That's The Way The Sushi Rolls..

Yesterday Hubby and I stood in the Asian selection section at the grocery store pondering whether or not we could actually successfully create a delicious sushi for dinner. As a parent, you may know that it's all about presenting positive experiences to your children and hopefully engage them enough to lead them down a less familiar path eagerly.. in this, exploring the palette! Talking with Miss Tamar and Miss Willow while marinating the chicken and cooking the rice about what Sushi was, and what we were going to put in it. Knowing they really liked to eat chicken, and cucumber and avocado and rice - they were keen to see what it tasted like all together and wrapped in seaweed paper (Nori). that was the interesting part.. the Seaweed paper (Nori) So here goes -

 Teriyaki Chicken, Cucumber and Avocado Sushi Rolls

I brought chicken thighs and sliced into strips then marinated
in Teriyaki sauce,  cucumber peeled and sliced into strips
and then de-seeded, and avocado sliced into strips also..

Miss Tamar is spreading the cooled rice onto her Nori -  being
generous enough to lay it about 1cm thick. Making sure to leave
2cm at the top free for sealing the roll once layered.

Firstly placing a squeeze of Kewpie mayonnaise onto the rice,
 left to right, then adding her chicken, cucumber and avocado..

Miss Tamar has rolled her Sushi Roll..  Well Done!! :)

Her Sushi roll cut and ready to devour..

They look amazing don't they.. and they tasted just as good! Just to add to the experience, we all took turns to break open a fortune cookie and read aloud our fortunes!

The girls thought this was great, and Miss Tamar even took some left over sushi roll in her lunch box to school today! I would have to say - Positive experience reached! Things I learnt - The longer the sushi roll has been made before being eaten, the stronger the seaweed flavour comes through.. and If children are allowed to be a part of creating the dish, they are seeing what ingredients are being used and therefore more likely to enjoy eating what they have helped create! :)

                                         

Flossy's Birthday!

Last Saturday my girlfriend Neens ninavcreations.blogspot.com.au and her daughter Mousie came over for a visit and playdate with my girls. As it happened, Mousie's baby - Flossy was celebrating her 2nd birthday! So after a busy morning playing, it was time for lunch- A special lunch - Fun Bread Fairy Floss and Nutella Sandwiches with Apple juice to wash it down.. Mmm!

Fun Bread is made at a little country bakery - Fernvale Bakery
We don't get out that way very often, but we always pick up a loaf
when we do. This bread is so terrificly bright and colourful it is difficult to
capture it's vibrancy! Tastes like normal bread.. Just with colouring!

Flossy, Mousie and Miss Tamar enjoying their lunch..

Lots Of Little Pretties..

Yesterday it was raining and overcast, and my hubby was at home.. While Miss Tamar was at school, and Miss Willow was sleeping, I found myself heading into the top of town for some op shopping.. Lucky Me! I found an abundance of  lovelies..

A Pretty Pyrex Casserole Dish WITH lid..:)

I managed to find 4 aprons for the girls
and I when we are in the kitchen.. :)

A pale blue boomerang pillowcase with frill - to go with my gorgeous
op shop queen size vintage duvet (pics of this to come later), Some baking shells
and a shell necklace-  these will be used in a future project, Of course some country crafting
and decorating magazines, a 3Litre  Willow brand water canister - Its 'Willow' what can I say :) and it will
be used in place of the mixed bottles we have currently in the fridge..
Ooh and a beautiful grey scarf.. 

Finally - A Wishing Well - Garden Planter..
To add to a little garden I am trying to dress for the girls..

With my arms full and loaded up and in desperate need of a hot cuppa.. It was time to head home..

Hen.C.I.S Egg Quarters

My hubby and I thoroughly enjoy sitting down after the girls have gone to bed and watching our favourite programs on the box. One of our favourite shows was the inspiration for our first official Family Project.. An idea born from the 'want' to spend quality time together as a family unit with a minimum budget, separate from the everyday hustle and bustle that life brings.. something we could all do together.. with creative expression splashed around and a ton of fun!

Over the last few months, my hubby and I had been throwing ideas around on how we could build our very own chook pen.. Our excited 7 year old, Miss Tamar fell in love with the idea of having chickens.. Just to add to our little menagerie consisting of our dog Rusty, our Guinea Pigs, Jedi and Dash, and our Goldfish Speedy and Diamond.

So the plan was hatched :) - To use the girls old cubby house (which was really too small and not very exciting) and transform it into the chook pen!

 Not the most fantastic photo, but you can see the original cubby house. So hubby built the stilts and base, a bit like a table - and placed the cubby house up on top and added rails to stop it from sliding off! He took the hinged door off for later use- and there it stood alone for months, until we could decide what was next..

Friends of mine had purchased some lovely hens of their own - 4 of them.. and had named them Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche & Rose affectionately named after The Golden Girls.. 

So this got me thinking about our favourite TV shows.. NCIS was a big one..  We both loved it.. We couldn't choose between NCIS or NCIS L.A.. So settling upon the female characters - we had named our hens before getting them - Hetty, Kensi, Abby and Ziva..

Abby -played by Pauley Perrette. Miss Tamar asked if we could
buy Abby (our chicken) a dog collar with spikes..  

Kensi - played by Daniela Ruah

Hetty - Played by Linda Hunt

Ziva - Played by Cote De Pablo

Pleased with our choice in names.. that light bulb moment occurred for me and the title - HEN.C.IS Egg Quarters fell out of my mouth whilst in fits of laughter.. That was it.. Our plan was to create a secret agent theme, and Miss Tamar was so excited.. 

So with our theme sorted, and armed with our paintbrushes off we all went to begin painting it up. The girls, Miss Tamar (7) and Miss Willow (2.7) had so much fun, dripping and splashing the paint around!

Rusty - Supervising!

Miss Tamar's Love heart blossoms

Paint Jars

Finished Product!

Heart Warming Message To Our Chooks!

Special Agent Chicken Mural.. :)

Now with the decorating done and dusted.. It was off to the produce store to purchase our new employees.. Well they will be working for scratchings and we will be paid in eggs.. lol

Rusty - Giving the new recruits their induction..

Ziva

The girls demonstrating a line- up!

Ziva and Hetty - with Kensi in the background
checking out her  office space..

The ever curious - Abby checking the perimeter..

Hetty 

Signed, Sealed and Painted..

With Our first Family Project completed.. We are all proud as punch of our new little friends!

Debut..

I have begun to collate the photos I have taken over the last few years.. Not all of them of course :) But the ones that have been captured purposefully for their visual arrangement or that special moment. I do not have a fancy schmancy camera.. I use a Panasonic DMC-FZ5. I've had my camera for almost eight years.. I don't even know how to use all the functions hehehe But it serves me well as is! I have recently begun a journey of discovery, where I am looking for man made objects vs. nature.. I find the contrast very interesting.. Both extremely powerful forces to be reckoned with. I am using a Flickr account as a housing space for my photos, so here is the link if you wish to check out my pics!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fallenagent_007/

Let me know what you think! :)
Lisa

* UPDATE: October 2013 - I have recentley deactivated my Flickr Account.. As I would like to blog about my lense captures as a point of interest and share with you the way that I view the world.. :)
More updated posts to come in 'Through The Lense' :)*

Stepping into It..

Well, here it is! My very first post on my very own blog :)

I was recently inspired by my girlfriend Nina from ninavcreations.blogspot.com.au to delve into the world of blogging.. I have been bouncing around from blog to blog - blog surfing I guess for many many months enjoying the reads, and feeling so inspired by what people were doing. Enjoying everything from the arts, photography, gardening, thrift shopping and renovating.. Everything I am passionate about.. Well why not put it all in one space and see if people would enjoy my read, and my crafts and my thrifting and so forth and so forth.. So a big Thank you goes out to you Neens for yet again inspiring me to do something I love and share it with the world!