Easter and Golden Week

We had some more visitors to our place during Easter holiday and Golden Week (Japan's holiday in May).
First, we had our friends who live in South Africa came to visit us with their son (about 2 years old). This is their first visit after we had our son so we were super excited to introduce him to them. Especially, I was curious about how their son react to our son.

Their son loved our son! He was very curious about our baby and wanted to see him and touch him. He was very nice to our son. When he hears our son crying, he would say "Baby, Crying" and he makes surprised face. He is so cute. I wish we live close by so their son will be our son's big brother and he can teach lots of things to our son :-)

Anyhow, as I have wrote here before, the father of this boy is a great cook and he always cook something great for us every time they visit us. (I know, they are visiting us so we should be making something for them but we just love his cooking so we have to have something from his cooking when we see them)

This time, he made chicken enchilada with mexican rice and beans. He showed me how to make this in a very easy way using store bought roasted chicken and enchilada sauce and stuff. It was really really good!

It is a great idea to use already made roasted chicken. This was great dish which we can make with quite a short time and effort but still taste excellent!

He also made some beans and rice and salsa. Since I don't like beans, I didn't eat beans but looks pretty good.

We also had visitors from Germany. My husband's best friend and his girlfriend were here for a few days. It was very nice that they got to see our son in person also. They loved playing with our son. They were so good with him!

Since it was Easter when they were all here, I made egg's benedict for everybody. This is something I make every Easter and my husband absolutely love this dish. I always think that I should make this more often since my husband gets so excited about this dish but I always forget about making this dish. So normally, we have this once a year on Easter weekend.

After Easter holidays, we had my sister visiting from Japan because Japan had a holiday on the first week of May called " Golden Week". My sister was not sure until last minute if she should come visit or not since she can only stay for 5 days and the fights were super expensive. However, if she miss this chance, she wasn't sure when she can come visit us next time and she really wanted to meet her nephew so she decided to come.

It was such a short visit but we had a great time and I was so happy that our son and my sister got to meet and spend some time. I am so thankful that she spend so much money and made an effort to come here and meet him. I have a wonderful sister! I love spending time with my sister.

When she was here, I made the chicken enchilada which my friend made for us during the Easter Holiday. It came out pretty good. It was not as good as his chicken enchilada but I think I replicate it pretty well and it was quite easy to make!

This is the one I made.

Mine didn't have enough cheese and sauce. I will try to have more cheese and sauce next time. But everybody loved it. I know I will be making this more often because it is easy but tasty!

Bake Sale to help Japan's disaster

My husband company had a bake sale for Japan the other day. It seems like all over the world is trying to help Japan to get back to its normal state. It will take lots of time, money and effort but I know we can do this! I am very moved by all the support and help. As a Japanese, I would like to thank you for everyone who is trying to help Japan. Thank you!

Anyway, I also wanted to bake something for this bake sale. Though it is quite difficult to bake something with a crying baby. I had to stop the process many times to take care of my son but I was able to bake cup cakes!

Since this is to help Japan, my husband had this idea of decorating cupcakes as Japanese flags. Here is how it came out.

We also made small flags with toothpick and paper. It came out pretty good.

For the cup cake, I used the cup cake recipe from Mognolia bakery. It was quite sweet but tasted really good.

My husband told me that the bake sale was a success and they raised lots of money for Japan. I was very happy to hear that. I hope they can get back to their normal like as soon as possible.

Well, it had been a while since I baked something last time but I realized that it is quite fun! I think I am getting used to taking care of my baby so I would like to start cooking and baking again.

My baby is growing up so fast. He is more awake during the day. He smiles a lot more and he even try to talk sometimes. It is such a joy to see his growth everyday. I am very lucky to have him. Since he is growing up, he needs more attention from me. He gets board when I leave him alone and he calls me to play with him.

Anyway, I had lots of visitors this past months and had a great time with them. I made some dishes while they are here. So I will update sometimes.

Have a great day!

Parents visit from Germany and Japan

It has been a while again since I updated last time. I had been quite busy as you might imagine. Taking care of a baby if lots of work!

Meanwhile, our parents from Germany and Japan came to visit us and meet their grandson!

They helped us a lot by cooking, cleaning and playing with our son. It was nice to be able to take a nap while they took care of him. I loved watching them interact with my son. I can tell they love him so much and they were so patience with him all the time. He is lucky to have grandparents like them.

It is too bad that everybody lives quite far away. I feel bad that they can not see him too often. But now we have technology such as Skype so they get to see him via computer and this is wonderful.

When they stayed here, they cooked everyday for us and also they cooked some things and reserve them in freezer for later. They are just great! So I don't have to cook for a while.

Here are some of the things which they made for us during their stay.

First, there are the dishes German mom made for us.

This is Parsnip salad. I never really used Parsnip before but I really liked this salad. She sauteed Parsnip and put on top of green salad. The dressing was maple dressing which I love. I think Parsnip has a pretty strong taste when it is raw but I really liked it when it was sauteed. I would love to try using Parsnip from now on.

The other dish I loved was salmon with fennel. She cut fennel and mixed with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper and put in the oven. Then, add salmon fillet and caper and parsley and put in the oven again until the salmon is done. This was delicious! It was very light and perfect dish for summer. I will definitely making this in summer.

She also made lots of potato soup and freeze them for us. I love her potato soup!!!

And, here are a few things which Japanese parents made.

First, Soba noodle. This is something my dad made for us. When we have noodle or steak, it is always my dad who cooks. He made this for lunch and it was great.

My mom also made some sweets. she made cream puff which I forgot to take pictures. And this strawberry shortcake. She said she hadn't make any of those for a long time so it did not come out perfect but I thought it was great!

She also made gyoza and spring roll and freeze them for us.

Anyway, it was great to have both parents to help us out. Now, I am on my own but I started to get a hang of it and feeling more confident. (Though, some days are still tough...)

I am enjoying this precious time I have with my son. He will grow up quickly so I will enjoy baby stage as much as I can. Now, he is 2months and half and we started to go placed with him. I love it! The weather is getting nicer and I think he came to this world in perfect timing.

Right now, I don't have much time for myself but this is a special bonding time for my baby and I so I will try to enjoy every second of it! I am really thankful to have him in my arms. He is perfect!