Summer License Plate Game, Final Results

Not too bad! 

It was such a fun distraction that we started a new game, going from Autumn Equinox 2013 through Spring Equinox 2014.

The State License Plate Game: Collect Them All!

"Vermont!" I called out. We were driving down E Street.

"Missed it. I'll drive around the block."

We cruised to the next intersection, then rolled around to the right. Two more right turns and we were back on E Street again, looking for the parked car with the Vermont plates. I pulled out the map and the highlighter.

"Vermont: The Green Mountain State. Got it." And another state got highlighted on the map.
   

Last summer our summer Driving Distraction Game was "Box Car." (Remember "Punch Buggy" or "Slug Bug"?) Each time we saw a Scion XB we'd call "Scion!" and "box" the other person. We decided it was potentially fatal to punch the driver, so we changed that rule to only poking or tapping the other party. This summer we decided to collect sightings of state license plates.

Here are the rules to our Summer Driving Distraction State License Plate Game:

1. Game period is from Summer Solstice (June 20) through Autumn Equinox (Sept. 20). Or thereabouts.

2. Both of us need to be present in the car and see the license plate at the same time.

That's it, although we've begun to take note of handicapped plates and possibly might keep a tally of vanity plates. It could get out of hand.

We keep a map of the U.S. and a highlighter in the car. As we see new state license plates we highlight them on the map. A little less dangerous that hitting the driver, and a lot more exercise for our geography-related gray matter.

Chestnut Wagashi for the New Year

Wagashi is (are?) my new food obsession. (Check out my Pinterest board!) After false starts, failure and years of dreaming, it's time to start making them.This is as close as I'm going to get to a New Year's resolution, but I think that making wagashi at least once a month is a reasonable goal.

I followed this lovely and detailed recipe for basic shiro-an (white bean paste) posted here on the blog of Marjorie Yap's Issoan Tea School blog: http://issoantea.com/?p=1311. (Also here.)

 A little food coloring, chopped chestnuts, some sculpting and shaping and a dusting of cocoa powder resulted in a slightly-oversized confection that was nonetheless delicious.

A bit of a mess at first, and lots of experimenting with food color.
Chopped chestnuts were mixed with shiro-an inside.

Finally, a color that's acceptable! (First results were, um, undesirable.)
Now to shape them up.

Shaping with plastic wrap was sort of like
shaping kinton with chakin, only less messy.

A final dusting with cocoa powder. Ready to eat.