my 100 day project of daily readings from Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life and Surprised by Joy. I still have time to as I read only a few pages of each. However, I did do my morning walk to the mall. I hope that will help me to sleep tonight. I am not thrilled with these fretful nights. But it is what it is. No use fretting about fretting and not being able to let go and empty my mind. Accept and adopt the way of the Tao.

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.

Things I Used to Do

Posted on June 11, 2026 by hafong

I feel as if I’ve lost a lot of my mojos the last couple of years. I remember my mother telling me that at a certain age, she felt a change in the way she felt. With me, the change came with the passing of my mother. So here I am now, a year and 7 months since she’s left. I don’t feel pleasure in the things I used to do. After many years I’ve abandoned #the100dayproject and the Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day challenges. There’s not much pleasure in sharing photos either like I used to. I wonder where it all went.

Looking through my photo library, I see that I used to cook and bake frequently. Now it feels like so much work. Stirfry lunches are a rarity. My baking has been only my usual 6 loaves of bread. No muffins or cookies. Lately I’ve made a rhubarb cake and a sourdough loaf. I’m trying to tease the baking pleasure back into me. I think it is working. I’ve started 2 sourdough loaves this morning. One is with raisins. The other is with chia seeds. It is and isn’t alot of work. The thing is once you start something, you have to finish. That’s how I tease myself into getting things done.

Another thing I have to remember is if something grabs me, just go for it if I can. Otherwise the opportunity might not come again. For instance, in 2020, we had lost our fur baby, Sheba in May. It was a huge loss. In our grief, we did what we could to keep busy. We got this idea of building a greenhouse and grabbed onto it. The two spruce trees came down quickly and the greenhouse got built by late fall. I was excited to start planting in March. Loss propelled me into an exciting and meaningful project.

Life is a circle. This spring I didn’t feel too much zest for planting. But because I’m a seasoned gardener, I did it out of habit anyways. It still works even when I’m not enthused. Things do not have to be perfect or as good as before. It’s ok just by putting in an effort. Now I will have to close up shop. It’s getting into evening. I will have to prep my sourdough to chill overnight for baking tomorrow.

WHAT IS MY PLAN?

Posted on September 19, 2023 by hafong

A hot sunny day yesterday followed by a cool cloudy one today. One has to make hay while the sun shines. We brought our potatoes home from the allotment garden yesterday. It was easy to work in the heat and sun. Today I don’t have the same energy. However, I could not dawdle for I had an early appointment to get my car serviced. It was a good thing and unpleasant at the same time. No time to languish in the morning with my cup of tea. I dreaded the thought the night before. But the chore is done. A big sigh of relief. I’m ready for winter.

Winter is not quite here yet though. The garden and harvest is still not over. There’s still alot of tomatoes clinging dearly on the vine. And beans, too. I will have to harvest the kohlrabi soon to make room for fall garlic. I’m resigned to be processing tomatoes till Christmas. Today I have 7 trays of tomatoes dehydrating and made a pint and a half of tomato sauce. I’m not complaining. It’s a good problem to have. You just never know what kind of growing season we will have next year. And the house smells of goodness all day long. It is a very comforting and grounding activity, cooking food.

It keeps me busy. No time to fret and wool gather but I make time for a bit of reading. I’m splitting myself. I have 6 books on the go. I have the attention span of a gnat, reading a bit here and there. It’s a good thing the books are on my ipad app. I can renew them a few times and they return themselves. Four Thousand Weeks is my most recent read. It is about time management. If we live to be 80 years old, we have about 4,000 weeks, not a heck of a long time. This makes me ask the same question that Mary Oliver asks in her poem The Summer Day:

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do. With your one wild and precious life?

Hmmm. It’s much to think about.

I CAN’T DO IT ALL

Posted on October 15, 2022 by hafong

Egads, it is 6 pm already! I’m as tired as can be. I’ve been busy being Martha Stewart all day long. I made yogurt in the morning. Then soup with all the leftovers from Thanksgiving for lunch. Seems like not much if it was just the makings and no cleaning up after. I had alot of mashed sweet potatoes left from Thanksgiving. I made muffins with them after lunch which resulted in more washing up. I bet Martha never did any stuff around the kitchen. She just writes about it and somebody else do the cooking and cleaning up. Well, it’s all done, the cooking, baking and cleaning up. I’m finally here for another Ultimate Blog Challenge post.

I’m glad I was reminded about choosing my battles yesterday. I can’t fight/do them all. I did pause and thought about the more important ones. It’s prioritizing. I can have my cake and eat it but I can’t do it all. It’s a good thing we have the walk-in cooler in the garage. I’ve harvested 4-5 ice cream pails of grapes couple of days ago. I got my bottles for bottling juice from Amazon yesterday. They are washed and dried. They are ready but I’m not. There’ll be alot of sorting and washing grape before they can be juiced. They can keep in cooler till I can muster up more energy. I will aim to juice one pail tomorrow. It’s not about all or nothing. Just one thing will suffice.

It’s another day when I can only write my post for the challenge. I will pass the daily thread again today. I’m choosing what is the wiser thing to do today. I am tired and need to wind down for the evening. Tomorrow is another day.

HOW I SPEND MY DAYS

Posted on May 2, 2018 by hafong

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. – Annie Dillard

I wish I could write such insights as Annie Dillard. But then I’m not a Pulitizer winning authour. She has written many books. I wonder why I haven’t read any of them, especially since so many of them are in the library. I’ve just fixed that, reserving The Writing Life. I thought I should start with just one book. I’m still working on James Mitchener’s The Source. It’s an ambitious read of 1000 pages. I’m only on page 207. I have a ways to go.

How do you spend your days? I’ve wondered what other people do with their time. I’m always busy it seems. I’m a doddler, poking away at life. Maybe if I speed up a little, I wouldn’t feel so busy. But it’s who and how I am. I need that slow pace to digest and process. So I can’t get up in the morning and hop to it. I have to ease my way with a cuppa tea and a few pages of fiction. Then it’s breakfast. If it is Monday, Wednesday,or Friday I’ll be heading out the door to aerobics. Saturday mornings I used to swim. Then somehow I got tired of always heading out of the door and I stopped. But I kept it up most of the winter.

I’m a homebody so I was glad to read that Annie Dillard is a recluse, albeit a gregarious one. I wish I’m like that but alas, I have no gregariousness in me. It should be no surprise that I don’t do a lot of frollicking with my days. I’m a rather quiet, somber person. I live within rather than without. That is, I contemplate alot. I like to read and muse. I wonder about the universe, why people do what they do. I wonder about the speed of the changes we are experiencing. How long life as we know will last? I wonder what gives meaning to the things we do. What does it matter anyways? I could have more time if I could just cut down all this musing.

You see, I am no fun. I do have fun though. I have numerous, maybe too many hobbies. I like to read and write. That gobbles up tons of minutes and hours in a day if I let it. Even painting my little index cards takes up at least half an hour. More if I’m ambitious. I’ve picked up sewing again. I went out and bought a fancy dancy new machine. It’s no small endeavour. It took time to learn all the ins and outs. Then there’s the organizing – fabric, patterns, projects. I’ve taken a fancy to free motion sewing, creating a picture with stitching. I haven’t thought about quilting yet. I have all the notions – collected through the years. At least I don’t have to go out and shop for material. I have a fabric shop right in my own basement.

I’m tapping here in my space. I’ve just turned the oven on for the roast. There’s a lot to do every day. Roasts to put in the oven, bread to make, lunches and dishes to do. The guy does supper and getting groceries. I start my own bedding plants for the garden. Been doing that for years now. Sometimes I enjoy. Sometimes it’s work. Well, isn’t everything? It’s worth it. It’s nourishing my body and soul. Even the cleaning and washing. It’s taking care of this business of living. What meaning or satisfaction would I get not doing any of this? Sure, I complain sometimes and wish that everything was taken care of for me. That sounds like being in a nursing home, doesn’t it?

It’s time to shut up and do something else now. There’s the dog to walk yet.

HOLD THAT EGG!

Posted on January 11, 2018 by hafong

The sun is pouring into my space. I loathe to leave its warmth and brightness. I shall linger here for a bit with my decaf. The pasta for beef stroganoff and Sheba’s biscuit can wait awhile. It’s easy when you have a Phillip’s pasta maker. It takes minutes to make but longer to clean. I’m not doing a sales pitch but it’s a heaven send along with my Instant Pot. After I got acquainted with them, it’s as easy as abc. But let me tell you, it was hair pulling the first time with pasta maker. The hardest part was removing the plastic lid. By the time I figured it out, I was pooped. I should have waited till another time but I wanted to make pasta. You know how it is with a new gizmo.

My sister said that it was very easy. She was the one who had whispered pasta maker in my ears. Follow the directions. Put the flour in. Press a button. Voila! Pasta in 3 minutes. She neglected to tell me at the time her first tries were not quite successful. I learned that only after I told her our disasterous first time. Now I don’t trust anyone when they tell me how easy things are. First times are always difficult and tricky – for me anyways.

I had to pick the guy up at the airport at 6pm that day. I thought, perfect. Now that I got the most difficult part figured out, we’ll have fresh pasta for supper. We followed the directions. Put the flour in. We measured. We were extravagant, too, adding an egg to the water. Pressed the button. It started turning. We poured the liquid mixture in as the paddles turn. After 3 minutes when the pasta was suppose to come out, the machine quit. We decided maybe we would save the egg till we’ve mastered it. Two more times failed. In the end, we cooked store bought dried spaghetti. By that time it was 9 pm.

I’m happy to announce that we are now experts. It is easy as abc. We use an egg every time. It does add a little extra taste. Now, it is time for me to bring out the pasta maker. Lunch coming up.

Post script: The Tagliatelle for the stroganoff and the lasagna for Sheba’s biscuits turned out wonderfully. The cleanup, however was not. So much to clean! Cutting boards for onion, garlic and the left over roast into cubes. Then there are the knives, salad spinner besides the pasta maker parts. The pot for cooking the pasta and the frying pan for the stroganoff are stilff left. Then there are the baking sheets for Sheba’s biscuits. Oh, my God!

LEARNING & NOVELTY – Day 62 in a year of…

Posted on September 22, 2016 by hafong

Day 62, September 22, 2016 @6:05 pm

Day 62 finds me here a little earlier but I am depleted. I am fortifying myself with a few chocolates. Hope they can give me a little boost. I am a bit of a wimp. A few chores can tire me out. I’m trying to learn to be more efficient with my energy. Making changes in habits and routines can be exhausting as well as exhiliaring. The yin and the yang applies to everything.

September is the month of kids returning to school and learning. I find the changing of weather and the turning of the leaves a signal for me to change and learn, too. Today, I’m trying to be more open and flexible to the novelty in life. It’s not too much out of my comfort zone to cook a little differently. I’m Chinese, right? We stir fry anything and everything.

I have a couple of not too fresh cucumbers from the garden. It’s a squash/melon of a different sort. So why can’t I stir fry them? I also have tomatoes on hand and oh, lots of hot chili peppers and abundant luscious green pepper leaves. How about a carrot to take on some of hotness of the chili pepper? Slice and dice and into the frying pan they went. I’m happy and alive to say it was a culinary success though my tongue is still a little tingling from the pepper.

It is just a little change in my cooking. A little novelty in my day. I don’t have to do big or exciting. I’m not one for parachuting or bugee jumping. I can be thrilled by learning that I can do a little different each day. By doing so today, I learn that I have been doing it most of my life. What a surprise for me!

EARLY MORNING MUSINGS

Posted on May 2, 2013 by hafong

Hurray, it is 6:30 am and the sun is up and so am I. The house is suffused with the quiet and soft light of early morning.

I love this time of the day when the city is still asleep. Traffic is sparse and slow. It is quiet and peaceful. I can think. I can feel. This is my favourite vantage point, in my sun room, looking through the dining room into the living room. The lines and spaces are very pleasing to the eye. I feel pride in myself for having created it all by myself.

We must acknowledge and feel pride at our accomplishments. They fuel our passions….to live and to build. Passions need not always be fiery and grand. Sometimes they show up in our quiet moments. Our creative flair can appear in the soups, bread, pastries and snow forts we build on a whim.

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity

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