happy birdycake

We have moved!!!

2011-03-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

We have MOVED!!!

:)

You can find us NOW at...

Hop on over below!
and don't forget to come on by and visit!

www.birdycake.typepad.com

^__^

stay tuned...

2011-03-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Due to some serious hacking/malware and not to mention copyright issues on

"blogpress" (the blogging application I use to blog from my phone) and E-Blogger's lack of protection for the safekeeping of my information... I am temporarily stopping my blogging on this site and I am currently re-launching my blog at a different location.

So stay tuned for the new address...

Thanks for reading and following our adventures.

Unicorn Birthday Party!

2011-03-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Honeypie turned 6 this month! I know... time flies.

So what better way to celebrate this year than with a magical unicorn party for my huge unicorn lover! I made unicorn headbands for the kids to decorate during the party. Here is how I made them... I used poster board paper.

I taped the horn closed and notched the bottom to be able to glue it to the white brow band. Kids used glue and gold glitter to decorate the horn so it did not matter if you could see overlapping on the paper. It got covered with the glitter.

I hot glued the horn to the brow band.

During the party everyone decorated their unicorn headpiece with glitter and markers.

We played pin the "horn" on the unicorn.

Honeypie helped make horns for all the children.

She drew a giant Unicorn on craft paper.

Even daddy played! It was a hit.

We read "the little lost unicorn" and "unicorn wings".

Had plenty of unicorn balloons...

And unicorn goodies for goodie bags.

We painted unicorn houses to go with our little unicorns

(found these at Michaels!)

We had a visit from a chocolate colored unicorn too!!

Everyone got to ride him! He was very friendly and was named popcorn.

I made the cake of course!

and I made vegan cupcakes with unicorn cookies on top as well.

YUM!!

"Six" comes only once and this one was another birthday to remember.

Magic and friends and sweetness!!

Happy birthday little one.

~ ^_^

This moment...

2011-03-06T14:03:00.001-08:00

I love "Amanda Soule's photo posts over at her blog "soulemama", in which she captures a moment in her life in just one or two photos.
Here's ours today...

Daisy scouts skate day!
Everyone did so well for beginner skaters! Love the positive energy in each and everyone!

-- Post From My iPhone

Snow happy!

2011-03-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

The robins are pecking at the ground in our garden, as the weather seems to be bringing some warmer days. As the last of our snow melted away, we soaked up all we could before this loooooong cold end of winter.

We read these 2 very cute books we thought we'd share, "snow happy" by Patricia Hubbell and "Snow" by Cynthis Rylant and both inspired snow happy fun.

We even went a bit "Jackson Pollock" on that perfect infinite white snowy canvas with some snow painting fun!

(By the way... for those of you who do not know Cynthia Rylant... please fo to the library and check out some of her books!!! They are beautiful! Most are very poetic like the one we read here but some like the "Henry and Mudge" series, are just plain cute and funny. Very adored here.)

So true no?

(We painted on the snow with watered down tempera paints on a squeeze bottle)

snow happy!

Brown rice crispy treats

2011-02-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

Last week we made a great healthy version of the old marshmallow rice krispy treats recipe you might have eaten as a child. (Think kelloggs). Our version is high in protein, has no high fructose corn syrup, is marshmallow free and vegan!!

What more could you ask for??

oh yes, it was delicious!

Here is the recipe.

Brown Rice syrup and nut butter rice Crispy Treats
Ingredients

2/3 cup of almond butter or cashew butter or peanut butter

2/3 cup of brown rice syrup

6 cups of brown rice crispy cereal or puffed rice cereal

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

optional:
( Chocolate chips or dried fruit 1/2 cup or more)
**(I used dried blueberries and shredded coconut)

Directions
Put your nut butter, rice syrup, and vanilla into a small sauce pan and heat over a low heat until the mixture becomes warm and syrup like. ( a few minutes)

While your nut butter and syrup are heating, spray a large bowl with a little cooking spray before adding the rice cereal. Pour the nut butter syrup over the cereal and combine until all of the rice crispies are evenly coated . (You can use a spatula or even your hands)
*If you are adding dries berries or fruit, add them now. If you are adding chocolate chips, wait until the combined rice and syrup mixture has cooled a bit so that the chips do not melt.

Transfer the mixture into a baking dish (like a Pyrex) that has been lightly coated with non-stick cooking spray or use parchment paper on a cookie sheet/tray (which is what i used). Pat them down tightly on all sides including the top and form into a rectangle. Cut into squares once they have cooled.
YUMMMMM! Even better than the ol' marshmallow recipe and so good for you!.

**We added with a spatula some of that melted brown rice syrup and nut butter mixture over the top of the cooled rectangle and sprinkled shredded coconut over the top and it was fabulous!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Valentine's day

2011-02-14T20:57:00.001-08:00

It's love day!!!
What better way to start the day than with some heart shaped pancakes and wonderful poetry reading and writing!!

For Honeypie...

On to some writing !

And for mama...

Sonnet LXIX. "Since then I am because you are, since then you are, I am, we are, and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be" ~Pablo Neruda.

Nikki is amazing . Her poems are spirited, sassy and honest. Love her.

Amazing book.

(Oh ms patti... I love you)

Feeling not too confident in the poetry writing department ?
Here are 2 of my favorite books on inspiring you to begin poetry writing. So good !!

Staying in today?
Well here are some good love films to watch. Our favorites?

Mama:

Honeypie's:
(another Miyazaki gem!)

And daddy's idea of his favorite love flick...

~_^

Happy valentine's day!!

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Love notes

2011-02-13T20:26:00.001-08:00

It's love day everyday, sure but valentines day is tomorrow and we are sooo excited!
Today we wrote love notes for daddy just the way they were written in the olden days ... Using pen, quill and ink and sealing the note with sealing wax. I found all my inks and sealing wax from way back... (when I was addicted to shakespearean sonnets and bad boys) and we began practicing.

Using pen and ink...

Trying the feather quill ...

We settled on the pen and loved dipping it in all the different colored inks.

(very serious work...)

Now on to sealing the note.

We melted the wax over a candle using a metal spoon. The wax is HOT so if little hands are helping make sure you are careful!!!!

I poured the wax on the envelope and

Honeypie used a metal seal to press it on to the wax.

Xoxo

We also finished all the valentines for friends...

Now on to secret messages...

To make invisible ink you need equal parts water to baking soda.

( 1 tb of baking soda and 1 tb of water )
Mix well.

Use a q-tip or paint brush to apply the invisible ink mixture to your paper. Write your secret message and let it fully dry.

To read the note warm the paper over a candle or stove, making sure to KEEP THE PAPER AWAY FrOm DIRECT FLAME.!!!!!!! It's highly FLAMMABLE !!! SO ADULTS ONLY!!!!

Daddy's message?

Hope you are writing your own love notes and happy valentines day!!
Xoxoxo

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Sweets for sweeties

2011-02-12T14:45:00.001-08:00

Honeypie wanted to make some valentine goodies for friends and we came up with this easy project. White chocolate candy cane hearts with sprinkles.
All you need to make this, is white chocolate chips, candy canes, and sprinkles!

Arrange the candy canes into heart shapes on parchment paper or a lightly oiled surface.

Pour the melted chocolate into the inside of the hearts. Carefully spread with a spatula or spoon.

Add sprinkles before the chocolate hardens.

Easy, fast and cute!
^_^

Cookie time!

2011-02-11T07:06:00.001-08:00

It's been a great first cookie sale run for our daisy scouts.
We had a great cookie booth success, as well as the door to door and mamas and papas helped tremendously to get little daisies excited about this new experience.
We visited TD bank for a tour to see how a bank runs and to learn about saving our money, just in time to talk about our cookie sale profits and what we will do with them.
With so much to do and talk about, I am sure our next meeting will be buzzing with ideas.

(even the train station is excited!)

Our cookie bundling for our customers at Daddy's office.

Our daisy scout thanks !

Badges are starting to accumulate and according to daddy who is the official badge sewing expert.... "When applying badges, start at the middle and work your way outward. Looks better graphically!"

Honeypie and I worked on learning the value of money at home . We made coin rubbings with crayons and created and played a money game.

And if you are interested ...
Girl scout cookies sell for...

Support your local scout troop!
Buy cookies!

Though personally , as delicious as that thin mint is ....
(Wish they were made with more wholesome ingredients in mind...)
Hmmm
:(

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The marzipan pig, by Russell Hoban

2011-02-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Today we read a beautiful story called "The marzipan pig" by Russell Hoban and illustrated by Quentin Blake. Many of you might remember Quentin Blake's illustrations from all the Roald Dahl's books (The witches, Matilda, Charlie and the chocolate factory...) and Russell Hoban from the "Frances" books, (A bargain for Frances).
This story is about a little lonely marzipan pig that falls behind a couch and whose feelings off love reach out to a little mouse, a hibiscus flower , an owl and a bee in a series of events that occur after he was eaten. ( Loooooveeeee! They all say). A symbolic story of love, its fleeting moments of happiness and sweetness. If you do not know what marzipan is... it is a sweet made of almond paste and sugar and marzipan pigs are a symbol of good luck in Germany, often given as gifts during holidays.

We made our own Marzipan Pig too!

And just because I was curious...
Mr Quentin Blake is still alive and has a wonderful website to visit. (here)
and though Roald Dahl died in 1990... his legacy lives on in his super cute and funny website. If you like bouncing farting chickens.. you must visit!!! (here)
and "the marzipan pig" was made into a movie by HBO. (here)

Leek soup with dill oil

2011-02-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

Today's we made this delicious leek and potato soup with dill oil, inspired by Heidi Swanson's recipe.
(Here is the recipe!)

It is so tasty and super easy to make. It was devoured by all here.

It just called for 7 ingredients and but we left out the butter... It doesn't really need it. I also just dumped all the ingredients in a pot and used a handheld blender to puree at the end, keeping it a bit chunky as she suggested. ( I was pressed for time).

If you haven't visited her blog.... please do so! ( Here)
Besides the fact that her vegetarian recipes are amazing... her photos are gorgeous!

(all in the pot...)

(The dill oil)

mmmmm!

(Everything tastes better if it is in the shape of a heart. So the dill oil was sampled by my little picky eater here and deemed delicious! ;)

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Art day

2011-02-04T11:47:00.001-08:00

When honeypie found in the closet old watercolor sets that belonged to mama long ago, she adopted those as her own, just like a perfect art lover would, gathering and collecting tools and inspiration for creating. (She had plans!)
I totally understand. I,myself, am an art supply hoarder.... there, I've said it. I don't think I am ashamed. There isn't an olive or jam jar I don't collect for future use. Egg cartons and toilet paper rolls will not be spared from my collection.
(So if you need some... You know where to go.)
Paper is my lover. Rice or origami, textured or colored, those seductions beckon my hands and I can't even begin to talk about brand new colored pencil sets or the smell of inks without sighing... Mmmmmm.
Today she found Daddy's pastel set and mine from when we were in art school together and added that to her collection. She then asked me to show her how to use the pastel chalks.
So that's what we did today .
Who to better introduce pastels than the master himself... Degas.
I love this series of children's art books by Laurence Anholt.
The one we read today is called "Degas and the little dancer".
It tells the story of how Degas came to meet "Marie", the little ballerina who posed for him as he created his "little dancer" sculpture.
It also tells the reason why Degas began to sculpt and to use pastels as his art medium. (He began to loose his eyesight.)

Today we just worked on a still life using apples. With the pastels, honeypie tried to capture the lights and darks she saw while working on dimension.
We used textured colored paper which works best with pastels, (better than white paper) brings their colors out. Chalk pastels are easy to use and great to blend with your fingers!
Chalk pastels are different than cray-pas... which are oil based pastels. Those are a whole other medium all together and I'll talk about them another day.

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Valentine's day ideas

2011-01-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

Oh, goodness... (sniffle sniffle)...

We have been hit with the flu here...

Its been sooo long since we have actually been hit like this! :(

(Hope you are keeping healthy and warm!)

So as we sit here trying to get better...

we dream about a healthy and sweet February with birthdays and valentines. xoxoxo

Here are some of our old blog posts of things we made last year, Valentines day inspired ...

click on the link if you would like the tutorial or recipe! xoxoxoxox

Goat Butter HOney caramels... (HERE)

VAlentine mini HEart raspberry pies ... (HERE)

Heart meringues.... (HERE)

Valentine Bling ... (HERE)

Heart making 101... (here)

Sweet embroidery gift making... (HERE)

Acrylic painted Love bugs (rocks)...

Ebelskivers filled with nutella and raspberries make a lovely breakfast... (HERE)

Valentine lacing cards and oatmeal cookies ... (HERE)

Lovely little "birdycakes"... (HERE)

Love cupcakes and tuille LoV e message cookies... (HERE)

Valentine fortune teller ... (here)

Borax crystal snowflakes

2011-01-15T05:00:00.001-08:00

All the snow that has been falling lately around here inspired us this week to create our own snowflakes.
There are a lot of recipes out there for forming crystals and we chose to do ours with borax, which you can find in any supermarket's laundry soap area. (Remember that you must use regular pure borax not the "detergent" soap.)

To do this project (2 crystal snowflakes) you need:

*Borax
*2 pencils or chopsticks to hold the snowflakes suspended.
*2 wide mouth jars
*hot water
*5 pipe cleaners ( to make 2 snowflakes)

Leave 2 pipe cleaners long and
CUT 3 in half. (You will have 6 little pieces and 2 long pieces.)

Take 3 little pipe cleaner halves and twist them 3 times.

Fan them out to form a snowflake

Add a long pipe cleaner piece by twisting it's end to the middle of the snowflake. This you will use to hang the snowflake from the pencil or chopstick into the jar.

Measure - so that once you insert the snowflake into the jar, it doesn't touch the sides of the jar. (trim if you need to)
*** VERY IMPORTANT!!
Otherwise when the snowflake forms, it's crystals it will stick to your jar.

Trim if you need to...

Add 3 tablespoons of borax to one cup of boiling hot water into your jar. See how many cups of water your jar takes ... The snowflake must stay submerged under the water.
Don't forget to stir to dissolve!!!

Secure your snowflake to your pencil or stick.
Make sure it doesn't touch the sides OR the bottom of the jar.

(my jar took 7 cups of water with 21 TBS of borax.)

This is what it looked like after 8 hours...

And this is what it looked like the next day!

You can try it with silver pipe cleaners or white ones.
Here is a blog that includes all the science standards used when making this science project.
(HERE)

And Martha's instructions (HERE).

Have fun!!

Currently reading ...

2011-01-11T10:02:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of books we have been reading and/ or are planning to read this year.
Honeypie is obsessed with horses, unicorns and fairies.
This book is a how-to guide on taking care of horses and learning all about them. It has some 3D features. Great for any little horse lover.

This is a cute series.

This series has beautiful illustrations.

We have been reading tons of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, so this will be a great book to follow. It is a biography about her with tons of photos . I love "DK" books.

And who doesn't love Pippi???
We have been listening to the audio book and following along with the book.

And on Mama's bookshelf??

I don't have time for fiction nowadays. I tend to feel like my life is ticking away while I sit and sloth through a story...
(at least right now in my life.)
So these are more up my alley.

Love this book!
I started the pointy elf hat. Super easy.

And this one is on my to-do list.

Honeypie and I have a couple of projects to make from this great book!

Our next project together is this cute doll. There are a couple of patterns that are easy to make with kids.

And of course new cookbooks...
Love Indian food!

Delicious!!

Oh boy! Chestnut ice cream!

Can't wait to try some of these recipes. This book was recommended by one of my teachers at the natural gourmet institute in NYC. Great recipe on how to make miso (takes a year) and how to make tempeh from scratch using black eyed peas, oat groats and kombu.

And...

Making these this week.

Making this tonight...

And these tomorrow!

And on Daddy's bookshelf?...

Great reads for 2011!

What's on your book shelf?

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Friendship

2011-01-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about resolutions and wishes and goals to accomplish and everything obvious a new year seems to bring to mind...

Wanted to write an inspiring entry like I did last year (peek here)...

but all I kept coming back to was the words of Ram Dass... "Remember...Be here now".

Not the future ... not the past... no list making and no regrets but just holding the present blessings that are in our lives right now. Loving and living that.

The word "friendship" came to mind. The word "family".

How important that is to us. As the 3 of us carefully craft a home here,

we are open. Our home has always been open. We open our door, share our table, our things, our lives with others. We open our ears, our hearts and in turn, we give and receive love.

That is what friendship is to us.

There is honesty there. There is "real" and "joy".

The joy that comes from real connections with others and loving what they are about.

That blessed feeling when we know we matter to someone... how we are loved in turn and how that touches us. How that matters.

That is what we have been showing Honeypie since she was born.

We hope that we are mirroring good things, love and the comforts of home and communication and the blessings of friends.

Honeypie was asking me a serious question the other day. She was confused and conflicted about missing old friends...

I told her that some people come into our lives and and quickly go ... that some may be far away but are always near just a phone call away and that some come and stay for a long while and leave footprints. I told her that inside her there is magic... golden sparkles that are her being...that, which she shares forth with others. That it is wonderful how open she is but that it was important to feel that sparkle in return. That she deserves the love from people that make her feel good and make her smile and rise up her spirits. That those who cannot give that forth are perhaps those that quickly come and go in our lives. It's ok.

It is just a part of life. It made her sad but she understood.

In these busy moments... there is only right now.

And right now what matters is the love that comes from real friendship and the family you build around that .

Simple, true , based on deep communication that grows as we ourselves grow too. Spiritually, emotionally, personally and physically.

For without friendship or family, how could we make those footprints?

Without communication, how would be know what is in each other's hearts?

How would we know what is in each of our minds and how would we continue to share joy together, the ebbs and flows of our daily lives ...its ups and downs and and go forth, onward into our days? learning from each other?

What matters for you?

Inside each of us there is golden sparkles... that which is our being.

And only those who listen closely will feel the magic of that.

"On friendship" by Khalil Gibran

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

love on... 2011

Daisy scout update

2011-01-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

I am soooooo excited! Why??? Because being a daisy scout leader rules!!! And even better? Being a daisy scout leader to the most sweetest coolest daisies there are! :)
It's been a busy 3 months !
Tons to do!
We are focusing so far on team work, golden rules, community involvement and environment awareness.

Doing tons of reading...

In October I baked some goodies to share (daisy scout ghosty cake pops)

Daisy scout friends

Made pilgrim bonnets with the troop in November.

In December we made scarves for other children who might need extra warmth this winter. (donated to a charity)

Mama's and daisy scouts worked so hard to make them together! :)
(they are a no-sew fleece pattern)

Made daisy scout Gingerbread christmas tree ornaments.

We made pinecone birdseed treat ornaments for the birdies during this cold winter season.

And...
We learned our Girl scout promise!

We ended the year by having a daisy scout pledge ceremony. Each daisy said the girl scout promise and was invested. They got their daisy pin and daisy blue center for their smocks.

We also went on our first scout fun trip. We went to the movies to see "tangled" and the daisy scouts earned a "movie" fun badge.
Next we will start to work on earning our petals for our daisy. The first one will be the orange petal, "being responsible for what I say and do". We will also start our cookie sales, learn about earning and saving money and start to plan our end of the year trip!
Fun!!
So thankful for all the great Mama's helping out with the troop and so blessed by the enthusiasm everyone seems to share !
Here's to a great 2011!

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Oh my, jicama

2011-01-04T07:18:00.001-08:00

What in the world is a "jicama" you might be asking yourself. I know you might have seen it in the produce section if your supermarket, perhaps right next to a yucca or a plantain. This lovely and delicious root vegetable is Mexican and sometimes called a Mexican yam though it tastes nothing like a yam. It resembles more like a daikon radish or turnip but unlike yams or turnips which you have to cook first before eating, this one you can eat raw.
It can also be used as a substitute for water chestnuts in Asian dishes because of the texture and resemblance in taste. It is a great crunchy, sweet and delicious snack.

A great way to eat it is by slicing one up like so....

Add the zest and juice of half a lime. Sprinkle on some sea salt and cayenne to taste !

A quick and DELICIOUS snack !
Honeypie likes it plain but daddy loves it with a huge cayenne kick and I, myself ...
With plenty of lime juice!!!
Yummmmm!

Try adding it to salads too!

Molasses snow candy

2010-12-31T16:36:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you are... but we are HUGE little house on the prairie fans!! One of our favorite books is "Little house on the big woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The chapter about winter days and the one about christmas always has us wishing we lived in that time with Laura and Mary, watching pa whittling wood, ma baking delicious cookies, churning butter and being there to help make molasses candy with fresh snow.
We have been wanting to make molasses candy for the last 2 years but every time we remember, the snow has already melted BUT we totally remembered this year!

If you'd like to try to make some, all you need is fresh clean snow...

1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of molasses
And a candy thermometer .
Boil both ingredients until it reaches 250* degrees (hard ball stage)

Careful ... It is VERY HOT!!!
I poured some in a little jar for easy pouring over the snow.

Wait for it to cool and enjoy!

Molasses candy tastes like molasses... So it will be a bit dark and bitter in taste ... Not like your usual candy. A bit of an acquired taste.

We even got a chance to make pulled molasses candy like in "Farmer boy".

This process was a bit tedious ... Don't think I will do this again. Especially since daddy was the only one who enjoyed it.... As I realized I'm not a huge molasses fan.
But if you would like to try...
You need:

4 tbs of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of molasses
And extra butter for your hands and for the pan.

You must butter the pan you pour the molasses syrup into (after it reaches 250* hard ball stage) so the molasses does not stick to the pan.

Pour liquid into pan.

When it is cool enough to handle, (about 10 minutes) butter your hands very well to handle the molasses and start the pulling and folding process . It takes a loooooong time!!!

Fun project of today!

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10 things to do daily

2010-12-30T16:18:00.001-08:00

1.Be inspired. Write something read something, make something.

2.Drink lots of water.

3.Share a kiss and a hug.

4.Cook and eat something healthy and nourishing. Share it with loved ones.

5.Communicate with a friend.

6.Tell loved ones how much they are loved.

7.Smile and share a laugh.

8.Take a walk, stretch your body.

9.Be here now in the present moment. There you will find the immenseness of your blessings.

10.Breath... Let go and let be.

Sky-Gazing meditation .
By Lama Surya Das

Find a comfortable seat outside, preferably
With a view.
Close your eyes.
Inhale deeply, and exhale fully,
Letting go totally.
Now do it again, twice more.
(Thrice is the magic number.)
Let go, let it all come and go;
Just be,
As you are.
Rest naturally and at ease
In your body and mind, heart and soul,
And enjoy the natural state—
or whatever state you seem to be in.

Let body and mind settle in its own place,
Its own way,
Its own time,
As it is.
Natural breath and energy,
Natural flow
Let it go,
Free from interference, evaluation or manipulation...
and enjoy the joy
of Natural Meditation

Don’t be deceived or seduced by momentary
thoughts and experiences.
Allow all experiences to pass freely, like clouds
In a vast, open sky.
Simply Observe, Allow and Accept.
Embrace and surrender.
Letting go means letting come and go,
letting be.
This is the essence of inner freedom
and autonomy.

Be still.
All is right here, right now—
this very moment, the only moment;
Don’t stray elsewhere.
Nothing to figure out, understand,
Achieve, track or remember.
No need to fabricate or contrive.
No need to even meditate.
Simply present, undistracted, at home
And at ease
In the natural state
Of natural perfection.
Buddha's not pretending.
Sitting Buddha is being
Buddha.

Now slowly, open your eyes.
Gently raise your gaze.
Elevate the scope of global,
Three hundred and sixty degree
Sensitive, receptive awareness.
Gaze evenly into the infinite, open sky;
Skygazing, space-mingling,
infinite-dissolving;
An exercise of intrinsic openness and awareness,
Transparency and lucidity
inseparable.
Let go and relax into the vastness of sky—
spacious, nonreactive,
fearless and agendaless,
Unencumbered—luminous.
Ahhh—

Space like mind has no beginning or end,
no inside or outside,
No actual form, color, size,
Shape, center or periphery
This is the gateless gate
Opening into the infinite, magical way of awakefulness.

Let go and relax naturally into spacious openness
And clarity, this pristine awareness
Like a transparent eyeball,
Allowing thoughts and feelings
To come and go freely,
Releasing all experience
Into the infinitely fertile
Womb of emptiness
from which it never strayed.

Resting at home and at ease
in the sky-like nature
Of Buddha Mind,
Everything is fine
Just as it is
In the lawful unfolding of things:
Let go and let be,
At home and at ease
In the natural great perfection,
The nirvanic peace and bliss
Of things left just
As they are.

~

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Christmas moments

2010-12-27T07:18:00.001-08:00

Hi there!!!
Hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful holiday season and may your new year be a healthy and joyous one!

We've been so busy doing, making, baking and enjoying family and friends that we have not blogged much... But here a some snap shots of some of our holiday moments.

Candy cane peppermint cupcakes

Homemade roasted corn, chipotle and black bean tamales

Making salt dough Christmas ornaments

Lime mojito cookies, mexican chocolate chipotle cookies, and walnut circles.

Homemade gifts for friends. Cayenne, cashew, and sea salt brittle .

Toasted almond, dried cherry, orange peel chocolate bark.

With nana's beautiful knitted hat.

Loving her new doll from Santa

The wonders of a snow blizzard!!

Sledding and snow angels and after...

Hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows ( thanks to aunt Kirsten !)

~ enjoying the beauty of the season !

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Perfect roasted chestnuts

2010-12-20T08:11:00.001-08:00

We adore chestnuts here. I would love it if we had a fireplace and we could roast them over an open fire. But that's ok. The oven is just as good!
The other day we found an actual chestnut tree in one of our walks!
We collected these and I did not know that chestnuts actually were encased in these pods! Very neat!

After roasting them so often, I think we actually have the perfect roasting tip. So if you would like to try this ... Here is how.

Score each chestnut on the top with an "x". Try not to go too deep or the nut will totally split in the oven but make sure that the x is big so that the skins will peel.

Place on a cookie sheet with the scored tops "up".
*Sprinkle the chestnuts with water . This is actually a great tip I got from the Internet. It keeps them from drying out.

Bake at 400* for about 25-30 minutes. BUT Check at 20 minutes, at 25 and at 30. Each oven is different and you want them to be soft on the inside but not dry.

Delicious !!
I like to eat them plain but I hear people like to sprinkle them with all kinds of seasonings like salt, cayenne or even curry powder .

Soooo good!!
Enjoy!!

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Nutcracker ballet

2010-12-13T08:01:00.001-08:00

Since honeypie was 2 years old, we have been taking her to Nutcracker Ballet performances. We all adore the gorgeous music and the whole experience.
This year her dream come true, of her being in a nutcracker ballet, (granted, she was going for the part of Clara ...hah! she definitely doesn't lack in self confidence!)
This was a local community production through a wonderful hardworking company. She had to audition for a part and she got the parts of a cute little mouse and an angel.
I've never seen a 5 1/2 year old more determined. She endured long hours of practice time each weekend without complain and a long day of performing in the AM and PM.
( I, myself was pooped !!!).

Here she is ready to go on stage...

Here she is during dress rehearsal for her angel part...

I also baked a ton of cookies for a fundraiser for the ballet company. I was lucky enough to have a helper, our nana, who lovingly baked all my cookies while I decorated and iced them! :)
(Martha's sugar cookie recipe and icing recipe never fails!!)

What a whole lotta bakin'!

Thank you nana!

It was a beautiful performance with our little angel/mouse!
(One day... One day you will be Clara in sweet Nutcracker dreams.) I am sure.

Christmas in the big apple.

2010-12-12T14:57:00.001-08:00

We took a couple of days off from homeschooling to do some nostalgic holiday roaming through NYC. Growing up there as a kid, I used to take city for granted but now, years later, I reminisce of those fragrant chestnuts roasting in food trucks, salty pretzels, all the holiday lights, the shows and strolling through the streets for store window browsing.
Holidays is the city are beautifully magical and it is so special sharing it with my little girl.

What can compare to the gorgeous Rockefeller tree?

and iceskating there amongst the bright lights?

The seeing the singing light display and window displays at Saks 5th ave?

Now that I am a mama...
An annual visit to the American girl cafe is so sweet to share tea with my best girl !

A visit to the famous Magnolia Bakery for their "Rockettes" red velvet cupcakes is a must ...

Add a beautiful night at Lincoln Center seeing the Nutcracker Ballet.

(Daddy and girl going in hand in hand.)

Daddy's girl .

And finally a great day at Radio City Music Hall to see the beautiful Rockettes!! (It had been so long!).

Here she is...
Loving the bright lights - big city.

And for mama...
Ohhhhh, wagashi heaven!!!

Beautiful days in the city .
(I guess you can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl.)

Now on to merry making at home... where the heart is.

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Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-06T14:27:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for the holidays is so exciting!! I love this time of year . With so much planned ... I hope we have time for it all.
These were just some things we got around to doing this weekend...
Hope you are enjoying this holiday spirit and engaging in some merry making as well. :)

Trimming the tree and holiday carols.

Holiday flapjacks!

Ornament making ...

And stringing popcorn and cranberries for an outdoor Christmas tree for the birds.

~It's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

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A nest for Celeste by Henry Cole

2010-12-03T07:00:00.001-08:00

We just finished reading a gorgeous new book called "A nest for Celeste" by Henry Cole, (a story about art, inspiration and the meaning of home).The book is a true story, a period in time in which John James Audubon visits the Oakley plantation in the south to document and paint birds of the area, but the story is told through the point of view of a little mouse named Celeste.
The book is filled with beautiful illustrations and the story is so sweet, while at the same time teaching us about Audubon, his artistic process and birds. Also, the point of view of the story, through the eyes of Celeste, gives you an idea of the trials a little mouse may encounter to survive through the seasons.

Here Audubon is painting a picture of an Osprey.

Honeypie painted a picture one of her favorite characters in the story, the little thrush named Cornelius.

And she wrote a journal entry about the parts she liked and did not like from the book.

A great read-aloud book and beautiful addition for a naturalist's library.

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Nature in a nutshell by Jean Potter

2010-11-29T12:21:00.001-08:00

We have been working from this science experiment book, "Nature in a nutshell,100 science activities you can do in 10 minutes or less" by Jean Potter. We are really enjoying it!
It includes quick science experiments that you can do with kids about 4-7 years old.
Super easy and fun too!

Here we are investigating shadows and the sun.

We also worked with geometry tiles. So much you can do with them !

Making connections...

Having fun with science and math is very important to me. I am from the old fashioned era of complicated math and science memorization, that had no connection to my life 35 years ago. I am excited to share new outlooks with honeypie and I love seeing her passionate about math and curious about science.
As Martha would say...
"that's a good thing!".

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Eataly

2010-11-26T20:42:00.001-08:00

Last week I visited NYC to meet a (beautiful and true) friend of mine for some mama - (minus) kids time. (So rightly needed!)
We visited "Eataly", the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the U.S.A.,owned by Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich.
I can't tell you how amazing the place was !!!
(Food heaven).
Lovely friend + great wine + fantastic food + much needed conversation = fabulous evening :)

We sampled some...

Vino!

Mushroom bruschetta...

Spaghetti squash crostini, white bean and Rosemary crostini...

Baba al limoncello...
(mmmmmm)

There's nothing wrong with having two desserts. (I had a pear gelato as well and I'm not a bit ashamed).

Bought some fresh pasta!! (Butternut squash with amaretto cookie stuffed ravioli .) WOW !!
Also bought some Italian beer that was infused with flowers ! Delicious!!

Thought about truffles ...

Walked all around the market to see all the great Italian products!! Jams, bread, chocolate, beer, pasta, produce, cheese, sweets, gadgetry and books.
So wonderful !

Of course, best shared with a great friend.

Buon Appetito!! ;)

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Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Today we were inspired by thanksgiving.

We began our day by making a pilgrim bonnet

(we had already made one with our daisy scout troop and loved it!)

We got the idea from the Martha Stewart website (here).

The instructions are on the link above but here is how we did ours.

You need a 11x17 sheet of paper, a hole puncher and hole reinforcers.

Here are the measurements...

We reinforced our holes so they would not rip with the ribbons.

Cut upwards on the 3" line.

Fold over the top. This will be on the brim.

Tape the outer edges together.

Tape the top flap down.

Add ribbons.

Very cute! :)

We were inspired by this next project idea over at the blog "Little page turners".

It's a thanksgiving bracelet to remember the first thanksgiving story. Each bead you add to the bracelet tells a part of the thanksgiving story. We used a bit more beads to make our story longer.

Red, white and blue beads to represent the pilgrims leaving england.

Flower bead= traveling on the ship the Mayflower.

Green = to seek new land

6 blue beads = they sailed at sea for 66 days

Green = they found land

Black=stepped on Plymouth Rock.

white= it was winter and very cold when they landed

red= people got very sick. Some died.

"W" bead= Pilgrims were greeted by the Wampanoag tribe.

2 "S" beads = they met 2 American indians that helped them, "Samoset" and "Squanto".

orange = pilgrims planted pumpkins

yellow = corn

fish= the Wampanoag taught the pilgrims to plant herrings with the corn for a better crop.

red= cranberries were plentiful in this new land.

black = pilgrims learned to hunt wild turkeys. They had never seen turkeys before.

Heart = the wanpanoag tribe and the pilgrims became friends. The pilgrim were thankful for their help and the wanpanoag were thankful that the pilgrims were friendly, peaceful people.

star= they shared the first thanksgiving feast together.

We also read 2 great thanksgiving books. The "Pilgrim cat" by Carol Antoinette Peacock and "Thanksgiving Day" by Anne Rockwell.

Happiest thanksgiving everyone.

We are so thankful for the love of family and true friends.

~_~

PS... here are some pilgrim fun facts (here)

Today ...

2010-11-21T17:20:00.001-08:00

Morning ....

(vegan lemon poppyseed muffins)

Noon...

(for the toothfairy )

And night...

(lovely tunes on the victrola, wine and Family puzzle making )

Goodbye Sunday ...
Hello Monday .

^_^

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Vegan almond cookies

2010-11-18T18:16:00.001-08:00

I used to work in Chinatown in NYC teaching and one of my loveliest memories were visiting the Chinese bakeries with friends. I remember my kids bringing in goodies to class like pork buns, coconut buns, scallion pancakes and sesame cookies . Everyday before and after work I visited the corner bakery on Henry St for breakfast or snacking. Mmmmm. Fond memories. I learned a lot about food, family, and friendship during those years... and perhaps even the art of asking in restaurants... "what exactly is inside that?".

Recently I came upon this recipe for vegan almond cookies that totally took me back to those
years. I thought I'd share it.
It is slightly sweet, slightly salty and just the right crispy texture for sweet memories of moon cakes, Chinese new year and friends who are now far away west.

Enjoy!

Vegan almond cookies
From "veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup rice or soy milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup sliced blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350*

-Place parchment paper on 2 cookie sheets.
-Sift together the flour, almond meal, baking soda and salt in one bowl.
-In a large bowl or your kitchen aid mixer, beat together the oil, brown rice syrup, rice or soy milk, sugar, extracts and sesame oil.
-Add the flour mixture in and mix until a firm dough forms.
-Roll the dough into balls using about 2 tb of dough a piece.
-Press one side of the ball into the sliced almonds . And place them on the cookie sheet at least 2" apart, almond side up.
-Flatten each ball slightly to about 1 " thick.
-Bake for 12 to 15 minutes , until slightly golden brown at the edges. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheets . The cookies will be soft when they first get out of the oven but will firm up while cooling.

(before baking...)

(after baking!)

Vegan meat balls

2010-11-17T20:04:00.001-08:00

Here's another great recipe from my recent favorite cookbook, "veganomicon".
This is a recipe for vegan meatballs... a.k.a Bean balls!
Though the recipe calls for using regular wheat spaghetti, I decided to use a spaghetti squash for the noodles and the result was fantastic !!
For those of you who have never attempted to cook a spaghetti squash, I am including a how-to.

To make the bean balls you need:

1 (20 oz) can of black beans
Rinsed and drained
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb tomato paste
2 tb olive oil
2 cloves of garlic grated or finely minced
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
*I also added some finely chopped onion.

-Mash the beans in a bowl until no whole beans are left.

-Add all of the ingredients into the bowl with the beans and knead by hand for about a minute, until everything is really well combined and firm.

-Roll the mixture into walnut sized balls. ( do not make them too big, they will be difficult to cook.)

-Put a bit of olive oil to coat the whole pan and cook them at medium heat until they are browned . Remember to flip them and cook the other sides.

(Here they are cooked)

Now, to bake the spaghetti squash...

-Slice the spaghetti squash in half. Gently scoop out all the seeds from the inside.

-Bake (inside down/ peel up) in a pre-heated oven at 375* for about 45 to 50 minutes. (Depends on your oven. Mine heats too quickly, so I need less time.)

- Once the squash cools a bit, use a fork to scrape the spaghetti strands off from the squash. You can do that by pulling the fork away from the peel. It is actually quite amazing !! All these spaghetti like stands !!!!

I added a homemade marinara sauce using San Marzano tomatoes and called the dish "veggie spaghetti and bean balls". The whole family gobbled it up happily. :)

Delicious!!

This moment...

2010-11-12T08:04:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for the season...
(a little early .)

:)

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Making use of our halloween candy...

2010-11-09T11:48:00.001-08:00

Ok. I'll confess. I buy loads of "snickers" bags of candy to give out on Halloween, with the hope that no one will knock on our door and I get to eat them all .
I know... Selfish. Junky even. I'm not an advocate of crap candy. If we are to eat sweets here, I rather organic lollipops for my kid and real chocolate. But there is something amazing, personally, about the high fructose corn syrup poison in those junky morsels that I indulge in once a year. I'm not going to die of regret ... Today . :)

Luckily, honeypie doesn't care too much for the non-chocolate, pure sugar junk either. So I thought ... Why not put our Halloween candy to good use by working on science and math with them.

First on our agenda was a science experiment to test for secret ingredients inside the candy. Oil, citric acid and dyes.
Here we are testing for "citric acid" by adding a bit of baking soda to the dissolved pez, nerds, and bottlecaps.

Melting the candy in warm water .

We check for bubbles.

Here we are feeling the waxy film on the water to test for oil and feeling the flexibility in the laffy taffy and starburst candy.

The waxy film that formed after the oil puddles cooled.

Here we are testing the M and M's. We see if there are food dyes on the paper towels after wetting the candy.

(on a side note... Scary!)

Next? On to some math.
Making a candy bar graph.
We got the most Hershey kisses and only one tootsie roll. Thank god!! Tootsie rolls stink. It's a poor excuse for chocolate . :)

A great fun and full of learning kind of day.

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101 things we plan to do this winter

2010-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Winter is just around the corner... I can feel it in the air.

I've sadly put away the flip flops and before we bring out our woolly coats, Honeypie and I are layering. We've got sweaters and jean jackets and we hope to delay winter just a little bit longer.

This weekend we sat down as a family and made a list of 101 things we wanted to do this winter and this is good because by late January we tend to start going stir crazy!
This list has given us some exciting happy goals to meet before spring says hello.

Here is ours...

1. Make birdseed cookies for the winter birds.
2. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, woman's shelter or children's hospital.
3. Make scarves to keep someone else warm.
4. Go to the beach (just to see what is feels and looks like in the winter)
5. Make delicious hot chocolate with homemade peppermint marshmallows.
6. Watch the night sky for winter constellations.
7. Make molasses candy in the snow like Laura Ingalls.
8. Bake and decorate a gingerbread home.
9. Bake a spiced cake for someone dear.
10. Make christmas ornaments for friends.
11. Sing christmas carols as a family. (We love to do this every year!)
12. Breath on windows and draw shapes with our fingers.
13. Make reindeer and santa shaped pancakes.
14. Paint winter pictures for santa.
15. Make handmade cards.
16. Hike in the snow.
17. Have a sleep over camp out with tents in our basement.
18. Try out new cookie recipes with nana.
19. Sock skate around the house as a family.
20. Go ice skating in NYC's Rockefeller center.
21. Go out for ice cream at our favorite place.
22. Go maple syrup tapping at Tyler Arboretum.
23. Have a pillow fight.
24. Make caramel popcorn.
25. Stay overnight at a hotel and swim!
26. Have tea at the Plaza hotel like "Eloise".
27. Go see the Nutcracker Ballet at Lincoln Center.
28. See the Radio City Christmas show in NYC.
29. Go to F.A.O Schwarz and play with all the toys but buy nothing!
30. Work on our family 1000 piece puzzle collections.
31. Listen to daddy's victrola by candle light.
32. Capture snowflakes on black paper and look at them with a magnifying glass.
33. Go to the american girl cafe in nyc, catch a look at the rockefeller tree while we are there.
34. Make peppermint bark.
35. Have a holiday dinner party for friends.
36. Look for animal tracks outside.
37. Read as many winter books as possible.
38. Watch "It's a wonderful life" on TV.
39. Roast chestnuts. YUM!
40. Make snow angels, snow men and snow doggies outside.
41. Crack some nuts with nutcrackers.
42. Stay all day in our pajamas, nap, read, eat and cuddle all day.
43. Attend an outdoor nature program at a local park.
44. Play charades.
45. Bake homemade bread. Maybe even try a version of Panettone.
46. Have a puppet show .
47. String popcorn and cranberries for our christmas tree.
48. Take fancy family holiday portrait/photo.
49. Watch old time horror movies like the swamp thing, frankenstein. (Just mama and daddy.)
50. Learn to play traditional card games.
51. Make real snow cones with special healthy homemade fruit syrups.
52. Study Japan for a week, eat Japanese food the whole week and visit and art museum to see japanese art and make our own japanese inspired art.
53. Visit a planetarium or observatory.
54. Figure out what is inside a "hot toddy"and drink one (mama and daddy) and a warm mulled apple cider for kid.
55. Go to a christmas concert.
56. Celebrate chinese new year with a traditional homemade meal and art crafts.
57. Go to Longwood Gardens to see their christmas displays.
58. Celebrate Kwanzaa.
59. Buy pajamas with feet for the whole family and wear them.
60. Knit and teach honeypie to knit.
61. Make a winter journal.
62. Learn some magic tricks and put on a show.
63. Write a family newsletter.
64. Write winter and snow poems.
65. Decorate sugar cookies.
66. Catch snowflakes with our tongues.
67. Go looking for christmas lights on neighborhood homes.
68. Have honeypie open a bank account using her piggy bank money. Set a goal for depositing money in.
69. Turn off the computer by 4 pm daily.
70. Sign up for a "walk" as a family for a cause.
71. Hold a cooking class in our kitchen and invite friends to participate.
72. Run around like crazy outdoors, on grass, at least 3 times a week.
73. Go to a flea market and find treasures.
74. Write valentine love letters.
75. Read to each other from joke books.
76. Research something that really interests us at the library (as opposed to the internet).
77. Donate a box of well loved toys to another family.
78. Make paper dolls.
79. Go bowling.
80. Make rock candy.
81. Have a family talent show. Invite nana and pop pop to watch.
82. Sit down and look through family photo albums.
83. Go sledding.
84. Photograph winter scenes.
85. Melt snowballs and see how much water they hold.
86. Grow our own sprouts and eat them.
87. Have a snowball fight.
88. Go on an outdoor winter scavenger hunt.
89. Collect pine cones to make a wreath.
90. Make homemade christmas gifts.
91. Sponsor a needy family's christmas list.
92. Create a terrarium.
93. Invent our own board game.
94. Spend time with grand parents.
95. Have a paper airplane contest.
96. Turn the TV off for a day. Try for 2 days or more and see how many new things we can do while it is off. No cheating once we make our goals.
97. Make homemade ice cream.
98. Start a collection.
99. Go bird watching.
100. See the Macy's thanksgiving parade live for the first time ever!!!
101. Set goals as a family for the upcoming new year. Discuss together all the wonderful and positive things you accomplished this year.
Make noise makers, hats and confetti to celebrate on december 31st.
Make a yummy family meal and stay up to welcome 2011!!

So go ahead... make a list together as a family.

It is fun to get excited about being and doing together.

Print out your list and cross out things as you meet each goal!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:06:00.001-07:00

Of course we needed to be a unicorn this Halloween! :)
Mama had it easy this year making the costume. I found a fluffy vest with a hood and just embellished it with ears, mane, tail and a golden horn.
Super cute!

We made a couple more crafts and even got around to making a delicious carrot / red lentil dip with toasted ghostly corn tortillas!

Oh boy !

Hope you had a ghoulishly yummy Halloween !

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Soft pretzel pumpkins

2010-10-27T08:56:00.001-07:00

There's something very evocative about the deliciousness of a soft salty pretzel, specially smothered with spicy mustard. It talks to me about 80's music concerts with cheap beer, cold winter nights in NYC, and that darn "take me out to the ball game" song.
So imagine my joy when I found what has got to be the world's easiest pretzel recipe ever!!
I'm going to share it with you, because you know you love a good pretzel and it might bring you back memories too, whether Duran Duran, Pat Benatar or the Yankees....

Our soft pretzels here are Halloween inspired.

Soft pretzels

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1.Sprinkle 1 package of yeast ( the little ones 1/4 oz) onto 3/4 of a cup of warm water. Add a tablespoon of sugar and stir. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. It will become foamy .
2.Put 2 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt into a bowl. Add the yeast mixture.
3.Knead the dough until smooth.
4.Roll pieces of dough into ropes or what ever shape you want them to be.

5.Make fun shapes . (Here we are making a pumpkin)

6.Beat one egg with a fork and brush the tops of the pretzels with the egg. Sprinkle with corse salt.

7.Bake at 400* for about 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your pretzel. Or until golden brown.

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Paper doll ghosts

2010-10-25T19:52:00.001-07:00

Here is a super easy project for little hands and perfect for any occasion. Paper dolls.
In October, pumpkin, bats and ghosts. November brings turkeys, cornucopias, or corn. In December, Christmas trees, Ginger bread men and wreaths ... The list goes on!!

The magic of paper doll making is this:
One: making tabs (hands that hold )
Two: a fan fold

To make some first,

Take an 8 1/2 sheet of paper and fold it in half.

Fold it in half again

And fold it in half again...

Open the paper. You should have 8 creases (8 rectangles ).

Refold back and forth. Like a zig zag ( a fan).

Flatten down and draw 2 tabs. One on each side. This is how your image will hold together.

Draw your image.
We chose a little ghost-y.

Cut all around the image .
BUT do not cut the tabs off.

And cut...

Tah dah!!! Paper doll ghosties!

We made tons of ghosts, pumpkins, bats, hearts, flowers and....

Even got around to including some paper doll unicorns !!

Have fun!!

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More unicorn love!

2010-10-24T10:23:00.001-07:00

There is always a time for sneaking in some unicorn love and last week we got around to making some unicorn crafts and art.
I love documenting the many different unicorns that honeypie makes. This time it was collage and I love that she didn't notice this unicorn has about 10 legs .
:)

Here she worked on a sun catcher.

The whole "sticker story" books are awesome. If you haven't ventured into this world, you can find them at barnes and noble on just about any theme.

And some great new book finds at the library!
(We adore Tomie dePaola)

If you are a unicorn lover and believer like we are, good unicorn book finds are magic!!! ( There are not too many out there, sadly.)

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Pasta ghosts

2010-10-21T08:39:00.001-07:00

Today's Halloween / science fun?

Pasta skeletons!

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Cookie skeletons

2010-10-20T19:33:00.001-07:00

We have been busy getting ready for Halloween and nothing says yummy halloween better than these chocolate skeleton friends!

If you'd like to make these I am including the recipe below.

Enjoy!

And....

A fairy and her unicorn (skeletons!!)

Here's the recipe!

Royal icing

1 lb confectioners sugar
5 tb meringue powder
1/2 cup water (mixed in, a little at a time).

Mix in a bowl with a whisk. If the mixture is too thin, add more confectionary sugar. If it is too thick, add a bit more water but a tsp at a time. You want the icing to be thick, that way it will not run all over your cookies.

Chocolate cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder.
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (which is 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 confectioners sugar
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

~sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.
~mix butter and confectioners sugar at medium-high speed in a different bowl ( with a paddle attachment on your kitchen aid) until light and fluffy.
~mix in the egg and vanilla. Reduce speed. Gradually add the flour mixture until the dough sticks together .
~ refrigerate the dough for at least an hour .
~roll out the dough to 1/8" thick .
~cut out the cookies in the desired shapes. (I like to bake on parchment paper. Keeps the cookies from sticking to the trays.)
~bake at 350* for about 8 minutes depending on the thickness of the dough.
~If the dough softens too much , stick it back in the fridge and roll it out again.

We are trying to do a Halloween countdown with projects to do everyday ... So stay tuned !

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Thinking math

2010-10-18T17:54:00.001-07:00

The last couple of weeks we have been doing all sorts of fun things while thinking mathematically. Math is not a subject I enjoy but it seems that my honeypie adores it and I'm excited she will not have to struggle as Daddy or I did. (I'm sure that gift comes right from nana and pop pop). :)
We have been...

Counting with M and M's

Counting with Teddy bears

Making patterns with Teddy bears

Figuring out how to make pictures with geometry tiles

(a boy flying a kite)

Reading some math books. ( This one gave us some great conversations as we tried to solve the math games.

Working with fractions.

Working with fraction tiles

Making connections!

Drawing and thinking fractions

So far lots of energy, enjoying using a mathematical mind and most important...
Keeping math fun!

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This moment...

2010-10-17T20:50:00.001-07:00

~ Half of our lifetime together in love and friendship. I continue to love you more each day. A beautiful weekend together daddy.
Thank you.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

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Nutty about hazelnuts

2010-10-15T04:37:00.001-07:00

This month, Martha Stewart's magazine has a focus on hazelnuts. Though my only real love of hazelnuts comes via Nutella or Ferrero Rocher ... I decided to investigate this high class nut and it's flavors using Martha's recipes in that issue.
The first thing we tried was her hazelnut pizza dough and the two toppings, butternut squash and the broccoli rabe. The butternut squash pizza was delicious!!! But the broccoli rabe... Not so much. I didn't know broccoli rabe was soooo bitter. Almost to the point of being inedible. So I tried my own topping on that delicious crust, while still keeping it vegan and I think the spinach, caramelized onions and pinenuts was the best tasting. The butternut one came in second. It was very tasty.
We made vegan nutella and lovely hazelnut cookies too and the hazelnut pancakes were a hit!
This experimentation made me realize that hazelnuts are a great versatile nut!

The butternut squash is best sliced with a mandoline slicer, since it's the only way to get it nice and thin.

Here it is tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, sage and fresh garlic .

And that is it!!

Delicious and vegan!

Here is the broccoli rabe one. The broccoli rabe is blanched first and added to olive oil, salt, garlic, and chopped red onion.

Here's the spinach, pinenut and caramelized onions.

Mmmmm, hazelnut pancakes with a raspberry sauce.

These were devoured by the clan.

Lovely hazelnut cookies. These tasted like short bread.

Dipped in vegan hazelnut chocolate spread!! (nutella)

Home made and Vegan nutella :)

I'm including the links to the recipes above. Definitely give them a try!

Thanks Martha ! ~_^

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Nature journal

2010-10-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

Last year (here) we started nature journals where we drew things we saw on our hikes or bike rides. We also used them to sit and sketch from observation and it was really a fun project to do together.
This year we will go a little deeper with our journal and add some writing to our observations, reflecting and making connections as the seasons change. We will also continue to add to our collection of found nature objects for our science box and we will use some objects we found to create a nature shadow box for each season, inspired by Joseph Cornell's boxes.
I just bought an amazing new book by Claire Walker Leslie called "The Nature Connection" (here) and I loooooveeee it!
Claire walker Leslie is very well known for her love of nature and nature journals and has a various of books on the subject. They are a must for any nature lover .
What I love most about this book is the ideas she gives children to help them observe particular seasonal changes and she gives activities to enhance those findings.
We started with September and I will share some favorite activities later on.

Here are some pages from last year's journal entries...
Sunflower observations.

A plum tree

Here's the same plum tree THIS year shedding it's blooms.

A sun print with herbs from our garden.

And some recent drawings .
A paper wasp nest.

A little robin in our yard .

Our butterfly bush .

And here is another great thing we have started ...
A question box!!
( because mama unfortunally does not have all the answers!!). We made it together after realizing that honeypie had more questions that I could NOT answer and actually i found it a great opportunity for researching the answers together.

Questions and decorations by honeypie .

We are focusing more on earth and sky as the science part of our homeschooling curriculum this year, planets, constellations, and our environment.

Autumn latkes

2010-10-02T09:49:00.001-07:00

We made these delicious autumn latkes from the book "veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are perfect for fall and maybe even as an appetizer for the thanksgiving table. Daddy and I ate ours with the vegan horseradish-dill sour cream and honeypie ate hers with ... Ketchup.
I wanted to share the recipe.

Autumn latkes

From veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

2 cups peeled and shredded beets
1 cup peeled and shredded carrots
1 cup peeled and shredded sweet potato
1 shallot finely chopped
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt ( I used more)
Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds chopped ( I did not use these... I know what my kid will not eat...)
1/4 cup water ( I did not use that since my veggies were already quite wet.. You have to form this dough into patties and if the dough is too wet, the shape will not hold)
Olive oil for pan frying

Put some paper towels on a plate to absorb the oil on the latkes once they are done.
Combine all the shredded veggies in a large mixing bowl. Add the shallots, salt, pepper, flour and corn starch. Mix well.
Add a bit of the water to help the flour mix with all the veggies.
Preheat a non stick pan with a bit of olive oil. (She calls for 1/4 " but that is waaaaay toooo much.) I just used enough to coat the pan lightly. The pan is already non stick so you really don't need to add unneeded calories .
Form the veggie dough into patties. Pan fry the patties at medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes on one side ... A bit less on the other side but check for brown and crispy like texture.
Transfer to the paper towels.
Done!

Now for the horseradish sour cream! (which is amazing !!)

For the horseradish sour cream you need:

1 lb of soft tofu
2 tb fresh grated horseradish
1 tb of apple cider vinegar
1 tb of agave syrup or maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

I placed all this in a bowl and blended it with my handheld blender.
Done.

But that is a short cut...

What she calls for is this...

Take 1/4 cup of grapeseed oil and 3 chopped cloves of garlic
And cook in a pan till lightly browned. Remove the garlic from the oil and discard. Place the oil into the bowl with the other ingredients and blend. Add the dill and blend again. The sour cream should have a light green color. Adjust salt or vinegar to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

^_^

Great recipe!!

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October revisited....

2010-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and so is the loveliness of apple and pumpkin picking.

I am posting some pictures with links to some of my last years blog posts,

as inspiration for some yumminess you might want to partake in this year.

Here are some apple fritters we made inspired by the little house on the prairie books, with recipe included.

Ma's Apple fritters (here)

Here are some Apple jellies (here) inspired by Alice Waters

Apple prints (here)

Apple cupcakes (here)

Halloween cookies (here)

Pumpkin bites inspired by Bakerella (here)

A delicious and amazing pumpkin pot pie

inspired by Martha Stewart (here)

A cute and easy halloween pumpkin dress up

Instructions (here)

More halloween cookies (here)

And some great book ideas! (here)

Those were some great projects we made last year and I am getting ready for this years set. We have apple tarts and vegan pumpkin tamales, as well as tons of fun crafts to make.

So stay tuned!

Happy first day of October!

First tooth ...

2010-09-30T20:03:00.001-07:00

Oh it feels like we have been waiting for this forever! Our first tooth has finally fallen out!!
All it took was patience and a little inspiration from our favorite nana-like librarian, who swore all her grandkids had used a piece of terrycloth to giggle and pull their teeth out. (I have horrid flash backs of my childhood with a string wrapped around my tooth and around a door knob and a closing of such door).... So I in noway wanted rush her and i let her take control of her own teeth.
She was so excited!!

But we had a little problem...
She did not want the tooth fairy to take her tooth... So we left the fairy a little note...

And the tooth fairy left us a little note too!

She left us some coins and fancy chocolate as well!
:)

Honeypie was amazed and completely on cloud nine. "mama!!! The tooth fairy left me a note!!! I am soooo special!!! :)"

Yes you are baby... Yes you are.

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Some vegan hits ...

2010-09-27T16:13:00.001-07:00

Getting a kid to eat veggies sometimes can be as much fun as a trip to the dentist for a root canal. I mean... I'm talking about my kid. She can be quite adventurous or very choosy depending on the weather. Though she finds some things like pesto delicious, whether walnut- kale or basil - pinenut, she will frown at mushrooms. She might say yes to butternut squash soup or quinoa stew but no to green or red peppers...
figure that. Hmmm.
Kids can be picky.
So my going vegan has made home meals more complex and obviously veggie based and it has been a challenge to see what passes as "great" for honeypie. She is still eating some dairy, eggs and the occasional turkey meatball which she loves for lunch or breakfast but I've made dinner strictly veggie based for ALL.
So last week I worked from the awesome book "veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, as well as her "Vegan Brunch" and Terry Romero's "Viva Vegan" and these were some great hits for everyone.

Chickpea, potato and spinash enchiladas with a tomatillo sauce. (honeypie ate hers without the tomatillo or spinash ...)

These were awesome !!!!! Sooooo delicious that everyone must have had 4 a piece !
Potato pancake samosas ( Indian spiced but not hot). Amazing ! Eaten with a mango chutney and a vegan lime mayo.

This was a good soup. Butternut squash with adzuki beans and shiiitake garnish, spiced with Ginger, cloves, cinnamon. Honeypie really liked this but minus the shiitake.

And of course dessert...
Great vegan chocolate almond cookies. Filled our cookie jar for the week.

These were pumpkin chocolate brownies... Spiced with a bit of cayenne!

So all in all...
Getting there with broadening honeypie's palette.
If it was up to her...
It would probably be pasta day everyday...
So cooking and choosing together our meals might be a good way for her to keep an open mind.

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Hello fall...

2010-09-24T15:47:00.001-07:00

We had been eagerly awaiting the beginning of fall all week. We went on night walks in the park to watch the moon and we were so excited for the harvest moon on wednesday night . But on our third walk on Wednesday, It started to thunder and the moon hid in and out of clouds all night. So no big orange moon sighting on this autumn solstice. :(
Thursday we went out again at night and enjoyed a yellow bright moon and welcomed the first night of fall. We opened all windows and aired the house out. (and burned some sage to clear the air .)
We did enjoy our night walks and loved hearing the sounds of crickets and night creatures. It was experiencing our park with new ears and eyes. We even saw big bright Jupiter . A huge treat.

Honeypie painted her favorite sighting of the moon.

We read books about autumn.

(some were funny!)

We also read a book about the moon.

And honeypie requested a "harvest celebration" like dinner... Something with corn she said. So I made her vegan corn chowder and vegan corn bread in the shape of cute little acorns.

(here's the cute acorn pan.)

She also started writing a book about fall. Here are some pages...

Hello fall !

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Teeth

2010-09-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

Our first tooth has not fallen out YET but we are still reading tons about the science of it all.
Today we read the book "the magic school bus and the missing tooth" and we made a paper version of a tooth to understand the inner workings of teeth.

We drew a big tooth on construction paper and colored in the nerves and pulp.

We cut that out...

We cut 2 semi circles to illustrate the outside and inside parts of the gums...

We then cut a slit into the paper to slide our tooth into the gums leaving the crown of the tooth exposed and the roots hidden.

Here's the tooth...

And oh oh... A decayed tooth!!

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A peek into our week..

2010-09-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

(Sometimes I want to box mano a mano with technology. As much as it blows my mind away daily... I just erased a whole bunch of blog entries including this one I am re-posting, with just a push of a button on my phone and funny how it cannot be undone.... aughhhh time wastage. So here I am posting this one again. Sorry if you have already read it! )

So this is just a small peek into the second week of our homeschooling journey. This week finds us trying to find the rhythm of our days and trying to see where it leads us. Honeypie has chosen the topics that she is interested in learning about and investigating and so far they include things like our solar system, volcanoes, ponies, unicorns, bugs that scare her and spanish. This is all new to us but not really... a friend said to me once something that still resonates in my mind. She said, "you are not "starting" homeschooling... you've been homeschooling her since she was born", and she is so right. Honeypie and I have been involved in her world of curiosity and questioning, of reading and making art together, making the warmth of our home for now almost 6 years. Its been a wonderful journey so far and this blog documents almost 2 years in the making. When I tell people that we are homeschooling, some eyes roll but the majority are in awe. How can you do that? how do you do that? aren't there laws about this? how do you find time for yourself? how do you know you are doing it right? ... on and on the questions. That made me scared at first. Made me doubt my decision, made me second guess myself. I don't have a whole lotta answers BUT here we are and like most things I do in life ... i'm jumping right in.

Our challenges this week revolve around rhythm and routines. What comes first, what comes next? what is the goal of the day or week. I would say we are operating at a 90% success, considering the major wads of lists I have been keeping and scratching things off as we go. My main goal is keeping things fun, exciting and relaxed. Making things relevant to our everyday life. Keeping a calm home life (and self) and being outdoors as much as we can, going to the library, to the park, museums and really soaking it all up.

(I'm also sneaking in some gym and yoga for mama.)

We are keeping a creative writing journal, a nature journal, and a math journal and we are still making, baking, reading, seeing, loving what the day will bring. I think that is plenty for this little kindergardener who also has choir, tap dance, ballet and swimming to add to her afternoons. Busy, busy bee.

We are looking forward to next week as we prepare for the autumn solstice and honeypie has lots of ideas on how to celebrate the beginning of fall. So stay tuned.

Who is present today and ready to learn?

Looking at our week

beginning Spanish lessons

Making a bracelet for a a dear friend who has moved far away

and a card too

Working on math with geometry tiles

Observing things in our discovery box using a magnifying glass

Enjoying the beautiful day and painting monarch butterflies that are still sipping nectar from our flowers

Reading... tons of reading

some new library picks

enjoying ballet class

and some foodie requests...

buckwheat crepes with nutella and bananas

Roasted veggie soup (aka. ITS JUST tomato soup!! ~_^ wink)

eggplant, zucchini, onion, tomato and red peppers with crispy onions

and her favorite lunch... cold sesame green tea soba noodles with dipping sauces!

Viva vegan!

2010-09-16T18:09:00.001-07:00

Its been 30 years since I left my roots in South America. My years now blend into an American life that slowly pushes the colors, rhythms and flavors of that place behind. Now that I have a kid, I think of my past and want to share that bit of difference with her. I want to teach her Spanish and tell her stories of what I can remember. Mainly food... :)
landscapes too...and sometimes ... Sometimes a song might pop up.
Thinking about the rhythm of life our family is now creating, I can recall a bit of mine...
Hot chocolate with melted cheese inside ( yes cheese!) for breakfast and arepas, making empanadas, my great aunt's knitting, my grandmother's baking, singing with my mother, and sugarcane fields.
This new vegetarian lifestyle in our house has been fully embraced by daddy and honeypie is coming around. Some dishes are a hit and certain others are a complete miss with her. I will say she is operating at an 85% yes. I think that is pretty good considering she is going through Mac and cheese withdrawal....
I am keeping to more of a vegan lifestyle until my health and body are back in tip top order. :).
For now... Feeling good... Better. I am a cheese-free, coffee-free, dairy -free, meat-free gal...
So imagine how excited I was to find this new cook book "Viva vegan" by Terry Hope Romero!!! Latin food the vegan way!! Think tamales, empanadas, etc but meat free. It is amazing!
This week we tried arepas with corn and vegan cheese, which were fantastic. Honeypie could not get enough! Arepas are a traditional Colombian food eaten like bread. It's a corn cake, practically eaten daily and I like terry's take on it by using corn kernels within the dough.
We also made a super traditional soup called "sancocho", it's a soup I must have eaten as a child at least once a week and back then my mother made it with ox tail , or chicken legs... ( I know ... Meaty)... So it was really interesting to see what a vegan interpretation would be. The recipe uses tons of root vegetables including yucca and plantain which are Latin staples. Yucca tastes like a really starchy potato, it's a bit stringy and honeypie HATED it. Plantain is dense and it was tolerated by her but I have to say she was not a huge fan of this soup.... But she ate a serving. I liked it and it tasted authentic. Most important, i didn't miss the meat but because all of the root veggies ... It's probably best left for a cold winter day.

This is the corn meal flour you must use and it is found at most supermarkets.

This is the dough after adding the corn and vegan cheese.

Honeypie helped me make these patties...

After cooking them.

Delicious !

And here is the "sancocho".
Not a hit with my kid ... Too bad :(

But I am looking forward to making tamales for the first time!
Great book!!

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Getting ready for the tooth fairy...

2010-09-14T19:27:00.001-07:00

Our check-up at the dentist reveals that we have a first loose tooth and boy are we excited!!!!

It's very wiggly today, so we are preparing for the tooth fairy to come maybe this week!
Today we read this great book about tooth fairies and made a fairy pouch to put our tooth in!

"The Tooth Fairy" by Gaby Goldsack is a cute book to introduce kids to the idea of a tooth fairy and it has a cute feature at the end, where kids can log each tooth they loose.

We made a little tooth pouch to hold our first tooth.
I drew a little tooth on felt for honeypie and cut it out twice.

I embroidered a mouth and eyes..

And honeypie sewed it together, leaving a little opening for the tooth fairy to go in and out of!

First tooth... Coming out SOooN!

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Gluten-free/Vegan Carrot Muffins

2010-09-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday mornings are my favorite time for baking and this morning we made gluten-free / vegan carrot muffins via "the Flying Apron's" gluten-free and vegan baking book by Jennifer Katzinger. Jennifer owns the famous Flying Apron bakery in Seattle and her focus is in creating treats that are nutritious, delicious, unique and vegan. She wanted her treats to be made with whole grain flours, alternative sweeteners, and mostly allergen free (no soy or gluten).
These muffins are hearty, high in fiber and delicious. They are though, a little dense and crumbly but that is to be expected, since we are not using eggs and we are using brown rice and garbanzo flour instead of white flour. But both daddy and honeypie ate them happily.
(I made honeypie's minus the walnuts which she is not very fond of.)

Here is the recipe :
"Carrot Muffins from the Flying Apron Bakery"

2 cups of brown rice flour
1 1/4 cups of garbanzo flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup canola oil
2 cups water
1 tb vanilla extract
2 cups agave syrup
1 1/4 cups shredded carrot
2 1/2 cups shredded coconut unsweetened
2 cups pecans or walnuts
1 cup golden raisins

preheat oven to 350 *

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients next. Finally add the carrots, coconut, and nuts and fold together with a spatula.
Divide the batter into your muffin tin cups, lined with paper cups or greased.
Bake until the tops are golden and firm, 20-25 minutes.
Test with a toothpick.

Fairy houses and tree dwellings...

2010-09-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Its our official homeschooling, kindergarden day number 3...

and yesterday we visited the beautiful "Tyler Arboretum" in Pennsylvania.

The Tyler Arboretum encompasses 650 acres and is home to ancient trees, rare plants, historic buildings and beautiful hiking trails. They had a fantastic exhibit called "Nature's enchantments" and it displayed over 30 amazing, artistic tree houses that children could climb and explore. It also had through out the grounds, little fairy dwellings, houses and villages that artists had created and the children had to find. There were goblin houses, troll bridges, hobbit gardens, wizard workshops and gnome cottages.

We had an amazing time! So much fun! (and already a field trip on the first week of school!) ;)

Here we go!

A goblin house

A wizard's home

a beautiful bridge

A fairy home under a bridge

running wild in the fields...

forest spirits

A troll bridge

A little gnome cottage

A wizard's potions and spells workshop

More tree houses

A pixie village on a pond

It was a beautiful day!

We also read a great and inspiring book called "Fairy Houses" by Trace Kane and

tomorrow we are going to go collecting materials in the forest, to start building our own fairy house outside.