there was something i was dreaming of when planning this holiday about catching the train around china. something i didn’t get, and learnt a bit more about why i like trains – it’s the comfort and conveneience, neither of which i got on my china train trip this time round. i’d already changed my plans [...]

i’ve been to shanghai before – back in 2005, for a week. and then there were those eventful 5 weeks in beijing. so china is familiar. and this time round i’d come to see r & j, who’ve been here for a year living the expat life. and i am perplexed about what shanghai is [...]

i made it through the night and managed to even make friends with my room-mate. she had offered me gifts of sweets and writing paper, and so i offered her breakfast back in return. i’d gone out the night before to find something to eat for breakfast, and ended up with cheese slices, crazy bread [...]

my morning wake up and breakfast – rice porridge again. at guesthouse yougendo they serve breakfast in individual rooms for each bedroom, each room being in the old japanese house style, overlooking a garden, and seated on the floor.    after breakfast i checked out and began my trek to kyoto, my destination. i was [...]

i’ve been making chickpea pancakes a few times a week and filing them with tasty things. this time round it was buckwheat grains, cooked till soft. the pancakes: mix a cup of chickpea flour with a cup of other flour (plain flour, or gluten free flour). add enough milk (i think i used rice milk) [...]

when i was living in toronto last year i drank almond milk. better than cows milk, and a much better dairy replacement than soy or oat. it was always about the same price as soy milk – 2 or 3 dollars a litre. i came back to australia ready to keep on drinking almond milk. [...]

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2010. That’s about 9 full 747s. In 2010, there were 23 [...]

it’s a shitty photo but the best i could get in the light, and with the technology to hand. after spending a day giving into a horrendous hangover, due in part to the excellent canadian company the night before, and a desire to let things loose a bit, i made my way over to jane [...]

from this: to this:   we missed the end of summer bottling run, but still managed to get some in. in toronto around mid to late september there was a rush on canning, preserving, bottling, jamming of all things possible. i went to knitting one day and there were shelves of freshly bottled peaches, nectarines, [...]