A Rainbow to Brighten Our Days

Both kids have been sick for over a week now and we've been home bound the entire time. While we did a lot of napping, there were still lots of hours left. We haven't spent this much time at home since before the Girl started preschool. To entertain ourselves, we pulled out lots of crafts.

Here is the first of many craft related posts. We attempted the rainbow cupcake. I followed tutorials and watched this video. Our results were not nearly as pretty as the ones we saw on the internet but they were still exciting for the kids.

Rainbow batter:


How our cakes baked up. As you can see, they are more psychedelic than rainbow like.


I didn't use as much food coloring as some of the recipes suggested so the colour of my cakes were not as vibrant. I couldn't get the layers to lie flat either. The inside is just a huge explosion of colours.


This project was very time consuming and the result was only okay. I may try it one more time before I write it off completely. I will definitely make sky high icing for it next time.

Will Sew For Food

We just got back from a 10 day vacation to Vancouver. Naturally, we were crazy busy before the trip so I have a lot of catch up blogging to do. If you just can't wait, I will soon put some pictures up on FB.

So, this has been a very tasty trip. One BIG (in every sense of the word you will soon see) highlight is the Pork-Turducken feast. It started out as some pictures innocently posted on FB. Friends of mine had the good fortune to enjoy one for Christmas and they put up pictures to show off their meal. I've heard lots about turducken and it's always been somewhat of an urban legend to me. Sure it's a great concept but do "real" people ever go into all the trouble to make one from scratch?

Seeing the picture made me strongly drop hints/beg/bribe/cry for one. Long story short, the kind chef agreed to make one for my next Vancouver visit. In return, I were to sew for his family.

I am quite sure I got the better end of the deal in this situation. All that was asked of me were a couple of crayon rolls and a clutch. As soon as the deal was in place, I started fabric searching for the crayon rolls. Making things for boys is sometimes tricky. They can't be too cute and I don't like things that are too loud. These are what I came up with.

I love this one. I think I should make one for the Boy. I have made at least 10 crayon roll ups and my children use ziplock bags to carry their coloring needs. I am ashamed.


This is the second one that was school themed. Both the outer and inner fabrics are Japanese linen and I think it has a great feel to it.


I thought the ribbon closure was too girlie for the boys so I used elastic and a button instead.


These were great fun to make. With that I held up my side of the bargain. Check out what I got in return!


See that cross section of the art piece. Starting from the top, the layers were turkey, pork stuffing, duck, pork stuffing, chicken, pork stuffing and turkey. We had four side dishes that went with this beauty: Eggplant Parmesan, potato casserole, cucumber salad and steamed broccoli.


This was my SECOND slice. Look at it. I know I am known to exaggerate but seriously, this slice was 2 inches thick! What mad man would serve this to his guest???


I made it through half of this before I threw in the towel. There was a spectacular chocolate pudding after the scrumptious meal as well. My brain was just too stuffed with food to remember to take a picture of that.

Going back in time a little. Putting on the finishing touches and getting ready for the feast.


Here is a picture to document the completion of our transaction.


I have always had a love-hate relationship with turkey. I think I eat it mostly because it's festive and I love cranberry sauce. The meat itself has always disappointed me but the turkey meat in the turducken was so so so moist. It was truly huge bites of heaven. The duck was my favorite part of the bird trio. Did I mention the gravy was also divine? Okay, I am salivating again just thinking about the meal. I am proud to report that I gained 2.5 lbs after this one meal. Honestly! I weighed myself before and after. 2.5lbs translates to at least a month of working out. It's all worth it.

A quick break after dinner. The Boy connect with another Cars fan.


After the meal, we all needed to work off what we consumed. Here is one way to do it. Choose a kid and do 20 reps of bicep lifts. Hint: If you plan on doing 20 reps, only promise the kid 5. He/she will keep demanding more. Remember, the kid you choose had also just eaten his/her fair share of turducken and is also likely on a sugar high.


We were all very happy that night. Great food, great company. Thanks so much A and T for hosting and M and M for cooking. I can't imagine how much time and energy and money you all put into this gathering. I can't promise anything this fancy but our home down south is always open to you and you will be well fed during your visit.

"What do you mean we were all happy? You forgot me! You all got to eat turducken and all I got was mush!"

Weird Smoothy

Hubby concocted this drink one fine evening. Care to name all the ingredients?


Here is a clearer view of the mix.


The girl was brave enough to test drink it.


"Em...."


Smile of approval.

Baby's First Pizza

Baby made his first pizza! We actually started from fresh dough this time instead of pre-baked pizza crust.

He wasn't really into the making until I put the cheese on top. He's supposed to spread out the cheese. Instead, he just started eating the cheese. The ate so much that I think he picked out some dough and ate that at one point. I think the process was totally lost on him but he did eat about half of his pizza. He called it "caw caw" which is how he says crackers.


The girl went for a more artistic style. She called it the butterfly pizza.

Recent Domesticity

Guess what I made?


Another version of this apron. Here is the red side.


This is the white side.


I love how feminine yet chic this design is. I picked an apple print for the tie and the trim on both sides.


I really liked how it turned out and was going to keep it for myself. A friend of mine can tell you I have a habit of getting nice things as gifts for other people and can't part with the gift. So I made myself give this one away and went and baked something in my own old apron instead.


The zucchini muffins themselves were only so so but the cream cheese frosting was so yummy. I hate making frosting and always end up buying trans-fat saturated can frosting. I will probably make this frosting more in the future.

This is what you need:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 ounces cold mascarpone or low-fat cream cheese
Strips of dried mango for garnish (optional)

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, consistency similar to that of the cream cheese. Add lemon zest and fold in cream cheese. Voila!

A Quickie

Kira refused to nap one afternoon but patiently waited next to me while I caught a 10 minute shut eye. When I rolled over, she eagerly came over and said she wanted to cook something. I appreciated that she was absolutely quiet during my short nap so I took her into the kitchen and looked for something she could cook. I found a box of instant pudding mix in the bottom of my pantry and voila, we had an afternoon snack.

All I had to do was measure out 3 cups of milk. Then, Kira opened the package and dumped the content in a big bowl. She poured the milk in and stirred with a whisk until she was bored. I had to stir a little in the end to make sure everything's mixed. Kira scooped the pudding into cups while I defrosted some frozen strawberries we had lying around. By the time she scooped out the last bit, I put the strawberries in and topped it with a Graham cracker.


The final product.


The tasting.


The approval.


Talk about instant gratification. The whole process was less than half an hour. The pudding set super fast and she could eat it right away. I don't know if it's what you'd call a nutritious snack but hey, it was fun! I am eating one of the refrigerated cups right now! Yum!

Little Tomatoes

I love little grape, cherry, pearl, or whatever you want to call it, tomatoes. Back when I lived in the Burbs, I had a friend who grew these super tasty tomatoes and I would go to her house and pick and eat to my heart's content. Those were the days. Here in the city, I don't know anyone who grows such beautiful tomatoes so I have to resort to the grocery store. Serendipitously, I found these gorgeous baby heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe's. So, I tried to recreate this yummy recipe that I used to make a lot. It is a simple recipe but it takes a long time and a lot of tomatoes.

First you half about 1 - 1.5 pound of little tomatoes, lay them on a cookie sheet and drizzle them with some olive oil. You can add a couple cloves of garlic or whatever herbs you like. I just like my as simple as possible. I don't even salt them but I've seen recipes that says salt them lightly. Then you bake them at 250F for 3 hours or so. Yep, you read it right. Low temperature for a long long time. The aroma that fills the house while you bake these is heavenly and the result is a very rich, sweet, flavourful, almost sun dried tomato like product.


Now, you can continue on and make the pasta that I made or just store them in a container and refrigerate them. They are great on salads, antipastos, sandwiches, etc. If you are interested in this simple pasta, then cook a pound of pasta 20 min before the tomatoes are done. Heavily salt the pasta water before putting the pasta in. Cook for 12 min or however you like to cook your pasta. Drain but don't drain too well.

While the pasta is still hot, throw in some fresh herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, mint, chives, or whatever you have) and about 3-4 oz of a super easy to melt soft cheese. I've tried goat cheese in the past but I thought that'd be too strong for the kids so I used mascapone this time. I imagine fresh mozzarella will be good too. Maybe ricotta? Mix everything together until the cheese melts completely and resemble a white sauce the lightly coats the pasta. Now, toss in all or some of your tomatoes (with the olive oil) and mix again. Voila! Dinner is served. I had some salmon around so I threw that in as well. If you are a tomato lover and have never tried this, give it a chance.


What did the girl think about this meal?


She'd rather eat the entire tub of parmesan. I was very defeated to see that. I know she doesn't like tomatoes, but still! I guess this little person is not ready for such yumminess. Oh well, all the more for me. Bon apetite.

Another Visit

It's always great when friends come to visit us. I work very hard to convince everyone I know to move here so we'd have more family and friends around. I also enjoy seeing Kira getting to know our friends and remembering them after long periods of time. Our friend, Damon, came to visit in March and Kira had a great time then. He was back this past weekend and Kira still remembers him and she had a blast! She is very fascinated by Damon. Oh... other than Brett, Damon is the only other person who reads Fox in Socks to Kira. I don't even try to read that story. It twists your tongue like no other children's story.

One of the things we did during Damon's stay was to visit the Farmer's Market. I saw this mushroom farm at one of the booths. These things are mushrooming all over the place (ha ha). They look kind of neat. I think I want one... but I am not sure.


It was gray in the morning but got quite nice by noon. Kira had a good time chasing birds.


Another thing we did was to go to Vik's. It is simply the best Indian food in California. Words can't describe it. Try it out for yourself. Pictured here are little puris and the mother of all puris.


Kira wants to be just like Damon. So she tried on Damon's bandanna. I think she needs one of her own now.


One of the highlights of Damon's visit, for Kira, was of course reading time.


"Thank you for reading to me all night, every night, Damon."

Neat Loaf Secrets Revealed

First of all, this picture doesn't do the food justice. I don't know how to photograph food. Well, I don't really know how to photograph anything... Anyhooo... if you have never had neat loaf, you probably have no idea what I am so excited about nor would you understand why I am so excited. In short, neat loaf is a vegetarian loaf that these Sri Chinmoy chain restaurants served that is so so so so good. It's the best vegetarian loaf I have ever had and it's good even compared to real meat loaf.

Neat Loaf is the signature dish on the restaurant menu and the recipe used to be closely guarded. They have a cook book for sale but the neat loaf recipe is not in it. Basically, the neat loaf is the ultimate money maker for these restaurants. I have tried many many many loaf recipes and they've all been disasterous. Seriously, I have been trying to make a decent vegetarian loaf for 7 years! The dude on the receiving end of these loaf experiments can tell you they were not good. So, imagine my delight and surprise when I randomly searched the internet for the neat loaf recipe and FOUND IT! Apparently, someone from within the group got mad at the group and decided to spill the beans.

So, here is the recipe. Even if you have no interest in the loaf, try out the sauce. It is a tangy yummy bbq sauce and some may argue the best part of the loaf.

NEATLOAF - The real deal

4 eggs
2/3 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix (the whole packet measures 1/4 cup, so use slightly less or use the whole packet if you like the onion soup mix taste) - for vegetarian version substitute dry soup mix without beef bouillion
1/3 LB low-fat ricotta cheese
1/3 LB firm tofu (mashed into small pieces)
1/4 cup vegetable oil of choice
1/3 cup onions
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. rosemary (fresh is good)
4 cups (dry measured) Special K (note: this approximately equals 4 oz or 113 grams of the cereal by weight)
1 1/2 tbsp. garlic
FOR THE SAUCE:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/8 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup molasses
1/8 cup to 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (to taste)
Pinch cayenne ground pepper (to taste)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Sauté onions and garlic.

Beat eggs in a bowl, and then add all other ingredients except the Special K. Mix well and then add the Special K last. Put in pan that is sprayed with cooking oil.

Bake for 1 hour. Pour sauce over loaf after 1 hour, and bake for 10 more minutes.

An Incompetent Chinese Mother

We were out for dinner Saturday night and here's what we had:

Daddy - Burrito with Asparagus and Shitake Mushroom
Mommy - Fajita Carnitas Burrito with rice, beans, salad
Girl - Tortila chips with sour cream
Boy - Pureed strawberry and banana from a jar

While I was busy chowing down my delicious dinner I noticed this Chinese couple waiting for a table. They sat at the waiting area right next to us. While they were waiting, the mom took out a thermos from one of two of her huge diaper bags and served a steamy warm dinner (congee, classic Chinese baby dinner) to her little boy. After dinner, she took out another thermos and gave him some nice cold milk.

What's wrong with this picture? The very next morning, I made pancakes for everyone and bought the ingredient for my version of baby congee and got cooking. I've NEVER before this made Hayden a meal! He is surviving only on jarred products and instant oatmeal. Geesh, the more I think about it the worse I feel.

So, after a happy dinner (he was a very enthusiastic diner that night), I proudly put the leftovers in jars and froze them. I am feeling a tiny little bit better but I am still one lousy Chinese mother. Don't get me wrong. I don't think I am a lousy mother - just a lousy CHINESE mother. I need to make my children more soups,swaddle them in more layers of clothing, teach them more manners, go back in time and potty train them at 9 months of age and a whole lot of other things. My to-do list is going to be very long.

Here is a video of the baby feeding himself some of that yummy pancake.

Strawberries, Yum!

We went strawberry picking on Saturday. The farm we went to is called Swanson's Berry Farm. They are about a 1.5 hour drive from us. We stopped for brunch on the way so the kids and us could take a little break. I had a lovely beet salad at this little place called Chez Shea. I don't know when I started loving beets so much.

We drove the rest of the way to the farm after brunch and spent about an hour there. Do you see Kira?

We picked almost 10lbs of strawberries! This is an "after" shot. Kira is showing off what she thought was the best of the batch. We filled two of these big boxes.

Now, I am not a country girl and don't know much about farming, berry picking, etc. According to the Mr., the way I was yanking the berries right out of the vines traumatized the plants and it's better that Kira learns her berry picking techniques from the expert. I have to say though, that strawberry picking was more fun and more satisfying than blueberry picking. One summer many years ago, Brett and I spent 2 hours at a blueberry farm and picked maybe 2lbs of tiny little blueberries. I can easily yank out 2 lbs of strawberries in 10 min. Right... I shouldn't have been yanking, I meant gently plucking. Here is a picture of Kira taking a strawberry picking lesson from the master.


She did it! Look at that finger print on the berry. I guess when it comes to farming, she is more like me than Brett... clumsy and violent.


Then she got all concerned that the strawberry "bled" on her.


What's in it for Hayden? Not much. He had to sit in the stroller and wait while we had fun. Sorry baby. Next year, you can climb all over like all the other big kids.


I don't think I've ever seen a flower and a very young strawberry up close.


Posing for a I-am-so-cute shot.


Daddy and daughter hard at work.


Needless to say, we've been consuming our berries like mad here. Kira never seem to be able to get enough of them. I hope she doesn't OD on strawberries like she did avocados.