Christmas Eve Fun

Today, we were invited to a coffee shop that was having a Christmas party. It wasn't something we were expecting to do, but it turned out to be lots of fun. The kids got to decorate cookies, get balloon animals, and watch movies. Andrew got a snowman painted on his face. I got an awesome peppermint mocha. And we all got to play games and sing songs with friends.

Family Fridays: Andrew is Two Years Old

Andrew officially turned two years old on Sunday. He is terrific and trying at the same time. He is definitely way ahead in everything to do with physical abilities; trying to keep up with big brother is highly motivating to him. Andrew is trying hard to run and jump like Aaron. He can throw and hit with about the same accuracy as his older brother. He is also meticulous with fine motor skills and already has an excellent pencil grip. He can also use a fork and spoon really well, but that isn’t surprising given his love for food.

Andrew is recently becoming able to sit still nicely for short periods of time and is starting to get interested in learning. He is talking more and more and using short sentences, and of course his favorite word is "no-no." He has learned a lot of numbers and letters lately and seems to be on the cusp of reading. He just surprised mommy by spelling "daddy" with 4/5 letters correct.
He is a sturdy young man at 28 pounds and 34 inches tall, which is 50th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height. He and his brother seem like they compete for who can eat more of certain foods, like eggs and noodles.

We went out to dinner at KFC a few days early, so we could get the last of the Thomas characters (wouldn't want to miss out on Harold) in the happy meals for the boys from Grandma and Grandpa. So it was a quiet day at home for Andrew’s birthday, but it provided more than enough excitement. Waking up to balloons and Pooh characters around, talking to grandparents on Skype, opening presents, and a singing and fire shooting flower candle on a Piglet cake (see below), made Andrew so excited he couldn’t possibly nap and barely ate anything all day.

Mandarin Mondays: 火锅

Someone told my mom that when they were in Kunming visiting us, they should try the hot pot (huǒ guō, 火锅) with mushrooms (mó gu, 蘑菇), because mushrooms are a signature food of Yunnan. So after Nate and I made a rather amusing attempt of trying to ask a hot pot restaurant for its menu or find out pricing, and it actually looked pretty reasonable, we decided to go there for dinner one night. At this restaurant, you go up and pick plates of want you want to put into the boiling pot of broth that is built into your table. We decided on mushrooms, potatoes (tǔ dòu, 土豆 or, as they say in Kunming, yángyù, 洋芋), noodles (miàn tiáo, 面条), beef (niú ròu, 牛肉), and cauliflower (cài huā, 菜花). We decided to pass on the brain (nǎo, 脑) and chicken feet (jī zhuǎ, 鸡爪). It was the best hot pot that any of us had ever had. We were glad that this time we were the ones choosing the food that went it and therefore didn’t have fish head or cow hip added to the soup.

DIY Amazingly Delicious, No Corn Syrup, Salted Caramels

So, I've told you just how crazy I am about good caramel. Well I was eating a spoonful of this amazing sauce and noticing that the jar was soon going to be gone. I began to think to myself that this year I would try to make chewy salted caramel candy at Christmastime. Some for me to enjoy and (so I don't eat it all in one sitting) some to give away as gifts. These caramels make great gifts and stocking stuffers. So I began searching through tons of recipes for caramel online, but I only found two recipes that didn't use corn syrup. I too think that caramel is best when the sugar is caramelized separately before any other ingredients are added. But the honey isn't great here though, and I have almost as much trouble caramelizing anything but pure white sugar by itself as I do baking caramel corn. I almost always end up with burnt sugar instead of caramelize sugar, which is not nearly as tasty or desirable. So mixing it with brown sugar seems like a recipe for failure for me personally. So I took some of this process and came up with my own recipe, with just 4 ingredients. I guess it could be 3 if you don't like salt in your caramel, but just a little sea salt makes the flavors so much better that you really should consider adding it. There are more pictures of melting sugar and adding ingredients to it in these two posts.

Homemade No Corn Syrup Salted Caramel

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp) butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Sea salt to taste

Use caution when working with boiling sugar and caramel so you don't burn yourself.

1. Begin by placing sugar in a medium to large saucepan over low heat. You need a bigger saucepan than the amount of ingredients because the caramelized sugar will bubble and foam up a lot when you add the butter and cream, and you don't want to get burned.
2. Melt all of the sugar, completely stirring and swirling the pot as necessary to keep it from burning. Be aware than too much stirring can make the final product a little lumpy.
3. Once all of the sugar is melted, add the butter carefully, and stir to combine. Some of the caramel may harden and seize, but just keep stirring it over low heat until it melts into liquid again.
4. Then add the cream a little at a time because this is when the mixture will really bubble up. The caramel will harden again, but just keep stirring over low heat until it melts. Add sea salt to taste, but don't taste the syrup without cooling a tiny bit in cold water first; you'll get a really bad burn.
5. Now, you just need to cook this mixture until it reaches hard ball stage on a candy thermometer (250-266 F at sea level with an accurate thermometer) or by using the cold water method where you drop a small amount of the syrup into cold water to see if it forms a ball that depresses slightly when taken out and squeezed.
6. Now, you can pour this mixture into an 8x8 silicone baking pan or one lined with a silpat (or possibly even parchment paper), and allow it to cool.
7. Cut into squares or desired pieces, and wrap individually with parchment paper or plastic wrap.

Makes 64 one inch square caramels.

DIY Amazingly Delicious, No Corn Syrup, Caramel Sauce

I absolutely love really good, homemade caramel. Next to chocolate, it is probably my favorite flavor sweet; although really good coffee is definitely up there too. But there is something about homemade caramel that is so different than store bought. I think it is the pure caramelized sugar, butter, and cream without anything else added that makes it so good. Anyway, this caramel sauce is incredibly amazing. It is great on apple pie, on or in ice cream, on in brownies, in coffee, or just eaten with a spoon. This sauce would make a great gift in an ice cream sundae kit, paired with another dessert or coffee, or a great stocking stuffer or hostess gift all by itself.

Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp) butter
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Begin by placing sugar in a medium to large saucepan over low heat. Even though this recipe only makes about 1 pint of sauce altogether, you need a much bigger saucepan because the caramelized sugar will bubble and foam up a lot when you add the butter and cream, and you don't want to get burned.
2. Melt all of the sugar completely, stirring and swirling the pot as necessary to keep it from burning. Be aware that too much stirring can make the final product a little lumpy.
3. Once all of the sugar is melted, add the butter carefully and stir to combine. Some of the caramel may harden and seize, but if you just keep stirring it over low heat, it will melt into liquid again.
4. Then add the cream a little at a time because this is when the mixture will really bubble up. The caramel will harden again, but just keep stirring over low heat until it melts. Cook and stir until the mixture is well combined, and then turn off heat, and allow to cool. Cooking down the mixture a long time will result in wonderful chewy caramel candy, but if you are looking for sauce, you may not find that quite as wonderful.
5. Pour over your favorite dessert or into a glass jar, and refrigerate for later.

DIY Christmas Gift Ideas: Bubble Bath

I was having trouble thinking of things to make Andrew for his birthday, but I thought he would like some new things for bath time. So when I came across this blog post where Laura is having the same dilemma for a little bit older son, I thought this was a perfect idea. The basic recipe requires very few ingredients, although you can customize it more with additional scents and colors if you like. I put a sticker on the plastic bottle to make it Pooh-themed to match our soon-to-be two-year-old's birthday party theme, but you could easily make this gift appropriate for an adult too, simply but making the presentation more elegant. This would make a great inexpensive gift or stocking stuffer for a wide variety of people.

Homemade Bubble Bath Recipe

• 1/2 cup shampoo
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• few drops essential oils (optional)
• few drops food coloring (optional)

Mix the shampoo, water, and salt together in a bowl (or in the bottle) until the mixture thickens together. Add any extra essential oils or food coloring if desired.

Mandarin Mondays: 饺子

While my parents were here, we took them out for some of our favorite Chinese food: jiǎo zi (饺子) and bāo zi (包子). Jiǎo zi is usually translated as "dumpling," but they are more like our meat filled ravioli. They can be boiled, fried, or steamed. Traditionally, you can dip them in vinegar (cù, 醋), soy sauce (jiàng yóu, 酱油), or hot pepper sauce(là jiāo jiàng, 辣椒酱). Bāo zi (包子) are steamed buns that can be filled with meat (ròu, 肉), vegetables (shū cài, 蔬菜), or sugar (táng, 糖). Everyone had fun practicing using their chopsticks (kuài zi, 筷子) to eat them with. The boys are getting better and better at it.

DIY Christmas Decorations: Easy, Low Sew, Pocket Advent Calendar

I realize this is a little late for anyone to be making advent calendars this year, but I made mine a couple days late, and we've been enjoying it ever since then. I simply cut 4 inch squares out of a variety of green fabrics and one brown square for the trunk (Christmas Day). I arranged them in a pattern to resemble a Christmas Tree and hand sewed them on. I have been embracing frayed edges and uneven stitching in our holiday decorations, but you could finish these much nicer if you prefer. I then used fabric paint to paint on 1–25 for the days of the month, but you could embroider, sew on number beads or decals, iron number transfers on, or even just write them on with a sharpie.

The choice of fabrics and how you do your numbers could totally change the look of this calender for any decor.

My husband and I are working on writing a Jesse Tree devotional book for our family this year and I am putting each day's symbol ornament in the pocket for that day. But you could put treats, a verse, a family activity, or even an act of service in each pocket for other ways to celebrate the season. The boys really like our advent calendar, especially because we combine it with a treat in their Christmas stockings as we count down the days to Christmas.

DIY No-Bake, No Corn Syrup Crunchy Caramel Corn

I really like caramel corn, but I am really horrible at baking it. Somehow I always managed to burn at least part of the batch. I am not really sure how, but some always burns. So after learning how to make simple hard caramel candy, I got to thinking...what if I could make caramel corn using this caramel? I tried it yesterday, and it worked great. No baking and minimal ingredients required. It is the easiest way I have ever tried or seen to make caramel corn. The only trick is to make sure to spread the popcorn out well, drizzle the sauce over it, and then stir and spread it really fast so it doesn't all clump together when it hardens.

Homemade No-Bake, No Corn Syrup Caramel Corn Recipe

• 6-8 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup sugar
• Salt if desired

1. Pop the popcorn using your preferred method. I pop mine in sunflower oil on the stove top and then sprinkle on a small amount of salt.
2. Spread popcorn out in non-stick baking dish (like silicone) or in a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or buttered (or oiled) parchment paper.
3. Melt the sugar in a small saucepan using the method described here.
4. Once all of the sugar is entirely melted and caramelized, pour over the popcorn and stir quickly to coat. You can add even more salt now if you like. Let cool and you're done!
5. Eat once cool, store in sealed containers, or package it up for gift giving.

DIY Christmas Decorations: Pine Cone Window Treatments

When we moved around the world by airplane, we decided not to pack non-essentials, like our Christmas decorations. So this year, I have been having fun making our own Christmas decorations with things we already have, or found, and things from nature. My goal is to have a few simple beautiful Christmas decorations to decorate our house with for free. We have a great big curved window in the front of our living room that I thought I try to decorate with some pine cones Nate and Aaron gathered for me.

Homemade Pine Cone Window Treatments

• Pine cones
• Thread or fishing line

Simply cut lengths of thread or fishing line, tie one end to the pine cone, and then tie the other end to your curtain rod or tape it to the wall. Vary the height of the pine cones for visual interest.

I really like how the pine cones look, simple and beautiful.