One Good Thing A Day – Project Day 47 – Beautiful Day

Despite the continuing tremors -one of which made my home creak everywhere and my body always being tense, it’s quite a beautiful day out.

To try and relax, I decided to go out and enjoy the day on ground level and see if any food shops have opened today.

There was minimal damage out except for a few cracks on the pedestrian bridge by the river and this:

If you would like to help those who really need help in the Northern area, please check out the Red Cross Site

One Good Thing A Day – Project Day 47 – Please Help Those In Need

We still feel tremors today, though life here is almost back to normal. Unfortunately for those just North of us, they are in total chaos.

If you can help, every little bit counts.

Click here to go to the Red Cross Site

Easy Greeting Card Project – Silhouettes

In an effort to reduce waste and  purchasing new materials for projects, I’ll try to post different project ideas for you to try at home.

I’m sure if you searched your home, you would find a wide range of scrap paper from packages, old newspapers, magazines, flyers, wrapping paper etc…

No matter the size, one of the simplest decorative things you can make is a silhouette.

Silhouettes are basically a cut out shadow of an image. Usually just an outline of something without other details. They can be done with paper, fabric and even painted/colored in.

Here are a few that I drew as examples:

Use them to decorate your greeting cards, make cute gift tags or string them up for adorable mobiles.

One Good Thing A Day – Project Day 46 – Big Earthquake

Today we had one of the biggest earthquakes in Japan. I was quite scared and can’t even begin to explain how unpleasant it is living very high up in a swaying apartment.

After the initial wave, we went outside with many others and hundreds of children wearing their “protective” cone hats that are especially for earthquake days.

and cars lined up for blocks waiting to get on the closed-off highway:

The best thing about today is we were safe and can calm down now.

One Good Thing A Day – Project Day 45 – Old Friend

Got in touch with an old friend from high school…. it’s been quite a while and I’ve missed her so.

I was always so amazed with her work and see that’s she’s only gotten better:

Please check out her site to see for yourself: kristinedo.com

Healthy Chicken Vegetable Soup

When I get a cold, I make this hearty and healthy chicken vegetable soup. It seems to help a lot, because I feel much better after eating a couple of bowls and heal faster. This recipe uses a lot of garlic and ginger, but in the end, these flavours are not overpowering.

Next time you feel less than 100%, try this soup!

Ingredients:

6 chicken wings or legs
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped ginger
1 large potato (cubed)
1 large carrot (cubed)
1-2 leeks (10cm slices)
1 cup Chinese chives (10cm slices)
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 teaspoons salt
2-3 teaspoons pepper
0.5 -1 teaspoon chilli powder
2 cups small pasta (macaroni, conchiglie…)

Fill a pot with 1.5 to 2 litres of water. Add bouillon cube, chicken pieces, garlic, ginger, dried basil, salt, pepper and chili powder.

Boil for 10 minutes.

Add carrots, potatoes, leeks and chives and boil for another 10-15 minutes.

Taste the soup and adjust flavours accordingly.

Serve on its own or with pre-cooked pasta added later on.