But her mind is older!
Today is Ladybug’s 19th birthday! She requested one of her favorite dinners…cabbage rolls!
I made some homemade rye bread to go with them:
And a strawberry-mint green tea:
Plus her favorite guava celebration cake from the Lilo and Stitch cookbook:
Happy birthday Ladybug!
May the Fourth Be With You! (But watch out for the Revenge of the Fifth!!!)
We have once again enjoyed a duo of Star Wars Days, starting yesterday with a breakfast of Circumtore Hoops (buttermilk donuts flavored with nutmeg and topped with a vanilla glaze and freeze-dried strawberries) from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. I also made Huyang Tea, which was flavored with coconut milk and honey, from the new Star Wars: Galactic Drinks book.
We had a snack of Kullgroon Drops (frozen grapes tossed with blue raspberry Jell-O) from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. I don’t even like grapes, but I thought these were really good…freezing them makes a ton of difference!
For dinner we had our favorite Ronto Wraps made with pork tenderloin, sausages, a tangy slaw, and a spicy peppercorn sauce on homemade flatbreads, just like we had at Galaxy’s Edge at Disney World!
To go with dinner, I made Yocola Azalus, a kiwi and matcha based drink from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook:
And for dessert, blue raspberry flavored Csaplar Shakes from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook:
Of course I had a fashion for the day…I wore the same skirt as last year, and added a new pair of earrings also inspired by Padmé:
For the Revenge of the Fifth, we had “Darth Donuts,” my own creation that was a twist on the previous day’s recipe for breakfast.
For dinner, I made Sakhet’s Special from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. It featured soba noodles topped with steak and a sweet sauce made with tamari, mirin, ginger, and sesame oil.
Our drink was the Red Kyber Crystal from the new Star Wars: Galactic Drinks book. The main flavors were watermelon and mint, and included a Pop Rocks coated piece of watermelon on top!
I made Nectrose Crystals, a homemade candy from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook:
Which went on dessert, the Mimbanese Mudslide. from the same cookbook. It’s chocolate pudding with a touch of cinnamon and topped with whipped cream and crushed Oreos in addition to the candy:
This is one of favorite celebrations of the year, and I love coming up with menus and trying new things for it!
May the Fourth be with you! This week’s mani is inspired by Princess Leia’s iconic white and silver dress in Star Wars: A New Hope (and styled with her elegant lightsaber, which I got at Disney World). I used Holo Taco “Sugar Rush” on all but the nail of my index finger, where I used “Circuit Breaker” instead, and topped it all with “Shooting STAR Taco.”
Yesterday Chickadee and I went to Maifest at Grant’s Farm, and we had about the nicest day we could have hoped for!
We saw the lucky white bison from the tram:
The animals in the Tiergarten we especially active and entertaining, and we even got to see a baby wallaby still hanging out in his mother’s pouch! I also saw a peacock fly for the first time, and found the sight rather surreal, but that’s really neither here nor there.
And the Bauernhof is always one of my favorite places to visit, because I can pretend I’m actually in Germany! We enjoyed the band and the crowds and especially the pretzel, which is probably the best one we’ve ever gotten at Grant’s Farm!
We finished with a visit to the Clydesdale stable:
It was a lovely day and a fun excuse to celebrate our German heritage!
It’s that time of year!
For the third year in a row, the St. Louis Zoo is hosting Animals Aglow, an amazing, nature-themed lantern festival. And for the third year in a row, we attended. I love how there are some familiar things every year, and some things that are brand new. This dragon, who greets you as you walk through the gates at the south entrance, is a new addition:
Near the dragon is a cute pair of lovebirds set among plants that have a definite Dr. Seuss vibe:
There are other large-scale installations, as well…this pavilion is a popular spot:
This tree has a cool interactive musical feature:
There’s so much to look at on this butterfly tree!
Of course there are more traditional lanterns, as well:
And the dragon tunnel is a returning favorite, but in a new color this year!
The zoo Starbucks is offering a special “Year of the Horse” chai flavored with brown sugar and honey:
It’s so much fun to get to see the zoo lit up at night!
The majority of the lanterns are animal and plant themed…there are so many beautiful designs!
But my very favorite part of the festival is the lantern tunnel…I knew it would be when I saw it at the zoo during the day, and I was not disappointed! There are so many beautiful colors and patterns!
This has become one of my most-anticipated events of the spring, and I can’t wait to see what it looks like next year!
This week’s mani features my favorite color…purple! I did swirls of three different Holo Taco shades: “Purple Slushie,” “Violet Nightmares,” and “Lavender Syrup.” I also topped them with “Freezer Burn,” which enhanced the cool tones of the polishes.
This door, done in the abstract style of Piet Mondrian, was the perfect entrance to the Artist & Craftsman Supply store in Kansas City, which announced it would be closing earlier this year.
This mutlii-story sign in Kansas City really caught my eye…it takes the idea of a vintage road sign to a whole new level! The building it sits atop was originally the Coca-Cola building before it became the Western Auto Supply Company headquarters…today it is on the National Register of Historic Places and was renovated into condos. It bet it looks really cool when it’s lit up at night!
This week’s mani is inspired in part by the St. Louis Cardinals’ alternate blue jersey. I used Holo Taco’s “Polar Opposites” set with the super magnet on my thumb and pinkie nails, and “Red Licorice” on the rest, all topped with “Silver Flake Taco” for a bit of extra sparkle.
These large-scale (18 feet high!) sculptures of shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City were the main reason I wanted to visit the museum in the first place. There’s something so whimsical to me about sculptures of everyday things supersized that I couldn’t resist, and these did not disappoint! We almost missed the fourth one, because it’s on the other side of the museum grounds from the other three, and we stumbled upon it quite by accident…I’m glad we found the complete set!
