Hello Halloween

I know this is the most obvious comment ever but I just have to say that kids in costumes is insanely cute. Also, adults in costumes...I'm a fan! Today this guy got mad at me in traffic and he was dressed up as a clown, like full on clown face and clothes. It was impossible to get mad back.

We've been celebrating Halloween for over a week now. It's great because today the kids are excited but they're still functioning and doing all the other things they normally do on a Wednesday afternoon- homework, piano practice, reading, playing with each other, ya know.

Both Enzo and Maria picked their pumpkins from a pumpkin farm on Highway 1, like right at the ocean. So beautiful. The owners have grandkids that go to both Enzo's school and Maria's preschool so they let the kids from the schools come and pick any pumpkin they want for FREE! I know, amazing. Maria picked the tiniest pumpkin and told the farm owner, "this pumpkin is for the baby in my mama's belly." The farm owner thought it was so cute she told Maria she could pick 2 more pumpkins just for her. Her charms get her pretty far.

I buy my kids Halloween PJs every year. This year I went with the glow in the dark skeleton jammies. Every night they make us come in their room when it's dark so they can scare us. Every night Christian and I act scared. Every night they laugh and scream and think it's hilarious that, once again, they were able to scare us.

Enzo's jammies is only skeleton on top and then plaid pants on the bottom. He asked us to make a full skeleton suit for him because that's what he wants to be for Halloween. We cut up bones using freezer paper and then ironed it on one of his old sweat pants. Easy. Christian made a skeleton mask from the Trader Joe's puff pastry package that I put in the recycling bin.

Maria wanted to be a ballerina. Then a princess. So for our Trunk-or-Treat (trick-or-treating in a parking lot where people hand out candy from their trunks) night at our church she went as a princess/ballerina. Yesterday she had a Halloween party at her preschool and she decided she no longer wanted to be a princess, she wanted to be a skeleton witch. In the afternoon she played with our neighbors and somehow ended up with a dragon costume. She said she wanted to wear that today but last I heard she wants to be a princess again. We're going trick-or-treating in a couple of hours, I guess we shall see.

Yesterday, a total stranger stopped me in the street and said I inspired her to be a pregnant woman for Halloween. I hope that idea worked out for her. As for me, I can't say I'm not scared of how big my belly is. I wish I had gotten creative and actually made a costume but I just could not get myself in the mood. Besides, with maternity clothes I often do feel like I'm wearing a costume.

I'm pretty done being pregnant but at the same time I'm happy the baby isn't here yet. It's been fun going to the pumpkin patch and the various Halloween festivities with the kids. Plus I don't want to miss tonight's trick-or-treating for anything. I can't say I won't raid the Twix from their loot.

Happy Halloween!

Painted Wood Slice Tray

My kids are so obsessed with painting. Yesterday I picked up a paint brush and painted along with them. I was surprised how good it felt. Today I found this DIY for a painted wood slice tray at She Makes a Home and now I'm totally obsessed. I think this would make a great Christmas gift. Must find wood slice!

Image from She Makes a Home

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Honey

Today I made my comfort chocolate chip cookie recipe, the one with honey and lots of cinnamon. It's sweet, or course, but it's also exceptionally warm and makes me feel safe when I eat it. I woke up at 6:30am with an urge for something warm and comforting. I needed a little comfort.

This weekend Hawaii had a Tsunami warning. We have family and friends that live in Hawaii and I was so scared for them. Luckily, nothing happened. I was crossing my fingers that the same would be the case for our friends and family in the East Coast and that Frankenstorm would be nothing but a big scare. Right now, as I keep checking the news, it certainly looks scary. We've experienced a flood before and it's a tremendous amount of work. Luckily we were all safe. I'm thankful people are safe (so far) but my heart still aches when I see houses and streets underwater. A flood is something I wish on no one!

Last night I felt an earthquake and that was also super unsettling.
Natural disasters sure makes me feel little.

I hope you are all safe where ever you are and if you're in the need of a little comfort chocolate chip cookies may help. This recipe is especially good for that.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Honey
makes 2 dozen cookies
(printable version)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg at room temperature
1/6 cup honey
2/3 cup cinnamon-sugar (white granulated sugar mixed with powdered cinnamon. You decide on the ratio. I love cinnamon so I always mix in a lot of cinnamon.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. In a medium bowl mix the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Cream the butter, honey, and sugar, for 5 minutes. Stop every minute to scrap the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until just combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until they're well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Go down the cookie sheet dropping tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Leave about 2 inches between they. Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until golden brown. Cool on a rack before serving.

Ann Romney's Carrot Soup

Ann Romney has an awesome carrot soup recipe that she gave my friend (if you think the world is small try the Mormon world, it's like a studio apartment). My friend made it for my babyshower and I ate about 3 bowls full and still could not get enough. I made the soup last night for dinner and my family loved it even my very liberal soup-snob husband had two big bowls.

If we're friends on Facebook you probably hate me right now. I try so very hard to resist the urge to post any political updates but then Tina Fey says something brilliant and I just can't help myself. It seems like so much of this election is about, or made to be about women's issues. And then there is so much hate talk, from both sides. I don't want to hate on women (duh!) and I don't want to be hated on. Ann Romney and I agree on very little but I still want to give her credit for supporting her husband and putting herself out there. It takes guts.

All politics aside (if I can do it you can do it), Ann Romney knows how to make mad soup.

Ann Romney's Carrot Soup

Saute until tender:

1/4 c butter

5 c grated carrots

1 c grated potatoes

3/4 c onion

Add and simmer one hour:

4 c chicken broth

1 bay leaf

Remove bay leaf and blend

Before serving add:

2 c milk or cream

salt and pepper to taste

I substituted the potato for butternut squash and went with the heavy cream. When my friend made it she used potatoes and substituted the cream for half and half. Both versions work well.

Picnic Poster

Is this not the greatest poster you've ever seen, period? And how awesome that it's for a picnic, a benefit picnic for DIFFA!


Image via Picnic by Design

Letters on a Cookie Sheet | Kitchen School

That extra cookie sheet you never use, hold on to it. Also hold on to those magnetic letters you're tempted to give away.

Here is what you do

you line up all the letters to make sure they fit on the sheet. Then you remove them one at a time and with a sharpie you write the corresponding letter on the cookie sheet.

Then you have your pre-schooler match the magnetic letters to the ones on the cookie sheet. You tell her she has 10 seconds tops to do it otherwise she doesn't get dinner.

Kidding! You let her have a go at it. If she thinks it's hard (Maria thought it was hard) you can give her just the first row of letters, and then the second, and then the third, and then the last. She will feel super successful and will want to do it all over again!

Bonus, you hated those magnetic letters because you didn't really have a good place to keep them (yes, I hate having my fridge full of letters too), well now you can just keep them on the cookie sheet. Other bonus, we use the inside part of the cookie sheet (the blank side) to help Enzo master his spelling words of the week. He gets tired of writing, spelling with magnetic letters is way more fun.

I love using the stuff in my kitchen (old cookie sheets for example, food, food coloring) to help my kids learn. Periodically I'll post a kitchen school project. If you have any you'd like to submit and have featured here at Kitchen Corners send me an email. I'd love to see what kind of stuff you enjoy doing with your kids.
xoxo Da

Check out We Can Do All Things for more projects using a cookie sheet.

Crock Pot Shoyu Chicken Recipe

Serves 6-8
(Printable Version)

3 lbs chicken (thighs and drumsticks)
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 cloves garlic 
3-4 inches of ginger (peeled)
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons corn starch diluted in 1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon honey
cilantro for garnish

Mix the soy sauce and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Using a food processer chop the garlic and ginger together. Add the chopped garlic and ginger to the soy sauce and brown sugar and mix well. Rub the soy sauce, sugar, garlic,ginger mixture on the chicken pieces and place the chicken in a large crock pot. Pour the chicken broth and the diluted corn starch on top of the chicken. Drizzle with honey. Cook for 6 hours on high. Use chopped cilantro for garnish and serve with rice.

Sundays are my crock pot days. I know, it's totally Mormon of me. It is awfully nice having dinner ready when we come back from church and I love the smell of warm food, specially shoyu chicken, when we walk in the door.

As with most meats cooked in the crock pot shoyu chicken becomes crazy moist the longer it's in there practically falling off the bones when it's done. My kids are total carnivores and meat that's been cooked in the crock pot is their favorite. It's so easy for them to just remove pieces themselves without having us to cut up their meat for them. They are both at that point where feeling independent is a big deal. 

Maria's favorite way to eat shoyu chicken is wrapped in roasted Korean seaweed (also known as Maria and mom crack at our house) with rice and broccoli. 

 

She makes the cutest little rolls and the biggest mess. I don't complain because if she's chowing down on chicken, brown rice, seaweed, and brocoli I should just be grateful and put up with rice getting stuck under my feet.

Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe?

Tea for One

We woke up to lots of rain today. I haven't seen rain in months. Last time I saw rain I was in the jungle in Brazil. Jungle rain is so very different than fall rain. Fall rain is coldy and cozy (if you're inside). I already had two cups of mint tea and am about to make a third cup to help keep me warm. We have so much fresh mint on our porch (high-five Christian for planting those!)

I'm the only one in my family that drinks tea. I've been drinking herbal tea since I can remember, but for some reason I can not get my kids to even try it. When I saw this Tea for One Table I fell in love, and check out those personalized plates how beautiful are those?! Which table would you pick? I think I would go for the black with the flower plate on top.

Also check out their dandelion stools. So fab!

ps- Hope your Monday is warm and cozy.

Images from Design K via More Design Please

Happy Weekend!

We're always rushing to get Enzo off to school. It doesn't matter if we wake up two hours before he needs to leave or 15 minutes. There's always something. Today was his favorite white shirt. We couldn't find it anywhere. I finally found it with 3 minutes to spare.

Last night my friends threw me a babyshower. I have to admit I felt a little overwhelmed opening all the presents. First, I wasn't expecting a baby shower at all. I didn't know you still got a baby shower with your third kid. Second, people are so generous it makes me feel lucky, like too lucky. Like I need to pack up all the stuff I'm not using and send it to Brazil right away to people I know who can't afford it.

Maria came upstairs this morning with a gift bag and announced "O.K we're all set for the baby to come. She has a pair of socks and a permission slip to go to the pumpkin patch next week. She can be born now." I agree!

When I got home from the baby shower the kids were asleep, and the house smelled like warm chocolate. Christian was making a chocolate dessert and on the table were freshly picked flowers and a poem. He remembered that it was our 100 monthiversary. I lost count of our monthiversaries like 98 months ago. I'm glad I get to go through this life with him by my side, the guy who has impecable memory and who wakes up in the middle of the night and helps relieve my pregnancy back pains. The dad who makes french toast in the morning for Enzo.

This was the first week in almost 4 months that I wasn't working full time. I loved my job but I also love hanging out with the fam. It was nice picking up Enzo from school, volunteering in Maria's class, meeting up with friends at the pool, going to the library, oh and blogging again!

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow Christian and I have a date day. We'll be spending all day in San Francisco just hanging out and eating good food. If it's a nice day we'll walk around some gardens. If it's cold we'll probably just catch a movie. At night we have a fancy schmancy gala dinner at the California Academy of Sciences. On Sunday Enzo is singing at church with the rest of the kids, for the annual primary program.

Here are some things I enjoyed this week online

// amazing footage of startrails from the ISS
// DIY feather and lavender garland
// How to make miniature papel picado
// Eat, drink, be wicked
// Strawberry shortcake
// Foil wrapped miso salmon recipe

I hope you had a good week and that your weekend is even better!

Turntable Kitchen

I'm a total fan of designer Amanda Jane Jones. Today I saw these designs for Turntable Kitchen and even though I promised myself yesterday I was done with internet shopping I immediately pulled out the credit card to buy the bag on the right. It turns out that the prints were only used for t-shirts. I'm way too pregnant to buy clothes right now.

Nevertheless I was already on the Turntable Kitchen website so I decided to check it out. It's a great destination for food and music lovers. And check this out they make a monthly pairing box with curated music, original recipes, and dried ingredients, delivered to your door step. Cool much?!



image via Amanda Jane Jones

Food as Dyes

I'm 37 weeks pregnant and finally getting things ready for our baby. When Enzo was a baby the cool thing was the sling. When Maria was a baby it was the all natural rubber pacifier. Now the hot new thing is the Aden + Anis swaddling blankets. Supposedly they're like magic. My sister-in-law sent me one, which she tie-dyed and made it super cute. I want more. I also want to dye them but don't have any dyes to work with.

Have you ever used natural dyes like berries and tumeric? I recently saw a tutorial on Sweet Peach on how to use natural dyes on 100% cotton and I'm intrigued. Does it fade after a couple washes? If anyone has experience with using food as dyes can you give me some suggestions? Thanks much!
xoxo

images via Sweet Peach

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt

Maria said she wanted soup for dinner. No soup was served. Instead we had lots of salad and then heaping portions of pumpkin frozen yogurt. 

Unless fall decides to be fall we're not having soup for a while. The spiced apple cider I bought with the intention of drinking on coldy nights is being used to make popsicles to help cool us down during the day.

Like my blackberry frozen yogurt recipe this pumpkin variation is just as easy. I used store bought honey greek yogurt and canned pumpkin puree. Yup, easy! If you don't have an ice cream maker I think you should get one. I'm serious. They are so fun and so handy, AND I see them all the time at thrift stores. For $5 you can probably find a used one, specially this time of year when summer is [supposedly] over.

1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups Honey Greek Yogurt

In a large bowl mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the honey greek yogurt to the bowl and fold over the pumpkin mixture until well incorporated. Add the pumpkin yogurt mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacture's directions.

Enjoy on a warm fall day!

5 Halloween Projects You Can do at Home with the Kids

I've been busy creating, photographing, and writing up Halloween DIY for Tend. It's been so fun working for Glam Media these past 3 months. I'm so grateful I got the opportunity to do what I love with people who were beyond great.

Here are 5 Halloween DIY projects I came up with for Tend and wanted to share with you.

Ghost Cake Pops

DIY Glitter Pumpkins

DIY Chalkboard Pumpkin

Halloween in a Box

Halloween Playdough Recipe

Yesterday the kids decided what they wanted to be for Halloween. Stay tuned for pictures! Halloween is definitely growing on me the older the kids get. They are so into it.

Have you started preparing for Halloween at your house?