Nine Times The Sun

Nine years old!!! Oh my how I remember her chubby little cheeks as they drooped down over the white swaddling blanket that the nurses handed her to me on the day that she was born. She was so tiny and she shocked us all with her jet black hair that covered her head *grin*. No longer does she have that black hair but she has replaced it with locks down to her bottom :) 

 Last year I made her a big rainbow layered cake and a few days before her birthday this year she mentioned how it was her favorite cake so I thought it would be fun to make it again but I didn't want it to be a repeat of the last one. So I made mini rainbow cakes using my all time favorite recipe.

 One for each of us and it was so much fun to see her smile from ear to ear when she got her very own. They were more work than I had anticipated and they gave me a little grief as I tried to ice them while they swayed dangerously from side to side like they would topple over but the end result made up for all of that. So cute :)

 We are all nuts about sushi around here so on the morning of her birthday L and I worked together to create a huge platter of california rolls, crunchy rolls, ones filled with smoked salmon and more to share at her birthday lunch :)

 We actually had to fend off some sneaky snackers that wanted desperately to sample our sushi before it was time *grin*.

 My mom made some amazing little salmon bites that she topped with a dill sauce and capers...

 and I had fun creating these fruit kabobs shaped like flowers :) Who knew miniature cookie cutters could do such a great job and I speared the skewers into an upside down half of a watermelon which provided the perfect sturdy base for all of the kabobs.

 

 The day couldn't have been any better as the sun shined down on us while we ate lunch in the garden :) We played croquet, had fun trying out her new hula hoop...

 

and you've got to love her fashion sense LOL.

Sneakers and a dress.... at least she left her gumboots at home this time *grin*. 

Oh how I love this little girl.

Hugs,

Rosina

Goodbye 2011... Hello 2012

Well I guess it's all over... 2011 that is *grin*.

Last night we pulled out a fancy table cloth for the coffee table, covered it with delicious finger foods for our annual new year's eve party and invited my mom and dad to join us :) We had cheese and crackers, hummus and veggie chips, fresh oysters that I breaded and fried, black Alaskan cod which is seriously to die for when you steam it in the oven....

and poached pears in a merlot and grand marnier sauce. I've been wanting to make these for a long time and thought it would make a lovely dessert to eat at the stroke of midnight :) I made a syrupy reduction out of the poaching liquid and then drizzled it over the warm pears and vanilla bean ice cream. So yummy and a lovely way to ring in the new year!

My dad just happens to be a new year's baby as well so today we got to have another party for his birthday with homemade sushi. We made California rolls and others with smoked sockeye salmon, shrimp croissants and my mom made cherry cheesecake for his birthday cake. I think I've eaten enough for an entire week in the last 24 hours LOL.

I'm not one for new year's resolutions usually as I tend to break them but last January I had vowed to live life more intentionally and 2011 lived up to what I had envisioned so I plan to do a whole lot more intentional living in 2012!

But when I read this lovely excerpt below from Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience a few days ago it just made me say 'YES'!

“I don’t really want more time;
I just want enough time.
Time to breathe deep & time to see real & time to laugh long, time to give You glory & rest deep & sing joy…
I just want time to do my one life well."
{read more here}

I can't agree more whole heartedly with what she wrote and I am looking forward to everything this brand new year brings my way :)

Happy New Year,
Rosina

Making Sushi ~ So Fun!!

Our study on Japan for K's research paper is finally finished and the culmination of the entire project was to meet up with the three other families from our homeschool book club and to not only share our reports but to also bring along a special dish from the country we studied.

So sushi it was for us :) I made a special trip into the city to find Nori which is the seaweed wrapper, sticky rice and some different vegetables and fish for the filling.

We both took turns rolling the nori with sticky rice and a mixture of smoked fish or crab and avocado and cucumber. It took a little bit to get the hang of rolling them in the mat and less is definitely more when it comes to the filling part *grin*.

We made some similar to the California rolls with the crab, cucumber and avocado and then sprinkled black sesame seeds on the outside...

a smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber roll with thin slices of avacado on the outside called caterpillar rolls...

and then we thought we'd get really fancy or at least try to look like we really knew what we were doing *grin* and made Shikai-maki which are a decorative four sided version of regular sushi rolls. You can see they are the square shaped ones below and we filled them with kiwi and pineapple and had a special fruit and honey dipping sauce I made for them :)

They turned out great and were a huge hit! I never imagined that everyone would love sushi that much. There wasn't one left when we were finished *grin*. Personally I don't really care for the taste of the seaweed but the kids liked them so I will probably make them again :)

They had so much fun trying to eat them with the chopsticks I brought to :) It was a great potluck! There were samosas with chutney, special fried rice, a fluffy fava bean dip with naan bread and a ravioli pasta for everyone to try.

The whole thing really got K excited about studying other countries and it was his first big report he has actually had to write so it was great intro into thesis statements, APA style format for laying it out, bibliographies and more. All of the artsy fartsy stuff like making his kimono and geta, the salt dough map he made and the sushi making broke it up into nice little chunks of hard work with the writing and and then nice easy breaks of creativity which really kept him wanting to keep at it :)

Hugs, Rosina