Roasted Pineapple Sorbet

One of the dishes I made for the tiki party was grilled pineapple. Ever grilled pineapple? Here is how to do it ~

Melt 2 tablespoons butter. Mix in 2 tablespoons honey. Slice 1 pineapple and put slices in a large Ziptop bag. Pour in honey mixture and dash of salt. Seal bag, and shake to coat evenly. marinate for 20 minutes. Heat grill to high. Grill pineapple for 2-3 minutes per side, or until heated through and grill marks appear.

Source: Relish!

The roasted pineapple is good, but not something you can eat too much of in one sitting, so I had a lot left over. I thought it might be good as a sorbet. Using this recipe, I made my leftover roasted pineapple into a sorbet. It was -- ok, but similar to the fresh grilled pineapple, it was something you only needed a few bites of to feel satisfied.

Making this recipe reminds me that I really need to use my ice cream maker more!

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Favorite of the day: Cute Halloween party

Working on: Weekend of fun!

Everyday Luau

If you do a search for activities that would fall under the umbrella term "everyday romance," you will almost most likely see a suggestion to buy flowers and/or set a romantic mood using flower petals, candles, whathaveyou. I suppose everybody has different takes on the significance of gestures such as these -- let me tell you mine.

A couple of our appetizers. Hank made the confetti for the "tiki party."

1 - We are on a relatively strict budget, so flowers (or anything temporal) seem a little frivolous right now.

2 - We don't have any place to put cut flowers in our house. I know that sounds weird, but I really have no logical place to put flowers where I can enjoy looking at them during their brief sojourn other than the dining room table, and that location is subject to a toddler who will inevitably knock over the vase, a cat who will most definitely eat said flowers and puke them up, etc. Which brings me to --

3 - The anticipation of mess (cleaning up cat puke with flower bits in it, scraping dead bits of flowers out of a vase full of gunky water, cleaning smeared on flower parts from the bedspread if my husband decided to do the most over the top romantic gesture known to man and sprinkle rose petals on our bed) would prevent me from fully enjoying a gift of flowers. He would get more of a Thanks, these are great response versus the Oh honey, I LOVE you (cue wife flying into his arms) response he was hoping for.

I think the key to everyday romance is deciding what is romantic to an individual couple (ok, so most women really do enjoy the flowers) and, if you are creative, how you can still accomplish romance with kids in plain site. Take dinner, for example. What was your favorite restaurant when you were dating? Did you like a sushi place? Why not buy a pack of pre-made California rolls and have everybody try their hand at chopsticks. The kids will think you just exploring a new cultural food, but you and the hubby will be sharing knowing glances all night. If you want to bring a tear to his eye, write the name of the restaurant you used to go to on his paper napkin (or make a paper napkin ring if you use cloth). The prep takes just minutes, but the thought and consideration are priceless.

My tiki guys

For me and BT, the place we are missing most post-kid is this one. Without an extra room, our tiki supplies are currently gathering dust in the garage. Sure, there are *big plans* for a tiki shack in the backyard, but you know how that goes. Every other project will likely take priority over that one.

Next time I'm going to make my own orgeat syrup!

But, I figured, I could bring a little tiki indoors. The decor items shown were mainly from our party supply bins, and rather hastily put up with masking tape. The kid had a ball helping, and couldn't wait for the "tiki party." BT was well on his way to becoming a seasoned mixologist when the tiki room bar was in full swing, but life and laziness (much easier to pop open a can of beer) and all the other "stuff" had made it so he hadn't made one of his well-balanced and delicious mai tais in over a year. I put together the ingredients so he could mix a few drinks to help us remember the good old days (or forget -- the drinks are pretty strong...)

Classic mai tais are really boozy

This look a little more time to put together and implement than most of the ideas on my running "everyday romance" list, but it was very much appreciated.

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Favorite of the day: Any one want to move with me to Finland?

Working on: Laundry. At the laundromat. I miss my dryer...

Gift #3

Annnnd...here's another gift for my co-worker. You may recall that I am co-hosting a friend shower for her in addition to the work shower? So I needed a gift for that shower as well.

I decided to do a basket of a few of our favorite things. Some are marginally favorites, but rather things I had on hand in my gift box. Others, like the Kushies washable changing pad and the Munchkin Snack Catcher pretty much defined our journey through the first few years.

Here are the items included in the gift basket:

1) Robeez (definitely a fave!)

2) Mesh feeder -- not for food, but rather for ice during teething or stomach bugs

3) Keepsake items (admittedly had these on hand, but do like the handprint we did)

4) Cute socks (also on hand, but the mama-to-be LOVES these socks, and we did enjoy using the boy equivalent of these)

5) Washable vinyl backed changing pads

6) Book for pictures of friends and family

7) Swaddler

8) Stroller hooks (ours was low tech compared to this one, but came in handy often)

9) Snacker (couldn't leave home without it during the second year)

10) Cloth diapers (used for us on top of the changing table -- prevented having to wash the whole changing pad cover if there was an accident)

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Favorite of the day: Looks like a great place to eat

Working on: Sleep!

Gift #2

This is the group gift from from our office

It includes the mama-to-be's requested bedding from her baby registry, a book, and a cuddle toy in the most perfect basket.

I have a tendency to "loop" at stores if I don't see what I am looking for. I keep going back to the same section in the store, and re-thinking in my head how something could work with the resources available. My mom is guilty of the same thing, and it drives our husbands crazy. I stood in front of the basket section at Michaels for half an hour at least trying to figure out a basket solution that would work for the baby items I had already purchased. I didn't even see this basket in the beginning -- it was only after some digging and re-thinking things that I landed on this one as a solution. Usually looping is a wasted effort, and I leave the store empty-handed. This is probably the first time it has worked, and will probably encourage me to stick it out longer than I should the next time I find myself at a store in the looping mode.

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Favorite of the day: Lots of cute Halloween food ideas here.

Working on: Dollies two

I had to start some place...

...so I started with gifts!

A co-worker who is also a good friend is having a baby come January. I will be assisting with a work shower and a shower for friends. The work shower is next month, and I had a special gift in mind.

This is a friend with whom I can share all the trials and tribulations of trying to eat healthier. Her own eating habits during pregnancy are enviable. She eats two huge salads every day, minimal carbs, and lean protein. Sure, she has cravings (McDonald's ice cream cones are her downfall), but this kid is going to have a taste for healthy food.

Boy or girl, I knew my homemade gift for her would focus on fruits and veggies. I had a great piece of thrifted fabric in my stash printed with farm animals and apple trees. It served well as the backing for a simple tied square blanket and two burp cloths.

I intended to make three onesies for her using small felt veggie cut-outs, but lo and behold the mama-to-be registered for three similarly styled (though much more professional looking) onesies. The price for all three was only $10 -- how could I resist?

I also made her a nursing cover loosely using this tutorial, but copying the shape of the one Shanna made for us. Finally, I made two bibs using some of the fabric used in the quilt and lined with gingham flannel. They close with Velcro.

Freshly picked for a healthy mama and her baby!

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Favorite of the day: Fun craft party!

Working on: Another new baby gift

Party time!

We had our little celebration at work today for a special boy who turns one later this month. The theme was "vintage toys."

(Pardon the cords -- despite what you see in this post, we do work here)

I bought a ton of Hank's toys from home to use as decor. My co-worker is an avid thrift shopper, and she also brought a selection of toys and books. Here is the dessert table

I went on baking overload Tuesday night and made the birthday boy's smash cake, the big b-day cake, M&M cookies, brownie bites, and lemon squares.

We were also celebrating the birthdays of two men who have birthdays in September. It's funny -- celebrating events in our office has gone to a whole new level with the passing of our manager. One, he was always pretty reserved about "common" celebrations (birthdays, etc.) I don't think he wanted people to think we were just goofing around all the time. Now, we like to imagine he is looking down on us saying "don't sweat the small stuff." Two, in addition to losing Steve, we have collectively lost 17 friends and family members since October of last year (and we are an office of 10 people, folks). Any little cause for celebration, and we are ready with noise makers, balloons - the works.

The table was decorated with a huge piece of vinyl fabric my co-worker found at the Disney outlet store for $1 (we're thinking it was used to make Buzz Lightyear costumes). She also found 1st birthday cut-outs and vintage games to spread along the length of the conference table.

People were immediately attracted to the games -- this party definitely brought out the kid in us.

The pin the tail on the donkey game was actually used by a few good sports. Also shown are the garland and crown shared earlier this week.

Everybody had a great time, and the birthday boy dug into his cake with both fists without hesitation. The men's cake nearly set the building's fire sprinklers off.

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Favorite of the day: Sometimes it's the simple things

Working on: Debating if I should switch back to a never-ending project or start prep for the next party.

Pin the tail

In planning the over the top 1st birthday for a co-worker, my partner in crime suggested we really rile folks up and get them to play pin the tail on the donkey. She was kidding, of course, but I said -- wait, that is perfect! It will give me the push I needed to make this

So make it I did. Note if you want to make a version of your own from the website versus the book, please note that the donkey template is not included online. This baby is mangled rendered by my own hand.

This new fabric came in handy, as did having an adequate supply of felt on hand. I also made a little mask to go with the game. I'm sure our co-workers will want to kill us love us for allowing them to recapture their youth. Or tell us to stick these tails up our, well, you know.

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Favorite of the day: New Sweet Paul!

Working on: Birthday treats

Party planning season is here again!

The party planning is back in full swing! In the next three months, I will be either helping with or planning solo for a 1st birthday party, two baby showers, and a 3rd birthday for our little munchkin.

First up is the 1st birthday party for a co-worker (the little guy celebrated here -- my how time flies!) This was supposed to be a little celebration at work, but a co-worker and I bought two tickets to Crazy Town, and are sure to overdo it. Nothing expensive, mind you. The theme is vintage/classic toys, and we have a lot of those to use as decor between the two of us.

I made the birthday boy a crown from Amanda's The Creative Family book and used Dana's recent tutorial to make a happy day felt garland. Bully for me, most of the shapes I used were pre-cut from a felty craft lot I won on Ebay years ago. The garland will be draped around a booster seat.

Next up: It's fun to make adults do childish activities :)

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Favorite of the day: Such a fun idea for Christmas (sorry - did I say the C word?)

Working on: Fire engine rehab