Random Highlights from Life Lately

I realized that I hadn't really updated much on life since we had been back here. So I thought I'd take advantage of playing on picnik to share some random snippets from life lately. 

Before it got too cold, we spent lots of time outside. 

We enjoy playing in the local park here. Playing football always draws a few stares, and sometimes eager learners too.

(TopLeft) Teaching some high school girls to throw the football (BottomLeft) Old man playing a traditional game (TopRight) Hannah showing off her sweet football skills (BottomRight) Anna and Hannah hanging out in a hammock. 

As I learn more and more of the language, I am able to interact more with the people out and about in everyday life. This little girl was too cute. She bravely stopped with her dad to try to talk to me. I learned all about all of the Disney Princesses in her language. 

This little boy was a little scared of me at first, but then in no time he was bringing me clover and blades of rice left and right. 

Adam & Grady have been cultivating quite the friendship these days. A few weeks ago they made these ramps outside for his remote control jeep. 

So extreme. 

Grady's little bro has been consuming my affections these days. 

What's not to love about this little pumpkin!? 

We're all pretty obsessed. 

In October my dear friend Anna Mo came to visit me from another city. We had a wonderful few days together that I'm so thankful for. I'm going to see her this week one last time, as she will be returning to America next weekend. 

I am SO sad to lose her on this side of the world and will miss her dearly! 

A family that is good friends with some of our friend's here came to visit that same week. They have 4 darling girls, that were fun to play with. We all went to the ancient city outside of town together, where there is much fun to bed had....

Like paying a dollar to shoot marbles with a slingshot at various glass objects on a stand. Some of those objects just happened to be old glass IV bottles. Gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about. 

So the local market has recently moved to the street in the afternoons. I'm not real sure why.... probably for more traffic. Sometimes it's more convenient than others. They are supposed to be at the actual market that is a little out of the way.... but have slowly migrated down the hill. They've already been moved once, and who knows how long they'll be allowed to stay here. 

Don't worry, I do not buy my pork here. Not that where I buy it is much better... I just go in the mornings. 

And in even more randomness.....

I bought a new camera lens in the states this summer and I am loving using it. 

And these gerber daisies too. 

At a really nice mall in the city, I came across this makeup stand.....

Forget Mac and Clinique. I'm switching to Barbie. 

Everyone loves a funny sign every once in a while. Adam took these at a park in the city. 

No one wants to not be civilization. So don't throw and spit. 

And please by all means, don't play. Just send the animals their foods. 

And finally, I have found my inspiration for my Christmas wreath this year. I found it in the stairwell of a friend's apartment building yesterday. 

The perfect inspiration. 

So there's a little bit of life lately. 

Hopefully I'll have more fun stuff soon. 

Joyfully Picniking,

My New "Mantle"

So you can guess that in our completely concrete built apartment building over here, there are no chimneys and fireplaces, and therefore no mantles for decorating.

Our house in America has this woooonnndddeerrrrffuuullll real fireplace {that I would LOVE to warm my feet by right now}....

and a very nice mantle with which to decorate for Christmas.....

or baby showers that just happen to be right before Christmas. 

So all my wanderings in the blog world leaving me wishing I had a mantle to decorate here too. 

Clearly that's not gonna happen {like most things} through normal, conventional means SO I decided that a big shelf would work. I searched all over the EA-ian "ebay" {the greatest things ever for foreigners living here... found easy mac and cherry coke on there last week...} and found one that I really liked. I ordered it, and a week later it arrived on a motorcycle {that's how most things are delivered here}. 

My studly, brawny husband borrowed our friend's drill and installed it for me. 

Drilling into our concrete walls makes installing anything on the walls a little tricky, so I was very thankful at his eager willingness to serve his oh so appreciative wife in this way.

So maybe some shelves in America have this installation feature, but I've only seen it here with shelves from IKEA (so maybe Ikea shelves in America are the same... dunno). Anyway, it really is rather brilliant for shelf installation. I remember Adam trying to install our shelves in our living room in America with 4 hangers on the back that you have to line up perfectly..... which is next to impossible. The frustration level was through the roof.

But not with this one. You first install this bracket that has these 2 metal rods that stick out....

and you just slip the shelf right on. How easy is that?

Then just screw these 2 screws into the rods through the bottom of the shelf. Easy peasy. 

And now I have a new makeshift "mantle"!

..... just waiting to be decorated. 

I started last weekend with lots of homemade fall decor that I will share asap! 

Isn't the little piece of furniture underneath it fun? I really like it. 

Joyfully Decorating,

The "DiDi" Onesie

I mentioned before that I took advantage of the extra supplies in America this summer to make some things for our friend's new little boy while I was home. I made him the "Manly" Monogram Frame, and a cute little onesie. 

I've loved the idea of using Heat & Bond and fabric to make onesies since Jamie & I made them for our friend Brooke this summer, so I really wanted to make Langdon one. 

Before we came back over, Ash asked me to grab a few more 0-3 mo. outfits for Langdon to bring over with us. 

I bought this cute little 3 pack at Target with elephants.

source

 I really liked 2 of the onesies, but the 3rd one I think is a little.... cheesy-ish. No offense if your child is sporting this. I just look at it and think, "Duh. He weighs 10 lbs... clearly he was born in 2011." 

So I decided that I'd spruce it up a little. 

So you may be asking, "If his name is Langdon, why in the world did you make it say DiDi?"  

In EA-ian, "Little Brother" is DiDi. Over here, everyone refers to everyone relationally- kids call me JieJie {older sister} or AiYi {Auntie} all the time. I call little girls MeiMei {little sister} and older ladies NaiNai {grandmother}. So it isn't uncommon for me to see a little boy and say, "NiHaoXiaoDiDi!" {Hello Little Little Brother!} just go with the grammar there. 

So as soon as they found out that they were having a boy, we all called the new baby "the DiDi"- since he has a GeGe {older brother}. Confused enough yet? {I went with "DiDi" instead of the actual characters: 弟弟。Might not be as easy to cut out and embroider} 

SO... I wanted to make him a special EA-ian "Little Brother" Onesie. 

I bought 2 different patterns of polka dot fabric at JoAnn's while I was home. I used this navy, green, and grey fabric to make a little "name plate" or background to cover the old embroidery. 

I fused the Heat and Bond to a little piece of brown and white polkadot fabric, and then cut the letters out. I ironed them to the bigger piece of fabric. 

Then I used yellow embroidery floss to line the edges of the letters. I wish I would have used a thinner floss, but that's okay. 

Then I fused the Heat and Bond to the back of the bigger piece of fabric, and ironed it onto the onesie. 

Finally, I lined the outside edge with the same floss. 

Ta-Da. 

The "DiDi" looked pretty darn cute in it too. 

Too bad he grew way too fast for me to even get a picture of him in it. Oh well, hopefully someone else will have a DiDi someday and can wear it once before they get too big too. 

Joyfully {Heat &} Bonding,

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Making Ricotta Cheese & Other Adventures in Italian Cooking

So my cooking skills have improved significantly since moving over here. I think I have mentioned that before we came, my friend Ash {the mast chef herself} told me that she didn't know how to cook until she moved over here {8-ish years ago}. 

I really begin to believe it more and more everyday.

 I have gone from hamburger helper and stouffers to cooking from scratch. 

After 4 or 5 tries, I have now mastered the art of making my own ricotta cheese from scratch. 

I took a few recipes that I found online as well as the advice of others, and tried a little something different from each every time and have my own little version now. I would highly recommend making your own the next time you make anything that needs it. Making it has to be a whole lot cheaper than buying it.  You only need milk, white vinegar (lemon juice works too), and something to act as a cheese cloth. 

So here it is: 

I start with about 6-8ish cups of milk {for us over here its about 1ish box of milk}. This makes about 2-ish cups of ricotta. Trust me "ish" works well here. 

First, Scald the milk.... meaning stare at it and just before it starts to boil, when its just beginning to move a little bit, take it off the heat. If it starts to boil, you've gone too far. The curds will be really small, and the amount of ricotta you end up with will be significantly less. 

Right when you take it off the heat, begin stirring in the white vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time. 

For me, the first tablespoon doesn't do anything... just keep stirring. 

Somewhere between 2 and 3 tablespoons (depending on how much milk you are using), the curds and whey seem to magically separate. 

It is as this point that I always begin to recite little miss muffit.... not kidding. Every time its stuck in my head for the next few hours.... because when else have you ever heard anyone talk about curds and whey? 

Once it starts to separate, you can stop adding the vinegar. Its never taken me more than 3, and the most milk I've started with is 8 cups. Again, the milk is VERY different here so it might be different with non ultra-pastruized milk in the states. 

Then I just let it sit there for a while and cool off completely. Some websites say to let it sit for up to 24 hours... I say that 1.5- 2 hours is plenty. Plus your kitchen is now gonna stink a little... and who wants their kitchen to smell like vinegar and sour milk for 24 hours? 

After it has cooled, you need to separate the curds and whey. First I carefully pour a lot of the excess liquid off in the sink. Then I line a colander that is sitting in a bigger bowl with a cheese cloth. I'm pretty sure you don't have to have cheese cloth- any thin cloth that could strain in this way would work. 

Again, different places online say to let it sit overnight. I say that it isn't going to strain anymore than it does in 2 hours.

Half way-ish through, I kind of CAREFULLY stir it, lifting it up a little to let more liquid through. I also dump out the liquid in the bowl at this point and then set the colander back in. Does that make sense? I hope so. 

Once its strained as strained as its gonna be, you have ricotta! And apparently cottage cheese too. You make it the same way. 

For lasagna, I stir in an egg, as well as a little dried parsley and oregano until it looks a little like this:

It makes this SUPER tasty lasagna. 

Thanks to Jamie bringing me a large box of lasagna noodles when she came to visit in March, I have been able to make several batches. 

Peace out Stouffers. 

There's a new chef in town. Who makes her own ricotta from scratch.

A couple of weeks ago I took it a little further and made beef and cheese manicotti. 

I mixed the ricotta with parm, mozzarella, ground beef (that had been sautéed with onion and a tiny bit of very minced garlic), parsley, and a tiny dash of garlic powder. 

yum.yum.yum. 

Speaking of italian food with mozzarella.....

I bought a big block of mozzarella at the wholesale market here {please don't picture costco or sam's}, that needed to be shredded and frozen. The thought of shredding it by hand with a shredder seems.... horribly daunting and monotonous. 

BUT have no fear, Ash comes through again with her food processor that has a cheese grater attachment. 

Take what took 10 minutes to shred and do it in 10 seconds.... yes PLEASE. 

14 bags of shredded mozzarella in my freezer. i'm one happy girl.  

hooray for cooking from scratch in a foreign country. 

Joyfully Cooking LOTS of Italian,

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Lions, Tigers & Bears... Our Trip to the Animal Park

A few weekends ago we went with some friends to the Animal Park in our city. What's the difference in an animal park and zoo might you ask? As the following video and picture will learn... we're pretty sure it's the "closeness" in interaction that you have with the {very large & deadly} animals and ability to feed them lots of things.  

Like this large white tiger...

{please enjoy this quick clip of the scariness of his roar}

Are there zoos in America where you can put raw meat on a stick and stick it through a fence like 5 feet in front of you to a hungry tiger who jumps over your head? Maybe... but I've never been to a zoo in America where the "large game" aren't in cages behind glass like 20 feet away. 

Off to feed more animals.

Doesn't it look like they could just jump over that little wall? 

There's a large trench in between them and the wall. 

But he looks ready to eat Grady. So instead he decided he's feel them some carrots. 

Ready with arms wide open. 

Onto the primates. There were practically every species of monkeys there. But these were my favorite. 

Just doin a little pickin. 

Every time you turn around, there's an opportunity to pay money to hold an animal and have your picture taken with it. I'm not sure who's more scared here- Anna or the monkey. 

These guys got pretty pumped when they found out that you can hold a {not so small} baby tiger. 

Adam threw his money at the lady in 2 seconds in order and practically scooped the little guy up. 

He tried his "whispering" skills on him...

But clearly the kitty wasn't amused. 

Off to the elephant show! This was the 3rd one of these I've seen in this country...

but I haven't been to one with the elephant lover herself. Its like her happy place. 

Before the show starts you can buy cups of carrots to feed them. This little guy was pretty cute. 

Once the show was underway, these guys went to work entertaining. 

Walking on balance beams, 

Oooo threw a little handstand in there! 

Did you know they can sit like people? 

And play soccer!? 

mad skills. 

Adam and Hannah volunteered to be in the show {risky move as my friend Jesse proved at this elephant show in 2008}. 

But the elephant just put hats on them and gave them flowers. 

Pretty entertaining. 

Grady isn't huge on loud noises right now, so he stood next to me like this the whole show because the PA system was so loud. 

After the show, they let you come out for photo ops with the stars. 

To add to her collection. 

Had to squeeze in a few cute baby shots. How precious is this little angel?

And my little butter bean with a double chin. He's the cutest. 

Quick stop for our picnic lunch we brought along. 

There were fun animals everywhere...

camels...

leopards...

emus and ostriches...

little red pandas...

zebras...

beautiful peacocks...

{they really are such gorgeous animals}

lions....

....and among many more fascinating animals were more tigers. 

Who provided more entertainment. 

Now please don't judge me or anyone with me for this frightening sight... I'm simply the photographer. But can you imagine being this POOR chicken who is being used to lure the tiger as bait to jump? Oh have mercy and a heart attack. Then they just set him back on that grate to stare at his fate a little more. 

These guys can jump pretty stinkin high. Cute Grady said, "Mommy, I want that tiger to jump on his tail like tigger!" 

Somehow I think these guys aren't as cute, cuddly, and friendly as tigger is though. 

And before you leave the tiger area, you can buy some tiger pee in a water bottle. Yes TIGER PEE. 

This says:

LaoHuNiao: 40 yuan/ping

Tiger Pee: 40 yuan a bottle. 

So just in case you're interested you can buy some fresh tiger pee for a mere $6.30. 

Strange enough. 

Onto the STAR of the EAian animal park.....

the PANDAS! 

He REALLY wanted to come give adam a hug.... 

But was willing to settle for a photo op. 

Cute little guy. 

Once we'd made the rounds, our chariot awaited us at the entrance. This is how we ride in style over here. Our driver friend is a local taxi driver, but is always willing to grab his van and tote us around instead. Stylin and profiling. 

I thoroughly enjoyed our day at the animal park. In my opinion, the only animal missing was a giraffe. They are kinda my fave. All in all though, fantastic entertainment at the animal park.

Joyfully Entertained,