Pumpkin Pie II

Who says you have to do it from scratch? Learning to bake for adults or children can be taken in baby steps. My son and I have decided to learn and I mean really learn how to make pumpkin pie. We’ve decided to take it in levels:

1. Purchased pie
2. Frozen crust, canned pie filling (not puree) & spray whipped cream
3. Frozen crust, canned pumpkin puree & cool whip
4. Refrigerated rolled pie crust, canned puree & true whipped cream
5. Crust from scratch, canned puree & spiced true whipped cream
6. Crust from scratch, fresh pumpkin & spiced true whipped cream

I’m starting these entries with pie #2 as no one needs to read about a purchased pie. The taste was pretty good and we barely had to do a thing. We just followed the recipe on the Libby’s can. Seth enjoyed shaking the can of condensed milk. I opened the cans & cracked the eggs so Seth could pour them all together. He gave it a stir and I convinced him to let me have a go “for good measure”. We popped it in the oven and the waiting began. I quickly realized our timing was off. I hadn’t read the bottom line stating it would need to cool on a wire rack for 3 hours after it comes out! This would be way after bed time and Seth was none too happy. Next time we’ll bake in the morning or afternoon to avoid this problem. The following day we set to work with the whipped cream. Seth really wanted a Santa face on the pie so we practiced on a plate. While that was a heck of a lot of fun he finally settled on a heart for Valentine’s Day.

Will we learn to make the perfect pumpkin pie by next Thanksgiving? Stay tuned for another exciting Pumpkin Pie installment soon!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Pile of tissue paper hearts

Despite all you naysayers, Valentine’s Day is what you make of it. Yes, it can be romantic, but it can simply be sweet as well. It’s a time to use pink and hearts to excess, which is so un-me. It is a time to let friends know you care. And it’s especially endearing to celebrate it with children.

As my oldest is now three I’m also creating future expectations with every holiday. My first goal is to avoid the commercial side of the spectrum and focus on simple homemade fun. My second is to not get carried away.

Last year we just put up hearts on the windows made out of construction paper decorated with crayon and glitter glue. This year I decided to go for home made Valentines. After several failed attempts we finally settled on our card design. I was inspired by this project noted by The Artful Parent, who in turn got it from the book Scribble Art by MaryAnn Kohls. We created faux stained glass out of wax paper, liquid starch and tissue paper hearts left over from one of the said failed projects. We then cut out sections and glued them onto cards I had precut & folded.

Making “stained glass”

Seth really enjoyed painting with the starch but didn’t have enough interest to create enough for both his cards and his baby sister’s so I finished up. Once dry I cut down the larger sheets to pieces a little smaller than our cards. Seth helped glue them to the cards; green for him, pink for Eleanor. He also colored, with green crayon of course, on the inside of each of his cards. I’m very happy with the results. So happy in fact, that I plan on doing the project again for actual window decorations similar to the one on The Artful Parent.

The good & the bad

Our Chinese lanterns blowing in the wind

The weekend was filled with activities. Some I could have done with out, others I will cherish.

• Eleanor and I both have colds, boo.
• Temperatures plummeted below zero so we elected not to stand outside and watch a live dragon dance, instead watching a few on YouTube like this and this. Truly amazing.
• Seth & I made Chinese lanterns, which Seth insisted must be hung outside.
• Attempts at home made valentines produced less than stellar results. Seth insisted that he didn’t know how to draw valentines and couldn’t even be persuaded to scribble in red. I never push art so I dropped it for now.
• I tried a technique for valentines involving painting paper with vinegar, laying down tissue paper hearts which are removed after drying. Supposedly they will leave the tissue paper color behind. Mine did not.
• We then moved on to painting. I tried to mix up some 30+ year old powdered tempera. I had a devil of a time getting the powder & water to mix even after adding dish soap. Worse yet, when the paint dried the color just flaked off on the ground. Pooh. Is it because the powder was so old or am I doing something wrong. Any suggestions?
• We did get to the Riverview for our Choo Choo Bob’s movie event. My favorite clip was a short involving model trains & dinosaurs. The place was packed full of preschoolers & their parents. The best part was during a shot of a man walking down a railroad when a 2 or 3 year old from the audience shouted out - “Look, it’s Johny Cash!” Sure enough, it was.
• I also got in quite a bit of knitting, finishing off a dress for my daughter. Or so I thought. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit over her head!!!!! There are two astonishing things about this: 1) I did this same thing with a sweater for my son and 2) I tried it on her just a couple weeks ago and it fit then. Apparently her head grew! Argh!!

Chinese New Years

Ni hao! (Hello)

Thursday is the Chinese New Year. Although I’m not Chinese I like to celebrate other cultures, exposing myself and my children to them when I can. I plan to start off the day giving each of my children a dollar in a red envelope; a traditional token from parents & grandparents. Seth is planning on wearing this cute outfit my friend, Nga brought him back from Vietnam.

I then plan to do a little origami from the origami-a-day calendar my sis, Shannon gave me for Christmas. I adore this calendar. It’s an excellent way to start my day. I keep it on my desk at work and each day there is a new little creation sitting next to it. I’m hoping to conclude the day by taking the family out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

Take a moment today to do a little origami in celebration of Chinese New Years. Although true origami paper is fun to work with, any paper will do. Even a sheet cut out of an old magazine works. The more detailed the design, the thinner the paper you’ll want. Try one of these simple designs with any paper you’ve got lying around:

• A banger (noise maker)
• A crane
• A masu box made from a Post-it note
• A ring made out of a dollar bill

Gong Xi Fa Chai!