My nephew's quilt

We were in the Bay Area briefly this past week, sandwiching a family Tahoe snow trip. So much fun! More pictures and stories to follow, until then, a little filler with the story of the quilt I made for my nephew. I've been meaning to post a picture for many years now...
My sister hosted us at her house late Monday night; my Mom made a yummy pot of soup, my Aunt came along and brought home-baked goodies, and Robbie played with his cousins and all of their toys. (After a brief run to see Great Grandma at her home, Cub was in quarantine back at the hotel with Noel. He was developing a cold and had an eye infection, so we kept him away. Poor Cub! He missed out on a really fun time.) I snapped this picture of the quilt in Johnny's room before the end of the night. If I remember right, when my sister was pregnant I asked her what nursery theme or colors she chose. She forwarded me a link with the design, so I tried to make a custom wall quilt to more or less complement the room. "JP" in the center represents my nephew's initials - "J" is his Dad's middle name, "P" is Dad's great friend and his godfather's name. "L" is his Dad's sister, "M" is our family name, "B" is for his Dad, "A" and "C" are for my Grandma and Aunt, and "F" is his paternal Grandma. "S" is for my sister and "H" is for me! The numbers were chosen at random, and "D" got in because I wanted to add a dog. All applique was by hand, created and designed by me using various online clip art pages and fonts. The piecing and minimal quilting was by machine and binding was by hand. Finished size is approximately 34 x 48 inches.
Robbie was very young and Cub had yet to come along, but it took me nearly a year to complete. My gracious sister never complained, even when the "final" product was delivered without a hanging mechanism. They improvised and seemed to do just fine!
Working on the quilt ornaments this past holiday made me wish I had more time for quilting, and seeing this makes me want to make something for my niece, but I have to be OK with this hobby being on the back burner for a bit longer. Hang in there Sarah, I haven't forgotten you! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

More from the backpack

Preschooler art alert! Another masterpiece came home in the backpack late last week. It was rolled and later smashed, hence the fold lines. I snapped a few pictures then placed it in the area of our paper recycles. Robbie found it and asked why I had it with the recycles, not wanting to part with it. Darn, the kid just won't let me throw anything away. I took it out of the "trash" pile and will let it sit a few more days, but will sneak it into the real trash bin one morning this week while the boys are in school. He'll never remember unless he starts reading this blog. At the rate he's learning, that will be sooner than I think.

Happy New Year!

A lesson in patience

This past Sunday the boys and I hit the farmers market a little late. The produce vendors were packing up; the popcorn vendor had already left. I looked around but no one had any ripe, yellow bananas left. Only the green ones you see here (small "apple banana" variety - I think in St. Lucia they called something similar the "five fingers" banana, but I could be off here). No bananas ready to eat made us switch up our normal routine a bit - finding a shady bench and having a few bananas before we get back in the car.
The hardest part is getting the boys to stop opening them when they're green. I don't cook with green bananas, so we waste a lot when the boys tear into them and realize they're not what they were looking for.
This bunch went on top of the fridge (and out of reach) once we were home. By Tuesday the boys were getting anxious for one, so I let them open a few, not expecting them to be consumed. But ripening on top of the fridge worked! They were ready and the boys learned a little more about their favorite fruit.

Future Picasso?

No, I'm just kidding myself over here. This piece is simply an exercise in preschool cutting and pasting that went awry. I pulled this paper bag mouse puppet out of the backpack yesterday afternoon and had to laugh. Upon further review last night as Robbie was taping his brother's artwork on the wall, the chuckles kept coming. So many layers of funny to me! Happy Friday all.

No baseball?

The boys both received mini-dry erase boards for Christmas. Noel has said they are a "genius" gift. I completely agree. (And I've only had to scrub off words written with a Sharpie pen once! To my surprise, permanent ink fades away with a little 409 and some time.) Robbie uses it more than Cub, but I guess that is to be expected. What we would never have predicted was that the white boards have ushered in a new era of child-parent communication for us: the written negotiation. Here's Robbie's attempt to get out of t-ball practice yesterday afternoon. Other favorite pleas include "No bath" and a detailed, ordered list of what he gets to do before bedtime.

Farmer's Market find: Peppers

Impulse buy at the farmer's market this weekend! I don't even know what to call this variety of pepper. They're tiny (each less than an inch long) and I've never seen them used in a dish here, either. But Robbie picked up a bag to look at them, I asked if he liked them, he said yes, and then said we should get them. At a dollar a bag, I figured, why not? My first thoughts were to use them to flavor broth in a soup. We'll see if I get creative and come up with anything else.

Cal and the artwork

If you want to keep things in good shape (or sometimes just simply keep things), you've got to keep them off the floor at our house. Our dogs are pretty good but we can't say they're perfect. Far from it. I have a half-dozen small Lego parts perched on the windowsill above the sink, items I found Brady chewing on. Cal likes tissue and paper towels, so we have to be careful about those, too. A not-so-destructive habit they have is laying down on anything on the floor. Towels, clothes, blankets, soft bags and toys....they will attempt to rest on it. Even artwork! They're just looking to be comfortable, but they end up getting lots of things very dirty. Here's Cal on a recent drawing. I snapped this picture and tossed the paper later when he moved.

Play ball!

Guess who's playing t-ball this year? And guess who's more excited? We signed Robbie up last month for youth baseball (at his age they still hit off tees) and practices started a few weeks ago. The team has a practice tournament a week from now, league games start in a month or so. We picked up his uniform this week.
Unfortunately, I'm not liking practices so far. Cub comes along and doesn't sit still. Nearly two hours of following and/or running after him in open areas drives me nuts. Plus he wants to follow his big brother around and I sometimes find myself on the field with the team, pulling Cub away. Lord I hope he's old enough to play on his own team next year.

Christmas Day 2010 painting

Happy Friday all! And a three-day weekend, too, for most of us. Here we'll be drying out and watching football. More rain and one whopping storm came through the islands this week. Knocked over a couple trees on our block. Of course, they were young trees with thin trunks, but they went down and will be missed until their replacements shoot up.
This painting is one of Robbie's works, painted with new paints received for Christmas. I love that we can archive our kids' art with photos, allowing me to toss them or re-purpose. I turned this and another painting into thank you notes and a birthday card for Grandpa Tipon.
Noel looked at the "piece" and swore he was in a restaurant last month where they had local works on the walls for sale (some as much as $5,000 ?!?) and he claimed Robbie's was "better."

Remains of the (painting) day

Here's what was left of the paints after Robbie (and a little bit Jacob) painted a couple of masterpieces. All gone! Nonetheless, I still consider this gift "a gift that keeps on giving." I saved these mini-containers and washed them out. When I'm up for another painting session (yup, I have to mentally prepare!) I'll refill the little cups and let the boys paint until the cups are empty again. Seems like a good way to control paint in little hands. Plus a good old-fashioned lesson in color mixing awaits!

2011 Postage Stamp News

This post hints of a PSA, but I just learned this yesterday (and only because I was standing in line at the post office) and thought I’d share with those who have the good fortune of NOT having to stand in line at the post office. All commemorative stamps issued in 2011 will be “Forever” stamps. ALL of them! One of the first to be issued is the “Year of the Rabbit.” Purchase any of these for the current rate of $.44 cents (note in the new design a number is not shown, just "Forever") and in the future when a price hike happens again, you can still use them without those pesky additional-cent stamps. 2011 releases include a Ronald Reagan stamp, Mark Twain, artists, actors, scientists, inventions, Owney the Postal Dog, and…wait for it…Pixar stamps! Although there are posters up in the post office, this news is surprisingly hard to find at www.usps.com. Even the “Forthcoming Releases” page is currently blank. I’m curious as to why they haven’t screamed it to the world. Or at least used the modern equivalent…creating a special banner for web pages. This is great news for those who love the practical aspect of the forever stamp and want to mix up their stamp purchases with special commemorative issues. A win-win! Thank you USPS for this year-long gift.

Goodbye 2010!

Here's one last shot of 2010...Robbie taking pictures with my iPhone. While I was trying to get a decent shot of Cub for the holiday cards (the boy just doesn't sit still long!), I gave Robbie my phone and he took a few images in the small park near our house. So, I guess you could call this our holiday card outtake for the year. I was quick to delete some "bad" images right off the camera because my card space was low. I realized later I probably deleted a couple of true outtakes that were pretty funny.
Happy New Year, all! Be safe out there. All the best in 2011.

Done!

I finished my ornaments before the 25th this year. That would have been fine if we were in California. But we were not, so they were mailed late. Living here, I know I shouldn’t be against sending large gift packages, but for some reason I don’t want to. I like to make small, handmade, non-breakable gifts that fit in small envelopes. I don’t want to have to stand in line for postage and I can drop them into a blue, street-side post office box with a lot of stamps. Another bonus? While the cut-off for guaranteed large package delivery from Hawai’i to the Mainland usually falls between the 15th and the 20th, in years past I’ve mailed things as late as the 21st and 22nd and items were received on the West Coast. Nice!
Beaded and quilted items do the trick, and luckily, that’s what I like to do. This year I made gingerbread quilt blocks. All the materials (except for the ribbon used to make bows – and that only cost me $2.00) were already on hand, purchased years ago for other projects and just waiting to be used up. The gingerbread are made of brown ultrasuede, hand-stitched around the sides with DMC embroidery floss. All other fabrics are standard cotton quilt fabrics in reds and greens, of which I have plenty! I had fun breaking out my sewing machine again and loved diving into my fabric stash (the only downside is that I did irritate Noel one too many times when he came home from work and found the ironing board set up in the kitchen). Sorry friends and family, I think you’ll be seeing a lot of these in the holiday seasons to come. Beaded ornaments just might be on the backburner for a while.

12 Days of Christmas: After-Christmas sale SCORE

Noel and I dropped the boys off with the grandparents yesterday and went to the mall for an evening movie. Although Noel suspects it, I did not know their was a Hallmark store right next door to the ticket window. (I *did* know their was one at the mall and that's partly why I chose that location for the movie, but we were late so I thought my chance was gone.) We had five minutes before the store closed and I ran in. Sweet! They had the Polar Express ornament the other store had sold out of. And 50% off! I was going to get only one, but Noel encouraged me to get two. The boys, playing with their Santa ornament deliveries as toys, had already broken a few. So Noel thought a spare would be a good idea. Oh, no no no. These babies aren't going to be seen by the boys, at least not this year. I'm sticking them in the Xmas garage box today, maybe Santa will deliver them next year! Or maybe the boys will have one each in the very far future when they have their own trees.

12 Days of Christmas: Inspiring gifts

Merry Christmas to all! Here's to family, friends, and good health. Hope everyone is enjoying all today. This lovely beaded table runner was a gift for me. Beautiful and inspiring...oh, the things I can make next year.

12 Days of Christmas: Christmas lights!

After dinner with the boys last night, I made Noel drive through a Kapolei neighborhood that goes all out with light displays. It's the same neighborhood with the Heineken tree -and yes, it's still there. They didn't disappoint with the display this year. I think the boys liked it a lot, maybe because there's even a train that circles under the Heineken tree. We might go by once more in the next few days and get out and walk around a bit - last night we were kind of in a hurry to get to the store for the one more thing I needed for my ornaments.

12 Days of Christmas: Almost homemade cookies

I wanted to bring some sweets to a Christmas party last Friday, but didn’t think I’d have the time to do iced sugar cookies or gingerbread like I wanted to. I found Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice cookie mix in the grocery store (placed right where they wanted me to see – and buy - on the end of the aisle) and picked up a package. I don’t even know if I’ve had pumpkin spice cookies before, but I love pumpkin bread and I love pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, so I tried them. Yum! If you love the seasonal latte like I do, you are going to like this cookie. I followed package directions except for the baking times. I needed an extra 3-4 minutes and a few still turned out a little gooey. The packaging also says to use Betty Crocker Cream Cheese frosting (of course), but I mixed up my own quick frosting of powdered sugar, melted butter, milk, and a drop of vanilla. I drizzled on the frosting, let it set for a bit, then plated them and headed to the party. Sorry, no time for even a cell phone picture.
I really want to make my own now. I checked out the ingredients and other than the typical cookie ingredients, they had a couple of different flours, “pumpkin flakes,” and a number of spices they wouldn’t list. I think I’ll try to tweak a basic sugar cookie recipe by adding a little wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spices. That will have to be after Christmas…I’m close to finishing my ornaments, but I think I’m throwing in the towel to have them finished, mailed, and delivered on time.

12 Days of Christmas: Santa Claus Station postmark

I received the 2010 postmarked item from Santa Claus, Indiana. I think it's kind of fun, but I know not everyone is into stamps and all. It's not too late to get something with the special cancellation, but it is too late to get it back to you by the 24th. This from a third-party site:
If you want to have the Santa Claus Post Office add a picture postmark and then send your holiday mail onwards to your recipients, package all your cards and letters -with postage stamps affixed-in a sturdy envelope or box, and mail to:
Santa Claus Postmark
Postmaster
Santa Claus Station
Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998
Be sure to send your box or envelopes early. The post office should receive them no later than December 15 to ensure Christmas delivery.

Soup of the Day

Here's one of my favorite things to make with a big bag of baby carrots from Costco: Carrot soup. Shockingly not local for me, but inexpensive, filling, and good for days I wake up and vow to eat less sugar.
Starting in a large soup pot, I sauté 1.5 - 2 white or yellow onions with 1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic in a generous amount of olive oil. I add a ton of coarsely chopped carrots, let cook for a minute, season with a hearty dash of black pepper, then add chicken or vegetable stock to cover the carrots by an inch or two. This time I used two entire boxes of stock, and needed more liquid, so I added 2 cups water. Let it boil and/or simmer for at least 25 minutes, then purée with an immersion blender. Serve immediately or store in glass jars in the fridge. I'd guess that is anywhere from 4-8 servings. I filled four glass pasta sauce jars.
Today is a good day for soup (but truth be told, even on the hottest summer days here I make soup - one of the quirks I picked up living in St. Lucia). We're expecting a lot of rain to pass through starting as early as tomorrow. That means cooler temps, yet nothing you need a jacket or long sleeves for. It's humid so we'll probably have the AC on for a few minutes per our usual.
An interesting note about baby carrots - they're just a typical variety carrot processed through large machines to look that way. First they're sent through a peeler and then a cutter to shape smaller carrots and round the corners. (I assume any bits leftover from this process are used for shredded carrots used in packaged salads, and what remains after that, probably goes to making something like commercial stocks. ?) I must have been watching The Food Network or some cooking segment somewhere to learn this, don't quite recall now. I rarely buy unpeeled carrots these days. Just because it's less work, I take the shortcuts.

12 Days of Christmas: Gingerbread sandwiches

To get Robbie to eat something at some point last year, I offered to cut the bread with a cookie cutter and he could pick the shape. He opted for a gingerbread man and continued to ask for it throughout the year. It was humorous in June, but now, finally, it's appropriate! Sometimes Cub will eat the sides that are left, but it's usually me who takes care of them so they don't go to waste. I just have to plan ahead so I don't eat multiple sandwiches all by myself.

12 Days of Christmas: Santa's workshop

The boys start Winter Break on Friday. I've spent a good chunk of time yesterday and today shopping and assembling the holiday goodie bags for their classmates. I'm happy to say I'm done and I got it all finished while the boys were at school so they didn't see a thing. And they couldn't get their hands on anything. :) I bought a bunch of PlayDoh supplies, from the small tubs of multiple colors to a big pack with lots of shape cutters, and split all of it up into smaller, individually wrapped gifts, plus tossed in a few pieces of chocolate. Hurray! One more thing checked off the to-do list.

12 Days of Christmas: Our Charlie Brown tree

Back in December 1999, I was working my first technical writing job in the Bay Area. During Christmas, someone set up a type of pre-lit tree on a small table near the break room. I'd never seen something like it before; it was a fiber optic tree. The "bulbs" were fiber optic fingers and multiple colors flashed or "transitioned" as a unit in the base rotated. It was cheerful and cheesy and borderline tacky and I wanted one. Off to Target I went and bought one of my own. I brought it home and my parents laughed but allowed such a sight amongst Mom's standard classy holiday decor anyway.
I still have that same tree after two major moves, but it is beginning to show its age. It's probably 100 in artificial tree years, yet it still makes me smile. The lights no longer change colors but it otherwise works (the rotating base stopped rotating after we moved to Hawaii). It was stuck on purple a few years ago yet this year the color was mostly white upon the first lighting. Each day since that we've plugged it in a little more purple comes out. It looks a little less cheesy this way. Long live our little tree.

12 days of Christmas: Stocking stuffers

When I mentioned in yesterday's post I wouldn't be spending any money on gifts this year, it wasn't 100% accurate. I won't be spending a lot, but we will get the boys a few things. I've already picked out the items Santa will leave for them on Christmas morning. A few Hallmark ornaments (I couldn't let a holiday season go by without getting a fix for my addiction), one holiday Thomas character train engine each, and some candies. I am going to try to start a tradition that the boys get at least one ornament to hang on the tree Christmas day. Boys being boys, I'm not sure if they will be crazy about this plan, but I like it.
Speaking of Hallmark ornaments, when I saw this year's offerings some time back, I planned to buy one representing the Polar Express movie. It's a ticket, train engine, and gold bell all in one. I waited too long. According to the store associate this past Monday, they had been sold out of that one "for three or four months." Wow! That was quick. I haven't called around to see if other stores had it in stock. Following in the vein of keeping Christmas simple, I'm not going to get too worked up about it. The Lionel train ornaments that I bought instead are perfect.

12 Days of Christmas: I have a lot of work to do

School is officially over for me. Sort of. Today I had my last day of on-campus classes, and all that is left is an online final due next week. I'm feeling great with the semester behind me, but it's no time to rest. I started my annual holiday gifts after Thanksgiving but I didn't get very far.
Unlike recent years, this year there will be no beaded snowflakes and little to no beading at all on my ornaments. I wanted to challenge myself to do something with all the craft materials already in my craft closet, and that challenge included not buying any new beads. That's right, spending no money on gifts this year! Lucky for my recipients, I bought a lot of nice stuff in years past that I never used and I'll get by just fine. :) While we lived in Maryland I started quilting, and although I haven't done much since Robbie was born, I have a fantastic fabric stash that still calls out to me on a regular basis. Time to stop blogging and get sewing.

12 Days of Christmas: Gingerbread Iolani Palace

We were in Waikiki last night for dinner. Before we left the house, I told Robbie that we could go see the holiday gingerbread display and train at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel after we ate. As we made our way to the restaurant in the car, we passed the hotel. Robbie remembered the location from last year and pointed it out. That memory is going to get us in lots of trouble.
For the first time, pastry chefs have created the Iolani Palace (the only royal palace in the United States) in gingerbread, chocolate, and icing. According to the signs next to the display, the palace, "with its 88 columns, took over six weeks to build." It looked amazing. Hopefully it will be a fixture in future displays.

Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law!

This is the cake I baked for her last year. Is it sad that I remember I took a picture last year that I never posted, or simply sad that I remembered I took a picture at all?
It was a beauty! Chocolate cake and frosting from scratch, using a recipe I found on the Hershey's website. Sooo yummy! And my mother-in-law? Sooo worth it! The heart sprinkles were all I had at the time, leftovers from Valentine's Day cookies. I think I laughed out loud when I was making the frosting and thought to myself, "This is just chocolate-flavored butter." I liked it so much I made it all over again for Robbie's birthday in March. This year? We've expanded our tastes. He now requests red velvet cake.

12 Days of Christmas: It's that time again

It doesn't feel like it here in Hawaii, but it's December, and Christmas is a mere 25 days away. This picture is an archive from the Camera Roll - a close-up of holiday tree set up with local flair at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki. I heard over the weekend that the large, gingerbread winter wonderland scene has been set up for the season. The boys LOVED the train last year and were upset when we could no longer go. It's calling us now.

Apples? Really?

That was my reaction when this came home in the backpack the day before Thanksgiving. I don't know what was discussed earlier in the day to plant this seed, but our kindergartner claimed - and now has recorded for all time - he was thankful for apples. This is how the conversation went after I read this:
Me: Robbie, what does this say?
Robbie: It says, "I am thankful for apples."
M: Do you like apples?
R: Yes.
M: I have apples in the fridge right now. Would you like one?
R: No.
I had apples because in addition to pumpkin pie, I was going to make an apple crisp. It's one of Noel's favorite treats and it just sounded yummy. My version? Not so good as those restaurant versions he orders and I finish off. I tweaked a good part of the recipe on a whim and among other things, was a little heavy-handed with the spices. Too much cinnamon is NOT a good thing, especially when combined with too much nutmeg and ginger. Next time I'm Googling "apple crisp restaurant knock-off" and going with what pops up. No more audibles!

Farmer's Market find: Negi

Today I am cooking one of my favorite "what to do with leftovers" dishes: Onion, leek, and potato soup. I like it because if you have extra mashed potatoes (and unless you're lucky enough to unload them on guests on the way out the door, then you do!), it's really simple. Slice onions, leeks, and garlic very thin. Sauté in oil until caramelized, pour in stock, bring to a boil, and then add mashed potatoes and stir. Let boil and/or simmer as you wish and that's it.
I didn't buy leeks earlier in the week, but this morning I was lucky to find negi, a long (long!) Japanese green onion-like vegetable. The white parts you see in the picture were about 10-12 inches long and there were an additional 12-18+ inches of the green parts. Carrying them away from the vendor's table, I felt like I was carrying spears. The guy who sold them to me said not to use the green parts, so I didn't.
It wasn't a leek, but close enough, and local from the farmer's market, so I had to give it a try in the soup. It's still simmering on the stove, and so far it looks and tastes good. I didn't have low-sodium stock so it's bordering on too salty. Other than that, I have high hopes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you are sharing the holiday with good food and loved ones today. Here's some kindergarten artwork that came home in the backpack this week. I think I've spotted a trend...preschoolers have full-sized paper plate art, kindergartners use pupu plates.
Enjoy the day!

Countdown to turkey...maybe not

Cranberry sauce chilling, pumpkin pie baked and ready for the big day...tonight I'll chop some veggies and then call it a day. Lots to do, but tonight I'm beat after a couple late nights/early mornings in a row. Here's the menu I've been working on for a week. (Cub wanted to help "highlight" items for me.) A few things have been cut from the starting line-up, including the turkey (gasp!). I couldn't find one small enough. Just three turkey eaters at the table tomorrow, so a big bird would just be a waste. Another year I don't cook a turkey...and another year I don't mind at all. :)

Carnival fun

Somehow despite all of us being sick for at some point during the last half of October and well into November, we pulled ourselves together and managed to get out and have a good time here and there. One Sunday after dinner we went to a weekend carnival in Kapolei. Last year we missed it, but Robbie spoke often about the Ferris wheel. When it started going up a few weeks ago (the bus drove by the lot every afternoon after school) this time he was going! The only time Robbie seemed a bit apprehensive was the first jolt to start the wheel turning. After that, the ride was smooth sailing and he loved it, not concerned at all with the movement or being so high up. Who knew? I was very happy that he did not seem at all interested in going on the mini-roller coaster. As we walked by, I heard a little girl say to her parent, "Look! The roller coaster is fixed now. Can I go?" Broken ride at a traveling weekend carnival? I'll pass!
That big, white glare ruining my picture is a ticket booth. They make a TON on these rides. It's about $3 each person, on average, for one ride, and no young kids free on anything. A sign at the front read that the rides were all "discounted" from 3 to 2 tickets (would have saved us about a dollar per ride) because it was the last night of the carnival, but word didn't get around to the ride operators, who were still charging full price. Boo!

View from the top

Here is the dusty ground below Robbie and I as we went around and around on the Ferris wheel. Noel got an out because he doesn't like heights. Cub may or may not have been too small (we couldn't really tell from the signs), so we opted to leave him on the ground and prevent the tantrum-drama of waiting in line only to be told he couldn't go just as Robbie and I were boarding. But the drama was unavoidable. In the picture, all looked calm as Noel and Cub waited and watched as we rotated by. Noel would say later, "Don't mind the straw all over Cub. When he realized he wasn't coming along, he threw himself on the ground and rolled in some nearby hay." By the time I snapped this, it was looking like nothing happened. Glad I didn't see him getting upset, it would have only made me sad. Next year!

Hey! That was my idea!

I'm not a food blogger, but if I were, maybe I would have posted this last year. Trying to think of a new twist to go with the classic pumpkin pie custard (no need to mess with the recipe on the Libby's can for me!), I thought about making a pumpkin pie for last year's Thanksgiving dinner with a ginger snap crust. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. She had another pie in last year's Thanksgiving issue with a crust using ginger snaps, some sort of nut, and melted butter, all processed until smooth and then baked to make a pie crust shell. Ah ha! I was going to try it. Yadda...yadda...yadda...(Yes, I'm yadda-ing out the part where I called the Martha Stewart satellite radio show with a question. It was funny.) I ended up making it with macadamia nuts and it was a hit. At least for me - I loved it. I thought it instantly upgraded the classic pumpkin pie to coffee or pastry shop good. I'm going to make this pie for many years to come.
So imagine how surprised I was to be watching Rachael Ray yesterday (she's been doing recipes all week and I'm menu planning) and her guest used MY pie crust for a pumpkin pie. Except her guest did a no-bake pie. It was still labor intensive. You have to stir a mixture over the stove top for 10 minutes straight. I don't get it. You can make a pie ahead of time, why cut corners? Just go for the classic custard if you're making one this year.
(I thought I had a picture of last year's pie in my camera roll, but I can't find it. Placeholder pumpkin above, made for Robbie with a free Paint-like iPhone app a few weeks ago.)

Farmer's Market find: Pomelo

I don't know why it works this way for me, but when I'm really sick I don't feel like eating right and I really don't feel like cooking at all. It drives me mad. If there's any time when I should be eating really well, it should be then, but it's not. I get by and get food on the table, but there's no fun in it. One day I told myself, "Enough!" I dug through the fridge and found a cantaloupe to cut into. I sliced and carved it...then got tired, lost my brief appetite for fruit, and put it all back in the fridge. A couple of days later I tried again, this time with a pomelo.
I got really excited when I saw a new-to-me vendor at the farmer's market selling these. I first tried one back when I was working here, before Cub came along. My boss had one and she said I had to try it. It was really large, fresh and ripe, and she shared a huge wedge with me. I loved it! Sweet, juicy, not too tart, seemed to me mostly like a sweeter grapefruit, crossed with a little bit orange. I've looked for them since, but no luck until a few weeks ago.
The ones I found were much smaller than the one I first tried. I didn't think much about it, but after I cut into it and realized it wasn't very good, maybe size matters! The fruit inside was dry and a little sour. Picked too early, perhaps? Strike 2 for me and fruit that week.
I hope they keep bringing them to the market, but at the same time, I hope they can keep them on the trees a little longer, too.

Let's re-do this month already

This is what the Halloween cupcakes looked like 24 hours later (left covered on the counter at room temperature). Sadly, it was a sign of what was to come! Crazy week-plus we've had. We have all been sick in some way or another, missed school and work, overall we are just dragging ourselves along. Noel and I tried to put the funk behind us and left the boys with the grandparents last Saturday for dinner and a movie. After the so-so film (I KNEW we'd already seen all the good parts in the trailers, but I wanted to see it anyway), we headed to dinner. At 9:00 PM, it was warmer outside than inside due to the air conditioning, so we opted for the lanai. We were served the worst soup I've ever tasted, they burned an entree then charged us twice for it on the bill after we asked the kitchen to re-do it, and service was really slow. While waiting, I saw a rat scurry across the lanai and go under a wall we think lead to the kitchen. We won't be going back there anytime soon!
Earlier in the week I had preschooler drop-off duty one morning. As the teacher tried to take Cub away, he tried to hold on to me with his feet. His shoe stuck to my shirt and pulled the front of my top down, nearly to my waist. So I flashed a group of preschoolers, their instructors, and a dad who was there having breakfast with his child. Highlight or low-light of the week? I'm still undecided.

Happy Halloween!

Pre-Halloween loot

Both boys came home from school Friday with enough Halloween treats and goodie bags from their classmates that they won't need to trick or treat much tomorrow. Robbie was first home and I snapped this picture while we were looking through it. His haul filled his small pumpkin. Next up was Jacob who - and I'm not kidding - had an entire reusable grocery bag full of stuff. For pre-schoolers?? I spent most of this week in a haze and regrettable didn't have the energy to put anything together for any of the classes. I've got some making up to do as the holidays approach.

Come on over for candy Sunday

No, seriously. Come on over and get some candy. We really, really need to get rid of it. We have two Costco-sized bags and we rarely have that many trick-or-treaters. I begged Noel not to open a bag one night knowing I would just eat it all. He obliged, only to see me rip into it the next evening. Not one of my proudest moments.
Everyone in the family was taken down with a whopping cold this week and we're just surfacing. Colds are miserable on many fronts, but what's especially bad for me is that I'm hungry all the time and all I want is junk food. And there's nothing that tastes better in this state than chocolate. With all the Halloween candy around, October is a horrible, horrible time to have a cold! Who needs post-holiday/New Year resolutions to eat better? I'm making mine for November 1. Or November 2. You get the idea.

Halloween countdown!

Ready or not, Halloween is nearly here. I had thought about making the boys' costumes again, but it just didn't happen. Robbie wanted to be a fireman, and Lord knows I can't pull that off with my sewing machine! At least not for the $10 bucks I spent for the costume, fire helmet included. We also found something cute for Cub at a local party store, so the issue was settled rather easily. We did get to the pumpkin patch earlier this month. A real pumpkin patch, too, on real farm land and not the corner of an asphalt parking lot. We walked through the fields to find and pick our pumpkins. (Who knew you could in Hawaii, huh?) It was a fun, quick, and surprisingly not-so-dusty morning at Aloun Farms, complete with a hay ride. Well, it was really just a small tractor pulling some passenger carts. But that's what they really are and it counts, right? Woo-woo!

Black Pearl at KoOlina Marina (Part 1)

The Pirates of the Caribbean film shoot may be over and the production teams have left the islands, but the Black Pearl remains. It can currently be found back on the Leeward side of Oahu, in a semi-secure marina adjacent to the area where it was first stored earlier this year. One of Robbie's classmate's parents tipped me off last week to its location - the KoOlina Marina. It's right there where everyone can see, facing mauka at the back of the harbor, among all the other boats. You can walk around the perimeter of the marina and get a somewhat up-close-and-personal look. While I was taking these shots this morning, I saw a tourist catamaran cruise enter the harbor, come up right alongside it, and then pull away and exit the harbor.
Not sure when it got there, or how long it will stay, but seeing that it is less than a mile from the construction site of the new Disney Aulani Resort Hotel scheduled for a soft opening in August 2011, one wonders if they will keep it around for an attraction?

Black Pearl at KoOlina Marina (Part 2)

Here are two close-ups on the front. Note the detail! I'm sure if you watch the final production when it comes out next year, you'll see a pan or two of these areas. Lots of skeletons. Very Disney-fied, huh? Especially when you consider how it looked when it first cruised into Oahu.

Black Pearl in KoOlina Marina (Part 3)

Here are two shots of the right side of the boat. Aargh! (Sorry, had to get one in!) Is that starboard or leeward? I've never understood those terms. Anyway, note the "damage" to the facade. I am willing to place a bet that there is a battle between ships in the movie. There's one every time, yes? So maybe this is the results of the skirmishes?

Cub turns 3!

Cub turned three earlier this month. We asked him he wanted to do for his birthday, and then we asked Robbie what he thought his brother would want to do. Putting the two together we ended up with a laid-back outing to ride the monorail at Pearlridge, then off to the pool for a swim, BBQ, and cupcakes with the family.
Robbie loves the red velvet cupcakes at a local sushi bar (I know, sounds weird to me, too) and I was going to attempt to make them for the birthday. I tried to cut a few corners and picked up ready-made "whipped" cream cheese frosting. An awful product! Read the packaging carefully - I didn't and made the mistake of bringing it home. From my untrained eye, "whipped" just means lighter and more airy in the container. On a cupcake, this translates to a flat, non-rich frosting that neither Noel or I liked. Yes, that's right! The birthday boy could have cared less and we ate the most. I don't think Cub even ate one.
The red velvet plan went out the window, too, as the birthday approached. I couldn't get the ingredients to replicate the sushi bar cupcake (specifically the chocolate candies on top) so I went with an easy and cheap sea theme. Aqua/blue tinted frosting and Swedish fish and other sea creatures on top of a vanilla cupcake. They didn't look that great, but at least Robbie and I had fun making them.

Fire truck says, "Woo woo!"

Yay! The first of the artwork from Cub's preschool has come home. Last week they took a field trip (walked to a downtown fire station) and after the trek made fire trucks using half gallon milk cartons, construction paper, and paint.
Wondering why the truck is not red? They're yellow on Oahu; no red fire trucks. I'm used to them from California (some cities and counties tried them out in the 80s and early 90s but the trend didn't stick there) but I've heard other military wives who say they've never seen - or heard of - them before and it has taken them some time to get used to.

PlayDoh revisited

Elementary school kids state-wide have been out of school all week. Something called "Fall Intersession," which neither Noel nor I can remember anything like it when we were kids. Only the elementary kids, too, so parents like us have to scramble for childcare coverage or are busy with activities. Or both.
We made PlayDoh yesterday afternoon. We've made it a half dozen times since the summer, and it's turned into a lesson in color creations. Robbie stands in the kitchen with all the food coloring options spread out before him on the counter and dictates to me what colors he wants to mix next. And that means he squirts the drops of food coloring into small balls of PlayDoh and I knead it. We got a lot of grey one day, which I turned into an elephant. We also usually wind up with a lot of browns and oranges, typical from a kid who wants a little bit of his favorite red in everything!
A few things that I've learned about making PlayDoh since the original post in late July. Don't follow the directions! I now have a more efficient system. First, pour the water directly into pot and start heating it (medium heat). Add the remaining liquid ingredients directly into the pot, including vanilla - but not food coloring, unless you want the entire batch the same color. (I still don't add a lot of vanilla. One teaspoon works well for us.) Pour the salt into the water and let it begin dissolving. Add remaining dry ingredients and then start stirring. With the water already heated, the mixture comes together within a minute and you're done! It takes longer for it to cool down than to make it.