Week In Pictures

Life is and will continue to be a bit chaotic for about the next six months. We are beginning to wind down our time in Beijing. Kids are busy with spring activities at school. Repatriating back into the United States will be an interesting and learning process.

Let's do this!

My week and a half after our trip to Australia was great! Coming back to Beijing is more like home each and every time. I hosted book group at my house. We read The Shoemaker's Wife and since it is very Italian, I decided to make all the food things that I've learned from my Nana or mom. Of course, pesto was on the list. Unfortunately, I can't read basil in Chinese and bought four containers of mint instead. Plan B was jar pesto and mint water. 

Mint, not basil! Duh, now that I know it is very obvious the leaves are too small!

Mom's Homemade Pesto

2 C fresh basil leaves

1/2 C fresh Parmesan Cheese

1/2 C Olive oil (may need to add more for desired consistency)

1/3 C Pine Nuts 

3 medium cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Blend in a blender until smooth. Freezable. Serve over gnocchi or spaghetti with fresh green beans and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

My very favorite cookie to make is homemade biscotti. The pure almond extract makes the house smell so yummy and the butter makes them melt in your mouth. 

Almond Biscotti before they are baked.

Homemade Almond Biscotti

1 C softened butter

1 1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp pure almond extract

3 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 C chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter, sugar, eggs and extract. In another bowl mix in flour, baking powder, salt and nuts. Add dry mixture to creamed mixture little by little until dough forms. Divide dough into thirds. Using floured hands, form 1/3 dough into logs that are the width of the baking sheet. BE SURE TO BAKE ON A SILPAT OR PARCHMENT PAPER. Leave about one inch between logs since dough will expand while baking. Bake all three logs on 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for no longer than two minutes. While hot, with a sharp knife, slice logs on a diagonal to form biscotti shape. Lay each cookie on it's side and bake for an additional 10 min on 350. One batch makes aprox 4 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Book Group  Treats

Blue Sky dad with Galaxy Soho

An example of chic Chinese head fashion

Lunch with visiting teachers. Hand pulled noodles.

And here are the noodles.

The boys in my family were thrilled to be back in China for the remainder of Chinese New Year. That means fireworks!

Friends and fireworks!

The rest of my week consisted of getting the house and family ready for me to be gone for THREE WHOLE WEEKS! I have the great opportunity to fly to the US. For a week I will be in Southern California on a "fact finding" trip to see if we could relocate there. Then I will head up to Northern California to spend time with family and friends. Yay me!

The day before I left was actually a gorgeous spring day!

He always thinks he is coming with us.

In San Francisco this would be fog. In Beijing it is smog.
We still took off on time!

We used frequent flyer points for me to upgrade to business class.
This could be very dangerous! It was glorious!

Next stop: Los Angeles!

Pajama Breakfast Party

Before my blog became an "everything about moving and living in China blog" it used to be a creative blog designed for me to be inspired by others and to inspire. "BC" (before China) I was happiest when I hosted functions and social events at my house. In China it has been difficult to carry this out, but this weekend I hosted a Pajama Breakfast Party for teenage girls from church.

Invitations

I bought inexpensive eye masks and used hand-written tags with the information.

 Menu

peach, orange and apple juice

watermelon and pineapple

bacon

chocolate chip pancakes

Favors

"The early bird Catches the Worm" 

with a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 88:124 

“…cease to sleep longer than is needful;

retire to thy bed early,

that ye may not be weary;

arise early, that your bodies and

your minds may be invigorated.”

 Of course it was attached to gummy worms.

Activity 

Besides eating and chatting I thought it would be fun for them to make pillowcases with a reminder to say their morning and nighttime prayers. Each girl chose her own color pillowcase and decorated it.

Prizes

I gave a prize for cutest pajamas and best bed head. The prizes were loofahs and invigorating body wash.

It was a fun activity and it was fun to finally host something here at our apartment!

Baby Shower- Monkey Style!

It's baby shower time!

Monkey and Banana style!

It's awesome to have a friend that makes balloon animals of every kind! Adorable!

The color scheme was brown and yellow (with a hint of baby blue). These fabulous banners - no sew btw- were made by my co-hostess.

She also happens to be the world's best sugar cookie maker! They are always a big hit! Check her out here.

We also had a banana split bar and yummy tropical banana punch.

It's just not a party at my home without a candy bar! This time it was all banana or yellow. Who knew banana Laffy Taffy would be so popular?

"go bananas for Blake" favors

These favors are a cinch! Find banana candy here.

I used the Wilton favor tins and printed the stickers here.

The best part of the shower was that this sweet mom was showered and this baby boy was honored!

A last day of school tradition!

These are so good they can be a tradition for anything! Birthdays, Father's Day brunch, Sunday after church, Friday night dessert...you name it!

Ours is for the last day of school!

EBELSKIVERS

photo courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

These are yummy Danish pancake puffs! Don't be fooled by expensive, fancy mix powders...you just need what you have in your baking cabinet! You do need the pan though! And they are found here.

Here is the basic recipe: You can substitute milk for buttermilk

2 c. buttermilk

2 c. flour

3 eggs, separated

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. sugar

You can fill them with Nutella, jam, lemon curd, etc or get creative with savory items like ham and cheese. You can also add cocoa powder and make chocolate ones.

The best part is they are EASY to make and FUN!

Easy and Yummy Centerpieces

Some friends of mine and I hosted an appreciation dinner for some women at church. I was responsible for the centerpieces. I wanted to make something edible. So I did fruit kabob boquets.

I used watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, cherries and grapes.

After cutting or "balling" the fruit, slide it onto skewers. Use a head of lettuce in the center of the pot to stick the skewers in. Voila!

*bake time 2009*

For the past 6 years I have hosted a cookie exchange! Some years it has been so big we've had to have group exchanges. Some years it is small and quaint. This year we had 8 bakers. Below is the loot that I received!

Since I have been working on a healthier lifestyle I decided to make something that I would not be tempted to eat. I made chocolate dipped biscotti. I made original almond and a variation with anise seed, hazelnuts and chocolate chips. I have to say...they turned out pretty yummy!

The best part was that my mom and I spent an entire day baking these together. It is a memory I will always cherish. I try to add a new cookie to my repitoire each year.

Like always, we have prizes-

• Best tasting cookie went to the chocolate marshmallow fudge cookie.
• Best wrapping went to a teapot container with red and white ribbon.
• Most creative went to these below...so cute!

chocolate dipped cherries as body and tail, kiss as face, Red Hot as nose and almond slivers as ears. They are yummy too!!!

Picture Links! Check them out!

To see pics of a fabulous CHOCOLATE party I co-hosted, click here!

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To see pics of my experience at YW Camp, click here!

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So NOT on a budget

So I am hosting a little neighborhood breakfast tomorrow. Everyone will be bringing goodies but I am to provide the beverage. I am driven by vision and I had a vision of sparkling juice bottles chilling in ice. So off to Cost Plus World Market I go!

You've heard me rant and rave about living on a budget and I totally threw that out the window today! I bought sparkling water for $1.54 MORE JUST FOR THE CUTE LABELS! Ugh!

$2.49 a bottle

$3.99 a bottle

Have you ever done this? Have you bought something more expensive just because of the look? If so, I want to hear about it!!!! I lost all common sense because I am such a sucker for a French label (good thing I don't drink wine!)

Twihard DVD Premiere Party!

WELCOME TO OUR TWILIGHT DVD PREMIERE PARTY!
WATCHING THE MOVIE-
downstairs the women, upstairs the teens

THE FOOD!

we had- vegetarian vampire juice, Cullen Cuisine (Italian salsa), Forks party mix, Spartan sweets, "Edible Art", Team Edward cake bites, Team Jacob cake bites.

It smelled like a movie theater!



After the movie we had a 25 question trivia game. There was a three way tie so here are the tie breaker questions...can you answer them?

1. What is the poplulation of Forks?
2. What was the date and reason of Edward's "almost" death?
3. What is the name of the Port Angeles bookstore?

My sister and niece ended up winning their very own DVD, courtesy of my co-host!

We also had a raffle where a Twilight goodie basket was the prize. A great mother and daughter won that.

THANKS TO ALL MY FELLOW TWILIGHTERS AND FRIENDS WHO SUPPORT ME IN THIS OBSESSION!

IT WAS FUN!

Mail Call!

**I cannot claim creative rights to this, I was the recipient, not the creator**

So last night we got a very odd shaped box in the mail. I did not recognize the return address and I began to be very nervous. I opened it up and it was the coolest surprise I think I have ever seen come fro USPS. It was a baby shower invitation inside a plastic bottle. The bottle also had a little plastic sword, some sand and a shell. I just sat and looked at it for a good ten minutes marveling at the genius quality of the sender (I still had no idea what it was or who it was from). But I was excited that someone thought we were so important to go to all of this trouble.
The bottle had a nifty way to unscrew the bottom and get out the paper. Here is what was inside.
The first paper was the actual invite. This is a couple baby shower for a fun and adorable and unique set of friends. But the third paper was the most creative, sorry the picture is so blurry.
Here is what this paper says: "Ye clues to the "booty" for baby- When searching for booty for baby don't fuss. they be registered for loot at Baies R' Us. In staying true to the pirate theme, the colors are red, black and white (not green!). If crib sheets or blankets be what ye found, Beware...the crib is not rectangular, but round. "Be boy or girl?" ye say. Barnables! We won't know 'til delivery day. Arrgh..."

Is that not the most creative paragraph ever! You can tell how excited about this I am! Have you ever heard of a round crib? Have you ever seen these bottle invites? I will try to do some research and find out where to find them...stay tuned...

Can't Get Much Easier Than This!

Forgive me for not remembering where I saw this idea last year.

But it really is the easiest project and looks so adorable!

Simply use scrapbook rub-ons or stickers to monogram an inexpensive glass ornament. The black and white polka dot ribbon is the piece de resistance.

I can never resist anything black and white or with a monogram!

A hostess tip worth sharing

A Snack Bar

You've seen this picture a hundred times, but I wanted to share with you something that really worked well.

Please remove all the "Spring" stuff from this picture and replace it with large glass jars of all shapes and sizes.

Looking back at Thanksgiving weekend where 14 houseguests stayed for four days (ages ranging from 4-74) this was a huge reason the weekend was successful. I really did not want to be a slave to my kitchen the entire time and I really wanted family to feel comfortable to "help themselves". So I took it a step further and instead of just saying it I displayed it all so that they were forced (tempted) to just help themselves.

When guests are fed, they are relaxed. When guests are relaxed, hostess is relaxed.

On the top I used every glass jar and container I could find, went to Costco and put out:

• M&M's
• Chex mix
• Trail mix
• Red Vines
• Gummy Bears * these went the fastest*
• Assorted nuts
• Pretzel crisps
• Assorted individually wrapped chocolates
• Animal Crackers

On the bottom I put out all breakfast items. That way anyone could eat breakfast whenever they wanted, some ate at 7:00 while others ate at 10:00.

• assortment of cereal
• assortment of bagels
• chocolate croissants
• large fruit bowl
• assortment of muffins

On nearby shelves in my center island I kept stocked an assortment of drinks, plastic cups and a Sharpie pen.

I hope you give this a try next time you have a houseful of guests.

Next time I think I will even take it one step further and have something for lunches. Any cool ideas?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thrilled to have hubby's entire family (minus one working niece) here from today until Saturday. There will be 18 of us in all. I love throwing parties and just plain feel more comfortable when I'm entertaining. My great friend came over from 9 Am -3 PM on Monday and helped me clean. Thank goodness for her!!!

I have so much to be thankful for!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Wish me luck on my first Thanksgiving meal!

Personalized Banner - baby shower 3

Nothing says party like a personalized banner. And with glitter, well, it is just about party perfection.

Here are all the products that I gathered to use. I omitted the paint and used glue instead.

These chipboard letters are readily available at most craft stores and make the lettering easy. To adhere them to the cardstock I used the pop up dots to make them more dimensional.
The decorative embellishments were labeled as "packaging tape" and was sold in a set of three. See above. The ribbon was in the $1 section.

Mommy-to-be loved it so much she hung it in the nursery. It would also be cute taken apart and to use the back of pieces as the pages to a small memory book of the shower.

This is a fun, easy, affordable decoration. I hope you try one yourself!

Candy Bar - baby shower 2

I told ya you'd see this from me again! This time it was for a pink and brown baby shower. Lucky for me it is Breast Cancer Awareness month so pink candy was not only plentiful, but proceeds went to a great cause. I strongly suggest that if you are planning a baby girl shower in the next year, stock up on pink candy NOW!

If you remember this, you will remember that each guest filled a portion cup and a cellophane baggie to take home.

I heard a guest say, "This looks like the candy shop at Disneyland". That was the best compliment I think I've ever had!

This time I added chocolate dipped pretzel rods. My cohost made these adorable favor boxes from Martha. They were the perfect addition. I also added these affordable scoops found here.

This definately was NOT the place for someone who hates chocolate!