Kids Make Disneyland at Home - Round 3

It was exciting when we heard the news that Disneyland might be re-opening again soon! But we don't need to go to Disneyland. We've got Disneyland right here at home! The kids have spent the afternoon recreating all sorts of different aspects of the park. This is Part 3, because they've previously recreated Disneyland at Home back in July 2020 and also earlier this year in February. 

I recorded video throughout the whole thing, which I've posted at the very end. Let's take a look at their creativity! 

"Welcome to Walt Disneyland!"
"Her is Dissney! Supriyss!" (Here is Disney! Surprise!) 
There was a sign with arrows pointing to the living room. 

Disney around the World - Day 3 Part 3 - Lotte World 2018-10-16

Back to our Korea trip! To round out our final day here in Korea, we're going to Lotte World! This whole trip we're doing will be taking us to Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland. Why not go to some place similar in Korea? Lotte World is one of the most visited entertainment locations in the world, making it to the 11th spot back in 2011. 

Pizza at Home - Loopy Froots Pizza - Cereal Pizzas - Homemade Fong's Pizza

Because of all the different pizzas I've been making, friends like to send me their recommendations of what I should attempt next. Such was the case with tonight's pizza. 

Both CNN and Nerdist recently wrote articles about Fong's Pizza in Iowa and their crazy Loopy Froots pizza. A buddy on Facebook shared it with me... Eh...

I showed it to Theresa and got quite the reaction. I think this was after I told her that they put mozzarella cheese on it too. Well you know with a reaction like that, I've got to do it! 

Funfetti Bundt Cake

We're celebrating a birthday today! No, not our kids, but one of the kids' friends in Ian's class. I think we should make her a cake! A sprinkled birthday cake will be perfect! 

Both kids were really excited to help make the cake for their friend. 

Saturday Morning Cereals - Hades Funko Cereal

Who is your favorite Disney Villain? For me, Hades Rules! So when I found that there's an official Hades cereal, oh yeah, we're going to be trying this! 

The cereal itself is appropriately blue. Unnaturally so. Love it! Inside there's a Funko Pocket Pop figurine. Awesome!

National Tolkien Reading Day - Homemade Lembas Bread - March 25th

March 25th is National Tolkien Reading Day! We've been introducing the kids to some bigger stories at night that take longer than a few nights to finish. In honor of this day we knew that was coming up, we started J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit! 

But how else can we do something creative and fun for today. I love baking things, so why not make that Elvish bread that in the Lord of the Rings series, Lembas Bread!

Cocoa Pebbles Crisps

Well we had Fruity Pebble Crisps not too long ago. Now it's time to the other flavor. Cocoa Pebbles Crisps!

These crisps are just like giant Cocoa Pebbles Chips! 

Jelly Belly Fiery Five Challenge

Jelly Belly has a new one! It's the Fiery Five Challenge!
While I was shopping at my neighborhood Ralphs, I saw a couple bags of these new Jelly Belly flavors. The package says they're part of the Bean Boozled line which has a whole bunch of crazy flavors. And for this taste test, we've got two other people who love hot stuff. It's Jacob and Matt! (properly socially distanced, of course)

These Jelly Belly beans look like they just might be a little hot...

Their packaging says Warning! Extremely Hot!

Fruity Pebbles Crisps

There's a fun new food that we're going to be trying today! You're familiar with the Post Cereal Fruity Pebbles. Taking those Fruity Pebbles that we love, Post has turned them into Crisps! 

These Crisps really remind me of Pop-Chips, where it's a formed chip. Big thanks to my brother for sending these to me. I swear they get all the good stuff months before I ever see anything here in California. 

Pizza at Home - Pretzel Pizza

For today's pizza at home, we're going to do something just a little different. Today's pizzas aren't going to be using regular pizza crust. No! These pizzas are going to be pretzel pizzas! 

And it's not like we haven't made pretzels before. We made Auntie Anne's Pretzels at home about a year ago, but this year I'm mixing it up just a little bit!

National French Bread Day - March 21st

Yum! Today is National French Bread Day! With my new-found love of bread-making, I just had to make some homemade French Bread to celebrate today!

First Day of Spring - Cultivating the Magic Tour at Disneyland revisited

Today is the first day of Spring and my latest Micechat article is up! Disneyland does such a good job making the park look beautiful and vibrant! 

Celebrating Spring with Disneyland’s Cultivating the Magic Tour

Saint Patrick's Day 2021

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! We've had fun celebrating this holiday in various ways already this week. We had Potato Pizza, Leprechaun Gold Cookies, Green Donuts, and homemade Shamrock Shakes. This is a final post to wrap everything up.  

On our walks, I was really curious to see if that Valentines Tree that we found would be updated for a new holiday. It was!

Saint Patrick's Day Treats - Shamrocks Shakes at home!

Just a year ago, things were starting to go into lockdown. One of the last treats that we bought out was a Shamrock Shake from McDonalds. New last year was an Oreo Shamrock McFlurry. Here it is a year later and this time we're going to remake them at home!

Saint Patrick's Day Treats - Green Donuts

Time for another Saint Patrick's Day Treat! 
Normally around this time of year, I would try to get over to Krispy Kreme to get a box of their green Saint Patrick's Day donuts. This year though, we're going to make green donuts at home!

Leprechaun Gold Cookies - Nilla Wafer Cookies

Saint Patrick's Day is coming up and we've got a lot of things we're going to make to celebrate!
While we were watching a Good Eats episode with Alton Brown, he was making homemade Nilla Wafers. Theresa said "Those look good! Can you make those?"
I put on my thinking cap, trying to figure out how I could tie it into anything that was coming up. Hmm, Nilla wafers are small and round like coins. They're yellow. Kind-of gold. What about if we called them Leprechaun Gold Cookies and make them for Saint Patrick's Day? 
Theresa - Sure! Any reason you can think of to make them works for me. 

Pizza at Home - Saint Patrick's Day - Potato Pizza

It's the week of Saint Patrick's Day! We're celebrating by making a whole bunch of treats to celebrate the holiday. Along with the treats, I figured I should theme my pizza to the holiday as well! Potatoes are an Irish staple, so this week my pizza is going to be potato themed! And because I can, why not go ahead and make the crust green too!

National Learn About Butterflies Day - March 14th

Some of these posts take a day to come together. Others can take a week. Some, like this one, end up being a couple months in the making. But when it's all said and done, it's something really fun!

March 14th is National Learn About Butterflies Day! Outside the house, in some of the flower planters, the kids have discovered caterpillars! Awesome!

Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Pringles - Homemade Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Potato Chips - National Potato Chip Day - March 14th

Hey, it's a new kind of Pringles! Parmesan and Roasted Garlic. Ooh, this one should taste delicious. We love garlic, and when it's combined with parmesan it's even better! But how are we going to make this a Flowers' taste test comparison? We also like to have the real thing to go up against the challenger. Who knew just 1 can of Pringles would teach me how to do 2 brand new things in the kitchen. And while I'm at it, I'm going to make this my entry for National Potato Chip day!

Today for our comparison, we're not just making Roasted Garlic to go with our grated Parmesan, we're making the potato chips too! I've never done that before! Let's get started!

Veteran's Parkway - Greenbelt Hike

The kids have been loving our walks every night and they really wanted to set a new record. It's a lot more fun when you don't have to stop and wait for cars or anything like that. We need a trail!

Luckily for us, going right through the middle of Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach is a 7.9 mile out and back hike that will work perfectly for us!

It goes by a few names. Veteran's Parkway might be the official name, but I've heard it called the Wood Chip Trail, or the Green Belt. Why the green belt? Well in the concrete jungle of the beach cities, where yards and grass aren't as common, it's an area lined with trees and bushes that splits the cities in half, like a belt. 

Rustic Bread - Made at home

YouTube must be learning my viewing habits, because in the course of my normal viewing, another video came on suggesting a few different ways to make bread. Either that or Theresa is sending me subtle hints about things that I need to make. 

Whatever the method, the video suggested different ways to make a Rustic Bread and it looks like it has a fantastic crust. That's something that's always been missing when I've made baguettes. Mine are tasty, but the crust has been weak. Let's change that today. 

National Mario Day - March 10, MAR10

March 10th is National Mario Day! Why? Well because when you abbreviate the date you get Mar 10, MAR10, or MARIO!

We love playing Mario! The kids are getting pretty good at different kinds of Mario, plus they are creative about putting together some things outside of the video games too! They've got Mario Legos, Mario Kart matchbox cars, pajamas, and more!

National Blueberry Popover Day - March 10th

I keep an eye on the National Day Calendar and watch for things that are coming up and look interesting. Such is the case with today's treat. National Blueberry Popover Day, March 10th. I have never made a popover before, but it sounds pretty do-able. 

Popovers are an airy treat that is light and crispy that can be filled with all sorts of things. Today, being Blueberry Popover Day, I'm topping some with blueberries and powdered sugar. 

Pizza at Home - Bacon Pizza

It's Sunday night and it's time for another Pizza made at home! Tonight I'm doing a pizza based on one of the tastiest things on earth. Bacon! Salty, savory, and smokey, bacon is pretty delicious! Tonight I'm going to use it as inspiration for a pizza! 

National Cereal Day - Saturday Morning Cereals - Funfetti Cereal, Funfetti cupcakes, and Funfetti cereal cupcakes - March 7th

It's National Cereal Day, and it's time to go back and revisit the Funfetti cereal that we tasted, along with 12 other Funfetti things a few weeks ago! Back then, we only had a little bit of time to test the cereal, and a bunch of other things at the same time. 

And as part of our normal method of operation, you know we're going to be tasting these along with the regular Funfetti cupcakes. 

My brother, who sent me the cereal, also gave me another challenge. Try to make cupcakes out of the cereal! Oh my! We'll see how that goes...

National Oreo Day - Brookie-Os - March 6th

Today is National Oreo Day! We love how Oreo makes so many different varieties. Their imagination seems to have no limits! 

For today we're going to be tasting one of their latest offerings, the Limited Edition Brookie-O Oreo!

What is a Brookie? It's a mash-up of a Brownie and Cookie, thus, the Brookie. They're trying to imitate both in their latest cookie which has 3 distinct creme layers. I have never made brookies before but this seems like the perfect time to do it!

Soda Can Fizzy Candy

The kids have a fun taste test today. It's one of those random candies in a fun packaging. Today we're trying Soda Can Fizzy Candies. 

And each of these Fizzy Candies is meant to represent a real soda, so we're going to have that along with it! That's what makes the kids really excited!

Making King's Hawaiian Rolls - At Home!

I think we can all agree that King's Hawaiian Rolls are delicious. These are a staple when big meals like Thanksgiving or Christmas come around. Soft and just slightly sweet, we love warming them, slathering butter on them and gobbling them up. 

Theresa has a habit of sending recipes to me and saying "Oh look, here's a recipe for X." I'm certain there's no ulterior motive to it ever. Such was the case with these. "Look Joe, there's a recipe for Hawaiian Rolls." Okay, I get it.  

Bread Flour versus All Purpose Flour baguette taste test comparison

Bread flour, bread flour, bread flour. Pretty much all the recipes I find for breads and doughs tell me that I should be using bread flour. What's the big deal about bread flour anyway? 

I certainly know one thing. It costs a lot more than the regular All Purpose flour that I can get from Sam's Club. A 5lb bag of Bread Flour costs $3.69, so $0.74 per pound. A 25lb bag of All Purpose Flour costs $6.48, so $0.26 per pound. Is bread flour really worth 3x the price of all purpose flour? Today we're going to find out in a giant baguette bake-off!

Pizza at Home - BBQ Ribs and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Sunday is pizza day and I'm looking forward to this one! I've done so many variations on pizza over the last year that I'm surprised I hadn't done this one yet. One of the meals that I make that always gets rave reviews are my BBQ Ribs. They're fall-off-the-bone tender and so very tasty. I think they would go great on a pizza! And I think a few caramelized onions would go perfect with it!