Archive | June, 2012

Blueberry Anise Jam (with bling)

29 Jun


Last week, on a scorchingly hot day, a friend of mine and I took our children to the local organic blueberry farm to pick some delicious high-bush blueberries.  We picked over 3 kilos of beautifully plump sweet berries.  I put about half in the freezer for next winter and have been busy using up the other half since then.  I was of course contemplating what sort of jam or jelly I could make with them as well.

After talking with my mom she convinced me that star anise and blueberry are flavours that work really well together.  She told me that the anise gives it a warm spiced undertone without being too overbearing.  I wanted to add fresh ginger but she suggested to keep it simple and see how it turns out.  And you know…I’m glad I listened to her.  The jam turned out perfectly and there is indeed a deep blueberry flavour with the slightest hint of anise (which is a good thing because you don’t want to go overboard on such a pungent flavour). 

This is a very simple and quick recipe.  I cooked 6 cups of mashed blueberries with 3 1/4 cups of sugar, the juice of half a lemon and 2 whole star anise until it became thick and syrupy ( I ended up letting it simmer for about 20/25 minutes due to having to chase escaped chickens back into coop).  Since I didn’t have any pectin to add it isn’t really thick but works just fine as a jam or a sauce to pour over ice cream.

Since we  had picked so many blueberries I was busy the whole week making not only blueberry jam but also blueberry gelato, blueberry crumble and even blueberry financier cakes.

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Ghirlanda d’Estate

28 Jun


The other day I was contemplating what I was going to do to keep my three children happy and busy for their two month summer vacation this year.  It’s always a time of lazing around, reading books, going to the lake, playing with friends and traveling.  But every now and then there’s a lull in the activity and the “Mom, I’m bored” starts.  I’m a strong believer in letting kids get bored because I find it’s really when they come up with the most creative things to do and make but sometimes you can just hear that they are too tired/hot/fed up to come up with something on their own.

So after reading Jen’s (from Classic Play) post on Stay-at-Home Summer Camp I got inspired to come up with some summer activities for those emergency times when the kids are in need of “entertainment”.  I organised six activities and sewed them into little cloth bags and then sewed those all into a garland.  When it’s time to pick an activity it’s really a surprise for them when they cut it open (we’ll cut them on the bottom so we can then save the bunting for another occasion or a similar activity next summer).   I’ve hung it up and it’s ready for when they are in the swing of summer vacation (still a week and half of school to go!).

All activities are for the kids to do together and each one is at least 1-2 hours worth of fun (I hope).  The activities are:

Photography Challenge: I’ve written a card with 10 random words and the kids have to go around and take photos that transmit the words into an image.  I’ve noted that they shouldn’t think too literally about these words and they should “think out of the box”.  I’m sure that will spark a great conversation with the three of them.  I then asked them to print out their 10 photos and make them into a book.  I’m excited to see the result!

Origami Challenge: In this little bag I included a package of miniature origami papers and a list of items they have to fold.  They are all seasoned origami experts but I think it will be a challenge to use the tiny paper and I’ve included at least 2 new shapes that they will have to learn how to do.  In the end they’ll have to present close to 50 origami pieces.

Water Balloons: In this one I tucked in about 45 balloons and told them they have to fill all of them with water, divide them into three piles and then bomb away at each other.  I know this one is going to be a hit.

Wooden Stick Architecture Challenge: For this challenge the kids have to use over 100 long wooden skewers and construct some sort of building (or anything) using the grass as their base.  Since the skewers are pointy on one end this makes it quite easy to stick them in the ground and I think they could end up making something quite spectacular.  I mentioned that they can incorporate ribbons, fabric or any other material into their project.  After it’s done I suggested they write a story about who lives there.

Cooking Challenge: In this one I included two very simple recipes that they have to prepare for the family.  I also included a 5euro note so that they can walk to the local grocery store to buy the ingredients needed.  The recipes are Tomoto Garlic Soup and Homemade Croutons.  They are both things the kids love to eat and easy enough for them to do alone.  They are also asked to set a nice fancy table for when they serve their meal.

Neighbourhood Clean-Up:  I had to include this one.  The streets around here are sometimes littered with trash and I always tell the kids how important it is to keep our environment clean (which is why I can often be seen walking around with pockets full of my kid’s trash).  I included three large white garbage bags and 3 pairs of latex gloves and told them to head out and beautify our street.  This one will definitely confuse the neighbours!

So there you have it.  I’ll keep you posted this summer on the different activities and whether they were a hit or miss.  What are your plans to keep your kids happy and busy this summer?

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A Kid’s Life: Italia

26 Jun

One of the things I’m most interested in is a country’s daily traditions, routines and culture.  I love learning about what an average person does on an average day and finding out all the big and more discreet differences compared to my and my family’s daily routine and happenings.

When I meet a new family from a different country I can usually be found grilling them with questions regarding what they eat, their school system, their free time activities, their daily schedules and vacation rituals.  It’s so interesting to learn about a new culture through what they do on a daily routine basis.

We personally are a bit of a mixed family in regards to our daily routines and traditions thanks to the fact we are a Canadian and a Belgian living in Italy.  We have sort of adopted different aspects of all three cultures and mixed it all up into our daily grind.  It works for us but I’m sure some people would find it absolutely confusing.

So I’ve decided to contact some families from various countries and ask them some pretty basic and simple questions regarding their family and kid’s daily life.  The last question is my favorite, it’s really something I find so interesting to hear from different cultures.  Hope you enjoy it!

I thought I would interview an Italian family as the kick-off to this series.  Gaia has been a good friend of mine for years and is also a fellow blogger (check out her site patasgnaffi).  Let’s see what she has to say about her daily life.

Where do you live?
I live in Northern Italy on Lago Maggiore

Are both you and your husband the same nationality?
Yes, both Italian.

How many children do you have? What are their ages?
We have 3 kids: a 10 year old boy, a little 6 year old girl who is convinced she’s a princess and wee little gnome of a girl who just turned one.

What language(s) do you speak at home?
We speak Italian at home.

In Italy what age do kids start school?
In Italy kids start elementary/Primary school at 6 years old, which means La Principessa will start this coming September.  {Jillian: Italian Scuola Materna (kindergarten)  starts at 3 years old}

During the school year, what time do your kids get up in the morning?
We all get up at 7:15

What do your kids eat for breakfast?
I always try to have a cake or some muffins made for breakfast, but often my kids prefer to eat bread with butter and jam or cereal with fruit.  There is always freshly squeezed orange juice on the table and La Principessa has discovered that a good omelet in the morning is fantastic!

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Japanese Purchases (part two)

25 Jun

A lot of people have been asking me whether Japan is really as expensive as they all think it is.  When we were there we were really surprised at how affordable it actually turned out to be.  For us the prices were comparable to European prices for many things.  Eating out in Japan was actually even cheaper than eating out in Italy and the museums and entrance fees to temples and shrines were also reasonably priced.

The things that do cost a lot in Japan are the accomodation and transportation.  If traveling to Japan I would definitsly recommend buying a rail pass (only available for non residents of Japan and it must be purchased beforehand) and looking into renting a house instead of staying in hotels.  In Japan you pay per person and not per room in most cases.  So for us, a family of five, staying in a hotel became very very pricey.

I thought I’d do another post with some of my favourite purchases from our trip (see previous post here).  I bought some of these souvenirs at the 100 yen shop (equivalent to the $1 shop).  It’s a great place to pick up little gifts and keepsakes to take home with you.

I couldn’t go to Japan and not buy a little Japanese lunch box.  This one has two little compartments inside to store different foods.  It’s lovely but absolutely too tiny to carry enough food for this family of five.  It might soon become a place to store all my sewing needles and seam rippers.I bought these not knowing what they were but merely because I loved the packaging.  For all I knew these tiny boxes could have been filled with anything from shower caps to thumbtacks.While taking these photos I decided to open one up and it turns out that they are delicious soft caramels.  What a nice surprise!  And I’m so glad it wasn’t anything illegal.These rice crackers come from a specialty shop located near some of the famous temples of Kyoto.  Everything in this shop is painfully spicy.  While in the shop you can taste any of their products and we all tasted these crackers not expecting the burning fire of pain that our poor taste buds had to endure.  Luckily there was a lady waiting with a tray of cold matcha tea to ease the pain.  We still haven’t had the guts to open this pack and give them a try.

I have been collecting Japanese stationary for almost two decades now.  So when I actually got to go to Japan and buy some for myself I was ecstatic.  Surprisingly enough I got these ones above at the 100 yen shop.  They come with a stack of writing paper, envelopes and a sheet of stickers to match.I bought this little iphone case at the same shop my daughters bought their prized purses.  It’s by Wabisuke and Made in Japan (which I love).  Once again, I’m in love with this fabric.Another 100 yen shop purchase are these little paper gift bags.  Oh how I love Japanese packaging!I was surprised to see that in every gift shop you go to in Japan there is always a selection of miniature towels and handkerchiefs to buy.  Apparently it’s one of the number one souvenirs that are purchased and people use them to dry their hands after washing them in the shrines and temples.  My daughter picked out this little one above and it’s made from linen and cotton and is so soft and dainty.

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VIP Priest

21 Jun


Apparently the brother of a local VIP was ordained as priest last week and it has turned out to be the event of the year in my small town.  Everywhere you go there are floral decorations hanging from balconies, from street lamps and from house to house.


Last week-end they held some sort of congratulatory mass service (I think) and there were nuns and priests wandering the streets at all hours of the day in various coloured habits and robes.  In the end I’m not so up-to-date on the church happenings around here but I do love the joy and atmosphere that such an event brings to our small town.

Spirits were pretty high around this little town to say the least.

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Apricot Rosemary Jam

20 Jun


I’ve officially become a jammer (oh geez).  I spend my days planning my next jam-making session and scour the local fresh fruit and vegetable stands for the best in-season fruits.

I’ve slowly acquired all sorts of different sized jam jars and bottles and I’m slowly becoming more comfortable with the whole sterilizing process that goes into canning and preserving jams.  I’m still terrified of poisoning my family or friends with botulism but my fear is waning slightly.

Last week I bought some delicious looking apricots from the local produce truck and decided to make Apricot Jam with Rosemary (found on my all-time favorite preserving site Food in Jars).

Seeing as I almost didn’t survive after making the Cherry Rhubarb  Lavender Jam a few weeks ago  I had to enlist the help of my husband to do the initial cleaning, pitting and chopping of the fresh apricots.  But once they were safely in the Le Creuset and I was gloved, I was ready to start the whole process ( I was even tempted to don some swimming goggles but was terrified of some of the locals catching a glimpse of the crazy Canadian making jam WITH GOGGLES!).

This is a quick jam recipe and I have to say it has such  a unique end result with the addition of rosemary.  It’s sweet with a distinctive savoury background that really makes for a new experience for your taste buds.  It might even initially  confuse them.  But that’s a good thing.

For lunch today I made this sandwich above.  Rustic raisin bread with thinly sliced Gruyere cheese,  salame di Parma and a good layer of the Apricot Rosemary Jam.  It was more than delicious (although I’m pretty sure the kids would bolt from the table if I tried to serve them this).   This past week-end I marinated magret de canard (duck breast) with this jam and some garlic and barbecued it and it turned out to be an absolutely delicious combination.  

Please pop over to Food in Jars for the recipe!

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Summer Uniform

19 Jun

A few years ago (2009) I bought this beautiful Heather Baily material (called Pocketbook in Rose from the Nicey Jane collection) and I’ve been hoarding it in my material cupboard since then.  It’s such a lovely soft cotton and the pale colours so reminiscent of a breezy summer day.  The skirt pattern is from Simplicity (#2226) and is easy and relatively quick to sew up.  It’s got a little fullness from the tiny gatherings in the front and a nice wide waistband. One of my favorite things about the pattern are the pockets.  I just find skirts with pockets so much more comfortable for some reason.  Probably because I have a quick place to put all the garbage my kids hand me every few minutes (these kids actually pass garbage cans to bring me their trash!).The back has a simple zipper closure and a bit more gathering.This just might turn out to be my summer uniform of 2012.  Note to self…clean mirror.

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Japanese Purchases

18 Jun

As some of you may know, we went on a two week trip to Japan a few months back with our three kids.  It was an absolutely amazing trip.  We saw and did so many wonderful things and met so many wonderful people.  It was really a trip of a lifetime.

While there we had a few occasions to pop into various shops to browse around.  Obviously with three kids these occasions were few and far between but I did manage to pick up some really neat little gifts and souvenirs.  The Japanese are famous for their beautiful packaging and I’m a huge fan of everything they do.   I love the care and time they put into making everything from cookies to presents to even toilet paper look pretty.

I’ve noticed that people who pop by our house are so intrigued to see our little Japanese purchases so I thought I’d show you a  few here.    Of course many of them have something to do with packaging (either the way it was packaged or something to help me package nicely).

These little mini packages of rice crackers with a face and clothing printed on the plastic wrapping.  The kids bought them to take into their classmates as a souvenir from Japan.Same idea as the rice crackers but these are two chocolate balls and instead of kimono wearing geishas and warriors it’s Russian Babushka dolls.I tried one out today and although they’re cute they taste pretty crappy.

I couldn’t go to Japan and not buy the famous and over-used Washi tape.   Even if it did cost more than it does in Italy.  Striped and polka dotted twist ties.  I regret not buying tons more of these.  So great for all those bags of cookies and brownies that I leave in people’s mailboxes.

My daughters were given Japanese yen for their birthday from their grandmother and could buy anything they wanted.  In the end they both decided to buy these  Wabisuke purses Made in Japan.They are so well made with a thick canves in the most adorable fabrics.

Look at this elephant material!  I wish I could have bought this by the metre.

And of course one of the all time favourite purchases was this Lego Candy we found at a stall in the Nishiki market in Kyoto.  You can actually build stuff with it!  I’m already planning my son’s birthday cake with these arranged on top.

I can’t forget that I also bought these Echino materials as well while in Japan and received these amazing Japanese Temari Balls as a gift.

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Chocolate Oat Dulce de Leche Bars

15 Jun

These are the richest, sweetest, gooeyest, chocolatey-est bars you’ll ever eat.  When you take your first bites it’s heaven.  After you’ve finished a whole bar you kind of feel like you shouldn’t have eaten a whole bar.  It’s a love/hate relationship to say the least.  I would definitely advise to cut very small bars and eat them slowly.  You should have seen my son after he ate one.  He was doing laps around our house for over an hour.  Then he passed out on the grass.  Like I said…they’re so right but so wrong at the same time.

After making these squares I made the whole family go for a 2 hour walk in the woods to try and get some of the sugar out of our systems.  We saw these gorgeous roses.  The pink against the bright blue sky was just mesmerizing.  I stared at them for a long time.  My kids stared at me staring at the roses and asked me to hurry up because they wanted to go home for some more squares.I gave some to my Italian neighbours and friends and I could tell by their faces that they were maybe a bit too heavy and rich for their liking.  My British, Irish and American friends thought they were great though.  I’m thinking that maybe these would be better to make in the cold winter instead of the warm summer.  In summer it’s all about light, fresh and fruity around here (something like this frozen honeydew recipe from the  joelix blog or this citron meringue pie from the classicplay! blog would fit the hot summer weather much better).  Get recipe for Chocolate Oat Dulce de Leche Bars here on the Daily Crave site.

I found these plastic boxes in Chinatown in Milan (usually used for take-out in sushi restaurants).  They’re actually great for giving little baking gifts to neighbours and friends.  I absolutely love this Tour Eiffel tape that I found in Japan (and it’s not washi!).

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Japanese Sewing Books

14 Jun

The other day Amazon Italia delivered me two beautiful Japanese sewing books (in English!).  They are full of really great skirt, dress, shirt and pant patterns.  The books are really well laid out and the patterns explained in a very understandable manner (not the case for a lot of sewing books).

The book’s  styling and photography is really beautiful and the material used for the patterns really shows off the unique Japanese fashion sense.  I’d love to get my hands on some of those thick linens they use in a lot of the patterns.  They mention that a lot of the linens are actually Italian but I’ve have yet to discover where you can actually find them in Italy.The book Simple Modern Sewing always offers three variations to one pattern.  That way you can almost always find a style that suits you and your body type.  This checked top above will definitely be one of my first projects.Wish me luck.

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