Exploring Our Hometown

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Modern Wife

On New Year’s Day I looked over the 2011 calendar, dreaming of vacations during the weeks off from school. I had visions of tropical beaches, when it occurred to me that this is the third New Year’s Day we’ve celebrated in our home here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we haven’t yet explored everything there is to see here. People come out here on their vacations and have seen more than we have.

So on New Year’s Day we dressed warm, donned our rain boots and headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf. I have not been there in 15 years! I’d drive right by it and think, That place is for tourists. Well, my 6-year-old hasn’t been there yet. And I bet there will be some things that will surprise even me.

We discovered that Musee Mechanique, had been relocated at Fisherman’s Wharf. It used to be in the Cliff House ages ago. We loved it and mourned it when they closed. I’m so glad to know that it’s still around.

We went to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. Tip: Do not purchase the 3D glasses for an extra $1. The Mirror Maze is confusing enough without the glasses. You want your vision to be clear while you navigate the maze slowly. The museum itself is an amazing collection, some of the items still there from several decades ago.

We all had a terrific time on New Year’s Day. I decided on a New Year’s Resolution: explore our city!

This weekend we headed south on Route 1 for a breathtaking drive, with the Pacific Ocean on the right and the mountains on the left. First stop: brunch at 3-Zero Cafe. Right at the Half Moon Bay Airport, the cafe is decorated with model airplanes suspended from the ceiling and various framed prints of airplane memorabilia.

After brunch, we headed south and made a quick stop at the Pigeon Point Light Station in Pescadero.

pigeon point pescadero california

After a brief photo and a shiver we got back in the car to head further south to the Natural Bridge State Beach hoping to look at the Monarch Butterflies, who were supposed to be resting at the Eucalyptus grove before migrating south by the end of January. Alas, many have already left Santa Cruz. There were only a couple sightings high up the eucalyptus trees left for us. The Monarch Butterflies are due to return in October. I’ll be back then and plan on bringing binoculars.

We left the eucalyptus grove and went to the beach to see the Natural Bridge, which the park is named after. Earlier photos show bridges, but now it looks as if there is only one bridge left. Still majestic, and the changing nature of, well, nature, makes beholding it so special.

natural bridge santa cruz california

Currently reading:
Fodor’s Around San Francisco with Kids, 3rd Edition: 68 Great Things to Do Together (Around the City with Kids)
Bay Area Parent magazine and companion Family Navigator magazine

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Winter Knit Hats for Toys

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Modern Wife

winter knit hats for toys

Even toys get cold in the winter. So I knit these tiny pompom hats to keep these toy elephants warm. A sweet little present for my husband, who collects and make toys.

Knitted with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK. Pattern from Knit Simple Magazine Winter 2009

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Gingerbread House

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Modern Wife

Last year we made a gingerbread house from a Wonka box kit and we had a great time doing it. This year, we got a little bit more ambitious and attempted building our gingerbread house from scratch.

Gingerbread House

We got the Gingerbread recipe and instructions for building a gingerbread house from Family Fun magazine.

We started off wrong when we picked a box that was too big for the recipe. We had to make another half-batch of dough so our house would have a roof! But since we would up with more dough than we needed, we were able to make trees and a bunny.

I’m not very good at geometry, so I made mistakes measuring the walls and it took us all day to get the house standing. We had to keep trimming the walls until we had just the right measurement that would support the roof. I kept thinking about those $15 gingerbread house kits that have perfectly measured parts. Those sure would have saved me time and money!

We finally got to decorate our gingerbread house after dinner. It was a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it. We all learned the virtue of perseverance and teamwork, and felt a swell of pride in our chests after it was all finally done.

From my family to yours, we wish you a love-filled holiday season and a new year full of sweet blessings!

Gingerbread House

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Gingerbread Creatures

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Modern Wife

Bored with the usual Gingerbread Man design? Check out these unique Gingerbread designs:

gingerbread bones
Gingerbread Skeleton

gingerbread girl
Girly Gingerbread

gingerbread sock monkey
Gingerbread Sock Monkey

gingerbread ninja
Gingerbread Ninja

gingerbread pink
Gingerbread in Pink

gingerbread puff
Gingerbread Puff

Inspired?

Recipe for Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water

Directions:

  1. Beat softened butter with sugar until creamy.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and knead until it forms a dough.
  3. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
  4. Preheat the oven at 350o F.
  5. Roll out the dough on a clean floured surface. When the dough is about 1/4 inch thin, use a cookie cutter to make cookie shapes.
  6. Line up the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet, about 1/4 inch apart.
  7. Bake for 12 minutes.
  8. Set the hot cookies out on a wire rack to cool.
  9. Decorate with cookie icing.

Happy Holidays!

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Sugar Skulls

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Modern Wife

My daughter was born on November 1, and now at kindergarten age she has become very interested in the festival held on her birthday.

El Dia de los Muertos is a 3-day Mexican fiesta to honor the dead. To celebrate, one must prepare an altar, or ofrenda, an offering to one’s dead loved ones. An altar may have flowers, specifically marigold, which is the flowers of the dead, photos of our dead loved ones, food and sugar skulls.

El Dia de los Muertos Ofrenda Altar

The fiesta begins on October 31, All Hallow’s Eve, also known as Halloween in the United States. All Hallow’s Eve is supposed to be when spirits of dead children roam the earth. At this time toys and candies may be added to the altar.

El Dia de lost Muertos Altar and Sugar Skulls

The dead children’s visit extends overnight into November 1, called All Saints Day, in honor of dead children, innocents who perished before their time. By 3 pm the dead children are supposed to return to the land of the dead, and the adult dead are supposed to take their turn roaming the land of the living.

November 2 is called All Souls Day. This is the day to honor all adult dead loved ones. In the afternoon families visit the cemetery to usher the dead back to the afterlife, to clean graves, offer fresh flowers and reminisce about the loved ones who have died.

El Dia de los Muertos not only pokes fun at mortality, but also sets aside time to remember our dead loved ones.

Sugar Skulls

We prepare the sugar skulls a week before El Dia de los Muertos. I got the skull mold from Casa Bonampak. I chose Large so that we had more surface to work with for little fingers like my 6-year-old’s, but they have other sizes available. I also bought a small jar of meringue powder, an indispensable ingredient in making the sugar skulls. Here is a list containing everything you would need (except the sugar).

Here is a detailed recipe for Sugar Skulls, with tables for measurement conversions and yield.

sugar skulls

After the skulls are dry, we hollow them out and reuse the discarded sugar to make more skulls. It is incredibly still moldable.

sugar skulls being hollowed out

Then we put the two sides of the skull together using Royal Icing (recipe here). One can make colored icing by adding food-based coloring to the Royal Icing in separate cups. I have a lot of store-bought icing in my pantry so we used it to decorate our skulls.

sugar skulls assembly and decorating

Here are some finished sugar skulls.

sugar skulls

I put sequins in the middle of the eye sockets so that the eyes catch the light.

sugar skulls

sugar skulls in our fireplace

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Strawberry Ice Cream

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Modern Wife

I consider myself lucky because my local farmers market has an abundance of the sweetest organic strawberries I’ve ever tasted. Harvested on the same day, these strawberries are ripe when I buy them. Much of the berries are eaten same day by my voracious family, but when there’s still at least a pint left, I turn these beautiful strawberries into my favorite dessert, Strawberry Ice Cream.

strawberry ice cream

Ingredients:
1 pint fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed
freshly squeezed juice of 1 medium-sized lemon
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Follow manufacturer’s instructions on how to prepare your ice cream maker.

1. Combine the strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar in a medium bowl. Mash the strawberries roughly (I prefer mine with larger chunks than you might. It’s up to you.) and allow them to macerate together for 2 hours.
2. Heat whole milk in a medium saucepan until it bubbles around the edges.
3. Whisk sugar into the heated milk.
4. Transfer to a medium bowl and let it cool completely.
5. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.
6. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for at least 30 minutes or until thickened into a soft-serve consistency.
7. Add strawberry mixture slowly while ice cream is churning.
8. Freeze for at least 2 hours if a firmer consistency is desired.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate Ice Cream

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Modern Wife

Chocolate is my guilty pleasure. I always have to think twice about buying it, and when I do it’s always with a deep breath first before I dive in. So when I made this Chocolate Ice Cream, I put twice as much chocolate as I originally intended. If I am going to feel guilty about something, I may as well make the most of it.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (16 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Follow manufacturer’s instructions on how to prepare your ice cream maker.

1. Heat whole milk in a medium saucepan until it bubbles around the edges.
2. Whisk sugar into the heated milk.
3. Add 1 cup (8 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips and whisk until melted into the milk.
4. Transfer to a medium bowl and let it cool completely.
5. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.
6. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for at least 30 minutes or until thickened into a soft-serve consistency.
7. While churning, melt remaining 1 cup (8 oz) semi-sweet chocolate in a small sauce pan. Pour the melted chocolate into ice cream as is churns. The melted chocolate will immediately harden upon contact with the ice cream. You will have slivers of crunchy chocolate in your ice cream.
7. Freeze for at least 2 hours if a firmer consistency is desired.

Enjoy!

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Pistachio Ice Cream

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Modern Wife

I love my Pistachio Ice Cream! It is a simple recipe, and does away with the green food coloring that you will find in store-bought pistachio ice cream. The pistachios chop up into a fun confetti of green, yellow and pink to make the ice cream look sprinkled with pastel colored nuts.

pistachio ice cream

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chopped pistachios
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparing the pistachios is easy if you have a Progressive Nut Chopper. I recruited my 5-year-old in shelling the pistachios and we both had a fun time grinding the nuts into tiny pieces.

Follow manufacturer’s instructions on how to prepare your ice cream maker.

1. Heat whole milk in a medium saucepan until it bubbles around the edges.
2. Whisk sugar into the heated milk.
3. Transfer to a medium bowl and let it cool completely.
4. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.
5. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for at least 30 minutes or until thickened into a soft-serve consistency.
6. Add chopped pistachios while ice cream is churning.
7. Freeze for at least 2 hours if a firmer consistency is desired.

Enjoy!

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Amigurumi Girls

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Modern Wife

Amigurumi Girl gets a little sister!

amigurumi girls

Sunday morning my daughter and I were going through my leftover yarn collection. I have a bag of one-skein yarns that I reserve for very small projects, such as amigurumi toys. We found a skein of the Classic Elite Flash in marled pink that reminds me of peppermint candy. I bought it for my daughter years ago but never got around to doing anything with it. That morning, I asked her what she imagined that yearn could be made into.

“Can you make a sister for Clariana?” she asked. Clariana is what she named the Amigurumi Girl I made last summer.

So I set to work. Then halfway through the head, I broke my bamboo crochet needle. The only US size B I have. This must be why metal crochet needles are popular.

I had to use a smaller size. 1.75 mm metal hook.

My stitches were tighter with the smaller hook, which made this sister a little sister. Other than the difference in hair and dress color, I used the exact same kind of yarns, Classic Elite Bam Boo for the dress and skin, and Classic Elite Flash for the hair.

amigurumi girls

I had finished the head and the body, and was working on the limbs when my precocious 5 year old made a discovery. Put together differently, the head and the body looked like a mushroom. Since she’s the boss of this project, I had to turn the parts into a mushroom and start all over with the little sister. I spent the whole day crocheting, supervised by my 5 year old boss.

It was a lovely way to spend a rainy Sunday together.

The Girl Pattern is in page 84 of Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi by Tomoko Takamori.

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Lemon Garlic Tea

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Modern Wife

Well, actually this recipe is listed as Garlic Lemonade in Aviva Jill Romm’s book, “Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives.” Among recipes for boosting immunity, this one excited me most because my daughter and I can incorporate it into one of our favorite playtime activities: Tea Party.

We usually boil a cup of water, squeeze half a lemon and stir a teaspoon of honey into it. A porcelain tea set makes things fun and fancy for my little princess. This recipe adds only one more element: garlic, known for stimulating the immune system.

lemon garlic tea party

Here is the recipe from Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives, by Aviva Jill Romm:

Garlic Lemonade

3 medium-sized garlic cloves, chopped
(blogger’s note: instead of chopping, I pounded the garlic in a mortar and pestle)
Juice of 1 lemon
Maple syrup or honey to taste.

Place the garlic in a 1-quart jar and fill the jar with boiling water. Let the garlic steep for 20 minutes and then strain it out. Add the lemon juice and sweeten with the maple syrup or honey.

Give 1/2 to 2 cups daily, the lower dose to prevent illness and for younger children and the greater quantity for older kids who feel like they are coming down with a cold.

Don’t give the lemonade every day; just use it periodically as needed.

ingredients for lemon garlic tea

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