International Festival

On March 17th the school hosted a fantastic international festival. There were booths set up around the sports field representing more than 25 countries.  The booths featured food, clothing, and crafts from the featured country. The kids also could take passports around and get them stamped for answering questions about the geography or history.  They also had games, crafts and other activities for the kids.  There was a stage that had dance and music performances as well.  I'm glad I came hungry because I was able to sample food from around the globe:  I had a delicious plate of Indian food, dim sum, a French baguettes with cheese, treats from various parts of Africa, pizza for the kids, and finally a cup of Turkish coffee and some baklava.  I left stuffed.

Here are just a few of the many photos I took that day.

And finally on the walk home we experienced some of the local culture. My youngest got to ride on a vegetable vendor's donkey.

Cheers,
Jenn

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Egyptian Mother's Day. My older daughter surprised me with two lovely cards: One was a very glittery card that promised massages and house cleaning services and the other was written in Arabic (she wrote it herself in Arabic class). My husband bought me a lovely alabaster candle holder.  Then the whole family went out for Korean food at my favorite restaurant. It was a lovely evening.

This best part is that this year I get to celebrate my awesomeness as a mother twice!  Actually if I play my cards right and travel around a bit I could celebrate Mother's Day up to 31 days of the year. I guess my next stop is Slovenia which celebrates Mother's Day on March 25th.  You can find a calendar of Mother's Day celebrations on Wikipedia if like me you want to milk this holiday for all it is worth.

Cheers,
Jenn

I love weaving baskets!

I love weaving baskets

Cheers,
Jenn

Yaki Soba

After my birthday visit to Kobe Steak House where my daughters had Yakisoba... my oldest daughter has wanted to prepare noodles this way. So while at the store she picked out here favorite veggies and we grabbed a bag of soba noodles and gave it a try. It turned out wonderfully.
First we gathered together our ingredients. We had a 6oz bag of noodles, celery, carrots, scallions, and broccoli.
My daughter peeled and grated the carrots while I washed and chopped the rest of the vegetables.
While the noodles cooked we stir fried the vegetables in a little sesame oil. Once they were beginning to get tender... but still crisp we added the cooked noodles to the mix. Then we seasoned the noodles with our version of yakisoba sauce by adding some ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. It seemed a little odd... but I combined several recipes based on what I had. I just added a little of this and a little of that and it tastes surprisingly similar to what we had at the restaurant.


We served it with dumplings and edamame and it was wonderful. It was a meal that both the kids and the adults loved and it was vegetarian as well. We will make this one again for certain.

Cheers,
Jenn

I'm late this week in posting anything. I had a pretty busy week. More about that later. I hope everyone is having a great week.

I Love Making Soup.

I don't usually make soup in the summer. It is too hot this time of year to have a pot simmering on the stove for hours at a time. This week I was desperate, however. There has been a nasty bug going through my house. Both of my kids have run fevers for days on end and I need something to boost the ol' immune system... so I made chicken noodle soup.

I started out by making chicken stock from scratch. We had picked up a rotisserie the night before for a quick easy dinner... so the next day I pulled all the extra meat of the bones and put the bones and some vegetables in a stock pot with water, salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. I cooked that down for 3-4 hours and then strained out the big bits leaving behind just the broth.
After that I just added the leftover chicken, 3 chopped carrots, 3 ribs of celery, 4 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/2 a diced onion. I cooked it until the veggies were soft and then added in some fresh basil from the garden and 1/2 a package of noodles. I then seasoned it with salt an pepper. Once the noodles were cooked it was ready to go.

I love making soup. It is a great way to be intuitive in the kitchen. You just throw in a bit of this and a bit of that... The hell with measuring cups or spoons.

My oldest daughter is done with this nasty illness... but today I am stuck at home with the little one. Hopefully this illness will clear up before the weekend. I have plans to go camping and I'm itching to get out of the house. Perhaps it is time to make some more soup.

Cheers,
Jenn

I Love Ice Cream

I LOVE ice cream. Especially during these dog days of summer. My favorite flavor is pistachio. What about you? What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Happiness is a Birthday Bash

I had a wonderful birthday... Roses, chocolate, and handmade cards from the kids... a night out with my husband... and a wonderful family dinner at a fun restaurant the next day. It was two days of non-stop fun.

I have always wanted to go to a Teppan restaurant so this year I decided to give it a try for my 41st birthday. We had a wonderful time. The food was good, but what is really terrific about it is the show. Who knew that cooking could look so much like a circus? The whole family had a great time and I can't believe I waited this long to experience something so fun.

The cook really put on a show.

An onion volcano!

Here is my daughter trying to catch a shrimp in her mouth. My husband caught his on the first try... the rest of us only wished we had such mad skills.

Thanks to my friends and family for making this fun night possible.

Cheers,
Jenn

52 Weeks of Happiness: Catch a Wave...

Happiness is a fun vacation.