crayons to candles.

In our house I can tell that summer is officially coming to a close by looking at the crayon box. Once a shining beacon of artful possibilities, the 64-count rainbow is worn down to little nubs by summer's end. So, as the long days of summer dwindle, I am looking forward to pulling out my candles and extending the Fall evenings by the flicker of candlelight.

How to make a crayon candle:


1. Gather your supplies. You'll need a glass jar, a couple handfuls of crayons in desired colors*, a double broiler, a few drops of essential oil and a small candle to act as your wick. (If you use a small jar, a birthday candle will work well. A larger jar will require a slightly bigger candle. I love the size of Hanukkah candles and even though we don't celebrate the holiday I've picked up a few boxes here and there as I see them.)

2. Unwrap the crayons, removing the paper, and place them into the top of a double broiler. Melt over low heat.

3. Add a few drops of essential oil to achieve the desired level of scent.

4. Pour the wax into your jar.

5. Insert your small candle into the middle, holding until secure.

6. Allow to harden completely before lighting.

* Choose your colors carefully! If you throw all of your random crayons together, you'll end up with a mucky brown color. I made a deep plum wine color, by adding every shade of blue, purple, red, pink and white I had.


This entry is linked on Blue Cricket Designs, Creative Juice, Skip to My Lou and Today's Creative Blog.

autumn whispers.

Autumn whispers
blowing on my neck, making my skin tingle with anticipation.
Four full years since I felt that familiar spark awaken within
as August draws to a close.

The arbors holding vines over my Eastern European neighborhood bow a bit lower, 

the lime green leaves darken overhead, 

still glinting in the lower decibels of sunlight

and still sparkling even in the now noticeably greyer skies.

Gone are the days of waves rising from the cement,
and water racing down the middle of the street
while our city homes' pipes run dry
and the heat presses down on our lives.

Watermelons dwindle at the produce stand,
replaced with early piles of grapes, figs and walnuts
that will all become abundant as autumn's whisper becomes a yell
and the pleasant chill is replaced with a dampness crawling ever deeper.

funicular entrance. Mtatsminda district. 11 o'clock.

figs.

Our Eastern European backyard is bursting with fruit. First, the cherries sprang forth. Then, the native fruits followed-- sour plum (small purple plums used in relishes), aloocha (golf ball sized, light green fruits prized for their flexibility in many recipes both sweet and savory), and the mushmellow (also small and round, but orange and full of a watery sweet flesh). And now? We have arrived at the moment where I literally swoon. Swoon. Swoon. Swoon. Two mature trees, bearing my absolute most favorite treat in the world.

i carry your heart with me.

My daughter starts the second grade in just a few days. She'll be a new student, in a new school, in a country that is still very new to her. That's a lot of new for anyone to take in.

I'm excited for her. But, am also experiencing a familiar twinge of sadness that hits me every late August as I acknowledge our long summer days together are coming to an end. While prepping her backpack and picking out a new sweater, she turned to me and said "Don't forget my mama love note."

She's a child who has always appreciated a gentle good-bye and reassurance that she'll be alright. Knowing this, her and I developed a couple little traditions to ease the transition from home to school. One tradition has provided a way to say 'good-bye, see you in a bit' before we arrive at school for her morning drop-off. She dubbed the tradition the 'mama love note' and it stuck. Every school morning, I created a miniature-sized note that had a simple message or silly picture. She tucked it into her pocket and then raced to our art studio to make me a tiny art piece for the day. It's been an informal way to say our good-byes before we actually get to the school and the daily drop off routine takes hold.

Partly to simplify our mornings and partly to acknowledge that she's getting a bit older and may not need the intricacy of this type of send off daily,  I'm trying a little something different at the start of this school year. I created a permanent mama love note. A little fabric envelope made out of felt, lined with a black and white polka-dotted piece of cotton, then sealed with a snap and a tiny red felt heart. Inside the envelope is a little felt letter, embroidered with a message of love. She can tuck this into her back pack and know that there's a little piece of my heart walking around with her during her day.

For any other mamas prepping for the upcoming school year (and for all of those reading who have grown children and remember the mixed emotions of a new school year*), I leave you with an excerpt from one of my favorite poems by e.e. cummings, i carry your heart with me.

"...here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)"


*i love you, mom.


This entry is linked on Blue Cricket Designs, Sew Much Ado, seventhirtythree, The Southern Institute, Skip To My Lou, Today's Creative Blog and Homework.

coffee.

Coffee. A true staple of my life. I can tell stories of places I've been by the way the coffee tasted and the way it was served. But, as a true girl from the American Pacific Northwest, I'm a Starbucks Coffee fan through and through. There's not a single Starbucks in our current city (I know, shocking isn't it?!) and I have strong doubts about the one place in town claiming to sell the brand's ground coffee. I'm not naming names, but let's just say that the logo looks a bit suspicious, the taste is dead wrong and the unmarked paper bags just don't quite fit. I have yet to find a truly delicious grind here and, while I hate to admit it, I'm counting the days I've experienced without stepping into a Starbucks store. 72 days. I guess my forever Seattle-ite hat is still a part of the wardrobe.

candy.

Yup. It's good. Really good. (and, no one will ever know that you slaved over it for all of about 10 minutes!). My kids and I tried some of this at a local bakery. A few days passed and I thought we'd try our own version.

Georgian-style Walnut Candy

Ingredients:
Salt crackers*, to cover the bottom of a 9 by 12 inch deep sided baking dish
1 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups of chocolate (chips or broken bar, measurement doesn't need to be exact)
1 cup of walnuts, chopped
coarse sea salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 by 12 inch baking sheet with parchment or aluminum foil. If using parchment, have it run over the sides just a bit so that you can use this to pull the candy out of the dish later. Use the wrapper of your butter to grease the lined baking dish. Place a layer of crackers in the baking dish, covering the entire dish. On the stove top, melt the butter and sugar. Cook until bubbling. Pour over the crackers and place into the hot oven for five minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the chocolate and walnuts. Pres firmly with a rubber spatula and return to the oven for five minutes to melt the chocolate. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool. Once cool, place into the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove and break candy into pieces. Serve with espresso. Store extra pieces in an airtight container for up to one month.

*Use the type of crackers you can find. The idea is you want something plain flavored with some salt content.

a partial list.

Today I...

1. Discovered our local post office. It looks like something out of a soviet-era, black and white, scratched, silent film. Unmarked on the outside and behind a pair of wooden, poster peeling doors, sits a smoky box of a room lit by a single light bulb. Plaster peels off of the walls and a dark walnut counter looms high. A wall of approximately 10 large cubes holds a few envelopes and a small brown wrapped parcel. Two woman stand on either side of an imposing, muscled man. I walk forward, smile (which isn't returned) and hand over the small white slip of paper that sat wedged into my front door a few hours earlier. In return I get a beautiful, rose colored envelope marked USA. Seriously, mail call here may be even more exciting than it was during that long freshman year of college.

2. Lit a jasmine incense cone for the first time since leaving Thailand and was immediately transported back to a colorful, tropical time. The dusty heavy scent of incense will forever be a favorite since living in Southeast Asia. It makes me smile and take note of my surroundings.

3. Spent a ridiculous amount of time staring at nail polish colors, trying to determine what shade to paint my toes. They are still bare.

4. Started thinking about back-to-school. My daughter begins next Thursday and I have the usual mixed emotions-- excitement for her new beginning, sadness to lose her company during the days, and a strong desire to just run for the hills so I don't have to deal with the always painful first day of school drop-off. I say that and then tell myself, "oh, but maybe this year will be easier..." Sigh.

5. Drove up a cobble stoned hill at record speed (in order to keep up with the crazy drivers around me and avoid being plowed over). The baby opened his mouth and loudly joined in the 'ahhhhhhhh--ooooggghhhh-eeeeggghhh' that always accompanies a trip over cobblestones.

4. Made Georgian candy with my kids. It's 'wow.' (Recipe coming in my next post...)

don't call them teething biscuits.

My baby loves these teething biscuits. But, here's the secret: so do my five and seven year olds. We call them 'cookies' in our house.

Ingredients:
2 cups of oatmeal, uncooked
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons oil of your choice

Method:
In a food processor or blender, grind 1 cup of the oats into a fine flour. Place into a mixing bowl with the other ingredients and mix until well combined. Roll into small balls and flatten slightly.* Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and let dry until hard. They keep best in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

*Depending on the brand of oats, I find I need a few more sometimes. If the dough is too sticky, add just a few more whole oats.

I will.

I will survive
blares out over the stereo system
at the American burger place.
My kids laugh and share their tiny toys of plastic.
I knew this place was bad news.

I will survive repeats
and I stare glassy eyed, tired,
not ever wanting to see another box.
In my lifetime. Ever again.
For 174 were enough to last forever.

The boxes almost gone,
kids still laughing and at ease.
My mind drifts back to the song played a month ago.
I love. I am.
I will survive.

favorite drawer.

I may never make enough sweet treats to fill these cupcake liners. And, I think I've actually only used a doily once-- in a fourth grade Valentine's Day art project. But, none the less, this is my favorite drawer. Tucked away inside an antique buffet, this drawer is ready and waiting to make me happy. One look and I smile... I melt into a daydream of happiness. Please tell me you have a favorite drawer too? You do, right?!


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Walnut pastries. 8 o'clock.

egg forms.

How adorable is this guy?! That's a hard boiled egg. Really. You can buy all sorts of egg molds in Japanese culinary shops and online. I actually find them a bit difficult to work with and the egg never seems to take the full shape. BUT.... if you can find a rice form or even a small cookie cutter, you're in business.

While living in southeast Asia, I stocked up on rice supplies. I've got rice paddles and forms and molds and cookers (yes, that is plural) to last for the rest of my lifetime and beyond. The rice molds, like the teddy bear pictured above, are intended to be packed with rice, pressed and then released. Here's how to use them, a small sized cookie cutter, or the actual molds sold as 'egg molds' to create fun hard boiled egg shapes:



1. Boil your eggs hard.
2. Drain the water off and immediately begin to remove the shells from the hot eggs (this is actually easy, and BONUS! you won't scorch your hands off, if you peel them under cold running water).
3. Gently insert the hot, peeled egg into your mold. If you're using a small cookie cutter, place the sharp side up and insert the egg very gently.
4. Slowly apply a bit of pressure (If you're using an egg mold, clamp them shut. If you're using a rice mold, place them under a plate with an object with a bit of weight.)
5. Cool for about 30 minutes.
6. Add the eggs (in the molds) to the fridge. Ideally refrigerate overnight.
7. Remove from the molds and enjoy. These will keep for about a week in the fridge.

floating eggs.

Oh the joys of living somewhere completely different! Steady refrigeration can be a problem in this area of the world-- which leads to a concern for our food's safety. We're developing, thanks to some good tips, a few changes to our regular food prep routines. I actually never thought to check the freshness of eggs from the grocery store. I just read the little stamped date, looked for cracks, put them in the fridge egg tray and thought I was done. Not here. We bring the eggs, stamped in Georgian letters, home and draw them a bath of cool water. All the eggs go into the water and anything that floats is discarded immediately. Then, anything with a crack is discarded next. Whatever is left after that process gets well washed, dried and inserted into the previously mentioned egg tray in the fridge. After all is said and done, about 1/4 of each egg purchase is discarded. Good reason to give the eggs a bath. (Oh, hey, I almost forgot: tomorrow, I have a really cool egg trick/tool... see you then.)

because.

There was an ever so slight communication mistake that occurred during a recent trip to our local produce vendor. Rather than walking out with four bananas, I walked out with four bunches of bananas. Not really a big deal, I thought, since the baby kind of devours them. But, after consuming two bananas, my youngest decided that this was the time for a banana strike. Not the best timing. So, much to the delight of my other kids, I spent this morning creating a new recipe 'just because.'

This recipe is an homage to one of my friends from The Netherlands. A mom to then one, now two adorable children, she hosted a play date soon after I first met her. During the morning, she put out a spread of snacks that included butter, a giant jar of chocolate jimmies* and plain white bread. My kids and I were confused. The sprinkles stumped us. My friend explained that the treat of bread, buttered and generously sprinkled with the chocolates was a snack from her 'home.' Needless to say, my kids loved the new-to-us treat and have regularly asked to replicate it.

Walnut Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients for the cakes:

6 bananas

2/3 cup sunflower oil
2 eggs
2 vanilla beans, scraped
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts

Ingredients for the filling:
2 tablespoons walnut paste**
1/2 cup firmly whipped cream

Ingredients for the frosting:
1/2 cup of milk
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup butter
1 cup of sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 cup of chocolate sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

To make the cakes, mash the bananas and mix with all of the wet ingredients. Add the scraped vanilla beans. Add the flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir just until combined. Fold in the walnuts. Place batter (it will be fairly thick) into paper lined cupcake tins, filling about 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, approximately 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

To make the filling, mix the whipped cream and walnut paste. Once the cakes are completely cool, remove a small amount of cake from the center of each. Fill each hole with a small amount of filling.

To make the frosting, place the milk and flour into a saucepan. Whisking constantly, cook until thick (approximately 5 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Once cool, mix the butter and sugar until lightly colored and very well whipped. Then, add the milk mixture in three separate batches, beating constantly. Add the vanilla bean and mix until combined.

To assemble, add a shallow layer of frosting on each cake, spreading evenly. Place sprinkles into a bowl and dip the tops of each cake to cover completely.

*We call them 'sprinkles' in our house. Other friends have referred to them as 'chocolate rice'.
**If you can't find walnut paste for purchase, you can make your own by using a food processor. Simply process shelled walnuts until a nut butter is formed. Add a bit of oil (vegetable or sunflower) to make smoother.

park. 8 o'clock.

red lipstick.

I haven't worn enough red lipstick in recent years. I wore it throughout high school (MAC Russian Red, matte). Then, I put it on the back shelf during college-- favoring a 'natural' look instead. A few years passed, I graduated and moved to San Francisco, began working. I got married and my husband and I played in that glorious city. Daytime was full of my college 'natural' while evenings were spent strengthening my palette, dining at some of the cities great restaurants and sipping wine while wearing my red lipstick (MAC Red, satin). Then, I shelved the red during my design school years, favoring instead big bulky 'design school' black framed glasses.

Next came Paris. Seven weeks in and I was at the Sephora on the Champs-Elysee, discovering a new red-- that elusive, it only worked in Paris and never again, orangey red (Giorgio Armani #20, matte). Eight weeks in and I was sipping chardonnay and eating foie gras pate, wearing my red lipstick.

Then, it was a bitter winter in Philadelphia where I was too cold to even think about anything other than Carmex lip balm. Seattle followed and red appeared on and off throughout the seasons, as appropriate to the occasion (Aveda Cassia 865, glaze). But early morning newborn stroller walks and constant take-out coffee sipping gave way to the ease of glosses. Oh, and being brutally honest, I cheated on red a bit and had a love affair with an ever present purple magenta color.

Eventually, Bangkok appeared and the days were filled with thoughts of merely surviving the heat. Huge swipes of glossy color dominated the mornings, but more often than not, red lost the battle quickly in the steamy humidity. Crystal clear glosses took center stage.

And, now, I am here. In the middle of a hot summer day, thinking about the possibilities of autumn and warming to the idea of putting some saturated color on my lips in the upcoming months. It's been too long and the time has returned. Hello red. Lovely to see you again.

postcards.

postcards.

moments remembered from other homes.

pain au chocolate, marigolds, damp rising after rain,
yeast, cobblestones, green trees and vines.
are here,
real,
and mingle with the new.

the new ready and waiting to record
with each step ahead and yet,
one foot sits still propped, on a coffee table, at home
talking with mom,
dad,
sister,
of the plans underway.

A map, useless then, to see the ground.
And now? So much more to be.
A city to walk.
Here,
now,
still carrying then along.
One foot walks a new ground.

drum circle.

Summer 2011 is a stretch of time that is imprinting deeply on my brain tissue. Even years from today the distinct sounds, emotions and activities that occurred will roar easily to the surface. This is a sharp season of my life.

The days are bright and long. The newness of life in another foreign country is entertaining and tiring. The pace is simultaneously filled with the work of unpacking, the laughter of siblings, the calmness of newborn nursing, and the shrieks of 'what the?!' in figuring out the many quirks of our new country. But, without a doubt, the sharpest memory of this life season will be in the simple thrill that has come from stopping the 'work' and just being with my now expanded family.

On a recent afternoon, I was unpacking a box. The baby was sitting on a carpet at my feet. My five year old was playing pirate while my seven year old was coloring. As I pulled out our collection of drums acquired during our life in Thailand, my two oldest children sat down next to the baby, gently pushing a drum in front of him. I sat down and pounded away with them, smiling and knowing that this moment was forever sharp.

grapevines overhead. 2 o'clock.