Over the last few years, I have seen a lot of recipes for different types of coconut chicken and curried chicken soup.  Many of them require mushrooms, which I am not a big fan of, and fresh ginger which I don't always have on hand.  So, eventually, I came up with my own recipe for Coconut Curry Chicken Soup that is easy to put together and you will probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry and freezer.  
​

There are some nice fresh veggies in this dish, lots of chicken and the curry and coconut flavors compliment each other so nicely, as well as the hint of ginger! It is the perfect soup to comfort you during cold winter months, or even  sort of cool Phoenix days! 
     I love my recipe because it is simple and not to spicy but extremely tasty.  If you are in the mood for something a little spicier and maybe more authentic, there is a good Epicurious recipe here.  But, I think you will love this recipe.   Remember, you can always add more veggies or change them out for something else.  Add mushrooms if you love them!  I was eating a bowlful for lunch and I was thinking a few potato cubes or some rice might be nice in it. I might try that next time I make it. 
​     Enjoy!
​

Here are some other soup posts you may enjoy: 

• ​Pumpkin Sausage Soup-Keto Style
• Renny's Homemade Chicken Soup
• Encebollado
• Tips for Hosting a Fabulous Soup Buffet Party

This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
​

     It has been 1 year since I bought my, what still seems very new to me, car!  At least because of the pandemic, I haven't put as many miles on it as I might have. (Except for that trip to Disneyland in February and the one to Wyoming in May.)  ​When I purchased my car, I was very surprised when all of the "paperwork" for the warranty, etc. was handed to me in the form of a little flash drive!  (I realized then that the digital age had truly invaded my life whether I was comfortable with it or not.)     
​
     The other day, I found that car warranty flash drive in my sock drawer.  I also had a couple of them in my jewelry box that are loaded with pictures. On my kitchen counter I have an SD card that came with my new phone.  Anyway, I realized that I needed a way to store these little things in a way that I would be able to easily find them when I need them and not have them cluttering up various areas of my house. I figured you guys might have this need as well, so I did the research and the work and I have some solutions for you! 

    It is very interesting to me that when I searched on line for ways to store flash drives, I mostly found boxes to hold a single drive or little contraptions to hold 1 flash drive.  That was weird to me.  They are such little things, there had to be a way to store them in a group! Finally on Etsy, I found a few options such as this one that I found in the shop M3is3D.   I haven't gotten permission from them yet to use their picture, so click over to it through that link and you will see this cool device that would be great to have standing on a computer desk to have all of your flash drives or SD cards handy whenever you need them.  

     For my personal use, I thought I would like to be able to put a folder in our filing cabinet that would hold the cards and drives in one place until I need them on occasion.  I decided to craft one with little pockets that my cards and drives could slip into and I could label them to help me remember what is on them.   Here is what I used:

• Manila File Folder.  I just used a plain one, or you could buy a fancy one if you would like.  Mine is only fancy on the inside. 
• Scrap Booking card stock and papers of your choice. 
• Paper cutter
• Roll on adhesive, similar to what I used here. 
• Washi Tape
• cellophane tape
• Ruler

     First, I covered the inside of the folder with a decorative base card stock.  I bordered it with a decorative washi tape.  
     Then, I simply cut pockets in 3 1/4" squares out of card stock. and used the roll on adhesive to stick my decorative paper on them.  I also cut smaller pockets for the SD cards.  I measured how I wanted to arrange them inside the folder and attached them with roll on adhesive and then covered them with the wide cellophane tape to sort of laminate them in place.  Here is how it turned out:
​

     If you would rather keep your drives in a binder on a book shelf, here is one more idea.  

• Get a binder
• Get baseball card sleeves
• Put them together and slip in your SD cards and thumb drives.  Be sure to put a label on the front of the pocket to tell you what is on them or if they are blank! 

Bonus Tip:  I also use these pockets and a binder to hold and organize my grocery coupons! 

    Okay!  There you have it!  3 ways to help you figure out how to store those flash drives and SD card!  Did you even know that you had a need for this?  You're welcome!  Let me know if any of these ideas work for you. 
​

A couple years ago, I showed you how I made this Daniel Tiger birthday cake for my daughter's first birthday. That has been one of our most popular posts, so I thought today I'd show you what I did for her third birthday party! 

She has been adamant for a few months that she wanted an elephant birthday party. So I set about figuring out what one does for an elephant party. I am going to show you the cake I made and give you the recipe for it. I also want to tell you about the games we played.

First, a word on decorations. I went with easy and got grey balloons and plates. I got small clear sparkling cups for drinking.

​Now, on to games!

Creating a twist on the classic pin the tail on the donkey game is always fun and easy to do for a kids birthday party. Since this was an elephant birthday party, of course I had to make a pin the trunk on the elephant! I'll be uploading a copy of this to our subscribers only page this weekend, so you can print it and have a pin the trunk on the elephant game for your own elephant party! So make sure you subscribe to get a copy of it!

Of course, all the rules to this game are the same. This is a picture of her cousin after he pinned his trunk perfectly (we think there may have been some fraud involved). It is a fun game for all ages!

The second game we played was one my MIL came up with. She ran to the store and found a bag of unshelled peanuts (no small feat in December when they aren't in high demand.) She and Emily hid them around her yard. Then when her cousins came over they went on a peanut hunt. All of her cousins at the party were her bigger cousins, so they let the 3 year old birthday girl win. But a hunt is a fun activity when the weather is nice. It'll help the kids work up a nice appetite for the elephant cake you'll eat later!

A few other fun ideas for elephant party activities are making elephant masks for the kids to wear, like these here.

I was pretty happy with how this cake turned out. Drawing is not my forte, everyone else on this blog is much better at it than I am. Fortunately, an elephant head is a pretty simple shape to duplicate! So, if you're like me and think you can't draw well AT ALL (honestly people, my stick figures don't usually turn out right) I am here to tell you, you CAN make this elephant cake! 

You can see from the picture the eyes are a little uneven and the trunk isn't perfect. Guess what, it's your kid's birthday party so, it's okay! Emily loved her elephant cake, and that is what mattered.

I even drew these little elephants on the side. They weren't perfect either, but they still looked like little elephants. I am really happy with the overall look of this cake, and you will be too!

The recipe I'm sharing with you is my go to recipe for chocolate cake. It comes from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. It is such a moist, delicious chocolate cake! It also holds up well for stacking!

There you have it. A simple formula for a fun elephant birthday party.

If you're like me and love spicy food, maybe you add hot sauce to every thing you eat, then you will love celebrating International Hot and Spicy Food Day January 16th. And also if you're like me, the problem arises that not everyone in your family can handle hot and spicy food. For instance my 3 year old doesn't handle it well, nor do my parents. This means I have to get my spicy food some other way.

That's where chili garlic oil comes into play. It's the perfect condiment. You can make a bland meal spicy while allowing others to eat their food unadulterated with heat.

Are you the lone spicy food lover in your home? Will you be trying chili garlic oil? Let us know!