Sushi Party

Tonight I decided to have a sushi party with the kids. Russell wasn't here, and it's Saturday, so we went all out! We made homemade sushi for dinner, and then "fake" sushi for dessert.

We tried to make our own take on the California Roll. We started with sushi rice (prepared with special sushi vinegar), seaweed, and sesame seeds.

We then flipped it over and lined up the goodies for inside, which included sautéed shrimp, sliced cucumbers, and avocado. OK, I lied, it's actually packaged guacamole. I didn't have an avocado on hand.

The kids thought the photo above looked like teeth. Yuck.

And we rolled. Not too bad, but when we tried to cut it, it got pretty smushy. But it tasted good!

Charlotte doesn't care for shrimp or avocado, so she decided to get creative and use a pepperoni stick and cucumber.

In the end, I liked mine (not Charlotte's), but the kids weren't too enamored with their creations. They were ready to move on to dessert.

We used the same technique, but with fruit rollups instead of seaweed, rice crispy treats* instead of sushi rice (this time I cooked it correctly), and candy inside.

*For those of you in England, fruit rollups are sheets of dried fruit (with plenty of high fructose corn syrup in them), and rice crispy treats are a gooey mess made from butter, marshmallows, and rice breakfast cereal.

My concoction included gummy worms and twizzlers (red and yellow licorice).

I took the first bite to try it out. Ugh, disgusting, but in a good way. We all had about one slice of each of ours and felt sick. Success!

We decided Charlotte's rainbow roll looked the prettiest...

...but Anson's sunset roll tasted the best. He had Nerd-covered rope and sour straws inside. If you don't know what those are, you're probably better off.

I'd like to try it again with different ingredients. The kids were really into it, and we learned a lot about technique and what tastes good together, even what textures work well together. All in all, a good night's work!

Another Piece of Pi

Anson was asked to perform his recitation of Pi on the elementary school daily news. They broadcast it into each classroom every morning.

Here is a sneak peek into the back library room where they do the filming. They are starting off with the requisite pledge of allegiance. Note the laughing kid with the basketball; who is he? The laugh track? The lady in pink is Anson's teacher who encouraged him to do this.

I decided not to record him live, as I thought it might just be added stress, so I recorded the TV in the office instead. As as result, there is absolutely no sound in the video clip. It was loud and clear as day in person, but did not translate to the iPhone video. Sorry! (Note: you've already heard Anson recite Pi, and the only thing you are missing in the introduction are some very bad cherry pie jokes and an explanation of how irrational numbers go on "for-ev-ah.")

Anson's made it up to 110+ decimal places. Congratulations, Anson! Notice the new Pi t-shirt.

Mothering

I had some of best past few days with my kiddos that I've had in a long time. They were sweet, well-behaved, and fun. We talked, tickled, and listened to music. We watched movies, read books, and walked together. They even wore fancy clothes when I asked.

I love being their mom.

Days and Nights in Rodanthe

I made my first trip of 2012 to the beach this past weekend with some friends. We went to Rodanthe, NC. If you've seen the movie Nights in Rodanthe, it's the same place. It's quite a secluded beach area, near Ocracoke and Hatteras.

I forgot how peaceful and relaxing it is at the beach. The weather was perfect...in the 70s with a light breeze. Since it's the off season, the beach was quiet.

Last year, Rodanthe was hit VERY hard by a hurricane, and many people lost their homes. In fact, the hurricane was so strong it created a new inlet.

You can see in the photo below how some houses are still standing on the beach. They are condemned and waiting for insurance money to demolish or move them.

If you saw the Rodanthe movie, you can't help but wonder what happened to the house that plays a starring role. It was actually damaged in an earlier storm in 2009, and then moved to a safer location, so survived last year's hurricane.

This is the house not long after the movie was filmed (shutters and porches were added in the movie and then removed):

Photo Source

The house (close left) after the 2009 storm:

Photo Source

But the people of Rodanthe are still there, still working hard to get their businesses back open. Many have had to close, either because they were damaged beyond repair, or because the lack of business resulting from the hurricane caused them to.

Cleanup has been tough. You can still see random boats stranded on the side roads where they washed up last year and have not been dealt with yet.

If you're needing a nice break from whatever you're doing today, here's the sound of the waves...

What a Strange Trip It's Been

So last week I was driving down the highway when I ended up behind this.

What in the world is it? I couldn't figure it out. I kept imagining a tiger in that cage being driven around a monster truck arena. It's hard to see, but the bottom four wheels enclose a race car, and there is that cage structure on top. So it was definitely designed to be driven. And it's HUGE. Look at it next to that SUV on the left. Every time it went under an exit sign, I expected it to touch it.

Finally, after much maneuvering, I managed to pull up beside it. I was dying to see what it was. I tried to get a photo of it with my phone, but it wasn't easy. Maybe after outlawing talking and texting while driving, law enforcement should think about photo-taking.

Ah-ha! It's a giant motorized shopping cart! Why didn't I think of that? Huh? What in the world is it used for?

If you see one in action, let me know.