This was one of the first recipes I “pinned” on Pinterest.  I make another version of Tandoori salmon and it one of my favorite fish dishes, so I didn’t have any doubt that this recipe would please. They are very similar recipes but I have to say Aida’s is better. Maybe it’s the sweetness of the honey and  juice of the orange or the perfect blend of spices, either way, it is a must try.

Her recipe calls for  a Ras el hanout spice blend, which translates to “top of the market”. However I couldn’t find it at my ethnic markets so I made this recipe.  If you don’t have most of these spices in your spice cabinet, you should. I find it to be cheaper if you can buy them in bulk and store then in an air tight container. This recipe made a lot so I have plenty extra saved away for next time.

I followed her recipe as instructed and it turned out great, the fish was cooked perfectly.

Enjoy!

Oh how I wish I had Pinterest when I was in the classroom. I could have documented all my lessons by monthly themes and pulled them out whenever I needed them. Since I left my job so abruptly I didn’t get a chance to pack my stuff up in a neat and orderly fashion so everything is packed into plastic tubs and in the garage. As time goes on I am forgetting  the songs I once knew and the millions of fine motor and tray tasking lessons I created. Now thanks to Pinterest I see a lot of these activities I used to do and it’s so exciting because I can file them away here and bring them out when I need them. Today was one of those days.

I came across an activity I used to do with my Pre-K kiddos. White paint in a ziplock bag on top of black paper. Then I would put out cards with sight words on them and the kids would use their fingers to write the words on the bag of paint like this:

I thought this would be a perfect way to let Kaili paint without the mess or the worry about her eating the paint. So I put some paint in a ziplock bag and taped it to the floor with a piece of white construction paper underneath it and let her at it.

So what do you think, do we have a mini Picasso in the making?

I  sure hope Kaili’s love of food stays the way it is right now. She is not a picky eater and will eat everything I offer her, well, all but avocados. { weird child } However she hasn’t had mama’s guacamole yet, so time will tell.

She tried her first Steamed Pork bun from the 99 Ranch Market. She happily ate as much as I gave her, I should have bought more.

While out to lunch she had some of my salad with citrus grilled chicken and gorgonzola cheese. I was impressed that she liked the cheese and after about 5 bites I wondered how her tummy was going to handle it but no need because she was just fine.

She enjoys quinoa, black beans, peas and carrots, egg yolks {hard-boiled and scrambled} mozzarella cheese, hummus, pasta with olive oil and garlic and she recently tried some with a tomato basil sauce and scarfed it down.

I need to challenge myself to start making more dinners during the week. It’s hard to get motivated to cook for one but since I have an eager little eater I guess I should pull out some recipes and get cooking.

I came across this recipe while browsing Bon Appetit. I wanted to bring a sweet treat to a Meetup some of us moms planned and it turned out I had everything this recipe called for in my pantry. {I love when that happens} Well I didn’t actually have Marcona almonds but I did have roasted almonds so score!

These are delicious so when you get a chance, make them!

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups roasted roasted almonds roughly chopped

1 pound good-quality dark chocolate {62%–70% cacao}, finely chopped

Coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

* recipe courtesy of Bonappetit.com

Shane was going through some piled up paperwork and came across our Reproductive Partners folder. As I was going through it, trying to decided what to keep {incase we decide on a sibling for Kaili} I found all my old charting calendars.

It brought back a lot of emotions, I can’t believe I am saying this but I sort of forgot all about these.

Infertility is isolating and lonely, no one can truly understand what you go through unless you are going through it. I charted my fertility cycle every month with my doctors assistance and without, before our 6 failed Intrauterine inseminations and after. The last month I charted was July 2010, we started IVF in August and thankfully we know how that story ends.

This was just a reminder of what we went through to get the baby girl of our dreams. As hard as it was and as awful as the injections of different meds made me feel, it was all worth it. Just remember if you are struggling through infertility, you are not alone. And as terrible as all those stim meds side effects are, I promise you this, once you are in the process of giving birth you will forget all about them.

Quinoa is a staple in our home, I will use it in place of rice or couscous and it makes a mean tabbouleh. I came across a few good quinoa recipes for baby on this site.  This particular one  looked pretty yummy plus I had the ingredients on hand. I also had blueberries in the fridge {which Kaili loves} so I decided to throw those in too.

Cooked Quinoa { as much as your babe will eat }

Whole milk yogurt {I used Yo baby vanilla and she also likes Trader Joe’s vanilla yogurt cups}

Diced bananas and blueberries

Combine ingredients in small saucepan and simmer on low for 5 minutes. You just want to warm the ingredients not cook them.

I threw a few more blueberries on top at the end 

I had some free time this evening {meaning no good reality TV on} So I decided to read the beginning of one of my favorite blogs. I started her blog somewhere in the middle and never got a chance to see how it started. Well, this little quiz was one of her posts and I thought it would be fun to see how many foods I have tried. The ones in bold are the ones I have eaten. Play along, should be fun!

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue  {so good}
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns { breakfast in China, delish}
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi { does unsalted count?}
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar {I have had them separate}
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka + Jell-O 
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (does goat CHEESE count)?
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar 
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie 
78. Snail (oh, escargot is a must try – so delicious)!
79. Lapsang souchong 
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – {Someday I will get to French Laundry}
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare { does rabbit count?}
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam {Sadly yes,}
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox 
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100.Snake

I plan on trying all of these before I die, well maybe not horse and roadkill but everything else.  So, how did you do?

These shakers can be used for many different things and all ages. For babies they are great for sound development and fine motor skills. For toddler and preschool ages they can be used for music and teaching sound discrimination. In the classroom I would bring these out at Easter time. I would fill eggs with different items {2 eggs had the same item for matching} then I would hide them around the room. The children would take turns “hunting them” and then they had to match the eggs with the same sound. They always enjoyed this lesson and it was great watching the all the other kids try to help. It was a great way to teach sound matching, patience and taking turns.

All you need are plastic Easter eggs, a hot glue gun and different sounding items:

Rice

Beans

Pennies

Bells

Paper Clips

Plastic beads

Cotton balls

{and} I always left 2 empty

Fill the eggs with desired items and then hot glue them closed.

Even though the Groundhog saw his shadow and we have 6 more weeks of winter {BOO} our winter has been pretty mild. So I take these sunny days as opportunities for water play outside. I also took our discovery bottles and egg shakers too. Fun, easy and cheap!

I came across this article today and while reading it I couldn’t contain my joy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/debra-ollivier/bringing-up-bebe_b_1224589.html

I love this theory, and having gone to school for early childhood education it just reiterates everything I learned. As much I strive to be this parent when I look around me I don’t see  many other mothers feeling the same way and it makes me sad. I am not saying all parents  need to take the “Tiger Mom” approach but too much hand holding   isn’t good either. I am striving to be this parent. Now who wants to move to France?

Discovery bottles are so easy to make and have endless possibilities. You need a glue gun and empty plastic water bottles.  Fill up the bottles with whatever you like, here are some ideas.

Blue water + soap

Colored water + Glitter

Water + Baby oil

Colored rice and/or pasta

Colored rice + magnets

Dried flowers

Nuts + Bolts

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can make them for sound sensory, to learn about the colors in the rainbow, to find hidden objects { I spy } or make them to go along with a theme.( ie.) water + snowflake glitter= Christmas.

I started with just a few since I only had 3 empty water bottles. I made two with colored water and one with colored rice.

To make the colored rice {or pasta} just add whichever you are using or both into a ziplock bag. Use separate bags for each color you want to make.

Add 1-2 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol and shake to coat rice or pasta

Add liquid food coloring { as much as you need to get the desired color }

Shake, shake and shake until color is distributed evenly.

Lay out to dry on a plate covered with foil { or paper towels } Or use a cookie sheet if you are making a lot.

Once it’s dry you can add it to your bottle. Hot glue the top on and once it’s dry let your little one discover the new sensory bottle you made for them.