10 Things

10 Things I am Loving and Enjoying right now!

1. Skirt weather...yes! In fact it was 81 degrees today.
2. Yummy Sun Tea.
3. Pretty blooms everywhere.
4. Tailgate Market season starting again, so I can buy lovely fresh produce and make a lovely meal.
5. Wine at most suppers.
6. Roses given to me for free from a coworker.
7. New books: "The Good Earth" by Pearl Buck and "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball.  Coincidentally, both have a farming theme...hmmmm.
8.  The residual feeling of serenity from my Ohio trip, thanks Alison and Jeanine. If I come to a point where I am finding it difficult to feel at peace, I can yell "Serenity Now!" ala George Costanza's dad.
9. Only three more weeks left of school, woohoo.
10. My Prius V and the ability to go without filling my tank for at least three weeks.

What are all of you loving right now?
Peace, Yasmin

Birthday Boy

Taking a break from Ohio vacation posts because today is a special day. Today isn't just Easter, today is also my little man's sixth birthday. We started the day out with French Toast, and ended it with tacos and mini strawberry shortcakes. Only the best for a little boy turning six.

It is amazing how fast birth to age six goes. I miss those baby days, but this boy of mine is growing up to be a lovely little guy...atleast most of the time. Okay this old sick lady needs to get some sleep.

Night, Yasmin

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Yesterday we dyed Easter Eggs with natural dyes that we made using recipes from "Naturally Fun Parties for Kids" by Anni Daulter. We tried making red, green, blue, yellow, and orange. I emphasize the word "tried", because it didn't quite work out the way we wanted it to. Granted we did not make the recipes exactly as stated nor did we cook them long enough, we think. All was not lost though...we had one very blue egg. I will try this again next year with the exact recipes and perhaps cooking the dyes a bit longer. In the end the kids had fun and that is all that matters. The children also picked wildflowers (ahem weeds) to set the table, but they do look beautiful don't they. To use up the dyed eggs, I made egg curry (sorry forgot to take a picture) which was delicious and very popular with the children. So success.

Egg Curry Recipe:

Serves 4 to 6

Tandoori Masala Spice Mix                                 

1/4 cup Garam Masala                                          

2 Tbsp Ground Coriander                                    
2 Tbsp Ground Cumin                                          
2 Tbsp Spanish Paprika                                        
                                                                              
 Ingredients                                                                              
  6 eggs hardboiled cut in quarters                                                                             
  2 Tbsp Oil (I used Peanut)                                                                           
  1 Tbsp minced Ginger
  1 Tbsp Tandoori Masal Spice
  1 cup fresh Tomatoes chopped
  1 cup vegetable broth
  Pinch of salt & pepper
  1 cup of Plain yogurt
  2 Tbsp of flour (I used Rice Flour)                                                                            
Method
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, such as cast iron. Add Ginger and Tandoori Masala Spice and let cook for about a minute. Add chopped Tomatoes and let cook for one more minute. Add Vegetable Broth and cook for two more minutes. Meanwhile mix Yogurt with the Rice Flour in a separate bowl. Add yogurt mix to the tomato broth slowly and whisk it in. Bring the curry mix to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Let Simmer for fifteen minutes. Turn heat off and add the eggs.
Serve the egg curry with rice and naan bread if you would like.
It was truly delicious, easy, and filling. This curry recipe is not too spicy because of the yogurt added and there is something magical about adding the previously dyed Easter Eggs to it. A hit for the 4 children that ate it today. Yumm.

Peace, Yasmin

Vacationing

We are on Spring Break at the moment and we are enjoying time away in Ohio with a friend. I think that sometimes you just need to get away...even if it is just to Ohio. Truth be told, Ohio is not so bad. We are enjoying lots of play time, craft time, and plain old de-stressing. I am getting to catch up with the closest of friends and my kids are making new friends. What more can you ask for?

Alison reading to the kiddos, Ashleigh embroidering, popsicle time, piano playing, donuts at the farm, and jamming with the band. Great start to a week, two more days of fun.

Peace, Yasmin

Weekending

This weekend has been wonderful so far. There has been a lot of baking, cooking, relaxing, dating, and even some jumping up and down by momma herself. I made my favorite banana bread recipe, with chocolate chips ofcourse, zucchini bread, vegetarian pigs in a blanket, and two calzones; broccoli, onion, cheddar and onion, tatsoi spinach, goat gouda. Everything came out delicious. We also went to story time to enjoy some easter reading and delicious coffee for me. When I got home, I received a package which caused me to jump up and down in joy. I finally received the "Naturally Fun Parties for kids" by Anni Daulter. It is full of celebration, recipes, projects and beautiful pictures. I have the pleasure of reviewing this book, so there will be more on this book at a later date. We had some time to kill before my date, so I decided to get some homemade snacks made for the family. Nothing like delicious homemade goodness. We sent the kids out to parents night out at their aftercare and enjoyed some alone time. We relaxed for a bit and then went to dinner at Pomodoros restaurant. Wonderful Italian/Greek food. I have to work tomorrow, but I'm hoping for a great day to finish off my beautiful weekend. Notice my little man's hair...I cut that, trying to get one step closer to self sustainability.

Isn't the cover of this book gorgeous. I can't wait to try out some of the ideas. Time to get some sleep.

Night, Yasmin

Yarn Along!

Joining in this week with Ginny to share two of my favorite things...reading and knitting. Right now I am reading "Under the Banner of Heaven, A story of violent faith" by Jon Krakauer. I just finished "Into the Wild" by him and it was one of the best books I have read, so I thought I would give this one a try. I just started, but so far it is great. The knitting is the Striped Yoke Top from the Spring/Summer Debbie Bliss magazine. I am knitting straight on circular needles due to the amount of stitches cast on. It will be my first top, so I hope it goes well. Wish me luck. Also we are dealing with some health scares in our extended family, so please think good thoughts that things will go well.

Peace, Yasmin

March

Wow it has been a while since I have posted anything on this blog, I'm sorry. Life has been a whirlwind since I started school in January and is this year going faster than last year? It is already March and today marks the one year anniversary of the disaster in my homeland, Japan. My daughter turned nine at the beginning of this year and my little man is turning six this next month. Things are going way too fast for this mama.
An old friend of mine came and visited for a day, which was way too short might I add, and I met her youngest son for the first time. I realize that I miss my "Florida Girls" quite a bit and I think we need to make that once a year get together happen. There is just nothing that compares to having those long time friends that no matter how long you go without talking to them, when you do finally pick up the phone, you go right back to the way you were when you were hanging out back in the day. Yup I miss my girls.
Since the last time I posted, I have done a bit of sewing, a bit of knitting, spent time at the park, and did some cooking and baking. Also, the first picture below is of Rian looking outside when it decided to snow out of the blue. We really had no snow at all this winter and all of a sudden towards the end of February, we got a day with snow and lots of wind.

I'm hoping for a lot more sunshine and days warm enough to visit the park. I made zucchini bread and accidently forgot the sugar in the recipe, but the kids seem to like it all the same. I also have been enjoying organic eggs over sauteed kale. There is that market bag that I made, now if I could just find the time to sew more of those... I am also still trying to finish that old knitting project, soon I hope. Ok time for me to get some rest and try to get rid of this shingles once and for all. Goodnight.

Yasmin