Sep
8
… is always a good idea
by Sofia - in Good things for kids
I´m wondering if you have read my blog so long that you might remember these posts about Cotton Candy´s first trip to Paris? Well the flights are booked and accommodations are sorted ( we found a very fresh looking air´bnb on a quaint street at our favourite arrondisement) so I can start counting the days until I´m back in my favourite city in Europe. I know one is not supposed to play favourites, especially as there are such wonderful places like London, Hamburg, Milan and Stockholm to rival it ( just to name a few others on my list) but I have to admit that Paris holds some kind of charm over me. It has marked itself in my soul with a permanent marker. It has been too long, way too long since my last visit as they have been bi-annual for as long as I can remember but could it be that now it has been almost 2 years? I´m physically aching to go!
When I was a child we used to travel abroad as a family twice a year, once at winter time and once at summer time. Then my mom would take me and my brother separately on weekend trips to European cities, like Paris. It always felt special in a different way to be just the two of us. And it was very special to be the one left at home too as we got to do things with just daddy. I remember ( even though my dad has always been the one cooking in our house, not my mom) that it often involved a trip to Carrol´s ( there was no Mc Donald´s close to us) for hamburgers or something else we did not use to do otherwise. Spending time with just one parent was different for us as we grew up in a household of two kids and both parents. It´s a wonderful thing to get one parent´s attention all to yourself once in a while and I have decided to continue with this great arrangement with my own children.
Sep
6
Intarsia sweater
by Sofia - in Good things for kids Shopping
En ole mikään printti t-paitojen suuri ystävä. Mutta neuleista, joihin on kudottu mukaan iso kuva, pidän kovasti. Hattaralla oli maailman suloisin Ralphin puuvillaneule ihan pikku taaperona. Se oli vaaleanpunainen ja siihen oli aplikoitu pupu. Rakastin sitä neuletta ja Purkkakin toki käytti sitä paljon ja sitten se käärittiin silkkipaperiin ja pakattiin muistojen laatikkoon. Viime vuonna hankin Lontoosta pupuneuleen ja nyt ostin viime viikolla Jacadilta sateenvarjoneuleen. Tässä muutamia kivoja vaihtoehtoja tämän hetken tarjonnasta. Näissä intarsianeuleissa on todella kivoja vaihtoehtoja myös pojille joita valitsin tähän myös mukaan ( kyllä, olen lukenut kommenttejanne ja ymmärrän, että monilla teistä on poikalapsia, joten yritän muistaa valita myös pojille näihin vaatejuttuihinin vaihtoehtoja).
I have always loved pullovers that have cute pictures on them. One of my favourites was a pink Ralph Lauren one Cotton Candy had when she was a baby. It was pink and had a cute bunny on it. Last year I bought the bunny one from Trotters and this year it is an umbrella sweater from Jacadi. I gathered some cute options from the fall collections for you...
Ralph Lauren has these in the collections every time, just the print varies. I love them!
From here
Fox shirt from here.
I adore this little dog!!!
Sep
5
Bubble Gum got to also invite a friend of hers on a playdate last week ( before I hit the bed in the awful flu). The kids always need a snack to keep them happy and going after a day at nursery and with all the playing, scooting, dancing and twirling they end up doing. I wanted to include the girls in the making of so it would double as a “craft”. As the girls are 4 year olds, it did not make sense to do an overly difficult thing so I decided on brownies ( with the addition of fresh berries and other healthier options as snacks too). They got to decorate the brownies with some sugar fondant cutouts afterwards to make them extra fun. For the brownies I used the super simple and ridiculously good brownie cake recipe I have shared earlier on the blog in Finnish. Now you get it in english too. For the fun of it we added some white chocolate chips this time and left out the nuts ( so our playdate guest could bring some of her self made treats home where there are nut allergies). You can leave both out just as well. This recipe is very similar to many brownie recipes. They include more sugar than flour and are really not the healthiest snack ever. But a square of warm home made brownie with a glass of cold milk may sometimes just make the day that much better. And the good news is, if you are either one of those people who can´t stick to just one square or don´t like using refined sugar, dairy and white flour ( smart choise!) then there are plenty of recipes for healthy brownies online too. Like these sweet potato brownies. Just keep in mind that even though the healthy choices are definitely better for you they may sometimes be just as calorific as the real deal ( with plenty of nuts and dates etc.). So it´s best to stick to the everything in moderation mentality even with these ones. Serve with a class of home made almond mylk, add a pretty straw and no one will know they are not the “real thing”!
Brownies ( this is the cake sized recipe, for the brownies double it)
3 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl flour
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbls cocoa powder
150 g butter
2 eggs
optional 0,5-1 dl (white) chocolate chips ( or a 100g of crushed walnuts)
for decorating
Sugar Fondant ( in different colours if you like)
a little sprinkling of confectioners sugar or corn starch
1. Pre heat your oven to 200°c.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter ( in a saucepan or in the microwave oven). Mix it in the dry ingredients together with the eggs. If you are using vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar add it at this point.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter to a buttered brownie pan.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
6. In the meanwhile roll your sugar fondant fairly thin using powdered sugar ( or corn starch) to help keep it from sticking. Keep it thick enough for little hands to be able to handle it though ( about 2-5 mm sounds about right).
7. Cut the sugar fondant with cookie cutters to any shapes you like. Just remember to use the smaller cookie cutters so the shapes fit on to the brownie squares.
8. When the brownies are ready let them cool off and cut in to squares. Add the shapes you made on top and you have cute decorated brownies. You can obviously just leave the sugar fondant part out and eat the brownies just as or use powdered sugar ( and maybe a free printable Boo baking stencil to make them cute).
