The Abundance of Mushrooms

The Mushrooms, Shangri-la, Yunnan, China.

All of my editing has reminded me to share more photos from China here. Despite the fact that I am Chinese, I had a hard time eating and getting a balanced diet in China. Most days I skipped meat and countless numbers of restaurants because they did not look sanitary in the way that I was used to. In Taiwan, where I grew up, I eat lots of street food and night markets are my favorite places to sample small eats. China is different, especially rural China. Running water is not a given. Neither is electricity. Or a restroom within the restaurant. Then there's the problem of soap. In China, I travel with plenty of tissue (not provided 99% of the time), soap, and water. Even after taking those precautions, I remained careful about choosing a restaurant that looked clean.

The only place where food was not a worry was in Dali, Yunnan (western China). Dali has a temperate climate and is warmer than locales north such a Lijiang and Shangri-la. There was a wonderful pay-as-you-wish veggie place that volunteer Buddhists ran that I frequented. And the best part was that mushroom season is during summertime in Yunnan. There was a gorgeous abundance of it everywhere as I sampled many wild varieties cooked up in all sorts of delicious ways. It was heaven eating mushrooms daily and having lots of vegetables. This batch of mushrooms drying was taken on the streets of Shangri-la.

P.S.- I love you

homemade lavender infused chocolate truffles

While Valentine's day is not everyone's cup of tea, and I can't really remember ever celebrating it, the posts from Design*Sponge leading up to yesterday was a reminder of what the holiday should be. An occasion to celebrate your love for your family and friends. All I ever wish is to be close to my family and friends, even though most of us are spread thousands of miles apart and can only see each other occasionally. Being in Western PA has only heightened that feeling. I often feel alone and miss my loved ones.

The person I chose to be with out here and love dearly is my darling husband Ross. We had a typical day of working on our projects, heading to the Y for a swim, walking Clyde, and watching a netflix movie at night (2 Days in Paris with Julie Delpy, suggested by D*S). I made dinner and surprised him with a batch of homemade lavender infused chocolate truffles. They were totally easy to make and a hit. I'm passing the recipe along, in case you would like to spread the love. ; )

Wishing you a sweet weekend with loved ones.

Buttermilk Falls

The Waterfall, Beaver Falls, PA.

The Ice, Beaver Falls, PA.

We took a short hike to Buttermilk Falls on Sunday. It's a short drive from our apartment and we assumed that the path wouldn't be too treacherous since we had a sunny weekend. The ice formations were spectacular and the light was so beautiful underneath the rocks that we decided to go back the same afternoon and make some pictures. It's always hard to start but I'm glad to finally be making work in PA.

Along the Beaver and the Ohio

The Bunker, Beaver Falls, PA.

The Beaver River, Beaver Falls, PA.

Seeing Sol Lewitt, Cleveland, Ohio.

I walk Clyde along the Beaver River several times a week. There's a rail trail of sorts and it's his favorite walk. I spent some time photographing in and around it last week, freezing my hands off. So grateful to have a nice place to take Clyde and let him pretend to be a puppy.

We went on a day trip to Ohio the other day to pick up some fire brick. Made a short day trip of it and visited Garie and the CMA. So impressed and glad to know it's not so far out of our way to go see some great art and a good friend.