A side dish of March Reading by Irene Chen

Aside from monthly TM magazine reading on March 14, Sherry arranged an extra gathering on March 28 to welcome Pamela Yang back from Shanghai and chose the books for reading: “Eat Healthy食在自然”,“Identical Strangers孿生陌生人”& “Pretty Little Mistakes美麗的小錯誤”. The specialty of this gathering was the place we met, our new friend Gina Cheng’s home.
After several meetings with guests joining, we not only expanded our people link, but also made our gathering more fun and exciting. We shared with each other life experiences, talented gifts, different thoughts and essence spirits. Each person is unique and has lots of strength to learn from. Isn't it wonderful?

“Eat Healthy食在自然”by Huei-wen Chen— Can you imagine a doctor gave up his career at his early mid-age and moved to the countryside with family to buy land and to plant vegetables and rice crops in order to provide the family with healthy food and life. He learned from Japan the “Shumei organic”method to grow the plants & crops, killing one insect with another without using insecticide or pesticide. On his land the chemical fertilizers were never used. The recipes his wife shared in the book with easy-to-get vegetables followed the rules of simplicity, health and taste. The intestinal cancer rated number one killer in Taiwan last year, we should believe that “You are what you eat”. We learned the concept of Nature and healthy food to cook, and shall discipline at home and serve our beloved family.

“Identical Strangers孿生陌生人”by Elyse Schein + Paula Berstein—
Two identical twins were separated and grew in different places. Will they have identical thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and hobbies…, Nature or Nurture? The answer is positive in this book. Gene topics were raised consecutively and effected deeper discussions toward ourselves and relatives. When talking about sad stuations, our tears welled in eyes. Lt. Gina’s dining table became a psychologist capsule for medication.

"Pretty Little Mistakes": A Do-Over Novel by Heather McElhatton—
Each of us read and played with fun following the set-up questions and answers for an imitation life which ended up with 150 sorts of death. If you are not satisfied with the conclusion, you can always re-do-over. It is an interesting book. You might find your dreams there.

Pot-luck was arranged this time and it was fun. Sherry's salad of seasoned bean curd dressed with sesame and parsley freshly picked had a special flavor, the Vietnamese starters were chewy and exotic. Pam specially ordered ice coffee freshly dripped and brought red wine to soften our minds. Amy, Kate and Gina's fruits and desserts were the sweetest! My egg salad and XO source were so welcome. Gina Cheng is a hospitable hostess and keep her door open for friends to chat, eat, play and have fun together. As a romantic lady, she likes to serve and share her private recipes in her sweet nest with classic dining ware, table ware, candle lights and music. We found another shelter to stay in and cheer each other. She made us VIP and homey, our tongues and stomachs surrendered after we appreciated her Italian baked chicken & broccoli and sipped the English tea. We can’t help our greedy appetites but ask for more gatherings at her place in the future.

Having Pam’s gift, a cashmere scarf for every one, wrapped around my neck on my way home, I felt warm and educated, my heart was filled with happiness . It reminds me of a saying : “We are getting older, because of isolation, we shall make merry while we can, so as to keep young!”

Expecting for the next gathering on April 12 at Wu-Lai名流水岸, and more to come~~~maybe Shanghai trip, farming, ranching, hiking........

Irene
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