Flapper Dress

My daughter asked me to buy her a flapper dress for a school play, but instead, I decided to make one.  I’ve never sewn a full dress but I gave it a try.  It didn’t turn out too bad.

A Healthy Dinner and Veggies From The Farmer’s Market

Yesterday morning I went to the Farmer’s Market and bought some broccoli and asparagus.  I mainly went because I wanted to get a photo for the 365 challenge but the broccoli and asparagus were calling my name.  I made steamed broccoli and had it with baked lemon salmon, white rice, and a veggie salad of cucumbers and tomatoes.  The salad was so amazingly delicious and refreshing.  I haven’t done anything with the asparagus yet but my daughter wants some bacon wrapped asparagus so that’s in plan.

Photos from the farmer’s market.

The Morning Walk/Jog With Teddy

{365 Gallery Theme: Walk}

This morning, my daughter, Teddy, and I went for a morning walk.  My daughter rode her bike while I walked and added some jogging in between.

Above, Teddy’s waiting on me to take this photo.  She was really excited to get going.

Morning Beauties

{This photo can also be seen at 365 Gallery for today’s theme, ‘Peaceful Moments’}

Just a few beautiful things from the yard this morning.

A couple of ants on a peony bud.  Not really a beautiful scene but just thought I’d throw it in.  I see these ants every year.  Wonder if I should leave them alone or get rid of them.  They don’t seem to be hurting the plant.

“A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.”
~Max Muller

A Culturally Mixed Dinner And A Turmeric Rice Recipe

Husband, the kids, and I, had a big dinner last night.  I was craving kimchi so we dropped by the Asian Market and I ended up getting three different type of kimchi, plus some seaweed.  Then, we headed to the regular grocery store to get some French bread and additional ingredients for the Greek salad and turmeric rice.  Husband grilled peppered chicken breasts and we ate to our delight.  The kids weren’t so much into the turmeric rice or kimchi but they loved the chicken, which was a tad try, but not bad.

Kimchi: Cabbage, cucumber, and daikon.  I’m the only one in the family that LOVE kimchi so it was all for me.  I still have a lot left…should last me this whole week but I really don’t know if I can eat it all by myself.

I normally eat this type of seaweed at Korean restaurants but when I saw it on the shelf, I had to buy it.  The combo of seaweed with salt and what seemed like a little sugar (hope it’s not MSG) was delicious.

I got this tasty Greek salad from The Pioneer Woman’s blog but I tweaked it to my liking by omitting the chopped olives in the dressing, adding peperocinis to the salad, and marinating the sliced red onion in some red wine vinegar and olive oil to get rid of that super strong onion taste while the salad was being put together.

This was a very simple grilled chicken.  Husband just threw on some black pepper and a bit of salt and put it on the grill.

I got the idea to make my own turmeric rice from going to an eatery called Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill.  I did some online searching for a recipe but couldn’t find anything I liked so I decided to just figure it out on my own.  I knew turmeric was the spice that turned things yellow and that chicken broth gave it the slight flavor.  Originally, I tried it with Basmati long grain rice but I didn’t like the scent of that rice (I just don’t like my rice scented) and it also took longer to cook the Basmati rice than the normal rice I buy.  You can definitely add other things to the rice but I like mine just plain and simple with a very subtle flavor.

Turmeric Rice Recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups of rice

2 cups of low sodium chicken broth (add another 1/4 cup if you prefer your rice slightly soggy)

1 tbs of turmeric (turmeric does have a scent and flavor so if it’s too strong, reduce it to your liking)

1 tps vegetable oil or (you can use butter or olive oil in place)

Cooking Directions

In a pot, mix the rice, turmeric and oil together until everything is mixed.  Pour the chicken broth in and turn the stove to high.  Allow the liquid to boil for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the liquid is almost gone, stirring a couple of times.  Turn the heat to low and cover with a tight lid for 15 to 20 minutes.  Turn off stove and fluff rice with fork.

Serves 4 to 6.

Painting Birdhouses

For Mother’s Day, I spent time with my youngest daughter and nephew.  They painted birdhouses as gifts for their mom’s.  My daughter said, “Mom, don’t look until I’m done painting,” and added when she saw me with the camera, “But you can take pictures.” My nephew had so much stuff to carry home that he forgot to take his birdhouse.  He was really excited about giving it to his mom too!

My nephew had spent the night Saturday and all day on Mother’s Day at our house.  He really loves it.  One of the sweetest thing my nephew said out of the blue was, “I feel like this is my house.”  I told him it was his house too but then my daughter said, “It’s not your house.  It’s my house and my mom’s house.”  I reassured him that when he was over, it’s his house too.

Yummy Pita Bread

Over the weekend, I made pita bread.  It was my first time making it so I was surprised that it turned out pretty good.

For me, the fun thing about making anything is using cute measuring cups, spoons, and bowls.  I’m still on the lookout for some fun measuring cups and bowls but I think I’ve found the cutest measuring spoons ever.

I don’t have a stand mixer so I did the mixing and kneading by hand but I’d love to someday have a blue, red, or yellow stand mixer.

As I was rolling out the dough, I ran out of flour.  I got nervous but continued rolling and everything worked out fine.  The oil I had rolled the dough in, to keep it from sticking to the bowl when it was rising, surprisingly kept it from sticking to the rolling pin and foil wrapped counter.

I also don’t have a cast iron skillet but do have a cast iron wok.  The bottom was flat enough that the pita’s were able to cook thoroughly.

The best part, of course, was eating it.  Here my sister is feeding one of my twin nieces.  My niece also dipped it in hummus!  My own kids don’t like hummus and one doesn’t like any kind of bread (except for pumpkin bread) so I was very surprised and happy to see this.

I found the recipe on Pinterest, which took me to this blogger’s recipe, in which I used.

White Gloves

She loves her recital outfit but it was the gloves that got all the attention.

In the last few months, she’s been complaining that she doesn’t want to do dance anymore.  I told her she can stop after she finishes recitals next month.  After she got her recital outfit, she said, “Mom,  I’ll do dance one more time but stop after that.”  The outfits always makes her change her mind.

It Rained

Photos top to bottom: Rain drop ripples on the flagstone walkway, a sprouting bush, daisy leaves, peony leaves, yellow daisy planted a couple of days ago.

Loves Her Jazz

She is so sassy in this outfit.