Easy - peasy Sushi

Rebekah loves getting into the kitchen with me and cooking. And to get out of a rut that I've been in with our meals around here I decided to get out some of my kids cookbooks and make atleast one new meal every couple of weeks with her - good on the job training don't you think?

So, we made Sushi today. Now in years gone by when I had a lot more time I used to get out my recipe books and cook new things frequently. Back then I had a great recipe for Sushi which was much more involved, so when I saw this simple recipe I had to try it. And guess what - it tasted pretty good - as per my two home grown food critics!

Here's some pictures I took earlier today (we had it for lunch) :




































We saved some for Ron and his comment was "oh this looks just like the Sushi you get in the shops" :) I'm not sure what he expected my Sushi to look like or what that says about me as a cook!!! I know I'm not a master chef but c'mon I can cook cook a little (just teasing honey) (he does read my blog but never comments!).

So, the basic recipe is to cook some sushi rice, add some japanese/ sushi vinegar to it, place it onto your sea weed sheets with whatever filling you desire, roll them up and cut it to whatever length you desire. (All of these are available at the local supermarket these days). Ours was cucumber with avocado and tuna with avocado, yum!

Something tells me we'll be making this for a long time around here because not only was it healthy and yummy but it was also very easy and as I always tell my friends - in the kitchen I am "Queen of Easy"!

Bon appetit!

Fun Play Date with my daughter

It was back to school for us this week and Rebekah was given the day off today as she had worked so well all week and finished everything she needed to do. I instituted this 'natural' reward (of having Fridays off) late last year to encourage her to keep focussed during the week and it has been working!

It still being school holidays, the local shopping centres (malls) have lots of fun activities going on to lure all the mums out of their homes to go spend some money there (tongue in cheek) but also providing some much needed activities for the parents to keep their kids occupied!

One of them at ours was a wildlife show with a touch table to boot.
I had contacted some of my mum-friends with young kids and two of them were supposed to join us but cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Rebekah was understandably very disappointed.

Yesterday (not having fore knowledge of what would happen today) I was talking to her about her friends (as she has a million best friends she said) and I said to her that if I were 6 years old I would love her to be my BFF (Best Friend Forever - something I've only just learned!) I truly meant what I said! Anyway today, reminded of what we talked about yesterday, I told her that we could have a 'fun play date' by ourselves instead! I must admit this idea was semi-inspired by my friend Jo who homeschools three boys and goes out for dates with them individually.

So, we headed off to the shops where she played in the play area with me cheering on from the sidelines, I wasn't about to climb up the poles:)





















Before this we visited the wildlife show where she got to observe many creatures including pythons, various types of lizards, goannas, turtles, tree frogs and even a baby crocodile.






























































Rebekah was very tentative at first about touching the bearded dragon but she gradually overcame this and was then showing off for me to take pictures touching it!








































Rebekah was not game enough (as I was I might add) to hold or even touch the python! eeek! I dislike any type of snake! I just cannot bring myself to touch them!























Sushi for lunch and a visit to K Mart to get some stuff and then a cuppa and a cinnamon donut(yes that's one of my weaknesses) but Rebekah was willing too!





















All in all we had a real fun play date at the shops with some nature study thrown in:)


We are going to watch the second half hour of "Horton hears a who" tonight for movie night and then it will be off to bed for Miss R. Enjoy your weekend!

Praying for Queensland

I was going to do a Happy New Year post and fill you in on our holidays but I must pause my plans to tell you all that I felt I needed to do this....

I have never personally been in a flood of any type but I have been so moved by the horrendous flooding in Queensland and have begun praying earnestly for the people affected by it.
I hear there are many people missing including young families, quite a few dead and countless people have lost their homes.
I only have two blog-gy friends Ganeida and Amanda (who is on a break from blogging) who live up in Queensland and I am not sure if they live in the flood affected area but I just wanted you and any other Queenslanders that read this to know that as a family we are praying for you all.
Our prayer team in our church is praying for you all as well.

We prayed after dinner tonight as a family and when Ron and I finished praying I felt that Rebekah also wanted to pray so I asked her if she did, to which she simply said "God I pray that the people in the floods in Queensland are all okay", simple but to the point, Amen Rebekah!

We love you guys up in Queensland and even though I cannot imagine what you must be going through I just wanted you to know we are thinking of and praying for you.....

p.s. edited on 12/01/2011 to add Jo to my list of friends who live in Qld, sorry Jo, how could I forget such a lovely bloggy friend! I forgot you lived up there when I did this post yesterday!