Hello my lovely readers!! After never ending hours of traveling and working in Argentina, finally I have time to chime in and say Hola! I am so excited to be in South America and to go to Chile next week =] I wanted to share a recipe for homemade sushi I tried  the week before I left and also let you guys know that I will be having a few guest bloggers while I am away so I hope you like what they have to share. I also have a couple of tutorials lined up and I will be sharing a little about the new look HowJoyful will get next month! I am so excited to reveal a new logo and complete new design. So yeah even tho I am gone this place will be busy!

Ok, so now that you are all updated let´s talk sushi! I do have to warn you guys that this was my very first attempt at homemade sushi, but I totally LOVED it! It’s not just delicious but SO much fun to make.

The roll in the top, was my very first attempt rolling  and cutting, so it was a mess. The one below was my second time and I learned from my mistake because while I cut the roll It pretty much fell apart, so for the next I actually wrapped the roll in plastic too, so it kept the shape when I cut, much better huh?

The sushi I made was kind of a mix between a california and a philadelphia roll, with exessive amouts of avocado (YUM!) OK, maybe not excessive, but with a lot considering the size of the roll =] I think one of the most important things is the sushi rice, it was my very first time making rise that way, it end up being just the way I needed it.

INGREDIENTS

- Avocado in slices
- Cream cheese
- Fresh Salmon in thin slices
- Toasted sesame seeds.
- 4 sheets of nori (toasted seaweed)
- Sushi Rise

UTENSILS

- bamboo mat wrapped in plastic
- sharp knife

PREPARATION

To prepare it I watched the video in the DIY sushi site, they explain how to make California rolls, the video is very easy to follow and event ho my first roll was not very tight (another reason why It was such a a mess when cutting) after the second attempt things got better =]

I hope you all are having a great day!! I am having troubles syncing my laptop with my work iMac, so hopefully today I get to read my emails (I have not been able in a week now)
Miss you all!
XOXO

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Even tho I’ve been hand-sewing ever since my Mom let me grab a needle, my experience with sewing machines was not as early, mainly because my Mom would not let me play with her sewing machine. And even when she allowed me to use it, she didn’t have time to teach me, so I learn by myself just trying to sew simple things. I started fixing clothes first, because they were the items that require less sewing. When I was 14 years old I started up-cycling my own clothes. And a few years after that, I decided to make my own clothes, but I never liked patterns because they seemed too advanced for me, and even now I don’t really like them. So my jump to making clothes from scratch was a little intimidating at first.

I still remember the first time I went to a fabric store all by myself and purchased the fabric I used for this top. I had the idea of what I wanted to make but no clue about how I was going to make it happen. I just went for it, measure myself and drew fast sketch of the minimun measurements I needed to cut. Then I draw the shapes for each piece I was going to use and cut them out of newspaper, I taped them and measure it on me. I always end up making some changes to later on cut the fabric; Even now I am used to cut all my pieces about an inch bigger, just in case I did something wrong. I pinned everything together and try it on me (there is never to many times your try things on) Once I was happy I sew all the pieces. It didi took me ages to sew it and even with all the time I put into it my lines where not very straight, hehe.

That’s the story of my very first top.

I save this top and cherish it, I made it more than 10 years a go and up until 2 years a go it used to still fit me (Oh that extra weight I put on after our wedding =[ ) I have it as a reminder that even when I had no tools, very limited experience and only the excitement about making something, I never let anything discourage me from trying. The sewing lines are far from perfect, the zipper in the back was probably one of the first ones and more horribly sewed and it doesn't really have clean terminations, but I think it's the piece I am most proud of.

It's funny to think that I liked ruffles way back then. I wore this top SO much. and I am happy the fabric is still in very good condition. It was the first time I spent more than $2 a yard. So worth it =]

I really wanted to share this with you all as a reminder that you should never feel discourage to sew (or any other activity) because your piece is not perfect. You should always cherish the fact that you tried, most times it will take more than a few attempts to make it perfect, so just keep trying and you will get there =]

It took me a few years to feel really comfortable sewing clothes, and this simple top is my reminder of how scared and clueless I was, so now I can look back and really be proud of my sewing accomplishments.

If you haven’t saved your first project I would totally recommend you to do it. It’s so rewarding when you look at it and remember the beginning =]

Have any of you saved a project you cherish? what’s your story? I’d love to read!
Have a great day!
XO

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I have to say that besides seeing my family and friends, the next thing I get most excited about going back to my home country is the FOOD! It’s not that I don’t cook Chilean food at our house, but even when you make them with the closest to “the same ingredients” – the originals are just SO GOOD! I only have a week and a half until I go back to Southamerica so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with all of you even tho the pictures do not give credit to the food because they were taken with the small travel camera on our last vacations in Chile and Peru.

Empanadas Chilenas:

This are by far one of my favorites, I actually shared a recipe on how to make them with the ingredient I found in California, and they were pretty good, but when they are cooked on mud ovens it’s just heaven =]

Lomo a lo pobre:

One of my Mom’s specialties, it’s a bed of french fries with grilled onions, Steak and Eggs. It’s such a yummy combination and actually the first meal i cooked for Ken when we started dating, ever since he’s more addicted than me. We just LOVE it!

Porotos granados:

My dear Mother actually froze the beans to make this dish when I visit (because they are a summer veggie) It’s basically a stew of smashed corn with fresh beans (i dont really know the translation for those, but I’ve search everywhere here without any luck, sad-face!)

Lomo saltado:

Even tho this is not a Chilean dish, I had to include it because it’s just amazing. The Peruvian community in Chile is super big so it’s not hard to find in Chile, but the best ones I’ve had were in Peru =] White rise, steak, tomatoes, onions and french fries.

Fresh and delicious sea food:

One of the best things about having such a long sea shore is that in Chile sea-food is amazing. I’ve tried a bunch of places here with fresh sea-food, but I was not very impressed. Nothing like a freshly made ceviche, I am not picky about what kind =]

My Mom’s sunday special:

My mom loves to cook, I think that is where I got my love for it. Sundays are the special lunch days – in most South-American countries lunch is way more important than dinner, and sometimes we just have “tea time” in the afternoon totally skipping dinner. Sea-food, steaks and tons of different salads are the normal Sunday lunch in my house =]

Gigant fruit:

I actually wish we would have taken pictures of us holding the Watermelon and Papayas, because they there probably 25 (if not more) inches tall. Ken was pretty surprised about the size of them and the avocados, Ohhh avocados! cheap and incredibly delicious avocados. You can get about 4 for a dollar and more than 10 artichokes for the same price, insane huh?

Terremotos:

Even tho they are not food, you can call them dessert, white wine with pineapple ice-cream and fernet. One of the most traditional Chilean drinks, perfect for a summer afternoon =]

So there you go some of my favorite food =] has any of you tried them? what you thought about them?
2 more weeks, I can’t wait! And while I am there I have a few projects lined up plus so very awesome guest bloggers, that way the blog will not go into silence, I hope you all are having a great day!
XO

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1- Modern Colorful Mobile by Jeanish at Project Wedding
2- Photo Globe Mobile Tutorial by Emily at Recipe for cute
3- Paint Swatch Chandelier from Rhi at Hey Gorgeous!
4- Fabric bird mobile by Laura at Spool

Have a great weekend!
XO

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