Sushi

I was craving some sushi this week so I asked my friend Fumiko to teach me how to make it. I told Rog I would make him some for his birthday treat. Can I just say, there is nothing better than having real, home-made sushi created by a Japanese food artist? Fumi was super patient (she didn't get upset when I messed up the rice and she even fixed it without me having to make another batch) and a great teacher. Sarah had a great time playing with Fumi's boy Marshall. Rog was kind enough to take a few pictures of the process.

How to make a sushi roll in pictures:


* You cover most of the nori with rice, but make sure you leave an inch at the top of the nori so you can roll it more easily.






This is what they look like before we "beautified" them. We cut off the raw edges (and of course ate that too) for presentation. Each roll made 8 sushi pieces.



And for those of you who want to make them on your own, here's the recipe:

Rice Mixture:
6 c. cal-rose rice (short-grain)
6 c. water
Cook in rice cooker until done.

In small bowl mix (it is important to mix this first before adding to rice)
2/3 c. Mizkan rice vinegar
2/3 c. sugar
4 tsp. salt

When rice is done, put rice in large bowl and stir in vinegar mixture. Rice should be super sticky!

To make sushi rolls you will need
1 pkg of toasted nori (seaweed - ours had 10 sheets)
1 bamboo mat

Filling: (this is what we used)
Japanese Cucumbers
Ooba (Aojiso) - It's an herb that tastes minty.
Radishoots - for a subtle taste of radish.
*Salmon
*Tuna
Avocado
Egg (Fumi showed me how to make crepe-like eggs rolled up. I doubt I could replicate it, but I have to say it was amazing!)

* Your fish needs to be sushi-grade. We bought ours in Japantown. You can make them vegetarian if sushi-grade fish is not available.

We made 10 rolls of sushi and had enough rice and fish left over to make the "other kind" of sushi. Just as an FYI. The 80 rolls and 15 sushi "bars" cost about $35 to make. And they were fresh and FANTASTIC!!!! Thanks Fumi! I think next time we will make Gyoza :)

Back to the Beach

We headed back to the beach to work on my photography skills. I'm really trying to work on keeping my subjects in focus while blurring the background. I'm still in the "take 200-300 pictures and 3-4 will be decent" phase. My friends Cyndi and Renato (aka Rhino) were my guinea pigs. I'm still working on Photoshop with those pics, but I did take a minute to edit some pics of my family.

We really have the best time at the beach together. It's going to be a bitter-sweet day when Rog returns to full-time employment. We love having daddy around!








Cyndi took our picture in front of the bridge. Gotta love wearing coats to the beach :)

Ava & Alexa

We love going to the Academy of Sciences with friends! Today we met up with my old co-worker Liz and her adorable daughters Ava and Alexa. Ava is just a few months younger than Sarah and Alexa turns one in a couple of weeks.

Ava and Sarah totally hit it off and renewed their friendship. I can't believe it's been a year since we've gotten together! Sarah showed Ava all of her favorites - the penguins, the fishies, the "utterflies" and of course the play room.





It was so fun to meet Alexa. I don't think I've met a happier baby. She literally had this smile the ENTIRE time we were out. Nap time? What? This girl just goes with the flow. So happy! (I left William at home for his nap since he wasn't feeling well. He'll just have to meet this heart breaker in a couple of weeks at her birthday party.)



Ava and Alexa gave Sarah an early birthday present. Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure and Princess Ariel jammies. They know our Sarah really well. She's in HEAVEN!


Thanks for the visit Liz. Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!

Princess Friends

Princess Tinkerbell and Princess Aurora. Such good friends.

Boxcar Children

Rain

We dusted off the WII today. It's been in storage for a year I think. Sarah LOVED playing outdoor adventure. She's really good at the kayaking game.



William got bored and went back to his favorite indoor past-time. He LOVES looking outside.

Sarahism

"I want else in the fridge"
also known as:
"I want something else to eat."

I love Photoshop!

I'm just getting started on Sarah's princess book. I found out how to take a signature and do the overlay here. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Photoshop!


PS Thanks for the Magic Eraser advice. I'll be going out in the rain to get one today.

Ugh.

I'm too tired to do a Google search. How do you get red crayon off white walls?

Beach Bums

We love having family time. Yesterday we headed to Baker Beach to run on the beach - and run away from the waves. We had a blast! It's been so fun to have Daddy around more.

Will is 14 Months

William has definitely done some growing up this past month. As soon as he turned 13 Months, he was all about the walking thing. And now he's quite the toddling boy. Note to self, I should probably get him walking on video ...

Will's favorite things these days are to unload, walk, eat, jabber, and anything outside. He likes other things too, but mostly those five.

He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to eat. This week, we discovered he likes to eat cucumbers. It's nice to know he'll eat veggies in addition to all the fruit he devours. (Roger calls him our bear cub). Actually, William isn't too picky on food and most of the time he's happy to eat Sarah's untouched plate in addition to his own. His favorite foods hands down are blueberries.

William tends to unload the play food basket several times a day. And sometimes he even puts some of the food back in. He LOVES "playing" with his big sister - or at least be right in the middle of whatever she's doing. Sometimes Sarah is even OK with her little brother "getting her stuff." I believe her exact phrase is, "She get my stuff." We're still working on pronouns. They do love to laugh together and "get" each other. William has figured out how to pull Sarah's hair. Mostly, it's just accidental, but sometimes I wonder ...

William has also discovered his voice this past month. At his 1-year appointment the doctor asked me if he was starting to say words. Um that would be no. William barely mumbled consonants and did his fair share of girly screaming. He now says, "uh-oh" and "Da-Da." He refuses to say "ma ma" but we get a lot of jabbering besides. He definitely has stories to tell.

This kid LOVES anything outside. Will can be quite content to stand at the window and watch the buses, cars, and trucks whiz by. Anytime the front door opens, he is now RUNNING to escape. He heads straight for the stairs. He used to start climbing up them, but now that he knows how to go down the stairs, that is his favorite thing to do. He loves toddling around in our lobby with Sarah. If they weren't so LOUD in their running around (and screaming at the top of their lungs) I'd probably even do it more often. At least our lobby and stairs gives us a little more "space."

Well, that's all for this month. We sure love our growing boy. His belly gets bigger and bigger each day. The only thing stopping him from eating more is his lack of teeth. He still just has the four.

OK really that's all folks. Until next time.

PT update

I still don't believe it myself, but we just got back from Costco and Sarah came back dry! She insisted on wearing her panties when to the store - despite my pleas for her to wear a pull-up. She did request that we bring her potty in the back of the van. (Good compromise). She used the potty before and after we went in the store. I'm still in utter shock, but happily surprised. Maybe I should return the pull-ups I just bought?

PS She earned her Cinderella polly-pocket doll for keeping dry. She was pretty excited.

Knuckles

I've been meaning to post William's knuckle crawl for months. Now that he's walking, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he completely gives up his knuckle crawl. I'm definitely going to miss it.

Here he is in all his glory:

Potty Training Diary

We've been potty training Sarah this week. Here's how it's gone:

Tuesday:
Four puppy puddles. Awesome. I almost threw in the towel, but Roger is a little more motivated than I am. The quest to remove the $40 Sarah diapers from our monthly bill starts today. We are using the bare-bottom method. Sarah went on her potty 3 times, including one poop! Wahoo. She got go-gurts and got to watch a show as rewards. While William was napping, Sarah and I went to Colma to pick up some potty incentives. (She wore a pull up). We picked out Pots and Pans for her new kitchen and a Belle tea set. (She calls them pee cups. Fitting, I know).

Wednesday:
Starts out pretty good. She LOVED picking out a pot or cup every time she goes to the potty. She did great - only a couple of accidents. One came at the end of the day when we tried panties (we had company over). She peed in them almost immediately. But really, she did great for the day.

Thursday:
I put together a sticker chart for going to the potty. (We're running out of teacups.) She gets a sticker every time she goes on the potty. And for every 5 stickers she gets to watch a 1/2 hour show. I did a grid where there are 5 empty spaces and a picture of one of her favorite "movies" in the 6th square. Sarah does great. She was accident free all morning and then she wore a pull up to the Academy of Sciences. I think we only had one accident all day. And she pooped in the potty again. I definitely can get used to this.

Friday:
No accidents today! Used a pullup when we went to playgroup. All other times, Sarah went pee-pee in the potty. Love, Love, Love it.

Saturday:
Tried panties again. Sarah peed in them almost immediately. Went back to the bare-bottom routine. She's doing so well with it. Even when we were doing baths this morning, she hopped out of the tub and went to the bathroom. And while she watched Tinkerbell she transferred from her chair to her potty to go pee-pee (This is even more HUGE than the bathtub potty time.) Sarah gets completely sucked into movies and forgets about all other needs. I am super proud of my little girl!