Ice Cream Making

Yanny and Bertha inspired me to make my own ice cream. After asking around and read online reviews, we decided to get this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. We waited for a while to make sure we really going to use it. Turned out the price dropped more than half if you buy it during the winter compared to summer. Better yet, I searched it on craigslist.org and found someone who sell a barely used one for $20. Yay!!! 

As usual my curious boy would like to see how the machine works

My first homemade ice cream ever: Raspberry Ice Cream - made with Bertha's Blueberry Ice Cream recipe 

Turned out the texture is even better than the store bought one. In addition, it doesn't have additives plus we can adjust the sugar according to our liking. Yay!!!!

Lesson Learned {so that you don't make the same mistakes I did}:

1. For the heavy cream: Do NOT use the ultra-pasteurized one {like the one normally sold in most grocery stores}. I got them from Trader Joe's or Wholefoods. 

2. You will need a thermometer. NOT the candy or meat thermometer but the digital one like this or this. 

3. You will also need stainer. Any kind should do. I use this one.

4. Use only Vitamin D or whole milk for better texture.
5. Feel free to adjust the sugar to your liking.
6. If you happened to see Vanilla Bean @Costco {they have them sometimes} grab some because they sell it cheaper than anywhere else {a little over $1 per bean vs. $4 per bean @Wholefoods or elsewhere}. 

7. Use David Lebovitz's recipes in his book: The Perfect Scoop for best result. 

Blackberry Ice Cream

A few weeks ago the blackberries was on sale at the Farmer Market. I rarely buy blackberries but since it's on sale, I grabbed some knowing that I can use it to make Blackberry ice Cream. What I didn't expect was it turned out to be my favorite ice cream flavor.



Cook the blackberries with a little sugar:
 

Raspberry Ice Cream

This is my favorite ice cream so far. We usually bought packs of fresh organic raspberry from Costco when they are on sale and froze some. I learned this trick to prevent the raspberry {strawberry, blueberry, or other fruits} from sticking together when I freeze them: array them on the baking sheet then put them in the freezer. When they're frozen, then I move them inside a Ziploc bag.


After cooking and blending, then comes the straining:

Max's Birthday and Blueberry Ice Cream

We just celebrated Max's Birthday last week. As usual, my brain didn't start working until a few days before the day. Thankfully, after 10 years of marriage my husband now understand me enough to stop asking on the details (the food, the place, the cake, what to buys, etc...) 'till the last minute. Thanks to pinterest, I found some simple neat ideas. All I did was typing "Ocean Birthday" on the search box.

10 Things We Don't Buy/ Pay

The Money Saving Mom and The Frugal Girls recently posted 10 things they don't buy or pay for. I thought it's interesting so I post ours as well. Please don't feel guilty if you chose to buy any of these. We splurge on some other things too.  

Our list of 10 Things We Don't Buy/ Pay:

1. Cable TV, Netflix subscription.  The free basic channels is sufficient for us and once in a while we rent $1 {correction: I heard that it's $1.20 now?} DVD through RedBox.

2. Credit card interest. We use credit card but we always pay it full at the end of the month. Can't wait for the day when pay off our mortgage so we no longer have to pay mortgage interest.

3. Bank monthly fee. Most bank usually have limit of how much we should have in saving/ checking in order to avoid monthly fee.

4. All purpose cleaning spray and cleaning wipes. I made my own all purpose non toxic cleaner and use it with rags instead of using cleaning wipes. 

Kyoto Day 1: Arashimaya Bamboo Forest, Iwatamaya Monkey Park, Gion

We wake up very early in the morning after touring Tokyo the day before to take Shinkansen/ bullet train to Kyoto at 6 A.M.

Inside the bullet train: we only took two carry on luggage with us and left one luggage at our hotel in Tokyo, where we gonna stay two more nights after our Kyoto trip. The perk of traveling by ourselves is the flexibility of choosing where and when to go instead of depending on the tour/ other people schedule.

They allow children under 6 years old to travel for free so we only bought 3 tickets. If the train is not full we can sit at any empty seat. We bought sushi breakfast at the train station before hoping in the train.

Once we got to Kyoto Station, we bought the daily bus pass and went straight to our hotel. We chose this hotel because of its strategic location (close to Kyoto Station), new, clean, and has washer and dryer. The only con is it doesn't have onsen. I was told however, there are onsen places that we can go nearby the hotel.

After dropping off our luggages, we went straight to the West part of Kyoto, which takes about 1 hour by bus. Didi was so happy having to seat behind the driver.

Not long after I took this shot the bus driver was pointing a sign to us . Turn out we are not allowed to take picture inside the bus to avoid distracting the driver and other passengers. Oops sorry. First stop: Arashimaya Bamboo Forest 

Chocolate Ice Cream

I am in the process of moving all my food posts to our food website: Asian Family Recipes. The Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe can be found here.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I am in the process of moving all my food posts to our food website: Asian Family Recipes. The Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe can be found here.

Make Us Laugh

Acim
Max loves ice cream. It's summer time here in the States, so we eat quite a bit of them.
One morning Max asked me, "Mama, acim mau." (= Mama, I want acim)
Mama: "Acim? What's acim?" *confused*
Knowing that mama didn't get what he was trying to say; Max then ran to kitchen, pointing to the fridge while saying, "acim, acim enak" (= acim yummy)
Mama: "Oooo you meant ICE CREAM"


Ampun
Max is potty trained at home. Instead of saying  he need to poo or pee; he will say "eek" ( Indonesian word for poo). He still pees on the floor once in a while, which makes me say, "Ya ampun..." (= O my goodness)
Now, whenever he's about to pee, he will say, "Mama, eek, ampun."

Safeway Gift Card
We got a $25 Safeway (an American grocery store) giftcard from a friend for Christmas Gift.
We rarely goes to American grocery. We usually goes to Asian grocery store instead, which offer much better price. One day we need to buy garlic bread, so we thought, "Aha now we can use the gift card." I had something to do so Chris headed to the store with Max. After almost an hour or so he came back.
Me: "Whoa.. honey, I thought you only went to buy garlic bread why so much stuff.
Chris, "Well...  I thought since we rarely go there, I better look for other stuffs that we may be able to use to use up the gift card.
Me: "Ooo I see."
Chris: " But you know what, after spending a lot of time looking for items to buy with an active toddler in tow, we got to the cashier, and as I took out the gift card, I realize we were at Lucky not Safeway." 


Defend the Stem Burn!
I'm saving the best for last, click here to read this missionary' story.

May these stories bring smile to you face

Vanilla Ice Cream

We love vanilla ice cream. We eat it with pie, blend it with smoothies, or eat it as is. I like this homemade version because I can reduce the amount of sugar, use real vanilla bean, and organic products.

Recipe can be found here  

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Our kids like yogurt especially strawberry yogurt. However, I don't like the fact that those thing come in individual packages and the large amount of sugar in each package so I thought I better make one myself. I found the Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Recipe from Davit Lebovitz's book: The Perfect Scoop.

Kyoto day 3: Kyoto Aquarium, Railway Museum, Nishiki Market

According to the weather forecast; it's going to be rain the whole day that day so we reserve that day to visit Kyoto Aquarium. Originally, we were going to the famous Osaka Aquarium but going there would take us at least two hours while this one only 10 minutes from our hotel by foot.

Group of Japanese school children on field trip. Aren't those yellow bags lovely?

Big Island Day 1: Kahalu'u Beach and some packing tips

Aloha!

We just came back from the Big Island, Hawaii. It's been a long time since we take a long vacation trip (more than two days weekend trip) together. It was such a refreshing trip. No wonder Michael Hyatt wrote, "Vacations are essential for your spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical health."


I strained my neck the week before and could barely move my head. The neck pain accompanied by headaches almost made us cancel our trip. Thankfully, after a lot of prayers, visits to doctor, chiropractor (my first time ever to experience dry needling), and taking medicines; I felt much better on Saturday and we're able to go. Yayyyy.... He hears our prayers indeed.


To avoid paying for luggage, each one of us bring one bag and one personal item:
Waiting for Papa to get car from car rental:

Greeted by the humidity, palm trees, and ocean view. It's time to change to shorts and flip flops.

First thing first: get the Hawaiian Shave Ice. We went to One Aloha Shave Ice thanks to Yelp's recommendation.


We requested Kona ice cream at the bottom of Shave Ice. It taste so good.


Followed by Hawaiian style lunch.

Originally, we planned to drive 2.5 hours straight to the East part of the Island, where we stayed the next three nights but the kids couldn't wait any longer to snorkel so we stopped by at a nearby beach: Kahalu'u Beach

What I buy at Whole Foods

We got most of our grocery at Costco, Asian Market, or local Farmer Market. However, occasionally, I stop by at Whole Foods to get these things that I can only find there:

1. Savoiardi Lady finger for Tiramisu

2. Du Four Puff Pastry for Chicken Curry Puff

Big Island Day 7: Going home, Staying in a rental home, and One week in Big Island Itinerary

Our family prefer to stay at rental home instead of hotel whenever we travel that way we can do laundry and pack lifht. In addition, we can save money by cooking/ preparing food at home instead of eating out all the time. 

At the East side of the Big Island, we stayed in a rental home nearby Kapoho Tide pools. At the West side our friends recommended us to stay in Captain Cook area so we stayed at this vrbo (very clean and the owners let us use their kayak/ paddle board for free). They also have other unit/ cabin if you travel with more than 4 people. 

The 600 square feet unit we rent:

Oahu Beautiful Beaches and Snorkeling Places

During this visit to Oahu we managed to visit a few beautiful beaches and snorkeling places. Surprisingly, only Waikiki and Hanauma were crowded with people the rest are not, so it was a pleasant surprise.

1. Hanauma Bay State Park: the popular and best snorkeling place in Oahu. It takes about 30 minutes to get here from Waikiki. There are only 300 parking spaces so go early if you are planning to go by car then you can continue your beauty sleep once you get there. :)
The park opens from 6 am to 6 pm and closed on Tuesday.

If you don't have car, you can go by shuttle, taxi, or bus. Park entry fee $7.50 per person. Be prepare to walk down the hill to the Bay or pay $2.50 to ride on the tram. 

 There were lots of fishes big and small but the coral is not as pretty as the one in Philippines or Indonesia.

Big Island Day 6: Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, Two Step Beach, and Ali'i Drive

Continuing my previous posts on our visit Big Island, we began the 6th day by visiting a historical park: Pu'uhonua Honaunau.  Pu'uhonua means a place of refuge for those who broke the law. Very interesting place definitely worth a visit.

Life with Two Boys

If you stop by to our home without notice most likely you will see these:

Max said the sofa was a big boat and he NEED to bring all his toys and book inside the boat

Growing and Learning

Update on our two precious blessings:

The big brother turned 4 last month. He continue to acquire new skills and grow in his character,  knowledge, and understanding. We couldn't be prouder of him.

Menu Plan

Last Saturday, Chris joined the Bible Class at our church. I had to sew a nursing cover for a dear friend so I asked Fonda if she can watch Wesley, which she joyfully agreed. In addition, The Prasetyas were kindly taking care of Max. So for the first time in 6+ months, I was having the whole afternoon all by myself. :)

Since we're running out of food in the house and I knew the sewing won't take me the entire day; I went to Farmet Market to get our produce then proceed to go to supermarket to get the rest of our grocery. I haven't been to supermarket in months since Chris usually does our grocery (I know I'm spoiled!). It's a win win situation for us since it's hard for me to shop with two kids in the meantime Chris also enjoy having to buy snacks without having his wife telling him to put them back to the shelves. Okay back to the post.

Here is my grocery: