Things I Love, Part 2.

June 25, 2012 Karen De Jabet

Time for another Things I Love post! First of all, I love etsy.com. All kinds of cool stuff there.

These are unpaper towels. They look great. Eventually I hope to get some and switch over, not needing paper towels anymore. Buy them here.

These are just plain fun. :)

I plan to get one of these when I actually have dirt to plant in. Each notch is an inch, so it helps you accurately plant seeds and bulbs to the correct depth.

Just. So. Cute! Buy here.

Makes me laugh. Every time. Buy here.

P.S.

I don't get any money from any of these links, these people don't even know who I am. Just want to share the cool stuff I've found. :)

Cook School.

June 21, 2012 Karen De Jabet

Cook School

By Amanda Grant

Buy on Amazon

Cook School, by Amanda Grant

Jonathan loves to help in the kitchen. At three, there are a few things he's learning to do, such as how to use measuring cups, how to stir without spilling, and how to mash things. Sometimes though, I'm at a loss as to how he can help. This book is wonderful for not only teaching him techniques, but also for giving me guidance on what's age appropriate to teach.

Cook school is sorted into three stages. Stage 1 is for ages 3 to 5, Stage 2 is for ages 5 to 7, and Stage 3 is for ages 7 to 11. (I love that this will be useful for years to come!) Each recipe lists the skills that it teaches, tools needed, and, of course, ingredients and directions. This book is clearly made for children to work with – the font is clear and easy to read, the instructions are simple and short, and VERY few instructions in any of the recipes call for adult intervention. (Of course adults should always supervise, especially with younger kids.)

Jonathan's favorite recipe so far is the berry crunch, mainly because he gets to mash strawberries with a potato masher. :) He's also looking forward to making fizzy strawberry crush, a strawberry orange fizzy drink, for the same reason. Overall, I can't wait to delve deeper into this book with him and see what he creates!

Cinnamon Sugar Birthday Cake.

June 19, 2012 Karen De Jabet

On June 9th, Chris turned 27. On June 10th, I left for northern Minnesota for a few days to participate in a fairly young family tradition called Chick Week. (Only girls attend, for the most part...) In any case, I wanted to be sure that Chris' birthday was extra special this year, with very little packing on my part, and lots of celebrating instead!

Strawberry Pie.

May 10, 2012 Karen De Jabet

Strawberries are on sale again. That doesn't entirely mean they're in season locally yet, but they're in season somewhere, and that was enough for my husband to bring home a 2 lb. container from the grocery store the other day. The thing with that many strawberries in the presence of two adults and a toddler...well, we cant make it through all of them quickly enough — they start to grow beards. I decided that this time they'd become a pie instead.

Granola Bars (or loose granola).

March 24, 2012 Karen De Jabet

A while back, we bought some granola bars to help tide us over for the long car ride home from wherever we were. Jonathan LOVED them. A bit later, we bought some CLIF bars to have on hand in case of 'emergency' (needing to leave right away and realizing we'd forgotten breakfast, or to help tide through an extra long meeting, etc.). Again, the one bar Jonathan had, he loved. And obsessed over. Nearly daily, he begged that his snack/breakfast/lunch/dinner/whatever could be a CLIF bar. This was getting out of hand! I decided that if he loved granola bars so much, I'd rather make them and know exactly what was in them.

New Name, New Address, Same Great Taste.

March 20, 2012 Karen De Jabet

There are going to be some changes around here. Don't worry, the content will remain of the same vein, it's how you get to it thats changing.

The site is renaming to Life & Sundry. The new address is lifeandsundry.com (the current address will work for a little while, but please switch your bookmarks and such to the new one).

Egg Fried Rice.

March 2, 2012 Karen De Jabet

My first real date with Chris was to a school dance. We went on a double date with mutual friends, and we left the pre-dance dining choice up to them. They chose a local Chinese restaurant that I enjoyed and had been to many times with my family. Unbeknownst to me, at this time, Chris hated Chinese food. He was, (and still sometimes is), a notoriously picky eater, and didn't know of a single dish he enjoyed there. He wanted to impress me though, and didn't protest the restaurant choice (especially after I made known that I enjoyed going there).

New Quilt.

February 1, 2012 Karen De Jabet

Guys, I just had to share this with you. I'm not paid anything for this, full disclosure, I just happened to get myself this quilt and wanted to share the deal with you.

These quilts are $20-30 dollars right now, depending on what size you get, and the shipping is $5. They are thin but rather heavy, making for a nice winter quilt with another blanket, or possibly a nice summer quilt all on its own. (Have yet to test this, as I've only had ours a couple weeks.) I bought mine when they were on sale for $12.50 (the queen, we bought the blue one) but at $25 (again for the queen size) they are still a steal. I highly recommend you check them out. Also, these quilts, same prices, are great looking, though I don't own one myself and so cannot attest to the quality, (it's probably good though).

Tender - A cook and his vegetable patch.

January 9, 2012 Karen De Jabet

Tender - A cook and his vegetable patch,by Nigel Slater

This book is pure romance. Surprised? I was too. Mr. Slater writes of his garden as many would the love of their life. There is a charm in the way he waxes poetic about asparagus, cheerfully grumbles about the friendly foxes that invade his garden, and with surprising frankness names those vegetables he could do without the existence of. Transformed from a young boy who would eat no vegetables other than peas and, if forced, finely chopped carrots, to a man who revels in the hearty flavor of the rutabaga, Mr. Slater shares recipes, tips and tricks to bring out the best in all those that he loves, (and even some of those vegetables he still doesn't.)

Tender has me itching for the day I have ground of my own to cultivate, and hurrying to the store to experiment with those vegetables that I have long thought I hated. (Beets being at the top of that list...) I can't wait to wade through the beautifully laid out recipes provided hear and I mildly lament that this is a library book, and not one I can turn back to infinitely for inspiration,

The printed book is rather larger than I was expecting when I went in search of it. I was expecting a small paperback, perhaps an inch thick, and what I found was a hefty hardcover nearly three inches thick. Not that I'm complaining...this book has a joy to it that very few cookbooks choose to delve into. Humor, too, though that seems to be more pervasive in the cookbook world. All in all, I would heartily recommend that you get this book, especially if you have a love for gardening, as it is equally a gardening manuel as a cookbook. The price tag is higher than I would usually be willing to spend on a cookbook, at $40.00, but in this case it would be worth it.

Picking up.

January 5, 2012 Karen De Jabet

As I type this, Jonathan is picking up his blocks for bedtime, jumping from place to place rather than walking. He looks as though he's practicing for the long jump each time. He falls down every other jump or so, and just says, "Whoa..." and gets back up and jumps again. He throws his arms back in classic superhero fashion before dashing between rooms to look for more blocks and pauses for a drink of water when he needs it. The actual pick up time is probably tripled by all of this, but I don't really mind. All I can think is that he's not a toddler anymore. At 3 1/2, he's really a little boy.