Month: February 2012

Food Corner: Fried Oyster Mushrooms

Published by Sula H.

They aren’t my favorite food, so I’ve never actually thought of mentioning them on my blog – mushrooms. But as a matter of fact, mushrooms are quite a popular side dish locally. For the dish you see in the picture today, oyster mushrooms were mixed with other mushrooms and vegetables, and fried in oil (as is typical for any dish in China). A yummy addition to any meal – if you like mushrooms that is!

A Lesson on Water

Published by Sula H.

First, let me start out with this: A couple of years ago, I’d never have thought that drinking hot water would grow on me. But I guess, living in China has marked me some way or another. Now, on a cold winter day, I couldn’t even imagine downing a cold cup of water that would make me shiver all over. And that’s my problem now. Like today, when I was getting ready for class, and wanted to fill my water bottle with warm water from the water dispenser. (I have to add, though, that our classrooms here can be as cold as outside, so I use the hot water from my bottle not only for warming up my insides, but also to warm up my outsides!) But alas! Problem #1: One of the two water coolers on our floor was completely out of water by the time I had to leave for class today, and Problem #2: The second of the two dispensers was turned off, which means: Cold water only for class today. Brrrr! So, …

scrapbook layout

Unsure

Published by Sula H.

Credits: Honeybee Mine by Traci Reed PaperClips Backgrounds 2.0 by Libby Pritchett Font: DJB Miss Molly Brown by Darcy Baldwin   Schoolin’ Credits: All Year Long – September by Meghan Mullens Bare Essentials by Traci Reed Blissful Stitching by Traci Reed Jot It Down alpha by Britt-ish designs Font: DJB Miss Molly Brown by Darcy Baldwin

Behind the Scenes: Enhancing Legibility of Your Journaling on Patterned Papers – Part 3.

Published by Sula H.

In my little mini-series of working with journaling on patterned papers, I’ve already mentioned a few strategies. But there are even more ways of how you can make your journaling stand out on  patterned papers. Another method I’ll discuss today: Creating Journaling Strips   The magic word for this solution – and one that I’ve started to use over and over on my own pages – is: Journaling Strips. You can have the wildest patterns going on on your pages, but if you use journaling strips, none of that matters. Take a look at some sample pages of mine, where I used journaling strips on patterned background papers: And this, of course, was a more recent P2D feature: The plus side of journaling strips is: They usually are really easy to create, you can use them on all sort of pages, and they usually do a really good job at drawing attention to your journaling (even on solid backgrounds).   How to Create a Journaling Strip   STEP 1 | Use the Shape Tool to …

The Way We Travel

Published by Sula H.

Spring Festival (and the winter break for that matter) is just behind, which means it’s the busiest time of the year – traveling-wise. After all, pretty much all of China is shifting some way or another, going back to celebrate the holidays with their families, visiting friends and relatives, or simply taking advantage of having a couple days off work to travel. Traveling season also means that those who venture into leaving the comfort of their homes to go on a journey, may be facing a series of obstacles. Obstacle #1 | The Tickets The problem with this one is: Officially, you can only start purchasing train tickets (the main means of transportation here) about 10 days before you mean to travel. But when the 10th day before the journey comes, and you run to the ticket center early in the morning, and get to be the first one after they open their doors to purchase a ticket, the answer still will be most likely: “Sorry, no more tickets available!” How that’s possible? Yeah, good …