Of course, besides the plant nursery, Ben would love the place where you can buy all sorts of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats! He went by himself the first time (I was prepping for my classes), and he came back with $15 worth of fruits that we had never tried before! We also pretty much ate all the fruit in one sitting. We had rambutan, lychees, custard apple, mangosteen (my fave!), dragon fruit, and water apple. We didn’t venture to try durian (though I did have a durian dessert!). He took me back to the Tiong Bahru wet market a few days later and I loved looking at all the different things they were selling. Totally different from our farmers markets for sure!

It was so humid and steamy that once I took my camera out snap some pictures, my lens was completely covered in fog. That’s why that first picture looks somewhat cloudy, and I had to keep wiping the fog away to take more pictures!

This is my own girl scout troop, but we just don’t wear the brown, blue, or green uniforms, and our troop is more multi-aged. We do engage in outside activities together and are often found doing craft projects at home. Also, we don’t sell girl scout cookies (Ben does not approve of the hydrogenation they still put in those delicious things!).

True story… last spring, a sweet girl scout came knocking at our door with some cookies to sell. I really wanted to support that sweet girl, and I really wanted girl scout cookies. I asked if if I could look at all of them to see their ingredients list, and sure enough they all had hydrogenation (ugh!), and with Ben standing behind me, I said, “What do you think?” He shook his head no. I told that sweet girl that I had to pass because they all had hydrogenation. She probably walked away thinking I was a crazy lady.

Anyway, maybe my troop and I should make our own non-hydrogenated girl scout cookies this week. We’re back home and getting back to routine after last week’s traveling. We have dinner club back on the schedule, our week is already filled up with swim classes and hangouts, and I have lots of emails to catch up on.

I notice my girls True and Soul tend to mimic how I dress. Glow mimics all her older sisters, and Brave beats to her own drum. She picked out this dress because it had red and blue (why? Spider-Man of course!). The girls must be going through a growth spurt; usually, my girls stay the same shoe size for at least a year (sometimes more!), so there’s never a need to switch out shoes that often. In True’s case though, we bought her those checkered vans for her birthday (and they were slightly big then), but now she’s already complaining they’re too tight. Soul’s also jumped up a shoe size in a matter of a couple months. Kids grow so fast, don’t they?!

on me: shirt and denim skirt, thrifted (I just chopped the denim skirt shorter). shoes, gift from BFF (she got them in Korea, but these are similar). on true: floral romper, c/o old navy (I’d totally wear that!). checkered vans, shoebuy. on brave: tank dress and espadrilles, c/o old navy. on soul: crochet top, denim skort, gold sandals, c/o old navy. on glow: floral chambray dress, silver sandals, c/o old navy. hello kitty glasses (on true and brave), ebay.

This post is sponsored by Old Navy. Thank you guys for your continuous support of me, this space, and the brands I partner with. xoxo

Between Singapore, DC, and Williamsburg, we’ve had quite the summer of traveling. We have a couple weeks to settle, and we’re off again for another mini trip for Brave’s birthday request of a hotel birthday.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I can pack for a family of six in one carry-on suitcase. High-five! This made going from shuttle, to taxi, to hotel, to train, to plane, and back again much easier.

Virginia summers make me sweat in places I never knew I could. HA! It was grand though.

I want the chandelier in this room.

I want this funfetti cake asap!

Thankful for my girls who did a really good job walking everywhere all week long. We just brought one small umbrella stroller, and these girls are such troopers.

The Mitsitam Cafe in in the National Museum of the American Indian is bomb dot com. Thank you to a couple of you for suggesting it! If you’re in the area, go there to eat. We wish we had time to eat there a second time and try other dishes.

My feet hurt from all the walking and they will happily live in sneakers and birks to recover for the next few weeks.

Thankful for this space and the random opportunities that come from blogging, and really I’m thankful for all of you who keep peeking in here from time to time.

Love this vintage dress.

Such gorgeous things shared by Bloesem.

We had so much fun on this trip with the girls, but it feels good to be home! I’m behind in commenting back on blog posts, but I will get caught up next week. Enjoy your weekend friends!

My mother-in-law (hi mama!) bought the girls the book Unplugged Play last summer when we were on our family vacation in New Mexico. We all love this book (as you can tell by the worn edges)! It has so many good activities for families to do and things that children can do on their own. My girls are often going through this book and finding project ideas, games to play, and prompts for pretend play. With summer in full swing, the girls have been using this book to guide their play. I think it’s a good resource book for parents to have and give to their kids, so I’m sharing it with you! I love the idea of unplugged play so much. I’m sure us adults can definitely use a book like this, unplugging is good for the soul and families.

While in Singapore, Ben wanted to check out their plant nurseries. Of course, right?! If was far off the beaten path, and not really a tourist thing to do, but it was worth it. Besides the Bloesem team, our friend Abby was our tour guide in Singapore (she goes to grad school in CA, but was home for the summer), so we were really able to get the inside scoop on this special country. She helped us navigate around and took us to the plant nursery.

Ben was in search for a particular citrus tree that is illegal in California, while he didn’t find it in Singapore, we did find a lot of interesting fruit trees we had never heard of before. I was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a lot of the other plants I had never seen before, and I was so wishing that customs would just let me walk right through with all these plants in my arms. I did jot down a few names in hopes of tracking them down here somewhere, so my wish still could come true somehow.

Spicy Tuna on a Crispy Rice Paper Shell
serves four

Ingredients:
1lb. sashimi grade wild tuna, cut into 1/2″ cubes
Rice paper shell (the kind that you use to make spring rolls)
1/4 canola oil
1 white radish, thinly sliced
5 serranos, sliced
1 bunch of cilantro, leaves removed from stem
Wasabi rice crackers, crumbled into bits
Soy sauce (optional)
Wasabi (optional)

For the sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp siracha
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed

For the guacamole:
3 avocados
2 tomatoes, chopped
5 serranos, chopped (adjust amount for your spice tolerance)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
Salt, to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well. Add the cubed tuna pieces, mix together, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

In another medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the guacamole and lightly mash the avocado in. Add salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, add the canola oil, and heat for 5 minutes. Add one rice paper shell at a time into the oil to fry. This cooks rather quickly (about 5-10 seconds on each side), so you will want to watch it. Basically, once it shrivels up and has the crispy look, you will want to remove it. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel. Repeat for your remaining sheets. Usually frying about 10 sheets is sufficient to accompany your tuna. You may need to add a bit more oil to the skillet as you fry your rice paper sheets.

Prepare the additional toppings of sliced serranos, white radish, cilantro, and crumbled wasabi rice crackers, and set aside. When ready to serve, break off some of the rice paper shell, spoon a little bit of the guacamole on top, add some tuna pieces, and top with cilantro, a sliver of white radish, a serrano, and a sprinkle of wasabi rice crackers. If you want to add some soy sauce mixed with wasabi, then drizzle a little on, and take a bite!

Give me sushi and give me spice, and I’m a happy gal. Ben is pretty a happy dude with this meal! Okay, a lot of other things make us really happy, but our stomachs are quite satisfied with this particular dish. We love this dish so much that this is what we chose to have for our ninth anniversary dinner at home last week! We think Ii is absolutely delicious, so if you give it a try, I’d love to hear what you think about it!