Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
食べ物 Tabemonolog 15 December 2009
So we visited Zakkushi- a fabulous hole in the wall place opposite Safeway in Vancouver. It was so inspiring, I marinated chicken for my own skewered delights for supper the next day.
So the chawanmushi was my first try. It was a little too salty and I'd should've taken it out maybe a minute earlier.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Advent potlucky thoughts
My good friend Idelette had asked me to write a brief note about Advent according to my Chinese roots. Christmas is a distinctly North American holiday celebrating a very Jewish individual who doesn't seem to have much to do with the Chinese. Ah but here's the rub, that we can celebrate His Gift of Love to us without the blinders of cultural borders or ethnic dividers, because through God's eyes, He is the Given and Risen Saviour to humankind.
It’s been turkey every year since my family moved to Canada, but this year, I desperately want to go back to my Asian roots where our tastes for scalding broth and paper thin meat run gut deep. Every year, my home’s been open to immigrants from lands too remote to remember and still too reminiscent of home to forget. People come because they’ve been invited into a home, with a promise of cranberried and gravied fowl, where they would be served, and someone’s historic journey across the Pacific pond will be shared. Inevitably, mashed potatoes will end up on the floor, our guinea pig Momo would be squealing for attention from the visiting children, all will be a bevy of activity in the time it takes to sit down, eat and discuss the dearth of snow and the less-than-charming BC winter.
But this year, I’m prompted to share a communal pot where every one cooks together. I grew up in a family with seven people and hot potting is a special occasion where food gets scooped and served from one to another. It reminds me, nostalgically enough, of a bygone era where simple napa cabbage (the cheapest veg), liver (a reasonable meat), prawns and the ever-versatile tofu can extend a dinner by an hour. And what great conversations we had around the old hot pot with the copper funnel and the smouldering charcoal!
This Christmas, as I think ahead to prepare the meal, I’ll put out an extra chopstick for Jesus, the foreigner, or the gaijin in our midst. He’s the reason we are celebrating Christmas with a hotpot, because an Advent hotpot is about bringing people from many nations together, under one roof, around one table, sharing one pot and talking about our lives, our hopes, our dreams. He’s going to be here that night, and he’s going to be using chopsticks, supping with us, and whispering his love to each person in attendance.
And mark my words, someone is going to ask, “Who’s that extra chopstick for?” and I’m going to tell him.
Reflect:
A word for today: Supping
Activity: Open your home to a new friend
Prayer: Lord, help me open my heart, my home, to you first, then to my neighbour.
It’s been turkey every year since my family moved to Canada, but this year, I desperately want to go back to my Asian roots where our tastes for scalding broth and paper thin meat run gut deep. Every year, my home’s been open to immigrants from lands too remote to remember and still too reminiscent of home to forget. People come because they’ve been invited into a home, with a promise of cranberried and gravied fowl, where they would be served, and someone’s historic journey across the Pacific pond will be shared. Inevitably, mashed potatoes will end up on the floor, our guinea pig Momo would be squealing for attention from the visiting children, all will be a bevy of activity in the time it takes to sit down, eat and discuss the dearth of snow and the less-than-charming BC winter.
But this year, I’m prompted to share a communal pot where every one cooks together. I grew up in a family with seven people and hot potting is a special occasion where food gets scooped and served from one to another. It reminds me, nostalgically enough, of a bygone era where simple napa cabbage (the cheapest veg), liver (a reasonable meat), prawns and the ever-versatile tofu can extend a dinner by an hour. And what great conversations we had around the old hot pot with the copper funnel and the smouldering charcoal!
This Christmas, as I think ahead to prepare the meal, I’ll put out an extra chopstick for Jesus, the foreigner, or the gaijin in our midst. He’s the reason we are celebrating Christmas with a hotpot, because an Advent hotpot is about bringing people from many nations together, under one roof, around one table, sharing one pot and talking about our lives, our hopes, our dreams. He’s going to be here that night, and he’s going to be using chopsticks, supping with us, and whispering his love to each person in attendance.
And mark my words, someone is going to ask, “Who’s that extra chopstick for?” and I’m going to tell him.
Reflect:
A word for today: Supping
Activity: Open your home to a new friend
Prayer: Lord, help me open my heart, my home, to you first, then to my neighbour.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Top 10 values
1. God's immutable Word.
2. Being able to diligently and continuously express creativity in writing, speaking, painting, design and communications in order to encounter Jesus in a meaningful ways
3. Being a Kingdom-culture influence in the life of my family members through speech and deed
4. Discovering new things, new words, new restaurants, new dramas, new languages, a new method of design, communication; to learn from fellow-artists, appreciating beauty, understanding God through the medium of the creative arts
5. Spending time alone
6. Being involved in the lives of creative individuals by nurturing and encouraging growth in an environment which fosters fun and faith
7. Excellence (doing everything to the best of my abilities whether cooking, cleaning, designing, or treating people)
8. Honesty
9. Comfortable traveling
10. Healthy living
2. Being able to diligently and continuously express creativity in writing, speaking, painting, design and communications in order to encounter Jesus in a meaningful ways
3. Being a Kingdom-culture influence in the life of my family members through speech and deed
4. Discovering new things, new words, new restaurants, new dramas, new languages, a new method of design, communication; to learn from fellow-artists, appreciating beauty, understanding God through the medium of the creative arts
5. Spending time alone
6. Being involved in the lives of creative individuals by nurturing and encouraging growth in an environment which fosters fun and faith
7. Excellence (doing everything to the best of my abilities whether cooking, cleaning, designing, or treating people)
8. Honesty
9. Comfortable traveling
10. Healthy living
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