Garden Fresh Spring Rolls

With the first week of Spring upon us, the Girls Team attempted to make spring rolls for the first time. We weren't really sure what to expect in regards to the level of difficulty, but had a really pleasant experience making spring rolls...and an even better experience eating them. :) We used this recipe, but also followed these instructions to roll the spring rolls.

We found all of our ingredients at the grocery store, including the spring rolls skin pictured below. Preparation for the spring roll filling was simple - a lot of chopping and dicing. I also tried julienning for the first time to cut the carrot and cucumber into long, thin strips. Don't let the fancy term "julienne" scare you; it was a very simple technique! 

Filling ingredients: lettuce, cucumber, carrots, 

red bell pepper, avocado, jicama and turkey slices.

Julienning.

We referenced Chef Ryan's advice from Calzone Night - "mise en place" - everything should be prepped before assembling for a simpler cooking process.

Rice paper, out of the package, resembles plastic frisbees a little too closely. 

We quickly dipped the rice paper into warm water to loosen it up. The trick was to find a quick balance between thin, flexible rice paper and thick, gelatinous rice paper. If the paper got too saturated, it was more difficult to roll.

After dipping the rice paper in the water, we layered the ingredients at the edge of the paper, covering about 1/4 of the paper surface. There didn't seem to be a "wrong" way to do this, although it seemed to make rolling easier if the ingredients were stacked on top of each other compactly as opposed to next to each other. (This is how I ended up with awkwardly long spring rolls...)

Similar rolling style to a burrito. :)

Tucking the edges, adding water with our fingers to seal the paper.

Because I strongly HATE bell peppers, and my mom nicely dislikes cucumbers, we varied our ingredients a bit and made a few varieties of spring rolls. 

Refrigerating the spring rolls for 15 minutes while we made the dipping sauce. 

The sauce was a simple mix of the four ingredients above. We also added about 1/2 cup water and some soy sauce to thin the consistency.

After the spring rolls were in the fridge for about 15 minutes, and the sauce was ready, we plated and served the spring rolls. Before we get to how they tasted, let's just point out how fresh and healthy they look! 

You guys! The Girls Team LOVED these spring rolls. They were so delicious! They were crisp, fresh, and flavorful. My mom especially liked the turkey and avocado, making the recipe a twist on a traditional spring roll which would appeal to a lot of people. The sauce added an asian flair that emphasized the flavors of the spring roll really nicely. It was also fun to work with the rice paper since we haven't done that before!

We would love to make these again. Often times, come July and August, we are looking for dinner recipes that don't require turning on the hot oven or standing over the hot stove. These spring rolls would be perfect. The basil didn't seem to bother my mom as much as it did me, but if I made them again, I'd remove the basil. Normally, I love basil, but it just felt out of place with the rest of the ingredients and in my opinion, clashed with the mostly peanut flavored sauce. 

The spring rolls also received rave reviews from our frequent taste testers. Corey so eloquently stated, "Those spring rolls were bomb." Nelson also thought they were great, and as he usually does with most food, dipped them in BBQ sauce for a "western twist." :)

If these MIHM spring rolls are any indication of the Spring to come, the Girls Team is in for a real treat! :) 

Finished Vase

Hi guys! Just a quick update on our engagement party vase. I picked it up from Color Me Mine on Monday night and it is AMAZING! All of the messages came out detailed and legible, and the glaze looks so smooth and shiny. (When I picked up the vase, the Color Me Mine employee asked me if we paid one of their staff to paint over the messages. Nope, we are just that good!)

Thanks again to my mom and dad for this memorable gift that Nelson and I will enjoy forever! And, thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family for writing such loving, fun notes!

Engagement Party Vase

Remember the super amazing engagement party we had a few weeks ago? Aside from the great memories we have from the day, we also have this special vase that all of our friends and family signed at the party.

Before the party, my mom and I picked out the vase at Color Me Mine, a paint-your-own ceramics studio (and my place of employment during high school!). The day of the party, we asked all of our guests to sign it and leave a note to Nelson and I. My mom used the silhouette to make the sign: "Nelson loves history, Casey loves crafts. Help them create their own history...sign the vase!" So clever, right?! 

Throughout the party our friends and family signed the vase using ball point pen. Tonight, the Girls Team headed to Color Me Mine to paint over the pen messages. (We also invited my dad to join, since he has precision writing skills!) During the firing process in the kiln, the ball point pen will fire off with just the messages in paint remaining.

Using a fine tipped paint pen, we began to trace over the messages. The trick was to make sure that the paint didn't come out too fast or thick, but that there was enough paint to cover the pen (since the pen won't be there anymore after the firing process). It took awhile to get familiar with the process, but once we did, it was smooth sailing. We each traced over three messages before switching out to give our hands (and wrists!) a break. 

Good thing we recruited my dad...it took the three of us THREE hours to go over all of the writing. We finished just in time, as the studio was closing. This was a total team effort! 

Once we finished painting over the messages, we double checked it for any missed spots. You could go crazy doing this, so after about one minute, we stepped away from the vase! 

I added a note to the bottom of the vase so we always remember the special day when we celebrated our engagement with our wonderful family and friends.

The vase needs to be glazed and fired in the kiln. It will be ready for pick up Monday night, and we will post a final photo because it will surely look amazing! 

I love that my mom had the idea to doing something like this. This vase is filled with messages of love and happiness, and will always remind us of that special day with special people. Finishing it with my parents made it even more special as we spent time together hanging out and painting. 

Lastly, fun coincidence, exactly six months from today Nelson and I will be celebrating our marriage with the same friends and family who signed the vase...and more! 

Wonders of Watercolor

Hi guys. I'd like to introduce you to my awesome friend Megan. She lives in Seattle with her equally awesome husband, and their mini-awesome son. Megan and I quickly became friends during our AmeriCorps year, and have only become better friends in the time that's passed. She is also my only fellow-blogger friend too! Not only was I lucky enough to get a 3-day visit from Megan last weekend, but the Girls Team also lucked out...She wanted to participate in and lead us in a MIHM project! 

Megan is an accomplished artist, so we asked her to choose the project. We were up for anything! She definitely came prepared. She planned an entire watercolor painting project for the Girls Team, and it was so much fun!  

We didn't have to do anything in preparation for this MIHM. Megan brought all the tools: special watercolor paper (which prevents bleeding), her fancy brush set, and all of the paint. So many pretty colors! 

Since Megan was teaching us how to paint with watercolors, she also found inspiration for our paintings on Etsy. The artist she found paints a variety of trees using watercolor dots. We all thought they were so pretty! It was helpful to have an example to refer to as we started on our projects.

Because we were new to painting and not comfortable free-handing it with real paint, Megan showed my mom and I how to sketch out out tree trunks on paper. I drew mine directly onto the watercolor paper using a pencil; my mom drew hers onto binder paper. Then Megan taught her how to transfer the sketch by pressing down and coloring it with pencil, so the lead transfers on the reverse side of the paper.

Transfer tricks.

Once our tree trunks were sketched out in pencil, it was time to go for it with the paint! Megan taught us how to mix the paint with water in a variety of ways depending on how dark we wanted to color, or the specific "look" or technique we were going for.

Our technique was basically "paint without messing up."

Megan, on the other hand, was totally dominating her watercolor paper. She was using different shading techniques which added a cool 3-D element to her work. She was also multi-tasking, sharing some funny stories from art classes when she was working towards her degree in fine arts.

Never having painted with watercolors, my mom and I were so impressed by how easy it was to mix the paints for lighter or deeper colors. It was fun to experiment with more or less water and see how that changed the image. Megan also taught us the "thirsty brush" technique...if you have too much water on the paper, you can use your brush to suck the water back up, off of the paper. It was a trick that we used more than once! 

We learned two different ways to paint. One, you put water directly onto the paper and then add the paint to it until you get your desired color shade, or two, mix the paint with water on the pallet and apply directly to the paper at one time. We went with the latter option since our skills were still at "noob" level. :) 

After we learned the technique and painted our tree trunks, it was time for the dots. My mom and I used shades of blue paint. This was so relaxing. There was no rush, no right answer and no pressure. Because watercolors kind of have a mind of their own, whatever you paint might expand or shift a bit so you have to let go of expectations and be flexible and open with your work!

Megan decided to get fancy and add some cool yellow dots into her tree!

This project was a great intro to watercolor painting. It was challenging, because it was something new, but it wasn't so hard that we couldn't enjoy ourselves. We spent the afternoon in a calmly painting away and talking for a few hours before taking Megan to the airport.

 

Our finished pieces! 

Having never painted with watercolors before, my mom and I were so impressed. We loved how our trees turned out. It was fun to see how they all turned out so differently, like we each had our own style (even though my mom and I weren't really trying for a "style" so-to-speak). We took about two hours from start to finish with this project, but we were in no rush. I personally loved painting and found it to be very relaxing and enjoyable. I looked into a few watercolor classes through the Parks and Rec department to possibly expand my skills. This is definitely something I'd like to continue!

We were so lucky to have Megan, the artist and expert teacher, to guide us through this MIHM project on a rainy Sunday. The Girls Team would never have even thought to try watercolor painting without her suggesting and teaching us. When I asked Megan what her tips to watercolor painting would be, she said: 1) Let the water do some of the work for you. 2) There is no right/wrong when it comes to painting. And 3) Practice, and you'll learn through experience. She added, "To me, watercolors are simple (compared to oils and acrylics). Quick dry time, easy to clean up, not smelly so you can paint inside. It also makes it easy to start and stop without a big ordeal so you can focus on the fun part."

The Girls Team had a great time spending the day learning a new art form and hanging out with Megan. I am so grateful for her friendship and her amazing talent. This project was so inspirational; you really can try anything once, and who knows, maybe like us with watercolor painting, you'll really love it!