I can't believe it's almost Christmas

We visited Florida for Thanksgiving.  I baked 4 different financiers to bring with us.  Pecan and chocolate chips, Almond and English tea, Almond and Green tea, Hazel nuts and chocolate....  Too bad I finished my green tea powder.  It really gave nice taste of green tea.  I must put that on the list of the things to buy in Japan.

Our dog Rosco had a great time playing with Mama's dog Layla.  They were such a perfect couple.  So cute together.

Thanksgiving in Florida was pretty warm.  With the sunshine coming through the big windows, it didn't feel a bit like Autumn.  The feast was great.  We had a fun with the family, definitely.  

I contemplated over going shopping on black Friday.  I decided to pass.  But I ended up going to an outlet mall in the afternoon.  It was not as crowded as I thought.  I guess experiencing real crowdedness in Tokyo and NY toughened up my tolerance for the crowd.  

It was a very short visit, but it was so nice as usual.  I am so glad we are close enough to do this.  8 hours of driving is not too bad considering the 16 hour drive we had to do from CT.

And this time, we didn't go home through Savannah, we went through Atlanta.  This gave us extra 2-3 hours of driving, yet, it was worth it.  I was able to shop in H-Mart which is Korean super market.  I haven't gone to serious Asian store for over a year.  I went literally crazy.  As soon as I saw the vegetable section full of vegetables that are not available in east TN, my well thought-out grocery list lost its meaning.  I just shopped as if I haven't had any food for a week.  

We were able to have very down to earth Japanese breakfast next morning.

Natto on brown rice.  Miso soup with seaweed and tofu which is not cut to 1/4 inch cubes like restaurants.  Japanese people would cut tofu to much bigger than that!  Korean tofu is so tasty.

Natto is one of the most difficult food for non Japanese to eat because of the strong aroma for fermentated food.  But J likes it.  Actually he loves it. It's also very healthy.  We bought so many packages of them...

The days go by so quickly after the holiday.  Every year, November and December were busiest time for me because of Nutcrackers.  Since we moved and I am so far away from my clients, I was not busy in this season last year, and I felt very sad.  But this year I am busy finishing up the first semester at the college.  

I am finishing the project for my weaving class.  I enjoyed weaving so much.  It is really nice not to use any machinery.  I am so glad to discover the craft I can enjoy besides sewing.

After this is done, I will have to be in the serious Christmas mode!

Halloween

Halloween was most fun when my daughter was young.  I made costumes for her ever year.  But now that she doesn't go trick or treating anymore, it is not too exciting, sadly.  We had lots of Halloween candies to give out.  But they didn't appeal to me.  I am not a big fun of Halloween candies even though I love sweets.  So I decided to bake chocolate financiers with hazel nuts.

The combination of chocolate and hazel nuts is inspired by Nutella, obviously.  I just make hazel nut powder with a grinder.  

It was really rich and tasty.

I realized that I had missed baking.  Now that I go to school, it is hard to find time to bake.  I love the quietness in the kitchen and I like moving slowly to savor every moment of baking.  But that kind of baking hadn't happened for long time.  So I enjoyed baking these financiers in the Saturday afternoon.

We curved the pumpkin in the last minute.  I love the devilish smile my daughter designed.

Fall

The time passes so quickly when you are busy.  After I started the school, it's been non-stop!  Studying for general study classes, producing projects for art class, finishing painting the rooms, taking care of family, and my minuscule Etsy business.....  

But I took a moment to enjoy the colors of fall leaves.  In the afternoon sunshine, they were so beautiful.  Walking in the quiet woods with red, yellow and orange, listening the wolves hauling (but they are in the cage in the main area of the park so we didn't need to be afraid), it was great fall afternoon.

The lilly leaves get red, too.  I didn't know that!  I love water lilies.   We need to go back there when it gets warm to see them blooming.  

Now that it is getting cold, the farmers market is getting smaller.  In a way, it's easy to find a spot to park, yet it's a little sad to see some venders go.  

But I found chestnuts.  That made me smile.  I love chestnuts.  My grandmother boiled them and cut half, and served them with a spoon.  But I decided to roast them in a oven.  

I was going to use them for sweets, but they were so good as is, so they were all disappeared before I could use them for baking.  Now I have a reason to go back to the market.  Next time, I'll get more.  I'll make chestnut puree.

The curtain has been opened

The whole one year I spent after we moved to East Tennessee seemed so empty to me.  Because I didn't work at all.  I wasn't really happy.  It was like construction and painting after the construction, and new construction and more painting and new construction.......  Anyway, that is almost done.
I wanted to do something creative like when I was in North East.  I do miss the time.  Yes, I was almost going to drive myself sick by working like a mad woman.....
I was getting fed up with not moving forward.  I know it's not entirely true.  I learned a few tricks during the first year in TN.  I became much better at baking.  I got a new camera and started to really enjoy taking photos. I housebroke our puppy.  Even I don't have a green thumb, I was able to grow some tomatoes and basil in the little garden we made.  But I still felt empty.
But that period is over.  I now have a few small plans for my business.  And more importantly, I'm back in College.  I'm going to finish BFA that I never finished in NY.
Two weeks ago before the school started, I was thinking that the first year in TN had been a very long overture before the curtain was opened.  I liked the idea because I've worked at a theatre.  But now that the school has started, I am so busy.  But it feels good.

But August went by working on painting, getting ready for College...  I couldn't bake much.  But I am happy that I can make roll cakes pretty effortlessly these days.  

Summer Holidays are over!

I can't believe that the school started already.  Somehow, it starts early August in East Tennessee.  So I feel like it should be cooler, but it's still August, so it is still hot.  Summer is not over yet.

We had a busy first half of summer vacation.  We went to Florida, we attended Wedding, my daughter went to drama summer camp, and we went to Florida again. 

But last half of summer vacation was very slow.  We didn't have any plan, and the construction was going on, we practically stayed home everyday, not doing anything much.

It was not really fun for my daughter nor for me.  

So we are so glad to have school started.  And the construction is done, so we can now paint the newly renovated bathrooms and bedrooms.  Suddenly we are very busy!

Here are the sweets that I made during summer.  I was so fortunate to have good berries and peaches in June and July.  Almost all the sweets were made with local fruits.

Today marks one year from the day we came to TN form North East.  I feel like I didn't do anything this past year.  We had the cycle of having renovation going on, which means I get stressed out having workmen in the house all the time, then it's done and they are gone for a while but we can't relax, because we have to paint, then the next renovation starts.... we did that 3 times in the past year.  Our painting part is not done yet.  But after that, it's done for now.  I am glad.

I hope 2nd year of our new life in Appalachia will be nicer.  We couldn't go out much because either we wanted to do something at home while the workers are not around, or we had to paint.  I'd love to visit lots of places and check out some events.  I want to start working if it's possible.  I don't know if there are many chances like in North East for me to make dance costumes, but I would like to do something with my skill.

There are a lot of hopes for the future.

Tulle... My favorite fabric

Tulle is my favorite fabric.  I always loved it.  Ever since I saw a ballerina dancing on a stage as a child, I dreamed of the skirt.  I told my parents that I like to learn ballet.  They knew that I was not really active.   I was a child who spent time drawing and reading, never into any physical activities so they said it didn't seem like a good idea for them to send me a class.  They knew I was just dreaming about the costumes.

I drew pictures of princesses and I soon forgot that I even wanted to dance.  But I always liked watching ballet on TV or ballet themed movies, etc....

So I love making tutus.  Not those tutus for the little girls, the tutus for grown up dancers.  Gathering tulle makes me so happy.  And I have to say that my parents knew me so well.  They encouraged me to learn design and here I was making the costumes that I dreamed about.

Now that I left North East where I worked as a costumer, I miss making tutus.  So I started to make little tulle flowers.

Gathering tulle had calming effect on me.  

So I started to decorate my room with the tulle flowers.

Sleeping Beauty Ballet Craft Class (How to make a tissue flower)

When I was still back in North, I had a chance to teach a class for young ballerinas.  Not a dance class. A craft class.  I worked as a costumer, so a little craft is my cup of tea.
The summer ballet camps for young children usually include arts and craft class since they need a break from dancing.  But lots of times it is just to color the printed out ballerina pictures or putting stickers on the paper dolls.  I wanted to teach something about ballet along with the crafts they enjoy.  So I made the session into Ballet Craft Class.
I would tell the stories of the ballet.  Everybody, especially young children know the stories of Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella.  But what they know is usually Disney version or fairy tale version.  The story lines for the ballets are a little different.  I would bring in the pictures of stages, and describe how the stories go act to act.
I had realized how messy the gluing with preschoolers can get, I was always thinking about something that doesn't require glue.  The little dancers are so anxious to try on the headpieces or wings that they just finished and some end up with very sticky hair or leotards.  I needed to avoid that.
For the ballet Sleeping Beauty, I picked a rose for Act 1's climax, Rose adagio.  I made these flowers as a preschooler and I know it's not messy!  I can talk about very important part of the ballet, too.  The principal dancer has to be on her toe while the 4 prices give her rose one by one.  It's extremely difficult position to sustain.  It's so beautiful though.

Here is how to make the flower:

Now all the little ballerina has a rose.