Tag: food

Back to Business

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The business of food of course! Now that we’ve settled back into our daily routines and rolled through the mountains of laundry (Well, it’s almost all folded anyway!),  we’re back in the kitchen working our way around the world. For the next few weeks we’ll be sampling various recipes from the country of Armenia.

A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a mountainous country and lies in both Western Asia and Eastern Europe. The cuisine in Armenia is really rather varied, but almost always includes an extensive amount of fresh ingredients. For our first recipe we went with an Armenian side dish that we thought had a chance of winning over Mr. N and Miss A, an Armenian Chickpea Salad. Continue reading →

Island Time and Giveaway

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Well we meant to get this post up earlier in the week, but let’s face it, we’re living on island time right now.

So while we enjoy our last few days in the sun, we thought we’d have a little fun (giveaway is coming…read on). Last month we celebrated our one-year milestone for Eat, Play, Love, and in these past few weeks we’ve had a lot of fun planning this post and looking back over our year of blogging. When we first started this little adventure we had two goals in mind. First and foremost, we wanted to open the kids up to the world’s many cultures. We want them to have open minds, hearts and an understanding that there’s a big world outside of our little suburb – which brings us to the food.  Continue reading →

Last But Not Least – Quest for the Best Banana Bread

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This is it! Our very last banana bread recipe for our quest, and it’s a special one. There were two things that prompted our search for the best banana bread, which started in early 2011. The first was our friend Doree’s recipe. We knew it was amazing and were quite sure it was the best ever, so we wanted to put it to the test. The second was today’s recipe – Big Bird’s Banana Bread – which I used to make with my dad when I was a little one.

And so while the kids are still adjusting to the time change here in Hawaii (we’ve been up since 3:45 a.m. this morning), here’s a recipe that’s close to my heart. Big Bird’s Banana Bread is a recipe from The Sesame Street Library books that came out in 1977. These books were a favorite of mine as a child, but were ruined in a flood many years ago. Fortunately, when Mr. N was born I was able to find the complete set on eBay. Since then, I’ve been waiting for the day my kids would be old enough to make their very own Big Bird Banana Bread.  Continue reading →

Toto We’re Not in Maine Anymore

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Actually, we’re quite far from Maine with this cuisine as we’re still cooking recipes from Hong Kong, but this recipe features one of our family favorites – Lobster. Now you might recall we had many adventures this summer in Maine with our live lobsters. We tried boiled lobsters, grilled lobsters, lobster risotto and lobster rolls. Every time, the lobster was a hit. So I had a good feeling going into this recipe for Cantonese Lobster Stir Fry. (Cantonese food is often served in Hong Kong…)  Continue reading →

Eggstatic

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It’s time for our next international cooking adventure with Mr. N as our guide. He is again taking us to his favorite part of the world, or so it would seem based on most of his picks, Asia. Not so long ago we received a postcard from a long-time friend of mine who was visiting Hong Kong. Incidentally this same friend spent several years of his teenage life living in Hong Kong, a fact which fascinates Mr. N. So naturally, as soon as the card arrived in the mail, Mr. N said, “This is my next pick!”

Miss A is also quite excited about our culinary visit to Hong Kong. She too remembers the postcard (I don’t care what they say about snail mail, kids still LOVE to get things in the mailbox!) and excitedly exclaimed, “I love that girl. She plays with me.” She’s referring to my friend’s daughter whom she got to meet and play with this summer. So already both of the kids are ready to begin this adventure which we are kicking off with the Hong Kong Egg Tart.  Continue reading →

Squashing the Calories

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Before we launch off on another one of our international adventures, we thought we’d share one of our favorite healthy, winter meals. We, like many others around the world, try to lighten the caloric loads after the holidays. Most of our meals are centered around vegetables whether it be salads, soups or light pasta dishes. It’s our way of making up for the holiday over-indulgences. This year, however, we have a bit of added pressure as swim suit season is coming a bit early.

Mike, through his research, has the opportunity to attend a conference in Hawaii next month (rough job right?!). His professional associations pick some mighty nice places to visit in the dead of winter let me tell you. Now typically the kids and I will tag every now and then, so as you can imagine, we’re picking this year to go! That being the case, we’ve been in healthy eating mode (well, for the most part) for the past month and this is one of our favorite go-to healthy, flavorful winter meals – Spicy Spaghetti Squash. Continue reading →