Sushi Made Easy

We all love sushi and to buy the quantity we eat in a sitting is astronomical (Scarlett just about eats her body weight in sushi!), hence I make it as opposed to buying it (although it is what my kids ask for if we are out and they need lunch).  Tuna filling seems to favoured by the kids and Greg, but you can use what ever ingredients you like.  Make sure you don’t overfill and don’t use anything too moist, or you will be wearing more sushi than you will be eating.  You don’t need a bamboo sushi roller either, the secret to that is how you prepare the cooked rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup = 250ml

3 cups sushi rice
1 packet nori sheets, or approximately 10 nori sheets
1 425gm tin tuna, drained (I prefer tuna in olive oil)
1/4 cup whole egg mayonaise
1 avocado
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar (can substitute with ordinary vinegar)
1tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp castor sugar

Method:

Rinse rice in a sieve, till the water runs clear.  Cook rice according to your favourite method.  (I use a rice cooker).  While rice is cooking, place drained tuna and mayonaise in a food processor and blend until just combined.  Place it aside.  Once rice is cooked, stir in the vinegar, sugar & salt.  Spread the rice on a large plate to a thickness of about 2.5 cm (1″).  Put in fridge for about 10-15 mins to cool the rice down.  Remove rice from fridge and cut it into strips about 3cm (1.5″) wide (this is what makes rolling them later on so much easier).

The rice cut into strips makes it easier when rolling

Place a nori sheet on a clean surface and cut off a strip of the rice to fit the width of the nori sheet.  Place the rice about a quarter of the way along the nori sheet.

Spread a layer of tuna on top of the rice and add strips of avocado.   Roll the first quarter of the nori sheet around the rice and press gently into place.  Keep rolling until the nori sheet is totally wrapped around the rice and filling.

I promise it tastes better than it looks

I ran out of avocado before I took the photos

Repeat until you have used up all the rice.  Cut the rolls into your preferred size before serving.  I make a dip of equal amounts of lemon juice and tamari sauce (or soya sauce) and add few drops of sesame oil and garnish of coriander (cilantro).

For the children, I cut the sushi into bite size pieces

Enjoy!  Jacinta

Posted in Gastronomic Explosions - aka Yummy Food/Recipes | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Hair Clip Giveaway Winner

Thanks to Random.org, the winner is:

Nadja says:

Oh, Jacinta, I have just the cardigan to match those hairclips for Gemma! If you go to my Ravelry page (TNmama) you can see the cardi with the needle-felted toadstools. I don’t know if it will still fit her this fall, but if I win the clips, I may have to knit another!

Congratulations Nadja!  Looks like you might be doing some more knitting before this coming fall.  Thanks to all those who entered.  Jacinta x

 

 

Posted in Giveaways | 4 Comments

Last Minute Gifting

So it seems I bit off more than I can chew this week (what’s new) and found myself with a gift to make the day of a birthday party.  It was my Godson’s birthday this week and we spent today with him and his lovely family having lots of fun.  As part of his gift I bought a tee-shirt from Target and Tenneille chose the moster material from Spotlight.  I cut out three monsters for the front and one for the back.  I attached them to the tee-shirt with Heat-n-bond and sewed around the edges with the sewing machine, to keep them in place.  For the card I also cut out a monster and attached it in the same manner as above, to a piece of cardboard.

Close up of card

Back of tee-shirt

It was very well received and I plan to make two more for up coming birthdays.  It took about half an hour to complete.  The ideal gift to make the morning of a birthday, or perhaps a couple of days before might be more ideal (but who am I kidding).  Jacinta x

Posted in Craft, Sewing | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

This Moment

From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

I love your moments too.  So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see.  Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful weekend lovelies!

I have a little giveaway running at the moment.  If you are interested check it out.  Jacinta x

Posted in Family Life, This Moment | Tagged , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny at Small Things yarn along this week.

Oh, my this will be my third post today.  That’s a first and promise there has been no caffeine involved!  I am a little further along with Scarlett’s dress.  Jairah very kindly pulled it off the needles this morning.  thankfully I was able to get it back on the needles without having to rip it back far.  Silly me for not putting my knitting away last night.  He was very happily tapping the needles together (well they do make a nice sound!).

I have given myself a break from The Lacuna.  A magazine I subscribe to, Australian Smocking and Embroidery arrived in the mail, so I am considering that my reading material for the next couple of days.

Can’t wait to see what everyone has been up to this week.  I have a little giveaway going too if you want to check it out.

Jacinta x

Posted in Craft, Knitting, Yarn Along | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Toadstool Clips Giveaway – NOW CLOSED

Well if you haven’t noticed, I love a giveaway.  I was going to do this around my birthday, but with two weeks of sick children, I didn’t get to it.

Included in this giveaway is a pair of toadstool hair clips with a gift tag and little pouch to contain the clips.  Please leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway.  Feel free to tweet about it for a second chance.  It’s open to international lovelies.  I will close comments on Sunday 29th May, AEST.

The red is more subtle than shown (lighting isn't great here at the moment).

 

Good luck, Jacinta x

Posted in Craft, Giveaways, Steiner/Waldorf | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Felted Hair Clips – Little Toadstools

I thought I would share a tutorial to make toadstool felted hair clips.  I have made lots of different kinds over the years as gifts and to replace ones lost by my girls (oh, hum).

Materials

Wool fleece, natural (white) and red
Felting needles (either size 36 or 38 and size 40)
A block of foam (to rest your work on)
Hair clips
Glue gun or contrasting thread

Instructions

Pull off a piece of white fleece and roll it in your palm until about the size of a walnut.  Stab the fleece with the 36 or 38 size needle, turning as you go to get an even shape.  Keep the top rounded.  Flip it over and stab the base so it lays flat as you will need to glue or sew this side to the clip.

Pull off a small amount of red fleece about 5 or 6cm long.  Wrap it around the the toadstool.  Stab with the 36 or 38 size needle until it covers the surface without the white showing through.  Go over the red with the size 40 needle to give a smoother finish.

Pull off very small amounts if white fleece and roll into balls.  Place one at a time on the red fleece and gently stab into plance using the size 40 needle.  Be careful stabbing them in place as they are quite small.

Glue or sew the toadstools to the hair clips.  In this case I used a hot glue gun.  Repeat the process to make a pair.  My finished toadstools measure about 2.5cm or around 1″ in width each.

View from back of clips

The finished toadstool clips

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  Jacinta x

Posted in Craft, Steiner/Waldorf, Tutorials | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Winter Wonderland

We had some very cold pre-winter weather last week.  Snow fell in the little town not far from us and for a short while we basically had snow here.  The following day we had hail falling (or rather pelting down) on and off for many hours.  It started late in the evening and it was so white outside, it looked like the landscape was glowing in the dark.  I tried to take photos, but they didn’t show off the transformed landscape.

The next morning there was still a lot of ice on the ground and the girls decked themselves out in winter woolies and ventured out to play in the wonderland and to eat the ice of course. When I asked Tenneille why she had ice in her pockets, she replied that it was keeping her hands from getting too cold (well I have to give her points for that one).  The ice was still on the ground at the end of the day, as the daytime temperature stayed quite low.

Scarlett, showing me her mouthful of ice!

Tenneille has a stash of ice in her hands, ready for eating.

Hmm, what am I growing? Apparently not much!

The girls had fun sliding down the slide that was covered in ice

No patch of ice escaped cute footprints

Ivy and ice at the base of a Mountain Ash

This week hasn’t been as cold, but it makes me wonder what kind of winter we might be in for.  Rain is currently falling on our tin roof, team that with the open fire, then I say, bring on the winter wonderland!   And if all else fails, I know I will sleep well tonight listening to the rain on the roof (I think it is one of my favourite sounds, how about you?).  Jacinta x

Posted in Seasons, The Garden | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

This Moment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

I love your moments too.  So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see.  Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful weekend lovelies!  Jacinta x

 

Posted in This Moment | Tagged , , , , , | 24 Comments

Spreading the Love

The lovely MJ from Wander Wonder Discover recently nominated my blog for an award.  I am honoured and feel so privileged to have people take interest in my blog.

Here is what needs to happen to continue the versatile blog love along:

  • Link back and thank the award giver
  • Share 7 things about yourself
  • Choose 7 bloggers to pass this award on to
  • Contact and congratulate the 7 award winners

7 things about me:

  1. I studied Traditional Chinese Medicine – Acupuncture, but didn’t finish.
  2. I love travelling, and feel I may be part gypsy.
  3. We have grand plans for our family after the end of next year.  May entail overseas travel/living.
  4. I can never craft enough.
  5. I am quite emotional and if you cry, so do I.
  6. I find clowns scary, not at all funny.
  7. I could gaze at babies all day long.  I have always felt ‘motherly’ and after becoming a mama, felt I had found my life’s purpose.

So now for the 7 blogs I have chosen.  Please note that there are many blogs out there I love and the order I have listed the 7 is random.  If you aren’t here, it’s not ’cause I don’t love you.

Wonderfully Crazy

Cats fur to make kitten britches

Bending Birches

Clover

Heirloom Seasons

Under the humble moon

95 acres of sky

Jacinta x

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 10 Comments