Homemade Won Ton Noodle Soup

Today, I made homemade Won Ton Noodle Soup! Since I was little, I have helped my mom to make this recipe. We used shrimp, ground chicken, and ground pork for the Won Ton filling and folded the dumplings into fun shapes. Apparently, "wonton" means "swallowing a cloud," so the shape the dumplings are often folded into are said to resemble clouds.

ingredients

ground meat mixture with eggs, spices, and sauces combined

some wontons ready to cook!

after folding about 100 wontons

 

They were cooked in chicken broth with some vegetables and noodles, and cha siu (Chinese barbeque pork) was added on top.

soup ready to eat!

close-up of the yummy goodness

I could eat this soup all day long (and I did)! What's your favorite food?

<3 Mandy

Chip Bag Purse

In middle school while in line for registration at the Regional Spelling Bee,  my dad and I were really impressed by the purse of woman in front of us. It was shiny, colorful, and really eye-catching. For some reason, certain parts of her bag looked really familiar - we realized that it had been made out of candy wrappers and chip bags! My dad nudged me and suggested that I figure out how to make one of my own.

We began saving chip bags after eating the chips inside, and sometimes we would pick out certain bags at the supermarket because of the colors and designs we liked, rather than because we liked the flavor of chips (though we ate the chips, too).

A few summers ago, I looked up some instructions online to use to make bags of my own. I used the instructions to figure out the best measurements to cut each wrapper into strips, as well as how to weave the pieces together into bag. The process for making the bag is really similar to making starburst wrapper chains.

Here are a couple bracelets I made using starburst wrappers:

Here are some earrings I also made with starburst wrappers:

For the chip bag purse, I altered some of the instructions based on what worked best for me. So far, I have made 6 purses in different sizes and different themes. One bag is all red (Doritos), another is smaller and has a matte finish (Miss Vicki's) that I gave to my aunt as a gift, one has cool colors (mostly blues and purples), another has bright colors. On my largest purse, the third row down is all silver instead of colorful; I used the reverse side (inside) of the chip bags.

Originally, I also weaved a strap for the first bag I made, but it did not hold very well, so I decided to use my purses at clutches instead of strapped purses. However, I did add a leather strap to my largest purse for added convenience. This is the bag I use whenever I feel like adding a pop of color to my outfits.

I am currently working on two more chip bag projects: a very large bag (with the help of my mom to cut and fold the pieces), and another using only Sun Chips wrappers. I hope the Sun Chips bag doesn't disintegrate after I make it, since the bags are biodegradable!

These bags are a lot of fun to make, and I love seeing the finished products. They are very sturdy and look really nice on the inside. They also make great gifts!

<3 Mandy