Terra Americana

Sunday February 10th rings in the year of the snake.  It is characterized by “mystery, acumen and divination. In some places, people believe that a snake found in their court can bring delight.”

So let’s delight and celebrate.  We will be open;

• Thursdays – February 14^th and 21^st  - from 10am until 6pm
• Saturdays  - February 16^th and 23^rd   - from 9am until 2pm

Make a small donation to the Food Pantry and we will give you 50% off your entire purchase.

This spring I am privileged to have another opportunity to sojourn to the land of the Middle Kingdom.  To make things easier on the people holding down the fort, our showroom will only be open by appointment.  We will reopen for regular Thursday and Saturday hours on June 1^st.   

I will be keeping in touch while away, if you can follow my adventures in China here.

These are some simple, yet sensational recipes for celebrating.

·        Braised Abalone with mushrooms and green onions

·        Chung Yao Beng - Chinese Flat Bread

·        Veggie Rice

·        Spicy Chinese Long Beans with peanuts

·        Shanghai cucumber salad - 拍黃瓜

Happy New Year!

More on the Year of the Snake from Centaine Feng Shui

Traditionally, it is considered good luck to greet people on the first day of the Chinese New Year with a friendly “Happy New Year”, or “Kung Hei Fat Choy (Gong Xi Fa Cai)", which means "congratulations on getting rich".

Looking at the Chinese Astrology for 2013, the key elements of the year qi (energy) are (Gui) water sitting on (Si) fire.   In the Wu Xing cycle of elements, water controls fire, however the fire element of 2013 can certainly heat up the water qi in the process and this indicates major storms are more likely to occur in the annual weather patterns.

The yin water element of the year is associated with intelligence, innovation, intuition, inventiveness, inner tension, secretive and hidden plans, the kidneys, bladder, reproductive organs and hearing. The yin fire element of the Snake year connects with illumination, entertainment, cunning, fire, electricity, reactive energy, the heart, vision and fever.

It’s always helpful to look back in order to prepare for the next move forward and we can do this by examining the main news facts of 1953, which was the previous Gui Si (Water Snake) year. Some interesting highlights from that year were the prominence of Iran and North Korea in the news, new scientific discoveries relating to DNA and the Polio Vaccine, the crowning of Queen Elizabeth, significant floods, storms and hurricanes across Europe and the USA and the successful conquest of Mt Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.