My friend Dennis came over for dinner and helped me with a few items around my house. When I asked for theme and food suggestions, he said rice and beans skunk. I was happy to make it!
Left Side: Skunk – mashed black beans and garlic powder pushed into a cookie cutter, Tail – ricotta cheese piped with a plastic ziplock bag, spinach, Rice and Beans (I added cumin and served with cheese and salsa)
Top Right: Pistachios
Bottom Right: Flowers – watermelon cut with a cookie cutter, blueberries attached with spaghetti
I made this lunch for my friend Yuko’s husband. When I asked Yuko for a theme idea, she said French horn. I was happy to revisit a theme I have only done once before.
Today is my 11 year blogiversary! This is my 1,304th post! The traditional gift for an 11 year anniversary is steel. I decided to serve this simple meal in a metal box.
Right Side: Years – Carrot cut with a cookie cutter, rice
Bottom: Trader Joes Trail Mix
I continue to enjoy creating content and sharing it here. A few years ago, I started compilation posts to keep together a collection of all my creations in a particular theme. This year I created a Theme Archive page so it is easy to find all of those collected themes. It also encourages me to create more theme collections. I have 11 years of content!
I am happy to have this place that encourages me to continue to create. Thank you for joining me on this long journey.
Left Side: Music Notes: white potato roasted, orange Cheddar, yellow bell pepper, light colored carrot cut with a cookie cutter, black bean sauce – black beans, salsa, balsamic vinegar blended in a food processor
This is my travel themed home office. I spend a lot of time in this room since I currently work from home. The last photo shows my favorite neighbor. I completed my home office decorating (minus the padded part of the Camel saddle) months ago. I am finally getting around to sharing the photos here. Painting this room was memorable since I had bad paint for the first coat. The store said it froze and they were not responsible. I know I did not damage the paint. Anyway, after I bought good paint, it went easy.
Paint: I started out with Sassafras Tea from Valspar but after I had a batch of bad paint and the store would not refund, I had it color matched at Sherwin Williams. This paint issue is also memorable for me since the same day that I painted the first bad coat, I had a first date with a man who happened to be a contractor. He insisted that 95% of the time it is not the paint, it is the painter. I did not bother telling him the next day when the store admitted the paint was the problem. The date and I were not compatible and there would not be a second date.
Carpet: Existing, it was too much doing everything else so I kept this carpet. Purple is not my favorite color but it seems to keep finding me. I once had a purple house. The carpet was in good shape except for a small issue, My Dad took some carpet from the closet and made a patch.
Earth Border Ribbon: I wanted something to hide the paint transition between wall and ceiling. I came up with this idea. I rough estimated when ordering the ribbon and I was right! I hot glued the ribbon to the wall. My hand was sore and I got a hot glue injury. But I am pleased with the result in the room.
Compass Decal: My friend’s 14 year old daughter designed, cut with my Cricut machine, and installed it for me. When people tour this room, they often ask if the directions are correct. Yes they are!
World Landmarks Decal: This is a beautiful but very detailed decal. I like the idea of the whole world together in one skyline. My friend’s 14 year old daughter helped me install it. For some of the taller buildings we also used help from the 16 year old daughter.
Ceiling Light: You can see in the before photos that the old fan had only 1 light. My Dad installed a new fan.
Outlet Plates: I decoupaged paper maps on the outlet plates. Most of them have special meaning to me: town my Grandmother was born in Ireland, places I have traveled, etc..
Switch Plates: I decoupaged paper maps on the switch plates. Iceland, and Kyoto, Japan (in Japanese).
Vintage Shelves: These were my maternal Grandparents but I ended up with them when I was in my 20’s. I often renovate them for different living situations. This time we spray painted the metal gold and covered the shelves with map wrapping paper and clear contact paper.
Ancestor Countries Art: I found these free pintables online but can’t find them anymore. I printed out the countries my ancestors were born. I reused frames I had for an Herb gallery wall in my apartment.
Camel Saddle: My maternal Grandpa was a Flight Engineer for TWA. He brought this camel saddle back from Egypt when my Mom was a kid. It was in her childhood bedroom. I remember it in my Grandparents home when I was a kid. I thought the saddle would be perfect for my travel themed office. I need to replace the padded part. I intend to sew it myself at some point.
Foreign Coins Tissue Box: I repurposed an old wooden tissue box. Painted it black, used E6000 glue to attach foreign coins to make this travel themed tissue box.
7 Lucky Gods Stamps – In 2017, I did a pilgrimage tour to the temples of the 7 Lucky Gods in Kyoto. I was frugal and did not buy the souvenir stamps from each location. In 2019, when a friend visited from Japan, she brought this for me.
Round North America Map: I purchased it in person from At Home.
Small Knob for Little Door: The door had a gold knob, my Mom found this online. I was able to find it in the store at Hobby Lobby.
Left Side: Little Green Man – Cheddar mashed potatoes cooled then cut with a cookie cutter, frosted with homemade pesto, Eyes – paprika, star carrots cut with a cookie cutter, green peas
Top Right: Cashews
Bottom Right: UFO – Cinnamon Tortilla Chip – tortilla chips cut with a cookie cutter, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes, grapes
One of my Japanese language partners actually lives in Philadelphia. Over 4th of July weekend, she and her husband visited me and my parents at our family Lake House. We all had a wonderful time!
Ranch Dip in Flag Muffin Liner – Hidden Valley Ranch Dip packet with sour cream
Radish
Cauliflower
Homemade blue potato chips
Statue of Liberty salted tortilla chip – tortilla cut with a cookie cutter, brush with olive oil, sprinkled with salt – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes
USA Cookie – sugar cookie with red, white, blue sanding sugar
Strawberry Ice Cream
My critique of the meal: I really enjoyed designing and creating the individual vegetarian charcuterie boards. We all enjoyed eating the appetizers. The pizza and dessert were easy and delicious. I made and froze the cookies a week before the party.
I enjoy revisiting the same theme to do something different. Over the years, I have made many melon cakes. This is my first time making an individual one. It was easy to make and a delight to eat.
I used a round ring for stacking food. Then, I topped it with cottage cheese, sliced almonds and a blueberry. I was inspired by this but I used cottage cheese instead of whipped cream.
My parents and I celebrated my niece’s 20th birthday a little early with her this year. I am posting this today since it is her actual birthday. It was special to be able to celebrate her birthday with her.
Decorations: My mom bought various decorations and we had fun assembling them.
Favor: Flower shaped chocolates placed on paper doilies
Watermelon Flower Centerpiece: My Dad and I made the watermelon centerpiece. We cut watermelon with a flower cookie cutter, attached with toothpicks and added dried cherry centers.
Menu:
Strawberry Sodas – seltzer with strawberry syrup (my niece made mine without sugar – it was delicious) We served them with pink straws and the antique glasses my Grandparents received as a wedding gift.
Flower Shaped Mashed Potatoes – My mom made the mashed potatoes and I used a rice mold to shape them
Mushroom Gravy – my niece made it
Broccoli
Chicken (for meat eaters) I had some delicious lasagna my niece made.
Individual Flower Shaped Ice Cream Cakes – cut chocolate or non-chocolate ice cream with flower cookie cutter, put in freezer, added gummy bears or crushed mint chocolate cookies in the middle, another flower shaped ice cream, whipped cream and sanding sugar on top.
Here are some photos from memorial day at my family lake house. 6 family members were together this year. I think this is actually my first time to create a Memorial Day themed post. My Dad did the grilling, my 19 year old niece made the cupcakes. I baked the bread.
Favors – Ghirardelli chocolate squares (milk chocolate caramel, dark chocolate raspberry) in little bags made from flag paper
Grilled peppers, asparagus, eggplant with olive oil and garlic powder
Grilled homemade crusty sourdough bread with olive oil
I enjoyed this meal with my friend Renae. When I was a kid, I drew sheep. Renae drew dinosaurs. I thought it was fun to make dinosaur ravioli. I made and froze the ravioli several weeks before the meal. It became a somewhat quick workday lunch. I was happy that she was able to come over and join me for lunch.
Dinosaur Ravioli – I used my favorite pasta dough, and added some spinach powder to the dough, filling – Ricotta, Asiago, salt and pepper
Roasted Asparagus – toss with a little olive oil and salt. Bake at 410 degrees for about 12 minutes.
Cherry Tomatoes
Dino Dessert – Apple cut with a cookie cutter, plain Greek yogurt, maple syrup
Critique of the meal– The garlic cream sauce was delicious and I plan to make it again. I always like my ravioli. Yogurt based desserts are simple, healthy and delicious. I love my new dining room. It is fun to entertain in it.
I made this llama meal for my Mom. The carrots were a hit from Easter. In my haste of making this meal I added twice the amount of pepper by accident. They were spicy!
My 19 year old niece and I prepared this meal for her when she was at my house. The only thing I did was make and freeze the flower shaped pizza crusts. She did everything else.
Flower Pizza – I used Martha Stewart Pizza Dough recipe, rolled out dough with plenty of flour, cut with a cookie cutter and followed these directions to pre-bake the crusts to make it easy on day of the dinner. My niece added tomato sauce, mozzarella, black olives, mushrooms and baked until brown and crispy.
Awhile ago, I completed decorating my new craft room. The theme is fairy tale forest during the day. I am finally getting around to sharing the room here. Of all the various craft rooms I have had, this is my favorite. The wallpaper mural is perfect for the space. My parents installed it and made a frame for it. I love that I have a lot of closet space and a hidden room which has even more storage. In the main room I set up various crafting stations (wrapping / mailing, Cricut, Sewing, general crafting). Most of the storage I used in my other craft rooms.
Dropleaf Table: I had this in my last two craft rooms. It was my grandparents and they loaned it to a friend for 60 years. That friend gave it back to my parents. In my last two craft rooms, it was green. This time, I painted it white.
Wrapping / Mailing Station: I am not sure where I bought this. I used it in the kitchen of the apartment I lived in before buying this house.
Fairy light pull: I bought this on Etsy but link and shop is no longer active.
My parents came to my house for Mother’s Day weekend. I finally made a meal my Mom loves but had not made it in a long time.
Vegetable Gyoza – I made my own with store bought dumpling wrappers. I shredded cabbage, carrots, snow peas, scallions, and fresh ginger separately in my food processor. I added sesame oil and soy sauce.
Gyoza Dipping Sauce: Trader Joes
Flower Shaped Rice – I used a flower Japanese rice mold with cooked Nishiki rice.
Vegetables – Sauteed onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, asparagus with sesame oil, soy sauce, cashews
My critique of the meal: We all enjoyed! I have shared vegetable gyoza on this blog many times but it had been awhile. The cookies were adorable! I made the gyoza and sugar cookies a week ago and put in my freezer. I decorated the cookies a few hours before serving.
I have a laundry room on the main floor (the same floor as my bedroom). This makes doing laundry easier than any other place I have ever lived. When I started to plan my redesign, two things were important: cabinets instead of open shelves, wave wallpaper instead of plain white walls. I am amused by having waves of water on the walls in my laundry room. My parents installed the wallpaper. They said that the design made them seasick but they enjoy the end result.
Ceiling Light: Home Depot. We had to install a new ceiling light since the old one was too big for the cabinet doors to open.
Outlet Plate: My parents covered it with wallpaper.
Switch Plate: this is part of my continued quest to change all of the boring cream outlet plates in my house.
Mop Hooks
Door Hooks: Command hooks
This is the “Before” photo of my laundry room.
My parents are amazing. I was impressed at how fast they hung the cabinets and wallpaper while I worked at my job.
I like the fun, function, and convenience of this laundry room. It is a little bold compared to the rest of the design in my house but I can keep the doors closed when desired. I enjoy my laundry room with waves.
I am guessing that I will reveal most of the rooms as they are mostly “completed”. This is my second reveal. The first was my cookie cutter closet.
I made this simple lunch for my Mom on a day in March when my parents helped me get settled into my new house. I moved in January, it is taking longer than I want to make this my home but it is coming along. I am thankful for my parents help.
We had a wonderful Easter. It was my first major holiday in my new home. My parents and 19 year old niece came to my house for the weekend. My friend Carol joined us for the Easter main meal. My niece and I planned and prepared the meal. She made the soup and desserts! Carol brought the beautiful flowers. The tulips were lovely. I did not know about peony tulips before. The daffodils at each place were from Carol’s garden. My niece made the favor baskets. At breakfast we enjoyed Easter baskets. In my family adults enjoy Christmas stockings and Easter baskets. We are not too old for the magic of a holiday.
Egg shaped butter (spread softened butter into small egg molds)
Easter ravioli – I used my favorite pasta dough, and added some butterfly pea powder to the dough, I made a small batch with turmeric added to the dough (for the dots) filling – Ricotta, Asiago, salt and pepper
Pesto Cream sauce – homemade pesto mixed with sour cream
Sift the flour. In a saucepan, bring the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter to a boil. Remove from heat, incorporate the sifted flour into the hot liquid, mixing energetically with a spatula until homogenous.
Return the saucepan to low heat and stir vigorously for 1 minute to pull out the moisture from the batter, so that it forms a mass and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer batter to a large bowl and allow to cool. Add the eggs one at a time, carefully incorporating each into the batter with a spatula.
When homogenous, on a parchment lined baking sheet. pipe into cream puff shape.
Bake at 375 degrees for at least 30 minutes without opening the oven.
Before serving prepare cocoa cream to fill the cream puffs.
Whip whipping cream with some cocoa powder and powdered sugar to taste.
Use metal pastry tip and piping bag to fill cream puffs from the bottom.
Microwave starbursts for about 5 seconds until pliable. Stretch into bunny ears. Use knife to make slits into cream puff for the ears. Add starburst ears to cream puff. Pipe small dots of cocoa cream for the eyes.
Nutella or Strawberry Jam Macarons
Ingredients
275 g finely ground almond flour
250 g confectioners’ sugar
6 1/2 egg whites
210 g granulated sugar
a few drops food coloring
Combine the almond flour and confectioners’ sugar in a food processor and pulse to obtain a fine powder. Sift or strain through a sieve to remove any lumps.
In a clean, dry bowl, whisk the egg whites to a foam. Once they are frothy, add a third of the granulated sugar and whip until sugar is dissolved. Add another third of the granulated sugar, whip for another minute, finally add the remaining granulated sugar and whip for 1 more minute. Using a clean rubber spatula, delicately fold the sifted mixture of ground almonds and confectioners’ sugar into the whipped egg whites. Add a few drops of food coloring to obtain desired color (split the batter if you want more than 1 color). In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 1/2 egg white until just frothy. Then add to the final mixture, folding gently to slightly loosen the batter.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pipe small macaron rounds. Dip finger in bowl of water to gently smooth out pipped round. Lightly tap the sheet so the macarons spread fully.
Preheat oven to 300 F. Allow macarons to sit uncovered for 10 minutes, then place in the oven.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes until they form a slight crust.
Remove baking sheet from the oven, and with a small glass, carefully pour a tiny amount of water in between the sheet and the parchment paper (lift the paper ever so slightly corner by corner). The moisture and steam that result from the water on the hot baking sheet will allow the macarons to peel off more easily once they are cool. Do not pour too much water as this could cause the macarons to become soggy. Allow to cool completly.
Spread Nutella or strawberry jam between 2 macaron rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
My critique of the meal: We all enjoyed the food, the roasted carrots were a surprise hit. I expect to make them again. It was my first time making cocoa cream. It was delicious in the cream puffs. I definitely want to make it again. We were fortunate to have spent this holiday together. A memorable first holiday in my new home!
I made this snack meal for my friend’s 14 year old daughter Elizabeth. It was on a day that she helped me with some Cricut crafting and installing of wall decals. I appreciate her skillful help.
Left Side: Alligators – tortilla chips cut with a cookie cutter, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with garlic – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes, cherry tomatoes, sharp cheddar cheese
I made tulip shaped ravioli for my parents and myself. My dining room is not yet complete. At the time of this meal, I still didn’t have a table. But it is enjoyable to eat in this room.
Tulip Ravioli – I used my favorite pasta dough, and added some tomato paste to the dough, filling – Ricotta, Asiago, salt and pepper
Black Bean Sauce – Black bean sauce I just threw together in the food processer. Can of black beans, some garlic power, pinch of salt, splash of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, some salsa.
Salad – Romaine, carrots cut with a cookie cutter, Trader Joes Unexpected Cheddar
Left Side: Tulip chips – tortilla chips cut with a cookie cutter, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with garlic – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes, Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad
Left Side: Lace chips – tortilla chips cut with a cookie cutter, holes punches with a straw, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with garlic – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes, Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad
Happy March! I hosted a Lamb or Lion themed dinner with my parents and friend Carol. Carol made the flower arrangement. I love that some of the flowers look like lion manes! March weather described as a lion or lamb is a theme I have revisited many times over the years (see links at the end of this post).
Lion Dessert – plain Green yogurt, chocolate chips, Cracker Jack popcorn
My critique of the meal: I think it all came out delicious and adorable. One surprise for me were the desserts, plain Greek yogurt with fixings were delicious. The combinations were an experiment and it worked! My guests were given a choice of a lamb or lion dessert. I think that everyone enjoyed.
I made this simple George Washington themed meal for myself. It is only the second President Washington themed meal I made. Five years ago, I made him from rice.
I am working on organizing and making the rooms in my new house beautiful. I have my first room ready to show the world! It is actually a closet under the stairs. My dream for my house was to make my cookie cutter collection easier to use. I accomplished that goal. I am very happy with the look and function of this room (closet). Previously I had my entire collection in 4 large plastic totes.
This is the “before” photo of my cookie cutter closet.
Cube Shelves – I used one ClosetMaid 9 cube, two 6 cubes, and one One-Space 4 cube shelf. I bought them from Lowes and Amazon. My Dad put them together. He also installed a battery operated motion sensor light.
I used my old Brother P-Touch labeler to create labels for the cubes. I made a guide for myself and posted it in the closet. I also have a spreadsheet with all the different separate categories in each cube. For example, Spring Holiday has Hearts, Cupid, Leprechaun, Pot of Gold, Shamrock, Easter / Eggs and Crosses.
Not all of the cubes are filled (more room to grow my collection) and some of them contain other supplies to create cute food.
Eclectic Lamb 
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