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Carnival and Chocolate

Posted on July 31, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday, I wrote all about our travels to Canada, Australia, India, Russia, France, Mexico, and China while staying home. Thanks to the Passport to Fun programs at Michaels, we had the adventure of our life at the local craft store. In the end, we went to eight of the eighteen countries. We missed two because the boys were still in school at the end of June. Then, I completely forgot about the Egypt day on June 25 and Bahamas on June 28. Luckily, I got our act together in time for Canada and beyond. I wish we had been able to make a few others, but they did not work with our schedules and two did not seem age appropriate for my kids.

On Saturday, the program ended with Brazil. What a way to end it making Rio Carnival masks. The boys had a blast working on these with all of the glitter, feathers, and sequins.

Brazil

Of course, while in Michaels we HAD to check out other items. TechyDad looked for a case to house his grandfather’s old telescope in. Both of the ones in stock were cracked, so we are waiting on that. Then, we looked around for ideas to use for NHL’s 8th birthday. NHL has said that he wants lions and other animals as the focus. We chatted about it while walking around and came up with a safari theme. Seems perfect since he loved the Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I know one day I would love to take him on the African Trek I went on.

While checking out the Wilton cupcake making supplies, we wandered over to their chocolate mold section. NHL fell in love with some things there. TechyDad thought they were really interesting and said we should use our coupons and pick them up. So we did. Don’t these look fun?

So we will be making the Oreo/Pretzel molds to go along with some kind of lion cupcake. Do not think there will be time to paint the chocolate and make it pretty, but it’s still fun and something the kids can help with. If you have any lion cupcake suggestions – I would love to know.

What have you been up to this weekend of July?

Categories:
arts and crafts baking birthday decisions Educational food glorious food fun jsl local event nhl photos summer TechyDad weekend yummy

Kid Style Chocolate Blind Taste Testing

Posted on July 27, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Disclosure: This was a free event at a local library. Thank you to the amazing librarian for organizing this event. I know my boys had a fantastic time and we all enjoyed staying dry during the storm that passed while participating.

Categories:
brothers food glorious food fun jsl local event nhl summer Wordless Wednesday yummy

For the Love of a Fish Fry

Posted on July 15, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up in the northeast, I learned to love our local fish fry haven. I remember going with both sides of the family to this favorite destination. Relatives that were from out of town would actually beg to head to Bob & Ron’s Fish Fry. I would sit there looking up at the sharks on the wall, swivel in my seat, and let time pass.

As a child, I was not originally a fan of the fish fry. Instead, I would get a hamburger or later on clam strips (never said I was kosher ~~as a kid~~). Then, I realized what I was missing.

The other night, we took the boys bowling and wanted a quick and easy dinner since it was late. I pulled out our Entertainment book. I recalled that there was a coupon for Bob and Ron’s Fish Fry. We pulled into the parking lot and memories came flooding back. The menu has hardly changed, even with new owners in recent years.

This was not a healthy meal, but something different, nostalgic, fun, and delicious. Yes, it fun to get photos of my kids swiveling in the same chairs I sat in as a kid.

The boys were mesmerized by the giant sharks on the wall. I could not resist taking a photo when they asked me to capture this moment (even if NHL was being silly).

So my question to you this week:

Do you have a restaurant that you recall from your childhood that you like to revisit now? Why do you still like to head back there?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #160

Categories:
Aloha Friday family food glorious food jsl looking back me moments nhl photos yummy

Cherries On My Mind

Posted on July 5, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Tuesday Tales will be on hiatus today. Right now, I have cherries on my brain. You see, we went cherry picking with my brother and his family and there were a lot of cherries to pick from.

Here are a few photos I shared via my cell phone while we were out in the amazing cherry wonderland.

We all had a really great time at Kappus Farms. The tractor ride to the sweet cherries was an extra perk for the kids. All of the cousins picked countless cherries and added them to our two large buckets of fruit.

When all was said and done those buckets seen at the top held 45.2 pounds of cherries. Yes, we have a lot of cherries that we will be sharing with others, eating, and possibly even baking with.

Have you ever gone cherry picking? If you have any good cherry recipes to share, please let us know.

Oh and if you were wondering, this was a new cherry picking record. Three years ago, we picked 22 pounds, last year 33 pounds. Hmmm… does that mean next year will be 55+ pounds?! I guess we will have to wait and see.

Categories:
cousins food glorious food fun photos road trip summer weekend yummy

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – 10th Anniversary Edition

Posted on June 27, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I have mentioned before, Friday was my 10th Anniversary with TechyDad. He went to work, NHL went to school for his last half day, and JSL and I stayed at home to do some cleaning. We had someone stopping by later in the day to check on a clogged bathroom sink. Thanks to this sink, we were forced to wash hands in the bathroom tub.

The day did not exactly go as planned. You see, thank goodness the plumber came early. He showed up at 11:30-ish instead of 2-3. I had to leave shortly after to pick NHL up from school. When he left, we knew we had some large issues. He said he would go to lunch, get supplies, and come back about an hour later to get to work. In the end, he was at our house until about 7:30 at night. Our initial plans were shot and even other items had to be changed. Still, we made the best of the situation.

The Good:

We went to my parent’s house to have cake with the boys before putting them to bed there. Thanks to fumes, we could not stay in our house. Here are the delicious cakes that we had

Once the kids were FINALLY into bed, TechyDad still wanted to head out to dinner. Since it was almost 9:30, we had limited choices. I recalled a new Sushi place not too far away, so off we went to Mr. Fuji Sushi. Our experience at Mr. Fuji’s was amazing. The food was delicious, the people there super nice, and the atmosphere wonderful. Since it was so late, we ordered two appetizers and three sushi rolls to share.

To start we had Age Tofu and Vegetable Tempura

Then we had a Philadelphia roll, Avocado Peanut roll, and Sweet Potato roll

Yes, I believe this is the best sushi I have had in a long time. We will definitely be heading back to Mr. Fuji again soon.

The Bad:

We thought that the plumbing issue would require snaking the pipes. When they tried to do this, the snake refused to go down and kept going up into the pipes instead. When JSL and I left to pick up NHL at school, they were debating a few options.

Try to go in the attic and snake things and it may last 1-2 years IF we are lucky.
Replace the old pipes in the section that appeared to be the root of the issue with PVC pipes.

I went to pick NHL up and bring the kids home for lunch.

The Ugly:

When they arrived back at our house, I saw them hauling a long section of PVC pipe. I knew it was the best thing, but I was paranoid and worried about things. As they started to work in the basement on cutting the pipe open, it started to get more complicated. They could not get to the top of the pipe from the basement. Suddenly, wall removal was needed. Yes, I think I aged several years in this afternoon from making big decisions on the fly and listening to the noises in my house. I knew that they were capable, but it was driving me batty.

The guys came back upstairs to give me the news and I immediately knew we made the right decision. You see, the pipe in the basement was nearly closed shut. The old material has basically closed itself shut. I never went to look in the basement until a while later. I gave permission to remove wall to get at the sink pipe within there. The hole got larger than this, but you get the point from this view:

After a lot of power tool noises and labor in the bathroom with the wall and pipe fighting, they finally got that sucker out. Check this bad boy out. Yes, this nasty object was pretty much what was happening down stairs in the basement as well. Here is our corroded galvanized pipe from within the wall:

It was not an easy job, but these guys were amazing. They dealt with my paranoia and got the work done and well. They even cleaned up the mess when the tiles on the wall next to the sink spontaneously fell off – no I am not joking. Apparently, they were not put on right by previous owners. This was good under the sink since nothing was ruined getting to the pipes behind the wall. I was too sick at the mess during that time to take a photo. I am also sparing you from photos of the basement pipes and sludge that came out of them. Let’s just say old toothpaste and soap are not pretty nor do they smell nice.

In the end, the pipe is fixed, a few more will need this down the road, and we need a massive bathroom rehab soon. More good news, the pipe works and we have a new faucet that is not leaking. Thanks to spray that was used during the cleaning process on the tiles/pipes, there are horrible fumes in our house. It has been a rough few days and we are so very lucky that my parents are here for us.

So there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of our 10th Annversary!

Psssst. . . if you need a good person for home repairs in my area – just let me know. This work, along with the roof, and broken main water valve were done by the same person. Highly recommend.