Play Kitchen :DIY Inspiration

I mentioned in my last post that one of Sara's favourite game is playing kitchen. On weekends after she has had her breakfast she likes to "cook" me one. She gets me a cappuccino and a sunny side up with a waffle. An espresso for her dad. Always. If she is feeling a little generous then she throws in some "fresh fruit".

On other days she walks into the kitchen to check what is being made for dinner and then proceeds to recreate the same in her kitchen.

There are days when she likes to cook with pretend toys,play dough or anything that she can make look like real food. 

This one time she made me a chapati with paper with allu matar (potato & peas). Isn't this the prettiest chapati ever? 

Sara adores her play kitchen and spends countless hours standing at her kitchen counter. I promise to share the contents of her kitchen one of these days.
If any of you mommies and daddies are planning to make a play kitchen for your budding chef or chefette I came across some very creative & inspiring DIY play kitchens which I'd like to share with you today.

From old media cabinets to nightstands.

From coffee tables to a chairs.

From Ikea hacks to the rustic charm of a wooden crate.

Tons of inspiration for you if you are in the mood for some DIY. Does your little one have a play kitchen? I'd love to hear about it.

Images : 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, 13 and 14

Playing with food: This time with Lego.

If this is not your first time here then you know that Sara and I enjoy playing with food. But this time around it was me who really "played". Let me explain.

A dear friend's adorable son recently celebrated his 5th birthday and like most children his age he is crazy about Lego. My friend spent many sleepless nights planning the minutest details of his birthday. As the day approached she turned into a momzilla much to my amusement. 

• Customized Lego card shot and made by her. Check.
• Balloons, lanterns all in Lego colours. Check. 
• Pearl pet yellow jars painted as Lego heads for return gifts. Check. 
• Bottle labels, food tags, name tags. Check
• Colour coordinated plates,spoons and forks. Check.
• And since no Lego birthday is complete without a Lego cake. Check.

It was a beautiful birthday where everything was handcrafted with love. I spent many days thinking what to give this pint sized boy and finally came up with this.

A piñata cake and art for his room.

Note: If you want to make both the cake and the artwork I recommend buying two small Lego Kits for you are going to need lots of them. You will see how. Mine came with enough pieces that I assembled into two bikes, three minifigures and lots of tiny bricks and bits which were used as well.

Before I get into details of what I put together for him let me show you this note for proof that baking this cake & making these artworks makes you into super cool aunt.

Agree?

I seriously can't remember when was the last time I got a handwritten I love you from a boy. DH listening?

A Kit Kat Piñata Cake (my take on the famous Kit Kat cake) 

Serves 4 little kids and their mums. Also guarantees to make the birthday boy super excited and all the other kids delirious with the sugar overload.

Ingredients

A cake of your choice
Chocolate frosting (I used about half a cup to cover mine)
KitKat bars (Will depend on the size of the cake. I used 17 bars)
Enough M&M's to cover the cake (I used about a cup)
Ribbon to tie around

Two Lego miniature bikes which I had so much fun assembling  or any miniatures of your choice. Sara has already asked me for this cake with something sparkly inside. I think it will be butterflies and fairies.

Instructions.

1. Bake a cake of your choice. I baked a banana loaf and chose to go the loaf route instead of the usual round one for Lego bricks are usually rectangular or square.

2. Allow it to cool and come down to room temperature. This is very important else when you attempt to hollow it out it will crumble.

3. Leave about one inch from either side and start carving the top with a knife (don't cut in very deep). Essentially you are cutting out the "lid of the box". It won't come out in a single piece which is fine for the frosting will hide all of that mess. Don't worry.

4. After taking out of the lid (mine came out in three pieces start emptying out your "box". All that leftover cake can be used for a trifle pudding or cake pops or like me you could finish it off then and there; since you are working so hard.

5. At this point assemble the bikes or any toy/s that you'd like to hide in the "box" and cover it with cling film. I did this for two reasons. One, I didn't want all the chocolate frosting to land on the toy (that is when its cut) and more importantly with toys like these come with tiny pieces and there is a possibility that some pieces can come apart while cutting. Wrapping in clingfilm made it safe. I also added a foil "carpet" underneath the toys.
6. Put the "lid" back and cover the entire cake with a frosting of your choice with the help of a silicone spatula (I made chocolate).

7. Stick the Kit Kat bars all around (The frosting acts as the glue).Try to keep them really close to each other.
8. The Kit Kat "boundary wall" that you just created will be taller than your cake. Now open that packet of M&M and get ready for a M&M shower. Fill it up completely.
9. Tie a ribbon around it and finish with a bow.
10. Wait for the birthday boy/girl and his/her friends to arrive and then act worried when he/she can't cut through the cake.
11. Watch him/her scream with excitement when he/she discovers there are toys inside. Warning: All the other kids and their mums will begin to scream as well.
12. At this point, if you have a daughter like mine she will raise her eyebrows and ask, "how come you never made this for me?"
13. Reassure her that you still love her and promise to make one for her too.
14. Prepare yourself for hourly reminders from her till you actually make one.

Like I mentioned earlier, I also crafted some Lego art for his room. Remember those kits I bought, the rest of the pieces went in here.

"Lego Miniature" Artwork.

The first one I put together was a pretty simply one. Three Lego minifigures, three bricks for the minatures to stand on, some handmade paper, strong glue and a frame to bring it all together. Only the bricks have been glued on to the frame and not the miniatures so that one, the child can pluck the figures from the brick whenever he/she wants to play with it and doesn't sulk that the figures are affixed to the frame. Two, he/she can keep changing the figures on the wall and alter the look of the frame. So you can have a "new" artwork everyday.

"Lego Patent" Artwork

The Lego patent expired in 1989 and did you know that you can download the same and use it for personal projects? This is exactly what I did for the second artwork. I thought it would be an interesting piece of information to have on his wall and this would encourage him to get to learn more about Lego. So I printed it on some handmade paper and glued some bits and pieces left from the 2 Lego kits.

"Lego bricks fits but you don't need to" Artwork.
This one is my favorite and I think his mum's too. She messaged me later that she tried very hard to control her tears upon seeing it; for Karl is not only exceptionally talented but also very different from most boys his age and as parents they always encourage him to explore that side of his. Lego is all about fitting perfectly and I wanted that little boy to know that it isn't always about fitting. Sometimes it is about standing out because some people are meant to. Some lives are meant to. 

For this artwork, I printed out one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Seuss and added a "5" made up of bricks (for he was turning five) and some more bits and pieces.He may have not understood my take on Lego that day, but one day I am sure he will.

And on that note, I am going to end my rather long post on this tiny person. 

Images : Personal Album. While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated. 

Playing with food: Solar System

The Solar system has been on Sara's mind ever since all her friends at Kindergarten put up a spectacular show called what else, the Solar System.

She was part of Team Neptune and thee children looked so cute dancing to "Neptune, Neptune that's the place to be". In their shimmery black costumes with a big blue circular patch that represented Neptune complete with a glowing antenna they won our hearts.

During the months that led up to the performance the children were exposed to the names of different planets, the characteristics  of each planet and ofcourse nothing is complete without music so they sung planet songs.
Night sky on the screen, sparkling costumes, dazzling smiles, twinkling eyes and great confidence. A morning to remember.

It was a beautiful performance for which I am sure the teachers must have slaved over and spent many sleepless nights. It was also the day when they graduated from Kindergarten to Primary. Many silly mums like me had teary eyeswhen they saw their not-so-little-anymore babies walk up to the stage to receive the graduation prize. It is perfectly normal to feel like that, right? Please agree:)

Anyhow, coming back to the Solar System and its eight planets (There was a really funny Pluto in the show who wanted to come back to the Solar System family but was kicked out each time:)) Sara wanted to live in her Neptune pants and it had been a while that we kept going back to her show and how much fun they had. Her dad, aunt, uncle and ofcourse her mum were also taught the dance steps. 

So, the other day when she asked me for some snack I gave her this. 

And I don't need to tell you her reaction or do I? She screamed with joy. The Solar System, Mamma! On my plate!

She was really amused for she was "eating planets". we talked about how Jupiter was so big and Mars was so tiny. And how Neptune was so cold since it was at a distance from the sun and Mercury was hot because it was right there kissing Mr.Sun:) 
We talked about how the planets were going "round and round" the sun singing Ring-around-the-roses. It made her a little sad that they were doing it alone and not holding hands which is why they will never meet.

I didn't have a black plate larger than this on hand else I would have preferred to have the orbits drawn to scale. Having said that, all the planets were in her tummy so why complain. I used cream cheese in a regular icing bag to pipe out the orbits and just for fun used a cloth that had stars on it as her place mat. If your little one is into planets, do try this out and I can guarantee you lots of happy giggles.

Food is such a great medium when it comes to learning new things. Isn't it?

Solar System Fruit Platter

Serves one little crazy planet fan

Ingredients
A slice from a boiled egg for the sun
A blueberry for Mercury
A sliced raspberry for Venus
A dry apricot for Earth
A sliced strawberry for Mars
A slice of apple for Jupiter
A slice of kiwi for Saturn
A slice of plum for Uranus
A banana slice for Neptune

1 tbsp of cream cheese (yogurt, cream;anything will do)

(Any fruits that you have on hand would do. I just made sure that the sizes were more or less to scale when I assigned them each a planet)

Black platter (or any plate of your choice) to represent the night sky and any fabric/ paper with stars for a place mat (Optional)

Let's just assume that you didn't see the grubby finger marks on the platter, OK? 

We agree?

Instructions:
1. Start with sun right at the center.
2. Fill up the cream cheese in an icing bag and pipe out 8 concentric circles around the sun for the 8 orbits.
3. Place the fruit slices to represent the planets.
4. Surprise your little one!

Images : Personal Album. While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated.

Orangey goodness at orangekitchens.

Growing up in India I did not observe Halloween (though in the last few years a lot of people have started observing it. Read: Partying).  

Things are a little different for Sara. Times have changed and over the years all of us have welcomed new festivals and rituals with open arms and ofcourse she is growing up in a country where she is blessed to have friends from mixed cultures and nationalities. She gets to observe and learn from each one of them and that does make me very happy.

And this year was her first Halloween.

Last evening when she went downstairs  to "celebrate" Halloween I wasn't expecting a four year old to understand that this day was not just about dressing up or about tricking/treating or carving pumpkins. It was about paying respect to and remembering the loved ones you've lost. Or how this day must have been particularly tough for families who may have lost their child. 

And I think for the time being I'd like to keep it that way.

For a four year old, it simply translated into all her friends getting together and trying to look scary. Infact, she didn't even want to look scary. She wanted to be a pretty witch with a good heart so that she could cast happy spells. And a pretty witch with a big heart she was. Now that I remember, she did mention that there was this one child who was troubling her and she was contemplating turning him into a spider:)

And ofcourse for her it also meant some candy and some more candy and yet more candy. 

For her mother, it simply translated into a child jumping off the walls because of all the sugar and in the process getting all kinds of chemicals and preservatives into her little body. 

Now I am definitely not the mum who will keep a child away from candy all the time. Every once in a while she is allowed one. But to let her eat all that was not something I was okay with. Each time in the past when she has asked for one I have gone ahead and told her scary candy stories and left the choice to her:) I am wicked, I know. But it works! 

And each time she made the correct choice I have asked her to join me in making lollypops at home containing real fruits and edible flowers. And that makes me like "the coolest mom ever". Ahem!

Read any candy or chocolate label and there you will find artifical flavours, artifical colours, glazing agents and more. Far more scary than the Halloween costumes.

She too wanted to eat them all. Glossy lollypops and candies.

So I let her choose one from her loot and offered to trade all of them for a good quality big bar of dark chocolate or a new book or a toy. It wasn't easy and took some serious convincing. But I won.

She chose the biggest candy and the book AND the toy. Clever girl.You can't fight all the battles,can you?

What did I give away to other children who came to me singing, Trick or treat, Trick or treat? 

Sweet Mandarins. Yes, I know, it sucks. And it ofcourse made me "that horrible aunty who was giving away oranges". I have to admit I did buy a pack of candies the previous day, but I didn't sleep well that night. I just could not. Especially in a city that is fighting both obesity and diabetes. 

So that evening I went downstairs hoping at least a couple of them will eventually give it a try. And later ask their parents for more if they did like it. Trust me, through my work in the last few months I have met kids who don't even know what a potato looks like. They do know what french fries are though. A potato, well we have never seen one, they say. Because they have never entered the kitchen. Which brings me to another one of my favourite topics, please ask your child to be in the kitchen with you. But that we will discuss another day.

And you know what, most kids were okay with it. Infact one teenager made my day. "Oh! I love oranges", she said. Mission accomplished.

Also they did make our home pretty. And made Sara and me smile, all day. All orangey:) She ofcourse wanted us to keep all of them forever until I politely pointed out to her that eventually they will rot.

And all it took was five minutes and a food marker. 

So that was our first Halloween. How was yours? Did all that candy overload make you giddy as well? I'd love to hear your views. And I need to say this here, I am not judging anyone here, I have a dessert at the end of each of my meals and so does Sara :) But we can all try, can't we?

And before I end, many cultures across the world have ceremonies that honour their ancestors and I hope last evening each one of you spent a minute or two remembering those beautiful people and those beautiful memories. I know I did sleep thinking of my grandparents. 

Images: Personal Album.While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated

Hoisin chicken with a bean salad

Some weekdays all you want to do is reach for a bottle of sauce and come up with dinner that is not only kid friendly but also gets made on its own. The ones with kids would understand this perfectly.

Hoisin chicken takes minutes to put together, works beautifully for children who love to get their fingers and faces all sticky (adults too!) and with a side portion of bright greens it makes the mum in you feel happy that your child is being fed well:)

Having said how it makes my little girl happy, let me tell both the DH & I love its sweet, salty and spicy glaze that comes from the perfect combination of the hoisin and the chinese five spice powder. Its a perfect family meal for when you are too tired to cook or you to no time to marinate.

Hoisin chicken with a bean salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

100 ml Hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese chilli sauce

2 teaspoons grated ginger

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

8 chicken thighs (About a kilo)

Bean salad (recipe below)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1.Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with foil. 

2. Mix the three sauces, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and the chinese five spice powder in a large bowl.
3.Add the chicken and leave it to marinate in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Arrange the chicken on the baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes. serve with the bean salad and a generous sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

Bean salad

Ingredients
200 gms beans, cut into 5 cms lengths
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons rice vinegar ( you could even use the regular one)
2 teaspoons honey

Instructions

1. Blanch the beans in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes until they are bright and tender yet crisp

2.Rinse under cold running water and drain well

3.Combine all the other ingredients to make a dressing.

4. Drizzle over the beans.

I also added some fresh cucumber (in a simple vinegar and sugar dressing) to the meal. 

Image : Personal album

Recipe:Adapted from Bill's Everyday Asian by Bill Granger
While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. 
They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated.