Off to the Post Office

Three orders of Robot-y fabric off to San Diego, San Francisco, and Athens, Georgia.
xoxo.

Today's Finds at the Used Bookstore

We used up the better part of our $80 credit today and it was so much fun. I'm pretty creeped out by old, dirty books but these ones are all in great condition. The most interesting find, I think, was Spud's pick. Wait for it: "Italian Style". I don't get why but I'm intrigued to find out what he gets out of it.

Call it Courage, Armstrong Sperry
George's Marvelous Medicine, Roald Dahl
Pippi Goes On Board, Astrid Lindgren
Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Wyss
The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary, P. D. Eastman

Off to go start one of them now.

Photo Friday #28

TAKING IN THE FAIR AND ITS PARADE

Share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.

Free Lunch Box Notes for Downloading

In anticipation of school starting soon, I've designed a few lunch box notes to include in Spud's bentos. And I'm making them available to download for anyone who is interested. The first page of the pdf has little sayings on each note.



The second page has blanks spots for a personalized message.



I'm going to try making these re-usable with some lamination and dry-erase pens.

Click on the wee printables button on the side bar for your copy. A comment would be lovely. Have fun!

Lemonade Bubbly

We are busily planning a little lemonade stand for the up coming weekend. We thought a little practice was in order.



I LOVE lemonade. Especially when it's homemade and I can adjust the sweetness. And now that we have a fancy stainless steal lemon-doohickey, I'm so happy.

3/4 C. lemon juice, strained
1 1/4 C. sugar
1+ litre soda water

Stir lemon juice and sugar together in a medium pot over low, until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Remove from heat and cool. Voilà, you have a very lemony simple syrup. Now, just add ice and soda to taste.

Homemade Chocolate Popcorn

Believe it or not my kid was actually skeptical of this one. Until he tasted it!



1/4 C. Icing Sugar
2 T. Cocoa Powder
Cooking oil to coat the bottom of a large pot
1/4 C. Popcorn kernals
1/4 C. Butter, melted

Sift the sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Heat oil in large pot, add kernals, shake the pot for a few minutes until the popping is done. Coat popcorn with butter. Add icing sugar mixture and toss to coat.

Surprise Pear

We have a pear tree on our urban apartment deck. We bought it with wedding present money. And we love it all the same, even if it's never beared fruit. One day, we thought, when we have a yard, we'll plant it with a another one so they can pollinate their little hearts out.



Surprise! After more than 8 years, our tree is sporting its first pear! Just like that. I think someone's been up to some funny business behind our backs.

Dutch Oven Apple Crisp

A FAVOURITE CAMPING DESSERT | APPLE CRISP



Filling
9 large apples; peeled, cored, and sliced
1 lemon juice
2 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
3/4 t. salt

Mix, cover and set aside 1 hour.

Topping
1 C. flour
1 C. old fashioned oats
1 C. brown sugar; packed
3/4 C. walnuts, chopped
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 C. + 2 T. butter

Medium mixing bowl. Combine topping ingredients except butter. Cut butter into small pieces. Add to other ingredients. Use fingers to work into flour mixture until coarse crumbs form.

Place on 10-12 hot briquettes and put 18-20 on top. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown on top and bubbly. Rotate the base and the lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every 15 minutes.

Serve with caramel sauce and/or cream.

Outdoor Oatmeal Brulée

Oh that heavenly crunchy-crispy-sugary crust on a crème brulée brought to you in a breakfast form? That's right. We packed the kitchen torch on our last camping trip and made oatmeal brulée for breakfast. It turned out to be a comforting meal on a sprinkling, chilly morning.

See you at ohdeedoh.com too!

So, did I mention that I am officially a part-time contributor at ohdeedoh! My first post as a team member just went up ... in case you are interested in some ideas for yummy campfire desserts.

Photo Friday #27

LAGUNA BEACH CALIFORNIA   |   TRAVELS WITH KID

Having some serious 'tree time' in Laguna Beach, California.



Share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.

Making Pennies Shiny

We tested 4 different methods as outlined on e.how.



1. Ketchup
2. Baking soda and water paste with toothbrush
3. Lemon juice and salt [or vinegar and salt]
4. An eraser





We tried a penny with each method and then tried different combinations. The lemon juice and ketchup both had the most dramatic results. And it was fun to put a penny in the lemon juice right after the baking soda for extra bubbly results.



The eraser was our least favourite.

What are you doing this Summer?

SUMMER BUCKET LIST



We got this idea over at ohdeedoh. But we used this Bubba Gump boat souvenir, that we brought all the back from Santa Monica, as our list receptacle instead of an actual bucket. In it, boasts a plethora of summer fun ideas for those "I'm booooooooooored" moments. Many of which we found at the ohdeedoh.com links and many of which we had fun coming up with on our own.



Today we are taking it on its inaugural voyage.

Happy Fathers Day All

Spud's favourite saying. My design. Spud's colouring. My trimming. Daddy smiling.

"Don't Worry, I Love your Veggies Mama"

I signed up to bring "veggies and dip" to Spud's kindergarten grad picnic and fairly quickly had second thoughts. Should I have picked something more popular? Popcorn or something dessert-y perhaps? I anticipated Spud's response to be one of disappointment;"Oh gee mama, carrots instead of cupcakes?".

So I thought I would at least try to make them cute. "Fish in a bubble" cucumber [done with a small fish cookie cutter] and "flower carrots" [like we've seen a million times in Asian restaurants ... thanks Hubs!] help to cute up the platter a bit I thought.



And in the end, Spud supported the venture all the way.

Pear-y Snack Tray

Clockwise from the top:
· Grapes
· Salad including yellow pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, shamrock-shaped cucumber, and feta cheese
· Asian pear slices
· Sunflower seeds in the bear container
· Half a blueberry muffin
· Chocolate chips hidden in the elephant

Photo Friday #26

LEGOLAND | TRAVELS WITH THE KID
LegoLand: Our Highlights ... in mostly pictures.

Getting a LegoLand drivers license.



Miniland! Reproductions of several American areas constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale. The detail is incredible.





A fantastic playground [actually made of mostly wood, but great nonetheless]



Random cool things made out of Lego ... everywhere you look.







And fantastic shopping. Especially for those who don't have a Lego store at home, like us. Spud spent some of his own money on pay-by-weight Lego bricks and this cool mat which folds up into a cubed Lego storage container.



Preparing visits to LegoLand is made even more fun with this interactive map.

Hey, why not share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.

Photo Friday #25

THE GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY | TRAVELS WITH THE KID IN LA



Spud felt pretty special staying out so late, past dark. We were looking forward to spending some quality time with the lawn telescopes to see what we could see in the night sky. Unfortunately, when the winds are high, they don't put them out.

But it's a wonderful outdoor space with loads to look at and appreciate nonetheless.





And the view was great.



And then there's all that cool sciency-spacey stuff on the inside.







Hey, look, Foucault's Pendulum.



All-in-all, one of the highlights of our LA trip.

Hey, why not share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at my favourite family travel site, Delicious Baby.

Art Project on Ohdeedoh

ohdeehoh is continuing their search for some new editorial talent on their site and I'm hoping that I'm still in the running. They've published another one of my posts today. I would be completely smitten if you could pop by and leave a note.

Salad Bowls Made out of Bacon?

Who needs bacon bits? Found this gem of a recipe at not martha via Tip Junkie.

First, Hubs carefully wove the bacon over the back of a tin-foiled muffin tin.



Next, he cooked it in a 400°F oven, rotating it regularly, for about 30 minutes. And he didn't forget to put a cookie sheet underneath it to catch the bacon drippings, which surely spared us from all sorts of smoke billowing in our apartment.



We made these a day ahead of needing them and kept them in the fridge. Right before our guest arrived we tossed in a wee salad into each 'bowl'.

SALAD INGREDIENTS
· Salad greens
· Olives
· Tomato
· Boursin cheese
· Pear slices
· Dressing: balsamic vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup

This was Spud's version ... the same as ours without the greens and dressing. He gobbled it all up.

Photo Friday #24

THE GETTY | TRAVELS WITH KID IN LA
We marveled at the architecture.







Appreciated the fountains.





Took in the views.



And then we participated in a little 30 minute art class for munchkins [we signed up for it in the main lobby a couple of hours in advance, as they fill up quickly].

The teacher introduced us to their collection of 250 year old French furniture and asked us to examine the rooms looking for examples of "nature" motifs carved in the the exhibit pieces to share with the group later. We observed lions feet, birds, grapes, apples etc. Spud was surprisingly taken in by the ornate details and insisted that we photograph a number of the pieces.



Next, we were introduced to a couple of pots as examples of collaborative work between two countries. The teacher said "Now you and your parents are going to be France and China, working together, decorating your own pot". Very cute.

You can see the pot we used for inspiration in the background here.



Hubs was France as he added the gold as directed by Spud. And Spud and I did our best to be China. Now Spud has a little keepsake box as a souvenir.



Unfortunately we ran out of time quickly and didn't even get a chance to do this! Must go back one day.



Hey, why not share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.