Kid-Friendly Crafts Based on Every State - Progress

I've been working on my goal to design additional kid-friendly crafts to bring the total I have for each of the 50 states to at least 4. At the beginning of April, I needed a minimum of 11 new projects to meet that goal. I'm a lot closer now. 

As you can see, I still need at least one craft each for Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Rhode Island to meet my goal. I'm open to suggestions. 

There are some other states that could use some additional projects. In particular, I'd like to add to Oregon and Idaho, as there isn't a lot of diversity there. Oregon is more than beavers; Idaho is more than monarchs. 

Friendship Bracelets

Look what I found recently - a whole bunch of friendship bracelets!

In my teens and early twenties, I worked as a camp counselor and then as a rec leader. Between those two jobs in the 1980's and 90's, I made a lot of friendship bracelets. This is a very small sampling of what I made. Since the point of friendship bracelets was to give them away, I didn't keep most of my creations. Among those that I did keep, I wore them on my wrist until they disintegrated, or used them for other purposes, including as lanyards to hold a whistle around my neck. 

It's been a good 20-30 years since I've made a friendship bracelet and I would struggle to remember how to make all of the patterns I used to know. Fortunately for the kids (and camp counselors) of today, there are books with lots of friendship bracelet patterns in them (affiliate link here and below). Plus, it's really easy to find videos online to learn. Back in the pre-Internet dark ages, we had to pass that knowledge from counselor to counselor, or figure it out on our own! They even sell friendship bracelet kits now (affiliate link here and below), which come with a handy board for making them. And check out the expansion packs! In my day, we safety pinned embroidery floss (purchased individually at a fabric store) to our pant leg while we worked in order to get the necessary tension. What a difference!

Baketini Cookie Decorating Kit - Tutti Frutti

I really enjoy decorating cookies. I don't do it often, for two reasons: 1) Baking shaped cookies and making multiple colors of royal icing is quite time consuming, and that's before you get to the decorating part; and 2) If I bake cookies, I eat cookies. I'm looking to lose weight not gain it, so I limit how often I make cookies. 

Following my recent surgery, Steve ordered a cookie decorating kit for me. It was the perfect activity to do during recovery. Since everything came in the kit, all I had to do was open it and jump in with decorating. Check out what I made! 

Sadly, my previous go-to place for cookie decorating kits, Color My Cookie, is no longer in business. This kit came from Baketini, which is sold on Etsy. It included: 8 cookies, sealed in plastic and placed in bubble wrap bags; 4 colors of royal icing; 3 bags of sprinkles; and instructions.  

I was very disappointed to see that two of the cookies broke in transit. I don't know if I was just unlucky in the way my box was handled, or if it's a common problem. It wasn't that big of a deal for me, but if I'd been intending to use the kit for a group of 8 kids, it would have been a problem. Nobody wants a broken cookie. 

Fortunately, it's easy to glue cookies back together with royal icing. That's the first thing I did before decorating my cookies. You'd have to look really carefully at the finished cookies to know which ones were broken (the pineapple and the lower pair of cherries). 

Neither the kit nor the listing showed what the finished cookies were supposed to look like, so I had to wing it. In particular, I wasn't sure where to use the colorful sprinkles. I picked out the yellow ones to use on the slice (which I decided must be a lemon), then put the rest on what might have been a peach or a lemon or a lime. Probably a lemon, but I don't know.  

So how did the cookies taste? Fantastic! Steve and Trevor helped me eat them and all three of us gave them an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I can definitely see ordering from Baketini again! 

Rhode Island Gift Bag

Rhode Island may be the smallest of the 50 states, but it is packed with interesting things to do and places to visit. It has a rich history and is home to quite a few iconic dishes. I have a friend from Rhode Island and I thought it would be fun to put together a gift bag featuring some favorites foods and novelties from The Ocean State. Affiliate links below. 

Rhode Island Gift Bag

Materials:

• white gift bag
• printout of Rhode Island state flag
• scissors
• yellow cardstock
• star punch
• craft glue
• blue tissue paper

Steps: 

Cut out the anchor and HOPE banner and glue them to the center of the white bag. Punch out 13 yellow stars and position them equally around the anchor and banner to form a circle. Glue them in place. 

Fill the gift bag with Rhode Island goodies. Here are some ideas: 

• Del's Lemonade mix - so refreshing and totally iconic!
• Autocrat Coffee Syrup - few things are more Rhode Island than coffee milk
• Krispee batter - perfect for clam cakes (yuck) and fritters (yum!)
• Rhode Island Clam Chowder - not white (New England) and not red (Manhattan) - it's clear!
• Extraordinary Recipes from the Ocean State - if your recipient loves to cook
• Rhode Island apron - a great gift for any Rhode Islander
• Rhode Island kitchen towel - so cute!

Universal Yums: The Baltics and Thailand

I'm back to blogging! The 2.5 week break I took preparing for, and recovering from, breast cancer surgery is the longest gap I've had in daily posts since I started blogging in 2011. I'm happy to report that the surgery went very well and I'm feeling good. I'm waiting on next steps... my post-op is tomorrow, then I wait for an appointment with the oncologist to find out what treatment comes next. You can follow my cancer journey on CaringBridge. I don't know how frequently I'll be blogging, but I'll do what I can. 

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After enjoying the goodies in our snack boxes from France and Ukraine, we were excited to get the next boxes in our Universal Yums subscription. The April box was all about the Baltics: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. As usual, in addition snacks, the box held an informational card, booklet and sticker set. 

As always, I really enjoyed learning more about these interesting countries. Did you know that public transit is free in Estonia? Nice! Or that it's illegal to wear a seatbelt on a certain18-mile road in Estonia? It's because the road is made of ice and if it gives way (!) you need to be able to evacuate the vehicle quickly. No thank you! I learned about the importance of rye in the Baltics, as well as the prevalence of mushrooms in their cuisine. There is a recipe for the Estonian comfort food, Hakklihakaste (a creamy meat gravy served over potatoes), that I would like to try. 

So how were the Baltic treats? Pretty good! You can't go wrong with chocolate. Both were tasty, but I loved how unique the one filled with apple puree was. The black currant and cola candies were each delicious. I don't really like mushrooms, but the Creamy Mushroom Long Chips were great! It's strange (and fun) to eat a crispy chip that tastes like soup.  

The May box features foods from Thailand. 

Here are some fun things I learned from the booklet. There are 13 words in Thai for different types of smiles. The New Year is celebrated with a massive water gun fight, intended to "wash off" any misfortune from the previous year. Thailand, a country that hasn't had a single flake of snowfall since 2005, has a 3-year winning streak in the International Snow Sculpture Competition. 

On to the food! I LOVED the cocoa-dusted coconut chips. I will be getting more of those for sure. The gummy strings were pretty good. The coconut corn rolls and the matcha creme biscuits were fine, but I absolutely loathed the BBQ flavored seaweed. I dared the tiniest taste of the Devil chips - ack! 

The next Universal Yums box (affiliate link) has arrived but I wanted to write this post before opening it. I can't wait to see what's inside!

Top Chef - The Good Land, Featuring Indigenous Restaurants

The deRosiers are big fans of Top Chef. We've watched all the seasons and love seeing the chefs whip up delicious looking food under time and budget pressures. We get fully into the roles of armchair quarterback, calling it out when someone is playing it too safe, debating the severity of the sins of a dish (Is under-seasoned food worse than food that eats dry?), and declaring the doom of whoever dares to make risotto. We've followed the careers of some of the contestants and have even visited some of their restaurants specifically because we've seen them on Top Chef. 

Top Chef 21 is in Wisconsin, a state we visited two years ago. As we've been watching this season, it's been great fun seeing places we visited pop up on the show. One of the coolest things about visiting all 50 states is that we are constantly recognizing locations we've been in movies and on TV. Top Chef has featured local dishes we tried in Wisconsin and have made me want to visit some places we missed during our visit. 

Today I want to talk about Season 21 Episode 9, The Good Land. This episode features Indigenous chefs and guest judges Sean Sherman and Elean Terry. The two prepared a feast for the contestants featuring the dishes of their people, made exclusively with native plants and animals. At one point, the contestants are asked how many of them have eaten in an Indigenous restaurant. The answer: none.

This both shocked and saddened me. Pretty much every town in the US has Chinese, Mexican, and Italian restaurants at the very least (and increasingly, restaurants from many other cuisines around the world), but few feature Indigenous cuisine. The US is a land of immigrants (I'm on Team Salad Bowl vs Team Melting Pot) and we embrace food from around the world, which is awesome, but I wish Indigenous cooking were more beloved. The cuisine features local ingredients, prepared simply... people should be clamoring to eat that food. 

We've eaten at four outstanding Indigenous restaurants across the country, including Sean Sherman's. They are well worth the visit - each of these places was a highlight from its trip!

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4 of the Best Indigenous Restaurants in the US

Thirty Nine

I would eat here again and again. The modern indigenous cuisine at Thirty Nine was absolutely delicious. There were a lot more things we wanted to try than the three of us could eat!

Owamni

Owamni is pricy and, at least when we visited, it was very difficult to get reservations. But it's so worth it. This is a meal I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Indian Pueblo Kitchen

Do not miss Indian Pueblo Kitchen. This was the first Native restaurant we visited as part of our 50 state adventure and it is what prompted me to look for them during our future travels. 

Aaimpa' Café

If you're looking for Indigenous food that is affordable in a super casual atmosphere, Aaimpa' Cafe is perfect. Good food, made with love and pride. Come hungry - the portions are generous! 

I have a short list of recommendations for other Indigenous restaurants to try out, including one that's an easy drive away. If you've eaten at a great Indigenous restaurant, let me know in the comments. I'd love to add it to my list. 

Salt Dough States

When I made the state flag heart magnets, I saved some of the salt dough to make another state-themed project. I just finished painting them and I'm really happy with how they turned out. 

Here's Missouri and Nevada. I was planning to paint them with their respective state colors, but Missouri doesn't have state colors. So instead, I used the red, white, and blue of the Missouri state flag, then added a silver Gateway Arch. For Nevada (the Silver State), I did use the state colors of blue and silver. 

  

Neither Connecticut nor Iowa has state colors, so I used their flags as inspiration for the background colors. I replaced Connecticut's grape-themed Coat of Arms and Iowa's bird-and-banner with hearts.

  

For Pennsylvania and Georgia (no state colors for either) I took inspiration from their nicknames. For the Keystone State, I used the blue background of their flag, then replaced Pennsylvania's overly complicated seal with a keystone. For the Peach State, I ignored the flag altogether and painted an ombre peach background, then drew a peach.  

  

Now that I've shown you what I did, it's time to tell you how I did it! Affiliate links below. 

Salt Dough States

Materials:

• salt dough
• Silpat
• rolling pin
• printed outline of state(s), cut with scissors
• sharp knife
• Folk Art paint
• Apple Barrel paint pens
• silver Sharpie

Steps:

Roll out the salt dough a Silpat so that it is 1/4-1/2" thick. Place the cut-out state shapes onto the dough. 

Use a sharp knife to carefully cut around the edges of the states. 

Remove the paper templates. Do not try to move the cut-out shapes. You can dry them in a low oven by simply putting the Silpat on a baking sheet, but I just air-dried mine for four days. If you choose to air-dry, let them sit on the Silpat for a day without moving them until they are crusted over and pale. The following day, carefully flip them over. After another day, when the second side is crusted and pale, remove the Silpat and let the states dry completely on a cooling rack for two days. Obviously, drying time will vary significantly depending on your temperature and humidity. Make sure they are completely dry before you paint them. 

I started by painting the backgrounds for each state. When those were dry, I used the silver Sharpie and the paint pens to add the details. 

So what do you do with these? I see a lot of possibilities. If you poke a hole in them before the salt dough is dry, you can turn them into keychains. If you press an ornament hanger into them immediately after flipping them on Day 2, you can hang these on the tree. You could add a magnet to the back to put it on the fridge, or you could even use a Sharpie to write the name and capital city on the back and use them like flash cards. Lots of possibilities!