Handcrafted Farm

A few days ago I finally finished a handcrafted farm for Benjamin, which I started making 2 weeks ago inspired by a set of farm animal miniatures sent by my mother-in-law (Benjamin's "Nanny").

These fences and animals were the original set
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To my pleasant surprise, Benjamin fell in love... with this farm instantly and he could spend hours (!) playing with it by hims...elf, putting/arranging animals, farm house, barn, tractors, fences, little people, and even sport cars and trains ;-)

I guess it is partly because this is, for him, a "small world of his own" - in which he can exercise his autonomy.

　As you can see, he is putting a family sedan right in front of the red barn ;-)

Anyways, I'm glad I made it, and thank you, Christine, for sending these farm animals to begin with, and thank you, Amar, for making a second red barn after Benjamin broke the first one that I made, by using it for his hat!

After the roof coming off from the barn, Benjamin found another way to enjoy it --- to wear it as a hat!

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Handmade Tablecloth - finished!

I started working on this tablecloth two weeks ago - and I finally finished it today, together with matching placemats, napkins and a table runner! (Hooray!)

Our dining table, which we bought together at an antique/used furniture shop near our previous house in Bloomington, is a very large round table (about 75 inches =190 cm diameter), and so we couldn't find any readymade tablecloth that fits the table on the market. So I thought it would be nice to make one by myself, partly for our second wedding anniversary - according to Amar's mum, it is a tradition to exchange something with cotton for the second wedding anniversary gift. I chose the colors (navy and creamy white) as they are favorite colors of both Amar and myself.

I made the tablecloth as reversible - so I took pictures with the other side up too (the left picture below). I also tried out a table set-up with a Japanese indigo-dyed tablecloth that my mother gave me before my move to the U.S. using it as a top piece on my navy tablecloth (the right picture below). The indigo-dyed tablecloth is a very nice piece, and I'm very glad I can finally use it now that I made a bigger matching tablecloth :-)

From Michiko's Recent Kitchen Experiments

The following are the pictures of some of my recent kitchen experiments and cooking/baking of my original recipes.

***Bread with "homemade" wild yeast culture***

(Apple yeast loaf --- apple yeast bread #4)

(Apple wild yeast baguettes --- apple yeast bread #3. "Apple yeast" is wild yeast cultured from wild yeast residing on apple skins.)

(apple yeast scone bread --- apple yeast bread #5)

(rejuvelac sourdough pizza with wholewhat flour)

(making "rejuvelac" = enzyme water from sprouted wheatberries)

(my first "rejuvelac sourdough" bread --- not very successful as you can see ... ^_^;)

(rejuvelac sourdough bread with adzuki bean paste filling)


***Bread with commercial yeast***

(Onion Walnut Breat)

(Ciabatta al Formaggio)



***Growing sprouts at home & Making Japanese food from scratch***

(homemade "natto" (=Japanese fermented soy beans) Amar usually dislikes "natto" for its "sliminess", but the homemade ones seem to have passed his test ^^. Natto is a typical acquired taste thing, like "vegemite" in NZ.)

(home-grown broccoli sprouts)



***Japanese sweets made with my original recipe***

(green-tea & adzuki beans muffins)

(Japanese buckwheat & adzuki bean "manju" cakes)

(Japanese buckwheat & adzuki bean "manju" cakes with "kinako" (=roasted soy flour))

(strawberry & adzuki cakes)


***"Experimental" vegetarian dishes***

(Daikon radish cooked in mushroom & seaweed soupstock)

(Brown rice hamburgs with onion, mushroom, nuts and cheese --- hmm, it was yummy!)

(tempeh and soybean curry)

(Pumpkin & lentil croquettes)