honey and clover

Champagne Kisses and Thanksgiving Wishes

2008-11-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Oh goodness, this holiday is what I needed! Thanksgiving was the best!!!! We stayed at our house because my mom flew to California to be with my aunt, and since Casey had to work today, we couldn't make it to Bend, where his Mom lives.
We made everything from scratch and used fresh ingredients whenever possible.
We special ordered a petite turkey that we brined in maple syrup and kosher salt, then rubbed with herbs and butter, even injecting butter under the breast skin, then stuffed it with lemons, apples, and fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, lavender, and sage.
We made green been casserole w/ panko topped crust, french green beans, and garlic cream. From Cook's Illustrated recipes we made Baguette Stuffing (soaked in olive oil, fresh cream and soy sauce, and baked like bread pudding, but savory.) and we also roasted carrots and potatoes in the turkey juices.
We had champagne with frozen apple slices slices, which was so yummy and helped keep things fun in the kitchen
And for dessert we had this Skillet Apple Pie, the recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, it has no bottom crust and you caramelize the apples in maple syrup on a skillet then press the dough in the mix, bake for 20 minutes and you have flaky gooey pie (there are more ingredients, but that is the basics.)

And also we had these hearts shaped shortbread cookies, which I have made in the past as Strawberry Matcha Cookies, but this time I sandwiched Pumpkin Butter and Lemon Curd alternately with a little powdered sugar on top. I also made a big batch of these earlier in the week to give out as holiday gifts to neighbors and friends.
The pumpkin butter was cool, because it was like having little mini pumpkin pies. You can get jars of it at Trader Joes for under 3 dollars, and don't let the word butter scare you like it did for me at first, it is fat free, more of a jam than a butter.
There is a ton og butter in the shortbread already, so there was no need to add more!
After dinner we had coffee and hung out, watching the most amazing movies! If you have not seen the french insect documentary Microcosmos, you must watch ASAP!
It was the most beautiful film I have ever seen. I am a huge fan of nature films, and this is the beautiful and elegant one I have seen. It makes you look at insects with a whole new perspective. There is even a snail make out scene that is so freakin cute I just about died.
Better than any romantic chick flick out there. There is a lot of time lapse photography, something that always makes me pretty much clap at the television when I get to see it.
Then we watched a Japanese Movie called "Into the Faraway Sky" billed as the Japanese's answer to Stand By Me.I didn't see many simularities, except it was a heartwarming movie about young childhood friends with a fairy tale vibe that was sweet and had just the right amount of sweetness that didn't seem contrived like so many Hollywood movies do.
What a snuggly Thanksgiving! It felt good considering I did over a weeks worth of work in 3 days this week. The whole time I was at work I pictured eating and relaxing and spending time with Casey and the dogs and now that it is finally here, I am so very grateful for it! The leftover turkey will be used used to make turkey, bacon, and swiss melt on these homemade croissants I made last weekend and saved some dough for
I am also very excited for Christmas~! On the 6th I am going with my mom to watch the Nutcracker Suite, which Portland has a good show downtown of, we are going to get dressed up and have a date together. For Christmas we usually decorate a theme on a budget, in the past we did a Candy Cane Stripe theme, this year for our new house we are going to go with an all white Christmas, a white fake tree, snowflakes, and white hanging orb ornaments, sort of a 2001 Space Odyssey Christmas, haha.
We are already menu planning together and I am very excited. So I will update the Christmas Season as it happens, until then I hope everyone is having a relaxed, special holiday season with their family.

Hello, its Bunbun......

2008-11-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hey anyone out there! Wow, it has been a long time and so much has happened. I didn't mean to be gone this long or to lose touch with my blogging friends, but one thing lead to another and I almost forgot I ever had a blog! I still plan on mostly staying on flickr, but I want to keep Honey and Clover alive, because I really liked blogging.
So, summer came and went, and it was beautiful. both our birthdays were celebrated and we are now both 28. Then came the news that my mom was in poor health, and it was devastating. I am back in school and working full time, so there wasn't much time for me to process how I felt about everything. In fact for awhile I felt neither good or bad, which scared me. But for privacy reasons (I am not sure if my mother wants her health history broadcasted on the internet, haha!) I wont go into details. I do know because of where I work, that life is short and you gotta never take a second for granted, like that one song by the Flaming Lips(sorry I don't know the name cause I pretty much only listen to the Rolling Stones and Rap nowadays). The month of august I was pretty stressed and even my mom didn't know how much. I tried to look at the more beautiful and carefree aspects of my life, all of which I put on flickr, I have always wanted to focus on those things anyway.
Then around the time of our first wedding anniversary, everything seemed to calm down. My mom started to look and sound more normal. We got a new house which makes our old house seem like a crackhouse. If you have read past posts, you might remember that I love the St. Johns area in Portland, that is where we are now!!!!!! So close to a lot of beautiful trails small companies. We found it on our anniversary. I started baking again (goodbye toaster oven, hello new gas oven!), and everything fell back into place.

What is weird is that during this whole time, things were stressful, but probably the most happy time of my life! Autumn is my favorite time of year, so I am really enjoying everything around me. I am sorry if this post is a little vague and scattered. I didn't know where to start. I hope all my blogging friends out there are doing great and I hope to reconnect soon!

Also,(sorry, I normally am pretty quiet about this kind of stuff, but our country is falling apart!) today is our election day in America! I am not even going to try and be PC, if you didn't vote for Obama, then you are an ignorant and selfish idiot that supports war and needless killing. But I am pretty excited about the fact that he is really damn close to becoming president!
I am super excited that someone like him is here to represent our generation. Right now in my neighborhood people are lighting off fireworks and celebrating Obama! Okay, I will shut up now.......

Honey and Clover Hiatus

2008-07-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

This photo is for Ling239 who had asked me about purple roses....

Hi! My blogger account has been very buggy lately and after many attempts over the last week to post about our recent trip to Mt Hood not working, I gave up. I became slightly embarrased at the time I was spending on trying to fix it. So I have decided to take a little break from blogging and focus more on my flickr account. It makes sense since I actually pay for my flickr. I am just going to do longer and better photo descriptions. The problem with blogger is that it wont let me upload photos (more than one) and I pretty much use blogger to post photos, so it has left me high and dry. ( i have a no post without photos rule for myself)
Anyways, summer is speeding along too fast to worry about petty things like uploading photos. I am still going to stay in touch with all my blogging friends via their pages, so please don't forget about me!!!
This is not the end of Honey and Clover and I think it will only be a few weeks. I love everything about blogging, especially the great blogs I have come across.
If you want to stay in touch with me in the meantime, please contact me via flickr. Flickr is free and I don't believe you even have to have an account to leave a message or comment.
But if flickr isn't your thing and you want to wait till I come back here to say what's up to me, that is cool, too!
I have gotten a few emails asking me what Honey and Clover means. It is one of my favorite Japanese movies, or favorite movie in general. If you have a chance to watch it, please do. I have a weird phobia of watching movies and television. I think it is boring, so I have to really like something to want to watch it for 2 hours. And Honey stands for Holly and Clover is for Casey. Plus, I just really like Honey, and I really like Clovers.
Anyways, to my blogging friends out there, keep on having a great summer and I will talk to you soon! xoxoxoxo-bunbun

Sweet Summer Sunsets

2008-07-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, time is just FLYING! My job has really consumed most of my life this summer so far, but I have to step down from my new promotion soon because there will be no way to go to school with the workload that I currently have. I am grateful that they are willing to accommodate my needs and they are giving me my old position back. I will truly miss the amount of patient interaction I have had. That part has really changed my life, and it will continue to everyday. I have learned to acclimate myself to the sadness, So every night, no matter how tired and weary I am, I ride my bike to meet Casey on North Willamette Blvd. Willamette Blvd is by my house and overlooks the downtown (mainly industrial) part of Portland. We have it timed perfectly that when I arrive, the sun is just about to go down so we sit and watch the sunset, and I have to say, this little ritual has been so good for my soul, it is almost a religious experience! I am a different person on my way back home, my shoulders relaxed and my mind cleared again. The street is pretty quiet and it seems like you are in a little perfect pocket of Portland where cars and annoyances have disappeared.

Still not baking much, we do eat well, but the heat and the time constraints have really put a damper on my baking missions. I did make this Blueberry jam a few days ago.
A blueberry truck at Casey's work accidentally unloaded 900 dollars of blueberries, and I guess there was a free for all, and brought home bag after bag of fresh berries, so I made this jam. I cannot believe how much sugar jam recipes call for! One pound for every pound of fruit, my goodness! I didn't use any sugar because I think fruit is sweet enough. I like tartness anyways. So here is my jam, which I am quite happy with. I used my Zojirushi Bread Machine's Jam setting, so I really don't even feel like I did anything!
Life is great, Summer daydreaming in the backyard and gardening is what we live for,
and best of all, this Saturday we are back on the road again camping!!!

Paradise

2008-07-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

"Happy Birthday!!!!"

This weekend was Casey's birthday and we celebrated it all weekend. We also met each other on his 25th birthday and we pretty much were instantly a couple after that day, so it has always been a little like a dual holiday! Every birthday since that first one together we have always gone camping to our favorite spot together.
It was so lovely this time, but it always is. We joke that our spot is our vacation home. It truly is like paradise, every shade of green glowing and vibrant with beautiful ferns,wildflowers, and succulents everywhere.
We sleep in a hammock with Nigel and Simon sleeps underneath us.
Our campsite is a about a 10 mile hike from our car(we had a subaru zipcar this weekend, along beautiful mossy trails, with beautiful babbling springs. Our site is along the edge of a stream, which is Mt. Hood runoff water, it is ice cold, but feels good to splash your face with in the morning.
That is the magic of camping here. Everything is bursting with beauty, it doesn't seem real. You half expect Totoro or Bambi to frolic out of nowhere. The dogs really needed this trip more than anyone, they love camping and turn into different dogs. Simon is obsessed with sticks and rocks, and will swim lap after lap in the ice cold water for them, then violently chew on them.

Nigel hops rocks that make me scared for life! But mostly they relax and scope out nature.
We drank sake and for food we used our Jetboil, which we love so much! Casey got two for his birthday a few years ago from his family and the cooking system is so lightweight and durable. Here is our breakfast,

which is a skillet meal of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, cooked in bacon fat, something I only eat when camping, but so good and fills you up for plenty of hiking.
We came home feeling like a million bucks after hiking and enjoying nature for the weekend. It was so nice to get away from clocks, phones, computers, and just listen to the beautiful sounds of birds chirping and the stream flowing for the weekend. We are going to try to come here every other weekend this summer to take full advantage of our summer, we will see what happens, but that is close to what we did last summer. We sort of live in fear of losing this spot to developments someday, but that is something I just don't want want to dwell on.

There is just so much to talk about when it comes to camping, I guess I will save the rest for future trips, I also uploaded a ton of photos on flickr of our trip.

City of Roses

2008-06-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

*Sorry for the upcoming spelling errors! Blogger's spell check isn't working right now and I am too lazy to edit!*
What a crazy week! By last friday, my brain felt hard-boiled! It was good and I have gone through a lot of learning experiences this week, but boy was I glad when friday came and our weekend was in effect. Casey got his early birthday present (it is next Saturday) on friday, a new Bike! We finally sold our broke down van and so it justified him having this Swobo Dixon bicycle! I am excited for him because I catch him just gazing at it lovingly!
Saturday the weather was 100 degrees. We did as much housework and gardening our bodies could stand before collapsing outside in a daze. That night we had Yakisoba, served cold. The cold noodles and chicken were so refreshing to our depleted bodies. I used Annie's shitake seasame dressing, green onions, and basil from our garden for the sauce. Basil is kind of odd to put in the mix, but it added a nice kick to the flavor. Here is a photo of the leftovers the next day in the park. Today the weather cooled down some, but it was very muggy. We rode our bikes and it was nice to have the breeze flow through our hair. I swear, I could take a shower every hour and still feel grimy due to the humidity! But it was a gorgeous day! We rode to The Little Red Bike Cafe, a new "Bike-Thru" cafe in our nighborhood that a co-worker of Casey's just recently opened. It is so freakin cute! Click on the link to read their blog on starting up the cafe, it is quite interesting, and I also love the charm the place has. Casey's friend, Deacon was working there today, and I got to try some of his famous donutholes I have heard about since last winter from my husband. Wow, they were amazing! Really, I have never had any that have compared to this before! We rode our bikes back to Columbia Park to enjoy our treats
Then we decided to head over to Peninsula Park to see it's famous Test Rose Garden. The rose garden is so breathtaking and magical!

I like it far better than the Washington Park Rose Gardens (which is a beautiful, you could say "royal" park) because Peninsula park showcases the beautiful roses that so many genius gardeners have labored over in such a personal way. The other rose garden is more famous and big, and is always loaded with tour buses. I laid on a park bench in the shade and just gazed at all of the beauty.Portland is called "The city of Roses" so I feel that when the roses are in bloom here, it is part of our culture to admire them, like Japan does with Sakura Blossoms.
And then we headed back to Columbia Park, where we had a picnic and I napped in the grass for a marvelously long time.
When we headed home, a huge thunderstorm started. What a way to end the weekend!
Also, a few things from last week, we got Wiifit for our Nintendo! We got it on Craigslist, an it is awesome! I use it everyday, at least for yoga on busy days. I like it because I feel like I get a good satisfying workout without with the instuction I need. I cannot tell you how ridiculously excited I am about this game! So cool!
And all week I was sososososoo tired, and ate cereal for dinner almost every night, but one night I managed to make this Thai soup called Tom Yum Goong soup with shrimp over steamed rice. It is a very citrusy, spicy soup. It is actually pretty easy and very yummy.
Here are some flowers that are currently blooming in our yard, some vibrant Fuschia, and some Trumpet Lilies
Well, that was my week. Hope everyone out there had a great week, too and has a great week ahead! I can't wait for the next 4 days to move along, we are going camping for Casey's birthday, it is also the date I met him on!

everybody's workin for the weekend!

2008-06-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

"Promotional" Mini Roses given to me from Casey, for my promotion at work!

Happy weekend days! Not that daily life is bad, but I daydream of the weekend, and this one did not dissapoint! I blew off a ton of chores and spent time doing what we wanted to do! That was good, but this week I feel a little swamped, but whatever!

I did no shopping, no baking (minus flatbread), nothing.

What we did do what spend a ton of time riding bikes! We rode well over 24 miles this weekend.
We participated in this event,
where a 6 mile loop through North portland got shut off to cars and was open to cyclists, walkers, runners, skaters, etc. The surrounding parks on the loop had live music, food, and yoga workshops. Casey and I enjoyed crepes at one stop. It was so much fun we rode the six miles twice! I found out something, that I am a bit of an agressive bike rider! Good thing I don't drive! I have insane urges to cut people off, and I want to talk smack to people who ride too slow. I am able to control this mostly out of safety, but it shocked me, I never knew that was in me, in fact I have always hated people like that! So everyday we got home after riding we would eat in a daze and chill out listening to music. Casey has discovered this beautiful jazz and electro-jazz albums that just blow my mind! They are super mellow, perfect for summer days.A lot of my favorites from the compilations are from Brazil.

This donburi dish I made last night from my Quick and Easy cookbook series. It is paper thin pork loin (I am not that good with a knife, so I bought it pre-sliced, from Hiroshi's Anzen, the cutest little Japanese grocery in Portland, it has been around since the 20's) The pork is marinated in soy and mirin, then sauted in miso, sugar, onion, sake, and a little garlic oil. Melt in your mouth meat! Donburi means a meal served in a bowl over rice, so that is how this was served

And that was that! Now, back to the grindstone (kidding, work is great, just hard to want to leave the sun!) until friday evening! We have a lot of fun things planned for our weekends this summer, we joined zipcar, so soon we will be camping and leaving town a lot!

Tour de North Portland

2008-06-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the best weekends EVER! I always have great ones with Casey, each one always seems to to top the one before. It started off Friday afternoon, when I found out I was getting promoted at work! Totally unexpected, and I am still in shock. I really have begun to fall in love with where I work and feel really lucky to have gotten such a blessing. I am getting a rountine of daily life going well, something I have always had a hard time with before with work. I know things will change in the fall when I resume school, but right now I feel really content and motivated. That day, my wonderful mother in law Betty, and my lovely grandmother in law, Marie were in town for a whirlwind day with Casey, I met up with them and his stepfather at a local brewery and felt really excited because of my promotion. It was so good to see them, and I wish I could have spent more time.

Then on Saturday Casey had to work, so I went thrift store shopping and Goodwill (which is owned by Target) was selling brand new Target items for VERY cheap, mostly everything was 99cents, and had the original tags and everything. I got these curtains, and this is what I did with them in our bedroom.
And since I feel pretty blingin' with my new promotion and all, I treated myself to these gaudy flip flops, which I probably would never buy for full price, but hey, I actually really like them!
I bought so much more, which will be uploaded on to my flickr page, it is a little thing I like to do, upload all my thrift store scores, I have a special folder for them.
These are some Hydrangeas in our front yard about to bloom!Then came today....we woke up and had a yummy breakfast, I packed a picnic and we rode to Forest Park, locked up our bikes and then hiked for a few miles. Here is a little community garden overlooking the Willamette River that we stopped at. There were butterflies everywhere, it was just perfect.
Once we got back in to St. Johns, we rode around for a bit, stopping at antique shops and getting macaroons and espresso at Ladybug Coffee, my favorite coffee shop in St. Johns.
It was such a sweet little date. I love Casey! I thank the stars each day for having such a wonderful husband.
After a little relaxing, we rode a bike trail called Peninsula Crossing for a few miles, then rode home, boy was I tired when I got back! We took a nap in the hammock and then I made these Lemon Bars that I got from Alpine Berry, a food blog. Mine are more cookie like, than hers, but remember I bake out of a toaster oven, so things have to be small and I can never trust the oven gauge.

My tummy hurts a little bit because while I was taking pics, I ended up eating like 4 (maybe 5!) of them. So good and summery.
Portland summers remind you the reason why you stay here through cold, wet, and dreary (although I don't mind) winters. The airs smells like blackberries, and everything is just glowing!
Things are really good for me right now, I keep thinking that I am going to wake up and it will all be gone. I hope everyone out there is just as happy!

M.kate's Surprise and a great weekend

2008-06-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

I have a wonderful blogging friend from Malaysia, her name is M.Kate, and I love to read her blog. It teaches me so much about different parts of the world, and she has a magnificent perspective on everything she discusses. She always sends me postcards from her travels, and they always make my day when they arrive in my mailbox. She had told me she was going to send me a package in the mail recently, but I had no idea that it was going to be on this level. When the package arrived, I was at work, so it had to be picked up at the post office, and I had to wait two days! Finally, Casey picked up the parcel on his way to work, and I had to wait until after 10 pm to get it.
I waited patiently at home, and when he came home I practically ripped his backpack off of him! She wrapped it in the most beautiful wrapping paper I had ever seen before! There is so much going on on the paper it was hard to capture: Ninjas, Sakura blossoms, Festivals, Rainbows, Oh my goodness!
Then when I opened up the package it was wrapped again, and more Japanese elegant wrapping! The package contained a beautiful handmade card, a mystic knot, Cambodian Pashmina, Malaysian Sarong fabric, kawaii cell phone bling, scrapbooking paper, and a wonderful Japanese cookbook, written by Keiko Ishida. I was floored! I loved everything, it meant so very much to me.
UPDATE: I am sorry this photo collage got deleted somehow, to see the whole parcel from M.Kate, please go to my FLickr Page in the gifts from friends folder
So I set out to try a recipe from the cookbook, and I choose Rice Ball Skewers. I love to buy these from Japanese Groceries, they are both sweet and salty, due to the sweet rice flour and the Mitarashi Ann sauce (a thick sweet soy sauce homemade w/ potato starch, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin)
The process starts with making the dough into balls, then flattening them out, then steaming them in a bamboo steamer, then grinding the dough in a mortar and pestle (I dont have one, so I used a ice cream scoop handle and a heavy duty pyrex bowl!)
Rolling the dough into balls (this was the hard part for me, the dough has a life of it's own, I thought sometimes it was going to just roll itself into a live alien, if you can understand that- it seemed to be alive!) and then skewering the balls onto soaked bamboo skewers. Then on a gas grill, you grill the rice balls for about 3 seconds, each side. Then you prepare the mitarashi ann sauce.
Here are some photos of the whole process, and the end result. What a treat! They taste similar to mochi cakes. I have never made anything like this before, and I thank M.kate for helping me accomplish this! We had them with beer and it was a lot of fun.

This weekend was a blast, and the best part was that we never left the neighborhood! I spent a lot of time cooking, and Casey worked on our bicycles, tuning them up.

I have never been much of a bike rider, I got into an accident when I was younger, and lets just say I couldn't pee for over a week! (well, I did, but my mom had to beg me to!) And so, I have always been hesitant to get on a bike because I am clumsy and I don't trust myself. Casey rides his bike to work everyday and he always wants me to go riding with him. After all that hard work on our bikes, I couldn't really make another excuse not to go! So we did, and I had the best time, and I feel so good when I am riding! I cannot believe how free I feel when we are out riding! So I look forward to a summer of riding together, today we went on a ride and stopped and had a picnic along the way. I havent uploaded those photos yet, but I will update them tomorrow.
And lastly, we got our first Sakura Tree! It is a dwarf "Stella" and will stay on our front patio. I am so excited for it to maybe bear fruit soon! I read up on the variety, and it doesn't need pollination. I can't wait to have my very own Sakura blossoms next year!
I also got some yellow begonias as well.

Here is my Malaysian Sarong Fabric in use, I have to learn how to wrap it better before I wear it, but when I do I will take pics!

The New Girl's Weekend

2008-06-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

This week has blazed by really fast. Work is going pretty decently, I feel like I have grasped what is expected of me well so far, the Doctors, Nurses, and my boss are all very nice and make me feel secure, which I really appreciate. The only thing I cant wait for is my "New Girl" status to end in the front office, which just requires patience and continued pleasantness on my part. I am pretty good-natured, so I just hope that it will pass soon enough and stay optimistic. I am sure anyone who has worked in an office knows it can be intimidating to be the newest and youngest one there. Also, everyone was under the impression that I was like 19, so once it came out that I am pushing 30, a lot of things changed for the better for me!

Anyways, enough about that, this blog isn't for me to dwell on work, especially now that I have landed it! I took the weekend to relax with Casey and catch up on some time in the kitchen. Last night we had fun with my brother in law and his girlfriend, we played video games all night and barbecued. Then, today Casey and I just hung out at home and I spent the afternoon baking in the kitchen, something that I haven't done in awhile.

I made some Soy Strawberry Flax Seed Cornbread Muffins so we can have breakfast on the go this week, they are really yummy and have orange zest in them. I will put the recipe in the comments section later. I really wanted to make some of Spitting Ink's Muffins, but I made these on a whim with what I had on hand.
And then I made some Matcha Pinwheel Cookies, because it has just been too long since I have had any matcha baked goodies!

For lunch we had these egg salad and Canadian bacon sandwiches, which were a nice little treat:

And then dinner was outside because Portland has been fairly cold this week, with little surprise sunbreaks, and there was one right before sunset. We had grilled Mahi Mahi Tuna Steaks, with brown rice and broccoli. SOOOO good and refreshing, it was nice to have dinner on the porch and watch the sunset together. Made me feel rested and prepared for the week ahead!

Here is my bento for tomorrow. it is brown rice w/yellow curry sauce and a little ham. For snacks I have a hard boiled egg and fruit.
My bentos really cheer me up during my lunch, I have a little spot in the hospital park I eat my lunch at, and I really enjoy the bento breaks.
It was nice to get some much needed baking done today, for some reason if I don't bake for awhile I get itchy and restless, I really do think it is good for my soul!
Hope everyone who reads this has a great week!!!!

I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

I found out Friday! I was vacuuming and Casey ran up to me with the phone and I saw the number on my caller ID and I practically flung the vacuum across the room. Really, it did fly a few feet. Then I stood there, trying to gain composure for a moment. When I answered the phone, my soon to be boss was really happy and sweet, saying how happy they were to be able to offer the job to me, and the rest was a blur. I am just happy that this is over, because I have been a nervous wreck for the last two weeks, trying not be a wreck, but the more I tried to not focus on what could go wrong, the crazier I became!
My first day is on Tuesday! It is in a hospital close to downtown Portland, and the commute will be very easy on me. I have always worked in medical clinics at least 16 miles from my house, usually in the suburbs, so I am very excited to get a closer job. The clinic specializes in breast cancer treatment, but does all different types of surgery, and applies holistic treatments where they feel it would be beneficial.
The last job I had (besides working for my mother) was in a cosmetic surgical clinic and we had to push treatments on people who did not need or were able to afford it (such as someone most likely not seeing any difference after surgery, and us telling them that they really would before hand and charging them thousands of dollars for it, knowing full well that they probably would not benefit from the treatments) That job was very hard on me, even though I tried to stay optimistic about it, I just didn't feel good working there. When the economy started to sink, and patients stopped walking in the door because elective surgery wasn't as important as paying bills, everyday I went to work we were blamed for it. (even though it affected the entire company across the country, not just here in Oregon. ) That is when I decided to go back to college, because I was burnt out and wanted to do something that was positive. So this new job goes hand in hand with what I want to do, being part of an organization that is making a positive difference for families. They don't turn away anyone who can't afford treatment, and help people sort out their financial situations to make it easy, quite a change to what I was used to dealing with. I am happy to have a job where I can wake up in the morning and be happy to go to work, something that I wont take for granted!
I want to say that my husband was so good to me, he knows how much I can stress out about everything and he was so kind and sweet to me, Casey has the relaxed sweetness I need, he helps balance me out. My blogging friends, thanks for the well wishes, it really did mean so much to me. I love reading all different types of blogs and I really do learn a lot from everyone's different life experiences. So the feedback I got made me feel great, thank you!
I am going to take the summer off school to get adjusted to my new job and then start again in the fall, yay!

Still not much baking going on, the weather has been humid and muggy, and baked goods just don't seem that appetizing. I made this German potato salad the other day, and I loved the recipe!

I have to say, this was the best potato salad I have ever had and it has no mayo, so even though there is a little bacon, it is still not that unhealthy. I think I will make this a lot this summer. We had this with some BBQ steak and it was very good on a hot evening. The week was mostly rainy, but yesterday the sun came out and we spent the day wallowing in our good news about the job. We started off by having a big breakfast outside, I made these potato cakes, I was trying to replicate them from my favorite breakfast restaurant, The Tin Shed on Alberta Street, I love their breakfasts, but to go there it costs us about 70 USD for the two of us, so I thought about it and what I really like from there is their potato cakes that come with all the breakfasts. So I made these at home and was really happy with the results!

They are just shredded potatoes with green onions and green bell peppers, formed into little cakes and fried on a griddle. Then I sprinkled a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top. They taste really good with a little sour cream on top. In the photo, they look really burnt, but that isn't so, they are really crispy on the outside and tasted almost mashed on the inside.

Then in the early evening, my bro-in-law, Andrew, his girlfriend, Debbie came over for a BBQ, it was so much fun! We made these teriyaki steak shishkabobs, that tasted so good!

After a little food break we grilled cheeseburgers, Debbie stuffed the patties with garlic and onions, and we grilled pineapples on the BBQ to put on top! I LOVE grilled pineapple! It was a great relaxing evening, and afterwards Casey and I climbed in the hammock and Debbie and Andrew laid on a blanket and we chilled out. The weather had been so humid, it felt like you could squeeze water out of the air. It started to drizzle rain and it felt good to lay outside and get misted on. We laid outside until it started rain harder, then went inside to play video games. That is when a crazy thunderstorm started and we went outside and watched it together from the front porch. It so much fun!

I am really happy right now, I always am, but this was a great weekend, and I have so much to look forward to!

Heat makes Oregonians Krazy

2008-05-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

It got really hot here this weekend and my brain felt sloshed.

This was in the shade!
What is funny is how crazy people get when the temperature rises here. Portland is notorious for being an overly friendly city. I am really friendly, so are most people I know. Some of my friends who move here from out of town have a hard time adjusting to how nice everyone is. Some people consider North Portland to be "the ghetto" but in reality, there is no ghetto in Portland. But this weekend there was Rap music blasting all night, fights, people partying in corner store parking lots. Portland is a pretty tame city, but in North Portland when the heat comes out, at first, I think people like to pretend they are in LA!
Today I was walking to the grocery store and I hadn't even left my street yet and I overhear "Take her bag...Take her f-ing bag" I thought it was just dialogue, but then I hear"Take her f-ing glasses...and take her f-ing bag....Do it...F-ing do it!" I thought to myself, I am wearing sunglasses, and I have a bag! I look up and there is a young couple, about 15 or 16, white wannabe gangsters. The boyfriend is telling his girlfriend to jump me (rob and beat me up) and she is saying "Nah,Nah,Nah" When I look up, the guy is looking at me and he does a pose (that was in retrospect HILARIOUS) like he is hardcore. And his voice gets louder as he stares straight at me"Take the bitch's glasses..go f-k her up." Then the girl grabbed him and dragged him down the street.
Funny thing is he couldn't tell from across the street that my glasses are less than 5 dollars, and I broke it, so one side is held together by a paper clip! (I am cheap and I had just bought those damn glasses from forever 21) and I had no money on me! I was paralyzed in my tracks, not out of fear, but out of shock..This does not happen on my street. It is the heat, I tell ya! Makes us Oregonians crazy. Even I have been listening to rap ( Jay-z and Kanye are my favorites!!!) all weekend with Casey while sitting on the front porch, drinking champagne and BBQing, but that is because we have been celebrating.
Celebrating what? I cannot say until tomorrow, just in case something happens and it falls through, but that would have to be a freak reason. Lets just say all my hard work this week really paid off! I will post about it tomorrow evening....!!!!!
Here is a picture of me about 15 minutes after the incident. Don't I look like too sweet of a person to want to rob? I guess my glasses are just way too cool, LOL!

Not too much baking this week, actually none at all unless you count my bread machine bread, which I really don't count. (unless I do a fancy mixture, which I haven't) It has been so hot that I haven't wanted to use the oven unless necessary. Most of our food is consumed in the early morning and after 9:30 at night, which we having been using our little tabletop grill out on our porch for every dinner. So much fun, We made these lemongrass skewers,
they were yummy and reminded me of food you get from a Bento stand where they cook everything in a huge fire pit.

We also made brie hamburgers stuffed with blue cheese, grilled onions, and herbs from our garden, but I have no pics.
Here is one of our front porch breakfasts:

The heat may be frying my brain because I thought my waffle looked like a monster with his tongue sticking out!

Not much happened this weekend besides all lot of walking, laying out in the backyard

and Nigel got his quarterly makeover.
Before:

After:

St. Johns Weekend

2008-05-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

What a week! No news on my dream job at OHSU, but this could take awhile to pan out. I am patient! In the meantime I have been busy with school (taking mostly online courses this term to save tuition costs and transportation, which has been working out well.) and still working part time at my Mom's office. Happy Mother's Day, by the way, to anyone who may read this that is a mother!!!
My Zojirushi Home Bakery is not letting me down, bread is happily consumed in this house daily.... I decided to try out the Cake mode, and the first time I did, I accidentally pushed the "Cake" button twice, which sets it to "Jams and Jellies" mode. So the first cake was a failure! It really wasn't my day, I was trying to make Matcha Swirl Poundcake, and I knocked my expensive tin of Matcha that i bought in Seattle on the floor, I tried to sweep it up and there was too much dog hair and ickyness for it to be saved. Somedays are just like that in the kitchen, I suppose, where nothing goes as planned. The next day was a new day and I started over, and my Matcha Swirl Poundcake was a success, and I was happy!

Friday was the start of our weekend together and I decided to throw us a little party, By "party" I mean the two of us, but it was still fun! We had mini bottles of Champagne w/ frozen strawberries and Fondue! My Mother-in-Law, Betty gave me her fondue pot last time we visited her, so we were able to finally try it out. I used a mixture of Gruyere and Swiss cheese, and used homemade crusty French Bread from the bread machine. It was our first time using Canned Heat before and when Casey lit it, the flame got huge and scorched the cheese. A few frantic minutes later, we dug out tea lights and all was saved, and there was no fire, thank goodness!

The next day we headed out to St. John's (a little neighborhood community that we live on the edge of) St. John's is such a sweet area of Portland, it still has a quaint small town vibe to it, with old restaurants and diners, cute little shops, and my favorite bridge in Portland, the historic St. Johns Bridge that leads you to Forest Park. St John's Was celebrating their annual festival, with a carnival and music, bier gardens, and the local shops were having sidewalk sales.

All very cute. We perused the festival, had some coffee, then continued our destination to forest park. I love the St. John's bridge, it is beautiful, it has a view that looks like it heads straight into the forest, and it is taller than most bridges in Portland, which makes me kinda dizzy and weird when I cross it, but I still love it!

We headed to Forest Park and hiked about 15 miles.

We had packed a picnic of sandwiches (w/ leftover french bread) and my favorite Sake, so it was a great day!

The wild flowers are beautiful right now, and we saw many birds and chipmunks.

This hike really revitalized us, i think we needed it. Times have been great for us, but we had both agreed that time was moving way too fast lately, so the hike helped slow things down for us (I hope I am explaining that accurately.) We headed back into St. John's, this time the bridge cross didn't make me weird, thanks to a little bit of Sake!

The festival was still going strong, so we had a little bit of food and watched a band play. We were both feeling great a decided to walk home from there. Boy, we were tired when we got home, but in a great way!!! Now I feel rested and prepared for the week ahead!

Zojirushi

2008-05-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

This week has been so sunny and pretty! I had a great score at the thrift store this weekend, I found a Zojirushi Home Bakery Bread Machine! I have a Zojirushi rice cooker, and I love it so much that I still smile when I see it. I really don't know why it ended up there!!!!! I love Zojirushi, and I always wanted their brand of breadmaker, but never had the money for it! I had one when I was about 23 and it didn't work well, so I never really wanted one unless it was this brand, and for some reason it was at Goodwill!

So I happily brought it home, and even though I tested it out at the store, but I thought maybe it would not work halfway through, or something, because this was too good to be true! I did a white bread test run, and it was great, so I feel really lucky!

Here is tuna sandwiches with the new bread!

It was a baking supply score day at the thrift store, because I also bought nice heavy measuring cups and these mini tart tins from Sweden!

Seriously, I scour the baking aisle at my thrift store, and never find stuff like this!!!! There were over 20 in the bag! So I made these Financiers to try them out, and they were good, but I think they were too cake like. I think they were more of an Almond cake, I think I maybe put too much butter in the mix. I know that I have seen a few recipes on blogs that have recipes like these, and that is why I wanted to make something similar, but these were sort made on an impulse and I didn't have time to search, so I think that next time I am going to take the time and do better research!

Here are some shots of our yard, Casey took this Ladybug, I think it is precious!

Shopping and Food Therapy

2008-04-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have been a little frazzled with school and trying not to think about my dream job, which has been hard because it is pretty much always on my mind. It is a slow process, however, so I am trying to not focus on it. My sister in law, Amanda, her husband Dustin, and their adorable daughter Lucy were in town for a few days and they helped relax me, we all went to Uwajimya together, and on Tuesday Amanda and I went shopping in local boutiques, which was so much fun. Except I sort of took her on a wild goose chase in the rain, but she was a great sport about it. I can't believe I did not take a single photo!
Then we all went out to the Concordia Ale House for dinner and I had one and a half beers. I think they went straight to my head and this morning I had a pretty intense hangover! My head is still throbbing a little. Why? I think I need to drink more water.

Here are some things I picked up while we were out and about, which all was nice to comfort my hangover with this afternoon.
Orange Page is my favorite magazine in the universe! I have gone off about it before here, but lets go over it again, just for fun. It is a Japanese housewife (or just women's lifestyle) magazine that comes out weekly in Japan. The price surprises me, I pay 3.80 for it here at Kinkokunia bookstore, which is quite a bargain for an imported Japanese publication. I know that the recipes are in Japanese, but they are very inspiring to look at the beautiful photos, many of which are step by step. If you click on the Orange Page link and hit the book icon, it will load a player that lets you browse through pages of the last few magazines. My grandmother in law, Toshi has gone through some of them for me and given me the ingredient list in English, then I follow the photograph instruction. But mostly what I get out of it is general food styling ideas, fashion, craft, and decor inspiration.
While in Portland, Amanda and Dustin went to the Decorette Shop and she got me some awesome cake/food decor! I am so excited. But i am waiting to show most of it until I bake some things. But these little gnomes are going in my garden area, so I took some photos today! It was such a sweet gesture on Amanda's part.

When we went to Bolt (a fabric boutique in Portland) I got a little bit of kawaii Japanese fabric. Today I made a little pillow for my shih tzu, Nigel. He is always stealing my pillow, so I hope he starts using this little one! I know, I probably shouldn't let him sleep next to me, but I enjoy it!

And, to end off a long day, I needed something hearty to boost my spirits. I made cheesy rice with bulk pork breakfast sausage wrapped in egg. It was just greasy enough to make me feel good!

It was so nice to visit with Amanda and her little family! I hope that I get to see them more often and just spending time with her gave me some creative inspiration!

Lazy Weekend/Dreams for the future

2008-04-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was marvelous, we hung around the house most of the time. Things are going to start getting really busy for us soon, so it was really nice to take some time out to enjoy not doing much. Thursday night Casey brought home a large amount of asparagus from his work, so we made Asparagus Tempura, with rice.
Here is the batter mix

Served up:

In a bento for the next day's lunch

For dessert we had these vanilla soy milk ice cream banana splits, topped with coconut wafer cookies.

I love soy ice cream, not really to be healthy, I just really like the taste better than dairy ice cream. But I love both!
Here are some new plants we added to the garden over the weekend.
More hens and chicks cactuses:

They have giant ones on sale at our neighborhood grocery store, fred meyers
Here are some african daisies, they are so pretty! Casey took these awesome shots.

More various flowers from the garden, I really like the the ant on the yellow flower, ants are everywhere right now!

On a walk home from the grocery store, i noticed several sakura clumps that got blown off trees during a windstorm earlier last week. I grabbed a bunch of them and made little dome bouquets for the living room. They lasted about two days and I felt they were a nice tribute to say goodbye to a season of beautiful sakura that means so much to me.

A lot of great things are happening around here in our household. I am trying out for a job that coincides with my goals for the future. I am keeping it undercover for now, because I don't want to jinx my dreams. But if it does come true, everything will change for the better for us. I haven't been able to sleep, I am so excited! One clue is that if I get this job they will pay for a lot of my tuition. It is located at my dream university, the one I aspire to attend as a student someday. If i don't get a job here, all is not lost, but this is the king of all jobs! My sister in law, Amanda is town for a few days! I am meeting up with her later today, I am so excited!
Also, I have been setting up my Flickr account. I have so many photos, it is hard to organize. For awhile I was accidently uploading duplicate photos, and not knowing it. I have fixed this problem, and now I am working on organizing into sets properly. I will have a garden and baking section, so check it out! The photostream is a little messy at the moment, but I have the sets pretty well organized. If this dream job doesn't work out, I have been offered a job at a camera store in Downtown Portland. That would be a fun part time job, I think. But I really want this secret job. It is all I can think about!!!!

Whole Wheat Baking/Gingham Love

2008-04-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

On Monday I was all set to make these Chocolate Raspberry Sandwich Cookies, and after all the ingredients were set out on the counter, ready to go, I realized that I was out of all-purpose flour. What? I just bought a 5 pound bag less than two weeks ago! I guess that is what baking flatbread everyday does to my flour supply! I didn't realize that 2 cups of flour could really add up. Anyways, I didn't feel like going to the store, and I also didn't feel like giving up completely, so I made them with whole wheat flour. I think that the flour was mixed with a little white flour, but I am really not sure because I can't remember if I added any back when I filled my jar. I couldn't believe it, the cookies came out moist and chewy, with no sign of whole wheat to distract the cooky's flavor! I think the cocoa powder disguised the healthy parts of the cookie! Casey doesn't even know that they have whole wheat in them and he has been eating these for a couple days. I haven't kept it a secret, I just forgot to tell him. I really like these cookies, but chocolate desserts are an every once in a awhile thing for me. After a day of eating a lot of chocolate I am ready for something else, like vanilla. Oh, that also reminds me. These cookies taste really good on top of vanilla ice cream!
I am going to put the recipe in the comment section after I am done posting this.

So, the flatbread obsession/craze hasn't stopped around here. This recipe also did well with whole wheat flour, just needs a little longer in the oven. I normally have a rule with myself not eat "cute animals" such as deer, rabbits, ducks, and lamb. Not that I judge anyone who does, I just already feel a little guilty about eating meat, so I decided to not eat anything that I wasn't raised on eating. Well, my petty little morals can always be compromised and I ended up making Lamb Gyros for the both of us. Normally I buy Casey a patty and get myself a beef patty. While I was at the meat counter, I thought this is silly, and bought all lamb. I made the gyros with bulk lamb sausage, spinach, whole wheat garlic flatbread, and homemade tzatziki sauce (recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen). I really liked it, but I would like to try and stick to my no lamb rule in the future, just to make myself happy. Plus, it is so greasy! and the color of the meat stays pink no matter how long you cook it! Whats up with that? Oh, and the drink in the background is a peach strawberry smoothie. Lately if I don't have a smoothie everyday I start to feel like a corpse.
The weather in Portland has awful! I don't mind the rain, but the wind is what is annoying! I have been doing little projects inside, including a lot of homework, but I scored this massive amount of gingham curtain fabric at goodwill for 99 cents! So I made this little half apron today.

I did not sew the trim, unfortunately, it was all ready on there. All I did was cut it and sew a button on the back. What I would like to know is: should I add and embellishments, a bib, pockets, etc? Or should I just leave it alone??? I am limited in skills, lack of sewing machine, so easy ideas/feedback is what I am looking for.
I LOVE GINGHAM! Really, I love it too much! I have matching kitchen slippers from Japan that I am excited to wear this with!

Sugary Sundrops/Succulent Appreciation Day

2008-04-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday I made these little sugar cookies (it seems like the only cookie I bake is some sort of variation of the sugar cookie, but they are very popular with the cookie monster that I am married to!) topped with Sundrops. Has anyone ever tried Sundrops before? They are organic M&Ms and they have a taste that is extremely addicting. it is hard for me to bake these cookies because I end up eating a ton of Sundrops while I am baking them!

So this weekend (weekends for us are Friday and Saturdays) the weather was COLD. The sun came in and out and when it did peek through the gray skies, we would rush outside and do some gardening. I am so proud of Casey's work, he planted a ton of different tomatoes varieties, basil, artichokes, more lavender, and more strawberries.
Here are some flowers that got planted this weekend:

I am not sure what this is, it is a perenial, and has the prettiest little flowers on it, here is a bud taken in macro mode.

And Casey planted a lot of succulents which I am happy about because succulents make him happy the same way Sakura blossoms make me happy. Here are some macro shots that he took of his newest plants, after a light rain.

We even got one for the bedroom.
The more plants we have around and fresh cut flowers, the more alive and cheerful the house feels. We went through a little phase where we were very busy and most of our plants died, it feels really good to be back into the swing of things again!

Ikea Shelf Update!

2008-04-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

The shelf is up! Well, it has been up since the evening of my last post, but I have had the hardest time getting a decent photo of it. Anyways, I love it and it is nice to be able to display my vintage stuff better and more safely. The shelf actually was really easy to put up, it was the fact that we needed huge screws to hang it, and that took a minute to track down.

Here is my secondary shelf next to it.

The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is a shout-out to my Mom, who has had that cookbook since- well actually I have no idea when she got it, but probably close to 1962, when my father and her got married.I love how used it is, you can tell her favorite recipes by the burn marks and dog-eared pages. I love everything on the shelves because either it came from family or Casey and I found it together.
The Bambi book on the main shelf we got on our honeymoon when we made a pit stop at the thrift store. The illustrations are done like paintings and I have always wanted to frame some of the pages, but Casey won't let me. I know he is right about not tampering with the book, but sometimes I have come really close to just doing it anyways while he is at work. Now that I have the shelf to display the book, there are no more worries of a Bambi book massacre! One time I even bought frames for the pages while he was at work, but I forgot to hide them and he found the frames with the book sitting out and he grabbed them and confiscated everything!!!!
Bambi is our little theme, I have talked about in the past.
Spring cleaning has been going really well, we now have a van full of Goodwill donations. I just have one more area to clean out, which is my closet, which is the least favorite mission and I am blogging right now instead of doing it.

Spring Cleaning

2008-04-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Every season, I try and do major overhaul of the house, and clean out every room. I get rid of things we don't need and donate them to goodwill. By doing this, it sorta justifies my new purchases. Also, our house is very old and seems to get dusty and dirty faster than normal. I bought this shelf at Ikea this week, I am so excited about it because now I can display all my canisters and everything and free up a lot of space. I have to brag a little here, I don't drive and I spontaneously stopped by Ikea on my way home from work on Monday and bought the shelf. It came in huge packaging and I had to carry it home from the train station (about a mile or 2)..... in my high heels! I felt like a buff monster when I got home!
So just like every purchase I make at Ikea that requires assembly, what should be very easy never is for me, and the shelf is still sitting in my kitchen and this is what is going on in here right now.....

It will be up tonight! With school and work, trying to get our garden growing, and not driving this little shelf has had some delays. But I love it, and my kitchen will be really organized by the end of tomorrow.
I have been picking up plants and flowers every time I head to the grocery store (which is often) to get our gardens going. I am so thrilled that we are actually doing what we always talk about doing with the yard, year after year. I am going to have a little photo session soon with what we have done, but for now here are a few things that I have going.

Haha, does a weed count as something I have going on in the yard? I love dandelions, though. We do some weeding in our yard, but I don't like the idea of having a perfectly manicured yard. So I can appreciate the "weeds" just a little!
More blossom photos! I can never get enough!

I haven't posted in awhile about any thrift store finds, but I have been going to the goodwill a lot lately to stock up on plant pots, and while I was there the other day I scored these cute sauce cups for 50 cents total for the set.

They are made by Kotobuki, one of my favorite Japanese manufacturers, they make quality Japanese housewares. Casey's work sells their products at a price I can't afford, even with our discount, so I am overjoyed whenever I find anything by them at the thrift store.

what a weekend

2008-04-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so beautiful! The weather has been around 70 degrees and it has been fantastic. We had an event filled weekend. I am still getting used to my camera, so it has been taking some time and practice, there are so many new things to learn. Friday we went to Washington/Forest Park, which has the Japanese gardens. We walked over 7 miles through the park, which his amazing and it doesn't even feel like you are in Portland anymore.

We decided to walk home, which totaled our hike around 20 or miles. We stopped at shops along the way and took our time.

This was on the Broadway Bridge on our way home.
When we came home my brother in law Micah came over and stayed the night, it was so good to see him! We had dinner and hung out. The next day we took him on a walk around our neighborhood and went to Blend, our local coffee shop

After that Micah headed back home to Salem, and we did some major yard work. Casey started up a whole vegetable garden, with Corn, Cauliflower, Spinach, herbs, and strawberries. I am working on the container gardening for our porches, which has Wheatgrass

more herbs,

and I planted some flower starters. I will show more pics when we have it all finished, which should be tonight.
I did bake and do a lot of cooking, but nothing I haven't posted about already. I did make this Sake no Dengaku from my favorite cookbook series Quick and Easy from Joie,Inc.

I don't use many cookbooks anymore (preferring online recipes) but I do use my Japanese and Chinese books still. This recipe is simple, basically Broiled Salmon with a glaze, that when broiled, produces a yummy shell coated over the fish. I eat salmon ALOT, but I would have to say that this is the best recipe I have ever tried for it. These cookbooks are pretty old, and they are still sold at the Japanese stores in Portland due to their popularity. I have learned a lot from these books, how to prepare sushi rice, make miso soup properly, etc. The recipes vary quite a bit from the Americanized sushi books that are sold at major book stores.
I also have made that flat bread from my last post every single day last week! It has been so nice to have fresh baked bread everyday.
I did update more Sakura photos from our trek to the Japanese Gardens here,
and here are some flowers that are currently blooming at my house. This time of year it is so hard to keep up the Spring changes. One day a flower will be in full bloom and I will forget to get a picture and the next day it will be gone!

Well, I am off to enjoy the weather some more. We just put up our hammock in the backyard and it is supposed to start raining again tomorrow (which really is a good thing) and I want make the most of the good weather while I have it.

Fantastic Day/New Camera

2008-04-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well, that didn't take very long! I got a new camera today and I am so happy! I really thought I was going to have to wait longer, but I ended up being able to get one and I am overjoyed! My last camera broke due to me, not the camera. I had a half broken SD card inside it and it broke the connector pins off. So I won't be careless like that this time! It is a Samsung S1050, I really liked my Samsung L73, and I feel familiar with it. I am still getting used to it because it has a lot new features. Thank goodness for tax season!
As I was walking home I couldn't wait and I was on a quiet street, so I ripped the packaging open and took these pics.

This week I have been making Flatbread from this month's issue of Martha Stewart. This recipe is so easy, which is so nice because it is something I can bake even on a busy day. The bread rises really fast and there is only a minute of kneading so you can mix it up really fast after work and relax for about 45 minutes and then bake it for 10 minutes. I sprinkled garlic powder on top. I made some last night with chicken, pesto, roasted peppers, and fontina cheese.
Tonight I made some with chicken, marinara sauce(store-bought), spinach, and mozzarella cheese. The recipe makes 4 sandwich style flatbreads.

I also made a pear cake, which I didn't have the best luck with. =( I have more batter, so I will try it again and see!

Stressed!

2008-04-06T15:35:00.001-07:00

Oh no! i broke my camera today. I think I may have a heart attack!

Rainy Days

2008-04-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend it rained a lot in the mornings.

It made for lazy mornings, which meant there was no trip to the Japanese Gardens.

Since we don't drive right now, there is a lot of hiking involved to get to the gardens (which is fun) and the rain just didn't give us the energy to do it. I think the sakura should still be around the gardens next weekend. The sun did come out in the afternoon, so we headed out and walked to the University of Portland campus, which is not far from us at all. The campus overlooks the Willamette River and downtown Portland. The campus is beautiful, with lots of greenery and old buildings.

There is a lot of picnic spots overlooking the river and so we brought a little snack picnic, with hard boiled eggs. I love this printed foil from Daiso. Except I never want to use it because I don't want to run out!

I love this view of Portland because it has so much going on. In the very back you can see Downtown Portland, you can also see the hills and the industrial boats. There were a lot of pretty flowers framing this view.

When we came home I made Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread

I got the recipe from Epicurious.com. I really like this recipe because it only calls for a little sugar, and more cornmeal than the average recipe. I used Fontina cheese, because I think cheddar cheese gets too greasy in baked goods. There was just the right amount of jalapeno in the batter because it made my husband happy, but I could also handle it. If it got to be to hot for me, I just picked a little out. Some I made as muffins and some I made into wedges.
The weather was just fine for a lot of neighborhood walking and the rain is nice because then we get raindrops on flowers when we take photos outside. That is my favorite!

Great times! I did a lot more baking and cooking, which I will talk about later...
I did find this gorgeous Japanese Photography magazine that I can't wait to get! It is about female photographers, it is called Joshi Camera.

Looks so amazing! I found about it through The La Tartine Gourmande.

Sunny Days

2008-04-03T22:43:00.001-07:00

The weather has been stunning here in Portland, which has made for a great week. We have been taking long walks and the birds are chirping, everything coming out of hibernation.
The best news is that i have been able to wear shorts!
Yesterday I made these Snickerdoodles, taken from the Joyofbaking.com. In the recipe, the author even gives the history of the cookie. Snickerdoodles are so simple but so good. I halved the recipe making 3 dozen. I ran out of white sugar after I made the dough, I rolled them in light brown sugar and cinnamon. I think I like that better, it gave it a little crispy shell.

Later that afternoon we went for a walk about an hour before sunset. Here is my husband. These ground succulents are his favorite, so I really love these pictures of him admiring them. I just love him in general!

Here are couple highlights from the walk

This mossy path is so lush and pretty. I really love moss!

For dinner we had Bacon wrapped Turkey Mignon. I got them fresh at Trader Joes. Here is a leftovers in Casey's bento. The green stuff in the background is Edamame Hummus. I never knew the two would be so yummy and refreshing together! I love the turkey mignon because it is on a stick and you can eat like a lollipop if you wanted to!

I love spring!!!!! Tomorrow we are going to try and go to the Japanese Gardens and view the sakura!!!!!!!!!

Redmond Antique Co-op

2008-04-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last Redmond post, I swear! I just had such a great time... My mother in law, Betty and my sister in law Amanda took Casey and me to the town's Antique co-op. So much fun! Amanda has written about in the past on her blog. I love vintage stuff, and the prices were reasonable, a nice change from Portland. The different booths were all so interesting and set up very nicely. I love taking photos in stores, and this place was set up so that I could do so without too many people noticing. Here are a few things I noticed, but did not buy:

I love this stewardess thermos!

And these old spice tins were bright and cheerful.

This was the store front, sign is super cute, we are not so photogenic in this pic, it was cold!

What I did buy that day was this gingham jar set! I love it, it is so delicate and pretty. I love gingham, I think I talk about it a lot on this blog.

While we were there I fell in love with this vintage espresso pot, which thanks to google I found it is called a Moka Pot. I have never seen a ceramic topped pot like this.

I didn't buy it, it was 25 dollars, same price pretty much for the one I bought at IKEA, here is that one:

Not so cute is it??? So the price for the vintage one was not bad at all. But I get weird and stingy and so I decided to think about it. The next day while I hanging out with Amanda, Casey and his mom went and picked it up for me as a surprise! I was so happy. The pot makes really, really good espresso, here is evidence.

It really tastes different, I have no idea why.
I love the yellow color too. So anyway, I am not going to use this everyday, mostly for weekend breakfasts and company. But, it is nice to know that Andrew (my brother in law) can each have our own pot of espresso when we binge drink it! I love this. Can you see how we were spoiled in Redmond?

I cannot find any info on the maker or how old this is on the internet, which intrigues me. I really want to know more about this pot.

Full Bloom

2008-04-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

I posted this flower awhile ago. I am unsure of what it is, I should really find that out. But anyways I really loved this flower and today as I was walking home I saw it again in my neighbor's front yard. Quite a bit different!
I also updated some more cherry blossom/sakura photos here. The first five photos are new. I like this photo below because my real name is Holly and I like how the Holly berries are in the pic with the sakura in the background, since I pretty much worship cherry blossoms!

Family Food

2008-03-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

Food is alway better when it is shared with family. I love the quiet dinners spent alone with Casey every night, but it was so great to enjoy meals family style. There was so many great meals, I wasn't able to get shots of everything, but here are some highlights!
Our first night in Redmond, Dustin, Amanda, Monica, and Casey (and me) all went out for sushi at a place called Yoko's we sat at the sushi bar and had a great time. We drank (except for Monica, she is only a freshman in high school!) Pear Momokawa Sake (maybe a little too much for me!) and ate a TON of sushi. So much that the tab was a little ridiculous. But we don't go out for dinners like that very often, so what what the hell, right!?? You can't put a price on fun times! anyways, we had 33 plates of sushi!!!
Here was some seared albacore tuna... so yummy!

The next night Betty made this soup called Love Letter Soup. I made the parmasean chip/scoop that is on top. I was so scared I was going to mess it up. I want to make this more often and I really, really enjoyed spending time with Betty in the kitchen. This will be a recipe that I will treasure since it has good family memories!

Betty made these delicious and beautiful lemon bars made from lemons grown on Casey's grandma Marie grew whle she was in Arizona. They were so good that I was a little greedy and may have ate too many!

The last night there Betty and Glen made BBQ skewers, some with chicken and some with steak, from this cool butcher shop in redmond. We need more cute local places like this in Portland!!!

Oh, and the first morning in town Betty made these adorable Mickey Mouse waffles. Just like Hello Kitty is my little icon, Mickey Mouse is Betty's trademark. I loved the arrangement!

The last morning we were there Bunny made his famous tamago roll for 7 people. I was so proud of him. I thought he looked cute here in the kitchen.

Family and Friends in the High Desert

2008-03-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am going to go a little post crazy in the next few days regarding my trip. There is just so much for me to ramble on and on about. Since this blog is a journal of memories for me and my husband Casey (I am from now on going to call my hubby by his real name, instead of bunny. this blog started out as more of a private journal so there was a level of anonymity, but now that a few people actually read it, I have begun to feel really silly calling him Bunny. But I might slip up now and then because I really do call him bunny in real life a lot.) I really want to document this trip, esp. for when Casey gets homesick.
While we were in Redmond the family went out for a Canyon walk. Amanda has written about it in the past on her blog and since then I have always wanted to do it. It was so cool and I finally got to see a Rockchuck.
I really liked this photo of the family and the sun beaming in on them. That is Casey's stepfather, Glen, Amanda, Casey. His mom is sort of in the pic.
Here are some pretty.... would you call them desert flowers or plants or weeds? I don't know, but they are really pretty!

Here is me and Monica, Casey's stepsister. This pic is a little blurry, but I thought it was real cute. Cute factor always outweighs blurry factor!

Here is Monica and Casey on the ride to Redmond playing Nintendo and having a little giggle. Sooooo cute!

Here is Casey with his Mom Betty and his sister Kadie. Betty was so kind and giving and spoiled us while we were there. We really want to try and come visit more often. We havent been able to see Kadie in ages and she is so very sweet and cute. She might move to the coast which is closer to us than where she lives now, that would be awesome to see her more.

Saturday night we went to visit Casey's best friend since high school, Mike. He just moved to Bend, Oregon a few months ago from Portland. He is the nicest guy you will ever meet. We stayed the night and drank beer and played Yahtzee all night with Mike and his girlfriend Allyson who I sadly did not get a photo of. We both missed Mike A LOT, so it was very nice to see him. Casey already misses him. We are hoping Allyson and Mike will come stay at our house for a few days soon.

The last night in Rdmond we soaked in Casey's parent's hottub. It was so wonderful, it was snowing, and a bunch of stars were out. It really felt like we were on a vacation. This photo seems a little x-rated to me, even though we are clothed and everything. It was so much fun i had to put it up, plus the steam covers us up a little!!! You can see the snow falling in backround. Portland weather is so different than Bend/Redmond weather, but it was so refreshing. The air was crisp and seemed cleaner. I felt revitalized.

We were sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we are going to make an effort to stay in better contact. Here are some shots of the mountain I took through the car window on the ride home.

I Love Lucy

2008-03-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Oh man. Lucy is a doll. She is so sweet and full of personality. Amanda is the best mom ever!
Lucy let me hold her for a long time and she was amazing. I wish I could see her more often, I miss her already!
Whenever I spent time with her before, everything was so hectic, like at my wedding, so it was nice to be able to chill out with her for awhile.
She was so well behaved that she let Amanda and I talk over coffee while she played like a good girl.

Here was Lucy all bundled up during a Canyon Walk

And me and her on the way to The Redmond Antique Co-op. I really like us together in this pic, but I feel like my face takes over the screen. Kind of scary to me!

And her just being cute.

Here is the sweet little family all together. Mom and Dad, (Dustin and Amanda) and sweetheart Lucy

Back from Redmond!

2008-03-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Spending time at Bunny's family's house was so much fun, I have so many photos and things to go through. There was so much that we did and I am just going to start with the lovely time we spent at their house, where we stayed. The house is so cozy and relaxing.
We enjoyed the wood stove and the swing in the sunroom that overlooked the pretty backyard.

And the spring decorations, this easter egg was made by his grandmother Toshi, in 1981. Bunny's Mom was kind enough to let us take it home with us!

And we had fun hanging out in the yard so much!!!!

And I plan on showing so much more, but I have to post this picture of Lucy, Amanda and Dustin's daughter.

She is seriously the sweetest little girl I have ever met in my life! I had so much fun spending time with her and everyone else.
I am going to post the food we ate and so much more when I get through sorting all my photos tomorrow. We are so happy after spending such a great weekend in Central Oregon.

Spring Break!

2008-03-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

Spring break is here and it is lovely! I am having a good time relaxing and soaking in the sakura.
I baked these Savory Soda Crackers the other day. The recipe is in the link. In addition to the recipe, I used buttermilk, cracked pepper, sea salt, basil, and chives. The were very flavorful and had a rustic quality to them. I am trying not to buy pre made snacks, therefore forcing myself to make my own treats. This has been working out well for me, plus it is cheaper.

Here are some more spring shots of my 'hood!
This somewhat hippy family down the street lives in a awesome huge old house with these geese that roam around! So cute! I love the sakura petals in the grass that they graze on. They aren't as loud as one would think, and the noise that they do make is pleasant. (at least to me)

Here are more tree blossoms. Not knowing what each type of blossom is, I call everything sakura. These I call Shiro sakura because Shiro is white in Japanese. I really like the white blossoms, because I love white flowers. The sakura in Portland is in full effect right now, leaving a wonderland feel everywhere!

I have no idea what type of tree blossom this is, but it is sort of wild, crawling everywhere. The color is so vibrant! This photo does not do it justice.

This is lavender, I think... There are over 200 types of lavender, so I am unsure. The bees are crazy for this plant.

This squirrel (you may have to enlarge the photo to see it) was so angry with me for taking photos of him, which me made me like him even more! At some points I feared that he was going to jump on my face!

Exciting news! Tomorrow morning we are heading to Central Oregon to visit Bunny's side of the family until Sunday! That means I will get to hang out with my sister in law Amanda, aka Violaceous!! I am very excited to see her and everyone else, some we haven't seen since our big day last September.

This was us leaving our wedding after saying goodbye to everyone, riding off into the sunset. We really did ride off into the sunset, because the sun was actually setting at that time!

Best day of my life!!!!!!! I know Bunny really misses his family and I miss them too, so this will be a fun trip!

Spring Sweets

2008-03-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend the weather was gray, but still pretty!

Friday we made blueberry crepes together, they were really good. Our first time making crepes. I really want to get a crepe pan, because the cast iron skillet is big and bulky.

Easter was low-key, bunny had to work, so I hung around the house and made more cupcakes. I made vanilla cupcakes with strawberry whipped cream frosting.

I really like whip cream frosting because it is so airy and not too sweet or heavy. I got the recipe here and here. I did everything the same as the recipe except I used a little less sugar in the cupcakes and no sugar in the whip cream (the jam is sweet enough for me)

A few of the cupcakes I topped with Moonstruck chocolate truffles.

I really want to make more full sized cakes (9 inch), but cupcakes are so much easier to bake since I am limited to using a toaster oven (which I don't really mind using) and they seem to handle the uneven heat distrubution better.
Thanks for all the good luck on my finals from everyone, I passed my classes with A's all around this term! Besides all the support I get at home, I really think baking has helped me. For some reason baking while studying throughout the day kept me sane and focused. I really hope this method works for next term! I have had so much fun going to school and spending time at home.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here's to a very happy Easter Sunday! To anyone and everyone!

Finals Week and writer's block

2008-03-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

So, I have been at my desk ready to hammer out my last paper. it is an essay about the pros and cons of online courses. I cannot write the essay because it has to be written in class during the final, but I can prepare for it. For some reason that is giving me a major case of writer's block. Instead of staring at the computer, I am doing a post instead!
I have been walking a lot, going with bunny to his work early so we can get coffee at Extracto and go to the neighborhood park.
I really would like to learn how to do steamed milk hearts like this!
Here is the park, I think the huge trees look pretty with the sakura.

And here are more flowers/nature I have taken recently:

I had no idea that rhubarb started growing here this early! I love it, and grew up with it growing in our family garden. I would like to do some baking with it later this year. I did plant some quinalt strawberries last week! Hopefully those turn out well.

On my way home from his work I stopped by the thrift store and scored these pyrex dishes, which I collect. Goodwill has been asking obscene prices for stuff like this lately, but I got these together for under four dollars, I can do that. I love pyrex, but i am not willing to pay ebay prices for them.

Bunny has been putting together succulent and cactus terrariums, they are so pretty, here is one:

I made some more of Average Rai's flaxseed pretzels, I cannot get enough of them. We had them for dinner with turkey meatballs and fontina cheese. Yum!!!!

Things that made me happy this weekend

2008-03-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Blueberry Muffins!

Choco Eggs from Little Paris! I was saving these for a special day next week, but I had chocolate emergency! Oops.

Flowers, Moss, Mushrooms, Succulents, and Sakura, all my favorite things to see on walks!!!

We took a lot of walks this weekend, trying to make the most of seeing all the new blooms. We stopped at my new favorite coffee shop in our neighborhood, called Blend.

On the way home from picking up some groceries, stopping to check out the cherry blossoms.

Today I got a haircut here! It is the shortest I have ever had it, It is the best haircut I had ever got! I updated a few Sakura photos in my post below. I really cannot get enough cherry blossoms. It is so special to me! Back to the schoolbooks, it is finals week for me!!!!!

Neighborhood Sakura

2008-03-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

On my walk home from the bus stop yesterday I snapped some photos of the beautiful blossoms on the street I live on. So here is an influx of flower photos! I was waiting to take photos of when they are more abundant in the city and the sidewalks are pink with fallen petals, but I couldn't wait. Plus for some strange reason last year I didn't get any photos of the cherry blossoms. I think maybe because I was working 12 hours a day with a 3 hour commute? We plan on driving in the mountains soon where all the cherry orchards are and all you see is Mountain Hood and blossoms. It is magical. You see not only cherry blossoms, but plum, orange, and many other blossoms as well. Cannot wait for that!

You can see that the weather changed a ton on my walk. I was only out for about a half hour and it was so bright that it hurt my eyes, then rained, then sunny, then rain, then sunny again! And at one point raining and sunny at the same time.
A little bit ago I posted a picture of a flower that was about ready to bloom in my front yard. I have been monitoring it with pics and here it is bloomed. I was surprised that it was this color, i thought it was going to be dark purple. I am much more fond of this pale shade.

Here was my bento yesterday. It was yakisoba and the top had mango coconut jell-o from japan, and a little piece of unagi, and some granola for breakfast

Warning, this is not the end of sakura posts!

Tarts and Bentos

2008-03-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

You can tell that I have a paper due when I bake a lot. It is nice because I can study and take time out to bake and it calms me.
Saturday I made lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies. They were a nice little snack to have around, I just took a plain shortbread cookie recipe and added 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and about 4 tablespoons poppy seed. You have to chill in the fridge a lot longer since the lemon juice adds more moisture. I have been craving citrus sweets.

Then Sunday was my brother law Andrew's birthday, and I wanted to make something that I have never made before. I have never made a tart and I have always wanted to try a recipe from my French-American culinary hero, the Latartine Gourmande. She has beautiful recipes, but her food photography has a special place in my heart. The recipes also have interesting stories that accompany the food. So I decided to be brave and try her Lime Cream Tart with Sweet Almond tart shell. I was in the kitchen all day! Her recipe is for the tarts to be bite sized, but I don't have petit four tins, so I made one tart with my tart pan from daiso.
The shell was fairly easy.... I wish mine was a little more pretty, but that will just take more practice on my end.

The lime custard was harder, I cooked it in a water bath on too high a temp and it curdled. When this happend, my phone was ringing and Andrew and his girlfriend showed up all at once. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I let it cool and took a break. After it chilled in the fridge for awhile, it got it's proper consistency back!!!! All was well in the world again!!!!!
I added a little shaved dark chocolate to the custard and filled the tart shell.
The tart is very yummy, best enjoyed in small doses so that you don't overdose on the flavor. Funny thing was that we never ended up eating the birthday tart on Andrew's b-day, we were all too full from dinner!

Here is our bentos that we had today, we both worked and I finally got to enjoy my bento at the office. The sakura shaped veggies are in honor of the cherry blossoms I am currently enjoying here in Portland. On walks I will stop and just soak in the blossoms at random. Each day there are more and more!
Bunny's had pork and salad, mine was my favorite bread and cheese with a salad.

Royal Mail

2008-03-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was greeted with a package via Royal mail from my blogging friend Little Paris in the U.K. We did a swap together and I was overjoyed with what she sent me. It was very thoughtful and I really loved everything. I hope my package to her arrives soon and that she enjoys what I sent as well. I have never done a swap before and I was nervous to make sure everything was nice enough.
But my package was just perfect and here is a sampling of what I got, there was more, but I plan on including it in future posts!
Here is the cute bag everything came in!

And this kawaii Hello Kitty stamp! I love it!

This was, I think, my favorite item! Face powder from Japan! I love anime eyes, and this girl's anime eyes take the cake! It is very nice powder, too.

Thank you Little Paris, your kindness made my day!

bento picnic in the park

2008-03-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a great day, my mom told me to not come to the office, so I had another full day with Bunny. The bad news is that when she arrived at her office, it had been broken into! Someone took the computer I use and a dvd player she uses for training employees. How sad. It's weird, she had a brand new flat screen t.v. there and it stayed. Must have been too big too carry or something. Well, it is a good thing she has insurance, but it's still hard, she just started the office up not that long ago.
We decided to go for a picnic, the weather was overcast, but it was still enjoyable to be outdoors.
Columbia Park is about 5 blocks away from my house. I love this park because of all the trees. It reminds me of Little Red Riding Hood. This park has a community pool that I go swimming at sometimes, they also offer art classes in an old cottage on site.

Our bentos had broiled salmon with dill, brown rice, and curried peas. And I love my little soy bottles from Daiso!
We also had cubed Gyurue cheese, left over from the beer bread, I love this cheese so much, it makes me drool a little when I eat it!
For dessert we had these cute little "Le Petit Ecolier" (means "the little schoolboy" in french) that bunny brought home from his work the other day. They were lovely.
The bentos were the perfect picnic food, easy to transport and clean up. It was such a pleasant afternoon, I can't wait to come up with more creative bentos in the future. I want to make them cuter and more creative. I am also excited for when the weather is nicer and our picnics won't just be in the park, but also in the Mountain Hood forest!!!! But I am totally content with the beautiful park for now! Bunny is back at work today, so that means its back to the books, to study for finals. Wish me luck!

pita crackers

2008-03-07T08:45:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was so refreshing! We ran errands in the sun and got home and Bunny planted a bunch of flowers. I can see some of our more interesting flowers popping up. Not that I don't appreciate all of the daffodils! I love them and there are so many in our yard. The cuttings really brighten up the house. If you enlarge this photo, you can see a flower poking out, ready to bloom!

I am trying to remember the name of this flower, and I know it is common, but I cannot think of it for the life of me. After gardening and housework we took a lovely walk and when we got home we were famished, and after last night's rich and heavy beer bread I wanted something a little healthier and light.
I made whole wheat flatbread to have with hummus. The recipe is here. It is insanely easy to make and very savory. The only thing I did different from the recipe was I sprinkled sea salt on top and I baked them a lot longer to make them more pita chip style. I served them with smoothies, which I haven't made in so long! I used to have one everyday after work last spring/summer. These were made with banana, mixed frozen berries, soy milk, hemp powder, and plain yogurt. I felt like a million bucks after I drank it.

Isn't Nigel just too cute? He looks like a bobblehead in these photos. I feel bad because right after these were taken he puked everywhere. He is a little under the weather, so I am keeping an eye on him today.

beer battered cheese bread

2008-03-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Today was just a delightful start of spring day. The sun was sparkling and I went with bunny to have espresso by his work at this cute coffee house called Extracto. They are in my top 3 of favorite places to have coffee at. I am a coffee snob, or should I say I just love good cappuccinos. I think Oregonians are just programmed to love coffee. We didn't stay long because the weather was to beautiful that after I dropped him off at work I ended up walking 10 miles home. It didn't seem like it and I made a lot of stops, I wish I would have had my camera. Portland on a sunny day has amazing spring seasons. autumn is my favorite time of year, but Spring in Oregon makes you feel revitalized! I am finally getting my full energy back after being ill so much. It lingered for so long.
I made Beer Batter Cheese Bread tonight from a recipe out of Cook's Country. I really like Cooks Country because of the test kitchen. The bread was made with Sapporo beer and Gruyere cheese. I added chives to the mix. I really enjoyed the crunchy top. It was super easy to make, it took less than an hour to make the whole thing, including prep. I ate way too much, and I am still really full!

The Golden Spruce

2008-03-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

I have been totally consumed with my final essay for the class I am in. It is an essay about the book we read in the class, the Golden Spruce by John Valliant. It is a very insightful book about the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest and nature in general. So good, but so hard for me to read because I love nature, I love living in the Pacific Northwest, and it is a brutal book, with horror stores about the effects of logging. For someone like me that loves the forest, but isn't exactly "green", it is hard to face the reality of the book. There are, however, many beautiful scenes in the book as well, but I am sensitive to sad subjects such as this one. So the book and the paper have been hard for me to write about, but I have enjoyed the learning process. I guess it is good for me to be forced to learn about subjects like this in school, since i would rather read Martha Stewart than about current events. I highly recommend anyone who lives in the Northwest reading it because you learn so much about our natural history.

The crock pot has come in handy this week since i have been too busy to worry about lunch/dinner. I made this chicken noodle soup and threw almost everything in my fridge in it! It was the best noodle soup I think I have ever made. After reading average Rai's post about making chicken noodle soup it made me want some. Tomorrow is my baking day and I want to make a bread to have with it. 6 quarts of soup is a lot for 2 people!
And during my "freak out" moments writing my paper yesterday, I would take breaks and turn my little erasers from Daiso into magnets for the fridge. These are just too cute to me to use as an eraser! I love miniature things so much, I don't know why. When I was little I was obsessed with decorating my doll house.

Some exciting news to me is that I saw the first cherry blossoms today! Yay! They were downtown and I can't wait until they are everywhere! Also, last night Bunny brought me home matcha cheerios! They are sooooo good!

Matcha Madness!

2008-03-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

I made matcha cupcakes last night, some I left plain and some I served with Matcha infused whipped cream. I really need to get more practice using my new frosting gun. I enjoyed the little cakes, but I think I am forever on a quest for more matcha flavor! I think I could have dumped my whole tin of matcha in the batter and would have loved it!. I also got this soba plate in the picture from Daiso.

Yesterday I received a surprise in the mail! Bunny's Mom sent me this beautiful origami paper for getting an A on my cell phone essay. This is very high quality origami paper, made by the same company that made my mug with the bunny on it in the photo above. It feels so good to have people send such good thoughts your way! I have to say, I have a very thoughtful Mother-in-law.
I will use this as motivation to do my best on the current essay I am working on. This paper is currently is aching my brain because this is the end of term essay. I have really enjoyed this class, however. She also included this beautiful card which I promptly added to my cabinet collage project.

Here is the some more Daiso stuff. I suppose it is my thing lately to end my posts with Daiso stuff. I cannot get enough of Daiso! Everyday the little trinkets I got there put a smile on my face!
Here are my new Bunbun slippers!

And here is my new mouse pad, I love the worried egg and his egg friend looks like he is comforting him. So kawaii!

Tagged/Finds

2008-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

It has been a month, I think since I have made a trip to the thrift store down the street from my house. Now that I have been to Daiso, I can officially stop my thrift store diet! I am not trying to spend too much money, however, because I don't like how they have been pricing things. They sell used Ikea stuff for more than Ikea sells it at their store! Ugh...
I did manage to find this cool wallet for Bunny yesterday, and it is actually vintage, not a reproduction. It matches his shoes and his style a lot. The cashier had hid it, because he wanted it for himself! But I found it, you can't hide the retro stuff from me!!!!

Here are a few more Daiso scores. I am totally overwhelmed by my Daiso stuff. Today I am going to organize my bento cupboard and try to sort out everything I have gotten. I have tried to do this all week, but I end up just playing with everything like a child!
Here is the newest addition to my crazy amount of coffee mugs. I love it! The happy kitty face reminds me of how happy I get when I have a cappuccino!

And here are my generic Bodum style cups. I thought that these were a great deal for 1.50 and they are ultra light, have indents for good gripping, and handle hot liquid. I still really want a set of double walled bodum glasses glasses.

Here is a a couple cute little things, the first is a picnic mat, I got matching cups, too. I am waiting to use this for when we go Sakura viewing in the mountains this spring.

And here are some cute cutters, I especially love the bunny! I love Daiso's funny english that they put on their products.

I have been tagged by Dreamer's Loft for a meme. I LOVE her blog. Here is a sample photo of the beautiful treats she makes:

She takes amazing pictures. Her site is about the pastries she bakes, shots of Singapore, her beautiful diving expeditions, and just all around amazing photography. She has recipes for treats that I have wanted to make for a long time but have only seen in non-english publications. I was very flattered that she thought of me.
I have only been part of blogging since November and I still am learning everything about it, so I just only found out what tagging was. I am supposed to pick out 5 bloggers and tag them. I don't really know 5 bloggers who haven't already been tagged, but I can refer you to the blogs I read at the bottom of this page. I love reading blogs, it inspires me to bake better, take better photos, and learn about other cultures. I have gotten to know my sister in law better, I have only been able to meet her in person twice, but blogging has helped me get to know her. One thing have found that is amazing to me is how well a lot of people from other counties English is. Better than mine! I know a tiny amount of Japanese, but not much. Makes me want to improve my English skills.
The Meme rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs
I hope I am not breaking rules by not personally tagging anyone! I honestly don't know 5 bloggers who haven't been tagged already.
5 things about me:
1. As much as I love Japanese culture, I have never been to Japan. We really want to go, but we want to do it right. I am hoping to go with Bunny after I get my first degree.
2. My dream for the future is to get my master's in Molecular Biology and work in a lab at Oregon Health and Science University. After that we want to adopt a baby. We would like to have a cottage in Mountain Hood and have a small farm.
3. I love rock and roll, especially classic rock. I have been collecting old records since I was 12, but don't buy much anymore.
4. I never watch TV, except for PBS. I never go to the movies, either. I watch a little anime and asian drama/sitcom, and nature documentary. So why do I have a raging online celebrity gossip addiction? Most of the time I have no idea who they are talking about, but I can't stop reading. It's out of control!
5. My screen name BunBun comes from my love of Chinese steamed pork buns (DIMSUM) It is a nickname that we have for each other. Also, because I like japanese artwork of Usagi (rabbit) a lot.

Backyard Day!

2008-02-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

I forgot I had a backyard! Yesterday while I was in class Bunny cleaned up the backyard so we could enjoy the nice weather out there. I came home and it looked completely different! We haven't gone back there much during the winter, so it was really nice to enjoy. Good thing we did because after hanging out there this morning and afternoon it started pouring rain! That's Portland for you! I welcome the rain, though because that just means it will be more lush and pretty for spring. I cannot wait for sakura (cherry blossom)this spring. Portland has so many pretty fruit tree blossoms.

Last Day in Seattle/Unicorn crepes

2008-02-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

What a great time we have been having! I woke up with a mild hangover our last morning in Seattle, but it was nothing. A little orange juice, coffee, and sunshine quickly took it away. We went downstairs from our hotel for breakfast to a place called Cyclops. It had Seattle awards all over the front for "best breakfast in Seattle." Well, they must have paid Seattle money to get those awards because it was nasty and expensive. If I would have ordered this breakfast at a dive diner or bar I wouldn't have cared as much, but this was gross. So I tried not to eat too much and save my appetite for were we were heading.
We walked to the International District/Chinatown after breakfast. Another heavenly morning. The sun was beaming and there was a lot of people out and about.
The walk to the International District is quite hilly, sort of like the streets of San Fransisco. By time we reached the gates of Chinaown I was hungry again! There was a lot of cute Asian produce and herb markets that I found to be more interesting than Pike Place Market, but they are both cool in their own way.
Here is a shot of a Produce Market, I loved the cute old men shopping there.

Chinatown was very busy on this day and there was a Chinese gentleman crusing the streets in his souped up black and gold Trans-Am blasting Chinese love ballads/Pop Music from his car. A lot of people found this to be really amusing, including us. He seemed to follow us all over, so it was like he provided a soundtrack to our morning! I really wish I would have thought to get a photo of him in his car! The car was really awesome!
Anyways... Seattle has Uwajimaya's, my favorite Japanese grocery in Portland, but the one in Seattle is HUGE! I had read a review in the Seattle Asian Weekly of a placed called Unicorn Crepes in Chinatown and I REALLY wanted to go. We found it, and boy was it worth the trek! So cute, bright and cheerful. They are brothers and sisters in their early 20's running the little cafe and they make the BEST crepes ever. The were all so cute, they looked like they belonged in a Japanese sitcom/drama. We had bluebery and strawberry yogurt whip crepes and the were AMAZING!!!!

We had them with a Matcha Latte and it was Perfect! We walked around Chinatown a little bit longer and decided that we had to have more crepes, so we went back. Bunny had a Teriyaki Crepe with chicken and hard boiled egg. The place was so cute, I wish I would have taken more pics. They blasted Jpop and Japanese Reggae (I LOVE Japanese music, almost as much as I love the Rolling Stones) It was such a cheery way to spend the afternoon. There were cute kids in Karate uniforms enjoying crepes, the whole atomosphere was delightful.
So we ventured back to our hotel to check out and head to the train station. We were sad to go home, but also we felt so good about our little trip. It was what the doctor ordered for us, we could have used the money we spent on this trip to get our van fixed, but we really needed this! I feel totally refreshed and so does Bunny.
Our walk back to the train station I felt bad because Bunny had to carry my huge adidas bag full of Daiso goodies. I brought this bag empty just for my Daiso stuff, and I couldn't fit everything in it!!!!! Here he is, not too happy!!!!
I took some pictures on our way to the station, saying goodbye to Seattle.

Our train broke down on the way home, I mentioned earlier, and it was sort of awful. We had terrible seats, facing another couple and I had bought bentos at Uwajimaya for our ride home and they seemed repulsed by our food, they also had stayed at the Ace and hated it, so they were like the opposite of us! Here is Bunny in the dining car, ready to get home!

Andrew was sweet enough to pick us up from the station and when we got back I showed him all my Daiso stuff, then passed out in a deep sleep!

Seattle Day 2

2008-02-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

The next day was great, we went to Zeigeist Coffee House for breakfast and had espresso shots and these cute and yummy breakfast sandwiches. Anything, to me, tastes better when it's served on a doily!!!!! I know that is a little crazy, but for I am a sucker for paper doilies.
We were amazed on how beautiful the weather was. We took a bus to the Capitol Hill district, the bus system is really nice in Seattle and everytime we used it the drivers were really nice.
We had gone to Capitol Hill to look around and also go to Remedy Teas. A few weeks ago I had posted my Matcha Shortbread cookies and talked about how excited I was to go here. It is a really cute tea bar, and they have almost 200 different types of tea, plus homemade goodies, organic cocktails and beer,etc. We ordered a Matcha Latte (So good, I cannot wait to make one today, I have had green tea lattes at Starbucks, and I thought it was kinda foul.) and a Matcha Smoothie. That was excellent as well. I bought a tin of matcha to take home and it smells so good. This matcha is like gold to me. having drinks at Remedy Teas was one of the highlights of our trip. The people were so nice and the atmosphere was so relaxing and we don't have anything like this in Portland.

We walked around Capitol Hill afterwards and then took the bus to Daiso for our second trip. I didn't spend nearly as much time in Daiso this time around(trying not to torture Bunny) but I did feel a little weepy when we left, knowing that it will be a long time before I can come back (we are thinking of going to B.C. soon, and there is a Daiso there!!!)

But we had a lot to look forward to.
We went back to the hotel and hung out for awhile, then got ready ready for dinner #2

We had asked the front desk where a good place to get Sushi was and he was filled with ideas. He gave names of different trendy places, but his highest suggestion was for Shiro's, which he said was the most authentic Japanese sushi place in Seattle, and that Shiro himself is quite the celebrity.
So, we chose Shiro's, and it was only about 3 blocks from our hotel.
I didn't et any pics at Shiro's, because it was a small, quiet, and quaint place. I felt that it would be rude to take photos there. But, we had such a good time. The host spoke to us in Japanese, and the sushi here beat out the sushi from the night before!!!!!!
They had fatty tuna, and it was better and each piece was only 3.50!!!! So we ordered a vast amount of fatty tuna(Otoro in Japanese), not worrying about money!!!!! If I would have ordered that much the night before, I would have spent 150 dollars just on Otoro!!!! .
We had so much sushi, my pants were really tight by time we left. We also split a bottle of Nigori Sake before our food arrived and then with dinner we split a 22 ounce of Japanese beer, Kirin Ichiban. I normally don't like light draft beer, but I like light beer with sushi, because it is crisp and light and just goes well with sushi.
it was a nice, intimate dinner. Everyone there was so pleasant and it was a simple place. It was nice to get away from the trendy stuff for a minute. (I do like the sleek places we had been going to though, but it was nice to take a break) They were so polite there that the host even put Bunny's coat on for him. Now, we don't at all expect to be treated like that, but it felt really good!
We went back to the hotel, but we weren't ready for bed yet. We didn't feel like going to a nightclub or bar, so we decided to go get dessert somewhere. The front desk man at the hotel suggested Marjorie's, and it was right by us. He told us to have the bread pudding.

It was a candlelit, cozy place, but they were playing hip-hop, which we really liked!!!! We ordered cocktails, I had the L'amour Parfait, which was Lavender infused vodka with orange essence. I loved it. Bunny had a drink called the Trenchtown.
We had our drinks, then had bread pudding! Sooooooo tasty! It was unlike any bread pudding I have ever had. Sort of tasted like flan, but not really. Very hard to describe. I love bread pudding, and my mother rocks the bread pudding, but this was on it's own level! It had this lovely caramel sauce pooled at the bottom. The caramel was not too rich and I would like to try and and replicate it someday. By this time we were both pretty drunk! Drunk, but more just feeling really good and happy. We walked home people watching and repeated the night before by sitting by the window watching everyone. We were a little cooler this night and stayed up until around 1:30! We ended the night watching the AKC dog show on cable! I really don't like sports that much, dog shows are like the superbowl for me!!!! We don't have cable, so it as been many years since I have been able to watch one. I had

Seattle Day 1/Ace Hotel/Umi Sake House/Daiso

2008-02-26T15:42:00.001-08:00

I have to start out this post with a little side note about school, I got my 3rd essay back and I got an A+!!!! It was about cell phone etiquette and it was a little hard for me to write, so I am overjoyed. I haven't gotten anything less than a A in this class, so I feel really good. I am a little worried about how I am going to feel when I break this winning streak. Oh well, I feel really good right now!
So, back to Seattle. The train ride there was fun, and once we got into Seattle we had a two mile walk to our hotel. We checked in the Ace and loved our room.

We headed out and had a terrible lunch at a place called Ohana's. It was supposed to be Japanese-Hawaiian food, but was just garbage. Won't even waste more time talking about it. We were just starving and pretty much went to the first place we stumbled on that was open. Then we walked to Pike Place market and had Lavender-Honey-Vanilla homemade frozen yogurt waffle cones. They were so so so good! The market was crazy and I was itching to get to Dasio, which is right up the road from Pike place, in the Westlake Mall.
Here are some things I bought, many many more pics to come,sorry to overwhelm anyone with Daiso posts!

Then we went back to our hotel to chill out and get ready for our dinner later that night. The Ace is a beautiful hotel in an old brick building. The whole hotel is wired with stereo speakers everywhere, including the bathroom. They play beautiful music 24 hous a day everywhere except your room. Downstairs in the basement is a kitchen where they have gourmet coffee brewed 24 hours a day. That made me really happy!

They served a simple breakfast every morning: soymilk, O.J., toast, and granola. It was nice to have a little snack before we actually had real breakfast every morning, because we usually ended up walking about 2 miles or more before we ate. I really love the Ace, it is even pet friendly, but I was happy to have Andrew watch the dogs for us. That night we had reservations at Umi Sake House, a trendy Japanese place that was really nice, but very loud and a bit pretentious, but the sushi was totally amazing and the sake cocktails were very good as well. The building was a similar style to our hotel. I really loved Umi, but I would have to say, it is not exactly the best spot to have an intimate date. It was so loud that the waitress could not hear me order. But I am not complaining, because it really was the best sushi I have ever had. I snuck some photos in of our food, but I was shy taking photos, so they are really poor quality. I wish I would have been less ashamed to do it, so I would have had better memories of the wonderful sushi. We had fatty tuna, the underbelly of tuna fish.I have never had it before, but I had heard wonderful things about it. Once, in Portland, I tried to order fatty tuna and the waitress laughed at me, and pretty much told me to head to japan for it! So I was thrilled to try it, but since it is such a luxury, it is 10 dollars for one piece! This isn't too crazy, I know in Japan I could spend much much more on superb sushi, but I would like to wait until I am a little older to order fatty tuna without thinking about the bill. Maybe after college! We split the Chef's choice sushi platter, showcasing the freshest fish availible at the time. Woo boy, I have never ever tasted sushi that divine in my life! Even fish I am not extremely found of normally, such as Octopus, was amazing. We took our time savoring each piece, trying not to gobble the sushi away.
Here is what the platter included:

We also had a tempura platter, but it was nothing to rave about. I think they used Panko instead of tempura batter, so it tasted like greasy vegetables. Oh well, I cannot tell you enough, the sushi was AMAZING and it quickly erased the terrible lunch I had and the forgettable tempura from my memory.
The drinks we had were great, as I mentioned, I started off with a Pomergrante Sake Martini. It was made with unfiltered sake. Delicious! It took me this cocktail to have the courage to take a few photos. The next cocktail I had was a Cucumber Daiquri,and that was so refreshing and yummy. I would really like to try and make this this summer, not too sweet and not to bitter. Bunny had a Lychee Lemonade cocktail, it was excellent, and a Dragon's Toe, which was Maker's Mark, Ginger sake, and ginger ale. It was great, but it kicked our asses! I could handle bourbon a lot better in my early 20's. We shared our cocktails so we could get a variety of tastes.
For dessert(at this point I was pretty full and pretty buzzed!) we had Green Tea Tiramisu.It was made at a local Japanese bakery, that I wish I would have been able to go to. This tiramisu was so great, and I have had good and bad tiramisu. I think it is kind of a hard dessert to master? But this was amazing, heavenly, and every bite I took had so many different flavors and textures. I tried to savour as much as possible, but I had to keep up with Bunny, I was afraid if I took too long he would get too much! The meal at Umi was Totemo Oishii (Japanese highest compliment after an excellent meal)
We walked back to the hotel, pretty tipsy. Nowadays two drinks really gets to us! Thankfully it was only a few blocks away. We went to our room and sat by the window, drinking coffee and watching all of the drunks. It was so much fun! We are getting old and boring, and we were in bed before midnight!!!! It was a perfect evening!!!!!!! One funny thing happened after bed time. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to use the restroom really badly. Our bathroom was not in our room, but right outside the door, I ran to the bathroom and forgot our room key and got stuck in the hallway with nothing on but my robe. Bunny thought I was still in bed with him and the knocking was another room. There were people partying still all over the hotel. He finally answered the door and I was instantly back to sleep!

Back from Seattle

2008-02-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous time in Seattle this weekend!!!!! I have so much to share, but will probably spread it out the next few days since there is so much for me to talk about. It was romantic and fun and tiring! Last night our train broke down and we were supposed to get into Portland at 9 pm and didn't get here until midnight! I was so tired and sore (It was very cramped and we had walked well over 30 miles this weekend, 90 percent of it was in high heels, but thats how I roll!) that I slept most of the day away today! Kind of embarrased about it since Bunny had to work and all, but this week is going to be exciting! I have almost 200 dollars worth of stuff from Daiso to play with! I will post pics soon of most of my scores, but I have to talk a little bit about the Daiso!. I think I may have left my brain inside the Daiso. I completely lost my mind with excitement. In fact we went there twice! This Daiso is smaller than a lot of other locations, and when we got there it took me about 20 minutes to just get through the front of the store. Bunny cruise the store and came to me and told me that there was no bento stuff!!!!!!!
I felt really defeated, but told myself not to be immature and just enjoy everything else they had to offer, but I was still annoyed. I had seen so many cute bento things from Daiso on flicker, blogs, ebay and was overly excited to buy my own bento staples. But seeing as I already had an over-flowing basket full of other things, it was not at all a wasted trip. So, about 45 minutes later I had made my way to the back of the store and I see a lady holding a bento box I had seen many times on the internet! My eyes focused in on sushi grass, cupcake liners and I realized that THIS was the bento aisle! Bunny had missed it! I almost fainted with delight!!!!!!!!! I instantly started grabbing bento boxes, crazy style, and even got a few raised eyebrows from other customers. But I didn't care, these people have Daiso whenever they want! I had finally reached the mothership! In retrospect, the drama of thinking that there was no bento stuff made buying the bento stuff even more exciting.
Here are some pics that Bunny snuck in at the Daiso:
He has an ear cleaning obsession, so he was overjoyed at the many different Q-tips they have to offer. They even have ones soaked in olive oil!
I pretty much bought everything shown in this bento aisle photo!!!!!!!
I am so excited to start creating kawaii bentos for us. This week I will be practicing making cute lunches!
We ate sushi every night for dinner and it was the best I have ever had. The reason behind this is that Seattle is right smack on the Pacific Ocean coast and has access to very fresh fish. Portland is about 2 hours away from the coast, so fresh fish is not as availble, and the coastal towns of Oregon have not added any sushi joints.
I loved our hotel, the Ace Hotel. It was super mod and sleek and the staff was very friendly. It reminded us of when we stayed at the Hotel Des Arts in San Fran a few years ago. It was right on the waterfront and the whole time we were in Seattle the weather was stunning, the waterfront was sparkling and the skyscrapers blinded you with the reflections.
As much fun that I had in Seattle, I am very happy to live in Portland. There are a few things that Seattle does not have, one being that besides all of the Japanese places we went to, most coffee shops and diners were ultra rude and not very tasty. I don't go out to eat very often, so it is a treat when I do. I don't believe that I have crazy expectations with food or service, I just expect to be treated with manners, the place to be clean, and the food to be prepared properly(no soggy scrambled eggs or dirty plates) So about 3 meals were disgusting and expensive. But the rest of it (which I will talk about later) was mind blowing and lovely. Bunny made me feel really good when he told me "I like going out to eat, but I like eating at home with you better!" That compliment made me jump up and hug him.
I missed the dogs (I know, it was only 3 days!) but I have to say, it was nice to have some private time. Being away from them makes me realize how much I spoil them!!!!!!!! I am excited to post this week more about our trip. It will be nice to have it like a saved travel journal for Bunny and I to reminisce. I know our trip was just a little weekend trip, but it was very special to us and we don't treat ourselves to things like this very often!!!!!!
Here is the train station in Portland

a blurry shot of us on the train to Seattle, we are very excited!

spring is coming!!!!!!!!

2008-02-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today was a great start to what is going to be the best weekend ever! After class I walked home from the bus stop and the weather was perfect. The sun was shining and there was a perfect breeze. The air even smelled sweet. It was like every element was perfect. I saw the budding of a lot of flowers, which is just a taste of what is to come ahead. I had my camera on me, so I took a few pics. Then after I had some lunch, I headed downtown to my favorite clothing store, Forever 21. They are having a huge sale and I got all of this for under 35 dollars! Notice how I didn't get any pants, it is because pants are impossible for me to find, so most of the time I don't even try and I just wear the same two jeans every other day. My way of dressing up is wearing heels with jeans! I am not a big skirt or dress wearer.Anyways, I have a few outfits planned and I am so excited about my getaway starting bright and early tomorrow. I hope anyone who reads this has a fabulous weekend!

pinwheel cookies

2008-02-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

So, these little pinwheel sugar cookies were my baking project today. My brother-in-law Andrew and I joked that they look like raw bacon or steak! I got the recipe from the december issue of Cook's Country. The recipe was for peppermint sugar cookies, it won the award for best christmas cookie of the year. But it really isn't peppermint time anymore, is it? Sugar cookies are my favorite cookie, and I wanted to dress them up a little today without too much fuss. So I did this recipe without the peppermint. I don't think I added enough sugar to the dough, so I used a little raw sugar on top, which made them taste right. Andrew and I enjoyed some cookies and of course cappuccinos before he left for his girlfriend's house. Now I am just waiting for bunny to come home, he is working later shifts his week since he is taking a long weekend.
A little project I am doing right now is lining my cupboards with old greeting cards as artwork. I feel the cards go nicely with my old dishes and give us something pretty to look at in odd spots. I started today with the cards Amanda gave me recently and I am going to dig out cards we got for our wedding tomorrow to finish. I love greeting cards and like to think of things to do with them instead of filing them away. Zakka Life has tons of great ideas to do with old cards. I really want to make the greeting card lanterns she made.Tomorrow is exciting! I am going to go shopping for a "night out on the town" outfit for our trip!

lunch pouch

2008-02-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

Bunny brought home this bag from work and I really liked it, but it had a baby food logo across the front, so I covered it up with some fabric and ric rac. I like little pouches to keep small snacks in while I am at school. I wish my stitching was a little better, but I have no patience! It was fun to do, though.
Not much has been going on around here lately, we have been low key this week because of our Seattle trip this weekend. I also have had a ton of homework and I am trying to take care of that this week before we go. My brother in law, Andrew is moving in our house for a little while, starting today, so I am cleaning up our spare room for him. Also, today is wednesday, my baking day, so I am going to try to whip something up in the kitchen today after I go to the store.
Lately, for dinner I have been cooking things I already have posted about in the past. I cannot get enough shrimp lately!!!! Last night was just a simple shrimp stir fry, with a little teriyaki sauce.

Sweets from my Sweetie!

2008-02-18T16:17:00.000-08:00

Bunny brought these home for me last night, the store was clearing out of their v-day stuff. So it looks like I am set on truffles and chocolate squares! That is fine by me! This was my dessert last night, yogurt with raspberries and caramel chocolate! yum!

Today is like summer! I have been hanging outside in a tshirt! I was doing homework until this hooligan showed up at my door!He didn't stay long and it was nice to catch up for a minute. Well, its back to homework for me, I have a lot of catching up to do since I missed a lot being sick last week.

Prosciutto Pizza

2008-02-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

Last night was great, we both were feeling so much better. We had the dinner we were supposed to have on Valentine's day, Prosciutto Pizza. I originally was going to make my own cornbread crust, but since I have been sick I haven't felt too ambitious.
I had Bunny bring home a pre-made cornmeal and spelt crust. The pizza was good, it was very hearty, which meant it was very satisfying on our recovering bodies! I used garlic mushrooms, whole milk mozzarela cheese, spinach, and prosciutto slices from trader joe's. I also tried these frozen basil cubes, which I really liked. You just pop them out and they crumble up into the seasoning you need. Basil is expensive, so I am happy to buy these for only 1.00 a package. There are 20 cubes and I used about 4 cubes for this pizza. You can also buy garlic and cilantro cubes. I am pretty sure these are pretty popular because they always seem to be sold out! Someday i would like to grow my own herbs, but I have been saying that forever, so who knows when that will happen!
We were in bed by 8:30 last night. We maybe feeling better, but we are really trying to take care of ourselves because we still feel a little weak. Gotta make sure that we feel good for Seattle!
Here are some photos of us goofing around last night

fever cakes

2008-02-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Wow! Where the heck did this week go? Today marks one week of not leaving the house. The last time I left was for our trader joes trip. Today is the day that I finally feel normal. We both had fevers everyday up until last night. They were pretty much low grade fevers most of the time, but we were pretty miserable. We usually never get sick at the same time, so it is nice to be able to care for each other. But this time we were both down so it was pretty hard. Today is the major cleanup day, the house is scary right now!
Fevers can make you a little batty, and the day before Valentines day, I was filled with crazy ideas that I had to make something to make it special since we were sick. Also, baking calms me, and I was getting restless from being in bed for so long. So I ventured into the kitchen with a face mask on (so I didn't hack and sneeze all over the cakes) and made mini Maple Cakes, from Martha Stewart's recipe for Maple Bundt Cake, from the feb. issue. I would have made it a bundt cake, but I don't have a bundt pan, plus the toaster oven is better suited to these little heart shaped pans.
Her recipe calls for maple infused whipped cream frosting, instead I made a maple glaze, so they came out a little like doughnuts.
After the cakes were done, it was right back into bed for me. Valentines day was spent in bed with bunny, sicker than dogs. But at least we had each other, and so that made us happy.
Today the weather is GORGEOUS! How can you not feel better when the sun is beaming and the air is crisp and clean feeling? So I am off to give the house and myself a makeover. We have A LOT of stuff to do before our Seattle trip next week. I am so glad we are feeling better in time for that. I had nightmares of us hanging out sick in our hotel room.
Oh yeah, I changed the name of this blog from My Little Life (which when I first started this blog I didn't know what to call it so I just quickly typed that) to Honey and Clover, which I think is a cute name, it is also the name of one of our favorite Japanese TVshow/Movie, so I thought it was a good idea. I also changed the template because the one I had before was so dark. After being sick, I want everything to be as bright and cheerful as possible!

More Presents!

2008-02-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

I am sick again! its crazy because I feel like I have been sick all winter. I heard that Portland has 3 strains of the flu right now. Bunny is sick too. I have been sleeping in a deep coma, having crazy dreams due to my fever.
But yesterday I got a package in the mail from my sister in law, Amanda full of sewing stuff! It really made my day!

And then today another package from Amanda arrived! Full of pretty fabric and this really cute card! 2 packages in two days! How cool!!!
Back to bed for me. Here are a few things that Bunny brought me home from work, that he knows I like a lot. This is my favorite juice, not really juice though, more of tea. It is called kombucha, the brand name is Synergy. It makes me feel really good, but it is slightly expensive, so I try to only buy it when I am not feeling that great. Otherwise I would drink it everyday, a few times a day. It is naturally carbonated, so it is fizzy and yummy. I love chocolate, so he brought me some. This is very good chocolate, it is called endangered species and it helps the enviorment, this kind has Acai in it. I really love dark chocolate! Bunny's work sells some amazing types of chocolate, some with lavender, rose, or curry.

One really funny thing happened today, Bunny came home from work early and i was in a deep coma and I opened my eyes and saw his face, it startled me and I screamed at the top of my lungs and then I just stared at him in a stupor for a minute. Then afterwards we both laughed about it. I have no idea why he scared me, because he isn't scary looking, he is very cute!

Hello My Name Is....

2008-02-10T12:21:00.002-08:00

Here are a few little things I did this weekend
I read about using these name labels in Better Homes and gardens. In the past I have used whole wheat pastry flour instead of cornmeal on accident because I didn't have labels. The magazine used hand writing, but I don't like my left handed scrawl, so I used School House font on my computer. I didn't put labels on every jar, I left my decorated vintage ones alone!

This is our favorite Sake, the bottles are so beautiful, so I never toss them. I turned this one into a dishsoap bottle. The lid from the original plastic bottle fit perfectly over the top. It looks very cute on my sink instead of a huge plastic bottle!

One of Bunny's co workers was telling him how good fresh almond milk was, and how it was easy to make. I love milks of all types: dairy, soy, oat, hemp, almond, pretty much every type except rice milk. So I decided to try to make some. I bought a bag of almond meal at trader joes and all you have to do is boil two cups water for every cup almond meal and let it steep for 5 minutes once mixed together. Then you can put in a blender if you want it less grainy. Or you can strain it. This bottle here is for my friend Noel, I left it pretty grainy, leaving it up to her how she wants it.
My friend has a soymilk maker I would love to spend the day at her house making batches of soymilk!
Honey is like gold to me, and I got a new bottle. Call me crazy, but packaging means everything to me, and so I didn't really like the label on his belly, so I changed it. A little obsessive, I know.

Here is a little dose of Simon and Nigel. Doesn't Simon look so proud! Like a soilder!

Present!

2008-02-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

This morning while we were having breakfast and coffee, a package from Bunny's Mom showed up on our doorstep. It was the sweetest present, all wrapped up in such pretty wrapping. It was kunsudo green tea incense from Japan. It smells delightful! We were both so excited about it. I love matcha/green tea so much and this has such a genuine matcha scent. The house smelled like a tea ceremony! Plus the little box it comes in is so pretty! I have such a weakness for Japanese packaging! It came from a new gift shop in her area called Takara. It sounds like a lovely store!

The weather was so beautiful today. You can feel spring coming. We did our trek to trader joes and stocked up on everything.
We also have gone on a few walks today because the weather has been so pretty. We haven't even had to turn on the heater today, which is crazy!
Tonight we had shrimp skewers with a mango-ginger chutney from trader joes. On the side we had curried vegetables.

This has been a really great weekend and I hope the weather could be like this for a little longer! I am counting the days until Seattle! (12)

Eggs 'a la Bunny

2008-02-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

Anytime bunny makes his famous egg roll is a special occasion for me. It is like any hard work I did during the week is instantly paid off. We both brought food to the table today, him with his egg, me with my muffins below. I posted a long time ago about his eggs, but here it is in better photos and a little different. He first learned how to make this egg roll from a Youtube video of a Japanese woman teaching how to make rolled tamago (egg). There is a technique and he uses cooking chopsticks. He filled the middle with spinach, gorgonzola cheese, and bacon. the gorgonzola melts perfectly, leaving a creamy spread consistency. I love these eggs because they are light, fluffy, and moist, but not runny. The egg almost seems like a crepe. We slice them sushi roll style. I eat the pieces very slowly savoring each bite. I know that sounds silly, but I cannot tell you enough how happy these little rolls make me. It was a happy morning in the kitchen. The weather has been awful, so projects in the kitchen have seemed like a good idea instead of going anywhere. Today has been so relaxing, just lounging around, doing a little housework, but not much else!

**UPDATE** I just watched the youtube video again and they have added some crazy techno music to the video, sorry about all the racket!!!!!

raspberry lemon corn muffins

2008-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

Last night was great! Bunny got me flowers at his work for getting good grades. Yellow is my favorite color, and these flowers really cheer up the house. I was really touched. On my way home that day, I had picked up some pinecones I thought were pretty, so I put one with the flowers

My brother in law, Andrew and his girlfriend, Debbie came over last night for dinner. I made falafel wraps. I wish I had a picture, oh well. We watched Planet Earth, we had a great time. I love Andrew because he loves espresso as much as me. We all had about 4 pots of espresso, so at least 3 cappuccinos each! Earlier that day I had already drank my morning coffee and at school I had a triple shot latte.

Here is Debbie and Andrew together in the living room.

Today I took the day off because I wanted time with Bunny. We made our weekend breakfast together. Here is my favorite milk I sometimes treat myself to, and brown eggs. I have been told that there is no way this is true, but I am convinced that brown eggs are fluffier than white. I am also convinced that milk out of glass tastes better, too.

I made Raspberry-Lemon Corn Muffins for breakfast. They came out pretty yummy, nice and moist. I adapted the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson. I have both her cookbooks. The only thing different is the raspberries and lemon. I like these muffins because they are not too sweet or heavy with butter.

Bunny made his famous rolled egg, but that is getting a post of it's own next!

made with love

2008-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

After the cookies were all baked, I realized I was out of plastic bags. So, I decided to put the little ones in envelopes, and I made these valentines. I am going to give some to my mom, and my friend laura and her daughter when I see them for lunch. These took me less than 5 minutes to make and were so fun. I put one in Bunny's lunch today. I guess his co-workers have been giving him grief about how "cute " his lunches are. I think that is funny!
Here was dinner last night, nothing at all exciting. It is time to go grocery shopping here, so I threw together what we had: leftover brown rice, chicken, corn, feta, canned tomatoes, and mushrooms, and it was very satisfying. The weather was terrible yesterday, so this was nice hot meal that warmed our bones. Today is beautiful and sparkling with sunshine.

Off to school now, which by the way has been going great! I got another A!!!!!!!!!! But this next week I am really going to have to buckle down!

strawberry matcha shortbread cookies

2008-02-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

I love valentines day, because last year that is when we got engaged. Next week, however, is going to be a very busy week for us, so i am trying to do little valentines things along the way. Yesterday I baked matcha cookies, sandwiched together with strawberry jam. I love the taste of baked matcha treats with berries. I often bake trader joe's matcha cake mix and serve it with strawberries. These cookies were very pleasant to make and the dough looks so pretty, like green tea ice cream. I got the recipes for this on Joyofbaking.com, but they don't add the matcha and use white chocolate instead. I used about 2 tablespoons matcha, but I would have liked to use 2 more tablespoons, but I ran out.
The left over mini cut out hearts I baked as plain cookies. I really enjoyed having some with my cappuccino! I wasnt able to take a photo of my matcha powder since I ran out, but this photo here is what I am going to buy next. It is from Remedy Teas in Seattle. I am so excited to go! It looks like such a cool cafe and they even serve tea cocktails. I am getting more and more excited about our little trip every day!
Oh yes, those little deer were the wedding cake toppers at our wedding. We were having trouble finding toppers we liked and on the drive to where the wedding was to take place, we got stuck in traffic (due to a forest fire!) and stopped at an antique mall. We found those and we were both very pleased! When we first started dating our friends would say that we reminded them of the Bambi and his girlfriend, so cute deer have been a little theme in our relationship!

soba-cha salada

2008-02-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite magazines, Kateigaho International, ran an article last year on soba noodles. One photograph included Matcha soba. I love matcha/green tea, so I knew I had to try it. I was pleased with the subtle flavor. Last night we had sobacha salada, a cold soba with chicken and a yummy sauce. It is a nice and light treat. Buckwheat soba noodles are very good for you. Here is the recipe for the dressing, which also is very good on any salad. The only things missing last night was seasame seeds and nori, cut into matchstick shape. Oh well. This was the start of Matcha week here at our house. I have a few cooking with green tea plans for later on. After dinner we had jello parfaits. Bunny loves jello and I don't make it often enough. When I make whip cream, I don't add any sugar. I like the creamy taste without the sweetness. Plus the gelatin already has enough sugar anyway!

Soba Salada sauce:

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 1/2 TBS Soy Sauce
1 to 2 TBS Crushed ginger
1 tsp Sugar
1 to 2 TBS safflower oil

Whisk together and pour over noodles. A little goes a long way! We still have more than half left after making a half pound of noodles.

fried tilapia fillets

2008-02-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

Last night Bunny was feeling great. The sun came out in the early evening and made everything seem clean and fresh. Together we fried Tilapia, a fish I don't belive I have ever tried before. Trader Joe's sells a pound (that is 4 huge fillets) of frozen Tilapia for $3.99! It is very good, light and flaky, similair to Halibut, but thinner. We fried it, tonkatsu style. (with panko)
Here is a photo of Bunny's bento for today. I am jealous. My avocado sandwich isnt nearly as appealing!!!!!

rice cooker porridge

2008-02-03T13:28:00.001-08:00

My sister-in-law, Amanda, got me this rice cooker cookbook for Christmas. I love my microchip rice cooker and will bore anyone to tears who will listen to me go off about it. It even plays twinkle little star when the rice is done cooking. There are many things to do with this cooker, but i was always scared to try anything besides rice in fear of hurting the cooker. I was so stoked when I got this book! Today I made porridge with hemp and flax seeds, raspberries, cinnamon and brown sugar. You just pour everything in and set to quick cook and about 10 minutes later you have yummy hot cereal.
The next recipe I would like to try out of this book is chocolate risotto. Yummmmm.

more rainy day frames

2008-02-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some more of the ikea frame projects that I have been doing. They are so much fun to do, like scrapbooking, but different.
I was going to make some throw pillows this weekend, but all that hand sewing just tired me out thinking about it. I really need to get a sewing machine, I think that is what i will save for next after our Seattle trip.

cookie cutter food/countdown to daiso

2008-02-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

I am on a shaped food kick right now. Saturday morning I made apple yogurt pancakes in different shapes. We have a maple syrup addiction! Then for lunch I made this little red hair boy out of leftover brown rice. I want to get better with my rice molding and start making more crazy bento shapes. It is a fun quick way for me to make the foods I eat everyday a little more exciting.
When I go to Daiso later this month I plan on buying tons of bento box supplies. I cannot stop thinking about Daiso. I am on a thrift store diet right now, not allowing myself to buy anything to save money for my seattle Daiso trip!!!! Flicker has a Daiso photo group where people post pics of their scores and I get dizzy with excitement looking at the cool stuff, all only 1.50!

snow in north portland

2008-02-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it was snowing in my neighborhood! It was really pretty, but it didn't last long. I took a little walk to get bunny some things, so here are some photos of my neighborhood. Bunny is feeling much better. I think that it passed through him a lot faster than me. I am still bitter that this is the second weekend we have lost to sickness! Oh well, I got out seattle trip squared away this weekend, booking our room and train tickets!
Photos:
1. This group of deer is in our front yard, i thought they looked cute in the snow
2 and 4- flowers in the neighborhood.
3. this house was up for sale when we first moved here for an unheard of price in portland. everytime we walk by it, we always talk about how we wished we could have bought it. It is such a sweet little cottage. The new owners have sort of let it fall apart, though. The gazebo was much cuter before. I wish I had a gazebo!
5. This is what I got on my walk. It is our cure-all cocktail here when we get sick. Cran-raspberry juice and 7-up!

miso glazed chicken skewers

2008-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

So tonight was the night we were going to let loose and kick back. We started off with some beer, that was really good. We split one and then bunny got sick. It was a brown ale brewed with brown sugar and raisins. I never heard of beer brewed with raisins!
I really liked it, though. I am not a big drinker, but I love good beer.
I made miso glazed chicken skewers with scoops of brown rice and indian spiced lentils with corn and carrots. I ended up eating it by myself because bunny got sick right before it was done! Well, I hope he gets better soon!

fabric world

2008-02-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

After I got home from work Bunny and I took a walk down to Fabric World. It is about 2 miles from our house and I have been wanting to check it out for awhile. It looks run down from the outside, and inside is a blast from the past. A quarter of it is a thrift store and the rest is fabric and sewing supplies that seem to be mostly from the 70's and 80's there are newer things as well. I don't know where the stock came from, but it is pretty cool.
I bought some 70's ribbon and some assorted buttons that I am going to use for a project. (In photo)
I also got some basic sewing stuff, like batting, etc.
I picked up some cookie cutters. I have a few cooking plans with these!
When we came home, Bunny watched some anime and I made this little picture. I think Japanese advertisements are so cool and this one is from an ad for bath salts to de-stress. I used scrap felt and ric-rack. I have a ton of these frames from ikea just sitting around, they sell 4 packs for a dollar. I think I am going to make more like this. I like little crafts that take only a few minutes and don't require me to think too much!

just another day at the office

2008-02-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

I am going to go a little post crazy this evening, because Bunny got my illness. It just hit him like an hour ago and he is down for the count. I got sick exactly a week ago, so he got it from me, he has the same exact symptoms I did and I feel so badly for him. Hopefully i am as good to him as he was to me. Is there an evil force out there that wont let us have a fun weekend? Well, it did start off great. In fact we were celebrating right before it happened. So I am sitting here in the bedroom keeping a watchful eye on him.
I will start out with this morning, I had to work at the office. This photo is my bus stop downtown. I like this part of downtown since it isn't as seedy as some parts.
The next photo is of my lunch, which kind of cracked me up how childish it was. It looks like a kid from 1985's lunch. The thermos is Bunny's. I got it for him at the thrift store by my house. He is a huge fan of retro video games and I was so excited to give it to him. I left my coveted thermos in Diane's van last week. I try to watch it like a hawk, but i had a little sake in me at the time. I love that hello kitty lunch purse. It is a perfect size to carry and sandwich and a side. The contents weren't too exciting, just a hummus sandwich and some broccoli.
I am happy for my mom because her business is doing really well! I think I am going to work more hours there because she is a little swamped.