T-Trove Asian Decor Blog

Journey to the west is a popular Chinese tale.  It is an adventure story of Monkey King  protecting a monk on a long journey to India for Buddhist sutras.

Monkey King  has many special skills,  including transforming himself into 72 different people, animals, or objects; traveling thousands of miles in a flip of his cloud; or lifting a ton in a turn of a hand.  The one trick I am most envious of is  his ability to transform each hair on his body into a clone of himself.

Been a small business owner, there are always things to order, people to call, places to be, paperwork to be done.  And sometimes, I would close my eyes and see 10 of me hard at work and getting everything done the right way — my way.  As the busy season start, this crazy idea has been popping into my head more and more frequent.  If I am like the King, I would use I-robots to do all the work and chores.  I can, then, go on a nice long vacation.  Just thinking about this gives me a big smile

Today, I thought about what if everyone has this ability to make copies of himself. The clones can do anything you already knew but cannot lean any new skills or knowledge.  They have the same reaction to things as you would.  Would the world be more industrious or just having more lazy people  taking up couch spaces in front of  TVs?  Each department of a big cooperation probably only need a couple persons. A small business like ours wouldn’t need to hire any employee. A doctor could help hundreds of patients everyday…  On the other hand, if all of us were as naughty as the Monkey King, the whole world would turn upside down in no time.

If you are not familiar with the Monkey King, make sure to pick up a book or rent a movie about him.   He will take you along on his life adventure and inspire a few mischievous ideas of fun.

I noticed a fence full of morning glory flowers driving to work on Lincoln a few weeks ago.  They caught my eye because I thought they only come in dark purple, pink and white colors and have never seen them in this light and almost shinny blue. They reminded me of the time spent in Japan, where morning glory is a popular flower.  In the summer, you can see them climbing walls and fences almost everywhere.  They easily take over a whole vacant lot in the city between buildings.  They are also planted in the yards, window planters, and garden pots.   The morning glory is called 朝顏 (asa-ga-o) in Japanese.  The two kanji characters mean “morning” and “face”.  I imagine if I wake up every morning and see the bright blossoms already opened welcoming the day, it would put a big smile on my face also.

Morning glory, gold fish, dragonfly, and fireworks are some of the popular symbols of summer in Japan. They are often printed on summer postcards, posters, fans and textiles.  I bought a yukata (traditional Japanese summer dress) in the asagao print when I was there years ago and wore it to several festivals (matsuri) where almost every girl had on a yukata enjoying a summer night out.  Besides the great food, colorful yukata and beautiful fireworks make every festival a awesome feast for the eyes also.

Maybe it is all the great memories that these flowers brought back that make them stand out even it only took the car a second to pass them.  I had to take Elliot for a long walk back to that house and snapped a picture to share.

I say that I have been drinking tea since three years old.  The truth is, I don’t remember the first time I had tea, but 3 should be pretty close.  As long as I can remember, mom always makes a pot of Green or Oolong tea after lunch and dinner.  Tea and sweet seasonal tropical fruit seems to be the most usual “dessert” growing up in Taiwan.

I just realized recently that I choose teas to drink like many people pair wines to dinner dishes.  Green tea, especially Chinese Dragon Well, goes with light food like fish or salad.  Oolong is the tea of choice with meaty, greasy, or fried dishes.  Refreshing Japanese Sencha or Matcha (powder green tea) is the best for breakfast.  Chilled genmaicha (brown rice tea) and mint tea is my summer favorite drink from the refrigerator. Afternoon or late night teas are often chosen depending on the mood of the time.

I do sometimes drink black tea or herbal tea in a bag out of convenience. Loose leave teas are definitely a whole lot better in tastes and for health.  Most teabag teas are chopped from lower grade teas.  Loose teas are mostly made from whole leaves and often rolled to release more essential oils.  When the tea leaves dance and open up in a cup/ pot of hot water, you can see, smell, and taste a bit of nature’s goodness that traveled from a field of tea trees.  For me, that’s worth stopping and taking a moment to enjoy and relax even in the middle of a busy afternoon at work.

I don’t remember purchasing a matching tea set for myself.  Having a choice from different ceramic cups to match the tea and the feeling of the moment is more interesting than always using the same set of cups.  Although it is not very popular in our store, I found teapots with a side handle are easier to use than the bamboo handle on top because you can easily pour with one hand.

This blog was inspired by my late night craving for a cup of tea after having pizza and coffee cake for dinner.  Sipping my cup of Alishan high mountain tea, I think there will be more to say about tea and me.

Lotus Pond

We were at Atlanta attending the Gift and Furnishing show last week.  Thanks to the sometimes mysterious directions given by the GPS, we missed a few turns driving through residential roads and made a unexpected discovery … a lotus pond in the front yard of an older ranch style house.

The owner charges $3 to fish in the pond.  Lucky for us,  it is free to enjoy the scenery. Although the blooming season has passed, and there were more seed pods drying out than the actual lotus flowers, I was delighted to see them all the same. We got out of the car and took some pictures.

I have not seen a real lotus pond since grade school.  I remembered standing in front of a large pond full of white and light pink lotus flowers in Taiwan years ago. The light breeze swung the blossoms making them dance in a sea of green round leaves under the warm spring sun. I don’t remember what else we did that day, but mom probably bought a bag of fresh seeds to make some chilled sweet soup for the hot days ahead.  In Chinese medicine, the lotus seeds help cool down the body.  They are part of nature’s gift to help us cope with the hot tropical summer.

I was asked once, “What’s the difference between Lotus & Water Lily?”
Lotus flowers “stand” above the water, and water lily blossoms “float”.  I think that is the easiest way to tell.  Also, each lotus flower has a seed pod in the center but a water lily blossom does not.  I guess that explains why I don’t remember having sweet soup from water lily seeds. Now I think of it, I haven’t had a bowl of the lotus seed soup in a long time either.

Lotus Flowers & Young Seed Pods