Picture randomly found online from: https://pixels.com/featured/marino-cane-corso-james-bateman.html Barry was our customer's doggie, the size of a baby bear. She was my tuning maid once every 6 months, very patient listener, piano technician's tool inspector, and baby wipe muncher.
The first time I came to the house, Barry greeted me with a very loud and powerful first floor run around. It took him quite a while to calm down. I was worried that he would howl during the piano tuning like lots of doggies. Nope, he was a gentleman, very well-mannered, only to try to fall asleep under the piano, right under the soundboard where it was the loudest. When the tuning went to the bass section, it could be too loud that he would silently walk himself to his doggie bed or just behind the piano bench and keep sleeping right there, spread all out like a puddle. Families in China are generally huge. Relationship between family members are close. There is an unconditional love connecting us however far we are, physically, away from each other.
Xinfadi Food Wholesale Market is one of the biggest in Northeast, China. It provides ingredients to restaurants, smaller markets, stores, retailers, etc. The website in Chinese Mandarin is here, you can check food price on this website. Each type of food, i.e. vegetable, meat, seafood/freshwater food, spice, etc. has its own hall at a size of a basketball stadium.
Years ago, I adopted my first cat in life from Cape Ann Animal Aid. Her name was Lily, a strong willed stray who didn't like being around any feline. She taught me how to catch a mouse, how not to give up our own personality, how to be resilient, how to deal with any unwanted surprises, how to..., and how to live. Because of her, I started volunteer at Cape Ann Animal Aid.
The original recipe is from Lori at My Quiet Kitchen. She uses oatmeal to thicken the batter. What a discovery! We don't have any grinder nor ice cream maker at home. Elbow grease is applied during this first time ice cream adventure.
A local high school scheduled a tuning service on Saturday morning. It was easier to concentrate without students around, although they are very hardworking young adults. Actually they are the most dedicated music students I've ever seen in schools that we provide piano tuning service.
Having been working around pianos for 8 years, I barely thought about honing the hand woodworking skill. Most of the job is done by machine, routers, plane, jointer, drills, sander, etc.
A few years ago, I came to a new tuning customer's furniture workshop to tune his piano, an old, beat up, dusty Baldwin grand. There were all sort of wood, veneers, hand tools, you name it. Somehow after tuning, we started a conversation. He showed me the new Chinese Ming Dynasty table that he just made a model of. This is the first time making dumplings all by myself since...when I was dumped out of mom's belly. The reason is to share the Chinese culture and the feelings deeply in the soul with my beloved one. The video above is made by my favorite home chef, who is originally from Xi'an, the ancient capital of China. She is living in Canada now. I tried to follow her instruction. Here is what happened.
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