Spring happenings...

As the weather warmed up, we figured out new ways to entertain ourselves.  In keeping with the pandemic houseplant boom, Karina decided that she wanted a houseplant so she researched and researched and researched online for which type she was interested in.  

She decided on a philodendron; there are various types and she said she wanted one that had variegated leaves, which make them multicolored and they look like they've been painted by hand.  This type is called the "Brazil" type and Elvin had to visit multiple nurseries to find it. 

First she used a wet paper towel to clean all the dust off of the leaves.

And now her plant lives on a stand near her bed.  It gets lots of attention, including spritzes from a spray bottle, and is doing well.

She has also done quite a bit of baking.  Elvin wanted to have some gluten free snacks on hand and so asked her to make gluten free pop tarts, which are made with almond flour and cassava flour.

So she first made the dough (using plenty of butter) and rolled in out.

She then cut them into rectangles and put dabs of jam in the middle.

Then she put another layer on top and sealed the edges using a fork.


Here they are after being bakes.  One can put icing on top, but Elvin likes them just fine the way they are.


And the other day, she also made a cake to take to church on Sunday, and topped it with whipped cream and raspberries.

While Karina is busy baking....Gabe is busy being a monkey.  Here he is scaling our little cherry tree in the backyard.  From there, he has a clear view into the neighbor's yard!

Elvin has been eyeing a donut shop in Portland for a while and wanted to visit it.  It's called Doe Donuts and is famous because it's completely vegan but supposedly makes donuts so delicious one can't even tell.

He drove all the way down with the girls, only to find out that it was closed.  After another try, they made it and got a dozen donuts of all different types.  It came in a long skinny box.

They had lots of unique flavors, such as tahini+pistachio, birthday cake, tiramisu, and Portland Fog (a twist on London Fog.)  One of Elvin's favorite was their pineapple fritter, which may sound like a weird combination but actually tasted really good.  Eliana really liked the tiramisu one.  

One that was not good was the bacon and maple.  The vegan bacon, unfortunately, was nowhere near the real thing.  But overall we enjoyed sampling their interesting flavors.

Another thing we did was to visit a new cookie store that opened up in Vancouver called Crumbl.  It sells freshly made cookies and these cookies are about the size of your hand.  You can eat one by yourself but often people cut them into half or quarters because they are so big.  We went on opening day and all got free cookies.

They rotate flavors every single week and that week we were able to get PB and J, smores, Twix flavored, and birthday cake.

On a particularly warm day, Eliana got the idea that she wanted to make watermelon granita.  It did use up a large portion of a watermelon and and quite a few lemons.  Then you put it in a container and stick it in the freezer overnight.  After that, you take the container out and let it sit on the counter until it is a little bit soft, and use a spoon to scrape to make shavings out of the ice.  It's pretty good and yummy on a hot day!


And one day, Karina decided she wanted to make Cream Puffs based off of a recipe in Cooks Illustrated.

It's a French dessert and is basically a hollow ball of dough that you fill with cream.  Also, on the outside there is a coating of crunchy, crackly sugary goodness.  The first step is to make that outer shell by mixing together some things including a bunch of sugar into a dough, then rolling it out and cutting out circles.

Then you make the dough that will become the puffs themselves by mixing egg, flour, and some other things.

She piped this creamy batter onto parchment paper and then topped them off with the discs she made earlier.


The theory is that as they bake, the discs will melt over the puff and coat it with a crunchy topping.  Here they are!

You then make a hole in the side from which you pipe in the filling.  She actually didn't want to make a cream filling but filled them with vanilla ice cream instead.

They tasted delicious!

Other things that we did is to have some special meals during dinner.  Gabe wanted to have hot pot so on a day that was fairly cool, we set up the whole thing.  He is the little chef and very much enjoys dunking the raw meat into the boiling broth to what then turns the meat from raw to cooked.

We also sometimes still do homemade pizza at home.

Everyone gets their own pizza customized to the way they want it.

And to give you a health update...Karina lost one of her lower canine teeth in the spring.  It took a looooong time of being very loose to actually coming out.  It bothered her a lot because it made eating things like apples and steak difficult for her and she was very relieved when it finally came out.

And...when Eliana became eligible for the vaccine, she jumped at the chance!  It became eligible on a Thursday and she was there on a Friday getting her shot.  She is now fully vaccinated and glad that we are less restrictive when she is hanging out with her friends.

We hope you had a good spring as well!