Author: ana

– in preparation for chinese new year next week, we went to the chinese supermarket (all the way in albufeira) and came back with bags full of goodies! i can’t wait to cook many of these — i really must get on with it, because my cupboards are practically overflowing… it’s a good problem to have, and i like having a kitchen filled with possibilities.

– so, in the spirit of using things we have in the pantry, i’ve made mapo tofu! next time, i’ll need to tone down on the chilli, because it was a bit too intense for me. 🥵

– on the way to the chinese supermarket, we stumbled on a british supermarket, so we had a look as well. i don’t know why supermarket trips to foreign stores are so exciting to me, but it feels like they’re filled with wonder and delights. to me, the british are kings of sweets, and we brought some packs of sweet stuff home, along with eccles cakes and wensleydale cheese. yum!

– i got my booster shot, woohoo! while it feels like everyone around us is getting their immunity by getting sick these days, we’ve been able to stir clear of that so far and have instead vaccinated ourselves. feels pretty good! :)

– every year, a postcrosser friend in china gifts me a hobonichi weeks. it’s a slim paper planner, with super lightweight pages, and the right combination of calendar + free space that i like. these gifts have been going on for 4 or 5 years now, and i’ve grown attached to the planners, looking forward to a new one as the year ends. i never know which one he’s going to get me though — it’s always a surprise. after a 2 months’ trip through the mail, my 2022 hobonichi finally arrived this week, and i was so happy — it has pandas on the cover and the text inside is all in chinese (turns out, this is a special edition that is only available in china). i love it soooo much! <3

week 3, rinse and repeat, with a few good things.

– cooked a fantastic corn pancake (玉米烙) that was a huge throwback to our time in china. there was a restaurant in our street that served these with sprinkles and we were practically addicted to them.

– we watched wadjda, and it was a bit of a punch in the gut. saudi arabia sometimes feels as alien as north korea.

– birdhouse #2 has been deployed! we checked the first one, but couldn’t see any birds coming and going. looking forward to the new tenants.

– we voted today in advance of next week’s elections, just to get it done.

– though we’re still playing catch up with work, things have settled down a bit more this week and i’ve finally had time to sit down and make a plan for the next hsk exam. i’m not sure it’s a feasible plan, but i’ll give it a go. at a rate of 10 new characters per day, i should be ready around… june-ish? we’ll see!

– this week, the boy went up a carob tree and hung the first of the 2 birdhouses my brother made for us some time ago. finally! can’t wait to see which birds will take up residence in birdhouse #1!

– we watched don’t look up, and it was hilarious and sobering. hard not to make parallels with the spectacular job we’re doing to curb climate change, the impending disaster of our time.

– birdwatching was “great” this week though, and spotted 2 new species that both had “great” on their name: one great egret and a few great crested gebre in the sapal of castro marim, which was a really nice place to walk.

– the almond trees are doing their thing!