My brother and his family are back from visiting my mum in Germany. I’m probably going to miss seeing my nephew in his earflaps.

Tris is wearing his Teddy Bear earflap hat from the lovely Beliz.

I made Bubur Cha-Cha for a friend’s party. It’s a traditional Malaysian dessert made of various sweet potatoes, yam and taro, cooked in creamy coconut milk and brown sugar. Bubur means porridge and Cha-Cha (sometimes pronounced as Che-Che in Penang, Northern Malaysia) means abundance.

I have many fond memories eating this dessert in my parents kitchen…and you may have probably seen this dish cooked a few times on Masterchef, no doubt by the Malaysian contestants.

Ingredients:
1 medium size gold/yellow sweet potato (cut into cubes)
1 medium size purple yam (cut into cubes)
1 medium size taro (cut into cubes)
8 cups of water
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (sago)
3 stalks of screwpine leaves (pandan leaves)
400 ml coconut milk
Sugar to taste
Rock salt

1. Boil the yam and taro in water with the screwpine leaves.
2. Once the yam and taro are slightly soft, add in the sweet potatoes and tapioca pearls. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium.
3. The sweet potatoes usually cooks fast, so to prevent it from being too mushy, I usually scoop them out into a bowl and set it aside. You’ll also notice that the tapioca pearls will start turning translucent whilst cooking.
4. Add in sugar to taste. I used about 3 and a half blocks of brown sugar pieces.
5. Add in coconut milk and a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil.
6. Add the sweet potatoes back into the pot and remove the screwpine leaves.

This dessert can be served hot or cold. I usually like to eat it warm when it’s freshly cooked. And then eat it chilled the next day!

This is the sweet journal I bought from Montage Collective. A handmade denim journal and slip cover by Libby from iheartcharlie. It’s so cute!! I think I might have to christian it with a new doodle.

Besides making my Little Mo journals, I like collecting from other journal makers too. When I choose a journal for keeps, I like them to open up easily so that I don’t have to push on the spine when I draw. I also like my journals small and compact so that I can slip it into my bag. I like drawing on recycled paper or on found paper like Sharilyn’s pocket books.

I find that I tend to gravitate towards handmade journals because I can see that a lot of love and care goes into making them and knowing this, inspires me to fill the pages up!

I’m always on the lookout for new journals to add to my collection, if you have a favourite journal maker, do suggest one to me!

Happy bunny year! I hope Mr bunny brings you lots of good fortune and good health!

We made wontons tonight…because what’s New Year without them?

Homemade dumplings

A packet of wonton skins (you can get them at the oriental shop)

For the filling:
Minced pork
Minced prawn (optional)
Chopped spring onion
Chopped chives
Chopped coriander
Chopped onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Sesame oil
Corn flour

Mix all of the ingredients well.

Spoon a tiny spoonful of the filling onto the skin. Fold in half and dab some water around the edges to seal it. Press gently around the edges.

The wontons can be steamed, deep-fried or served in soup.

A few days before the Lunar New Year, it gets a bit chaotic at my parent’s house. My dad will be off to the shops to buy the best crispy suckling pig or roasted duck for our reunion dinner. We’ll do a huge spring clean because on Chinese New Year we’re not suppose to do any cleaning. The Chinese believe that cleaning on New Years day is like sweeping good luck out the front door.

Even though it’s all ridiculously superstitious, we’ve adhere to this tradition every year. We also decorate the house by putting mandarin oranges in a basket and planting fresh cherry blossoms in a vase.

Since moving back to Perth, Big Mo and I have kept with this tradition. This morning after our spring cleaning, I decided to do some crafty decoration. I made paper hearts out of red paper and tied them to our plant. I pretended it was our little money plant!

The gorgeous watermelon bowl is by Samantha Robinson. I love her work. The tea set is a wedding gift from my mum, which we used during our tea pouring ceremony. In it are ‘Ang Pows’ or red packets. It is customary that on Chinese New Year, married couples or the older generation hand out red packets filled with money to children, teenagers or unmarried adults.

It’s also quite normal to see a lot of red during the Lunar festival as red symbolises good fortune and joy!

From now and throughout February (the month of love), all of my shop orders will be wrapped like this:)

With vintage paper doily and red bakers twine. xoxoxo

I’ve been eying Deborah’s creations for the longest time. I thought I would go crazy if I waited any longer to purchase something from her shop.

I decided to get one of her water lily plates so that I could use them for our Lunar New Year dinner.

The plates arrived this week…and let’s just say, I am pretty smitten by its beauty.

Some photos from our winery adventures. We had so much fun!

We went up to Swan Valley, got a map from the tourist centre and drove through the wine trails stopping at the local wineyards. We stopped at some pottery shops and the chocolate factory, bought chocolate (obviously) and some fresh local produce. We even found a Little Mo pond for me to sketch!

The wine tasting was wonderful on that summer afternoon…I don’t think I remembered much after that…other then we found this lovely spot to sit…and unwind from all that wine drinking!

Oh I got a bit lucky, I had a surprise present from Big Mo. I could get used to this!

WOW! How fast has time flown by? Today we are celebrating our first wedding anniversary and we are so excited!

After celebrating our share of birthdays and secret special days for the past 8 years, today feels somewhat different and significant. Quite a wondrous feeling actually. Big mo, I’ve LOVED every minute of being married to you!

We are off to the winery this afternoon, will blog with pictures when we get back:)

I am hoping to start the year with a busy and creative schedule. And amongst other things like:

Love
Laugh
Eat healthily
Cook organically
Live green
Be kind to others
Read more books
Grow more plants

What about you?