Saturday, January 30, 2010

Art and Haiku for a gloomy day

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Art is the illusion of spontaneity - Japanese proverb.

The sky is overcast and it's snowing outside. Without sunshine it feels a little tristful today so I am brightening things up by admiring some vividly colourful pictures.


Japanese woodblock prints are one of my favourite forms of art. The intricate detail and inherent beauty of the pieces always take me away from reality into a fantastical other world.

My blog posts seem to keep back to Asian themes lately. At University I specialised in Asian history, and have always been in love with Asia so it's no surprise really.

All Haiku by Basho.



Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening! -Basho
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Yes, spring has come
This morning a nameless hill
Is shrouded in mist. -Basho

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The sea darkening . . .
oh voices of the
wild ducks
Crying, whirling, white - Basho
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"If we study Japanese art, we see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time doing what?... He studies a single blade of grass." -Vincent van Gogh
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Thursday, January 28, 2010

If it ain't chocolate, it ain't breakfast.

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"Never mind about 1066 William the Conqueror, 1087 William the Second. Such things are not going to affect ones life ... but 1932 the Mars Bar and 1936 Maltesers and 1937 the Kit Kat - these dates are milestones in history and should be seared into the memory of every child in the country." -Ronald Dahl

A new theme park has just opened in China, one where the exhibits are made entirely of chocolate.



Bite their heads off!


A life size terracotta army will be featured as well as a tantalising Great Wall of chocolate. Imagine the calories in that. One would have to walk the entire length of the Great Wall and back to work off the excess lard produced by just one of those Chocolate Terracotta soldiers. I'm still tempted though. Scary.



Great Wall of Yum

Do they have armed guards protecting the displays, wielding chocolate guns and licorice bullets perhaps?

How many people, myself included, would be unable to resist chomping down on the delicious delights. I can just see it now, throwing myself onto the great wall in an edacious frenzy then being thrown into a Chinese prison. Worth it.

The theme park uses more than 80,000 kilograms of chocolate. I have found a new happy place.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Visions of China


Flashback to my China adventure
2005


My friend Rika Miyoshi flew from Japan to meet me in Shanghai. We had such a wonderful time together but when I left Australia her email address was misplaced and I can't seem to find her. Hopefully Rika will find her name on my blog here and get in touch with me! Misschichi10@hotmail.com. I miss you Rika.

Beijing, Shanghai, Xian


The Forbidden City.





Chinese locals and daily life
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The Peking Opera.


Chinese Food

Xian dumplings
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Chef preparing Peking Duck in Beijing. The most amazing tasting duck I have ever had.


Terracotta army, Xian

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Shanghai


All pictures are my own, I would appreciate acknowledgement if you use them.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hong Kong Phooey

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I have been craving Yum Cha today. Hopefully I will find a Chinese place around here that serves dim sum.

The best Yum Cha I have ever had was in Hong Kong where I visited my dear friend Michelle and her rambunctious cat, the delightful Mr. Pickles.


View from Victoria Peak at night.

The Chinese go to such lengths to present their epicurean delights in beautiful ways. My favourite was the custard filled pastry mice. How clever and unique.



Mice pastries at a Hong Kong Yum Cha.

We also indulged in High Tea at the luxurious Peninsula Hotel, now that was a lush experience. It was the only High Tea I have ever enjoyed to the accompaniment of a live string quartet. British elegance in the middle of a thriving Chinese city, it’s pretty magical to me.



High Tea with Michelle at the Penisula Hotel
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Hong Kong is so bright and colourful. Sampan rides and dinner at the Jumbo floating restaurant are things I hope to do again someday.


Sampan

Jumbo floating restaurant

Hong Kong is famous for the shopping and I was not disappointed. At the Jade market I haggled me some bargains! A lovely onyx and cinabar necklace and a palm sized piece of carved jade.

At the Peninsula Hotel I did a bit of shopping at the Tiffany store and even found a very unique and large piece of carved Turquoise, my birthstone, in one of the jewelery stores on site. Beautiful bargains make Hong Kong one of the best places for shopping.

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Going to the Country, gonna eat a lot of peaches.

A shocking development has taken place. One which frightens me to the core of my being. I am addicted. That’s right an addict. This Countess has become a devotee of the invigorating, fresh mountain air. Shocking but true. One could get used to this clean crisp stuff.

Once I was addicted to city smog like a smoker to nicotine. After a visit to China I told a friend that it was not at all smoggy. Sadly Beijing air is extremely polluted but being an habitual smog inhaler, I had no trouble climbing the Great Wall sucking in the murky haze, taking it in my stride. I just thought it was overcast. Seriously.
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Some happy snaps from my jaunt to the Great Wall in Beijing.

There is something so enchanting about walking outside and being assailed with clean air. Just to take a deep breath of that airy goodness, while enjoying the view of mountains and trees is fast burgeoning into a love of the country.

The pop and crackle of a wood stove is also growing on me. After having a delivery of wood this week our wood shed is piled up with various kinds of logs.
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We plan on cutting on our fire wood from the dense woods around us during spring time. Hopefully we won’t have to buy wood again but will source it from our own land. No more heating bills, liberation! Not to mention more money to spend on life’s little luxuries, like Carol Brodie jewels.



Another stunner from Brodie. I want to get my mitts on this one!


It was hard work stacking all that wood but after the labour was completed each day I would draw a hot bath with lavender scented Epsom salts to relieve aching muscles.

After a stay in Japan I embraced the whole bath culture. Trouble is the bath tubs I had until now were not the deep kind used in Japan. You know the ones you can lay fully stretched out in with water almost up to the chin? That is truly rapturous.

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Traditional style Japanese Bath.

Japanese woodblock; Lady at Bath.

We have an antique claw foot tub that is very deep and luxurious. A nice glass of chocolate wine, a good book and some lavender scented soap and all of a sudden country life becomes a blissfully dreamy dream.

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The large deck outside our bedroom will be furnished with some outdoor couches and tables so we can sit out there and enjoy the scenery and especially breathe in the sublime air.

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Country life maybe I should give you a chance after all.



Sticky Date Delight

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Since moving to the USA I have not have seen Sticky Date Pudding. Back in Australia it’s sold in every cafĂ© worthy of the name, the frozen deserts section in supermarkets and many restaurants have it on the menu.

Having been craving some sticky date pudding goodness, I made one the other day. It bought back memories of sitting in trendy cafes, drinking cappuccino, enjoying wonderful company, and indulging in the sticky goodness.

Make this if you want to eat something scrumptious and quite frankly healthy. Dates are health food you see. Well it helps me out if I think of it that way. ;)


Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Heat oven to moderate, cook for 55 minutes.

1 ½ cups seeded dried dates, (250g)
1 ¼ cups boiling water (310 ml)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Cooking oil spray
¾ brown sugar, firmly packed (150g)
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour (150g)

Caramel Sauce
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (200g)
100g butter, chopped
300 ml cream.

Put dates, the water and soda into a bowl of a food processor, place lid on, let mixture stand for 5 minutes.

Grease base and side of a cake pan evenly with cooking oil spray, line base of pan with a round of baking paper.

Add brown sugar and chopped butter to date mixture; process by pulsing, about 5 seconds or until dates are chopped.

Add eggs, then flour; process by pulsing for 5 to 10 seconds until all ingredients are combined/ Scrape any unmixed flour back into the m mixture with a rubber spatula; pulse again to combine ingredients/

Pour pudding mixture into prepared pan. Cook, uncovered, in moderate over 55 minutes. To test if pudding is cooked, gently press the top with two fingers, it should feel firm and appear slightly shrunken from side of pan. Push a skewer through the centre of the pudding to bottom of pan; the skewer should be greasy when withdrawn but free of uncooked mixture. If pudding needs additional cooking, return it to oven for 5 minutes. Once cooked and removed from oven, stand 5 minutes in pan.

Put a wire rack on top of pan, and holding both rack and pan, turn pudding upside down. Remove pan then baking paper. Put a second wire rack on pudding; holding racks together firmly but not digging into pudding, turn so pudding is top side up. Serve pudding hot, cut into wedges, with warm caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce. Place sugar and butter in medium saucepan over high heat; using wooden spoon, stir in the cream. Once butter melts, bring sauce to a boil (to prevent it boiling over, either lower the heat or remove pan from heat for a moment). Stir sauce constantly until completely smooth; serve while hot.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Carol Brodie, I heart you.

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New Carol Brodie stunners are on display at Hsn.com and I am yet again foaming at the mouth while ogling those beauties.


How does Ms Brodie manage to keep coming up with such unusual and spectacular pieces?



Yesterday I wore my Gray Agate ring and could not stop myself from staring at my hand. What a magnificent bauble that is, and for under 50 bucks it's such a fabulous bargain.




I am craving the jade dome ring right now.

Let me just clean that drool off my keyboard before I short circuit the computer.
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