shak-shuka

Happy Holidays from Shak-Shuka

Happy Holidays everyone! In case you haven't noticed, we've been playing a bit of hooky, as we all need a chance to unwind, disconnect, and enjoy what matters most: some quality family time. We'll be back in a week, so stay tuned!

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays from the whole Shak-Shuka family

xxx

PS - Congratulations to Michele P for winning last week's Organic Tooth Fairy Pillow giveaway!!!

PPS - those adorable girls in the pic above are NOT ours, but beautiful models of our Bow Tie Tees! Now on SALE!

Sink Your Teeth Into This Giveaway!

 I don't know if you've been following us on Twitter or Facebook, you'll know that we have heaps of new stock coming in all the time. If you don't follow us already, you should! Anyways, enough self-promotion........

One of the delightful new additions to our collection is this adorable Tooth Fairy Pillow made from organic wool and cotton batting, and a handy little pocket in the back. Although my daughter is light years away from losing her first tooth, I am waiting for the day so that I can use this pillow! As a child growing up, we used to put our freshly-fallen tooth in a plastic egg cup near our pillows in hopes that the Tooth Fairy would take our tooth (yuck! poor lady) and in return give us money (talk about a sweet deal!). I don't know if this Tooth Fairy tradition exists outside the US, but you can always start one yourself with this heartbreakingly cute pillow! 

Since it's Freebie Friday, we're giving away a Tooth Fairy Pillow (of your color choice of course) to one lucky winner. All you have to do to win is leave a comment here and we'll chose a winner at random! Giveaway deadline ends Thursday evening 24th December, so hurry! The Tooth Fairy needs to know where to fly off to next!!!

Kids Krafts Made Modern

Since I've been slacking on the crafting for myself, I've been thinking about ways that I can encourage arts and crafts with my daughter. Daunting, scary, maybe a bit foolish, but I really love making things with my hands, even if they look far from Guggenheim-worthy. I am not the best at "free flowing" crafting, so I need a bit of guidance (otherwise my fingers will end up super-glued to something strange....). Luckily I have been hearing about this great kids book from one of my favorite old-school designers, Todd Oldham. Oldham's new book, Kid Made Modern, is making splashes all over, with its new approach to teaching kids the art of craft lovin'. 

Kid Made Modern aims to be one part primer + one part handmade fun. Although I haven't got my paws on the new book (but it's already en route!) yet, I am drooling at the possibility of creating some fun things with my daughter, even if they are a bit beyond her 2 year old reach. Even if you are a bit hesitant about crafting, Kid Made Modern gives us a few teasers by offering up 5 free downloadable patterns to try out. I am super excited to create one of the Handmade Books, just hopefully it's not beyond my reach! Kid Made Modern in the way of the Modern Mini Crafter! 

Guest Chef au Chocolat

If you were attentive (and lucky enough!) to see our recipe blog post from a few week's ago, you got a taste for our guest chef blog posts. What a delight! I get to slack off a bit, and I get to feature a delicious recipe by one of my own favorite chefs - Meilina, my favorite lil'apple from the Big Apple. She dazzled us with a Zucchini Soup recipe, but this time she's turned the tables to the sweet, and I could not be more pleased. It's a perfect match for my new-found-chocolate tooth! Meilina just returned from a rendezvous in Rio, and I'm not sure if they drink this Chocolat Chaud there, but if not, they really should!

Best of all this, chocolate recipe gives us non-dairy-lovers an option, making it that much sweeter in my book. I recommend trying this with a few different types of milks to see what you like the taste of best, and the same goes for the type of chocolate you use. Don't forget to add a touch of sophistication by trying her "adult version" as well!

 Vegan Chocolat Chaud (Hot Chocolate)

 1/2 cup coconut milk

1  cup unsweetened soymilk, nutmilk or ricemilk

4 oz (about 1/2 cup) of dark bittersweet chocolate, finely sliced with a serrated bread knife

In a saucepan, stir together the milk(s). Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the chopped chocolate and bring to a simmer again, whisking until the chocolate is dissolved and the mixture has thickened.

Pour into mugs and enjoy!  If you want to make this "grown up" feel free to add a shot of Baileys to each cup.

Makes 2 servings

If the (Vegan) Shoe Fits...

It's so rare, and such a delightful treat when I stumble upon something that is so beautiful and stylish that it is not just green, but super-d-duper-green! This is the way that I felt when I found olsen Haus shoes, which should be considered wearable works of (eco) art - stunning colors, fabrics, styles - all of this makes for very dangerous for a self-confessed shoe-a-holic! olsen Haus shoes are all purely vegan, making them earth and animal friendly. Even if you're not a vegan, I think you'll admit that these shoes are pretty darn snazzy! olsen Haus prides themselves on being the cutting edge of designer vegan fabrics which minimize their impact on the earth and also without the use of animal skins.

Although many of the styles are a bit out of my lifestyle range (can you imagine me running to the post office in these shoes?!), there are many that I can drool over or play "make believe" in my fantasy world where I am always perfectly coiffed and manicured from head to toe. These boots and/or flats will have to make it into my collection very very soon or I think I'll have a olsen Haus fit!

Get the Party Started (Biodegradably)

Oops. Maybe you've noticed that this past week we've been a bit absent. It's been a bit crazy over here at Casa Shak-Shuka, as we've had family visiting, baby birthday parties - the full shebang. Fun yes, but hectic too - especially now that the holidays are here! So forgive our absence last week and let's start fresh this week!

We celebrated our daughter's birthday a bit early, as her birthday falls at the end of the year when (unfortunately) most of her/our friends are out of the country being with their family. Nothing like getting your party started early! To set the mood in our house for the party, we called in some reserves (mama skipped making the cake and instead hired the professionals to do a Teletubbies cake which is now a permanent fixture in our fridge) and also some traditional elements in the form of organic juices and snacks, and the old-fashioned balloon-blowing-up-brigade! No helium for our party - instead 3 grown adults blowing up balloons 30 minutes before the party during the party-princesses' nap time! Hilarious indeed, and we were pleased with the balloons that we picked out for the event - Fair Trade Dealing's Eco Balloons which are made from latex rubber and 100% biodegradable. I have to admit I haven't blown up a balloon in a while and was surprised how big they got! Eco Balloons are not only eco-friendly in their packaging and contents, but they are sold under fair trade conditions for the workers, and also from FSC approved materials! These balloons made the day much more festive, and even more so knowing that they won't harm the environment like traditional party decorations. (too bad my daughter didn't understand this as she was not a big balloon fan!)

Eco Meets the Mess

Ever since my daughter went from being a cute placid baby to full-throttle toddler, I've tried to find ways to keep her and our house in check. That means only letting her mess up the house once a day (versus 300x) and trying to only do one load of wash during the day due to spills, messes, and accidents. Ah - life with children! Messes are fun (I am a not-so-closeted pigsty maker) but the clean-up is not so much fun. So here we are always on the lookout for cool "preventative" products.....

Here they are! My dreams come true! Aprons for when they want to get super creative in the kitchen or with arts and crafts, placemats for when eating time just can't happen anywhere tidy, and a full-on splashmat that catches what mama-lighting-fast-reflexes can't prevent. Who makes these great products? Mimi the Sardine does, and only using organic cotton (yay!) which is coated with a water-resistant coating that is super safe as it's Oeko-tex certified. All of this makes for very happy parents (non-toxic, organic, easy-to-clean: woohoo!) and happy kids (mess, mess, and more mess: woohoo!). It's very rare that I'm able to fulfill the pragmatic part of me, with the lover of all things cute, and the maternal aspect which wants everything my child uses to be as natural, non-toxic and safe as possible.

And with these three products - placemats, splashmats and aprons, you also have your pick of the litter in three different designs which are so cute you might just have to get a matchy-matchy set for your child or someone little you might know. You've been warned: it's cute and sensible overload!

Recycled Hair Goodies

My hair has entered that odd in-between stage that most women who have had the "pleasure" of growing their hair out. You know what I'm talking about: hair just long enough that it can get pulled back into a ponytail with enough bobby pins to look like an uber-perky gymnast (not a good look on a 30ish yr old woman) but yet short enough that you still think about just whacking it all of again to just get it out of the way. But no - I shall hold strong and grow it out!

To keep my mane in somewhat of a decent shape, I've been engaging in all forms of headware: headbands, barrettes, clips, scarves, bobby pins - the whole lot. I admit some of them have looked better than others, but they're all hiding the same "I just can't wait til it gets long" hair. So imagine my delight when I saw a "tweet" on Twitter that there are now barettes and other hair accessories from recycled plastic! How great! I was beginning to wonder if there was an eco-friendly replacement for an all-too-commonly used item. Thanks to Daily Beauty for finding these Eco barrettes and clips from the Scunci brand which you can find in almost all drugstores in the US. Although they can't be found outside North America yet, they're small enough to have someone bring back for you on their next trip to the US! You can however find Scunci brand in Australia and the UK, so maybe keep your eyes peeled in the hair care aisle next time your perusing at the drugstore!

Booja Booja Choco-holic

I know this is exceptionally cruel to start a Monday post about chocolate, but I have to admit it's become my obsession. Oddly I am not a chocolate person AT ALL (to the horror of most women I know), but as of late I've been dreaming about these decadent (vegan!) bonbons that I had when visiting my dear friend in the UK a few years ago. I always find it funny that most of my strongest memories revolve around scents and foods - I guess they do say that scent is one of your strongest memories - that's comforting, I thought I was beginning to inch closer to becoming more like my dog every day.....

Speaking of our dog, we even named our dog after a famous brand of chocolates - Godiva. Even though she's not chocolatey brown (unless you count when she runs through a pile of "mystery mud") but she does run around naked like the original Lady Godiva (first came the Lady, then the chocolates). So clearly I do have a small weak spot for chocolate, as these chocolate bits of heaven from the UK, named Booja Booja, have been entering my thoughts this holiday season. Booja Booja's chocolate truffles are the epitome of what I think all great dairy-free, organic foods can be: delicious, decadent, and so amazing that people gasp when they hear they're not chock full of butter and cream! My dear friend who introduced me to them bought me the Around Midnight Espresso Truffles and I was in a state of euphoria when I ate them. All. (with a bit of a coffee buzz to boot!)

The truffles come gorgeously packed, so they are perfect for gift giving this time of year, but if you're a scrooge like I am, they'll never make it out of the house to the recipient!! Ah, tis the season for giving.......maybe I'll be able to share at least the name by calling our next dog Booja!

Eco Animal Giveaway

We are so delighted about this Freebie Friday that we'll just cut to the chase: oh goody! A few weeks ago we bragged about how great our new brand Ocechou's products are (as if we could be so lucky to have created such amazingly designed products!) and how pleased we were to be carrying them, and now we are giving our loyal readers a chance to win one of their products! In case you haven't noticed, Ocechou's has a slew of adorable characters that you really must get to know: Shiro the Lion, Pipin the Rabbit, Misti the Cat, Zimbo the Elephant, Lili the Whale, and Okala the Koala. And what better way to get to know them by having one of your very own set of cards with their scrumptious faces printed on eco-friendly FSC approved paper?

All you have to do to win a set of Eco Animal Cards is to sign up for our newsletter here or if you're already a subscriber, simply leave a "ME2" message here below! A winner will be chosen at random Friday, 11th December. Good luck!