Deli Lamma

Every Sunday the three of us usually spend the day traveling to and exploring another island or corner or village here in Hong Kong. This week it was the beloved 'hippy' locale of Lamma Island. Which is ironically home to both a large protruding power station and Hong Kong's lone wind energy windmill.

This little island is famous for its seafood restaurants, its artistic local community, a couple of sandy beaches and a great family friendly hike. The reason I love it is that the island has managed to refrain from the usual conglomerates of Starbucks and Pacific Coffee, and is beautifully boutique for Hong Kong standards.

So afternoon tea here offered a selection of local treats. Any one fancy some ....

Or dried starfish and fish snack packs (I am going to refrain from getting into the sustainability issues the Hong Kong water ways are faced with currently).

Or the more Western friendly egg tart.

But my afternoon tea is further afield. Nestled halfway along the hiking track is a rustic 'pit stop' sort of cafe that kind of looks like you are entering a squatters humpy. However it sells a renown and famous dessert of silken tofu with a sugar syrup, like it hot or cold, it will cost you $6HK (90 cents Aus).

And while I appreciate the silken texture of the tofu and the unique steamy setting in the banana trees, I must admit when I run out of the sugar syrup it is a little harder to swallow.

Holy Cannoli!

Leichhardt is Sydney's Little Italy, and not just in a naff touristy kind of way (if you don't count the Italian Forum). Real live authentic Italians live here and it is the centre of all sorts of Italian language and education and foodie type things. The council even puts a big 'Si' next to the green tick on the sides of the recycling bins to tell you what goes in them. 

The local cafes I frequent in the direction of Annandale and Lilyfield are typical 'Sydney' places with fair-trade coffee and a choice of several sourdough breads to go with your all-day breakfast. But for a taste of a local delicacy, I had to try something very Italian, and I chose Locantro. It's a deli/grocer with a very tempting sweets counter and some quite nice coffee to match. Not everything is entirely Italian - apple strudel, ja? - but I placed my order with this blog task in mind and settled in to enjoy a very tasty vanilla cannoli. I'm not sure the soy latte I had with it was overly authentic, but that's a non-negotiable.

TASK

Afternoon tea please! Take us somewhere for a taste of a local delicacy that will get you through to dinner time.

Typhoons and Snails

Most people I know have heard me complain about the heat here and the sandflies. No amount of growing up in the Australian bush could have prepared me for the insurgence of sandflies ready to attack the moment you step into the sweltering humidity.But respite is on the horizon, the full moon festival (lanterns and mooncakes abound) is in two days time, and the locals tell me, it will end the sauna. To celebrate, a typhoon changed its course two days ago and redirected itself from Taiwan to Hong Kong, hitting yesterday afternoon at 4pm. It was a bit of a fizzer as far a typhoons go but this morning had a freshness I was eager to consume.

A fat snail on our doorstep, on its morning jog.

A pattern of pine needles on our awning, that looks like a beautiful abstract

stalk, something you might expect to find on a vintage piece of 70's mirror art. Something I would love in my living room.

And through the Oleanders the ferry's keep running, whisking there heavy load of commuters to the city.

It is a strange place, Discovery Bay. But this morning there was a few moments of beauty I am content to have witnessed.

Stop! Jasmine!

This isn't a pretty street. It's an industrial area on a steep hill, across from a car park and a stone's throw from a waste disposal facility. But in various directions, the views are quite lovely. From my first-floor office, the leafy green northwards to Lilyfield is almost rural. A slight shift to the right and there's the skyline - North Sydney, Anzac Bridge and city. If I wander up the hill I can make out the top of the Harbour Bridge. I've missed my jasmine bush this spring. I hope our tenants are enjoying it. But there's one at the bottom of the street to ease the pain. And Sydney Tower in the distance.

Task

Take an early morning photo of your street, or a through window with a view, or the back garden. Is there some little detail that catches your attention regularly.

doodly do.....

I am a woman of little patience. I have never denied the fact. So my trip to the art supply store here in Discovery Bay resulted in the purchase of a new sketch pad (to add to a half used pile) and a fat, chunky, breakable twig of charcoal. Charcoal is the most forgiving of all art supplies. It can be so effortlessly smudged to look like a purposeful and artful piece of shading. It is the best art supply for a woman of my patience levels.

Sketching has always been a big challenge for me. I struggle with the idea of how something should look rather than replicating what I am seeing. I struggle with the time it takes to draw something, I struggle with my ideas of perfection rather than embracing the beauty of imperfection. And lets be honest there is SO much imperfection in my visual arts to embrace.

My other 'complimentary want', when I toy with the idea of sketching is that I fantasize about someplace dark and enigmatic to sketch in. Dark little dens were easy to find in New York (the only time I have ever really attempted a sketching style of life). But not so easy here in toy town where there are many many coffee loving neighbours and one coffee shop.

The book shop has a little corner though and it serves a moderately refreshing cup of teabag. So I attempted to sketch the teapot. From the following picture, you may observe two facts. One the forgiving effects of charcoal and two, the endless supply of imperfection in my art.

Supplies!

Alright, I'm well aware that Officeworks is not an art supplies shop. It is indeed a wonderful and heavenly place in which I can waste hours staring at pens and post-its and coloured notepads. But it has a reasonable art supplies section for the novice (read: me). AND...I needed a new cartridge for the printer, so I had to go there anyway. Forgive me -  I have three children under three and I'm allowed to use that as my excuse at least once.

Anyway, back to the art supplies. All I really needed for my current 'project' was a decent sketch book, some lovely soft pencils and a black special rolly inky yummy pen. I grabbed them without any trouble. I also grabbed a new ringbinder and dividers to try and make some sense of the pile of paid and unpaid bills on the kitchen bench. And a sticky tape dispenser for Lola - one of the heavy ones that are easy to use so I won't have to keep cutting pieces of tape for her infinite collages and "sticking and gluing" projects.

So what do I want to get down on (lovely thick white slightly textured) paper with my (soft smooth sharp) pencils and (rolly inky yummy) pen? I'm thinking a few sketches of ideas for my knitting. Bloody knitting. I just can't stop obsessing. I've become the mum in the park staring at your kid and why? I'm trying to memorise the design of her cardigan and work out if it would be possible to replicate.

I'm slowly setting myself up a little work space - sewing machine, knitting supplies, books etc etc. And a space like that needs a good sketch pad/notebook and some not-for-the-three-year-old pencils and pens. So while I'd like to say I spent hours in the art shop being dazzled with inspiration for my latest life drawing exercise or large-scale painting project, it was still really all about the knitting. Let's hope the warmer weather of spring brings some sort of reprieve.

Task # 19 - Art Supplies

Visit an art supplies shop and have a wander. How does it inspire you? Treat yourself to some new things. Use them.