Dec
8
Joulu on hiljalleen hiipinyt myös meille tänne kotiin. Ilmassa tuoksuu mandariinit, joululaulut soivat, iltaisin iltateen sijaan lasissa on usein lämmintä glögiä ja kynttilät kimmeltelevät aina kun joku on kotona. Myös keittiöön on saatu joulun tuntua. Joku saattaa ehkä muistaakin Belle & Boolta viime talvena tilaamani jouluisen seinätarran. Tänä vuonna laitoin sen tuonne keittiön seinälle ja lisäsin siihen vielä White Companysta tilaamani led tähtivalot. Nyt meillä on todella tunnelmallista hämärinä aamuina ja iltoina kun pienet valot kimmeltävät keittiössä. Minua ei haittaa lainkaan, että keittiössä on sopivasti lapsekas tunnelma. Joulun aikaan siellä nimittän häärää entistäkin useammin pikku apurit. Pitää leipoa pipareita ja joulutorttuja ja tietenkin Lucia pullaa. Riisipuuron keittoonkin tarvitaan kavereita. Olkoon keittiössäni siis hieman taikaa ja tunnelmaa lapsille tänä jouluna!
Last year I ordered this Belle & Boo wall sticker and this year it moved to our kitchen. At Christmas time the kids bake with me there and like to help with making some rice porridge. I added some starry fairy lights to it and now it really looks cozy in our kitchen early mornings and nights when it´s dark outside.
Dec
5
Itsenäinen
by Sofia - in Random
Toivon sinulle rauhallista ja kaunista itsenäisyyspäivää!
Me pakkaamme tavaramme autoon ja lähdemme ystäväporukalla maaseudulle. Vietämme itsenäisyyspäivän samassa paikassa ja samalla porukalla kuin yleensä uudenvuoden juhlat. Tiedossa siis paljon lapsia, paljon ruokaa ja paljon rakkaita ystäviä.
We are celebrating Finland´s independence day with our friends over the weekend. We are headed to one of our friend´s beautiful mansion in the countryside and there will be 14 children and just as many adults ( we all have 2 children this year). I´m sure the house will be filled with joy and laughter ( and you can probably imagine a bit more noise than on an average day). We will cook together, go out with the kids to get some fresh air and go to the sauna to relax with the ladies. I´m so looking forward to it!
Lattemamma
p.s. In the photos a table I set for the kids at a dinner party we held at our house a while back. This year we are planning for the kids to eat first and then later we adults eat together. As the 14 kids do not fit around the same table with us even though it is a pretty big table. So they will have their own special celebratory dinner. I´m in charge of the kids lunch on Sunday. Mac and cheese, pasta pesto or a nice soup? What do you think?
Dec
3
My little star
by Sofia - in Party planning
What if I would like to make a lovely little party but don´t know how to cook and bake or don´t have any time for it?
I know a lot of people do not enjoy spending their time in the kitchen or have a partner to take care of the kids while they bake or the patience to involve the kids in the process ( I sometimes just throw them out if they start fighting over spatulas and who gets to lick the batter or frosting out of the bowl). It does not mean everyone would not love to throw a beautiful party for their babies. And it really does not have to. This time we threw a little “soirée” for Cotton Candy´s grandparents on her 5th birthday. No cooking and absolutely no baking. I must say it was a bit hard for me as I always have so many baking ideas to execute but I had decided to spend the whole day with the girls and just have everything made ready. There is definitely many ways to do it but this is what I decided on…
I decorated the room in a pretty simple manner, the kind of party decoration maybe more to my personal liking. Then I walked in to a new Italian deli just opened about a month or two ago that has the most amazing selection of cheeses and cold cuts. We decided on a cheese plate. I just added a few things to it like figs, jam and nuts. I read a little about wine and cheese matching and served wine accordingly. Red wine for the cheese and some Italian sweet sparkling with the desserts. When one is entertaining a small group it´s nice to be able to concentrate on quality over quantity. After the cheese and wine we had a simple panettone cake that are now readily available because of Christmas arriving soon. I sprinkled the cake with a bit of powdered sugar and added birthday candles. It was served with espressos and fragrant tea.
