super-mega recap

life has been pretty good around here. so good that i guess i haven't felt like documenting it. we are fully living in the season, this time of late spring with a hint of summer. there has been so much good. so much good eating, planting and living. it's just the way i like it. 

during these lovely weeks i have thought of many posts, but just never felt the drive at the end of the day to follow through. here is an abbreviated version of some of the goodness.

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i have reunited with my love of the asian food market. i have always loved these sort of markets, ever since college when i lived near an amazing japanese market. i love getting all of those weird things that you could never find anywhere else. and the things that you can find at the grocery store are about a third of the price at the asian market. i had stopped finding time to get there after henny was born, it was just too much to add that extra errand to the list.

how happy i am to have returned and to have my kitchen filled with nori, miso, pocky, soba, kim chi and seaweed snacks!

two great meals since the return of the asian market....

make your own sushi night.

this was a hit for the whole family. i made up some sushi rice earlier in the day and then just put all the fixings out on the table. we all enjoyed making our own rolls, either nice cut rolls of just sloppy handrolls. it all tasted great and was so much fun. this will definitely become a go-to meal for the summer.

secondly, is spring rolls....
i made these spring rolls for dinner one night. we loved them so much that we made the above platter for a party. the spring rolls are totally easy, if a little time consuming. you can put whatever in them. the first time i made some with fresh raw veggies and some with rice and tofu. the rice and tofu ones were a little too plain and mushy. raw veggies are the way to go. 

the wrappers (seen in the next picture down, for reference) need to be softened in water for about 3 minutes. you then wrap them like a burrito. for these i used shredded carrot, julienned cucumber, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, shreds of green garlic, shreds of nori, slices of avocado and a handful of fresh (local!) greens. 

we made a dipping sauce with miso, peanut butter and soy sauce. it's kind of a trial and error type sauce. keep tasting until it's right. 

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one thing that has become clear in the last few week is that the kids are thriving in this weather and the new lifestyle that comes with it. they seem happier, with all of the outside play, playground visits daily and less clothes. henny seems so much older with all of the new things that he can do. bee does too. she has been testing out a bit of freedom with going outside by herself to check on the garden, so a little chore or even to swing for a minute alone. it's all so nice. even the inside time seems nicer somehow, knowing that it isn't our only option.

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and finally, the garden is growing and full of so much promise and hope. i don't have too many pictures of the garden as it looks today because it's been rainy, but it's all the way planted and just left to grow. we lost a few cucumbers and maybe a few basil plants in a late frost last week. but other than that, things are looking good. we have spinach (one planting almost ready and one just a bit behind), green onions, tons of edamame, peas, zucchini, carrots, romanesco, brussel sprouts and a bunch of kinds of tomatoes. we even sprung for the good cages this year! i figure that they will be a family heirloom. 

more pictures of the garden to come. and more early summer goodness to come!

phew.....

full circle

in the last few weeks two wonderful things came full circle. one for me and one for D.

first off, i turned this piece of embroidery into a cool wall hanging. i had been debating about what to do with this drawing-turned-embroidery. a pillow? frame it? then i saw this little tutorial which featured a wonderful idea to print on cloth using freezer paper. now that i think of it, it's not really related to what i made, but it got the wheels turning.

i started by ironing a stabilizer on the back of the embroidery. then i cut it to size, layered a piece of batting inside and a cute fabric on the back. i sewed along the edges and then trimmed close to the stitch line. i finished it off with some yellow bias tape around the outside. what i really want to do it learn to quilt and make my own cute binding, but right now i'm working with my limited skills. i added a few pieces of ribbon and hung it by a stick that i found in the yard. i really love it. now to figure out where to hang it.

D's full circle moment is more of a visual.
morels, in the mushroom bag, made with love my bee. unfortunately, the morel season seems to be coming to an end. the good news is that our spinach is almost ready to eat, the farm is about to begin and the farmer's market is our new grocery store. eating with the seasons is so good right now!

mother's day loveliness

yesterday, my mother's day was just wonderful. my three lovelies gave me such a well rounded, relaxing treat of a day.

i don't ever want anything fancy for mother's day. no jewelry or pajama-grams necessary. all i really want is to have a break from domestic duties, sleep in and have a nice breakfast. i was not disappointed. 

while i had full opportunity to sleep in, i couldn't really do it. i felt pressure to fall asleep and my body is just not used to it. it was just as well though because i just enjoyed listening to podcasts in bed until 8. 

when i awoke or arose, i was greeted by the most wonderful surprises and  treats. bee made a beautiful trivet for me at school, with a drawing of me, with the sun above my head and flowers at my feet. D gave me the most amazing gift, a handmade bag that i had been coveting at a craft fair the weekend before. this bag is unreal. i LOVE it so. the kids also made me some nice cards.

i was served a breakfast that included the following: oven roasted potatoes with fennel, caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, cinnamon sugar toast and a bloody mary. all=delicious.

look at that bag one more time.

we spent the rest of the day just hanging around. we went to a tag sale and a vintage furniture store. i took a short nap before lunch and then we spent the rest of the day preparing to have my parents over for a nice dinner.

we made homemade pizzas: asparagus blue cheese, asiago with arugala salad on top, morel (!!) onion and cheese for the kids.

i wanted to share the dessert we made because it was so simple, easy, quick and delicious. we made popovers and filled them with vanilla ice cream, cooked strawberry sauce and topped with whipped cream.
we made the popovers in our mugs that are oven-safe because we don't have a popover pan (yet), but it looked really pretty. it was so good and really so easy. i can't wait to eat this in a month or so with REAL local strawberries.

all and all it was an amazing day and i am truly lucky. i have the sweetest little kids. and they are taught how to be so generous and kind by the best husband and father that a family could ask for. 

in conversation

both bee and henny have been amazing me with their individually outstanding conversational skills. henny is a big copycat and is thrilled to have so many new words to share. and bee, she is just so amazing. sometimes i really forget that i'm talking to a four year old. she has so much language and wisdom.

each of them has wowed me in their own way recently, with two very different little conversations. 

from bee:

while walking up to the library...

"mommy, what is this all about with crossing your fingers?"

"oh, some people think that they will get their wish or have good luck if they cross their fingers."

"well, i don't know about that. i mean, how do fingers know what you want. you can't talk to fingers. they don't even have brains!"

and from henny:

after D had a very exhausting day, i got henny up from his crib in the morning to let D sleep a bit.

"see daddy. see daddy" (said insistently)

"henny, daddy is going to sleep a little more because he worked so hard yesterday."

"yeah. daddy. workin'. fun. tools."

D's big day

this past week we celebrated D's birthday. there was a lot of secret preparation and it turned out to be a very sweet day.

of course we had our traditional fruit "cake", a platter of delicious fruit with candles. i started this tradition for D a long time ago when it seemed that he was getting so many birthday treats, cake at work and sweets from family. D loves fruit and this was a nice thing that i could do that balanced out the sweets. now bee loves it and helps me every step of the way. 

this year bee did most of the arranging and we added a bowl of fruit dip. the dip is just cream cheese and this yummy natural marshmallow cream (like fluff) mixed together equally. 

bee and i worked on a few gifts for D together. i decided to make a freezer paper stenciled t-shirt and bee was pretty psyched on the idea. she copied me every step of the way and made her own stencil. i cut it for her, but she did the painting.
bee used her stenciled fabric to make a mushroom bag for D. morel season is upon us! bee even tried the sewing machine for the first time.

for my t-shirt, i printed out a picture of a morel that i found online and traced it. i highlighted the details that i wanted to use for the stencil and then cut them out of the freezer paper. i followed the instructions in the creative family. basically the instructions walk you through the tracing, cutting and ironing on a fabric. the box of freezer paper also has some very simple instructions on it. i first used an orange paint, but it looked too faint, so i did a few coats in white. you can still see a bit of orange peeking through, which is ok, i guess.

D seems to like it. i think he feels cool in it.

bee is also very cool and tough, she would like you to know.and yes, that is marshmallow on bee's face, she did a lot of sampling!

27 days later.

we started planting our seeds on april 2nd. we planted the first round and a few days later planted a few more things.

and today, 27 days later, the seeds have sprouted and started furiously reaching for the sun. they are busting out with strong roots and begging to be put in the ground. this weekend they will find their new home, along side the spinach sprouts and climbing peas that are already doing their thing.
i just love this time of year. 

duke of cuke, a knock-off, a recipe

it's summer here! we are on our fourth day of a little heat wave. it's summer in april! and i love it. this past weekend we worked on the yard, got the sprinkler out, ate on the deck and just generally felt happier. after the kids go to bed D and i have been just milling around outside, picking up toys and doing little chores. it just feels good.

over the weekend D and i went out to celebrate D's birthday. we had a nice long and relaxing dinner and then went bowling, D's favorite. at dinner i adventurously ordered a drink called "the duke of cuke". it went along well with my skirt and no tights on the first day of the heat wave. the drink was fantastic and we tried to duplicate it at home with good results.

the recipe:

1 c. cucumber juice

4 shots of gin, we used sapphire 

2 T sugar syrup (sugar dissolved into water, about 2 T: 1/4 c. water)

if you have a juicer, great! if you don't, like us, you can improvise. we put 2 of those long cucumbers in the blender until it was pulverized and then put it through a cheesecloth bag. it worked beautifully. 

add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with some ice and shake it.

pour over ice and garnish with a slice of cuke

makes about 3-4 drinks.