The Poppins Perspective: Play with Your Food.

The first thing I ever told my parents I wanted to be when I grew up was a food designer.  No, not a chef, a food designer.  I couldn't have been much older than six or seven when I found myself flipping through one of those huge coffee table books about food.  I just kept thinking how pretty it all was!  I wanted to grow up and design aesthetically pleasing food because I couldn't imagine resisting edible art on a plate.  It's a fact that high-end restaurants and world famous chefs everywhere know.  It's all about the presentation.

Well, who says that adults get to have all the fun?  I say, if you're around kids, make their food interesting!  They take joy in the little details that we are often too busy to think about and their giggles are contagious when you make their meals silly.  Here are some of the lunches I've put together for the little ones lately.

Thomas inspired train.

Flower forest.

Mouse.

Heart.

Dolphins.

Whale, boats, and fishy friends.

My meals certainly won't get me any acclaim or land me a spot on Top Chef, but I still feel they are close enough to my food designing childhood dream that I can feel like I've made my seven-year-old self quite happy.  (Does this mean that flying a paper airplane is enough to fulfill the dream I had of being a pilot?)

Now that you've expressed yourself artistically, why not help the kiddos learn to be little artists while they're eating your creations?  Deborah Zemke has a brilliant idea out called Doodle at Dinner.  It's a pack of 36 tear-off placemats that teach kids how to draw something different at each meal.  From lemurs to ostriches to sheep to machines, your little ones can be scribbling while they're nibbling.  (I should do the advertising for these things.)  You can find it at Target, Amazon, Anthropologie, and plenty of other places!  Check it out and have fun!

The Poppins Perspective: Fun with Plates.

Two-year-old Natalie loves to do "awt".  Granted, when it comes to doing art with a two-year-old, I end up doing most of the work, but I like the challenge of finding something fun but simple enough for her to do.  Since there has been a surplus of paper plates lying around, I thought it was a good time to be creative and put them to use.

What you'll need:

* Paper plates

* Construction Paper

* Tissue Paper

* Crayons

* Scissors

* Tape

For our first animal, I used two plates.  While Natalie scribbled all over Olga the Owl's face, I cut the other plate into thirds.  Two thirds were the wings, and I used the last third for the feet and ears.

Bonnie the Bunny was very simple.  I cut two ears from construction paper and let Natalie decorate the rest.

I used the same technique for Beatrix Butterfly's wings.  Two strips of curled paper served for her antennae.

For the pinwheel, I cut a bunch of paper plates in half and stapled them in the middle.  Natalie had nothing to do with this one, really, but she enjoyed watching and kept asking what it was.  Hey, you gotta keep them guessing!

The last project we did was the Jellyfish (one for Natalie and one for baby brother Joey).  These are my favorite!  After Natalie colored the plates with crayons, I tore strips of tissue paper and Natalie helped me tape them to the bottom of the paper plate (or would that technically be the top?).  The best part was when I hung them up (I used pipe cleaners).  I turned on the ceiling fan and we watched them come alive and dance on its breeze.  The kids loved it, and frankly, so did I!

Walk into the Universe.

It is that certain tone in your voice

on the other end of the line
as much as the news you are relating
that makes me want to set the phone down
and walk away from it, this desk, this house, and you.

I think I will go for a stroll down to the corner
where the street sign is bent and turn west
and keep going until I have passed the park with the fountain,
that cafe where we eat lunch on Tuesdays,
and on past the last lights of the city.

Today I think I will take myself out through the valley
where the shadows mingle with the creeping grapevines
and up into the foothills where hand over hand
I will climb up to that large, flat rock
on the tallest peak.

I will wait there in silence
watching the sun slant its evening rays across
the red tabletop of the landscape
before it slips beneath the covers of the night
with a slow, weary sigh.

And when it is dark enough to see him,
I will ask Orion to set his bow aside
and kindly give me a hand up where I will continue to walk,
now with him, into the weightless, black comfort of space
to watch super novas explode into a million shards of light.

Then, when Dawn comes
tiptoeing into the kitchen of morning
like a beautiful, disheveled girl,
I will come home dew-drenched and trailing stars -
finally ready to listen to what you have to say.

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Little Moments.

Yesterday was finally sunny and I wanted nothing more than to get outside.  Planning ahead, I took my new bike to work with me.  Boyfriend just bought us both bikes and we've been taking them to the store and out on little excursions as a way of winding down after work or enjoying our days off together.  I love it and would totally recommend biking as a way of spending time with your better half to relax, catch up on life, and enjoy one another's company!

  

Anyway, back to yesterday, as soon as I got things in order at the house, I got Bella and Gabbie in their helmets and on their bikes.  Bella took the lead, I gave Gabbie a little push to get her started, and we were off for a little afternoon adventure.  We headed down several blocks and stopped at Baskin Robbins.  What kid doesn't love ice cream on a hot day?  And the girls loved it, too.  Ha!  Even as we were on our way home, they kept saying how much fun they were having and asking if we could do it next week.  I think our sticky ice cream smiles lasted the rest of the day.  As cheesy as this sounds, it really was one of those amazing little moments of life.

Isn't it so pretty?  Thanks, Adam!

Bella's creativity came out as she licked a smiley face into her rainbow sherbet.

The only way to go: Mint Chocolate Chip.  Hands down Baskin Robbins' best flavor.  I know you want to argue, but I'm not going to listen.  I could polish off a pint of this right now.

Fun with Names.

I like to draw.  I also like to tweak words.

Boyfriend.

Turning.  Wait for it...

Ta-Da!  (Me!  Not perfect, but fun, yeah?)

Friday Night Excursions.

After a long week, Boyfriend and I needed some relaxing time on Friday night.  We began the evening on his back patio unwinding and talking about the mundane and not-so-mundane details of our day.  I really love those moments.  The tension slowly eased out of our shoulders as we leaned back and watched the wind play with the outdoor curtains and rustle through the palm trees.  As he finished a cold drink, I took some time to polish off a chapter in the book we're reading together.  Yes, we read aloud to each other.  I'd tell you what we're reading, but I've already revealed enough nerdiness today.

Once we were a few more pages along and our stomachs started to complain, we headed off to one of our favorite local haunts, Selland's Market-Cafe.  Selland's is run by the same family that owns Ella Dining Room & Bar and The Kitchen Restaurant (which has been the most amazing dining experience I've had in Sacramento; it's definitely a do-at-least-once event!)  Needless to say, Randall Selland & family know how to do amazing food!

Situated on the corner of El Dorado Way and H Street, Selland's is a cafeteria-style, seat-yourself restaurant with a neighborhood atmosphere.  It's always hoppin' and finding a table inside or outside on the patio can sometimes be tricky, but the wait is never long.  Even though Sellands isn't an 'order at the table' style place, I have always found their service to be excellent, and that's something for me to say since I did the whole server gig on and off for ten years. 

Most of their produce comes from local Farmers' Markets and most of their meat is local, organic, additive-, hormone-, and all other kinds of terrible-horrible-evil-to-have-in-your-food-stuff-free.  (How very East Sac of them.)  They home-make all their salad dressings, soups, gravies, and delicious desserts.  And I'm sure they do it with love and devotion.  You can just taste that sort of thing.

The last and best thing about Selland's is their lovely selection of wine.  (They happen to carry one of my favorite labels: Runquist.  If you've never had it, it's a must!)  For all you fellow wine lovers, Selland's has wine tasting every second Wednesday starting at 6 p.m.  They offer wine from around the world as well as a wide selection from local wineries.

The biggest complaint I've heard about Selland's is that some of their menu items are over-priced for what you get, so these are my three budget-friendly suggestions that will fill your belly and not empty your wallet.

The first is their $10 Blue Plate Special.  They offer it after 3 p.m. every day and they change the menu each month.  My second suggestion is their $25 Dinner for Two Special which they change weekly.  It includes, well, dinner for two plus a bottle of wine or pitcher of beer.  That is what I call a fantastic deal!  And last, but not least, I highly suggest you order one of their pizzas.  They are simply fabulous!  Boyfriend and I always split their Prosciutto Pizza (prosciutto, fontina, caramelized onions, parmesan, and fresh sage -- drooling yet?), enjoy a couple of glasses of wine, and all for a very decent price.

After a delectable dinner, Boyfriend and I were well into enjoying our Friday night.  Since we didn't want to hit a wall before 9:30 (you think I'm kidding), we decided to jump over to 16th and Q Street to fill our need for caffeine and something sweet. 

Founded by Andrea Lepore, an Italian-American and Fabrizio Cercatore, an Italian-Italian (ha), Hot Italian offers some of the best, if not the best, California-grown but authentically Italian-tasting pizza you will find in Sacramento (the very names of which make you want to speak with an Italian accent).  Their other strength is their gelato (cannoli, ferrero rocher, pistachio, and tiramisu being among their flavors) and other fabulous desserts, the very reason we were there.

The choice of the evening was the Rocca: scoops of Madagascar vanilla and Mr. Espresso gelato dunked in espresso.  Delicious and gone in the blink of an eye.  Happy and buzzing, we headed back home to watch a movie that we actually stayed awake for.  Imagine that!  Pretty much a great start to a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

It's all about First Impressions.

As I previously mentioned, Boyfriend let me have a creative go at decorating his house for entertaining this last weekend.  I not only got to add some flair to the inside of his house, but he let me decorate his porch as well -- isn't he swell?  First impressions are important, are they not?  I had purchased some striped ribbon and it put me in mind of nautical things, so I set out to create a welcoming home front.

What better way to make people feel welcome than by telling them they are?  Here's how I did it.

Burlap has a great rustic look to it.  It also happens to get everywhere when you work with it, so be warned.  I first cut a cardboard triangle and used it to trace and cut bunting from the burlap.

I made sure to leave extra room at the top of each triangle as I was planning to wrap it around twine for the finished product.

I used leftover house paint from Boyfriend's recent move (this is a $3 trial size from Home Depot) to paint letters on each burlap triangle.  (Do you like my art placemat?  A paper bag from Trader Joe's is reusable after all!)

While the letters were drying, I glued ribbon at the top of the triangle, but still left some burlap to curl over the twine.

I knotted the twine between each triangle, then curled the top over the twine, and glued it to the back of the bunting.

All that was left to do was to hang it out front.

But I wasn't done!  Underneath the porch I strung a ribbon garland -- a slightly sticky, but easy project.

I cut the ribbons into roughly 4 inch pieces.

Once I had a nice pile of all my different color ribbons, I cut a triangle from the bottom of each piece (the little details make it prettier).   Then I glued the ribbons over a long piece of twine and it was done!  I'll be honest, the gluing process took me awhile and I was peeling glue off my hands like a kindergartner during art class.  But the effect was worth the loss of my fingerprints.

To secure the twine I used these Command hooks that you can pick up from Target.

The icing on the cake was this find of $9 candle holders.  When I saw these at West Elm, I couldn't resist.  Grabbing my ever useful twine, I hung three lanterns on each side of the porch.  As soon as it was dusk, the candles were lit, creating a warm, friendly glow.  It was practically magic.

I know the picture isn't the best, but you get the jist.  A hand painted welcome sign, a nautical ribbon garland, and charming hanging candle lanterns definitely gave our dinner guests a very warm welcome.