Asian Heritage Month book picks for kids

Parenting an 8yo and 4yo and wanting both of them to love reading and have quality time for them, it's top of my mind to find the next quality book to read with them. It's hard to corral them together but there will be a time - hopefully sooner rather than later - when they...

Being Chinese enough and 包剪𢱕

I have an older cousin who straddled her Canadian and Chinese identity so perfectly and I could see this even at a young age when we went to Hong Kong in the summer and I would tag along on her activities because she had a full-fledged life and more family there. I was self-piteous for...

Solar terms

I'm reading Fuschia Dunlop's Invitation to a Banquet and in her chapter about farm-to-table ("Farm to Chopsticks"), she mentions how seasonal food preparation follows the seasons of the old agricultural calendar. I am familiar with the 12 lunar months (13 in a year when it's make-up time every 4 years) but I didn't know about...

Honorifics and cheungsam

The post below on Instagram by Sketchy Karr inspired my thoughts on this subject and related. I have always loved that in Chinese, we have all these different names for relatives from whether they are on the father's side or the mother's side and if they are older than our parent or not when it...

Revived by social media: 川子’s 今生綠

I didn't pay the most heed when Dr. Candise Lin posted on April 8 about it the TikTok trend that is appearing on Insta, primarily because I viewed her caption and subtitles but had the volume down as I do at night. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CANDISE LIN | CANTONESE...

愛 vs 惜/錫

At a Cantonese, positive parenting Instagram page run by Becca, Cantonese 4 Parents, she recently asked with a poll how this generation of parenting is saying "I love you" to our kids. Because of that common notion of Chinese or Asian parents not being affectionate, not saying "I love you," not giving hugs, showing their...

Geronimo Stilton Traditional Chinese novels

When I was in Halifax in March, I looked hard amongst the novels at Toys 'R' Us' impressive and unappreciated (by my kids) books section. I was looking for a chapter book that would capture both the 8yo and the 4yo that would take us several nights to read and ignite their imagination. Since learning...

New Asia Food Market: Halifax has arrived!

Not living in Halifax, I'm not entirely on top of all the changes on the food scene from restaurants to the grocers. Growing up, we accompanied Mummy and Daddy to Ca-Hoa and Tian Phat and while I was in university, I came across a tiny grocer serving the university students on South Street. My parents...

T&T run ahead of Halifax trip

Who am I? Someone who lives above a T&T?! No. I'm headed to Halifax to see my parents who have only T&T dried goods delivery and no mega Asian supermarkets. So on a Saturday evening after dinner, before dessert, I dashed to the nearby market to grab stuff, any stuff, stuff from a list, stuff...

Kuo Hua Trading and T&T Supermarket in a day

I had a blissful Leap Day off that I spent with my father who was visiting Vancouver. Between GG's skating field trips and a Pro-D skiing day, I've taken so many days off in Jan/Feb and, in total, a lot in the first quarter of 2024! Daddy was visiting for one week but between full-time...