DIY Caramel Chips

I love really good caramel, preferably homemade with great ingredients.  It is probably only second to chocolate as my favorite flavors for desserts. This recipe is for hard caramel candy chips that are great in ice cream or brownies. I love how they get soft and gooey, but keep just a bit of crunch in both hot and cold recipes. I also like to just eat them as hard candy. With only one ingredient, this recipe couldn't get much simpler.

Homemade Caramel Candy Chips

• 1 cup sugar (or more or less depending on the amount of chips you want)

1. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper, or just get out a silicone baking pan to have ready nearby.
2. In a very clean and dry saucepan, begin heating the sugar, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.
3. Continue heating the sugar, stirring occasionally, until it is all melted and has turned amber in color. Stirring too frequently can result in lumpy caramel. However, stirring too little or heating too long can cause the caramel to scorch and burn. This is really not difficult, but you do have to keep a close eye on this recipe.
4. Once all of the sugar is melted and turned a beautiful amber, very carefully pour into prepared baking pan. Melted sugar is extremely hot so be careful not to burn yourself. Wearing oven mitts and a long sleeved shirt is a good precaution.
5. Spread out the melted sugar with a spatula to cover the entire bottom of the pan.
6. After the caramel has cooled and hardened, break it into pieces. You can use a mortar and pestle, rolling pin, meat tenderizer, or even your hands (if you are really determined) for this step.
7. Use in your favorite ice cream or baking recipe, or enjoy real caramel hard candy made in your own kitchen.

These would be great for additions to unique Christmas time treats!

Mandarin Mondays: 国庆节

Beautiful Country

This week, China is celebrating its National Day (guó qìng jié, 国庆节). The official National Day is October 1st, which signifies when the People's Republic of China was declared a nation on October 1st, 1949. However, National Day here is a much bigger countrywide celebration than America's Independence Day, and they celebrate for a whole week long. This is one of China's two Golden Weeks (huáng jīn zhōu, 黄金周), week long holidays. The other Golden Week is the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring festival (chūn jié, 春节).

During these Golden Weeks many, many people travel because it is the most time they get off in a row all year. So if you don't have to travel during these weeks, you may wish to stay home. Planes, trains, and buses will all likely be packed.

Much like America, traditional National Day celebrations include fireworks and concerts. In honor of National Day we are doing a China, or Middle Kingdom (zhōng guó, 中国), unit study for the month of October. I plan on sharing a few things we are learning about this fascinating country's history each Monday this month, so we can learn about it together.

Train Themed Preschool Activity: Let's Ride a Train

For our train unit, we did two fun activities where we pretended to ride trains. These were a big hit. Now the boys pretend to ride or drive trains on their own. Aaron even likes to make his own "tickets" out of small pieces of paper.

Train Themed Preschool Activity: Chair Train

For the first activity, I simply lined up three chairs near our big window. Right before we did this, I had the idea that the boys might like to have their own tickets and punch them. I quickly drew some 10 ride tickets and driver and conductor badges.

I hung a couple of laundry clips so the boys could clip their tickets to the seat in front of them. We took turns being the driver, the conductor, and the passenger. Since there were only three of us, we just had one of each at a time.

Conductor Aaron

Driver Andrew

The boys had lots of fun pretending to stop at different stations and choosing where to go next. Aaron also liked being the conductor and punching the tickets (with help) a lot.

Train Themed Preschool Activity: Box Train

Driving Thomas

We did the train activity another way by using milk boxes with pictures of Thomas, Annie, and Claribel on them. The boys loved driving Thomas and riding in his two coaches. I sat this trip out, but they had a lot of fun and played with this train for a long time too.

You could also sing train songs while doing these activities to add in some music appreciation.

DIY Pudding Recipes

Caramel and Chocolate Pudding

Here is the list of homemade pudding recipes I have made. All of these are great, so much better than boxed versions. If you have never made pudding from scratch before, this recipe has pictures for each step that may be helpful.

• Butterscotch Pudding
• Cappuccino Pudding
• Caramel Pudding
• Chocolate Pudding
• Peanut Butter Pudding
• Vanilla Pudding

All of these recipes are great made into pudding pops too!

DIY Peanut Butter Pudding

This homemade peanut butter pudding is creamy and delicious. I bet it would be fantastic combined with chocolate pudding.

Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter Pudding Recipe

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 2 cups whole milk (divided)
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch

1. In a small mixing bowl, begin by stirring together ½ cup milk, egg, and cornstarch until well combined.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine 1½ cups milk, sugar, and peanut butter. 
3. Stir over medium heat to warm the milk.
4. Take a couple of big spoonfuls (¼ to ½ cup) of the warm milk mixture, and add it into the cornstarch and egg mixture. Don't skip this step. This tempers the egg and prevents it from becoming a scrambled egg when adding it into the hot milk.
5. Pour the cornstarch and egg mixture into the warm milk, and stir quickly to combine well.
6. Continue to stir over medium heat until the pudding thickens and begins to bubble.
7. You can serve this pudding warm (sounds good in the winter) or chill for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days and serve it cold.

Family Friday: Amazing Andrew

Andrew is at a really fun stage now. He is saying new words almost everyday and starting to use short sentences. Andrew loves hearing and telling stories now. One of his favorite stories is David and Goliath, which he calls Bump, Bump for the bumping sound Goliath might have made when he walks. He tells the story so sweetly. We want to catch it on video, but he usually doesn't cooperate.

His rendition usually goes something like this:

Bump, bump (Goliath)
tall, and holds a hand over his head (Goliath was tall)
choose man, holding hand over his mouth to make deep voice (choose a man to fight me)
rock (stones)
round (sling went round)
Bump, bump (Goliath)
down (fell down)
God win (God helped David win)
Hooray, holds hand up in the air (the people were glad!)

He is also starting to say words on his flashcards much more consistently. We'll see if this continues; it might be the start of him really reading.

DIY Cappuccino Pudding

This one isn't for the kiddos, but is a great treat for moms. I bet it would be fantastic combined with chocolate pudding.

Homemade Coffee Pudding Recipe

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup strong coffee
• 2 cups whole milk (divided)
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch

1. In a small mixing bowl, begin by stirring together ½ cup milk, egg, and cornstarch until well combined.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine 1½ cups milk, sugar, and coffee. 
3. Stir over medium heat to warm the milk.
4. Take a couple of big spoonfuls (¼ to ½ cup) of the warm milk mixture, and add it into the cornstarch and egg mixture. Don't skip this step. This tempers the egg and prevents it from becoming a scrambled egg when adding it into the hot milk.
5. Pour the cornstarch and egg mixture into the warm milk, and stir quickly to combine well.
6. Continue to stir over medium heat until the pudding thickens and begins to bubble.
7. You can serve this pudding warm (sounds good in the winter) or chill for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days and serve it cold.

DIY Miniature Bean Bags

I been thinking about Christmas presents for a little while now, and one short project that I already finished were these cute miniature bean bags. I made a set of six for both Aaron and Andrew. I choose to make miniature ones and fill them with rice instead of beans. I did this for a couple of reasons. The small size is easier for their small hands to hold, and they will hurt brother less should his head accidentally get in the way of a bean bag. As they get bigger (and/or more careful), maybe I'll make them a bigger set. This quick and easy sewing project makes a great frugal gift for boys.

Make Your Own Bean (or Rice) Bags

• fabric scraps
• thread
• sewing machine is optional
• beans or rice to fill the bag

1. Cut out two rectangles the same size for each bean bag you want to make. I cut my rectangles 3" by 4" for these miniature ones. For regular sized bean bags, I think 4" by 6" would be a good size.
2. Place two rectangles right sides together. Stitch around three sides, leaving one open for turning and stuffing.
3. Turn right side out.
4. Fill with beans or rice.
5. Whip or slip stitch the open side closed. Stitch very securely; you don't want the contents to spill everywhere.

Simple Christmas Planning

Christmas 2009, time really does fly by

Did you realize there are less than 100 days until Christmas? While in reality that is still more than 1/4 of a year left until Christmas, time flies as they say, so it will be here before you know it. A little planning ahead of time can make the season much more blessed and less stressed. This is especially true if you want to make any of the gifts you are going to give.

Personally, I tend to start Christmas planning really, really early. I love Christmas, and I love making presents. Usually, I begin to plan what I want to make for Christmas in July after we celebrate Father's day, birthdays, and our anniversary. In looking for birthday ideas for Aaron and Nate, I usually have found a couple of ideas that I want to make but didn't have time to do for their birthdays. I then begin to think about the other people on our list and which gifts I want to make and which we want to purchase. I usually start a list with everyone's names and write down gift ideas as we think of them. Then I use this list to keep track of what we've made or bought and what still needs to be done. This gives my plenty of time to start working on presents slowly over the next months, instead of staying up all Christmas Eve trying to finish everything for everyone. This plan doesn't always happen perfectly, but at least it gets me thinking.

Christmas Eve 2009

Andrew was born exactly one week before the Christmas of 2009. That year we had to plan a simple Christmas. I really wanted to get everything done ahead of time that year. I spent my nesting energy making a few simple Christmas presents and treats ahead of time, so we could just rest and enjoy our time together as a little family on the actual holidays. We also had to scale way back on what we usually do for that particular Christmas, buying, making, and visiting. At the time, part of me did wish I could do more, but it was a simple and sweet holiday. It was good because it made us as a family focus on what was truly important. We didn't see all of our extended family right on those holidays, but found ways to connect and celebrate with them.

I think our families all know that we love and appreciate them regardless of how much (or little) we are able to buy, make, or see them at Christmastime. At least it is my prayer that we would be able to make sure everyone knows they are loved and cherished, regardless of anything else. Realizing we don't have to and can't do it all is freeing. We try to figure out what God would have us focus on for the celebration of the birth of His Son and ask for his help to do just that. If the rest of the long to-do list I've made for myself never gets done, I try not to be hard on myself. I know that I've done my best, and the rest is really just stuff after all.

If you are looking for inspiration for Christmas planning, I've come across some resources that might be helpful. I think they have some great ideas.

Life as Mom has a free Christmas planning ebook.

Life your way has a free ebook and Christmas planner. The are also doing a 101 days until Christmas series.

The Happy Housewife is doing a series of 100 days of handmade gifts for Christmas.

Mandarin Mondays: 太极拳

Walking on bumpy walking track

This past Saturday I got on the bus to go do my English tutoring, closely followed by a man with a very long sword. Now I know my parents and in-laws probably don't like that statement one bit, but give me a chance to explain. I was perfectly safe, so don't start worrying.

You see people always follow you closely when you get on a bus here; you pretty much have to push or get pushed on. Your other option is to get on last which is what I usually do, but I happened to be in the middle of a bunch of people this time, so that wasn't an option. This still isn't explaining the man with the sword though, is it?

He was a tall (for here), older gentleman, grandly arrayed in colorful silk. He was followed closely by a petite older lady (who I assume is his wife), who was also dressed in silk and carrying a large sword. But the part that I have been leaving out is that the swords are fake, completely harmless, like toys for big kids or stage props. Things quite often here aren't what they seem to be at first glance. You can see people everyday in the public parks using swords to practice their Tai Chi (dǎ tài jí quán, 打太极拳). I am pretty sure most of them couldn't hurt anyone, even if they were trying really hard.

The tai chi (tài jí quán, 太极拳) they practice here is not at all how I pictured this "martial art." Sure they use sword as props, but just as the swords and older people are harmless, so are the actions of tai chi (tài jí quán, 太极拳). It is mostly slow, small, stretching movements. They also walk on paths, sometimes barefoot on bumpy rocks.

In fact the practice that seems most dangerous about this group of exercises is when those who performing tai chi hit themselves. It can be a little alarming at first to see older people hitting themselves all over, mostly their arms and legs, but sometimes even their heads. However, they aren't really trying to hurt themselves, at least I don't think they are. I believe they view it as a massage and a way to increase their blood flow.

So don't be to alarmed if you are walking down the streets in town and see people carrying swords or hitting themselves; things are not always how they seem. It is important to remember that as someone who grew up in a different culture, things often have different meanings when properly interpreted in their own culture.