ミニ・マフィン

My little girl went to sleep early tonight so I have time to bake something. I bought two 12-cup mini muffin pans lately so I decided to make Strawberry-Banana Mini Muffin. The recipe is for 6 regular size muffins but I was able to churn out 36 mini-muffins using the exact same amount of ingredients!? So I guess I can cut the calories by one-sixth, too, so each mini-muffin is only about 12 calories! Sweet!

For muffins, we only like the crispy muffin top and the side so mini-muffin is definitely the way to go! With 3 dozen muffins, we ate 4 as testers, "we" being my husband & I and the 2 cats (they really shouldn't be eating anything sweet...). Everyone approves it and wanted more but I have to end the taste-test as I plan to bring 2 dozens to work tomorrow... have to save the rest for later enjoyment! :)

花粉症

辛い花粉の季節がやってきました!
昨日から目が痒くて、鼻もムズムズ ...
みなさんは大丈夫ですか？

簡単な食事

今日の昼ご飯。
チキン、ブロッコリー、 野菜のキャセロール {ジャガイモ、タマネギ、ニンジン、コーン、カレー粉とアルフレイドウ・ソース}、ペースト・ジャックチーズ付きパン。

飲み物は、パイナップルのジュースです。

The greenish stuff you see on the chicken is actually the herbs and butter stuffed under the chicken skin! :)

こりゃ大変！

Today we let her try to feed herself and this is what happened.
The spoon was on the floor and she created a barbaric mess!

The Lalu Sun Moon Lake Hotel

I came across this hotel (涵碧樓) in Taiwan today while re-watching a Korean drama clip on YouTube. Must stay at this awesome hotel once in this life time! For the 60M pool, of course, and the architecture!

You can see more pictures here.

だいこんの花

Came across this onsen resort.
Nice isn't it? Love this bench!

DInner

昨日旦那さんが夕食に地中海風チキンを作りました☆
濃い味で美味しかったです。

パン菓子

Almond Croissant


Raspberry Scone (Cake-like)


Banana Bread with Pecan (うちの定番)


Chocolate Raspberry Croissant (Super Yum!)


Espresso Raspberry Muffin (Love the crispy top!)

One person each, which one will you pick?

有機的な

This chair might not be very comfortable but it's incredibly cute! Same with the side table. I would love to put something similar near a shady spot close to the pool.

裏庭から

This is Osteospermum (a.k.a African Daisy) - the flowers are really pretty! I usually don't take pictures of flowers, but this year I am taking some because I bought some new ones. In case they don't last, I will still have some pictures to look at. :)


These are flowers from a Honey Pear tree. This is the first time I am growing it as it is from a branch savaged from my neighbor's tree trimmings that fell over to our side. I followed Martha Stewart's instruction by giving it some root gel (hormone) before planting it in soil. I wonder if new roots have come out yet ...


These are baby Meyer lemons. They will be orange in color when they are ready to be picked. I have counted 18 of them on 1 tree so far. I have another one with about 30 flowers and counting so if no heavy rain in the forecast, I should be expecting another 30 lemons!?! Haha, ok, maybe I shouldn't count the lemons before they are picked. :)

おやおや

熱がある。
かわいそうに。

園芸

Clerodendrum Ugandense (a.k.a Blue Butterfly Glorybower) has clusters of sweetly fragrant blue flowers that attract droves of butterflies. I just ordered 2 of these online and they will arrive in a couple of weeks as 2 tiny shrubs. My goal is to hopefully grow them into small trees like the one in the picture.

台所

The problem with homes these days is basically too much clutter. Myself included especially. We bought so much stuff over the years that storing them and taking them out becomes a big hassle. Some dinnerware sets were missing a few items and you don't just give away the remaining set. And you get tired of the same white set after awhile so you'll break out and start buying things with colors and of different design. But compare to clothes, shoes and other home stuff (accessories, electronics, furniture), the kitchen is still one place in the house that can look orderly.

I love the above kitchen. I think I will eat, cook, read, use my laptop, and basically hang out there the whole day!

備忘

Always have sync up meetings with your boss and bosses on Monday!! That way you know what's on their minds and have a whole week to get it done. If the meeting is on Wed or Thu, it could easily ruin your weekend!


Why am I posting this picture?
No reason at all.
I just have a thing about big, clean, sparkling swimming pool, and this is a picture I came across today - that's all.

Are you ready for colors?

I like colors. But I also like the Muji-style clean and organic look. So even though I would love to try wall colors like these, I just can't convince myself that I can stick with such colorful scheme for a long time. I guess with bright colors, it's harder to look clean and relax?

フローチャート

Is it old-fashioned to draw flowchart? Do people still use it? Do I need to update my skills?

I've not been in one of these design discussions for a long while and I took a picture after the meeting to capture what we decided on. But I could not stop wondering what better and easier tools are out there??

*I know some white board let you print by just pushing a button but has anything replaced drawing a flowchart?

Nostalgic

I can't believe my eyes when I see this picture.

We used to have these exact same chairs in our dining room in the early '70s!! And these chairs are still being used in a bunka gakuen in Japan! And they are in such mint condition which is pretty amazing!! Is the company still in business making the same chairs after almost 40 years?? I really loved these chairs growing up and so many happy eating memories!! They are super sturdy and comfortable... seeing it after so many years is really quite something.

Source:
: : : aya yamamoto : : :

逃げたネコ

娘はすぐに気付きました。


ベベちゃんは家のお客様浴室を通って出て来ました。

テントウムシ

I always get ladybug attracted to me when I walk. But because of its cute color and look, I usually won't scream and can just get it off me gracefully. Yesterday I planted some dwarf citrus plants and bright colored flowers in the back yard and have to read up on the web how to take care of them. One reason I wanted to start some gardening is because I have been watching a lot of Martha Stewart (pre-recorded, of course) and immediately have an itch to try all the things she had shown. One new thing I learned online was that ladybug is actually a good bug because of its monstrous diet on the bad bugs. Maybe I should keep some small bug cages on me or in the car to capture them back to my backyard for 100% organic gardening! :)

表玄関

これもすごく大好きです。

階段

この階段大好きなのー！

ペンギン

I just dig this kind of news! Technology saving lives!

ハッピー

昨晩、リアは親と一緒に寝ていたので、
朝起きる時にとても嬉しいでした。
私たちがちょっと甘やかしたんだね！

*リアの前髪...残念な (-_-;)