My Favorite Meal These Days

We have a little "food court" just down the street.... and by food court I don't mean Sbarro and Panda Express {so unauthentic you wouldn't find ANYTHING like it here anyway}..... Instead its kind of like an old alleyway that looks kind of like a warehouse with some D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S food of all kinds. Its called the 小吃城市｛xiao chi cheng shi} or {small eat city}.

My favorite meal just happens to be here. Its quick, easy & cheap- at less than $1 per person. 

The whole middle section- with all of the little fun color plastic stools- has these grills, with about 8 seats around it with a lady to cook what you want. She has a little table behind her with all she needs to prep everything. There are several things on the menu, but I like 3 courses in particular. 

The first course- Potato Cakes.

They just sit on the side of the grill like this with the green tofu stuff waiting to be cooked. 

She drags a couple over, smashes them with her spatula things, adds some green onion stuff....

and 3 minutes later, they're ready to eat. So so just slides them over and we eat them right off the grill with our chop sticks. 

For the second course- my most favorite....Er Kuai Ba.... {sounds kinda like Arr Kwai Ba} 

it doesn't have an english name.... maybe smashed, compacted rice sticks? 

I don't know. But its is SO good. She sautés them with some oil and cabbage....

.....and scoots them on over to eat next. 

{See how great this process is? As soon as the potato cakes were devoured, the er kuai ba was ready to eat.} 

And for the final course- zucchini slathered in oil. 

So yea, you just eat right off of the grill, and can dip your stuff into some la jiao {hot pepper flakes} and soy sauce.... or put it straight in your mouth like me. 

Hannah gives it 2 thumbs up and....

a 很好吃！

{hen hao chi!} {very good eatin!}

Come visit and experience the goodness yourself. Its perfect this time of year... in the summer, its hot enough in there that sitting next to a hot grill eating can be a little stuffy. In the winter its just not comfy to be anywhere that is exposed to outside where you have to take your gloves off to eat. I'm willing to make the sacrifice to eat it as often as possible though. 

Joyfully Satisfied,

Little Man "Smaller & Smaller" Apron

As soon as we got back to EA, our friend's 3 year old son kept talking about wanting "one of those smaller and smaller aprons".... he likes to use his adjectives like this right now.... its pretty cute. Like he just went to see Cars 2 on that, "Bigger and Bigger TV" at the movie theater. He really likes to help his mom out in the kitchen, so I said that I would gladly make him one. A few days later, I went to the fabric market with a friend & found this fun stripped fabric and got to work. 

The fabric wasn't super thick, so I used some of the excess 5 yards of unused fabric that was left from previous girls who lived here. 

I hemmed everything inside so that it is technically "reversible"

I used yellow thread to give it a fun pop. 

I wanted to make a fun little pocket and attached it before I sewed the 2 pieces together. 

I decided adding his name would make it even cuter, so I used Heat & Bond to adhere the stripped fabric to the pocket. Then I "appliquéd"around the edges but learned in the process that your sewing machine will "eat" the corners if you straight stitch it instead of zigzag around the edges- hence the little "fuzzies" in the corners. 

I used the fabric instead of binding for the straps. 

I don't have any extra D-rings and we're positive you can't get them here, so I just made the straps to tie around his neck and back. 

I kinda love it. 

Here he is putting it to good use.....

Helping his mom stew like 100 lbs of tomatoes. 

It was a fun little project. I love any chance to use my sewing machine here. I've been putting it to good use lately. More to share soon! 

Joyfully Stitching, 

Linking up over at:
{Nifty Thrifty Things}{Sew Can Do}{DebbieDoo's}{So Very Creative}{C.R.A.F.T.}{Skip to My Lou}{Under the Table and Dreaming}{LollyJane Boutique}{I Heart Naptime}{A Diamond in the Stuff}{Homework}{Not Just a Housewife}{Blue Cricket Design}{Organize & Decorate Everything}{Sew Much Ado}{Sweet Peas and Bumblebees}{A Little Tipsy}{A Creative Princess}{Somewhat Simple}{Thrifty 101}{Creations by Kara}{A Little Knick Knack}{The Shabby Nest}{WhipperBerry}{Tatertots & Jello}

I've got big crafting plans.....

I have big plans. Lots of big plans.

Our guest room has this really cool cabinet in it, that served many purposes last year... such as:

1. Shoving all of the random things that previous dwellers left behind that I didn't know what else to do with into

2. Putting all of the "this smells musty & i don't want to deal with it" stuff into

3. My make shift crafting cabinet. 

I brought a TON of fun crafting things back from America with me that includes (but isn't limited to)..... a cutting mat, rotary slicer, jewelry making stuff, sculpy, felt, wreath form, embroidery hoops, scrapbooking supplies (and my wedding scrapbook to finish almost 5 years later), and needlepoint/embroidery supplies just to name a few. 

So with all of this fun stuff, I had to make room. I decided that this cabinet was now going to be clean, organized, and used solely for the purpose of all things creative. 

So to begin, i put all of the stuff that I brought with me on the guest bed. Then I started pulling everything out of the cabinet. Pretty soon the bed was full. 

I got my house helper to help me in this endeavor and she just kept saying,"ZEN ME DUO LE!" "IT'S SO MUCH STUFF!" and I kept trying to tell her that I didn't buy it all and that the girls who lived here before me left it {including 3 sets of at least 5 meters of really nice fabric....} As hard as I tried to justify the madness, I could just hear her thinking, "Excessive Foreigner." true.  

But seriously, out of control. How did that little cabinet contain SO much stuff?  

seemingly insurmountable. 

Once we got all the stuff out, we went to town cleaning it....

and then lined it with some lovely stripe and polka dot contact paper. 

The possibilities. 

I took a break that day and shut the door, pretending that it wasn't there.... OR that I would open the door and it would all magically be all organized/sorted through/discarded.... 

and what do you know.... TADA....

No actually, I spent like 5 hours the next day organizing/sorting/getting rid of stuff. 

I sorted through all of my fabric and folded it. 

used some milk boxes {yes boxes} to organize & store gift wrap stuff and paper. If I had American resources, I would chose some kind of fantastic organizing device found at the Container Store. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Milk boxes it is. 

So here's the newly organized bottom cabinet....

and then I used some of these wonderful Ikea zipper organizers to sort the little stuff.... frames, scrapbooking stuff, etc. On the bottom shelf we have my sewing machine, cutting mat, scrapbook, and some other tall things.

One drawer has sewing stuff....

....and other small stuff in the other. 

and here it is all assembled, cleaned, lined, organized and ready to supply my every crafting need. 

I've already made a super cute apron & table runner that I can't wait to share! 

Soon. Seriously..... 

And you'd think I wasn't back in EA with my lack of posting anything about it.... but I promise I'll get back to fun little snipits from life here asap. 

Joyfully ORGANIZED,

Linking Up Over At:
{Organizing Made Fun}

My other sweet nephew: Tyler Bear

I think you've gathered by now that one of my greatest joys in going home was meeting my other "nephew" Tyler. I talked about the sadness of not being there for his arrival here in March, but just to reiterate.... his mama and I have been like bffffffff x1,000 since birth- gmas & mamas were bff, we were born 3 months apart and have been BEST friends since then. both each others MOH's. to say we're like sisters would be an understatement. 

here's proof:

i think its rare to have a relationship like ours, and I'm so thankful for her. 

we've spent our entire child-hood/teenage years/early adult life planning our futures together which most certainly included our children. it is still surreal that evie has a baby, and if I was writing our story Tyler's bff or gf would be cooing in the floor next to him. But I'm not writing our story- someone who knows much better is- so I'll just love on him like he's my own. 

Without further ado, I would love to introduce you to Mr. Personality......

Hi I'm Tyler, but you can call me little man or Tyler Bear. I'm pretty cute huh?

I've got the sweetest smile you've ever seen with BIG dimples on both cheeks. 

hmmm, what's that you say? 

aunt haywee! you're leaving me again!? you just got here! 

you promise to come back!? okay! 

my animal book is my FAVORITE! 

 i LOVE this part! munch, munch, much! 

i sure do love kisses from my mommy. 

she's so funny. 

teeheehee! that's fun mommy. do it again. 

i got my daddy's legs. 

they all keep saying something about me being a linebacker?? I'm not real sure what that is, but it sure sounds like fun! 

i know you just want to stick your fingers in my dimples....

but if you do I'll poke you back! hah! 

I love my big jump jump. If I jump big enough, the elephant cheers for me.... 

....good thing I got these so called linebacker legs. I make some BIG jumps. 

mmmm i sure do love my hand. 

okay Aunt haywee.... I gotta go watch elmo now. I'll talk to you later. 

 I miss you already.... and don't worry- I promise when you come home in July I'll come running into your arms screaming, "AUNT HAYWEEEEE!" 

sniff. i can't hardly stand it. i sure do miss you Tyler Bear and mourn the fact that you will be running and talking when i see you again. until then, you be sweet for your mommy & please don't forget me! I love you little man. 

Joyfully Loving Those Smushy Legs,