Somebody's Been Busy — Robot Gear Garden Fabric Found

Look at this adorable block by cauchy09 posted on Flickr. There are my wee robots in the middle having a good time.

New Skewer Pack: Funny Feet

Where are those sausages going? This wee bento accompanied a thermos of homemade chicken soup with alphabet pasta and orange peppers.

FROM THE TOP

· Cucumber stars (an old favourite)

· Yellow pepper strips

· Walking beef sausage slices

· Cinnamon bun (from a large pack we found at Costco and keep in the freezer to dole out once in awhile)

Check out the other skewers in the pack:
Umbrellas
Rings
Balloons
Flowers

No Flour, No Bake Pie Crust

Hubs went above and beyond for dessert this evening with this wonderful alternative to traditional pie crust. Hubs found this easy and yummy recipe at Paleolithic Recipe.

INGREDIENTS

2 C. pecans, pistachios and almonds mixture

1 C. dates, pitted

2 T. orange juice

1 C. almond flour (or ground almonds in food processor)

METHOD

Grind the 2 cups of mixed nuts in a food processor until fine enough that they just begin to make nut butter on the sides. Next, add dates, mixing until it eventually starts to ball up as the oils start to pull out of the ground nuts. Finally, add the orange juice. The clumps of mixture will suddenly ball up in one solid, rich mass.

Put the almond flour into sifter and shake powder over wax paper. Put the ball of nut and date mixture in the centre, pressing down. Sprinkle more nut powder over top and put another sheet of wax paper on top. Use a rolling pin to flatten ball until it's the size of your pie pan. Gently press into pan and dust with remaining almond powder.

For the filling, it's a bit more difficult to document as we were using a pre-packaged filling, that we got as a gift, that required us to add whipping and cream cheese and sugar ... not sure what was in it, aside from a very yummy maple flavour. It is SO rich that we agree that some berries will make a nice addition tomorrow night. And a smaller slice. Anyone want to come over for a piece? Spud by the way, gobbled up his piece this evening with a big thumbs up. High fives to Hubs.

Photo Friday #40

MOROCCAN SOUQS   |  TRAVELS WITH KID

We tried to get lost in the Fes Souqs. It was easy to do. And fun. Hubs has a supernatural internal compass that we relied on heavily, nonetheless it was good to pull out the map once in awhile and gaze upon the thousands of pathways and alleys throughout the old Medina. Literally.

It's such a pleasure to see so many people making stuff with their own hands. From wood working to sewing to metal work and on and on. At every turn the sounds and smells and sights change as you meander from one theme of the souq to another. Here they are making wooden furniture.

And thrones perhaps?

And the leather tanneries. Here I am with fresh mint pressed to my nose to reduce the impact of the pigeon poo which is used in the tanning process. Thank you to the sales person who gave us the mint before showing us the tannery. And sorry we didn't buy any of your leather. I do regret not buying a pouff now that I'm at home. They are selling up the street for $400. Probably could have got one for $25. Great.

Oh, and of course the food. This was our go-to hamburger joint for lunch in Fes (ground meat with Moroccan spices and fried onions inside a pita, for next to nothing!). We loved it there despite the fact that they called it Big Mac.

Here we are shopping for heavenly dates and nuts in Marrakech, getting equipped with snacks for our bus trip through the Atlas mountains to the desert in the south.

But Spud was the most fascinated with the wooden stuff. He bought a secret box, made of local cedar, with his own money. The sales person threw in this funny wooden box with a snake hidden inside. Sorry to all the staff at our riad in Fes who got bitten too. Especially to the manager who apparently has a legit fear of snakes and flew back a few feet upon opening the drawer. Only to be met with great laughter from the kid.

While we are at it, let's also say sorry to this seller and the dozens like him — we really don't want your trinkets. He looks happy here but that changed pretty quickly when he realized we were completely serious when we said we didn't want to own fake pink crystal-like thingys. I imagine it's a tough life running a tourist shop.

Because we travelled with carry-on only, there were a few items that we needed to buy on arrival. Like nail clippers and a small pair of scissors. Maybe we could have brought them on the plane but it's hard to keep up with the ever changing rules on in-flight contraband. It turns out that shopping for everyday ordinary, not necessarily touristy stuff, is way more fun and all around less awkward and stressful. Here we are browsing through some scissors options. We checked some baggage on the way home so we got to keep them, which I'm pretty happy with. While it ain't no hoochie orange leather pouff, they are sharp and work like a charm.

The other fascinating aspect of life in the the souq is how dang crazy-busy and crowded they can be. This is particularly true in Fes and Marrakesh. Besides the crush of people, there are bikes, mules, donkeys, horses, carts, motor bikes, and even cars (well, no cars in the Fes Medina actually, thank you Fes!). You have to be prepared to press your bodies up against the wall at a moment's notice of "ATTENTION!" being shouted urgently behind you. I wanted to catch some of this action digitally but of course I was too busy trying to save my life and that of my son's also.

But the hardest part? The motorized vehicles. As they spew their exhaust into the covered areas of the souq it gets pretty hard to breathe. I'd take a donkey braying in my ear any day.

The souk life in Essaouira was significantly more laid back with wider streets and a beach town sort of tempo. While we didn't witness as much manufacturing here, the stores themselves were just as colourful and enticing.

En route to our riad, this little book shop is spilling into the street. Unfortunately there are no books there for us.

So in all, I would say that the souqs are probably best suited for people who are natural shoppers, natural bargainers, and who can withstand large amounts of carbon dioxide. We are none of those things and yet our experience of trundling around the myriad of shops and alleyways was an incredibly rich experience that was a highlight of our Morocco trip.

And yes, they sold pouffs in Essaouira too and I still didn't buy one. But I do have a great pair of sharp, little scissors. OK, and I suppose I should mention that the scissors were actually made in Germany. But the memories of buying them were made in Morocco.

Check out other posts about our travels in Morocco.

Thanks to Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday. Pop over to see all sorts of other travel adventures.

Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana Bites

TASTY FROZEN NOT-SO-BAD-FOR-YOU TREAT

We made a batch of chocolate covered banana bites and they were a big hit. Easy to make too! I posted about it on ohdeedoh today. Check it out.

"Please Get Down From There"

"Or at least hold on really tight, like you mean it". Just a couple of thoughts I remember soaring through my head, quietly. I just stumbled across this photo from last summer and I remember joking with him that he wasn't allowed to climb to the very top until he was 7. Obviously he didn't take me very seriously. You can barely make it out but that's a mischievous grin on his mug. And now he IS 7 so there's truly nothing holding him back. Not even his irrational mom with a horrifying imagination.

Perhaps we should go back to that playground today.

Photo Friday #39: Camel Trekking

CAMEL TREKKING SAHARA, MOROCCO  |  TRAVELS WITH KID

Not only was having Tea in the Sahara a tick on my Life List but our stay in the desert was overall one of the highlights of our trip.

... While it doesn't look like there is much to do but take in the peaceful surroundings, Spud definitely kept busy ...

... with daddy's help, he got thoroughly buried (our guide told us that people with rheumatism come here to bury themselves because they believe it has healing properties)

... he explored on his own ...

... of course he drew in the sand ...

... learned to measure time using the shadow of a stick ...

... tracked insects ...

... our guide took him on a sort of sled ride down the dune ...

... and then a 90 minute camel ride back to camp ...

 ... so brave to ride all the way back on his own ...

... into the sunset ...

... home sweet Saharan home ...

Check out other posts about our travels in Morocco.

Thanks to Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday each week. Share your travel pics there too or check out some other travel posts from some very talented, travel-savvy participants.

Family-Friendly Accomodation in Morocco

MOROCCO  |  TRAVELS WITH KID

The following are the places we would stay again if we were ever so lucky as to travel to Morocco again. Ours and other family reviews at the links to Trip Advisor below each destination.

FES — Dar Skalli

MARRAKECH — Dar Ihssane

OUARZAZATE — Le Petit Riad

ESSAOUIRA — Dar Liouba

Check out other posts about our travels in Morocco.

Granny Squares In Progress

Finally getting to play with my Granny Square colour scheme using this tutorial (via whipup).

Photo Friday #38

TEA IN THE SAHARA WITH YOU   |   TRAVELS WITH KID

Check out other posts about our travels in Morocco.

Thanks to Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday each week. Share your travel pics there too or check out some other travel posts from some very talented, trave-savvy participants.

Love Lollies Fabric

From sketch to scan ...

To digital tracing and tweaking ...

To fabric design!

UPDATE: added more patterns to the collection here.