a week or two back

It seems like I'm always a couple of weeks behind in posting things--I need to focus on taking photos with just one device instead of two so that I can update everything at once rather than alternating back and forth! Oh well. These photos of our sushi night a few weeks back are just so fun to me--it is the first time we've ever tried rolling sushi and it was a hit!


I just spread out a ton of ingredients and the kids were able to pick and choose what they wanted to include in their rolls (trying to remember what we had--I think orange & red peppers, cucumber, pears, kiwi, mango, scrambled eggs, avocado, hard salami (no raw fish but the salami was a kid-friendly substitute). We went through the first batch of sushi rice really quickly and then it was kind of a pain to wait 20 minutes for the second one to cook, so I'd recommend making more at the beginning. And the nori sheets went over surprisingly well! The kids were very skeptical of the smell but decided that they couldn't actually taste it in the rolls.



While the younger kids helped with ingredient prep, I put Abigail in charge of writing up instructions on our kitchen whiteboard. She watched a few YouTube tutorials to figure out the best technique and then wrote up a little 5-step process for us to follow.

 Some of our finished rolls--I was really pleased with how well they turned out! Super yummy and lots of fun to make--definitely a nice change from nights where I make dinner while the kids play outside and then they all come in and complain about the food. :-)

One day this past week it was lovely and breezy so we put Tot down for his nap and then all went outside together to read stories on a blanket under the tree (very cozy since it was a small blanket and there were five of us!).

We planted this tree in October of 2006 just a few days after we closed on our home--the little sapling was shorter than me.

We spent a few days with Legos all over the library (we moved the couch to block Tot from coming in when we weren't there) while we sorted through and found missing pieces from various sets. On the second day Luke got tired of stepping on Legos, so he decided to climb up and watch us from the couch and ended up taking a 3-hour nap. Love that kid. He totally isn't bothered at all by the noise and chaos around him!

Abigail loves Pinterest--she found a pin about making ice cubes out of KoolAid and was so excited to try them! First time my kids have ever had KoolAid--I could see their horizons broadening rapidly as they stirred it up. ("You mean we can make juice-stuff from a packet, Mommy?") Sidenote: I was also similarly unfamiliar with KoolAid when I started college, but I thought it was awesome how it always woke me up when I was faced with a long night of studying. It wasn't until after I married Neil that I learned that you were only supposed to make it with one cup of sugar per packet rather than two. Oops...that explains a lot!

 ps--the rest of that dinner was really good too! Makes me hungry just looking at it--I had tried out a new baba ghanouj recipe and it was amazing!! plus my favorite baguettes, the "zucchini stir-fry of glory," as my sister calls it (recipe at the bottom of this post), and apricots which are my very favorite fruit!

 The kids are endlessly entertained by the bizarre places Hermes loves to sleep...

 The other night I was really tired so I persuaded the kids to style my hair (my favorite way to just relax and get a delicious head-rub/hairbrushing/braiding time...I swear, nothing feels so good as having someone else do your hair! Neil was feeling bereft so the kids decided to give him a "flower helmet" (Isaac and Luke aren't in this picture because they were still busily giving me a similarly beautiful hairstyle).

More reading under the tree..

 And some of the things that make me happiest at this time of year--glorious beautiful fruit in my favorite bowl. I rearranged all of my serving dishes the other day so that I can see them first thing every time I open up my cupboards--pretty things make me so happy. Sounds materialistic, I know, but I just love beauty whether it is a bowl full of delectable fruit or a mountain sunrise or a table set with serving pieces I adore. :-)

 See? So very very beautiful.Makes my heart happy.

And here's that recipe! (If you're in my ward this might look familiar--it's the one that I demonstrated a year or two ago at recipe group.)

Zucchini, Corn, and Peanut Stir-fry 
recipe from Fast, Fresh, and Green by Susie Middleton

1 large zucchini (10-11 oz)
1 3⁄4 c. fresh corn (I have used frozen corn with good results)
6 large scallions (or one large onion), diced
2 t. thick hoisin sauce
1 t. fish sauce
1 t. lime juice
1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger
1 1.2 t. minced garlic
1⁄4 t. chili-garlic sauce
2 T. oil
1/3 c. unsalted peanuts
1 t. kosher salt
1 1⁄2 T. finely chopped fresh mint (or 1 t. dried)
1 1⁄2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

1. Trim ends off zucchini, cut in half crosswise, and cut panels off all four sides of each of the halves, revealing inner core & seeds. Discard core, and dice panels. Combine zucchini, corn, and scallions and set by the stove.

2. Combine hoisin sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, and chili sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat 1 T. oil over medium heat and stir-fry peanuts until spotted, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer peanuts to a bowl. Add remaining oil, zucchini, onions, corn, and salt. Stir occasionally (more frequently as they start to brown) until the corn is nicely browned and the zucchini is somewhat browned and starting to look translucent.

4. Add ginger-garlic mixture and stir-fry abou 30 seconds until well mixed. Add hoisin mixture, scraping it out of its bowl, and remove the pan from the heat, stirring to incorporate the sauce. Stir in reserved peanuts, mint, and cilantro.

Mix well and transfer to serving platter. This is delicious warm or cold!

Hermes as photographed by the girls

I quite like the artistic feel of this last one. Abigail's got a good eye.

time for a picture dump again!

Abigail made this label and stuck it on a bottle filled with peanut M&Ms for Neil.  Totally stole the idea from my friend, but it was awesome.

Done with project grading and I figured I’d knock out another to-do list item: blogging!  But first of all, I feel like my blog has been sort of lack-luster in content for the past…while.  I have lots of ideas for posts but I’m curious as to what people would be interested in reading.  Stuff about my kids? Recipes or food somethings? Holiday books we love that I think you might love too? Books or toys my kids love that I would recommend? (Can you tell I’ve thinking about Christmas?) Something else?

Anyway…some photos.  Confession: it’s been so long since I uploaded the photos from my camera (I’ve mostly been using my iPad) that I couldn’t remember what the cord looked like.  Sheesh.


So if my kids ever complain about their childhoods when they're adults, I'm just going to show them these three pictures and say, "WHATEVER.  It was awesome!" (And then they'll be like, "Yeah, Mom, we remember exactly how much of that candy you really let us eat...")

So one day we went on a hike & packed along a picnic lunch.  Isaac really didn't want to go (it was a couple of weeks after he had his tonsils out and he was still super grumpy but ohmygosh I felt like I would die if I was inside the house all day for one more day).  Anyway, he took all of his clothes off in protest, so we loaded him up totally naked into the car and went on our way.  He did eventually put his clothes on midway through the picnic and we went on our walk.  This probably says quite a bit about my approach to parenting Isaac--I've learned that I never ever win if I make it a power struggle, and I tend to just sit back and let him work it out on his own.

Somewhere on our walk...

A month or so ago Neil and I met up for lunch at a playground (I think maybe I blogged about this already?) to "celebrate" our engagement.  It was so nice to be with him.  He had ordered a couple of pizzas (there are some extremely passionate feelings about pizza toppings in our family and never the twain shall meet) and we just hung out and enjoyed the rare treat of seeing each other during the day.

I promise that Luke really WAS having fun.

And it was my darling Tot-Tot's first venture on a swing!

This is my view whenever the kitten hears dishes clinking--he comes racing in and starts mewing for someone to give him his canned wet food.  It's kind of the cutest thing ever.

Someday I will get a decent picture of myself running, but this was not the day!  I'm the one in the white jacket looking like a moron.  I had so many layers on, and I was trying to wave to Luke, and the combination of layers and waving didn't go well.

I looked even more attractive post-race.  DO you like that pink sweatshirt?  I've had it since seventh grade and it is a total wreck and I will never throw it away because it's the most comfortable piece of clothing I own.

Here's a real-life confession for you:  I had some pink frosting already made up and so when the kids wanted to frost sugar cookies for their Primary teachers I just mixed food coloring into the pink frosting.  Because I'm awesome like that.  Bats are sort of greenish-blue, right?

And I still think these are the best toys ever.

And Tot-tot is awake, so I'm done for the night.

Luke and the world's most patient kitten

 

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Hermes

So guess what--we finally (finally!! we've been talking about it for the last 18 months) got a kitten!  He is an absolute doll, we named him Hermes (yes, after the Greek god because my children are going through a total mythology obsession right now--which in all honesty has been a lifelong obsession for me anyway), and yes these are the exact same photos I put up on Facebook.  And yes, there are probably another 50 pictures on my iPad of him being really adorable with the kids, but I ran 11 miles last night and I just finished running 5 miles tonight and I need to sleep more than I need to upload new pictures.

Hermes is about 3 months old, but he came to us box-trained (our local animal shelter has a great program where they foster out animals to get them ready for adoption) and he has been soooo amazing.  Not a single accident and he's very quiet at night (Neil did forget to shut our bedroom door last night and woke up 3 or 4 times with a purring cat curled up on his face). He only meows as he's on his way to his litterbox or very very quietly--and just once--if he wants you to pick him up.  Basically, he purrs NONSTOP.  I had cats as a child, but I only remember them purring when we sat down and petted them for a long time--Hermes seems to have a nonstop purr motor operating as he's sleeping/walking around/being enthusiastically petted by Luke.

Right now Hermes is still pretty small and guess what? He LOVES to ride around on shoulders.  Like totally loves it.  Like right now he's sitting on my shoulder wrapped around my neck and purring while I type.  It's very comforting, actually.

Essentially, he is a super sweet cat and we are all in love with him (so far).  Abigail had a really stressful soccer game tonight and came home crying--I was sitting on the couch talking with her and as we were wrapping up our conversation I asked her if she wanted to read (no), if she wanted a snack (no), if she wanted to go play outside (no)...and then I said, "Do you want me to go find Hermes and you can just pet him?" and she said, "Yes!" and sat there petting him and rubbing his ears until her tears stopped.  I think it will be so good for us in so many ways to have this sweet little cat in our lives--it has been really nice for me to have company when Neil is working nights.  I never really thought I'd be the kind of person to fall in love with a pet--come on, I have five kids!  I have so many people to love!!--but I'm definitely developing a Hermes-sized spot in my heart.