Trivia of the day.. Duan Wu Jie today..

Today is chinese calendar 5th day of 5th month.. so, it's jia zhang day.. eat zhongzi, eat dumpling.. speaking of zhangs, my mom can make awesome bak zhang and nyonya zhang.. she used to make like so many that she boil over a pot half the size of an oil barrel.. SCARY!.. among my duties during zhang season:

• wash the zhang leaves by the tub.. use a clean rag and wipe and wipe and wipe.. and suffer few cuts as i did them.. zhang leaves can be as lethal as the sides of a new A4 paper!
• wash zhang string..
• bundle zhang strings together.. if i bundled until the left over string too short, i'm in trouble.. if too long, i'm in trouble as well..
• the best part, build the fire in the charcoal stove (see picture below).. i'm very good with building fire.. my mom like me to build fire.. we dun have the luxury of having fire starter hor.. i have to chop fire wood myself.. i love to play with fire when i'm younger.. heh.. nothing gives u satisfaction than seeing the flame comes alive.. of cos now with fire starter, it's easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy..

then my mom scare we spoil leaves, waste rice.. so my sister and i will not be allowed to wrap a dumpling.. sigh..

and duan wu jie is summer solstice, the longest day in the year if you're in the northern hemisphere i guess..