http://sweetpetite.bigcartel.com
Regardless of quantity purchased, 50% of every sale will go to the International Justice Mission.
will be taking orders until December 15, and will re-open the store after the New Year.
by Cheryl
I started stitching over the summer when I was looking for a creative outlet. I never considered myself a crafty kind of person (I don’t paint, draw, knit, etc…), and up until that point, my experience with a thread and needle was limited to sewing buttons, and rather poorly. So I thought I’d expand my sewing horizons by making hacky sacks for my son. And when I got bored of making those (one can only create so many hacky sacks), I moved on to the girly stuff… Like hairclips!
My daughter received a felt hairclip as a gift, and it looked simple enough to create on my own. Best of all, no sewing machine necessary! Raw materials are basic: contour hair clips, wool felt, embroidery floss, needle, and scissors, and most of the stitching involved is even more basic. The toughest part is the detailing, but I love how so much cuteness can fit in just a little over an inch.
There is no rhyme or reason behind the nomenclature other than the fact that I love the French language and that I think it sounds prettier than English. Just for fun, I named them “Petite Fille” (fille, pronounced “FEEY”, means girl), and there are (probably grammatically incorrect but whatever) variations depending on the design… A dessert like bubble tea would be “Sweet Fille”, a city-inspired one called “Urban Fille”, etc. Yay for franglais! Anyway…
A lot of folks have encouraged me to sell these creations, and I hope to do just that in time for the holidays, with 50% of every sale donated to the International Justice Mission – a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of sexual exploitation, slavery, and other forms of violent oppression. The IJM story is of the “good-triumphs-evil” variety that you’d find in a novel. Only this is for real. They organize victim rescue and aftercare, prosecute the perpetrators, and promote functioning public justice systems.
My heart breaks for these victims who are abused beyond measure and who are crying out for rescue. How can it be that centuries after the “abolition of slavery”, there are 27 million slaves in the world today? Most of them children?
These simple little hair clips, fun as they are to make, have become a vehicle for me to pray for the ones whose stories aren’t being told… to spread the word on an issue that gets no airtime in today’s “news”… to incite the able to help the unable. Did you know that it costs $500 to help rescue a slave? The abolition of the modern day slave trade seems worlds away, and I suppose for now I’ll start with a small step of faith.
What do you think?
photograph by Eric Kim
you’ll be able to purchase these clips soon online, we’ll update on the shop soon as its running…
last weekend i was sick and in bed, knocked out all day because of the crazy weather. it was sooo cold and working late on the coldest day didn’t help. so for the weekend i kept on drinking ginger lemon tea. i was already sick, but it really made me feel better and i was able to quickly recover. my colds usually go forever, but this time i got rid of it in 4 days.
i love making tea in my teapots, actually, i collect clear glass teapots. this one is my fave but eric accidentally broke the lid this past weekend. =( I was pretty sad about it because i have no idea if i can replace it. hopefully i can.
so brewed ginger is known to help with colds, and also lemons – full of vitamin C – help boost your immune system. these 2 are the perfect combo to drink and fight the cold.
to make the tea you need:
water
fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
lemon
honey
boil the water with ginger. if you are sensitive to spice, i advise you to make it with a 2 teaspoon ginger to 4 cups water ratio. i usually do 2 tablespoons to about 5 cups. it does get really spicy. then add in about 1 1/2 lemons; slice one whole lemon and then just squeeze half of the lemon juice into the pot. and put honey to your taste and your are done.
on monday i made dumplings… and somehow they came out ginormous. i made the skins too big and so i ended up stuffing them with more meat, and eric called them meat-loaf dumplings. hahaha~ so, for over a week i had this urge to make dumplings from scratch, the filling and the stuffing, for some reason. i was searching for a good recipe for the skin and had found two, but both were not working for me so i had to modify it and started to make my own recipe. it was easy because it’s basically water and flour, just varying by how much you add. i think i found a good and easy way to work the dumpling skin dough. i found the recipes from other people to be too dry and hard to work with. so here is my solution…
dumpling skin
ingredients
3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup boiling hot water
1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water
1 table spoon cooking oil (optional)
ok in a mixing bowl pour the sifted flour and add the hot water and stir well with a wooden stick or chop stick. if you have a dough mixer it is much easier, but it can be done by hand; it just takes a lot of work. if you are working with the mixer, keep the speed at slow to medium. when it becomes dough-like add the cold water (start with 1/4 cup) and oil. if you feel it’s too dry add the rest of the water. it should not be too wet, but just enough to work with the dough. stir until you can’t any more. dust the counter with flour and knead the dough. if you have the mixer knead it on the counter for about 3 mins and use the mixer for the rest, much easier. total kneading should be about 10 mins or until the dough is soft, smooth and bounces back when you press with your fingers. wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 30 mins. you should make the stuffing while you are waiting for the dough to be ready. then cut the dough in half, roll on the floured counter into a cylinder shape, to both halves, about 1 1/2 inch thick depending on how big you want your dumplings to be. wrap the one you are not working with plastic wrap so it won’t dry up. in a medium size bowl put about one cup of flour and start cutting the cylinder like you would cookie dough into about quarter-inch wide pieces and coat with flour in the bowl, one by one. with your floured rolling pin, roll it out to dumpling skin thickness… it’s hard to roll it out to store bought thickness, so as thin as you can roll it out. and try to maintain the circle shape.
dumpling stuffing
ingredients
1 1/2 lb meat, you can use pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, or you can even mix the meats you like. good combos: pork & beef, shrimp & pork.
1 medium size onion, diced and caramelized with oil
3 -4 scallions/green onions, finely chopped. also can be subbed with chives if you like.
2 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp grated garlic
1 tsp rice wine
1/2 sesame oil
glue
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp starch
fill the skin with the stuffing in the center leaving about 1/2 inch room to close the skin. brush glue around edge of the skin well. after applying the glue start closing the dumpling. you might have to adjust the meat. hold the center edge together first and then start closing the ends. make sure they are sealed well…
after you are done making them you can either steam or fry them, or even store them. put them in a ziploc bag and freeze them in. just make sure to flour them when you put them in the bag so they wont stick together.
dipping sauce
ingredients
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of sesame seed
mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and start dipping~
TA – DA~
kind of… more like into the foliage
i have been super busy these past few weeks with work and being sick. i’ve had no time to sit down and write, but I’m finally getting myself to sit down to write. so, on columbus day i went hiking with friends to mohawk, NY and the foliage was amazing. the climb was kind of intense for some but i thought it was fun. you actually had to scramble on the rocks and climb ladders; it was lots of fun.
yonnie… walking on water like Jesus.
starting our scramble
cheese~ patricia posing for pic
going through a huge rock…
we had beginners with us and had to help each other out. she was a good sport. she freaked out a lot on the climb, but she didn’t give up and finished with us.
walking between the walls of rocks… it was a really small space and we had to climb out of this place.
the view when we got out of the cave… it was worth the climb and all the sweat. so amazing…
we stopped for lunch. yummy… one of the best places to eat lunch – the view was priceless.
my lunch. patricia packed me rice balls with salty salmon and nori… it was so yummy~ and with my barley tea it was perfect…
orange berries i found on our way… really pretty
we can see our destination… the mountain house. the view is so amazing.
friends… having good company makes the experience all the better.
love LOVE this tree… one of my favorite pics i took on this trip.
another favorite pic…
full foliage, where we started off.
the end…
So one of my dreams is to become a farmer, growing food to feed others and myself. That has been my dream for a while, which might be because I grew up eating homegrown food when I lived with my grandparents for a couple of years during my childhood; they were farmers.
Last week I went to visit my parents’ house and took some pictures of their backyard garden. The peppers that they grow are really yummy and spicy… and my mom makes pickles with the cucumbers, and they taste awesome. Cucumbers are out of season now though.
peppers~
this is squash…
cucumber plants…
Flowers from bitter greens… We usually eat these with with lettuce wrap. It taste minty and bitter. They are in season during summer usually. I don’t know the name of these greens in English and never saw them in American markets. But you can find them in Korean markets during the summer.
These are sesame plants. They are seeding now, but during the summer before it flowers and seeds, you eat the leaves. You can eat it as a wrap or make it into salad (bahn chahn) with soy sauce and other ingredients. But in the fall when it grows seeds you can cut the plants and dry them in the sun, and take out the seeds by hitting them lightly and you get sesame seeds.
it’s squash~!!!
I really love this soup… this is a recipe I got from Yonnie when she stayed over our place for a week little over a month ago. i have made this soup twice since then and Eric and I love it. It’s perfect for the fall weather and its super simple to make… you’ll need a blender to puree the soup and it would be easier if you use handheld blender.
ingredients:
4 large red bell peppers
10 tomatoes quartered
5-7 garlic cloves crushed
fresh basil or thyme
salt
cracked black pepper
olive oil
1 1/2 cup cream
ground pepper flakes or paprika
parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
Roast the peppers on top of the stove on high heat, until all sides of the peppers are char. Put them in a large bowl then cover it with plastic wrap and put it aside to sweat.
Meanwhile place the tomatoes and garlic on a jelly roll pant, spread them well. Add basil or thyme, and season it salt and pepper and lightly drizzle olive oil. Put the tomatoes in the over for about 10 -15 mins. also for a short cut you can put it into broiler for about 5 mins, but keep you eyes on them so it wont char too much.
Take the plastic wrap off the bowl with peppers and start peeling the char skin off and remove the seeds then roughly chop them.
Mix in the roasted peppers and tomatoes with all the juice off the jelly roll pan In a saucepan and with a handheld blender puree them. If you do not have a handheld blender mix the peppers and tomatoes in your blender and puree them and pour it into a saucepan. seamer the puree in meduim heat and add about 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper and also drizzle some olive oil. Add the cream and stir well and let it simmer for 2-3 mins. Season it with salt to your taste.
Serve in a bowl with shaved parmesan cheese with crackers or dry bread. It also taste awesome with a good panini sandwich.
Bon Appetit~!!!
painted by Yonnie Cheng…
one of my favorite things to do is paint and i love using Art to express my heart. i pray by painting also, i call it creative worship. painting is just one the mediums that i use to spend time with God. its a great tool to search out the heart and get your spirit to connect with God.
i really love yonnie’s paintings, you can tell her paintings are expressions from her heart, there is a rawness about it, which i really love. most of her paintings are straight forward with a message.
i will be posting more of her work in near future, also i am planning on using her paintings to make some prints, posters and cards…
love drinking tea? you can actually help stop slavery by purchasing Fair Trade products online or in the grocery stores. make sure to look for the Fair Trade logo on the package. i was doing some reading on modern day slavery and how products that we buy actually are made by use of slavery. there are lot of product that use slavery, but within those products… tea, coffee, sugar, process poulptry, strawberries to name a few. so for the fall tea drinking purchase Fair Trade tea.
“By making a choice to buy Fair Trade tea, you vote with your cash against slavery and exploitation and for fair labor conditions for workers in the tea industry. And what could be more delicious than that?”
look for the logo…
so here are some links to great Fair Trade tea stores online.
Couple of weeks ago I saw pictures of small bite size butter and sugar free cookies on a friend’s facebook and it inspired me to do some research on vegan cookies. So i was searching online for simple vegan cookie recipes and i came a cross lots of them but found two recipes that i really liked. both recipes were very similar so i took parts of it and i tweaked the recipes and made my own version and it came out really yummy… yey for successful experiments. so here is the recipe…
ingredients
3 large, ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup finely chopped nuts, use food processor ( i used almonds, but walnuts would be yummy too) dont put it too long it can turn into butter like texture.
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped dates
Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas and combine the oil and vanilla with mashed bananas.
- for the dry ingredients combine in oats, cinnamon, and nuts together and mix it into the banana bowl and Mix well. Then mix in the chopped dates and chocolate.
- Let stand for 15 minutes.
- Drop bite size, no bigger than tablespoon, onto a baking tray lined with greased wax paper.
- Bake until golden brown. about 15 mins. let it cool. store it in a dry place.
ENJOY~
