Happy New Year and thanks. Thanks for being a part of our 2011.

I just came back from the Orla, my peaceful running spot and place where I buy fish. Tomorrow we'll eat fish, fish, and more fish, and we'll dress in white and go jump 7 waves. We'll ring in the New Year with my mom, my sister, my cousin, and thousands of other people celebrating in full Brazilian fashion.

I feel so blessed. My kids are healthy. My husband is healthy. I am healthy. We had a full year of work, travels, and more travels. We moved, and that was really hard. Leaving friends and a community you love is heart wrenching. We saw family, and played with cousins, and as always we felt like our time with them was way too short.

Enzo learned, to do simple multiplication, and is currently obsessed with the Solar System, Capoeira, and wearing his goggles when he's not swimming. Baby Maria turned 2. She's hardly a baby anymore. She is talking in full sentences, loves to dance, and is learning how to swim. Christian got a grant and a TA sabbatical. All his hard work paid off and now his full time job is full time hanging out with the people of Itacare, Bahia Brazil doing participant observation. Not bad at all. I get to write, and cook, and take pictures, and occasionally I get paid for it. This year I even had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC to shoot a cooking video.

We're excited for 2012 and see what it has in store for our little family. We hope 2011 has treated you kindly. We hope 2012 will be a year of success, joy, love, love, and more love to you and yours.

Thank you friends for helping us with big and small things. Thank you family for always being there for us. And thank you my lovely readers who help me keep this blog going, year after year. This video is for you.




See you back here next year.

The Book Depository - Buying Cook Books Online

Do you have a favorite online store for buying books? I personally love The Book Depository. A lot of you asked where I bought Christian's Moleskine planner and the books for the kids, the answer is The Book Depository because, wait for it, they have free shipping worldwide! So if you're looking to buy cookbooks in English but you live abroad check out The Book Depository.

I used The Book Depository in the U.S but was hesitant to try here in Brazil, specially where I live where the mail is so spotty. I wasn't sure my books would arrive. But they did. All of them arrived, and they all arrived in time for Christmas.

Plus, I think their book prices are great.

What about you, what's your favorite online book store?

Vacation

I'm on total vacation mode, can you tell? I'm trying to enjoy my mom's company to the max, and am also loving the fact that Enzo is on break. I'm considering homeschooling. Today, for example we went to the river, planning to only stay for an hour or two and ended up staying all day and afternoon. If he was in school we would of had to rush home and get him ready for school. Here in Brazil he goes to school from 1:00-5:00pm, which isn't bad but it leaves us less time to have fun. Maybe I'll just wait until September to send him to first grade and treat the last 8 months we have here as perpetual vacation. When else are we going to have this opportunity again right?

Yesterday we went on an all day boat trip. It was my mom's Christmas present / a present for all of us. It was beautiful and then some. The boat stopped at 4 different islands, all white sand, clear water, and blue lagoon like feeling. Ready for pictures, lots and lots of pictures?

Christmas Giveaway

I'll keep this post short. I know you probably have some more presents to unwrap, and people you want to spend time with. So far our Christmas day has been lovely, and I wish the same for you. 

I love giving gifts, it's my favorite. Today I get to give you the opportunity to win one of my all time favorite products ever, a Zoku quick pop maker with a nice little accessory to pimp up your popsicle, a Zoku chocolate station.

I'd love to hear what your favorite gift was this year, it can be something you received or something you gave. Leave me a comment telling me what it was and you'll be entered in the giveaway.

Merry Christmas friends.

The Prize: One single zoku pop maker, color of your choice, a zoku chocolate station. Must have a US or Canada mailing address

To Enter: Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite gift this season was.  +1 more comment: You can get more entries by becoming a Kitchen Corners' Follower using Google Friend Connect on the footer of the blog. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

 +1 more comment: By subscribing via RSS or email to Kitchen Corners' feeds. Leave an additional comment telling me that you've subscribed.

+1 more comment: Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

+1 more comment: Share this giveaway! Sharing buttons are right below this post. Just leave a comment telling me how you shared.

Giveaway closes: Midnight Saturday PST December 31. The winner will be randomly selected, contacted via email, and announced next Sunday.

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This giveaway is now closed. Cat, is the winner.

Merry Christmas

I had a hard time sleeping last night, I was too excited to sleep. For all the Christmas procrastination and the lack of decorations, I have to say the Christmas spirit came none the less. Christian just told me, it was the perfect Christmas. I think so too. We've both been homesick for Hawaii, our usual Christmas destination. But yesterday we had a good talk with his family in Hawaii, which helped make us feel a little closer to Hawaii. I'm so thankful for skype!

Christmas is celebrated in Brazil on the 24th. That's when we exchange gifts, have our big feast, and remember the birth of Christ. Last night we had our Christmas dinner and the kids each got a Christmas book. It was so great spending Christmas with my mom and my sister. It's had been years.

After opening their presents at night, and before the kids go to bed, they put their shoes by the window and wait for Santa to fill it up with treats. We did the Brazilian shoe tradition and we also did the American gift tradition and the kids opened the rest of their presents today.

The kids each got a box of cereal. Cereal here is a luxury item times 50. It's funny what you miss and what you take for granted when you're living abroad.

Other presents for the kids included - CDs, DVDs, books, and some toys. Enzo loves capoeira and wanted a birimbau more than anything. We found a birimbau and some capoeira pants his size, so cute. He also got a stuffed lion. We're on the third book of Narnia and he's pretty obsessed with Aslan. Maria also got a singing frog, toy cars, and some sand toys. And the gift of running around naked all morning without me harassing her.

Christian got me a bunch of CDs.  He was bummed that my Christmas list was made up of only web things, nothing he could wrap and put under our makeshift tree. The CDs were a perfect gift, I'm so excited to expand my collection of Brazilian music. Specially because it goes perfectly with the present I gave him... Dance Lessons! Tuesday night we start our private Forro classes.

He already put it in his agenda.

That's the other gift I gave him, the one I've been giving him for the past 3 years, the gift of planning. Christian is a planner, a list maker, and organizer. 3 years ago I gave him a Moleskine planner and he liked it a lot. When Christian likes something a lot we keep giving the thing to him over and over again, he's not the easiest person to give gifts to, that would be my sister Iris.  I gave my sis some jewelry and a tank top which she loved so much she cried.

Tomorrow we'll be gone all day on a boat trip visiting 4 islands. That' my mom's gift from us. We're all excited about that gift.

Tell me about your Christmas. I love hearing about different Christmas traditions and different gifts. Did you get what you wanted? Did you get to spend Christmas with people you love?

I hope you had a wonderful day.
Merry Christmas
Feliz Natal
xoxo, Da

Christmas Food Ideas

Christian and I are trying to think of ways we can be a little bit more Christmassy. These tiny gingerbread houses that perch perfectly on top of your mug have inspired me to make gingerbread today.

We've pretty much done nothing to celebrate the season, we're blaming everyone else around us for this. If the rest of the town would just put up some Christmas lights maybe then we could become festive all of a sudden.

In a way it's kind of nice being low key, specially because I'm not really low key at all about Christmas. Last year I had all of my Christmas shopping done in July, only to find myself buying more stuff in December just 'cuz everyone else was doing it, or something like that.

This year everything that I really want is web based, like adobe illustrator classes online for example, and music from iTunes. Christian wants the usual -- nothing. Whatever we get the kids needs to either fit in our bag, given away, or used up in the next 9 months, before we move back to the States.

As for Christmas food, I'm planning the menu for Christmas Eve and Christian is in charge of Christmas breakfast, his specialty. There are some really festive creations out there. If you need ideas and a little inspiration check these out.

// sushi tree
// Christmas pizza
// lemon curd pastries turned into mini christmas trees
// santa hat brownies
// candy cane cake
// gingerbread cookie tree

What are you serving up this Christmas?

ps. And for all of you who asked about Baby Maria she is doing much better. The days that she had a fever she was super sad and would not even let us come near her with the thermometer. Today she's happily playing with the thermometer, a sure sign she's back to her spunky self.

Chocolate Flan

Chocolate flan is easy to make, at least that's what Christian told me. Kidding. I've made flan before plenty of times. I am, after all, Brazilian and sweetened condensed milk is a staple in my home and in my diet. It's just that Christian took the traditional flan to a whole new level and made it into a decadent chocolate dessert. High-Five Christian!

On Christmas eve we're making chocolate flan. Maybe we'll even make two. Maybe we'll even make ice-cream flan. From what we hear it's tradition, here in Bahia, to eat a big Christmas Eve dinner at your house and then go to all your friends' and family's house and eat some more. We're not that popular but my teenage sis, who is living with us, is hugely popular so we might have to tag along and eat some desserts at her friends' house too.

And in case someone comes over to our house, we'll be waiting with open arms and chocolate flan and if we're feeling ambitious some ice-cream flan

Chocolate Flan
(printable version)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350*
2. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and mix on high until frothy.
3. Pour the mixture into a bundt pan and put the bundt pan in a water bath. Bake for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Chill over night and serve cold.

5 DIY Foodie Gifts

Three weeks ago I shared my first gift guide, where I featured some of my favorite food gifts including a s'mores kit from Matchbox Kitchen. Assuming you're like me and not all of your Christmas shopping is done then here are some ideas for gifts you can make yourself, including ... a s'mores kit.


One
What: DIY: S'mores Kits
From: Twig and Thistle
Perfect For: Your popular teenage niece who is always going on a date, maybe give her two kits.


Two
What: Teacup Lights
From: Martha Stewart
Perfect For: Your great-aunt of course.


Three
What: Vanilla Salt

From: Eat the Love

Perfect For: Your chic brother who is also super completive and thinks you have no DIY in you.

Four
What: Play Kitchen
From: ohdeedoh
Perfect For: Your favorite child.


Five
What: Tile Coaster Tutorial
From: The Cottage Home
Perfect For: The one person in the world that you know that uses coasters.



Holiday Gift Guides 2011
// 5 Cookbooks for Kids
// 5 Eco-Friendly Holiday Gifts for Little Foodies
// 5 Gourmet Gadgets for the Holidays
// 5 Food Gifts for the Holidays

Hello Weekend!

hot summer nights / i {heart} olives / safety standards in brazil are not like safety standards in the U.S / mama, baby, and plastic baby

In a nutshell

My mom is here. Hot weather. Hot date with my hot husband who takes me to watch Breaking Dawn. Beach concerts with the fam. Hospital visit with a very sick baby. 

I'll be back once my baby is back to normal. 

xoxo

10 little monkeys jumping on the hammock, and eating bananas of course.

We have a new neighbor, and it's a baby monkey! Normally I don't let the kids feed the monkeys but today the pack of monkeys organized, hung out on our varanda, and literally kept pushing the baby monkey into our house. The baby Monkey came in and tried to run off with a banana. I scared him away. Then I felt bad so I let the kids feed the monkeys. Here is a little video I took of the event. 

In other words, this is what our mornings look like because no matter how much I try to be strict with all this monkey business, I always seem to surrender and let them have a banana or two. 

ps. The little puddle of water you see is not monkey pee, it's just water.

pps. Baby Maria has only one volume. Loud. We're working on it.

xoxo

5 Foodie Gifts for the Single Ladies

Since I'm a mommy and since I write so much about my kiddies, I'm always a bit surprised that anyone besides mommies would be interested in Kitchen Corners, but as it turns out some of my most loyal readers are rad single ladies. Girls, this gift guide is for you because you know how to eat and you know that eating solo can be a real treat.


One
What: Zoku Single Pop Maker
From: Williams-Sonoma
Perfect For: The college student with the tiny freezer.
Cost: $24.95

Two
What: Perennial Mini Colander
From: Anthropologie
Perfect For: The girl who likes to cook pretty.
Cost: Between $12.00

Three
What: El Paso Quesadilla Maker

From: Sears

Perfect For: The workaholic.

Cost: $19.99

Four
What: Prep and Store Bowls - Set of 4
From: Urban Outfitters
Perfect For: The hyper organized chick.
Cost: $14.00

Five
What: Geometric Mustard Hand Printed Tea Towel
From: Amy Sullivan
Perfect For: The hip girl with the hip kitchen.
Cost: $18.00

Holiday Gift Guides 2011
// 5 Eco-Friendly Holiday Gifts for Little Foodies
// 5 Gourmet Gadgets for the Holidays
// 5 Food Gifts for the Holidays

Hello Weekend!

/ playing equals learning / morning at the beach / baby, kitty, and milky / banana pizza for breakfast

I have so many recipes I want to share with you but it will just have to wait a teeny bit longer. I feel like I'm living in perpetual vacation while at the same time working non-stop. It mostly has to do with the beach and the fact that we have a maid. That's the vacation part. The work part is everything else. 


It's funny how the career I'm going after, being a writer, happened because of my kids. I only really started writing online because I wanted to connect with other moms and because I wanted to document our family's life through recipes and pictures and stories about parenting. So really my kids are to blame for the dream job that I now have. 


Most likely when I go back to California I'll go back to working outside of my home and back into the classroom, teaching undergrads, a job I also love but not a career I want long term. Needless to say I'm soaking in every minute of my vacation type life in paradise where I get to play and I get to write.

Christian and I are very similar in that we are planners. He with his Moleskin Planner and me with my iCal. We have planning sessions. We make lists. We wake up thinking about what needs to get done and we go to bed talking about what we want our dream house to look like in 20 years, down to the color of our eco-friendly toilets. Planning for the future is good but it's also a little dangerous, if you're not careful planning ahead can rob you of the present.

I was making a bucket list of things I want - living close to the beach, living somewhere warm, living in a house I liked, living close to family, a job I loved, a flexible work schedule for both Christian and I, eating healthy, feeling fit, happy kids, and straight teeth. These are all long term things that ... I. HAVE. RIGHT. NOW (minus the straight teeth). Sometimes when I want something really bad I fail to see that most likely I already have it. Maybe not in the way I imagine it but I have it none-the-less.

Every day I get to exercise, hang out with my kids on some beautiful beach, write, live in a clean house, eat nourishing food, teach my kids something new. Every day I get to hang out with my Christian whenever I want because he gets to be flexible with his time. After the kids go to bed I like to sit by Christian and talk about our day and our finds. He shows me surf videos and talks about his project and I show him things like this and talk about my projects. Then we work a little bit more and then we go to the kids' room and kill mosquitoes that have gotten into their mosquito nets. Seriously, it's our night time ritual.

Do you know what I don't get to do? I don't get to write recipes every day. I don't get to do all the things I feel I need to be doing to have a "successful" blog. I don't get to pitch stories to magazines and I don't get to work on that cookbook proposal I keep telling myself I need to start on. It's a matter of time and a matter of priorities but mostly a matter of just plain impossibilities. You can't do it all. Don't even try. I try kind of a lot and I fail. Then I throw everything up in the air and I quit trying and things get done. Not everything, but somethings. All this to say that I've been super busy with

Christmas Tea

Oh Christmas. Today Enzo put on a Christmas CD and we were all surprised. We listened to Frosty the Snowman like 50 times. No joke. It was on repeat. I thought about telling him to just turn-it-off-puh-lease but held back and let him have his Christmas moment for the year. Did I mention it was super hot today? It does not feel like Christmas at all. I still have no idea what I'm giving Baby Maria. Enzo is getting private chess lessons. We like giving experiences. You can read my 5 Ideas for Memorable Non-Store-Bought Gifts on Inhabitots to see what I'm talking about.

I know exactly what I want for Christmas but I'm not getting it because it's far away in a Trader Joe's supermarket. For me eating is an experience.

The second thing I want for Christmas is Christmas Tea. I adore tea and I adore this idea.

// Images via Core77 spotted on Notcot

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter Giveaway

From what I hear Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is a must have for home cooks. After loosing her job as a book editor for Entertainment Weekly, Jennifer Reese set out on an ambitious task to answer the question I know I've asked several times, "Is doing it yourself always cheaper?"


After curing prosciutto, trying to get those crannies in an English muffin, and buying goats to be a better cheese maker, Jennifer’s kitchen-related experiments yielded some surprising results. Every recipe in the book starts with a breakdown of whether it's better to make or to purchase, by looking at the overall cost breakdown of each ingredient. If you're into DIY projects this book is for you.


Today I get to give away a copy of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. For a chance to win leave a comment on this post. Is there anything in particular you make in your kitchen that you think is more cost efficient than buying at the store. We always make our own yogurt and granola, for example. If there's something you make yourself leave me a comment telling me what it is. I'm curious to know. 

The Prize: One copy of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. Must have a US or Canada mailing address

To Enter: Leave a comment below +1 more comment: You can get more entries by becoming a Kitchen Corners' Follower using Google Friend Connect on the footer of the blog. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

 +1 more comment: By subscribing via RSS or email to Kitchen Corners' feeds. Leave an additional comment telling me that you've subscribed.

+1 more comment: Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

+1 more comment: Share this giveaway! Sharing buttons are right below this post. Just leave a comment telling me how you shared.

Giveaway closes: Midnight Tuesday PST December 13. The winner will be randomly selected, contacted via email, and announced next Friday.

Truth and Lies Food Poster

Oh how this poster rings true, this and all of Justin Barber's Truth and Lies Posters. Found via Abduzeedo.

5 Gourmet Gadgets for the Holidays

It's Monday and that means it's time for one more quick gift guide.
This week lets look at some gourmet gadgets, fun and useful tools for avid cooks.


One
What: The OCD Chef Cutting Board
From: Think Geek
Perfect For: The cook who believes in recipes and follows them to a tee.
Cost: $24.99

Two
What: Copper Mixing Bowls
From: Cutlery and More
Perfect For: The hard core foodie who likes to beat egg whites by hand.
Cost: Between $93.95 - $154.96

Three
What: Batter Dispenser

From: Fresh Finds

Perfect For: The cook who always volunteers to make the cupcakes for the party.

Cost: $14.95

Four
What: Marble and Oak, Mortar and Pestle
From: Design Group
Perfect For: Mortar lovers. They do exist. I've become one of them.
Cost: $395.00

Five
What: Spaghettiometer
From: Timber Green Woods
Perfect For: The cook who likes to brag about his pasta.
Cost: $9.95

Gourmet gadgets are the funnest! Are there any of these you'd like under your Christmas tree? Are there any other gourmet gadgets you would add to the list?

P.S. Here is a list of past Holiday Gift Guides
// 5 Food Gifts for the Holidays

Hello Weekend!

/ cacau beans being dried on the sidewalk / Enzo made his first hot chocolate using a cacau bean / women walking down the street with a massive chocolate cake / Baby Maria's life

I can not believe it's already December. Maybe it's because I haven't been in Brazil in December for almost 10 years and the warm weather and the end of the school year is confusing my brain. December in Itacare feels like November, that felt like October, that was a little warmer than our September. There is not one single Christmas decoration up, and I honestly don't think there will be any. It's not that people don't celebrate Christmas, they do. A lot of people in our town are extremely religious it's just that here Christmas doesn't mean presents, or Christmas lights, or Christmas trees, or any of the "normal" Christmassy things.

All the things I do during this time of year are not getting done. My advent activity with the kids where they open up a Christmas book each night is not really going to happen. Believe it or not I actually brought 24 Christmas books from the U.S so that I can do this advent activity with the kids that I've done every single year (really only 3 years but when they're young it feels like forever). I forgot the books in Sao Paulo and my mom will bring them in two weeks and to be totally honest I'm not even feeling like I should do it. I feel super silly having lugged Christmas books, what was I thinking? If you ever move to another country do not ask me for advice on what you should take, I'm a bad decision maker when it comes to stuff.

Actually, let me just dispense one on you.

Take only what you absolutely need, and by need I mean the things that you are sure you can not find in the place you're moving to and these things have to be things you use regularly, as in at least once a week. In other words don't bring Christmas books for your family, just embrace how Christmas is or isn't celebrated where ever it is you're moving to.  Assuming, of course, you're only moving there for a year or so. If you're moving permanently then take everything you own or nothing you own. I don't really know.

Speaking of moving we've been here for 3 months and we're L.O.V.E ing it. Yesterday I went running early in the morning and ended my run on a beautiful beach where I was the only person there, surrounded by huge green coconut trees and birds singing. I probably asked myself at least 10 times "is this really my life?" and then 5 minutes later when I was walking home and could hear Maria crying and Enzo crying and Christian crying (crying inside I mean), I was like "oh yeah, this is my life."

For the record two year olds are hard. I know I'm not the first one to say it but I wish I were. In other words go hug a parent of a 2 year old, I promise you s/he needs it.

It doesn't help that Maria believes she's a 5 year old and doesn't understand why she can't do everything her brother does. Enzo made a poetry book at school and he wanted me to type up a poem and send it to my Aunt, his newest email buddy. Enzo read the poem while I typed and Maria wanted desperately to participate, doing it in all the wrong ways. Both Enzo and I were getting really frustrated at her. Then when Enzo went to school she sat down with the book and "read" the opening line of the poem and then tried to read/remember the next line. She looked up at me so sad and said "Mama, me no read good." And then my heart just went craaaack.

But here's the thing Maria has a good life. The picture above is a glimpse of her day - ripe mangos and bananas for breakfast, beach in the morning, yummy lunch, shower, and a show on the iPad on the hammock before nap time. And half of the time we don't even make her wear clothes. It's a good life. But even if you have a good life it doesn't mean you can't get frustrated and even if you're frustrated it doesn't mean you can't have a good life. You following?

Oh and guess who was born just a couple of days ago? Little baby Henry. Erin, the talented designer that made my current header is the proud mama of a little baby peep-squeak. Let's all go over to her blog and give her a group hug and welcome her to mommyhood.

Friends, have a great weekend o.k.
Try to have fun and try to stay positive.
xoxo

Magimix by Robot-Coupe Chrome Food Processor Giveaway

Magimix by Robot-Coupe is celebrating their 40th anniversary - both of the brand and since they invented the very first food processor for domestic cooks, and today we get to join in on the fun.

Last year my big Holiday giveaway was this exact same food processor, held on Christmas day. This year I'm holding the giveaway a little earlier so that you can get your shiny new toy before Christmas, put it under your Christmas tree, and then on Christmas day BAM(!) your very own Magimix by Robot-Coupe 4200 XL 14-cup Food Processor in Chrome.

Williams-Sonoma is currently selling this baby for $399.95 it normally goes for $500. Just some F.Y.I in case you decide that you should just go ahead and buy it. And while you're at it get the Vision Toaster, because it's a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

If you want to try your luck then leave a comment and you'll be entered in the Giveaway. For official rules and for more chances to win please read below.

The Prize: One 14-Cup Chrome Magimix by Robot-Coupe Food Processor. Must have a U.S mailing address.

To Enter: Just leave a comment below +1 more comment: You can get more entries by becoming a Kitchen Corners' Follower using Google Friend Connect on the footer of the blog. 

 +1 more comment: By subscribing via RSS or email to Kitchen Corners' feeds. 

+1 more comment: Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter.

+1 more comment: Share this giveaway! Sharing buttons are right below this post. Just leave a comment telling me how you shared.

Giveaway closes: Midnight Thursday PST December 8. The winner will be randomly selected, contacted via email, and announced next Friday.

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This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Mary Elderton, the lucky winner.

An Ideabook of Kitchen Tools on Houzz

This month my ideabook on Houzz is all about Must-Have Kitchen Tools. After packing up my kitchen and moving to another continent I realized that I am very capable of living without my kitchen gadgets, but to be totally honest I'd rather not.

A reader recommended I add an Alaskan Ulu knife to the list.
What about you, what would you add?

More Kitchen Tools Ideabooks on Houzz
// Sprouted Kitchen Must-Haves
// 40-Must Haves for for the Kitchen
// A Rainbow of Colorful Kitchen Accessories
// The Clever Kitchen
// The Artfully Styled Kitchen