Art on the Go

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Ah, my first project inspired by “The Creative Family” by Amanda Blake Soule (www.soulemama.com): An art-on-the-go bag complete with felt pencil case/roll and other fun things that sort of follow the book, but I bought what was in our budget. I thought it would make a good gift. Abby’s classmate invited her to his birthday party, and not that I don’t know much about toys for 7-year-old boys, but I had a feeling he’d like this little bag of goodies and he probably already has a bunch of action figures, cars, etc.

So, I brought out the sewing machine and had some red canvas, cording, felt and ribbon on hand (Abby picked out the canvas color). For the drawstring bag, I didn’t really measure out the canvas, I just eyeballed it with the goodies and hoped everything would fit. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but it worked out. Instead of a flat drawstring bag, I thought I’d give it a gusseted corner (I think that’s what it’s called, right?), too. The felt pencil case was straight out of Amanda’s book.

Now that my “test” project is done (I know, “testing” on a gift is not my usual thing), the next drawstring bags I make will be for Abby and Ollie… might do the “shoebag” backpack that a lot of kids use. Sort of looks like a nylon backpack with the string going through the grommets on the bottom of the bag. Perhaps a tutorial will be in the works soon.

Instant Coffee anyone?

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Taster's Choice

I invited Eastman to be a guest blogger one of these days, because I think he’d do a really funny (and fine) job.  Abby would be fun to have on, too, for that matter.  Anyhow, the idea crossed my mind because today we received a little single serve sample of Nescafe Taster’s Choice with the Sunday paper.  Eastman has been drinking and enjoying Starbucks Via at work.  Taster’s Choice WAS instant before Starbuck’s, right? So, he gave it a whirl, and I asked him how it was.  Remember, the tagline was something like “Costs 4x less than Starbucks.”

He said, “Yeah, not that good, unfortunately it tastes like it.”  After I had a sip the words “burned coffee” crossed my mind.  So, if you’re into that, you can go here for a free sample.

Conversations with My Kids

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My kiddos

Let’s start with the little one.  Our two year old (two and a HALF, as I’m often corrected), Oliver, understands just about everything we say, but he’s a (little) man of little word.  Until recently. Don’t get me wrong, there’s mom, mommy, dad, sister (pronounced by Ollie as “tsi-tser”, good Chinese “ts” pronunciation)… mine and “I DO IT!!”. We’ve just been having some interesting conversations. He’s been saying things like, “Nice day, Mom.” and “Nice eat (lunch at a restaurant).”  Then there’s the occasional, “Why you push me, Sister?!”

At the grocery store, Ollie saw a package of pancake mix.

“MOM! Pan…cakes! Pancakes, mom make!”

“Really?  Cool!  You like Mommy’s pancakes?”

“Yah… bes… eff-er! (grin)”

“Did you say, “Best ever,” Ollie?”

“YAH! Bes-t ev-er.”

Wow.  It seems he’s referring to food with “best ever”, like the other night it was the “best ever” chocolate milk.

With our seven (going-on-fourteen) year old, we’re already having those conversations after school that go like this:

“How was your day?”

“Fine.”

“What did you do at school, anything fun or different?”

“No. Same stuff.”

Ugh. I didn’t think it would be like this so soon, but we do have our good conversations from time to time. Abby really likes mystery books, spy-themed short novels, and she likes superheroes… or people with special powers. So, she asked me what sort of super power would I like to have, if I could have one.  I said, “Oh, man, that’s tough. There’s so many to choose from.”  She said, “Mom, if I could have a secret power, I would clean up the house by snapping my fingers so you don’t have to do everything and you can play with me.” Aww…

That was such a bittersweet answer. I know a toddler does monopolize a mom’s time, but as patient as she is… an “Abby” day is long overdue.

The Craft Social

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It might be intimidating to some to go all by yourself, not knowing anyone except for maybe through blogging, to a gathering of over 100 women (and one man) to craft for two hours.

Craft Social

It was FABULOUS!  Really, it was. This pic was at the beginning of the evening.  Attendees either brought a donation or food, and a craft project to do on her own.  There were also crafting stations where you could learn how to do a new project: duct tape wallets, decoupage bowls, paper-decorated clothespins, poloroid slide transfers, beading, and other various crafts.

One of many craft tablesFellow crafters

My magnetic bookmarkPom-pom flowers

I brought a cross-stitch project to work on, but really, I socialized, made a magnetic bookmark, little paper adornments and a pom-pom flower.

Meeting so many talented people and watching them create these beautiful pieces, made me want to try more things!  Hello to Toni at the refreshment area, Margaret, who was working on her applique, Kathy, who writes Merriment Design, Cindy, an event planner and crafter, Alexandra, who brought a scrumptious tart, Debbie and Rosemary, the stampin’ up ladies, Tripp Hudgins, the nicest husband and only man in the group (so enjoyed talking about paper and ink), Beth Engelman, blogger/writer, and Jess Jones, the social coordinator and blogger.

I can’t wait for the next one!

Happy grocery shopper

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Grocery Savings

So, I cut coupons. I shop the sales. I subscribe to Grocery Game.com (thank you, Heather). You feel like you beat the system somehow.  Here’s a post from last year. (For my family, who might be reading, just click on the underlined word “here’s”.)

Today, not only did I beat my record, I had the strangest encounter at the grocery store that I frequently visit. The cashier seemed really irritated with all my coupons; she is also not the cashier I regularly “visit”. I like that I have a “favorite” cashier, and certain check-out lines we like to go to. Maybe she was having a bad day, but here I was, just looking to pay for my goods and there she was telling me (with an angry European accent), “You have too many coupons…” Then she continues to say something to the affect that I’m practically paying nothing… and sounding mad?! That’s right, lady! And I’m proud of it. Hey, mind your business, scan them in and get me out of here. Why are you getting upset with my shopping habits?

Sometimes, during the car ride home, I’ll calculate in my head how much I saved, but I waited until I could sit with a calculator this time. Retail cost: $112. I paid about $62 and some change. 43% savings, hooray! I had $23 in cut coupons, and another $26 in “store savings” like those preferred card deals, buy 1/get 1, and non-advertised price drops. I only wish I had my coupon organizer with me, because I would’ve bought more… lots of non-advertised deals/price drops/clearance deals for the next week.

Anyhow, things I got for free: 2 boxes of Wheat Thins-Artisan, 24 oz. Hunt’s ketchup, Wholly Salsa, 1 lb. Italian Sausage, bag of Tostito scoops, Breyer’s Ice Cream, Soft Scrub liquid cleaner

Cha Chiang Mein

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Julie at the cooktop

My mouth was watering after watching a segment on Martha Stewart’s Noodle Show.  There was this little Chinese lady standing over the cooktop with a big wok and speaking in broken English.  “We make, uh, dish, Cha Chiang Mein, uh, like, uh Chinese spaghetti.”  Awesome!  Note: We really like this dish at Yu’s Mandarin in Schaumburg.  However, the dish on television was more like home-style cooking.  Yu’s Mandarin has a sauce that’s as dark as mahogany and as thick as molasses. We’d probably be afraid of how much soy sauce is actually in it.

So, I looked up the recipe on Martha Stewart and tweaked it to how we would make it, with what we have.

Cha Chianh Mein ingredientsChinese cooking wine

  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 3 cloves garlic (I’d use more next time), minced
  • 1 lb. ground pork
  • 1 lb. spaghetti

Sauce

  • 1-1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 2 tsp. black bean sauce (found in Asian stores or aisle)
  • 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce (not the same as plum sauce)
  • 2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine (white wine)
  • 2 tbsp. water
  • 1 tsp. sugar

Cook spaghetti according to directions.

Prepped onions and garlic

While pasta is cooking:  Prep your garlic and onion.  Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl or mixing cup.  Should be about 1/2 cup of liquid.  Heat up the vegetable oil in your wok or pan over med-high heat.  Add garlic and onions, saute until they become slightly translucent.  Add sauce mixture and stir until heated – a few minutes.  Add ground pork and break it up as it cooks.  Continue stirring/breaking up meat until water/liquid has evaporated.  Meat should look dark/seasoned.  This will be about 10-15 min.

Cooking Cha Chiang MeinAdding pork

Finishing the Cha Chiang MeinCha Chiang Fan instead

Serve meat mixture over spaghetti, but in my case, I had white rice available.  So now it’s Cha Chiang Fan instead of Mein.

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