Recently just discovered a type of root vegetable called the chinese burdock or Huai Shan(huai shan). It tastes sweet and of neutral nature. It nourishes the lungs and kidneys, strengthens the spleens, stops diarrhea, uplifts the spirit and benefits Qi. It really looks ugly outside, like a bamboo stick, with brown skin, and plenty of prickly roots...but it tastes marvellous. I boiled it with carrots, sweet corn, and add some dried red ates, wolfberries... and a few drips of light soya sauce will do. Go and try it!



As far as i know, mum used to buy the dried huai shan to cook her herbal chicken soup...i have not seen the real one...until today. Hope its not too late to discover the wellness of this vegetable..



Realised that Joel has grown much more sensible and he seems to understand what we talk. The grin on his face, the fast responese sometimes really surprising...he will quielty listen to you when u whisper in his ears, and the naughty grin seems to tell he knows what is it...



U know what, as soon as he sits down, he will reach for his favourite container (the small tub of ice cream container) and choose his favourite yellow lego to put into the container, pick another lego and start shaking it. the yellow one is a must, the other one anything also can. The he will reach out the Slinky Pop Toob and hand it over to you. What u need to do is to co-ordinate with him, once he started making noise, u have to start twisting and turning the toob. NO RESTING.
u put it down and stop it, he reach it and hand it to you again.

if he sits on his own, then he is ok. but the moment you sit next to him, he start searching for the toob...really funny guy!

slinky pop toob is a stress reliever thingy. You can twist it, stretch it out to over 30 inches, make noise with it and connect it to other Slinky Pop Toobs. It comes compressed at 9 inches long and makes a popping sound as you stretch it out and push it in. Fully extend the tube and twirl it around to make a whistling sound..

ok, that's all for now. GTG! Gd nite!