The LambCutlet Disorganisation

Gosh! Aren’t you lot lucky… Photogasms™ in two successive days, albeit this time round is just a little “mini” one to keep you all warmed up. :D At this rate I might actually get all the photos published before the end of March! Then again… I wouldn’t count on that! ;)

Anyway, this set of photos are from the day-trip I took on the 9th of July ‘05 to visit my paternal aunt Jean whom lives Victoria, British Columbia. Also there to greet me was my cousin Penny and her husband Jerry.

I actually recall meeting cousin Penny in 香港 (Hong Kong) as a wee lad when her and a friend did some travelling in The Middle Kingdom and passed through the ex-British Colony. Will have to have a dig through the old analogue photos and post the relevant ones in “The Family Archives” of that first meet-up. ;)

But before nostalgic digitisations, here commeth a Photogasm™ with Victorian characteristics!

Hope it’s not too much of a tease for Hawai‘i, Australia and beyond! ;)

Appologies for taking so damn long for the first Photogasm™ of 2006 and I hope the knicker elastic have not been overly strained! ;) Anyhow, today is a bit of an odd day as it marks one whole year from my return to Blighty from 香港 (Hong Kong) after spending best part of 3 weeks there visiting family for the first time in 15 years and also the shocking fact it has been three months (near as makes no difference) since the end of my World trippin’!

phpBB related things are keeping me busy, namely answering phpBB.com advertising queries promptly so they don’t get forgotten about and such things as moving the phpBB.com server to its new home at OSUOSL. Still, I’ll do my best in getting the remaining stacks of photographs I had taken on my travels online to share with the rest of the world… namely because Susi has been nagging me lots about them! ;)

Oh, did I mention something about photos?

Raaar! :D The three albums are:

1. Vancouver BC, Canada - Pictures of the 5 days in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2. Stanley Park, Vancouver BC - An afternoon stroll around Stanley Park on the first full day in Vancouver BC
3. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park & Classical Chinese Garden - The first full-sized classical Chinese garden built outside China and employs techniques of Ming Dynasty gardens

Victoria should hopefully be forthcoming, with the rest following on not too long after… ;)

The 15th day of the 1st month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar brings us to 元宵節 (Lantern Festival), the last day of the Spring Festival (née Chinese New Year) celebrations! The origins of the festival however, are slightly lost in the mists of time (one of the problems of having a 5000 year history! ;)) and depending where one looks… had Imperial, Daoist or Buddhist roots (or any of those in combination)!

It is however generally accepted that since the 15th day is the first full moon of the New Year, it should be celebrated by displaying brightly coloured lanterns, something which certainly keeps the children well entertained! ;)

Like all Chinese festivals, food plays a big part of the festivities and for this, 元宵 (Yuan Xiao) otherwise known as 湯圓 (glutinous rice balls) with various fillings cooked in a sweet broth are consumed copiously as they round shape and homophonic names signify wholeness & unity! :D

Northern and Southern Chinese do differ in how they make these tasty little moresels however. In the south, balls of glutinous rice flour dough will have a hole poked into it, filled with whatever filling and then rolled once more to close the whole. In the north, the filling is pressed into a hardened core which is lightly wetted and then rolled in dry glutinous rice flour. This snowball coating method is repeated till the desired thickness of coating is reached! Cunning eh? ;)