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!

A precious Baby!

Some people might had been wondering what happened to me since I had not updated my blog for about two weeks.

Well, I just had a baby boy about two weeks ago! In the U.S., you stay in the hospital about two days after the delivery so I came home after two days and my husband and I had been busy ever since.

First week was really tough because my body was still recovering and I had pain everywhere in my body. It is getting much better now though.

We are learning a lot everyday and it is absolutely wonderful to have a baby in my arms.

It was not an easy road for me to get to this point and finally hold my baby in my arms so I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness. Waking up and feeding him every three hours is tough but I am so happy to have this baby!

So I haven't been cooking at all. I hope I will get back to the rhythm and get back to cooking sometime soon and start blogging again.

Thank you for checking my blog even though I hadn't updated for a while. I will come back and update again when I am ready to cook again. Meanwhile, the post might be not as frequent as it used to be but please keep on checking!

I just wanted to let you know this happy news with you and also wanted to explain why I hadn't been posting lately.

It is quite a joy to look at your baby. I can look at him for hours and never get tired of it :-) I guess every parents feel the same way.

Anyway, hope everybody is doing good. Thank you for coming to check out my blog every day! I hope I can start cooking and updating my blog sometime soon!