Wellness Shot

Feeling under the weather, need more energy? Try this homemade elixir to flush toxins.

Ingredients: 

1 bulb of medium size garlic - or 12 to 15 cloves

1/4 cup of ginger

1 whole lemon cut into chunks 

1/4 cup of Manuka Honey

1 tbsp turmeric powder

3oz apple cider vinegar

1oz extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp coconut oil

1 cup of water

Mix the ingredients in a blender, and mix for 1 minute at medium speed. Pour the liquid into an airtight jar (34 oz jar is shown in this picture) and keep it in the fridge. Enjoy one shot a day. You can add more water to your shot and enjoy a glass of wholesomeness. 

I usually add room temperature water to my shot and make it a big glass to enjoy. 

Honey Miso Brussels Sprouts

1 lb brussels sprouts
3 tbsp miso paste
3 tbsp honey
1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Cut the brussels sprouts in half and coat them with the glaze mixture.
Bake at 400 degree F for 20 minutes.

Elderberry Tea

Ingredients

1 table spoon elderberry
1 tea spoon cinnamon
0.5-1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cloves

Add all the ingredients to 2 cups of water. Heat it to a boil, then simmer it or turn off the heat, leave it covered for 10 minutes. Good for cough, cold/flu, and some upper respiratory problems.

Smoothie Recipe 2

Since I have half open bag of blueberry, I made another blueberry smoothie recipe. Same settings as Smoothie Recipe#1.

• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 8 oz Dole canned pineapple juice
• 6 oz peach flavor Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional, I did it for Nikki, she wants it extra sweet)

Smoothie Recipe 1

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 medium banana (cut-up)
• 6 oz peach flavor Greek yogurt
• 1 cup orange juice

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in blender, liquid first, blend until smooth. With a Ninja Ultima, pulse then speed #5,

Easy to pack lunch items

Food items and can be easily packed for lunch.

boiled egg

avocado
(fruits: apple banana kiwi berries melons grapes)

almonds
(nuts)

yogurt

cherry tomatoes

chocolate

edamame beans

baby carrots

dried cranberries

whole wheat bread/pita/pocket rounds

cheese

For Healthy Immune Function

Walking

Yoga

Tai chi

Brazil nuts

Oysters

Pumpkin

Sunflower Seeds

Papayas

Red peppers

Aoid: Sugar, Alcohol, Coffee, Obesity, Allergenic foods. 

 

Homemade dish soap

2 cups liquid  Dr. Bronner’s castille soap 
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
5 drops Essential oil (Lemon, Pine or Lavender work well)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Homemade Laundry Soap

Here is what I used:

 1/4 bar of grated soap. 1/4 cup of washing soda. 1/4 cup of borax powder.

Hand Wash Dishes

• Add Water in 2 dishpans, approximately 2 quarts each.
• In one, add 2 teaspoons of liquid soap and 1 tspn. of borax and 1 tspn of baking soda. 
• In the other dishpan, add 1/4 c. white vinegar for the rinse water. 
• Wash glasses, silverware, cups, bowls/plates, then pots-n-pans.
• Rinse dishes in the vinegar rinse water, air dry. 
• Spray 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to dishes touched raw meat.

Perfect Boiled Eggs

Place eggs in a large pot, fill water to cover the eggs. (Half an inch to one inch of water above eggs. Do not crowd the pot with eggs, they may crack.)

Uncover the pot, bring the water to a boil, turn the heat off.

Cover the pot, let it stand for 15 minutes. (Do not need to remove the pot.)

Drain the pot and peel eggs in cold running water. Eggs come out perfect every time.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

2.5 lbs cubed stewing beef 
2 large onions, sliced
1 lb baby carrots
5 medium potatoes 
4 celery stalks
4 garlic cloves
1 quart beef stock
8 oz can diced tomato 


2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons flour to coat meat
garlic and onion powder
salt and pepper


Mix flour with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Coat beef with flour mixture. Brown coated beef in olive oil in frying pan for a couple minutes. Return beef in the crock pot. Add everything else to crock pot cook on High for 4 hours.  

Scottish Highland Games

Nikki's trying out some kids activities at the Highland Games.

Archery

Caber Toss

Sheaf Toss

Haggis Hurl

Sugar's APPLE CRISP RECIPE

I helped Nikki picked out a book named Sugar's Yummy Fall from the Angle Cat Sugar series at her school Book Fair. The graphic is very "Asian looking" very Hello Kittish. Later we found out the character "Angle Cat" named "Sugar" in the book is created by Yuko Shimizu, the same Japanese lady who created "Hello Kitty".

Well, the book ended up to be a wonderful choice. It's in season, comes with scratch and sniff stickers and a yummy fall recipe in the back. Most of all, Nikki loves reading it and I get more dessert ideas from this book. 

Here is the list of ingredients I used: 

5 medium sized apples

2 table spoons white sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup plain oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tablespoons butter cut into pieces

Directions: 

1.Preheat oven to 375 deg. Butter 9x9 inch backing pan.

2.Cut apples into thin slices, 1/6 to 1/8 inches thick. 

3.Coat apple slices with white sugar and cinnamon. 

4.Mix flour, oats brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. 

5.Pour apples in buttered pan, sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the apples. 

Bake for 35 minutes until the apples are soft and juices are bubbling, toppings is golden brown. I spent more time slicing the apples than baking the dish. This recipe is a keeper, can easily replace the Publix cobbler one since I can make my topping mix without buying the Publix brand. The two dishes taste similar. Oats add some textures to the dish, which we all enjoyed very much. 

Publix Season's Peak Fruit Cobbler

This one is the Apple Cobbler.
Makes 8-9 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 2/3 cup cobbler mix (12oz)-bought from store bakery
3/4 cup of milk
3 cups of bite size apples (or any fruits in season)

Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 9x9 square baking dish.
Combine cobbler mix with milk, mixing well; pour over melted butter.
Spoon fresh bite size fruit pieces over batter; do not stir. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Source: Printed on the label of Publix Fruit Cobbler Mix Packaging.

"Heart Venture" Stamp Collage

While cleaning and unpacking, I found a bag full of mails from my mom sent in 1998 while I was in Switzerland, all handwritten letters. The first thing I noticed was the stamp covered envelopes, making me wonder why the post office used so many stamps on each envelope left almost no place to write addresses. I have no interest in finding how much it cost to mail a letter from China in the '90s, probably not cheap. The letter themselves are priceless. I don't think my mom would ever communicate with me in this old fashion way again. Looking at the stamps, it reminded me I used to collect stamps as a kid. I still have my stamp album sitting on my bookshelf in Tianjin. It's been there for two decades, probably untouched, and I miss it! Here is what I do to used stamps before adding them to the collection.
First soaking the stamps to get them off paper. Then dry stamps on plastic place mat. Last, pressing flat by placing dried stamps in heavy books.
Instead letting these stamp covered mails sitting in a corner, I decide to display the stamps as art. To add varieties and interests to the display I used some colorful ones Bob's grandma saved for him, mostly from Canada and New Zealand in the 80s, of course no shortage of surprises, a couple from the CCCP.

I named this piece "Heart Venture".

Decals for Apple products

They both look nice, I would only purchase the colored one, since I know I can duplicate the "geek" Snow White myself. Like what I did with this. 

It's a wall shield by the front door. Nikki can choose one out of the two decals if she gets an ipod. Still waiting for the price cut on ipod 4. To ensure daddy buys one for her, I made a sign for Nikki and hoping she's well behaved from now on. The sign is another copy of the UO poster. Nikki can surely read every word on it! 

Mythological Creatures Poster

Trying to get the idea on how to transfer typewriter style font to my poster board. If I can't think of better ideas I will try to free hand the "facts" onto my UO reproduction.

I did the poster with Sharpie pen and acrylic paint on mat board. Well, there is whole world of Sharpie art out  there. Google for yourself.

Sharpie work on Ducati

Nikki's 1st Day of Kindergarten

First day of school, maybe I was more excited than Nikki. Nikki's slow on getting ready in the morning, so we got everything ready the night before. It's important to set up a good routine.  I surely enjoy walking her to school, what a great way to spend time with her.

Nikki's got assigned to one of the only two male teachers in her school. Kids met in cafeteria on the first day and parents had a small breakfast in the Media room. She had pizza for lunch. Classes let out by 3pm. That completed the first day of kindergarten.

The White Rabbit

Fell in love with the Framed Alice Wall Art from Urbanoutfitter, decided to recreate one myself.

Here comes my weekend project. Frame is from Goodwill $1.99. I have everything else. Picture done in pencil. 

I found the original wood engraving illustration of the white rabbit by Sir John Tenniel online from here. 

Here is the UO version (5x7) vs mine(10x12).