Bamboo Sketches
by Charity Lee Jennings
Hot Pot Pizza
When the days are cold, China turns to hot pot for warmth and comfort. Hot pot restaurants are plentiful and are filled with family and friends cooking meat and vegetables over a simmering pot of stock. A memorable experience. Their tasty broths and variety of...
Chinese New Year Near Disasters – Part 2
Brian humbly held our bag of sparklers as we stood, surrounded by boxes, massive fireworks, that must have been the equivalent of four months’ rent for the average person in our city. Our hostess emerged from a room that was papered gold, a massive, gaudy chandelier...
Chinese New Year Near Disasters
Buildings towered side by side and ours almost touched the chain link of an enclosed basketball court; gathering place and first stop for family firework nights. I enjoyed the shows, with one memorable exception. I watched the family arrive, place their huge...
Baby, It’s Cold Inside
When there is no central heating; when your whole family is huddled around one heater and you are wearing layer upon layer of clothing; when you can see your breathe in the bathroom and the pipes for the water heating system have frozen and burst; when all three kids...
Challenge Rewards – Part 2
I’ve been working on developing a new skill too. My challenge of choice, during the quiet week after Christmas, was to learn to make sourdough bread. Cherry Blossom wasn’t the only one to receive an instructional book for Christmas. I received Peter Reinhart’s Artisan...
Challenge Rewards
I love seeing glimpses of myself in my daughter. When she received some new art supplies this Christmas, I got a good, long look at our similarities. As she opened the watercolour paints, tearing the gift wrap off - shutting out other gifts that were scattered around,...
New Year, New Teeth!
Rather than writing resolutions, I'm sharing a New Year story with you. This is a fictional story based entirely on real events from my experiences of raising my children in China. In the middle of the afternoon, on January 3rd, Eliza, the youngest of three,...
Six Hour Cider
I couldn’t imagine Christmas without the rich flavours of cinnamon, cloves, apple, orange and lemon, simmered and blending for hours in the slow cooker, filling our home with a wonderfully rich smell. Our Apple Cider. Neither could Brian, that’s why he agreed...
Generosity Greets the Holidays
Just as our warm fall temperatures dipped and cooled, I discovered that I was out of both herbal tea and chocolate chips! If only the solution were as simple as adding the items to my grocery list and picking them up next time I am at the grocery store. But these...
Study Buddy on the Run
The stillness and quietness of the morning, the warmth of a mug of tea and the comfort of a good book, no children calling for my help, a break, finally, after an especially demanding week, oh how I savoured it: peace. “Mom, Peepicheep escaped!” My peaceful morning,...
Fulfilling Homeschooling
“What does a day in my life look like?” I’m hesitant to answer this common question, usually asked with the sparkle of expectancy. Maybe because it is not as exotic or thrilling as one may expect. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been in China for ten years now, so my days...
Our Mid-Autumn Mooncakes
Inspired by my favourite childhood picture, in which my younger brother and I are biting into cookies as big around as our own chubby little faces, I bought these three village-style mooncakes, one for each of my kids. They looked as delicious as the cookies! My kids...