Good Monday to you.

 

It’s the seventh day of the Lunar New Year and that means it’s 人日 (ren ri). In Chinese mythology, it was on the seventh day that human beings were created (various animals were created first, starting with chickens!) so today is considered everyone’s birthday. So happy birthday to you and you!

This weekend I must have caught the bug that’s been going around. But luckily not the full-blown version that my kids were hit with – they had fevers, runny nose, lingering cough. For me, it’s just a cough and runny nose. I’m plying myself with green tea, lemongrass tea, avoiding snacks if I can, and staying warm. I know it’s not as cold here in California as plenty of other parts of the country (and world), but it’s been a chillier February than usual.

The rest of the week was fun though. It was quite rainy and we actually had snow on our hills and mountains! I’ve only seen snow on the very top of Mission Peak twice since I’ve lived here so to see so much snow was quite exciting.

The skies cleared up for the school’s first New Year carnival. Previous years, the mandarin immersion programme kids put up performances for the school. But I guess that’s too much work for the teachers and takes away from class time (also the teachers are currently on work-to-rule) so this year there were carnival-style booths and lots of parent volunteers. I helped out with a booth that had kids use chopsticks to pick up marbles and some of the older kids were so competitive. It was a little bit crazier than I expected! But everyone had fun. And there was a lion dance after along with kungfu demonstrations.

 

 

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

No Fond Return of Love – Barbara Pym 

Loving this!

Why I Wake Early – Mary Oliver 

I’m still slowly dipping into this one!

Watching:

On Sunday morning we went to see the Lego Movie 2. I love that the kids are excited to see movies in the cinema.

Listening:

How to be a good creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals – Sy Montgomery

Eating:

We had Blaze pizza for lunch. I topped my pizza with kalamata olives, artichokes, roasted red peppers, pepperoni and bacon. Also I like to have gorgonzola and mozzarella.

Drinking:

Lots of green tea to help soothe my ticklish throat

Cooking:

Shepherd’s pie

Noodles of some sort as always!

Browsing:

It’s DWJMarch / March Magics!!

7 true stories to add to your reading list (Beth Fish Reads)

Saving this recipe to try out once I get my hands on cream – soft egg white and cream sandwich bread (Bake for Happy Kids)

These coconut mochi cake muffins sound good! (I Am A Food Blog)

I’m looking forward to reading The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo (The Illustrated Page)

Last week:

I read:

Family Trust – Kathy Wang

Fifth Chinese Daughter – Jade Snow Wong
The Magicians – Lev Grossman
Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl – Issa Rae (technically I began this last year but time ran out on the audiobook loan, so I just finished listening to it!)

I posted:

Book Beginnings/Friday 56 Family Trust

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Library Loot (February 6 to 12)

Upcoming releases I’m on the fence about #toptentuesday

Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks