"You're Not Special" Graduation Commencement Speech

With lots graduations happening right now I think many caught wind of this great commencement speech.

Wellesley High English Teacher David McCullough advises high school graduates to earn their fulfilling lives. Video courtesy of Wellesley Media

This brought a smile to my face and I hope when my children reach this accolade their commencement speech will be equally as inspirational. What do you guys think?

-Thea

Recipe - Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes)

Okonomiyaki - The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". -Wikipedia translation. 

It actually translates into hella yummy.

Its a great hearty snack that can include a variety of ingredients.  I've made them with shrimp and kimchee before. But the recipe that I am sharing today is my favorite combination.

Things you'll need:

1/2 head of green cabbage finely shredded

3 green onions chopped

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of Furiake

4-6 pieces of bacon (cut into 2 inch pieces)

vegetable oil for pan

Toppings:

Kewpie mayonaise

Tonkatsu Sauce (I choose this over the okonomiyaki sauce -see why below)

Shred your cabbage.

Chop your green onions. I cut them "fancy style" on the diagonal.

Prep your batter base. Eggs, flour & water. - Mix them well.

Add about 1 tablespoon of Furiake. (I've included an Amazon link but if you are local or have access to an Asian grocer you can easily find this there. I purchased this atUwajimaya locally.)

Add the cabbage & onions to the batter. Coat your cabbage well.

Cut your bacon into 2 inch pieces.

Prep your pan (I used my trusty cast iron skillet that I love dearly) set onto medium-high heat add a splash of oil.

When the pan is hot scoop in a heaping spoonful of the mixture into the pan.

Place 2-3 pieces of bacon on top of your "heaps".

Flip them over when the batter starts to brown. It takes about 3 minutes or so to cook on each side - depending on your pan. 

Set the cooked pancake on top of a few paper towels for a minute to soak up extra oils.

Serve warm.

Top with Tonkatsu Sauce or Okonomiyaki Sauce (the tonkatsu sauce is less expensive and not as sweet as the okonomiyaki sauce) & Kewpie Mayonaise.

Have fun making these & experimenting with things you can add.

Enjoy!

xo-Thea

Originally posted on August 24, 2010

Happy 17 Madison!

May 30th 1995 –  was the day my perspectives began to change.  It was
a Tuesday –I wasn’t due until June 11th but I had been on bed rest for
months on end due to Toxemia (what is now called preeclampsia; ya, I
am so old that medical conditions have been re-named since I had
them).

My mom was still going through her radiation treatment and chemo
therapy for the first round of her fight with the cancer.  I woke up
around 2 in the morning because my back was KILLING ME!  I got in the
shower and hoped that the warm water would lessen the aches and pains.
 I went back to bed and woke up again, this time around 4am.  I
decided to take ANOTHER shower as the rest of the house remained pain
free and tucked in their beds snoozing away.  At 7 am I woke up for a
3rd time, took yet ANOTHER shower, and this time I dried off and
crawled in to bed next to my mom.  I was like a small child who was
too sick to go to school and seeking out comfort from their parent.
She awoke and I told her that my back was throbbing and I was in
sooooooooooo much pain and that I couldn’t stay asleep it was so
intense.  My mom smiled and her face lit up like a Christmas tree and
said “She’s coming!  You’re in labor!”
I looked at her in extreme disbelief.  My mother, the woman who had
not only given birth 3 times on her own but she was also in her Jr.
year of her nursing degree at the University of Utah, and I was
resolute in the fact that she had NO IDEA what she was talking about.
I began to explain to this poor confused soul, who called herself my
mom, that I was in extreme pain in my back, not in my stomach.  I had
gone to Lamaze classes, on her insistence in fact, and the videos, the
visual aids, and the examples all demonstrated exactly where labor
pains were felt and my back was never brought in to the conversation;
besides I still had almost 2 weeks left before my baby was due.  What
on earth did SHE know anyway?.  She insisted I eat breakfast but all I
wanted was some Tylenol, a nap, and some relief.  May 28th, 1995, was
my last night of REAL sound sleep.
The hospital had a VHS player in the room and a selection of Disney
movies (hey, I gave birth in Utah, there wasn’t going to be anything
over a PG rating on that shelf).  I watched the Lion King for the
millionth time as I waited to dilate more.  My baby brother, who was
11 years old at the time, shoveled ice chips in my mouth and I thought
I might die of embarrassment because my then husband was too “bored’
to stay in the room as it (my laboring) was “taking too long”, I
remember thinking there was no way I could do it…no way I could handle
a moment more.  My mom later told me she was kept waiting for me to
burst with expletives and rage but I was almost silent and it scared
her.  She had never seen me react that way to anything, ever.  I
didn’t yell at anyone, scream, or even complain….I was silent.  I was
TERRIFIED.  18 hours of back labor, some added pitocin, and an
epidural that didn’t take later I found myself face to face with my
sweet baby Madison.  

She was amazing, she IS amazing, and I wouldn’t
trade her for the world.  I am still unsure as to how my grandmother,
my mother, my baby brother, and my ex-husband were all present as I
pushed.  I remember refusing the mirror the nurses offered me and my
mom told them to bring it back so that I could watch….instead I then
spent the whole time pushing with my eyes closed shut. My mom cut the
umbilical cord and she cried as she held my daughter in her arms
before my baby made her way to me.
That night I stared at my baby girl sleeping pressed up against my
chest.  My mom and the nurses urged me to set her down and to get some
sleep myself but I couldn’t stop looking at her.  The only thing I was
prepared for when I arrived at the hospital was her name.  I knew she
would be called Madison…not Maddie….Madison.  What I didn’t know was
that I would be so in love with her the moment I heard her cry as she
vacated my body.  She was beautiful.  I wanted to give her the world,
the sun, the moon….whatever she desired.  

My perspective on life changed that instant. My wants, desires,  and my needs had all changed
for the better….I have her to thank for that.  She changed my life
…she halted  my crash course journey I was on…..and at 19 I brought
home the most amazing creature I had ever met.  She has been my
sidekick longer than anyone else in my life.  

She is my friend, my daughter, and my dearest most precious gift.  Happy 17th birthday to
my wondrous “baby”girl.  Madison, I love you and I can’t begin to thank you enough for the joy you have brought to me.

Mother Earth News Fair

This is a cross post from my personal blog but it was so much fun I have to share it here too.

Rebekah's latest Senior Year Project post will be posted tomorrow. Poor thing has been without internet and sick for the past few days. That's cruel and unusual punishment from the universe!

---

Apologies on the lack of crafty posts. I've been up to other things. Ya know, trying to keep my life interesting and enriched. :)

This past weekend I helped out my friend Jessi with her booth at the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Washington.

It was a totally different type of show of what I'm personally used to but it was a lot of fun.

I felt like I was totally exposed to my friend's "other life". You think you know someone well and then you witness them in "work mode" and its a whole new person.  It was awesome!

Jessi drew a massive crowd for her "What the Cluck" talk. Times like this I go into my "older sister" pride mode for her. She had people who were shoulder to shoulder rolling with laughter while taking notes.

Her book sold out completely. (I've seen this happen at two different shows now!)

And she has really fun garden world friends. I'm totally comparing them to my extremely fun crafty friends. It would be one insanely fun party if those two worlds could collide. Apparently we're all drinkers.

Erica from NW Edible stopped by. Love, love, love her blog and highly recommend it to my local friends.

The super funny Lisa Taylor stopped by the booth before she it the stage. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to one of her talks, you must! She is hilarious.

Jessi's publishing company (Timberpress) reps were so fun! My eyes started leaking a couple times from laughing so hard.

And a special shout out to my new crush Ivette Soler. First she is absolutely beautiful, gorgeous porcelain skin. She is also wise and real - I totally got that from her just from a 20 minute conversation with her. I am totally buying her book The Edible Front Yard.

I could gush about the whole weekend but honestly I'm pooped. I didn't think I would be since I didn't have to do any real work so to speak. It's exhausting to have so much fun!

Here's a slideshow of the pictures I took in case you're interested.

Happy Monday!

-Thea

Happy 17 Jina!

17 years ago I welcomed Jina into the world.

18 years old and a week before my high school graduation.
I had a really rough year and an even rougher pregnancy. I recall watching a lot of the OJ Simpson trial from a hospital bed.
I didn't take any birthing classes.
I didn't even have a significant other. I just went in and had a baby.
I had two friends in the delivery room with me taking a crash course class on how a baby was born.
It seemed like a sitcom episode at times.

Jina had a ton of brown/blonde hair and big doll eyes and had my heart ever since.



Her being changed my life for the better. Not in a whole parental legacy way either, let me remind you that I was a bit of a troublemaker. Having her gave me real responsibility. Truly having to care for someone else besides myself. I had to quit being a jerk and do something good pretty promptly.



Like any aspect of parenting it hasn't always been easy, but its always been "us".
She is an amazing person.
One of my favorite persons.


Happy Birthday Sunshine-

DIY Mint Extract

DIY Mint Extract

Finally found a use for all my extra mint. DIY mint extract: Bunch of mint, smash it, add vodka, let it chill out for a month, strain, use.  Awesome! I always have way more mint than I can use. Every year when the pineapples or mangos make an appearance in the stores I snatch them up and make my pineapple or mango salsa which has a lot of mint too. 


I have a great picnic rice salad recipe to post. I've been a little swamped with work recently. Story of our lives right? 


I hope this is inspires you to make your own mint extract for holiday cookies or grown up drinks. 
Happy Weekend!


Thea

Family Pictures

Thea (center) with her kids including the fur baby

The picture above was taken on Mother's Day, this past Sunday for our international friends. If you look very closely you'll notice that this seemingly good family portrait has a classic family element in it.

In my time of being a mom I have never had a family picture that was 100%.
Someone is blinking, looking the wrong way, choking themselves...(I seriously have a picture of my son choking himself in a studio portrait.)
It makes for interesting conversation when I have guests over.

I think since we as a society have moved away from the studio portraits since we have such amazing capabilities with digital we are more relaxed & ourselves in photos. I remember in the 1980's posing awkwardly in knee high socks and ugly pink dresses hating being positioned for the "perfect" picture. It was horrible. But in contrast there is something special about professional family portraits. I have copies of some my family's from the late 1800's. They are pretty amazing.

My youngest daughter has her classroom picture today and I always feel I have to coach my kids into smiling naturally. Not super cheesy anime face smiling. As most visual people I really enjoy looking at pictures to associate a time and place about someone. My kids in particular, duh right?  All though I wish I was better about remembering to print them more often. Are you guys good about that? Do you still take your kids to a studio to get family pictures? I wanna know if I am a slacker mom on this.

Momma's Boy & his Momma

And in case you didn't find the classic "element" in the picture above. Here's a bigger hint.

xo-Thea