karate/ninja birthday!

(camera found!)

I can finally show you how much fun Alfredo's karate/ninja birthday party was.

I'm so glad a friend told me about this place for birthday parties...it was so wonderful. (Virginia Karate)

First of all, Alfredo got to keep this super cool karate suit...

Sensai was really fabulous.

We could invite lots of kids (26 little friends came to the party!)

I made headbands for all our little guests and it turned out to be a really good idea since the sensai could then call them by name!

I can't say enough about how good this guy was...he kept almost all 26 little enthralled for 90 minutes!

After learning to count to 5 in Japanese and doing some warm ups, they got ready to learn some real moves...

Rich bravely volunteered...

And just look what happened...!

Then the little guys got to try it out...

And it was so much fun...

They did some kicking too... (Here's Shelby looking a lot like Karate Kid!)

After all that fun, they worked up a real appetite.

I made each guest a little bento box...

And they got to practice with chopsticks!

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a baker...

But when I found out Alfredo would be cutting the cake with a Samurai sword (and some help! Can you believe how cool this place is for a party?!), I just knew the cake needed to be something fun. This is two bundt cakes cut in half to form the curves of the body and a rounded cake for the head. I made all the cakes from scratch and use so many strawberries you wouldn't believe it. I was so tired of looking at this thing by the time I was done!

But just look at how much fun!

Lots of great memories made that day, for sure!

(So glad I got my camera back!)

Gold Guns Girls [Official Music Video] - METRIC

As a teenager of the 80s, I LOVE this song. Reminds me a little of Berlin/Missing Persons, but Emily Haines...you rock.

New Needles & Notions

I am a pretty paper and fabric junkie. I can't resist. I've been wanting to put my collection of fabrics to use and I'm happy with the results. These ornaments combine all of the things I love...cool fabric, wood cutouts, pretty buttons, silk ribbon, colorful threads, Bali silver beads and clay. I wish I had sewing skills like some of my favorite folk artists because I would love to sew skirts. My mom is a great seamstress, but thought since I was a lefty that I would have a hard time learning. These ornaments let me give my poor sewing machine some well-deserved attention :)

Caroline's Creations

I had surprise awaiting me in the mail. One of my sweet customers sent this box of goodies that she had created. The vampire opens to a nice handwritten note and she made that Frankenstein ornament. It is attached to a mini Halloween checklist clipboard. I'm happy that she's been inspired to create her own art and have fun in the process Caroline. Thank you very much for the thoughtful surprise!

lost my camera...

ding dong dang it...I lost my camera! I think it got left behind at the karate studio where we had Alfredo's birthday party. I have so much to show you from the party too...I hope it turns up soon. It was such a great party.

AND...We're leaving early tomorrow morning for a quick trip to California. I really hope my camera turns up before we leave.

So I'm going to take a little blogging break...I'll check back in next week. Take care...

Making Miso

With so many people sick this time of the year, if you've never tried miso soup, give it a slurp. It's delicious and nutritious. Our family loves this Japanese soup. It's very easy to prepare or you can always buy the prepackaged dry soup mix. The bowl of food above is not miso, but soba noodles that I made with the extra dashi stock. Soba noodles are very healthy and a great alternative to traditional noodles. They are made from buckwheat. I added bamboo shoots packed in sesame oil and stir fried some Chinese broccoli. I recommend using a microplane when grating fresh ginger. Chris and I had this for lunch and it was good or as they say in Hawaii, "Ono!"

To make miso soup, you need the following ingredients:

1. Dried kombu (dried seaweed and I would try to find it at an Asian market where the price will be a fraction of what it will be at Whole Foods) Pictured in the center of the above photo.

2. Dried bonito flakes (also much cheaper at an Asian market) Also pictured above.

3. Miso paste

4. Green onions

5. Firm tofu

Optional: Shitake mushrooms and/or sliced water chestnuts

To make homemade miso soup, you will need to make dashi, which is basically a fish stock.

Dashi Ingredients

• 1 piece kombu (approximately 5 by 6 inches)
• 1 cup bonito flakes
• 5 cups cold water

Directions

Wipe konbu with a damp cloth to clean.

In a stock pot, place konbu and cold water over medium heat. Just before the water begins to boil (DO NOT BOIL!) pull off heatand let stand 5 minutes.

Remove konbu, and bring back to heat. Again, right before stock begins to boil, remove from heat and add the bonito flakes. When flakes sink to the bottom, strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer. Dashi can hold in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.

Making Miso Soup

Wrap the block of tofu in 2 layers of paper towels and lay on a plate. Invert a second plate on top of the tofu and weigh down with a 28-ounce can. Leave for 20 minutes then cut the tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes.

Heat the dashi in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When the dashi reaches 100 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, ladle 1 cup into a small bowl. Add the miso, and whisk until smooth.

Bring the remaining dashi to a bare simmer, approximately 10 minutes. Add the miso mixture and whisk to combine. Return to a slight simmer, being careful not to boil the mixture. Add the tofu and scallions and cook for another minute or until heated through. Remove from the heat, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

birthday invitations...ninja style

So, Alfredo wanted a Karate/Ninja/Kung Fu party. I know these are all different but to a 5 year old...they are basically the same. Kicking, spinning, chopping all while screaming hi-yah!

I'd heard of a great small karate studio in our area that does birthday parties so we booked it for his birthday.

Today, Alfredo's birthday invitations are going out...

I used an image from istock and customized it with Alfredo's sweet face.

I printed them 2-up on cotton resume paper. To make the scrolls, I cut dowels to 9" and glued wooden beads to the ends (I used two different sizes of beads and each used a different size dowel so check before you buy) I used plain old Scotch tape to attach the paper to the scrolls. It worked better than any glue and actually looked pretty nice.

I thought that small mailing tubes were pretty easy to find at office supply stores...but alas, no. We took a little hike today to Tyson's Corner to the Container Store and scored these pretty red ones...just a buck each.

We also invited all of his preschool class...those invitations were just passed out at dismissal today, sans mailing tube.

Up next....I'm hoping to make a dragon cake! And personalized head wraps.

p.s. Suddenly, I'm not so lazy. But the tree is still dressed. I think I'll take your advice and take it down after Epiphany, this weekend.

sluggish

Is it just me or is your Christmas tree still up too? I wish I could just call somebody to come take care of it for me...is that wrong? If you're looking for a business to get into, I think that would be a great one. Just one call and it's all put away.

I saw this idea on Pinterest to use an egg carton to store small fragile ornaments so I've been saving an empty egg carton for just that purpose. I finally broke down this morning and took a few ornaments down. Maybe that's how I'll do it...a few at a time, when the notion passes over me...while I'm chatting on the phone or in those pockets of time between stuff to do. At that rate, though, we'll still have the tree up at Easter. It would be better just to make that call and have the after Christmas crew of fairies take care of it.

Maybe this laziness I'm feeling is a symptom of some sort of after Christmas disorder. Any ideas to help me snap out of it?

Meanwhile, that hole in the wall for the dollhouse room? Still unfinished. Rich started to make it in the coat closet but found a pesky pipe in the way. He patched up that hole magnificently (you'd never even know it was there!) and is now working on making a beautiful hole in the pantry. He's sanding and finishing it off so nicely but, as I'm discovering, this kind of perfection takes a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of rest in between (I say that with not a bit of sarcasm, I promise) God bless that man for doing this for me...I've never felt so loved.

With all this laziness and inertia and newyearsishness, I have been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about how I spend my time (when I'm not so lazy) and about this sweet boy we're raising up. I'm not sure exactly what I'd like to cut back on (perhaps worrying?)...but I sure would like to do more cuddling while he's still cuddly, more talking about life and more answering his sweet questions. And coloring. I'd like to do more coloring.