life changes

This is a little video we put together for my stepson before he left for army basic training today. While it was not a surprise that he was joining the military, we did not expected to have only 11 days with him between the time time he signed his contract and left. We tried to make the most of our time and squeeze in every little minute with the boy we know before he grows up to a man in the hands of US Army.

There were laughs and tears, plenty of memories revisited, advices, encouragement and reassurance flowing as we prepared ourselves to say good bye. We felt the strength of the love that binds us together, gentle and sweet, but also solid and unbreakable.

He left this morning.

And so it is, life changes on you, no matter what. And as long as love stays intact we can deal with the changes, being able to readjust and readapt. A new chapter is being now written, and my prayer is that God keeps our boy safe and secure in his hands. Godspeed, Matt!

father and son

{this week} in my kitchen

Passion Fruit Mousse Cake

For the cake I used the Lemon Custard Cake recipe from King Arthur Flour, which renders a small batter, perfect for the Maryann cake pan I have, and replaced the lemon custard with passion fruit mousse, a very popular (and easy) Brazilian recipe  that calls for 1 can of condensed milk, 1 can of table cream and 1 can measure of concentrated passion fruit juice, and to make sure it would set firmly I added diluted unflavored gelatin. Served with berries and whipped cream, it was very delicious!

- Table cream is canned light cream, found at most groceries stores on the latino aisle.

awesome recipe sharing

A recipe where art is the main ingredient! Looooove it!

beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

Psalm 119:130

Never-failing guidance can be found at one place: The Word of God.

the chalk trend

I am a sucker for fonts and good calligraphy and that is why I am so highly impressed by the chalk lettering art of Dana Tanamachi. Anyone who has tried to make a good presentation on chalk would appreciate the variety of fonts, the perfect proportions and three dimensional effects utilized on her work. 

Chalk boards are no longer confined to school rooms, from home decorations to party props, labeling and many other things, they seem to be everywhere. They can be versatile and fun as your creativity allows them to be, one ever recycling canvas to create on. Whoever took them out of the teaching realm should be congratulated!