Family Fridays: Week in Pictures

Aaron reading Thomas books to Andrew

Qiqi comes to play

Friends over

Chocolate boy Jr. returns

Andrew "doing" dishes

Aaron beating his record for hanging up laundry

Easy Chocolate Truffles

I love chocolate ganache. The extremely simple combination of good dark chocolate and real cream taste pure and elegant. These chocolate ganache truffles are quite easy. I found this method and ratio of chocolate to cream to work the best for shaping into balls. It doesn't melt all over your hands, but is still soft and pliable. These are great for a party, gift, or anytime.

Homemade Chocolate Ganache Truffle Recipe

• 8 oz chocolate chopped or chips (use whatever % of cacao that you prefer to eat plain because there is no additional sweetener in this recipe, I used half 62% dark chocolate chopped and half semisweet chocolate chips, and we all really liked them)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• cocoa powder or chocolate for covering the truffles

1. Chop the chocolate and place in a heat safe mixing bowl.
2. In a saucepan, heat the cream to just simmering, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Once the edges begin to bubble, pour over chocolate.
3. Let is sit a few minutes so the chocolate begins to melt, and then stir until well combined and smooth.
4. Chill in the refrigerator a few hours or over night.
5. When the mixture is very firm, but still pliable, scoop out rounded teaspoons full, and use your clean hands to roll them into round balls.
6. At this point, you can either roll them in cocoa powder right away, or return to the fridge or freezer to chill a little more before dipping them in melted chocolate.
7. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 dozen. 

Mandarin Mondays: Spring (春天)

Spring (chūn tiān, 春天) is beginning in the Spring City of Kunming, and the trees in our apartment complex are gorgeous.

Family Fridays: Yes Boy

This past week, Andrew has started saying "yes" a lot. It is really cute when Andrew says "ye-es." He still says "no" a whole lot, but maybe this is a start in lessening the negativity of this little two-year-old.

Mandarin Mondays: Now (现在)

I recently resumed Mandarin lessons with my tutor. During my last Mandarin lesson my tutor reviewed time words and phrases such as "what time is it now" (xiàn zài jǐ diǎn, 现在几点)

We started class (shàng kè, 上课) in the morning (shàng wǔ, 上午) and finished class (xià kè, 下课) before afternoon (xià wǔ, 下午).

My tutor is a very good teacher. She is having me practice pronunciation and tones a lot right now too. She says it can be hard when you're learning, but I'll thank her later.

Family Fridays: Last Friday's Trip to the Zoo

Last week, my husband had a friend from elementary come to visit for the week. We we're a little busy last week, but here are a few pictures from Friday's trip to the zoo.

DIY Light and Fluffy Pancakes

This a a more traditional pancake recipe than the hearty pancake recipe. While not quite as nutritious, these taste great and are fun to make for special occasions or company. I made them in heart shapes with strawberry sauce for Valentine's Day.

Homemade Fluffy Pancake Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup milk (or buttermilk)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and stir until smooth.
2. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto a hot greased griddle.
3. Cook until underside is brown. Flip over, and cook until the other side is brown. 
4. To make heart shapes I first tried making heart shapes right on the griddle, but found it easier to cut a heart out of the middle of a large pancake. I really like how the pancake with the heart cut out of the middle looks with the hole filled in with strawberry syrup, very festive.

This recipe makes enough for 1–2 adults, but this basic ratio is easily doubled, quadrupled, or more. Serve warm with homemade butter, pancake syrup, spiced syrup, strawberry syrup, orange marmalade, lemon marmalade, or pumpkin butter for a really special treat.

DIY Strawberry Sauce

I love that strawberries are in season here now. This is the simple pureed strawberry sauce I made for breakfast for Valentine's day breakfast this year. But it would be a sweet treat any time of the year.

Homemade Strawberry Sauce Recipe

• Four cups hulled strawberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

1. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Transfer strawberry puree to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
3. Once the sauce has boiled and thickened slightly turn off heat. Serve warm, or refrigerate for later use.

This was a great topping for fluffy heart shaped pancakes.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This is a easy, healthy treat that blends up really fast.

Homemade Strawberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 cup strawberries
• 3 peeled bananas
• 2 cups milk or yogurt
• 2 Tbsp sugar or honey (more or less to taste)

Put all ingredients in the blender, put the lid on of course, and blend until smooth.

Family Fridays: Say Cheese

This past week, Nate and I made our first attempt at making mozzarella at home. At first, it seemed like every was going really well, but in the end we were only able to get the milk to turn into crumbly ricotta cheese. It was nothing like stretched mozzarella should be. I think that the citric acid and the rennet we used worked as they were supposed to, but the "fresh" milk here in China seems to have been pasteurized at too high of a temperature to use it for making mozzarella. We may try again using powdered milk or try to find a cow. Oh well, it was still a fun project to try to do as a couple.

Easy Valentine's Day Luminaries

This is the same idea as the candle luminaries I made for Christmas. I simply changed the colors and added a beaded heart ornament. Simple and cute!

DIY Death By Chocolate

This is an amazing chocolate dessert that has been around a while, and goes by many different names. Whatever you call it though, it is amazing and really versatile. You can use all mixes and cool whip for a quick easy dessert or make everything from scratch to have the most control over taste and ingredients. You can vary the additions and change the flavor quite a bit. If you really don't even like chocolate (I don't know how that could be possible, but I hear some people don't), you could even just use the trifle idea and layer a different flavor of cake and pudding to create a whole new dessert. This dessert makes a lot, so it is great for company, and leftovers keep well in the fridge too, if you are only serving a couple. This would make a good Valentine's dessert for a chocolate lover.

Homemade Death By Chocolate Dessert Recipe

• 9x13 pan of chocolate cake or brownies
• 4 cups of chocolate pudding
• 1–2 small packages cool whip or 1–2 cups heavy whipping cream (whipped)
• 1–2 cups chocolate chips (or crushed candy bars)
• extra additions like chopped nuts or fruit (optional)

1. Prepare the cake and pudding according to package or recipe instructions and allow to cool. Whip the whipping cream or thaw the cool whip.
2. Select a very large serving bowl. If you have a trifle bowl, this dessert looks quite elegant in one. But any other glass or ceramic bowl works fine also. Alternately, you can layer these desserts individually in small bowls, glasses, or jars. Using stemmed glassware for individual portions is another elegant look.
3. Cut cake into chunks.
4. Starting with the cake layer ingredients in order, creating three layers, ending with a smooth layer of whipped cream with chocolate chips or other additions sprinkled on top.
5. Refrigerate until you wish to serve it and any leftovers.

Easy Heart Wreath (No Hot Glue Required)

I've seen a lot of cute Valentine's wreaths on the internet, but most of them require the use of a hot glue gun, which I don't have. So I came up with a different way to make a tissue paper heart wreath, without any hot glue.

Easy Tissue Paper Heart or Heart Wreath

• thin cardboard
• pink or red tissue paper
• scissors
• hole punch
• ribbon (optional)

1. Cut the thin cardboard into a heart shape whatever size you like. If you want a wreath, cut a heart shape out of the middle of the larger heart.
2. Use the hole punch to bunch holes all over the heart shaped cardboard, about 1–2 inches apart.
3. Cut 3–5 inch squares of tissue paper.
4. Take a square of tissue paper and twist it a little in the middle and stick in one of the holes. Repeat until the whole heart is covered with fluffy tufts of tissue paper.
5. You can add a ribbon if you like for hanging on the wall.