Tuesday, May 24, 2011

look at the world through your children's eyes

"Mommy!" I heard T calling from his room. It was past his bedtime and I was wondering what he came up with this time.
Everytime I close the door there is at least one thing he requests just to stretch the hour. And like always, I dragged my feet to his room thinking 'now what?' After the whole day I just can't wait to quickly finish cleaning the kitchen and just do whatever I WANT TO DO!
I walked in and saw T sitting in his bed. I can find him there in a complete dark but that's not necessary because there is a night light in his room. He is afraid to sleep in the dark so daddy bought him this beautiful mosaic guarding angel night light that keeps his dreams free of monsters.
"What do you need, honey? It's past your bedtime," I said to him when I kneeled by his bed.
"Please, mommy take the dragon away! It's scary," he said in his soft quiet voice.
I looked around the room, searching for a shadow that looks like a dragon, that's keeping my son awake but I couldn't find it.
"What dragon?" I asked.
"The one that lives in our castle."
I still don't understand what he means. Do we have a dragon living in our house?
"Look mommy, over there," T points his finger towards his wooden castle by the opposite wall.
I look that way and I see his toy dragon just sitting in its usual spot, the castle tower.
"Honey, that's just your dragon toy."
"But mommy it looks very scary. I don't want it there," T says with his whinny voice.
At first I still don't understand what's so scary about this small rubber dragon. I lay down next to T, ready to comfort him. Then I look towards the dragon...
And there it is:


The terrible beast with giant mouth full of sharp teeth and fire. 
And here comes mommy, the knight in shining armour, to save my little prince! 
"Don't worry! I will take care of the beast!" I say as I pick up the dragon from his usual spot and hide him inside the castle. T falls asleep almost immediately. 
This reminded me to look at things through my children's eyes. Sometimes the things they see, don't look the same way we see them. They look at the world with different eyes... and from a different angle. 

xx

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lilac Jelly



Who doesn't enjoy the smell of spring? Right now our lilacs are blooming and it feels like spring festival! I recently read a blog entry about lilacs being edible and actually delicious in muffins and jelly. I looked up the recipe (on this lovely blog www.roscommonacres.com ) and here you go: 

You will need:

4 cups of lilac
4 cups of water
8 cups of sugar
juice from one lemon
and 2 boxes of pectin

After you pick the lilac, separate the blooms from the green part and place into a glass bowl.



 Boil the water, pour over the lilac, and cover it with lid. Let it sit for 24 hours until your lilac infusion is ready.


Using colander, strain the lilac into a pot and discard the blooms.


Add lemon juice and pectin and bring the mixture to boil.


Look at the color! Nothing I expected!
Add sugar and bring to boil. Boil for one minute.
Now it's ready to be skimmed and put into jars. 


After tasting it, I thought it was on the sweeter side, so next year I will experiment with no pectin recipes. I am pretty sure that will make a difference. In the mean time, you can put less sugar... or simply put less jelly on your toast. That's what I have been doing. I really like the taste of this jelly!




Monday, May 02, 2011

menu for this week



Here is some inspiration for this week...

Monday

Mongolian Beef, Rice, and Broccoli
Spinach/Strawberry Salad with homemade Strawberry Dressing

Tuesday

Chicken Tortilla soup
Cheese Quesadilla with homemade Avocado dip and salsa

Wednesday

Chicken Tortilla soup (left over from last night)
Grilled chicken breast, Mashed potatoes

Thursday

Homemade Hamburgers, Fries

Friday

Homemade Pizza
Spring salad

bon appetit!!!