Knitting Zeal

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

 
 

While my weekend plans of cookie baking and wine drinking with the girlfriends was canceled, I certainly had my share of fun staying home with Andrew and Chris during the "storm of the century!"  It snowed all day yesterday and probably into the night.  I don't know how much snow we received, but I'm guessing it was somewhere between 18 and 22 inches.  We took Andrew out in it last night to play.  He refused to wear a hat or mittens, again, but I managed to get him into snow pants and a parka with a hood.  After a few minutes in the snow he begged for the "mommy mittens" that I knit him, so thankfully he figured out on his own that he needed them!  It was really cold out!  The snow is so light and dry, not good packing snow at all, so no snowman to build here.  I couldn't even make a good snowball to throw at Chris.  Of course today will be dig out/clean up day, but thankfully the snowblower should to most of the work.  

 
 

Andrew  managed to squeeze in his last swim lesson of the session at the Y with daddy in the morning before the weather became treacherous and the Y was still open.  Apparently Chris was the only adventurous dad because Andrew was the only kid in the class.  At least he got to have some fun and burn some energy before being cooped up all day.  

Once Andrew was home, I set up a cookie decorating station for us in the kitchen.  I had spent Friday night making cut out sugar cookies.  I made a thick glaze icing out of 2 cups of powdered sugar, two teaspoons of meringue powder and some water to make a cookie "paint" for Andrew to use.  I gave him a small bowl of paint with a pastry brush and showed him how to paint the cookies and then stick the decorations on the paint.  We started with four separate bowls of sprinkles-snowflakes, candy canes, gingerbread men, and stars, but by the end every cookie had a jumble of sprinkles.  He had fun and did a great job.  About a third of the sprinkles ended up in his belly and only a few cookies, so we have plenty to share with family and friends!

   
 
 

angelic?

  Caught in a moment of looking sweet and innocent...if only for three seconds.  He managed to trash the first floor of our house today in less than 15 minutes before declaring that it was a mess.  (boots and candles were everywhere--all the toys remained in their boxes, though!)

I've been busy baking cookies.  So far I've made cranberry pistachio biscotti (a bit dry, might have to re-bake a batch) and chocolate mint cookies that came out terrific.  I have sugar cookie dough and chocolate crinkle dough in the fridge for the weekend.  I was supposed to go to a friend's house on Saturday for an afternoon of cookie baking and wine drinking, but there is a snow storm headed our way so I may have to bake here instead.  

Off to wrap more presents while the munchkin naps! 

 

Trying out new recipes to appeal to a toddler

One of the things I enjoy most about the fall and winter is baking.  With it being cold out I have the perfect excuse to heat up my house with the oven.  I tend to make the same baked goods each year, but this year I've been trying to find some new recipes to try.  This week I tried out a recipe for orange-cranberry bread.  This was a hit!  I would love to make this again to give as gifts in mini loaf pans, assuming I find the time and energy to bake at the last minute once December gets rolling!  I found it on the Joy of Baking site, which is one of my favorite baking websites.  I've made a number of recipes listed on this site and each one has been great.  I think I may try the shortbread cookie recipe soon too. 

I also made a healthy version (ok, healthier maybe) of mac and cheese this week.  I've been using the Sneaky Chef cookbook to explore new foods that will appeal to the three of us, toddler included.  The recipes all included adding veggie purees to them to increase the nutritional content.  For the mac and cheese I made a blend of raw squash, steamed cauliflower, and a bit of lemon juice.  Honestly, the smell of the cauliflower was horrid, but once the puree was in the cheese sauce, I couldn't taste it.  I also used whole wheat elbow macaroni and cut the butter down to two tablespoons.  I used no cream, either, to cut out more fat.  I think the biggest taste difference was the lack of butter, but it was still good.  Andrew enjoyed it, which is what counts!  He continues to not like eating most meats/poultry, so I am on a search for vegetarian dishes that will give him protein.  He actually ate turkey chili this week, but only as long as I called it red beans.  He helped pick out the beans from the grocery store and kept talking about them, so maybe that is why he wanted to eat them.  

Last week, also from the Sneaky Chef, I made peanut butter and jelly muffins that had a sweet potato and carrot puree in them.  They were great.  I have added that orange puree into meatloaf and meatballs and it barely affected the taste.  Andrew will eat ground turkey in the form of burgers, loaf or meatballs usually.  I tried to get him to eat some of my veggie burger yesterday, but he knew the difference and wouldn't go for it.  

Happy Friday!

Omar the bellydancer

Moroccan Belly dancer from Diane S on Vimeo.

Last weekend I went out one night with a small group of mommy-friends for a night of laughs, good food, and good wine.  We went to a local Moroccan restaurant that features belly dancers along with an eight course meal.  The food was amazing and the company was even better!  I even danced with the belly dancer, but thankfully no one took a photo of that!  I tried to record Omar, the male dancer, but the lighting was just too dark for my camera's video setting.  The video above is all I could get, so you can sort of see how seductive his dance was.  He had more make up on than all of us together and he was quite good with those finger cymbals!  Such fun!

 
 
The bastilla dish is one of my favorites: a light pastry filled with a chicken, egg and almond mixture and topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon.  It only look this pretty momentarily until we dug into it.  The fun thing about this place is that you eat with your hands, so you better like with whom you are sharing your food!  The hummus was delicious and so fresh. I also had an amazing lamb dish with honey and almonds.  I'd love to learn to cook some Moroccan dishes and need to do a bit of research on some recipes. 

Chocolate for Breakfast

On Saturday, my foodie friend and I went on our annual trek into Center City Philadelphia via train to indulge in a few kid-free hours of adult conversation and food.  In years past we went to the Naked Chocolate Cafe, which is amazing on it's own.  This year we tried somewhere new, Max Brenner, a new restaurant that opened in the city on July 1st.  I had read about it in the newspaper and had to try it.  Max Brenner is all about chocolate as a culture, a love.  The menu was outrageous and there were too many things we wanted to try.  We went for brunch, but instead of ordering from the brunch menu, we ordered from the dessert menu, which is available all day.  I had the banana split waffles, which were two waffles covered in bananas and chocolate with a small side of berries, a teeny tiny scool of vanilla ice cream and a tiny beaker of melted chocolate liquid goodness.  The waffles weren't amazing, but the entire dish was.  Hard to explain, but I think they need to tweak the waffle recipe a bit.  I definitely enjoyed every bite.  The chocolate sauce was great, but hard to dispense out of the little glass beaker.  I think it would be a fun restuarant to take Andrew and Chris too in a few years when Andrew is a bit older.  I hope it lasts that long--there were hardly any other diners there for Saturday morning. 

 I was a dork and took a photo of our food.  I really liked how everything was plated.

After brunch, we wandered around town to a few of our favorite shops, including a huge Williams-Sonoma in the Bellevue and Lush.  I had to stock up on a few more from Lush for my de-stressing baths!  We then headed over to the Comcast Center to check it out.  It is such a beautiful building--and too tall to properly photograph.  There we enjoyed a food and wine festival and sampled some amazing cheese, desserts and shared a late lunch from DiBruno Bros.  It was a great day and we enjoyed amazing weather. 

 

Happy Lulu

Andrew spent the weekend wishing us a happy lulu and we haven't yet figured out what it means.  I have a feeling we'll never know, but it certainly was cute to see him wish everyone that came over to visit a happy lulu.

Saturday we had the first annual BBQ for July 4th.  It was the best party we ever had considering the weather couldn't have been more perfect--great temperature with a light breeze.  All six kids, Andrew plus his five cousins, spent the afternoon playing outside.  They built a big sandcastle in his sandbox, went swimming, and just ran around. 

 

Later on Andrew practiced blowing bubbles, although I have a feeling he ingested more than he created.

Summertime fun!

I made two desserts for the bbq--a crunchy topped apple pie and blueberry crisp.  I've made the apple pie before, many times, so I knew that would be good.  The crisp recipe was a new one to me and it was amazing!  Served with a bit of ice cream or whipped cream, it was great.  It was gobbled up before I had a chance to take a photo, so I'll just have to make it again.  I found the recipe online after googling "blueberry crisp."  I read through many recipes, but this one from Martha Stewart sounded good to me.  Definitely a keeper.

Play date for the mommies and the kids

Andrew had his friend over today for a play date.  It happens that his mom came for a play date with me too! The boys had a great time playing and Andrew impressed me with his generosity in sharing his toys.  They played until they were exhausted and Andrew took a nice afternoon nap.

For the lunch part of the play date I made a great pasta dish for the moms.  A friend had given me the recipe, but I ended up altering it a bit to fit with the ingredients I had on hand. 

Brie and Tomato Pasta

1 cup grape tomatoes halved

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup of pesto sauce

1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper, or to taste

1/2 pound of brie (or a nice sized wedge) without rind, cubed

1/2 cup olive oil

8 oz Ancient Harvest Quinoa Spaghetti (available at whole foods)

Assemble all ingredients, except pasta, in a large bowl and combine.  Let sit out for an hour or so.  Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.  Combine cooked pasta with tomato/cheese topping and toss.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

The original recipe calls for half a cup of basil leaves instead of the pesto, but my basil plants had been attacked by bugs with all the rain we've had and I forgot to buy some at the market.  I actually liked the pesto instead.  I did not actually measure all the ingredients, but these are my best estimates to the quantity.  The original recipe also calls for linguine, but I really like the Quinoa pasta, although it would be good with a whole wheat pasta too. This was an easy meal to make and it was enjoyed!  We had brownies for dessert to conquer all that garlic flavor! 

We are having a family bbq on Saturday.  Fifteen people for dinner, including 6 kids all 6 years or under.  It should be lots of fun.  So far the weather forecast is looking good, so I am happy!  I am planning to make an apple pie and blueberry crisp for dessert.

I received my belated birthday gift this week--a new dslr camera.  I am still learning to use it.  Of course I forgot about it today and didn't take any photos of anything!  Andrew has enjoyed being my test subject and even says "more cheese mommy" when he wants me to take more photos of him.  I'll post photos soon, really!

Friday favorites, or wow, this crazy busy week is almost done.

This first week of summer has been a whirlwind of activity.  I haven't had time to post, but I keep thinking about what I want to share.  Here is my week's wrap-up:

• Father's day was filled with fun.  We had breakfast at a local restaurant where dads ate free.  Andrew enjoyed a mouse shaped pancake.  I grilled dinner and we had a nice dinner at home.  I forget why we didn't eat outside...maybe because the weather continues to be annoying here.  We had chicken marinated in Chiavetta's bbq, tomato salad with toasted French bread, and pasta with pesto. 

 

• Monday started our summer music class schedule.  We are in with a new teacher who I really like.  The songs for the summer are great and the class is small, which is less overwhelming for Andrew.
• We had a super fun play date on Tuesday.  The mommies ate baked brie and brownie pudding while the kiddos played.  Andrew loves new toys.  Of course he rarely plays with the toys here.  Currently he is playing with a receipt.  Seriously.
• Wednesday was Pop day and Andrew continues to ask where he is.  (at his house? he asks.)
• Thursday we had another play date.  Andrew's girlfriend and baby sister came for lunch and fun.  They had a great time together.  It's all fun and games until nap time, though!  After nap, I took Andrew to get his second haircut.  As much as I adore his blonde curls, it was getting unruly and it is summer.  We went to Wiggle Worms, a kids place nearby.  The hairdresser was great, considering Andrew was bashful and buried his head into me.  He didn't want to sit in the car shaped chair, so he sat on my lap.  He got a #4 clipper cut in the back and she shaped the top and sides with her magic scissors.  It is short, but very cute. Before After
• Then, I found out Michael Jackson died and I immediately called my mom.  How sad and crazy his life was.  Back in 1984 my mom took my sister and I to his concert at JFK stadium (which no longer stands!) in Philadelphia.  The show was rained out.  We stood in the rain and waited to hear what was happening.  They rescheduled the concert and we got to go back and see it.  I don't remember it all that much, but somewhere I have the concert program, maybe in the attic.  I loved his music in the 80s, but as he got weirder, I couldn't stand to see or hear him anymore.  The news coverage is impressive...and thankfully there is less Jon/Kate news as a result. 
• Today we visited my sister and her kids for a play date.  Andrew adores his oldest cousin and cried out her name as we drove home because he missed her.  He had lots of fun playing with new toys.  We got home and watched Sesame Street because we were tired and it is really humid outside! 

• I did finish the baby blanket I was working on for Andrew last weekend.  I made him the pinwheel blanket using yarn I bought when I was in France five years ago.  I like how it turned out and am waiting for personalized labels that I ordered from an Etsy shop to add to it.  Andrew loves the "taggies" on his bas (blankets) so he needs a tag on this one.  Here he is dancing around it.

 

TGIF!

Pineapple Express

Ever since we returned from our Hawaiian honeymoon ten plus years ago, I have craved fresh pineapple.  I have yet to buy a pineapple that even came close to how good the ones we enjoyed in Hawaii were, but the pineapples imported here are pretty good.  Cutting them up is usually a problem--I always end up butchering them and the slices never look pretty.  I often splurge and buy it already cut up, but that is costly.  However, now I own my very own pineapple corer/slicer!  My good friend Sherry gifted me this for my birthday and I love it!  It is so easy and fun to use and the pineapple comes out in a perfect spiral.  The juice stays inside the pineapple base and I was able to add it to my morning OJ.

 

The base of the pineapple can even be used as a giant cup for a tropical drink, or to serve a fruit salad.  Thanks Sherry!!

Andrew and I attended a graduation party yesterday afternoon for the "little" boy who I was a nanny for when I was in graduate school.  He is now 18 and a High School graduate!  Where did that time go?  He is working at a fancy schmancy French restaurantin NYC this summer, a place that I barely understand the items on the menu, let alone could afford to eat!  He is then going to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in the fall to become a chef.  I am so excited for him!  He's always wanted to be a chef.  I am hoping that I get a chance to return to Rhinebeck for the sheep and wool festival in the next three years so that I can make a pit stop at the CIA to dine at one of their restaurants when he is working there. 

On our way home from the party, I took the "scenic" route home, through Philadelphia.  We started near Society Hill, went through part of South Philly, Center City, North Philly, and finally hit the city line and entered suburbia.  It was the beginning of rush hour, so no matter what route I took I would have hit bad traffic.  Andrew was a trooper and was great on the ride, enjoying pointing out the buses and cars we saw.  I took a few photos of our trip through the city.

 Mural somewhere near South Philly.  I think I was at Broad and Lombard.

City Hall

Philly's finest at work!  The taxi did an illegal u-turn and almost hit me trying to get in front of me.  I was waiting at a red light and could not move anywhere.  While I was sitting there thinking bad thoughts about the idiot driver, this bike cop showed up and confronted the taxi driver.  Yay! 

gourmet toddler

I have always been focused upon my toddler eating healthy foods and developing a taste for a variety of foods.  As he goes through his various toddler moods and stages, he starts eating a few new foods, but stops eating others.  For a long time he'd eat almost anything I'd give him, but now he is much more particular.  He would be quite happy if he could only eat dairy, specifically milk and cheese, and fruit.  While he used to gobble up veggies at almost every meal, now he turns his nose at them.  He also decided he no longer likes meat or chicken or fish.  He certainly looks healthy and his pediatrician is not concerned, but I do find it frustrating.  A friend recommended the Toddler Cafe cookbook.  It has so many great kid friendly recipes using yummy foods.  I also just discovered the author, Jennifer Carden, has a blog too! 

So far I've made three recipes from the book.  The first I tried was a pea pod pop, something that Andrew tried at my friend's house and liked.  They are popsicles that are made from a combination of cream cheese, pureed petit peas, peppermint extract, chocolate chips, and a bit of sugar.  A weird combination, but they taste like frozen chocolate chip mint yogurt to me.  Andrew never had a popsicle before, but he has been enjoying these.  I used lollipop sticks for them and a square shaped ice cube tray to freeze them.  They are a hit! 

I also made lily pad pancakes, which are a combination of pureed petit peas with some flour and baking powder to make a pancake batter.  They are VERY green.  When they were fresh made and hot, Andrew seemed to like them, but he hasn't liked them reheated.  I tasted them and thought they were a bit odd, but not bad tasting. 

In my attempt to get Andrew eating some chicken, I made the chicken tenders recipe in this book.  They involve lemon, panko bread crumbs and some parm cheese.  I thought they were delicious!  Andrew wouldn't even try them.  Since his tastes changes every other week, I think I'll pull out this recipe again in a month to try again.  Overall, I am very excited by this book and have tagged many recipes to try throughout the summer.  Next up is baked tofu...another protein attempt!

I can't really complain about his diet.  For lunch he ate half of a toasted cheese sandwich on multi-grain wheat bread, slices of strawberries, and an entire kiwi.  Then he fell asleep!  He is a funny little guy!

Happy Thursday!