Made to Order Crepes in Chinatown

Yesterday after we watched the DC Chinatown's Lunar New Year parade, we stopped at the crepe stand. I don't know if the kids have had a fresh crepe before. I can make them, but not like these guys can. They are pros! And they have the fancy machine.

We got a savory one, filled with cheddar cheese. They guy folded the huge crepe into four, wrapped it up in foil and paper. We stood outside in the cold and gobbled it up. Totally worth the $4, since the kids were entertained as we watched our crepe being made.

Look at that those huge jars of Nutella. I wonder how many they go through in one day?

If you're in DC, checkout Crepes On the Walk in Chinatown, right down the walkway of the Gallery Place mall. You won't regret it!

Kid Approved: Whole Food's Tequila Lime Seasoning

Raise your hand if you like food samples at grocery stores? My kids can sense the food demo table from aisles away.

Last week, our Whole Foods was sampling pan fried salmon to promote their Friday sale. The salmon was generously doused with tequila lime blend seasoning (pictured above). It was tasty. Though, flavor any food with tequila, I'm all over it. Give me a drink with tequila in it and I'll be your buddy for the evening.

Oh, where was I? Oh yeah, so we patiently waited for our sample of steaming hot tequila lime salmon. I appreciate that the shoppers at Whole Foods aren't as vicious as the ones at Sam's Club when it comes to food samples. I was already going to purchase the salmon, but an afternoon snack never hurts.

Sophia fell in love with the salmon. So much after one nibble, I gave her the rest of mine. While I picked up the wild caught salmon (only $7.99 a pound-a bargain!), she asked if we could purchase the seasoning. I froze. She's not a big fan of a lot of seasoning on anything. The fact that she asked for it-I bought it!

The next day we made the salmon and it was a hit with everyone, even Jaxson. A couple of nights ago, I made my go-to meal, roasted chicken. As I went to grab some spices, I noticed my container of Tequila Lime Blend. I liberally added it to the chicken and potatoes. It was yummy and the kids loved it.

So, thanks Whole Foods for letting my daughter actually like something with tons of flavor. I'll have to buy more!

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Pssst. I was featured on Goddess Leonie's website yesterday. I'm sharing some more pages from my goddess workbook. Take a peek.

I totally paid for my own food at Whole Foods. In fact, I <3 their Friday sales. 

Downton Abbey's Luscious Costumes

I'm a little bit obsessed with Downton Abbey. I devoured the first season in less than 24 hours. Ok, it was only 7 episodes, but I just couldn't get enough! Thank goodness for Netflix streaming. If you're not familiar with Downton Abbey, it's British drama (comedy?) on PBS.

In high school I read tons of paperback romance books about "the season" and the search for a rich husband. Set pre- and during WWI, Downton Abbey follows the lives of an uppercrust family and their servants. Besides loving the writing, I've been oogling the gorgeous costumes.

A bit of googling revealed that the show reuses costumes from other period movies and tv shows. People are upset about it apparently, but that's pretty common in the theatre. There isn't time or money in the budget to make everyone's costumes from scratch. By adapting or changing a few elements on the costume, you can rework it. What do you think about reusing costumes?

Here's some of my favorites:

You know how much I love red. Maybe we should all wear gloves to formal dinners?

Photo by Lyndsy88

Look, I found this quiz: Which Downton Abbey character are you? Turns out I'm Lady Mary. Which is no surprise considering how much I love her costumes.

You are Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery). You yearn for glamour and excitement. And the exhumation of poor Mr Pamuk. Oh how you miss him!

Wall of Ramen

You know how much I love ramen right? Check out this wall of ramen I discovered at my Vietnamese grocery store. Around the corner you could buy them by the case.

I'll have one of each please!

Running Out of Ideas: Creative Everyday Week 3

I'm doing a better job remembering to complete my daily sketch. I'm having a harder time thinking of what to sketch. Maybe that's my problem, I'm thinking too much.

I think I should pick a night and paint in the sketches from the last 2 weeks.

Photo taken on my Android phone with Paper Camera app.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Chúc mừng năm mới!

Happy Tết or Lunar New Year in Vietnamese! Today marks the year of the dragon.

To get ready, this past weekend, I went to the Vietnamese grocery store to pick up some essentials.

First, we have to eat banh chung, made of fatty pork, mung bean, and sticky rice.

It's also traditional to eat candied fruit, but I've never been a fan of it. Usually there's candied coconut, lotus seeds, ginger and lots of other stuff. I didn't pick up any for the family because I knew no one would eat it.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Creative Everyday post!

Upcycled Memo Board Tutorial #GlueNGlitter

On the wall next to my desk, I've taped up things that make me happy or inspire me. I have family photos, posters, Sophia's art and other random things. I got tired of how cluttered it all look, so I decided to make a memory board.

I was first inspired by this memo board project on Elmer's website. I headed to the Wal-mart to pick up supplies. I had no idea Elmer's offered so many adhesives and craft supplies. For the base, I used Elmer's Foam Board. It's light weight and inexpensive as well. I forgot to included it in the picture, but I also used Elmer's CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick. I also picked up a glue gun and extra glue sticks-my first glue gun in 10 years!

After digging through my fabric stash, I found a pleather (fake leather) mini-skirt that I haven't worn in years. My brain thought about all the sewing instructions in the original project. I was too lazy to pull out my sewing machine. I figured I could just hot glue the entire board. ( I ended up not using the red trim and the crocheted flowers.)

Since the foam board was much bigger than the skirt, I cut the 20 x 30 inch board in half. After drawing my cutting line in pencil, and I cut the board with an X-ACTO knife. Using a metal ruler as a guide, score the board with the knife on your first pass. Then go back and add more pressure, eventually cutting through the board. Make sure to use a cutting mat. I might have scratched my kitchen table a bit. . .

I cut the mini-skirt into two parts. The front and the back. I decided that the back with the zipper was much more interesting. I thought it would be fun to leave the zipper open. That meant I need something underneath the fake leather.

I dug through my scrap bag and found this red fabric. Using the Elmer's CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick, temporary attached it to my foam board. It kept it in place until I could fold the edges over and hot glue it. I stretched the fabric taught as I attached it with the hot glue gun.

After the glue was set, I trimmed the edges.

Then I repeated it with the piece of my mini-skirt. I decided to let the hemmed part of my skirt hang down, past the edge of my foam board.

The board looked a little bare, so I had to give it some pearls. Leather and pearls go together, right? First a little trim on the end.

Now the board looked like a leather shirt or jacket. Right where the zipper opened, I added a necklace.

On the back of the board, I hot glued a picture hook and hung it the wall next to my desk. Now, I have a nice, eat place to hang  inspiration pieces. I used my pearl head stick pins to hold the photos up. Just to keep with the pearl theme.

While I was at Wal-mart, I did find a section of fabric squeeze paints and blank shirts. Inspiration for my next project? You can see more photos from my shopping trip on Google +.

Supplies used in this project: pleather mini-skirt, pearl trim, red fabric, hot glue & hot glue gun, X-ACTO knife,  ruler, cutting mat, Elmer's Foam Board 20"x30", Elmer's CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick, pearl headed stick pins, and scissors.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #glitternglue All opinions and the outdated pleather mini-skirt are mine.