This morning, I made the kids scrambled eggs and homemade buttermilk waffles for breakfast.
Which reminds me—I desperately need to make a farmers market trip to stock up on black tea blends and herbal teas.
Homemade buttermilk waffles 🧇 😋
I only buy my teas from one woman who locals fondly call “The Tea Lady.”
She makes the best tea blends I have ever tasted, and she only sells them once a week at the farmers market.
So, I’m putting it on my calendar to go to the farmers market the beginning of September!
I started watching the new Netflix series Little House on the Prairie. I was skeptical about if it would be any good, but so far, I like it.
I love historical fiction books, films, and TV shows, especially westerns, so this show is right up my alley.
I’m only four episodes in, but I’m hoping we’ll get a little more character development for some of the side characters as the season continues. There are already a few I’d love to know more about.
Photo credit: Netflix
I just realized I have never actually read the Little House on the Prairie book series. Maybe I should add that to my fall reading list.
Finally booked my follow-up doctor’s appointment for my second skin biopsy. My doctor wants to make sure he removed all of the cells of the mole I had on my finger.
My new junk journal I created. I’m going with a farmers market/picnic theme for the main cover and tip-in pages.
Lastly, I got to spend a lot of time on creating in my junk journal. I did this in between cooking dinner, doing laundry, and other household tasks. 😄
One of the spreads I created today. 😍
Since we are on our break from homeschooling lessons, it’s freed up some time for me to focus on my creative hobbies. 😊
We made a trip to H-Mart, and I unintentionally ended up with a big grocery haul. Lol! Isn’t that how it always happens?
To me, H-Mart is like the Target of grocery stores. I go in with my short list, and I somehow always come out with a cart full of way more than I had planned.
Travis and the boys heading into H-Mart.
Over the past few months, I’ve become increasingly interested in Japanese and Korean home cooking, especially the simple, everyday meals families prepare. So, I decided it was time to explore a few ingredients that were completely new to me.
Travis was able to help me pick out some of the products. He was stationed in South Korea for about a year, and he said he ate out at a lot of the restaurants (which he loved!). He even took a cooking class while he was living in Korea.
The boys helping Dad get the jasmine rice, and Zaya photo-bombing with a peace sign. Lol
This trip, I picked up seaweed snacks, sesame oil, sushi rice, Japanese mayonnaise, and a few other items that caught my attention along the way.
Travis and I were using our phones to google which seaweed brands were good for making gimbap and sushi rolls. As we were trying very hard to determine which brand to get, a lovely Korean woman, who was also shopping in the store, overheard our conversation and walked up to us offering to help.
She was so sweet. She showed us which seaweed brands she uses to make gimbap. We smiled and thanked her profusely for her kindness. That helped us so much!
The kids, of course, were especially interested in the ramyun aisle.
One of the things I enjoy most about cooking is learning something new. I love learning how to cook many different types of foods. I may not know exactly what I’m doing yet, but that’s part of the fun!
Every new ingredient, recipe, and kitchen experiment teaches me a little more than I knew the day before.
Here are some photos from our H-Mart grocery store haul.
This 25-pound bag of jasmine rice was on sale for less than $20!
Now the real adventure begins: figuring out what to make first! Do you enjoy learning how to cook different types of recipes?
This morning, Zaya (5) was the first one of the children awake. She popped into the kitchen just in time to discover I was making blueberry muffins.
Naturally, she wanted to help me because Zaya loves cooking. 😊
After filling one muffin pan with liner, we realized we had run out of cupcake liners. So we made our own! 😁🧁
Using a sheet of parchment paper, you cut out squares. Then, make small slits along each side. Place the parchment paper in a well and use a small cup to help form the shape of the liner. Then, fill it with batter.
As she helped me fill the liners with the muffin batyer, Zaya said, “The batter looks like lava, and the cupcake cups are the volcanoes.” 🌋🧁
Days like this remind me how important it is to slow down and enjoy these ordinary moments—not stress about perfection.
The muffins don’t have to have matching liners or look Pinterest-perfect. All that matters to me is spending time together and the memories we’re creating. 🥰
The day started with a cozy brunch at home. I’ve mentioned before on Fridays we have Pizza Friday.
I always order my pizza from a local Italian market. They always use fresh ingredients and cook the pizza using a wood-burning oven. It’s the best fresh pizza I’ve ever had! 😋
You get an 11″ pizza with unlimited toppings for just $12! Great deal! I always order the meat lovers pizza with artichoke as an extra topping.
For brunch on the weekends, I like to have my favorite tea with a slice of my leftover pizza with a fried egg and honey drizzle on top. I put on my jazz playlist and just enjoy the vibes.
Last Saturday, I introduced my pizza brunch recreation to Travis and he was amazed at how delicious the leftover pizza tasted with fried egg.
“Yo! This is REALLY good!” he exclaimed. “How did you come up with this?” 😲🍕
A little work in the garden
We did a little work in the garden. I planted another sugar baby watermelon start, and Zaya (5) wanted to plant a cosmos flower seed in her little baby pot. 🥹🌸
This makes two sugar baby watermelon starts we are growing in the garden.
Zhen (13) chose the mini watermelon to grow because she LOVES watermelon. 🍉
I’m a little nervous about having enough space for the watermelon to vine, but I’ve been researching ways to grow vertically, so I think we can make it work! 🤞🏾😁
It looks like he’s smiling at me. 😄🐸
Mr. Toad back again
And while I was tending to the patio garden, my little toad friend was hopping behind me. 😄🐸 It’s so cute because I often see this toad pop out when I am working in the garden.
It seems he was on his way to the garden section of our peppers and tomatoes. Lol 😅 That was perfect because some bugs have been hanging around the plants. 🪲
Mass and a quick stop at H-Mart
Later in the afternoon, we went to the Saturday vigil Mass.
Since Travis works six days a week, we have found going to Saturday Mass is a little easier on him. That way he can sleep in and fully rest on Sundays.
After Mass, we stopped by H-Mart to get lo mein noodles and a few other ingredients. I had a craving for homemade chicken lo mein and I wanted to cook it for dinner.
These Canton Style Egg Noodles are so easy to cook and the texture is perfect for my homemade stir-fry. 😋🍜
I also saw these lo mein egg noodles. I’ve never cooked them before, so I thought I’d give it a try. 🍜
The kids LOVE H-Mart! 😍 Every time we go, they always want to get ramyun and snacks. This time, they found K-Pop Demon Hunters snacks, so of course, we had to get it! 😂🫶🏾
What we bought at H-Mart…
I love H-Mart because they sell so many varieties of noodles, rice, kimchi, and other unique foods that you can’t find at American supermarkets.
The kids wanted to check out the toy section (obviously lol), and they wanted us to buy something.
I told them to save up their allowance money so we can come back and they can buy the toy they really want to get. 🤓💡
Before leaving H-Mart, we played a game of Toy House—the claw machine game.
We didn’t win anything (does anyone ever win these games? 😏 lol), but it was still fun trying. 😊
My energy is low today, which is honestly pretty typical for a Wednesday for me. 😴
Today, I am taking it slow and reading Outlander (I’m on chapter 25), finishing organizing my homeschool planner, and doing a little cooking with the kids.
Outlander
Okay, don’t laugh at me, but I have been reading Outlander since last summer! Maybe longer. 😆
I struggle to stay consistent with reading books. 😫 It frustrates me because I LOVE books!
I used to be able to read one novel (under 400 pages) in 1 – 2 weeks. Now, it takes me much longer.
I partly blame social media for zapping my attention span. 😏 Last year, I stopped using Instagram regularly for this very reason (also anxiety).
Now I just hop on social media every once in awhile. It has made a huge difference for me, so hopefully this summer I will finally finish reading Outlander! 😂
Pancakes
It’s a low energy day, so let’s make buttermilk pancakes! 🥞 Zephaniah (8) and Zhen (13) helped me flip the pancakes while I washed the dishes.
Another sunflower rescue
So far, we’ve “rescued” five sunflowers we found growing in between the sidewalk. We discovered another volunteer sunflower sprout that, unfortunately, was broken.
So, I put what was left of the stem in a glass jar of water. Now it’s growing new roots! 🌻😁
One of the sunflowers we rescued is happily growing in a pot for now. Once it has outgrown this pot, I will move it to a large-size grow bag.
Lasagna for dinner
And we’re ending this chill day with a simple homemade lasagna for dinner. Zaya (5) and Zephaniah helped me make the lasagna.
So much to do tomorrow! Hopefully, today’s relaxed activities will give me the energy rejuvenation I need for Thursday.
These are the homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies Zaya (5) and I made together earlier this week.
These cookies are delicious! Trust me when I say—after you make these yummy treats, it will be hard to eat just one peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. 😋🍪
RECIPE: PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chocolate chips, maybe? Lol (but tbh, I just poured in the desired amount of chocolate chips that I wanted 😅.)
BakingInstructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream together softened butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on the baking sheet.
Use a fork to make the classic criss-cross pattern on top.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until edges are lightly golden.
Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before eating or putting the cookies in your desired cookie storage container.
This batch makes a small amount of cookies. So, I ended up making a second batch of cookie dough. That’s how much we love these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! 😍🍪
For the second batch of dough, I rolled it into about 1-inch balls and placed in a container. Then, I stored the dough in my refrigerator.
When you’re ready to make more cookies, if you want to make the classic criss-cross design on the dough, you’ll need to leave the dough out at room temperature for a few minutes so the dough can soften.
That way it’ll be easier to press the fork onto the top of the dough to make the criss-cross patterns.
Otherwise, the dough will just break apart if you don’t let it soften a bit first.
We’re supposed to get a storm later tonight. Possible thunderstorms, flash flooding, and tornado.
I hope it just rains and there aren’t any bad storms, but if we do have harsh weather tonight, I hope everyone takes the necessary precautions and stays safe!
We moved our grow bags in a safe spot just in case it storms later tonight.
We prepped our basement in case water gets in it. This type of flash flooding is very common for southeast Michigan.
I also worked on moving our garden grow bags to spots outside that will hopefully keep them safe from the storm.
I’ll have to bring our seedlings inside so the storm doesn’t hurt them. 🌿
We’ve had unusually cooler temps all week with rain off and on. My poor summer vegetables and some of my transplants are freaking out. 😩
They’re like, “Girl, what is going on?! I can’t stand up straight.” 😏😆
It should be sunny tomorrow, so I’m hoping the soil can dry out and the stressed plants perk up.
My new celery starts have had enough of this rain!
The careors and green beans are looking good!
I’m feeling much better than I did yesterday. The rest did me good. The kids are getting better each day, too. I think by next Monday everyone will be feeling 100% better.
This viral bug has a slow recovery. We rarely get sick in the summer. 😏 I’m very thankful everyone is healing comfortably at home.and no one had to go to the doctor!
And since we’re feeling a little better, I decided to make a sweet treat for the family — homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. 😋🍪
Of course, my chef assistant Zaya (5) helped. 😄 She LOVES cooking! 😍
I’ll share my homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe in another post. The cookies are DELICIOUS! It’s hard to eat just one! 😋🍪
How was your weekend? I didn’t post Thursday and Friday because I had a tough few days. We had a death in the family, and it caught me by surprise.
I’ve been processing my thoughts and feelings on this, especially since I’ve had a couple of family members question my sadness.
Long story. Short version: I have a complicated relationship with my family.
One of the things I have learned about grief is you can feel deep sadness while also carrying on with your life, especially when you have children.
So, you could say this weekend was a mix of reflecting on my sadness, remembering the good times, and having joyful moments with Travis and the children.
On Friday, we took the kids to a local Asian market to get some ingredients for a few recipes we wanted to try.
Since we’ve been learning about the Lunar New Year, we thought it’d be fun to cook some new foods we’ve never made before like pot stickers and sesame seed balls.
The kids thought it was so cool to see the lobster and tilapia fish swimming in the aquariums.
And of course, they were SO excited to see all of the Kpop Demon Hunters merch at the market! 😆 They wanted me to buy all the Kpop things. Haha
We bought them Kpop-themed Shin Ramyun and Pocky snacks. They had the ramyun for lunch on Saturday. I was surprised they liked it despite the spiciness!
On Saturday, I spent the entire day drawing in my sketchbook, listening to music, and binge-watching a show.
My energy was a little low and my eyes were so puffy from crying. I’m doing okay today. Just still processing everything.
I just needed a calming activity that didn’t require me to think very much, if that makes sense.
On Sunday, we enjoyed a family breakfast and then went to Mass.
Travis and the kids made egg rolls and wontons later that evening while I worked on some lesson planning.
“Grief doesn’t always knock joy out of the room. Sometimes it just sits in the corner while joy continues.”
🙏🏽And today, I’m staying in prayer for world peace…
