it seems this has become a tradition. if you come to visit us from out of town we will make you our famous deconstructed sushi. make your reservations today! see family sushi dinner pt. 1 with hillery and matt on hillery's blog here.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
family time
debby and dorrey came to visit us from LA, and they are staying with us until tuesday. we have been so busy having fun- playing games, making and eating yummy foods, spending time together at rowster and at the park. today they drove to toronto for a short getaway and will be back on friday. we miss them already.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
the oven mitt bakery at ROWSTER
i have been busy in the kitchen preparing samples and listening to leonard cohen, getting ready for my new baking gig. so be on the look out for oven mitt baked goods at rowster. the first delivery will be next thursday. the menu will include anise almond southern italian biscotti, macaroon cakes and raw granola. everything is made with 100% vegan and organic ingredients.
rowster new american coffee is located at 632 wealthy street in grand rapids michigan. they will prepare you the most perfect cup of coffee, i promise.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
tag team
adam and i recently set up our summer studio schedule to help us become more efficient. we each have two days a week to spend alone time with suki and two days a week to work. hopefully this will help us to be more productive and to intentionally create fun activities for suki.
today, adam spent the day hanging out with suki. i found them riding bikes together in the driveway. what a fun time they we having!
sasha farm visit pt.2
yesterday, we traveled across the state to visit our animal friends at sasha farm. the trip was with our church as part of the summer day camp. the camp is set up as fun outings throughout the summer instead of activities during the day for one week. some future camp day outings include blueberry picking, mud cake, picnics, the beach, and other, yet to be discovered adventures. the farm was a fantastic opener- suki had so much fun with her friends and with the animals.
we are planning on picking fruit together for the next camp day. does anyone know of fruit farms in west michigan that do not spray crops?
Sunday, June 19, 2011
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
we are having a fun day celebrating adam. he is the kindest, most fun, loving and giving man i know. a wonderful father to suki, koji, billy and little juanita. we all love him.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
tank dress
i recently made the wiksten tank dress, and it is the perfect summer dress. i hope to make a few more before it gets any hotter out here. summer is definitely my least favorite of the seasons, but a nice dress helps me get through it. thanks jenny gordy for sharing your wonderful patterns.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
patchwork for specks & keepings
currently, i am working on a new patchwork afghan for the specks and keepings online shop. this one is mostly blues and greens with some moments of dark red, rose, and deep purple. i am using the yarns i ordered from brooklyn general store. these yarns are so nice to work with, and they are making the blanket heavy and very warm. hopefully it will be finished soon; it's not ideal to work on a project like this in summer heat.
this photograph was taken in my studio. i borrowed it from hillery's blog.
Friday, June 17, 2011
little friends
a few weeks ago our friends rowley, michelle and baby inez came to visit us. it was our first time meeting 3 month old inez. she was adorable, with a tiny nose and dimples. suki was hoping she was coming to live in our house and was excited to be babies together. she took over inez's car seat and pacifier while she was pretending to be a baby. she gave inez as many hugs, kisses and hand holds as she possibly could. she even got to hold inez on her lap, this was probably one of the happiest moments of her life. michelle made suki this fun toy friend, with the pattern she found in lotta jansdotter's baby project book. i came across more of these here. what great characters! they all seem to have a personality of their own. suki named this one mimmy, he sometimes is carried in her pocket. other times they spend together, watching out the window, waiting for dogs to walk by. thank you, michelle!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
repairs
a couple weeks ago our small kitchen bathroom had a bad leak. adam had to demolish all of the walls because we discovered they were rotten and moldy. we have some very generous and talented friends who have been helping. they still have work to do but the end is in sight. these kind of projects are a little sad: when all is done, a lot of work will go in to fixing the problem, but it will not even look any different. perhaps we will paint it a different color but that's all we can do at this point. on a more positive note, in addition to the walls no longer being rotten and moldy they are now insulated. our kitchen is going to be so much more warm and cosy this winter.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
RAW GRANOLA GIVEAWAY
along with the cafe gratitude book, i bought a food dehydrator, from a friend who moved to detroit, as an early father's day gift for adam. it is the kind of gift that can be for the entire family but it is something adam has been wanting for a long time. he is now very interested in dehydrating and fermenting foods. so far we have only made two kinds of fruit leather, dehydrated strawberries and this delicious granola. adam, suki and i all agree this is the tastiest granola we have made and we would love to share some with you.
if you would like to enter to win this jar of granola simply:
1. become a follower of this blog
2. if you are already a follower leave a comment with one of your morning rituals
3. post the giveaway on your twitter and mention @kotoamade
Monday, June 13, 2011
WOLPA
check out adam wolpa's new website designed by matthew lincoln yake. matt also took this incredible photo of adam in his studio as part of his studio series. adam has been my favorite artist since before i met him. i always know how awesome he is, but it is good to be reminded. i had a fun time looking through all of the images on the site; it's so impressive and inspiring.
a rough day
today suki got her very first shot. originally, we were not going to immunize her, but after a lot of praying and some conversations with friends, relatives, and both of her godmothers, we decided the benefits outweighed the risks. this was the most difficult decision we have had to make as parents; i hope we made the right one. thankfully, she was able to avoid getting a few that are no longer a danger to her since we waited so long. we decided not to group the shots, but to spread them out as much as possible. suki was very brave and only cried a little. she was trying as hard as she could to hold it in since the nurse was there and she doesn't like to cry in front of people. she is doing very well now and is still her happy self, the nurse said she would be grumpy for a day but thankfully she was not.
we tried to make the day fun for her, so we took her out to eat and found this book for her at the toy shop. busses make her very happy.
spotting
i just came across this blog called streetpeeper, and as i was looking around, i was surprised to find this couple in the chicago pages. too funny! this must have been while we were waiting and hoping to meet yoko ono backstage. our friend nicole is so good to us, always helping us out and keeping us up to date on the music front. this was a fun weekend, eleanor was with us, only three years old. she is such a cool kid- suki's role model.
SWIMSUIT + ROYL SPACE
these LIFE LIKE tapes not only look awesome, but are also the perfect sound for summer times. great for playing loud in the car with the windows down or for playing in the back yard. these are my two current favorites.
check out ROYL SPACE live and in person this thursday at the pyramid scheme. rumor has it they will have a new tape for sale!
tag sale finds
adam found paris, texas on dvd, some records, and a candle holder at the ottawa hills tag sale. i can't wait to watch this movie again and cry. i usually do not watch sad movies but this one is an exception, it's too good.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
local lunch
our first CSA pick up was this week and our crisper drawer is full of beautiful produce. today, adam made this delicious and simple lunch featuring the radishes and chives from our share. the sandwich was inspired by the radish and avocado sandwich in the april 2011 issue of martha stewart living on page 40. adam added a touch of agave to the radishes and did not serve it open faced. he created this delicate quinoa salad to accompany the sandwich.
try it out for yourself!
cook quinoa
2/3 cup dry quinoa
1 1/3 cup water
mix quinoa and water together in a sauce pan. bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low and cook for 13 minutes.
while the quinoa is cooking chop 1/3 cup of chives and squeeze half of a grapefruit.
after the quinoa is finished cooking mix together in a bowl with:
1/3 cup of chopped chives
juice of half a grapefruit
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
enjoy!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
suki and beedle love at the lake
i just got home from having a few celebratory drinks with some dear friends in honor of susan's birthday. happy birthday susan! i found these sweet photos on her phone and she emailed them over to me. technology is really something.
Friday, June 10, 2011
sweet potato dog chews
last night adam made koji this jar of tasty chews. the vegan version of the rawhides dogs seem to love. recently we have had trouble with koji chewing our rugs, rrrrrr! at his previous home they gave him the rawhide chews and fabric toys. we had a difficult time finding fabric toys we like and we thought if we only gave him rubber toys, he might not chew suki's toys and other fabrics in the house. i guess we were wrong. i hope these chewy treats and his new fabric toys keeps his mind off of the rugs. if you would like to try these alternatives to rawhides for your dogs, let me know.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
shop specks and keepings SALE
check out the specks and keepings sale! it includes some beautiful pieces by rebe, a hand knit sweater by karen thurman and kotoa sweet mats.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
sailboat skirt
last summer, i made suki a few sailboat skirts, and now at the beginning of this summer, they still fit her. recently, i made her another one, the next size up, and it turned out really cute. i used some of the fabric debby gave me- a piece that she had left over from the rebe summer 2010 collection. now we can match!
susan made this sweet little felted bag for suki, and adam added the silver jews button.
here suki was pretending to be a dog and chewing sticks with koji. she has a fun imagination and makes me laugh every day.
Monday, June 6, 2011
new camera strap
within the first week of using my new camera, the strap broke, or so i thought. for months i was keeping my eyes open for a new strap, but i never found one. last week, i was admiring the camera strap hillery made for matt's camera and discovered my strap was not broken, i had just put it on wrong. i kept the end pieces and made a softer, more colorful strap for myself. thanks hillery and matt for the tips, it makes using my camera much nicer.
Friday, June 3, 2011
hair cutting and making
hillery got her hair cut while she was visiting us, and she gave adam a haircut. matt made adam a website and taught him how to manage it. i will be posting more about the website soon. suki had her first lesson on embroidery from hillery.
water balloons and braids
suki was spending time with her favorite neighbor friends and playing water balloons. hillery braided C's hair while suki and R continued to soak themselves silly.
spicy fruit and the park
we went searching for treasures and stopped by the fruit stand at clyde park and hogan, outside of the mexican market. spicy fruit in a bag is such a refreshing treat on a hot day. it is easy to make at home but it's never as good because the experience of having the guy make it for you in his little cart makes it taste so much better. if you do not have a spicy fruit vendor near you try mixing in a ziplock cubes of cantaloupe, watermelon, or mango with juice from one lime, a dash of salt and cayenne pepper.
at the park a young man wrote a poem about eleanor and recited it for us, his name was joel.
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