mermaids and moss

blueberry 'pudding' bread

My very talented friend Julie, over at 20 Fingers 20 Toes, has the most wonderful blueberry bread/cake/yummy goodness recipe. She first shared this delicious cake with me at an early morning play date a few years ago. She was writing for the Examiner at the time, where you can still find her recipe. Back in the day, we used to be part of a nice playgroup that met each week. She'd serve us strong coffee and this blueberry heaven with a slice of butter when we met at her house. She's decadent, that Julie. And it tasted so good. Young mothers need good food... and coffee.

Just in case that Examiner post is ever taken down, I'd like to keep a copy here on Mermaids and Moss. In Julie's exact words, this is her recipe:

Blueberry 'Pudding' Bread

• 3 tbsp. shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 ¾ cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1.5 cups floured** blueberries
• 1 tsp vanilla (and maybe a squirt of lemon juice?)

Cream shortening and sugar, add egg, add flour/dry mixture and milk alternately. Stir in vanilla and floured berries.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

** Important note: flouring your blueberries is a very important step—it keeps the berries from sinking to the base of the bread/cake.

And there you have it, an amazing little slice of bread/cake. Let's not forget, I can't even bake, but I haven't managed to sabotage this recipe yet.

this birthday girl

My little girl is six today! I can hardly believe it... seems like it was just yesterday when we were anxiously awaiting her birth. It's hard to believe so much time has passed. The boy and I purchased this delicious-looking cake this morning while big sister was at school. It's a raspberry mousse. I can't wait to try it. Yum.

We did make cupcakes last night, and delivered them to her classroom this morning. I hope she had a happy, little celebration with her classmates, and that the cupcakes were a success. I always get nervous about baking, but these cupcakes came out of a box, so there wasn't too much to mess up.

I was hoping to post a newborn photo as a flashback, but I don't seem to have any newborn photos stored on my computer. Instead, here's one from when she was almost a year old. She was such a sweetie pie... she still is, of course.

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Here are two more baby photos to add, thank you, Stephanie, for digging them up.

{ my girl when she was eight months old }

{ little elf on her first birthday }

ramen noodles

Here's an easy, easy but yummy dish to make. I often make it for lunch when we want something a little more filling than sandwiches. The kids love it. It makes me happy. It seems kind of healthy, probably too much salt, but oh well.

Ramen Noodles

1 or 2 packs of ramen noodles
2 or 3 eggs
1 can of chicken
1/4 to 1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 teaspoon of Teriyaki sauce
salt and pepper

It's so easy it's kind of ridiculous for me to write out instructions. Prepare ramen as directed on packet. After noodles have boiled for three minutes add chicken and eggs. Let boil for five minutes or so, add peas, stir and remove from heat. Stir in Teriyaki sauce and salt and pepper. Serve to hungry kids with ice sprinkled on top.

these days

I love this sparkle eel painted by the girl. She has her first loose tooth! She's so proud and excited... she's been waiting for this for months. Pretty flowers must be maintained to keep the house looking fresh. It's a necessity, you see. I love, love tiny sprays of peaches, pinks, oranges and yellows. These were the colors in my wedding bouquets. Brownies were made this morning to leave a nice aroma. The kids won't mind. One showing yesterday, three scheduled for today... oh my. And it's a raining day.

sushi shenanigans

I recently tried to make sushi on my own using Yoriko's sushi rice recipe [she learned it from her mom]. Everything seemed to go pretty well and I thought the sushi I rolled looked lovely. But when it came time to taste it, I quickly discovered that I should have tested the rice before taking it out of the steamer and rolling several rolls... it was still crunchy.

Sushi Rice

3 cups of raw rice [cook with rice cooker]
4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
5 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt

Combine rice vinegar, sugar and salt in bowl. Make sure to taste rice before removing it from the rice cooker. If it's still crunchy, try adding a bit more water and cooking longer. Add rice to bowl and stir to combine.

stir-fry experiment

This is an example of one of my latest experiment in the kitchen:

Shrimp and Ramen Stir-Fry

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 or 3 eggs
1 pound shrimp, peeled
1 15-ounce can stir-fry mushrooms or fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons terriaki sauce
1/2 16-ounce bag frozen peas or brocolli [or both]
2 bags ramen noodles

Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to hot wok, add eggs. Stir and scramble eggs until fluffy. Remove eggs and set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil, add shrimp. Stir till shrimp until pink. Add mushrooms, terriaki sauce and peas [and/or brocolli]. Stir until combined and cooked [a few minutes]. Meanwhile, boil water and prepare ramen noodles in another pan. Serve noodles with stir-fry on top.

It may not be the healtiest dinner, but it's fast and easy to make. And it's a real crowd-pleaser at my house. The kids love it.

the berries in my kitchen

These days the boy loves to eat berries... in the morning, at lunch, after lunch, for a snack, for dinner, before bed... little else pleases him. And so, we've been making frequent trips to the store to maintain our berry supply. This means that I'm more likely to be tempted to purchase pretty flowers. And so, my house is quickly filling up with pink tulips.

sushi lessons

The kids and I learned how to roll sushi yesterday! It turned out to not be so difficult, or maybe we just had a very good instructor. My good friend Yoriko showed us the steps:

{ 1 } prepare rice

{ 2 } prepare ingredients by cutting into long strips [cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, salmon]

{ 3 } trim the seaweed

{ 4 } lay the sheet of seaweed on the mat so that the rough side is facing up

{ 5 } dip your fingers in a small dish of water to keep rice from sticking to your fingers

{ 6 } spread the rice out on the lower 3/4 of the sheet of seaweed

{ 7 } line up thin slices of ingredients in long rows across the lower edge of the rice

{ 8 } dip finger in water to moisten top edge of seaweed [this is the glue that holds the roll together]

{ 9 } gather bottom edge of mat to roll sushie over onto itself to form the roll, making sure that top edge is on the outside of the roll

{ 10 } give the rolled up mat with roll inside gentle squeezes

{ 11 } unroll mat to reveal sushi roll, cut into slices

chicken noodle soup

This is one of my favorite soups to make these days. I found the recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday FOOD magazine. It's very easy to make and you don't need a million ingredients. I've used corn, lima beans, green beans and other frozen vegetables, too. The kids love it and the soup lasts for days.

Here's a link to the recipe:

Chicken Noodle Soup

Do you have any favorite wintry soup recipes?