Quote of the Week

Saw this on another blog and think it's a pretty great motto.  

Going to try and subscribe to this wholeheartedly.  Who's with me?  

via/strawberryswingandotherthings

Announcing Your Move

As you know, I'm ever a believer in the art of old-fashioned correspondence, though I refuse to use the term "snail mail."  I love the act of walking to the mailbox, sifting through the contents, and discovering an invitation, a birth announcement, or best of all, a handwritten note from a friend.

As such, you know I did my research when it came to forwarding our new address to family and friends.  "We've Moved!" cards are so much cuter than they used to be?  Here are a few of my favorites over at Tiny Prints.

 

If you're not in the market for cards to send out, here's an alternative, return address labels that announce your relocation, while providing said recipient with your new address.  Brilliant!

Love these!

~ Labels ℅ Tiny Prints ~

images/tinyprints

Meal Planning 101

I'm on a meal planning kick, and I want to keep the momentum going!  After investing in this handy dandy little kickstarter cookbook (worth every penny), researching meal planning, finding templates that work for our family, implementing said system, and spending Sunday nights mapping out the week - our meal planning adventure is off and running!

Some of our tips and tricks:

+ Prior to kicking off our meal planning, I spent a few weeks bookmarking our favorite (easy) weeknight dinners.  I perused my favorite cookbooks that had been collecting dust, pinned my favorite recipes on Pinterest, and saved all the links in a google drive spreadsheet, categorizing them by their main ingredient; i.e. fish, pork, veggie, etc.

+ On Sunday mornings/afternoons, my husband and I plan out of meals for the coming week.  We take into account nights out (i.e. curriculum night for me, dinner out with the boys for him, etc.).  We take into account everything: not only dinners, lunches, breakfast, snacks, and food for our baby, and create our portions accordingly to add to our shopping list.  This also helps us stick to our budget as we're not making multiple trips to the store for ingredients throughout the week.

+ We plan for certain foods.  For example, fish goes earlier in the week, as it doesn't have as long a shelf life in the fridge.  Apply this wisdom to other finicky ingredients that may not hold up 5+ days without wilting to the point of inedible.  If we for some reason need to do fish on a Friday, we add a note that this requires a separate trip to the grocery store to pick up said ingredient.

+ Before we make the shopping list, we scour the pantry to ensure we don't buy duplicates of any ingredients.  No one needs 2 more cans of chicken broth when we already have 6 chilling on the shelf.  

+ Take turns.  We alternate who does the cooking.  My husband prefers to grill over bake.  I prefer to bake and saute over grill.  We trade off, we share the load.  It works.

+ Make and plan enough for leftovers.  This ensures lunch is taken care of for our work day, one less meal to plan lightens the stress significantly.  

So now that I've wet your appetite, I'd love to hear - what are your favorite weeknight recipes?  Or "go-to" recipes.  As two full time working parents, we want to provide the staple of a consistent weeknight dinner for our daughter as she grows up, but we recognize we're not Julia Child, nor will we ever be whipping up coq au vin Monday nights like it ain't no thang.   

So...tell me.  What are your favorite weeknight recipes?

image/bloom

Fall is Here

School is back in full swing,  fall has descended upon us, and we're settling into our new house (did I mention we bought a NEW house?!?!).  Life is pretty great around these parts.  

+ Reading this for my book club that just had a revival after a 2-year hiatus, hooray!

+ Appreciating this book for future weeknight dinners

+ Looking forward to the premiere of this show in my queue

+ Rocking out to this new catchy song

+ Eyeballing these fall inspired cookies

+ My kind of rush hour in the Netherlands

+ Want to try this recipe to put an invigorating spin on breakfast

+ More parenting books to add to my nightstand

+ Why every parent should read Harry Potter to their kids

+ The coolest nanny gig

Enjoy your week!

1st Birthday Party

How is it that my baby is already ONE?!  We celebrated her first birthday last weekend amidst family and a few close friends.  Here are some details from her party!

Originally I was going for a giraffe theme, since she LOVES giraffes, however that morphed into a jungle theme once I discovered these jungle invites by Tiny Prints.

She sported this darling birthday t-shirt, paired with this polka dotted head band.  Doesn't she look adorable?  With her polka-dotted jeans, knotted tee, and headband, she really rocked her "hipster" look.

We did a smash cake, but this was the reaction we got when she sampled the frosting…

Guests dined on lunch, followed by giraffe topped cupcakes

All in all, it was a spectacular party!  The sun came out just in time for cake and singing.  Happy birthday baby girl, we love you to the moon and back!

invitations c/o tiny prints

San Francisco Weekend in a Nutshell

This past weekend was my first weekend away from my sweet babe, and on a plane no less.  I flew to San Francisco for a quick weekend away to visit my best friend Jody.  It was such a much needed weekend to relax, recharge, and enjoy some quality girl time.

Upon arriving, we met up with Jody's husband and some other friends at Homestead in the Mission, for a stiff cocktail (I had the Paloma) to celebrate in regale in our friends Alex and Kostas' recent engagement.  Followed by a modern Vietnamese/Thai meal at Slanted Door in the historic Ferry Building.  It was a seriously superb meal; even the rice is amazing!  {Try the stir-fried organic chicken, chili-coconut eggplant, and green papaya salad}.  Plus they boast the eclectic dessert of sculpted cotton candy - we were tempted to order this ourselves to satisfy our inner children, but were perfectly satiated it would've been difficult to eat even one more bite!

The next morning we slept in (!!) before dining al fresco at Kitchen Story, which quite possibly might have been one of the best brunches of my life, I opted for the eggs Benedict accompanied by bacon wrapped asparagus, let me tell you, it was A-MAZING!  We considered ordering the bottomless mimosas - apparently a new San Francisco staple, but opted for singles as to encourage our activity for the day.

After brunch, we strolled around the Mission, Castro, refueling with some coffee at Stanza, before playing tourist and channeling our TGIF roots with a stop by the Alamo Square Park for a touristy photo opp, Full House flashback anyone?

After stopping by Whole Foods to pick up some sustenance, and picking our our favorite stoops and houses along the way, we met up with our friend Andy at Mission Dolores Park.  Mind you, did I tell you it was a beautiful beyond beautiful day.  The sky was cloudless, the sun warm and inviting, nothing of the typical fog or overcast haze San Francisco is famous for.  We settled in for some quality people watching with a blanket, a crisp bottle of Rose, and our own makeshift fruit platter.  

After, we grabbed a quick snack at Regalio Rostecario - all the rose had me craving guacamole (and there's didn't dissapoint).  By now it was at least 7:00, and we slowly made our way back to Jody's house for a "homemade" Blue Apron meal, pinot, and a cheesy but hilarious at times romcom.  All in all a pretty perfect day!

On Sunday, after waking up early to an earthquake (!) - we cruised down to the Marina to explore a new nook of San Francisco, picking up a healthy breakfast and filling smoothie at The Planet Cafe, before enjoying yet another day of sun as we shopped Fillmore and the surrounding area.  I had a 3:40 flight, so we headed back to her apartment to pack, but not before another touristy stop to Tartine  -whose line moved surprisingly fast considering it snaked around the corner.  One pain au chocolat and a croissant to go, followed by a stroll back to her apartment in the middle of the road, courtesy of Sunday Streets.  We discovered this weekend street closure is an age-old San Francisco tradition where alternating neighborhoods close a main thoroughfare on Sundays, open only to pedestrian traffic.  The street was peppered with a few sidewalk sales, street performers with instruments, and children riding their bikes.  It was a nice change of pace and way to explore.

All in all - quite a full weekend of sightseeing, and so much fun catching up with my dearest friend!  Thanks so much Jods! 

What's your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?  Do tell, I might just have to plan a return visit soon...

Cookbook Crush

Another swoon worthy cookbook about to hit the shelves.  Dinner: The Playbook is the eagerly anticipated "sequel" of sorts to Dinner: A Love Story, inspired by the ever-popular blog of the same name.  While I follow many a food blog, and hopelessly pin away recipes I know I'll never make, I appreciate Jenny Rosenstrach's approach to cooking.  She's very relatable; she tells it like it is, an ordinary mom of two kids, on a quest to consistently bring a variety of delicious, interesting, and healthy dinners to her family's table.  Granted her kids are good eaters, though they definitely have their gustatory quirks, as all children do.  A few of her recipes I've successfully followed and delivered include a new fan fave, pork fried rice.

What cookbooks are you crushing on?

image/amazon