Chinese New Year

Kung hei fat choi! We happily celebrate Chinese New Year every year. We used to live near Chinatown in Toronto so it was always a big deal in our neighbourhood. As usual, it is a family celebration with my Mum joining us. I always make a souvenir menu for her and this year, since our printer is out of commission, it was done by hand. I got a box of linoleum for xmas as I wanted to do some lino printing, and I have been sharing them. For this occasion, Year of the Fire Monkey, my husband (James Hayes) created an image based on a "netsuke" monkey carving and kindly made a print for me to use on the menu card cover.

We celebrated a few days early, as Saturday was more convenient for us! Dinner was delicious! By the way, "mei wei" means "delicious" in Chinese. "Gift tea" is Jasmine tea which is tied in the shape of a flower and made in a glass teapot so that you can watch the "flower" bloom as it is steeping. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of this.

I  tried my hand at some calligraphy to include the character for monkey with the card (opposite the menu).

London!

We were in London for Chinese New Year.  We missed the parade (which started at 10 am) as we didn't want to spend the whole day outside in the rain (it was non-stop).  It was very festive and crowded for the events in Trafalgar Square, and Chinatown was absolutely packed.  Lanterns all over the streets of Chinatown, this is the view from our restaurant window.  We were happy to be inside at Hung's, not outside!

While in London I also did a few new Placements.  This is outside Hamley's toy store near Oxford Circus, we spent a few hours inside with my daughter!

This gives some context for the Placement.