Day…
I had plans to meet up with Cassie and Nana today for lunch in Ebisu but Cassie came down with a stomach flu last night and so we postponed.
It left me with not much to do today so I had plans of baking muffins and sewing.
Well the muffins happened but unfortunately the sewing did not.
Blueberry and nashi pear muffins
I have never made muffins by myself before. I am not much of a baker. I like to cook but it is usually more savoury dinner type things than baking but in the last couple of weeks I have made several batches of brownies and I have had a craving for blueberry muffins lately so knowing I wouldn`t be able to buy enough fresh ones for a reasonable price I picked up a bag of frozen berries on the weekend and did a quick google for muffin recipes that used frozen berries. I changed the recipe a little since making 24 was not an option due to the size of my little oven (and lack of muffin tins/cups!) so I halved the recipe and added a bit of nutmeg and half a grated nashi pear while also cutting back on the sugar a bit knowing that the pear would add some natural sweetening.
Why the pear? Well Shun`s mum sent us a box of 15 Ichikawa Nashi Pears(apparently famous? Ichikawa is where Shun`s family lives) and honestly there is no way we will eat that many. I had already given a couple to the building manager and a couple to the neighbours leaving us still with 9 pears!!! I will have to come up with some other pear desserts I think!!! Either that or learn to preserve them…
The sewing that I wanted to do was two bibs and a breastfeeding cover- I had the material all cut out and pinned and ready to go since last week and I brought my sewing machine back from Australia when we returned to Japan in May (I sent it with all the other stuff we shipped). I thought all I would need would be a plug adapter and a voltage changer but I think my old clunker of a machine must take too much power or something because sadly I could not get it to work. I tried plugging it into a powerboard as well with no luck. I rang Shun at work devestated that I had brought it all the way here and now it won`t work (not to mention a couple of weeks back I bought loads of material and supplies to make a baby patchwork blanket which I was going to work on next) and he said maybe I can borrow his mum`s. I hope so, I will be seeing her on the weekend so will ask then because we can not afford to buy another one and now I have a useless Aussie one that I can`t even use in this country it seems. I was hoping to have a couple cute bibs and a breastfeeding cover to show you but sadly it was not meant to be. At least not today.
We ordered a baby car (pram) online from amazon on Saturday night and it arrived this morning- here it is.
We can use it from the time goma-chan is a month old and it had all the things I wanted. A handle that could go both ways (ie, i can see the baby or face it away from me), a five point seat belt system (it only has three in the picture- shun has to add the other parts which came separately), be steerable with one hand (did a test- all good!), the hood to be pulled right down if baby is sleeping and reasonably light (this one comes in under 4kg). Also did a bit of a test and I can put it up/put it down with one hand! I took it for a spin around the apartment which I am sure Shun will freak out about because “OMG the wheels touched the floor” but I figure it hasn`t been outside yet so he can`t get that worked up. That said, he once freaked out when I was wearing new shoes around our old apartment to wear them in…even though I had never worn them outside he was still freaked out and thought it was bad luck for the shoes or me or something.
I made a thai beef salad for dinner…in the picture the dressing has not been added yet because I like it a lot (it has chilli) but Shun is not so good with spicy food so we add the dressing seperately. He will add a little bit then smother the rest of his salad in ponzu dressing (once he gets home)
It was a perfect meal for summer! I ate it with fresh bread that I baked this morning…
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baking bread, muffins, patching together a quilt *and* practising with the pram? I think you’re all set to have kids. Why wait? I’ll lend you my two to practise on!
Done the shows thing with K, too. even my Uggboots only just pass muster!
Those muffins sure do look yummy. Definitely must be send nashi to the kids because we recieved a box ourselves this week, though I think we only recieved 8. I ate one yesterday and cut one up and added it to our lunches this week so now we are down to 6.
That salad looks good, what all did you put in it?
Sorry to hear about your sewing machine, that definitely does not lead to a good day now does it, but on the other hand, the pram sure does look nice!
Heather- I am still up for taking your two to disneyland if you want- since you said you don`t want to! haha, i wish been a good mother would be all baking muffins and bread but somehow I doubt it.
Shun made no comment about the pram been in the house (and on the floor) in fact he actually took it for a spin himself. I realize now I will never let him push the pram when the baby is in it. I might need to buy a stuffed toy for him to practice with.
Melanie- You are so good at the making lunch thing- sometimes I don`t even get out of bed to make sure Shun eats breakfast…although I know I should. I am making lasange tomorrow though so Shun can take it in a bento for the next day perhaps…but it will be a one off!!
The salad has beef, lettuce mixed leaves (salad spinich works fine too), capsicum, red onion, moyashi, small negi, corriander (was hard to get!), peanuts (pine nuts work better though if you can get them) and that is it I think. The dressing is fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce, mint, lime juice, more corriander, garlic, and some water (off the top of my head?) – because I didn`t have any real chilli`s I used paprika in the sauce too. it is better if you get real chillies though!
The sewing machine really put a dint in my day… was very sad
Hopefully I will be able to borrow MILs or be able to buy one second hand maybe.
Hahahha….not sure how great my lunches are. Just ham sandwiches (lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickles), DH gets 2 boiled eggs (I just go with fruit), string cheese, and a bag of chips (peanut butter sandwich pretzels for me, both of which we get at Costco).
I`ll have to give the salad a try. Might have to make do without the corriander if I can`t find some, but even without it sounds good.
I just realized that we live pretty close to each other and I would be happy to lend you some baby things. Once I get back to Japan we will have to meet up/
Melanie- You are not much of a meat eater right? You could totally do the salad with something else or fish/prawns if you prefer. I think it would still be good. The recipe I got off a friend just called for beef that`s all.
Maybe I should start making lunches for Shun- Sandwiches wouldn`t go down well though. He is not much into bread. I suppose I should perfect my onigiri making before bub needs bentos for school and what not though!
I am going to start growing my own basil, corriander and mint when I can set up the pots- I hate not having it fresh when I need it.
Trisha- Thanks! I knew you were in Chiba somewhere but wasn`t sure where. Where are you based? I have had so many generous offers from friends for baby stuff that we are almost all set but would love to meet up anyway! Would be great to meet you two little munchkins too sometime! Enjoy the rest of your trip back home- the photos you have had up showing the kids having so much fun it seems!
That pram looks nice! Ours is a lot heavier than that I’m positive — there’s no way I could put it up and down with one hand. Luckily we don’t use it a whole lot anymore, although we did when D was smaller. I am actually glad, in retrospect, that we have such a heavy duty one though, because we just moved house and since we moved literally next door to where we lived before, we used D’s pram to push all of our stuff over, one load at a time! Sort of an unexpected use there!
We love pears in this house, in fact, I think we could probably go through 15 in about a week. We just eat them plain, D loves them, and peaches too. I’m glad my kid is a fruit eater at least. Those muffins look so good though, and adding the pears sounds like it turned out great. I’m not really much of a baker or even a cook, but every once in awhile I’ll get on a bit of a spree and whip up some stuff. Now you’ve got me craving muffins too! Hehe
That salad looks yum yum yummy yum. I think Maki would end up having rice with it though – or perhaps a thing of instant noodles!!
I must admit that the perfect pram for us has been one where the car seat part just clicks in – can use till they are nearly one and then you attach the toddler bit. Ryu LOVES his car seat so is nice that I can tak ehim in and out of the car without disturbing him.
I hope you don’t have heartburn for the next four months!!