Play Doh Sushi

A couple of years ago, during a trip to Japan, we visited the Tokyu Hands department store in Japan. I love Tokyu Hands. It's a cross between a hardware store, Target, sports store and clothing store. I love the entire floor devoted to stationery and pens.

While we were there, we found an amazing selection of Play Doh molds. At the time, CJ was in preschoool, so we bought some molds for making hamburgers and hotdogs. We also bought a set of molds for making sushi.

The molds sat in CJ's play doh kit until a few weeks ago when CJ's got interested in play doh again. So over the past few weeks, we have been busy making play doh sushi. Check out the results.


The molds are great. We can make salmon, shrimp, salmon roe, rice balls, octopus, etc. We are having a ball making custom colors so that we can make sushi that looks more like the real thing.

The problem is: I don't know where I'm going to put all the finished product. We've let a bunch of our creations harden and they're now on display in our kitchen. But we've made a bunch more than you see in the photo above. Maybe we'll send play doh sushi to the grandparents for Christmas. :-)

Troublemaker Family

The other day, I accused CJ of being a troublemaker. Here's the ensuing conversation:

CJ: Mama, I'm the biggest troublemaker.
Me: Actually, I'm the Chief Troublemaker.
CJ: Why?
Me: Because I make trouble at home and at work.
CJ: Can I be the Assistant Troublemaker?
Me: Sure! (runs over to his dad)

CJ: Daddy, mama is the Chief Troublemaker and I'm the Assistant Troublemaker. Do you want to be part of our troublemaker family?
Daddy: I don't have a choice, do I?
CJ: Yeah

More Funny CJ Expressions

CJ continues to crack us up with the things he's saying. Now he's getting crafty.

After I bought him battery-powered Hiro at Day Out With Thomas
CJ: Mama, can I get battery-powered Victor?
Me: CJ, I just got you battery-powered Hiro
CJ: But mama, can I get battery-powered Victor?
Me: CJ, can you focus on things you have, not things you don't have?
CJ: Mama, I am focusing on what I have, but I'm wondering if I can have battery-powered Victor.

Me: CJ, please turn off the TV in a few minutes.
CJ: Okay, but I want to watch some more.
Me: Okay, but I don't want you watching TV all day.
CJ: But mama, I'm not watching TV all day, just a few hours.

After his first day of school:
Me: CJ, how was school?
CJ: It was the best first day of school ever!

Me: CJ, what's your favorite food?
CJ: Sushi, of course.

While making a new train track layout:
Maki: CJ, I need another curve.
CJ: We don't have any more curves, sadly.

More Funny CJ Expressions

CJ's language skills are exploding. He can pretty much read a Magic Treehouse book on his own and he's learning to sound out words he doesn't know. His verbal skills are very good and sometimes hilarious.

Maki: CJ, please come and brush your teeth without any problems or I'll take away one of your trains.
CJ: Mama, daddy says he'll take away one of my trains. Are you good with that?

Me: CJ, here's your milk.
CJ: Is it 1% milk?
Me: No, it's 2%. (I accidentally gave him lactose-free 2% milk, which he didn't like.)
CJ: But mommy, I don't like the new 2%. I like the old 2%.
Me: Okay, I'll drink the new 2% and give you 1% milk.
CJ: Mommy, how does the cow make different kinds of milk?

Me: CJ, come eat your breakfast.
CJ: Hold on one minute while I finish my track layout.

Me: CJ, can we watch one of your other movies tonight? I love Thomas, but I want to watch something else.
CJ: Okay mama, we can watch your movies during the week and Thomas movies on the weekend.

CJ: What day is it?
Me: It's Thursday.
CJ: I wish it were Sunday.
Me: Why?
CJ: So I could get sausage egg mcmuffin for breakfast.

Percy Really Does Go Backwards!

One evening, CJ told me that 'dcolemanh' (his favorite YouTube creator) made his battery-powered Hank go backwards by putting tin foil between the battery and the connector, where the battery goes is backward.

Now, remember that I'm a liberal arts mommy. Making trains go backwards is not my specialty. But I wanted to try this out with CJ so I dutifully took a tiny piece of tin foil, folded it carefully and put it behind the battery. You guessed it. It didn't work. CJ and I were really disappointed.

That evening, I told Maki about our misadventure and he just looked at me funny. I asked him if putting tin foil would really make the train go backward and his computer science self gave me an "I can't believe you don't know this stuff" look. He took a piece of tin foil, carefully folded it so that it fit neatly into the back contact area. Then he put the battery in backward and explained that by reversing the battery in a DC motor, you CAN make it go backward.

My liberal arts self was dumbfounded when CJ turned on Percy and the train indeed went backwards! CJ squealed in delight and I realized again how lucky CJ is to have a liberal arts mommy and a computer science daddy. :-) I swear, I'm just in awe of what Maki knows.

Coba and the Large Pyramid

We were thinking of visiting Chichen Itza during our trip to Playa del Carmen, but on the scheduled day, it was too hot, CJ was a little whiny, and the drive seemed too daunting. So we decided to visit Coba, a set of ruins about an hour from Playa del Carmen, west of Tulum.

The ruins at Coba are not as extensively restored as those in Tulum or Chichen Itza so there's less to see. Our guide said that 95% of the ruins at Coba have been overtaken by the jungle. What Coba does have is a pyramid that you can still climb, so we were psyched to go!

Given the state of tourism in Mexico, we were not surprised that there were very few visitors at Coba. We had lunch at a lonely restaurant that had decent food. CJ loved the chicken and rice. Check out the photo on the right. Our silver rental car is under the trees. There are a few cars to the right. That was it, no other cars, no tour buses. I felt sorry for the shop owners.

After our visit, I did a bit of shopping at one of the stores. I bargained pretty hard and got two Mayan calendars, a purple ceramic star for the new office, a Mayan face figurine, and a Mayan mask for less than $50. I can't complain and the shopkeeper seemed happy. We both won.

There's not a ton to see in Coba but what you can see is pretty neat. Close to the entrance, you can see temples, plazas, ball courts, and other buildings. Then there is two kilometers of jungle between the entrance and the big pyramid. Our guide asked us if we wanted to walk, rent bikes or take a tricycle. Without missing a beat, CJ said he wanted to walk, so walk we did, in the heat!!! I was really impressed that CJ walked/ran the entire two kilometers and then still had energy to climb the pyramid with Maki.

I attempted the pyramid but I knew my knees could not handle the climb down, so I gave up after about 30 steps. There are 129 steps in the pyramid at Coba. CJ went up and down by himself, with Maki of course. Check out these pictures. I sat and waited for the boys under a tree. After the climb up the pyramid, CJ was ready for a tricycle ride home and a popsicle. He deserved both!

CJ and Maki at the bottom of the pyramid.

Maki and CJ close to the top.

Can you see the boys waving from the top of the pyramid?

Maki and CJ on the way down. CJ didn't need any help!

Our Best Meals in Playa del Carmen

As far as food goes, Mexico is not at the top of our list. I suspect it's because we don't know what we're doing and we were staying at an all-inclusive for part of the trip.

The food at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo was good, not amazing. The buffet had a lot of good options and CJ certainly never went hungry. The trouble is, we're foodies and we go on vacation for the food as much as anything else.

We did have several very good meals. The first was at a Mexican-Japanese sushi fusion restaurant called Sushi-Tlan. Chris, the concierge at the Hacienda was surprised that we wanted to go there, but the sales guy at the Royal Paradise said it's his favorite place in Playa del Carmen. As expected, the place was visited mostly by locals, which was just fine by us.

Okay, so if you're looking for authentic Japanese sushi, Sushi-Tlan is not the place to go. But if you're looking for some interesting rolls, this is a great place. A lot of the rolls are fried, and the menu had an overwhelming number of rolls that featured ACCH (avocado, cucumber, cream cheese). There was even a rice dish with chopped up crab, seaweed sprinkles and cream cheese! We were dubious but it was delicious; even Maki's dad loved it. CJ LOVED the place. He stuffed himself with salmon sushi, tuna sushi, California rolls, and another roll that featured salmon and cream cheese.

We had dinner at a fancy restaurant our second evening in Playa del Carmen. We went to a restaurant in a cave, yes a cave! The restaurant is called Alux (pronounced a-loosh) and it was definitely an experience.

You have to walk down stairs to enter the restaurant because it's a cave. Alux is huge and different sections feature different decor. There was a lounge with white leather couches. There was a section with long tables. There were several bar areas. The food was good, not amazing, but the whole experience was worth it.

Our absolute favorite and best meal during our trip was at a local placed called El Fogon. TripAdvisor reviewers gave it amazing reviews and Maki and I were craving some local food, so off we went. Again, the concierge at the Hacienda raised his eyebrows when we told him we wanted to go to El Fogon, but we were delighted at the food.

We had amazing pork tacos, chorizo tacos, nachos and chorizo quesadillas. El Fogon is not in the touristy 5th Avenue area. It's on Constituyentes. The place is open air, but with a roof, no air conditioning, the waiters don't speak a lot of English, and it's hot in there. Locals and adventurous tourists packed the place. Including beer and mango drinks, 5 people ate for $35. If you go to Playa del Carmen, do not miss El Fogon!