those Japanese can party

I don't know if you remember the bowling birthday party we went to last year.  It was probably the best birthday party I have ever been too.  So much fun.  It was for one of Maddy's friends - a friend from Japan.  Well, this year they were at it again, and it did not disappoint!  The party was held at the Japanese school in Quito - a really big, nice facility that has a whopping 8 students!  I'm not sure how many students they used to have, but its a mighty fine place for so few students.

First we ate - pizza.   A lot of pizza.

Eric was a little disappointed when I told him we were having pizza for lunch - he remembered her spring rolls and sushi from last year.  They were incredible.  Well again, she did not disappoint.  There were still some Japanese delicacies for those who preferred.

The girls all sat on one side of the stairs and the boys all sat on the other side.  Odd.  They didn't seem to mind being around each other at any other point in the afternoon, but eating together?  No way.

After lunch we had a bunch of games.  They started with a tug-o-war.  Then had a few different relays.

After that was the grand finale - and obstacle course relay (not too many pictures as I was helping with the games....).  My station was the hide-the-gummy-candy-in-a-pile-of-cornstarch station.  For sanitary reasons, I had to replace the cornstarch each time.  Little did I realize how "interesting" that job was going to be.

Another mom took this picture - it was taken just after I finally opened the second bag of cornstarch - after wrestling with another bag forever (and two people had to skip my station because I couldn't get it done on time).  This bag sort of exploded when I opened it and a very large portion of the contents went down my shirt.  At least it took care of the sweat problem I was having.....

Between trying to get cornstarch bags open and pulling apart gooey gummy candies that were mushing together because of the hot sun, I was pleased that I only missed two people (yes, one from each team, to make it fair).  I kept wanting to yell, in my best Japanese accent "eat the wasabi" like on one of these Japanese game shows, but Maddy threatened me not to embarrass her (before the party, Cade and Mia helped me think of many great ways that I could have done just that, but I decided I should probably be nice....).

It was another great party.

We will be so sad come January when this family moves back to Japan.  They are so great.

 It will be a sad, sad day.

switch 'em up whiteboard calendar

I miss my ginormous magnetic whiteboard.  A few years ago, back in CA, I made a huge magnetic whiteboard for our kitchen.  Eric and I bought two 3' x 4' pieces of aluminum flashing and I painted them with whiteboard paint.  Then Eric mounted them on the wall by our fridge to make one big 4' x 6' board.  I painted some baseboard materials and Eric cut them and put them up to make a frame.  I drew a big grid on part of it to make a calendar, each kid had a section to draw on and the rest of it was for note, reminders and posting paperwork, etc.  It was great, fun, very useful and looked great in the kitchen.

Since moving, we haven't really had a "command central", which was sort of what that was.  The calendar part is the biggest loss.  I loved having that big space where we could write everything going on, color coded by person and see at a quick glance what a day looked like.  It was about time to come up with something for our new home.

I'm sure that we could by aluminum flashing somewhere here but we have no clue where..... maybe eventually that will happen (although putting it up on these concrete and cinderblock walls wouldn't be a simple task).  For now, I came up with an inexpensive alternative.

I cut 6" squares out of sheets of balsa wood, one for each day of the month, plus some extra.  Balsa wouldn't be my first choice, but it can be found easily here, is fairly inexpensive and easy to cut.  Then I  painted the top inch black and wrapped pieces of whiteboard contact paper over the rest (contact paper was imported from the good ol' us of a).  The black was only for aesthetics.

For the numbers I really wanted to use 2 to 3 inch die-cut numbers and paint them a bright color, but I couldn't find anything like that.  Then I thought I'd print off some 3" circles with numbers in them from sticker paper I thought I had - but didn't actually have anymore.  I thought it would be fun to off-set them.  Finally I just made some out of address label sticker paper.  It wasn't what I hoped for, but it does the job.  After applying the numbers, I stuck a piece of velcro on the back of each square.

Then the opposite pieces of velcro went on the wall.

Now each month I can take off the squares an assemble them in the proper order for that month.  The extra spaces are filled up with either blank squares or squares for the next month (current month in turquoise, following month in orange).

Once again, everyone has their assigned color so you can see at a glance what is going on with each person.

The top piece for the month is also removable so you can easily write on the new month, but the letters for the days of the week (painted die-cut letters) are stuck there for good.  There is also a little area to the left for notes.

Seeing as there are less than two weeks left in October and I was somewhat lazy, I went straight for November.  Now I just need to fill in the rest of our goings-on.

I'm kind of excited for December to hit so I can rip off all the squares and start over.

busy, busy

For quite a while now I have desired my kids to be involved in something - almost anything.  None of them have really wanted commitments outside of school.  I was always the mom who swore "I'm not going to let my kids get over-committed and be involved in a million different things."  But I always thought they would be involved in some things at least.

This fall I am finally getting a little taste of what it would be like to have the kids involved in a bunch of stuff - and I'm not a fan.  I got my wish - they are all doing something - and I know it is good for them, but where are my nice afternoons at home with all the kids?

Monday - Lucy, soccer

Tuesday - Mia, soccer

Wednesday - Lucy, Awana; Maddy - Guardians (youth group type thing)

Thursday - Lucy, soccer; Cade, baseball

Friday - Mia, soccer

Saturday - Lucy and Cade, baseball

You may notice that the youngest one is involved in the most.... its really great for her, actually, but she does get awfully tired at times.  Thankfully, soccer is over at the end of November and baseball is done at the end of January.

The weekends are busier too.  Our family is actually starting to have a social life.  And this coming weekend will be no exception - 2 birthday parties, baseball, a sleepover, and of course, Casa G.  This past weekend Lucy went to a friends for night, we had baseball - no pictures - and then Maddy and I were invited to a tea with three of her closest friends and their moms.  We got there a little earlier to help set up.

 Marlo made cucumber sandwiches and scones complete with lemon curd and clotted cream (Devonshire cream) and of course - tea.  So good.

Before we ate, we did make-up and nails.

 I should have got a close-up of my eyes - pretty fancy.

After we were all done up, we ate.  There aren't any pictures of that since I was to busy stuffing my face (in a dainty and delicate manner, of course) with lemon curd.  Then we went outside to take some quick pictures:  Ayano (from Japan), Hileem (from Korea), Maddy and Mikala (both California girls)

The girls wanted to take some of the moms as well.  One of the moms said that we should do funny faces - so that is what we did.

 Maybe I should say, that is what I did.  I suppose I went a little more extreme than the others.  Very unusual for me.  

Then after the tea, a friend of Lucy's came over.  It was the little girl who went through the tragic situation last spring (or most of her life, in reality).  She is such a sweet girl and we want to give her some nice "real" childhood experiences.  The unfortunate part is that we made a big mistake in letting Lucy have a double sleepover - even though she didn't go to bed late.  She was pretty cranky for her next sleepover, so I'm still hoping and praying that this friend had a good time.

Sunday after church we went with Casa G. to a church fundraiser.  It was for a church that Casa G has done some outreach/missions work with.   They had a lunch to raise money for their school.

 The meal was pretty typical Ecuadorian faire - and very tasty, but not so visually appealing for the gringitos.... rice, yucca and whole fish complete with eyes, heads, scales, fins and bones.

 Even though all of the kids had been served meals like this previously, they were still a bit taken aback.  I was amazing though at how well they did eating it - and it really was very very tasty.  Lucy is usually the least picky, but probably due to her crankiness, she ate the least.  Her friend must have thought she was in a bit of heaven - she gobbled it all up and then some.

After lunch, the boys all played soccer - Casa G against guys from the church, and the kids all played on the grounds.  There were lots of things to do such as playing in the play ground or playing shuffle board.

 Some of the young adults from the church where very sweet in teaching the kids how to play shuffle board.

We were all pretty spent once we got home Sunday evening.  Our poor family isn't quite used to this much activity!

pork chops and apple sauce

Actually, no apple sauce in this entry - but I can hardly say the words "pork chops" with out saying it in a silly accent and adding the words "and apple sauce".  Its a Brady Bunch thing.  I barely remember anything about the episode other than one of the sons (Peter, perhaps?) saying "pork chops an' apple sauce" in a funny way.  Moving on.....

I figured a little while ago that I am going to include more recipes on this here blog.  Again, it is my way of giving to my kids.  They won't have to wonder about mom's recipes (because she is so disorganized and some of them are just in her head or scratched down) in the future.  They will all be neatly typed out in their blog books....  I may even go so crazy as to put in an index in future books.....  That would be crazy!

One of our favorite meals, um let me rephrase, one of our used-to-be-favorite-meals-but-now-we-have-overdone-it-a-little-so-some-of-the-kids (Maddy) are-sick-of-it is BBQ pork chops and grilled veggies (I'm not sure why I just used the term veggies - I really don't like that term but it just didn't seem right to write the full word vegetables).  It is so very healthy and delicious.

The best part is the marinade for the chops (which is also great on chicken).  It is a compilation of several different recipes that I found on the internet but is distinctly our own... or we would like to think.

Please bear in mind that measurements are not exact....

Scrumpdiliumptious Marinade

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce (aka: salsa de ingles)

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp lemon juice

We let it marinade for about four or five hours which seems to be good.  Then the man of the house - it has to be the man, as he is the one that deals with fire, naturally - barbecues them up.  Serve them with asparagus,  red pepper and zucchini chunks which are drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with seasoned salt and grilled along side the chops.

Fabulousness.

candy brilliance

This evening I had a (as Maddy would say) "brilliant beyond brilliant" idea.  Maddy and I were watching "Top Chef: Just Desserts" and they had a contest where they had to recreate Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

 I guess they didn't have to recreate it, but it was their inspiration.  First they watched the original movie (far, far superior to the pathetic Johnny Depp remake) right along side the people who played Charlie Bucket, Voilet Beauregard, Mike TeVee and Varuca Salt (spell check is not helping much right now....).  The best part is that they didn't know that these were the original cast members until after the movie was over.  Pretty cool.  The whole thing was in honor of the movie's 40th anniversary.  Can you believe it is that old?
The cast members said that the movie set was actually mostly made up of edible decorations, which is pretty cool, too.

 The contestants on the show did a pretty great job.

I particularly like Katzie's garden (sorry, no picture).  She made carrot cakes in the shape of carrots and then "planted" them in edible dirt.  You could then dig out your own cake to eat.  Very cute and creative.

After the show was over and Maddy and I were oooohing and aaaaaahing, I said that we should do something like that for Maddy's Quinceanera.  Maddy got pretty excited!

A Quinceanera, for those who have that look (huh?) on their faces, is kind of like a huge sweet 16 party, except it is for 15 year-old girls.  They are BIG deals in Latin America.  Like really, really big deals.  Ridiculously so.

While we have already let Maddy know that she will not be having the typical 5 different dresses to change into throughout the night, a band, a rented banquet hall, and all kinds of other things that would send us to the poor house, we do want to have a fun party.  This could be just the thing!
Yes, it is over a year away, but it never hurts to start thinking.....

What we really want to do is somehow convince our great friends Marlo and her daughter Mikala (whose birthday is one month later) that we should do it together.  Split the cost, the work and the FUN!  And since Marlo is a fabulous baker and quite creative, it would work out really well.

Of course, this is all a dream.  But you never know when a dream becomes reality!!

welcome mat

You might be able to tell from this post that I have too much thinking time on my hands.  One sign is that my list of desired projects is ginormous - there are soooo many things I would like to make or do.  The other sign is what some of these projects are - take my welcome mat idea, for example.

I really do want to make a welcome mat and maybe will get around to it some day - although it is far from priority.  This is what I first came up with:

Yes, I was in a bit of a mood.... But I really do want to do this second one:

Again, it probably won't happen any time soon, but I think seeing a mat like that would put a smile on my face and I'd love to do that for whomever comes over to our house as well!

happy Canadian thanksgiving!

It actually is a bit of a sad one.  I really miss my family.  Yesterday they all got together for turkey and the works and....sigh.... we obviously couldn't be there.  It didn't bother me yesterday for some reason, but it did bother me today.  I wish so much we could have been there.

I really wanted to have my own Canadian Thanksgiving celebration here with the handful of Canadians that we know, but I knew it would be disastrous to try to pull that off given my unreliable state of health. Hopefully next fall I'll be good as gold and can have a big ol' thanksgiving feast.

The one thing I did do - I had resigned myself to making these regardless of how I felt (and thankfully I felt pretty decent) - was make pumpkin pie.  Sort of.  I saw a picture the other day of "pie pops" and thought I might try it.  

I kind of "winged it" and they actually turned out great.  I wanted to make something for the family in honour of thanksgiving, but I also wanted something that I could give to my fellow Canadians.  This seemed to fit the bill.

I made regular pie crust but cut it out into circles.  Then I lay the circles on the pan and put a blop (technical term) of pumpkin pie filling on it.  I put the lollipop stick on that and then added another cirlce of crust on top - then used a fork to seal the edges.

 The first few oozed a lot, so I got smart and made the circles for the top slightly bigger than the bottom circles.  Then when I put them on top, I sort of domed them and it kept the insides from squishing out.

 They looked much better!

I baked them for about 20 minutes at 375 or so and they turned out great.

 I figured I couldn't use a regular recipe for pumpkin pie because then the filling would be too runny so I just experimented.  I probably should have googled a recipe or something, but they actually turned out great and I don't think I would change anything.  Here's what I made:

1.5 c of pumpkin puree

1.5 eggs (I cracked 2, lightly beat them and then just didn't add it all - it just seemed like too much)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (approx.... didn't actually measure)

1 tsp cinnamon (ditto)

2/3 c brown sugar

I just mixed that all up and put about a tbsp of the mixture in each circle (the circles were just cut out with tumblers (Canadian word - in honour of the holiday... and Canadian spelling of honour as well.  Tumbler is what we called drinking glasses.)

I was pretty beat after I made them so the packaging for friends was pretty basic.  Put them in little plastic bags, tied them with cut brown leaf ribbon and the tags were just leaf shapes I cut out last fall (I had planned to make a leaf garland and it just didn't happen).  

 I only got some of them delivered, so hopefully the remaining few won't mind carrying on the celebration for one more day!

 The kids had some when they got home from school.

 They were smitten by deliciousness.  Eric the pumpkin hater, on the other hand, wouldn't come near them.

They are none too happy that I gave (or am giving) so many away, but they don't have to worry.  I definitely will be making these again soon.

Speaking of deliciousness.

Remember the little bit of self-pity I had the other day- wanting hummus and pita chips?  Well, Saturday, while the kids and I were at Molly's birthday party, Eric said he had some stuff to do.  This is what he did:  MY HUSBAND MADE HUMMAS FOR ME, FROM SCRATCH, AND FOUND AND PURCHASED PITA CHIPS!!!!!!!

Seriously.  He really loves me.

He found a recipe online.  The recipe even called for tahini paste, which is no where to be found, so he looked up a recipe for that and made that too.  Let me just break this down for you.....  He bought a billion little packages of sesame seeds so that he would have enough.  Then he roasted them and ground them with olive oil (not an easy task with those teeny little seeds).  He also purchased all the other ingredients and then whipped it all up in the food processor.  Then he surprised me with it for a late night snack after the kids went to bed.  It was fairly garlicky, so he ended up also having to deal with my stench, but boy was it good.

Seriously.  He really does love me.