outgoing mail june!

Hello,

We've had a very productive weekend, which is good.  

Flowers make us happy, always wish we had a big tree in our front yard. I transplanted a pot of beautiful flower into the ground, hope it grows well! {not sure what is it called, its a type flowering vine plant with big bunch of bold orange flowers}. I got from a cutting my dad gave me few months ago from home (it has already waited too long to transplant).

This is the plant that dad have given me! In the front yard at my hometown, can't wait for mine one to bloom~

 

Then my partner finally have time to helped me out on some 'hardwork', hehe! drilling and put up a few of metal rail on kitchen wall, all my kitchen utensils were happily hung on the rods now!

And I managed to complete few more outgoing letters, happy that all the parcel are on its way to my sweet pen friends now!

 My mail to CC

Taipei, Taiwan

 My mail to Claudia

Oberfellabrunn, Austria

 My mail to Michelle

Victoria, Australia

My mail to Sami
Pontevedra, Spain

june happy mail!

hola!

Met a new talented friend from Argentina currently residing in Spain. Sami have an online store selling handcrafted stationery,  handmade jewelry...etc... She's a newbie and just entered the very amazing snail mail world, she made the cutest mail! hehe ^_^

 First ever snail mail from Spain! Loving the postage stamps and her cute handwriting.

Can you see the adorable whale stamped?

Sami's hand-carved 'whale' stamp is super lovely (especially for me, hehe! meaning that its the one and only), wish i can carve that well. >_<

Welcome July!

just can't get enough of these cuties!

Hello friends,

I have too much fun to grow succulents myself from the little leaves.
Things i learned from propagating succulents on my own is they need plenty of light & little of water! No special fertilizer, chemicals or rooting hormone are needed for most succulent plants, some even don't even need soil when they first start to grow (develop). Just like magic!
Currently, I have only one type (species) of succulent and these babies are all from the same mama plant! Too happy NOT to share! Hehe.

 I can't get over how cute they are together, chubby & juicy >_< 

aw~ melts my heart.

Can you believe that this is being propagated from a teeny tiny little pink roots?

 Glass jars are ideal for growing succulents & cacti, always remind myself to be extra care not to over water them because glass jars doesn't have drainage holes!

Twins! Emma & Rosette ^_^

i will try my very best to you keep you happy and healthy!

Let's exchange succulent babies anyone? 

We can sending via snailmail, it will be a good happy day! 

{leave me a comment or email me if you would love to}

{snowrabfiona@gmail.com}

Spread & sharing the love!

meanwhile in my garden...

Hihi!

So it has been raining all day lately, but good thing is my plants look happy & healthy because they love rainwater! Why? because it is so soft and has no chlorine, rainwater is preferable for watering plants, read more here.

Here are some happy growing plants in the garden.

i love fiddle leaf fig tree since long long time ago, but large fiddle leaf fig tree are selling very expensive here. The bigger the tree is, the more expensive the price.

I got 2 young (baby) plants with only few leaves 3 months ago at a reasonable price, and the leaves has doubled the amount now.

The one and only stem of lemon balm herb, hope it grows well.

My baby sawtooth herb got a new friend!

Problem here! Lately, there are many of these baby grasshoppers started to threaten and attack my sweet basil & mint herbs, i guess the herb taste good to them too! T_T I may need to trim the tip off and spray some organic insecticides.

My mulberry tree start fruiting again, yum yum!

My wild betel leaf!I grew them from the cutting stems that mom gave me from home last trip. It has pretty glossy heart-shaped leave, the leaves look so green!

My on-growing "slow & steady"broccoli,

Actually broccoli enjoys cool weather, but where i stay is hot and humid all year round, and has summer 365 days a year! Anyhow, i really hope it keeps growing and perhaps blooming!

Oxalis or wood sorrel is a type of wild edible weed, and with little bright yellow flowers, some said it can be eaten raw or used as a salad green or made into a drink! Should i give it a try? Hmm...maybe not! >_<

Sowed some okra (lady's fingers) seeds last 2 weeks and look, they sprouted, grow into larger plant now!

easy weeknight dinners

 Hello,

It has been raining every evening the whole week, traffic was so bad last couple of days. I spent like almost 2 hours in the car every day back home, nothing beats a home cooked meal. Making a simple meals helps me to reduce stress after a long hours traffic jam, but I insisted on cooking most nights. so here's a quick post about what we're eating this week! What's your favorite midweek, quick dinner recipes? 

 Chicken & vegetable stew

{craving for a hearty stew in cold rainy day, it's so packed full of flavor}

Ingredients in the stewed are potatoes, carrot, dried shiitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas, firm tofu & chicken leg & thighs

Stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste

{i basically love anything that cooked with shrimp paste}

Stir-fried milk cabbage (nai pak choy) with ginger & garlic

{my partner absolutely love this veggie, i pretty much cook once a week lately, hehe}

Sambal Okra (dried shrimp chilli paste lady fingers)

{okra is a very healthy & inexpensive vegetable, the salted & spicy sauce really help to increase our appetite}

 Dried noodle with minced meat sauce
{i made garlic infused oil and fried garlic and kept it in an airtight jar~ its really good in noodle, try it!}

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Reason why we love to stay at home, great movie and homecooked dinner! Dinner and a movie are the perfect pair, but parents might disagree! haha, not for kids ya.

I have watched a really nice movie last 2 days, and wanted to share with you. i love romantic, heart touching, funny movies that can lifts me up when i'm not in a good mood.
Blake lively is just too gorgeous in the movie, every scenes, all the clothing, makeup & hairstyling in the film are so stunning.

The Age of Adeline
Synopsis:
After miraculously remaining 29 years old for almost eight decades, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone who might reveal her secret. But a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) reignites her passion for life and romance. When a weekend with his parents (Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker) threatens to uncover the truth, Adaline makes a decision that will change her life forever. 

movie poster source from google
synopsis source from apple trailer

chinese steamed rice pudding

Hello,

I made small batch of traditional steamed rice pudding (缽仔糕) over the weekend, as just the 2 of us at home. I was initially planning to put in some homemade sweet red beans, plan changed when i tried the batter, it will taste too sweet of adding the sweet red beans. Hehe, so sweet red bean paste keep to make other dessert, i will definitely try the red bean version rice pudding again soon.

Here i share the recipe with you, but keep in mind that chinese rice pudding doesn't have very much of 'springy, chewy or bouncy' texture as its mainly made using rice flour. ^_^ This dessert recipe was quick, simple, and delicious.

Ingredients:
A)
• 150g rice flour
• 25g glutinous rice flour (refer to some of other recipes, you may also substitute 25g of water chestnut starch)
• 20g wheat starch
• 250ml water
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil

B)
• 120g brown sugar or golden slab sugar
• 250ml water
• 4-5 pandan leaves

Method:
1. Combine Ingredients (A) together, it will become a runny flour mixture.
2. In a pot, add Ingredients (B), dissolve the sugar in the water, pandan leaves is used to add fragrance in the sugar water. (skip if you don't have pandan leaves at home)
3.  Let the sugar water cool down a bit, then slowly mixing in (B) sugar water into (A) mixture, continuously stirring while pouring and whisking it into a slightly thicken flour batter.
4. Apply a thin layer of cooking oil to the inside of each ramekin.
5. Pour the batter into ramekins and steam them under high heat for 15-20 mins or until cooked, also it depends on the size of the bowl. (you can use a toothpick/bamboo stick to test for doneness, if the toothpick come out clean, meaning that it's cooked and ready to take it out from the steamer.)
6. Cool the puddings down and remove them from ramekins by using a toothpick.

in the process of cooling down, ah~ couldn't wait!

Tada, this is how it's look like! The finished product~ Found that it tend to be a bit harder to unmold by using flower jelly remekins, it will be a lot better if using small earthen bowls.

outgoing mail may!

The most beautiful & romantic lines I have ever read, specially for snail-mailer!

“How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous.” ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood 

Some of the love letters & parcels i wrote and posted last week / or i should say last month! >_< Its quite difficult-to-express how much i heart handwritten letter. Letter writing has become a very important part of my life, i have learned so much from all of you - my dear pen pals and also my English has improved greatly through writing.
I am truly blessed to have some very nice pen friends in my life, hopefully we could meet up in person one day.

Happy mail day! 

 My mail to Jaime

Toronto, Canada

 My mail to Lisa

Gent, Belgium

My mail to Nao chan

Miyagi, Japan

My mail to Sylvie

Lichtervelde, Belgium

My mail to Aki chan

Hokkaido, Japan

My mail to Yumi chan

Mie, Japan

may happy mail!

Hello June!

I've been so busy the last two weeks, been trying to find time to write and update the blog with my favorite snail mail post! Here i come again with my incoming & outgoing mail post, yohoo! Received 2 parcels in may, i can said its was the parcel of love given from the heart.

Yumi chan sent me a huge parcel with beautiful decoration inside and out. Let me share her gorgeous snail mail with you.

This is perhaps the cutest brown paper box i have ever received, with kewpie doll logo! i think she must be madly in love with mayonnaise, are you yumi chan?  >_<

Japanese-style gift wrapping with beautiful cloth/fabric, very sweet and thoughtful! I felt like it was Christmas morning opening my wonderfully wrapped parcel, making me feel "extra special".

 She sent me many goodies & foodies! The limited Japanese spring postbox postcard & some pretty flora illustration postcards, they are really great for collection. Starting & continuously growing my collection of nice postcards.

Her sweet mama who gave me a big compliment on my previous parcel sent to yumi, she said my parcel was kawaii! Yumi's mama sent me 2 packs of seeds too! How sweet~ I also sent her some cooking curry paste this time in return.

 Now for foodies - yumi sent me a pack of loose green tea leaves with very nice packaging, as you know Japan has the most dangerous fetish for food and product packaging! She also sent me 2 boxes of Japanese curry roux with handwritten recipe & cooking method attached on top of each box, how thoughtful is she! love.

Last but not least, she gave me few packs of Japanese soup packets. If not mistaken its made of
Dashi or bonito fish stock! Great for my solo meals.

Next made-with-heart mail from Aki chan, beautiful vegetable & sakura postage stamps on the package! Still like love her neat and cute handwriting.

Have you ever seen her super cute doggy named kotara 黒柴・虎太郎 (adorable name too) from the Shiba Inu dog breed!

Hokkaido Gotochi postcard with the Former Hokkaido Government Building (Red Brick Building) illustration. Some of you might not too sure what's Gotochi postcard, click and read more about Gotochi!

She sent many lovely little things too ~ tea bags, small pouch, hand-stamped and cut out stickers, paper ephemera, decoration tape & many more!

 Take a closer look at the beautiful postage stamps! What vegetable you like the most?

I love them all, specially egg plant (lately...) haha!

Sadly, this cute little blue flora plate is broken when it reached my mail box. T_T But lucky, i managed to glue it back and used it as flower pot saucer! Like Sylvie said, i think of you whenever i see the plant.

The world needs more love letters, send more mail!