Dip Art

Emi made a kitty cat out of some sour cream ranch dip. Maybe we can sell it on ebay like that cheeto that looked like Jesus or a potato chip shaped liked the state of Idaho that went for hundreds of dollars...

Lucky #7

Baby Abby is seven years old already. As David says...one year closer to her graduating high school and leaving the house. Well, I wouldn't count on it... I bet one out of the three will hang out with us for a while.
One the things she wanted was Thai Tea. So she got that as her afterschool snack.























Emi made her a necklace. Nice, isn't it?























Her request for dinner was sushi hand rolls.
We got her most of things on her wishlist, a sketchbook, some making kit (so I got her a sand painting kit and a glass magnet kit), and a webkin. Everyone we know seems to have one of those. Basically a stuffed animal with a online code on it so you can create their house and play games to earn points/money to buy stuff. So we got her a Himalayan kitty. She loved it, and named it Fluffy.























For her b-day "cake" she wanted a flan, so I put some whipped cream and a cherry on top. Happy Birthday Abby!

More Shirts

Here's a couple more shirts I made recently. This one was for the Chess Club my kids have been going to every Friday.
And a limited edition commemorative shirt for Siren. Siren Mary is now off to do her Tour Divide race. She will become the first female ever to complete this thing, riding her bike from Canada to Mexico. Best wishes to her.

Idyllwild 5K

It's time for our annual 5K/10K run. Emi ran it again this year. Are you going to run too, Mommy? No, makes no sense to pay to do something I don't want to do. ^_^ So she ran with her friend Mallory. Her 5K time: 36 minutes 20 seconds.
Finding herself a good spot at the start line...
Emi's turning into a little athlete...
Abby ran the Kids Race, a 1/2-mile loop. Sage and Emi ran along just for fun.
All kid finishers get a ceramic animal figurine as well as a $5 gift cert to the ice cream shop!

Triple Dog Dare!

Ooooh, I found a neat challenge at Okara Mountain, called Triple Dog Dare Challenge. The rules are simple, eat a food you've never had before and post your experience. You can cook it if you'd like, or just eat it as is. This month's challenge: Fruit. Most people get into a routine of eating the same foods over and over because we know we like it, and don't bother trying something new. I think this will be a great way to introduce something new to me and my kids. I know they will enjoy this challenge as well.

Homemade Atsu-age

Atsu-age is deep-fried tofu cutlets. I like using these in my stir-frys instead of regular tofu because it holds its shape better, and is a little more tasty. I have a book called The Book of Tofu, which is VERY informative and interesting. It's amazing how many different ways soybeans can be used. And its very healthy too. I've always just bought them pre-fried in a vacuum pack, but they looked simple to make, it turned into one of those "why not make my own?" kinda thing. So without further ado... let me show you the way...

Started off cutting the tofu into thirds and placing them on my cutting board, and placed a weight on top to get rid of excess moisture. I used extra-firm tofu, since I didn't want to take the chance of it crumbling on me. The books says to do this for 30 minutes, but I just left it for a few hours.
And then I deep-fried it till it turned golden brown. It would of been good to eat these hot with a little soy sauce and some grated daikon, but that will have to be next time.
After cooling, I sliced them up. Don't they look great?
And into my stir-fry it went, along with some cabbage, mushrooms and carrots, seasoned with ginger, garlic salt, soy sauce, and Chinese stock. The outside of the tofu really absorbs the sauce, and makes it really good.

IF- "Baby"

This week's Illustration Friday: "Baby". I knew right away I'd post this painting I did of Abby when she was a baby. I took a picture of her, and painted from that. It's an old painting but since I haven't had an IF post in a while, I thought it was OK... Acrylic on 11x14 canvas.

Black Olive Tapenade

Olives are one of Abby's favorite foods. She loves just munching on them plain, but also likes olive tapenade tossed with pasta. We've always bought the Green Olive Tapenade from Trader Joe's, which is very good, by the way. But we were out, and pasta was for dinner tonight. Knowing how much Abby enjoys olive pasta, I made an attempt to make some from scratch.
I found a plain and basic recipe that I decided to try. Mostly olives, with some capers, salt, black pepper, parsley, garlic, and olive oil. I didn't have any parsley so that got left out, and I also added some lemon juice. This one was made with black olives, but next time I'll try the green kind. The flavor was quite good. Very simple and not too fancy. Some recipes had anchovies, or other herbs, or even pine nuts in them. The Trader Joe kind adds carrots and tomatoes, but no capers. I think the tomatoes will go in next time.

I got the official "thumbs up" from the olive girl. She actually liked it better than the TJ kind (yeay!) And it only cost about a dollar to make (since I used the cheap canned olives.)

Here's Abby's pasta. Olive Tapenade tossed with spaghetti with some parmesan cheese. She enjoyed every bite.

Here Chick, Chick, Chick

Our chicks are now 10 weeks old. They've grown so much in such a short time. David's been slowly building a coop, and got it build enough so they can start hanging outside during the day.
The coop nearing completion...
They looked happy to be outside with room to roam.

Questionnaire...

I am a victim of scatterbrain syndrome and it really shows in my blog. It's really a little bit of all the things I'm in to, with no clear direction. I have pondered the idea of having a separate blog just for food. I think the people who read about my food creations aren't too interested in my personal life, and those interested in my personal life don't care to read about what I cook. And then there's a handful who find both fun to read. So, I'd like to know what you all think. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.