Travel Toy Swap

I finally finished my latest Bits of Goodness swap item. It's a fabric book for the Travel Toy Swap. I think each one took me 3-5 hours. It's been a lot of work. Each one has a little wooden figure that can travel through the pages. He can pack his teddy bear in the bag, go for a ride in the car, swim in the ocean, eat lunch & cozy up in bed.

(I meant to post this a while ago...)

The Grill

This Mother's day I asked for a Grill & I got something even nicer than I expected! It has three burners (which apparently is going to be awesome once I really figure out how to grill) and lots of space for food. We had some friends over for kabobs the other night and I bought tofu for our veggie friends who decided not to have it. So tonight I tried a new recipe with tofu (and tested the soy allergy) and it was absolutely awesome. Here is a rough estimate of what I did:

Grilled Tofu Peanut Satay
Tofu

Marinade:
Olive oil
ground ginger
brown sugar
red wine vinegar
cumin
coriander
Peanut butter (2 Tbsp?)
salt

Peanut Sauce (adapted from here: http://www.phoo-d.com/2010/01/shrimp-and-tofu-satay.html)

3/4 cup coconut milk (light is fine)

6 Tbsp peanut butter

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1. Drain Tofu & cut into 6 'fingers'
2. Marinade in mix above
3. Grill
4. Prepare sauce by mixing and letting sit
5. Dip grilled Tofu in sauce.

I also served my favorite bean & corn recipe that I always forget about: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/558

May 2010 Play Food Craft Exchange

May 2010 Play Food Craft Exchange
Originally uploaded by DDN and friends

Here is what I made for my second set for the exchange. It's carrots, parsnips & potatoes. I will update with the rest of the exchange photos soon.

The front garden

Pat has been working incredibly hard to help me with the improvement of the front garden. I am pretty excited about how things have turned out. Eventually we want to put something with color in the front & I plan to put a whole bunch of bulbs in come fall.
Before (Nov 2009):

After (May 2010):

Mayday

A few days late... just thought I'd share the mayday celebration we had with some NAMI friends. We were rained out on the 1st so we celebrated on the 3rd which turned out to be the perfect day for an outdoor celebration.

Yummy mexican meal

Today is cinco de mayo and despite the fact that I have no really good reason to celebrate it I thought I'd pull out some Mexican-ish recipes. Both of these turned out awesome

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas:
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/08/chicken-fajitas-in-crockpot-from.html

Cinnamon Treats (I didn't make jack-o-lantern faces in mine):
http://www.mexgrocer.com/348-jackolantern-cinnamon.html

Playfood Smores

playfood exchange 2010, smores
Originally uploaded by DDN and friends

Here are my smores for the upcoming NAMI exchange. I'm pretty excited about how they turned out. You can't tell in the picture, but the graham crackers are made of an upholstery fabric that has little dots on it (like the holes in graham crackers), the chocolate bar is cotton knit and I'm not quite sure of the marshmallows (all the fabrics are from Arts & Scraps). I think it might be some sort of wool, Goldie thinks it's fleece. I'll have to get some other opinions. But whatever it is, it's perfect for a play marshmallow.