Stranger flowers (1)

Abrus precatorius

The Tale of the Bamboo Princess

This is the story of a beautiful moon princess, but it is also a story about bamboo, a plant which was once believed to be sacred.

Once upon a time there was an old man and his wife. One day he went to a bamboo grove to collect bamboo shoots, where he found a bamboo tree illuminated in the middle part. He wondered why and then became curious about what was inside. He carefully cut the bamboo and was astonished to find a pretty baby inside. He decided to pick her up and bring her back to his home. He consulted with his wife how to handle this baby, and they made up their minds to raise this baby as a gift from God.

Peregrina, Lady Pilgrim (Nhất Chi Mai)

A shrub with long flowering season, this plant offers bright showy scarlet red flowers with yellow stamens.

What the Modern Woman Wants…-Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen

           The old woman sat in the backseat of the magenta convertible as it careened down the highway, clutching tightly to the plastic bag on her lap, afraid it may be kidnapped by the wind.
          She was not used to such speed, with trembling hands she pulled the seat belt tighter but was careful not to touch the patent leather seats with her callused fingers, her daughter had warned her not to dirty it, ‘Fingerprints show very clearly on white, Ma.’
          Her daughter, Bee Choo, was driving and talking on her sleek silver mobile phone using big words the old woman could barely understand.

Japanese dishes

Anmitsu  is a Japanese dessert that has been popular for many decades.

It is made of small cubes of agar jelly, a white translucent jelly made from red algae or seaweed.

Japanese Nature

The seven flowers of autumn

The waxwork - Alfred Burrage

Raymond Hewson wantedto stay the night in the famous Marriner’s Waxworks,and write a newspaper feature about the Murderers’ Room.

A new waxwork, Dr Bourdette, had just been moved in, and earlier that day there had been some talk of a fire in the room. The night watchman brought the armchair for Hewson. He tried to make him laugh.
'Where do I put it, sir?' he asked. 'Just here? Then you can talk to Dr Crippen, when you get tired of doing nothing. Or there's old Mrs Dyer over there making eyes at you. She usually likes to have a man to talk to. Just tell me where, sir.'