Being aware...

One of my goals in life is to become a vegetarian. But, I have to start some where and I had the perfect opportunity to do so. I was away from my family with a coworker on a conference. My coworker being a vegetarian become a huge influence. I have not being eating meat for past week. I have been dutifully preparing them for my family though. 

This has open up so many options for me. I am not a compete vegetarian yet but I am doing my best to get there. The most difficult part will be giving up eating fish because I grew up loving it! 

This is my breakfast! not too bad this is a combination of grains such as quinoa and millet. Greens  - Kale, chick peas, soft tofu, sautéed onions and hint of thai red curry powder and smoke paprika. I relished the earthly taste with a slice of toasted whole wheat bread. 

Enjoy!

Stamping...

Little note cards and post it notes get stuck in the physical mailbox at work. I have been pondering on this for a while how to make elegant invitations for everyday activities. This was in my to do list for a long time. I decided to work on it by simply stamping them. 

I love to get hand written notes in my mailbox. The idea of someone taking the time to write a note is a luxury in the society we live now. I know I have fit in to this society with connivence on many occasions complaining who has the time to write “thank you” cards e- cards are great! But there is a side of me waiting for those hand written notes and cards. 

Here are some samples of cards I have been working lately. 

Enjoy!

Long Waited Northeaster...

According to the forecast we were hit hard with wet and wild weather. This was m second experience of a blizzard. As of Thursday afternoon we were not sure about the school cancelation. Finally when they decide to cancel the school on Friday and wait to snow fall I was relieved about the school cancellations. Both schools were out actually many schools were out.

I wanted to take few pictures before the snow fall and after the snow fall. It was a lot of snow and continued until Saturday mid afternoon. We finally decided to dig our way out to the driveway to clear the vehicles. Panduka and Niegel decided that they can handle the job without me and I was relieved from the news. That was a lot of snow for eight to nine hours. The wind was a bit out of control. I saw lightening in my town with snow fall. We almost had our power out but it came back. 

The snow was dry, fluffy, and light. It was almost two feet. The drifts around the kitchen window was almost high as the window. We are ready for more snow this Thursday!

The New Space

The new space we created for my work has been helping me a lot. It does create a happy feeling when I fill in my orders. I use to work in many places around the house and place everything in boxes, well I do that part now too. This new place has created a place for me to keep my inventory check is visual reminders. Most of the plastic bins I got from IKEA is helping me to store the finish products. 

I have added some things I have collected over the years. I find it hard to keep the minimalist look with all the things I create. I do strive for this everyday in my life. 

I still have to work on few things. Creating storage can be very tricky with no space. My net project is creating a space for my scrapbooking. 

Sri Lankan Tradition

This New Year we as a family made a resolution each month on the very first day we are going to cook milk rice. Now, you may wonder if you new to this blog what is Milk Rice. Milk rice is cooked with coconut milk instead of water. It is milky and kind of mushy. In other words it is usually over cooked. 

Normally, we Sri Lankan’s eat it with a spicy curry meat or fish. Some parts of the country makes this simple dish sweet with raisins and adding some other grains such as MUNG. We like this with a spicy sambal. Some occasions we eat this with bananas and sugar. I remember when I was young it was a big hit!

This is what we had on the very first day of this year. It I do it right I should have eleven posts only pictures of this new tradition in our household which is going to happen this year. 

Enjoy!

First Day of My School Holidays.

Yes, I was at home from work school and University. It was great to be at home with no work. I really enjoyed it very much. The WORK - School was GREAT I got gifts from parents and a very nice GIFT from all of the parents. 

This Holiday I received a letter from a parent which brought tears to my eye. I am so happy to have all these wonderful students in my class and the entire school. However, I wanted to and looking forward for this holiday because I have made so many plans to accomplish many projects. Some are FUN and some needed more planning. In between there are long naps in the afternoons and some trips to Boston to dine and to the Museum. 

However with all of that I planned a relaxing meal for us. Since the oldest had to go to School it was myself and Nicolette. We had a great time. 

Jigsaw Puzzles...

Few years ago I bought a Jigsaw puzzle for my son. He was not interested at all. As he get tired to listening to me reminding him to work with much reluctancy he started to work with the puzzle few Summers ago. 

Last Summer I surprised him with 1000 pieces jigsaw puzzle. He took the challenge and  finished it. I recently found another that I have bought few years back with the very first one I guess. 

This holiday he received three puzzles one 500 pieces and two 1000 pieces. To my surprise he did finished one during school holidays and still working with one. The one he is working with works well with the current entertainment - I am talking about the movie Lincoln. 

As you can see the progress, he is working on it when ever he gets a chance. I guess the challenging part is working with the body. I might frame this as art for his room. I enjoy the quiet house in the afternoons when they are engaged with these kind of activities. He works on this on his bedroom floor. I am planning to create a small work place for him by the window hopefully this Summer. 

After celebration activities...

We worked on this little stain glass kit. This was a really cool activity. Easy to work with and can be engaged independently. After showing few tricks how to work with the little stick to fill in the design. Little Nicolette was very much interested to cover the entire glass. 

I was amazed to see how engaging she was with her activity. Nicolette received many gifts she can enjoy them till Summer. I cannot wait to work with some crafts when ever we get an opportunity. Lately, Nicolette wants to write we are working with her to write her long name at home. 

Enjoy!

One Pot Chicken Meal

When I get back from work I need wholesome food in a flash due to many reasons. One feeling tired after a long day of work and planning with little children. Two I have two different age groups one who runs cross country and another who needs energy to grow and learn. Seriously both of these age group needs to energy to move, grow, and learn. Two of us need to be health conscious as we age. 

I wanted some things to be cooked in flash so I can work on my projects. I used what I had in my refrigerator. chicken, potatoes, button mushrooms, fresh herbs, garlic, and onions. I sautéed potatoes after seasoning it with salt, parsley, and red pepper flakes in olive oil until golden brown. Did the same to chicken. 

I used white wine to make sauce out of the pan crust after sautéing all. Placed everything in a deep dish and poured the sauce over and baked until the chicken is no longer pink. 

One pot meal easy, less messy, and  it was great with crusty bread. 

Enjoy!

Happy B’day to Nicolette

We planned little Nicolette’s 4th B’day with her New school friends. With few setbacks were able to celebrate her B’day. She was thrilled to see her friends at her party and she was so happy. I can see her little heart was filled with JOY and PURE HAPPINESS. 

I baked her cake as usual. This is her 4th B’day cake I have managed to bake with few in between to celebrate her happy days. 

It was so different and a unique experience you share when celebrating girls B’day. I do this with my little GIRL with much LOVE. 

Enjoy!

Creating a new space...

Creating a new space has been my dream for myself. It has been a long time goal for me in our small house. Things I wanted to add into this space has a  long list. I want to create in the presence of my children. 

I want my children to create with me, do their assignments, HW, and research with me. This has been my life long dream. Keeping and up dating the inventory in my little shop. 

Organizing the mailing space and finally getting the orders fill in with GRACE is a goal. I am excited to see my little shop is taking me to a totally different stage but with my family which I always wanted. Choosing a color was a FUN experince. 

What I Won last month...

Yes, I won a price from the “Fashionable Fabrics” which was featured on “My Bit of Earth”. I ordered some more I love fabric and an avid collector. However, I am determine during this year to add some quilts for the family and the TV room. 

I have my eyes on some really cute doll quilts that I would like to make for little Nicolette. That remind me of another project that I need to work on. I am eager to get my hand son these beautiful prints.

These precut fabric could be fin to work with. I am looking forward to work on some really cute projects. The red and white printed fabric is so cute and the big bold floral print is adorable. I cannot wait to start these projects.  

Tiny red riding hood fabric is out of this world. It is so cute. I have bought few things for myself this holiday to embark on projects with fabric. I just have to see how to balance all and keep the sanity!

Holiday Gifts and Canning...

This Holiday I embraced the good life in canning. I purchased the whole nine yards last Summer. But, I did not had much growth in our yard to can. I was not sure that I could take on canning the fruits. 

I was mesmerized by our neighbors canning abilities and continues to help her this past Summer. I was drawn towards the weck canning jars, I guess towards the beauty of the simple mason jar and the fastening mechanism. I felt like I spend a fortune for them. 

This Holiday with my buzzing schedule I decided to make a Sri Lankan pickle to share with my new staff members at school. I embraced the idea and started to make my first batch. It was a success with the help of my neighbor and with few friends. I could not can the entire batch due to liquid requirement. My pickles did not had much liquid but it was delicious. The ones which did not can was consumed entirely by the family members. 

I was able to hide a little bit for myself! I might work on this project this summer for gift giving. 

Holiday Baking...

It was a whirlwind at my house this year baking the holiday goodies. I felt so good to share the bounty with friends and neighbors. I baked a handful of variety of cookies this holiday. One of the special request was to bale oatmeal cookies with no chocolate chip cookies from my oldest. 

Little one will munch anything sweet that she can lay her hands around. However she was was a great help this year from mixing ingredients to baking little tiny cookie balls. She was happy to be around her moma and help around. She was also thrilled to offer the cookies to neighbors around the block. Little Nicolette refused to take afternoon naps during the holiday baking. 

 We made some awesome tarts including key lime, almond, and lemon. Our little plates looks very festive this holiday with all of our busy schedule. At the end it feels so good to SHARE!.

Merry Christmas...

This is really ironic, I did not grew up with christmas trees but we knew friends and families who celebrated the magical holiday. I even went to school with a nun to study about Montessori. I remember in some occasions i would go to the church and study with the nun or complete our work. I did look forward for this, because they had so much order in the church every nun had a responsibility/duty to perform. 

I enjoy having lunch and evening tea at the church because it was always so beautiful. When we move to US I learned about a bunch of holidays that I was not exposed to in Sri Lanka.

Now, I mark this magical holiday with no family ties but for the mere joy of celebrating it with my children. My son, sells the Christmas trees for his troop. We bought our tree from his troop and decided to hang decorations. Little Nicolette had her own almost pink Christmas tree and was elated with JOY! I overheard that she did not want to got to school even though no one is at home. I caught her staring at her tree in her room. I am a Buddhist but we enjoy this Holiday with joy!

We do not have a traditions set forth. This started with a small tree during my first couple of years of teaching and I decorated these two trees every year ever since, perhaps I might have skiped this tradition for couple of years due to moving and so forth. Any ideas for stocking stuffers... for a teenager. 

Enjoy!