Fun with Solids

Landon had tried solids last weekend for the first time. He was interested in it the first night we tried. Then, by the second night, it was like he was trying to tell us, "What is this crap you're feeding me??" So we decided to wait till his 6-month appointment this upcoming weekend to see if we could start giving him real food, like veggies and fruits.

For those of you that don't know, the first solid you try with babies is "rice cereal" its this flaky stuff you mix with their milk to make a paste. It smells gross, so there's no way it could possibly taste good.

Anyway, I was in the elevator this evening with a woman whose baby is just two weeks younger than Landon. Her baby is already eating solids! So we had to have another go at it tonight.

You can tell he absolutely adores rice cereal

He thinks its more fun to play with it on his mouth than eat it

or to play with the spoon and get it all over his forehead

Well, at least here's a smile

Sweet Tooth Sundays-Homemade Sea Salt Caramels

In this week's Sweet Tooth Sunday, I took on the dreaded CARAMEL! Oooooooo!

My attempt at caramels is adapted from this recipe here.

Sea Salt Caramels
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons sea salt

*Butter the sides of a 9x13 pan and set it aside.
*In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 of the can of sweetened condensed milk, and butter over medium-low heat. Stir until the butter and sugar is melted and bring to a boil (warning: this takes at least 20 minutes!).
*Once it starts boiling, add the remaining sweetened condensed milk.
*Let it return to a boil and do NOT stir. Let it get to the firm ball stage on a candy thermometer (248 degrees Fahrenheit).

*Remove the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and sea salt.
*Carefully pour the mixture into the buttered pan (don't scrape the sides of the saucepan) and let cool completely
*Cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.

I think I did pretty good at my first shot at caramels. I forgot that my candy thermometer was off by 2 degrees, so they cooked a little longer than they were supposed to. They were more like Sugar Daddies than normal caramels. But, all-in-all, a success!

Becoming a Cheese Monger, Part 1-The Americans

Tonight was actually my second time going to a cheese tasting. The first time was pre-blog and was Italian cheeses. My favorite that night was La Tur (yummmm-a creamy, bloomy, sheep-cow-goat mix).  The Hoboken Cheese Store does these tastings once a month, so hopefully I'll be able to attend all of them and finally become my dream in life: a cheese monger!

Tonight, we learned about American Cheeses. Surprisingly, we didn't taste any cheddar. Apparently, there are fancy cheeses made in America, not just in France!

My fellow cheese monger wannabes, April and Kayla

Our challenge for the night

I think my favorite was a tie between the Noble Road (below) and the Prairie Breeze.

The Noble Road is a soft ripened bloomy rind. It's soft on the inside. Kayla said it tasted like it was "straight from the cow". It comes from Calkins Creamery in Honedale, PA.

This one is the Prairie Breeze. It was the most cheddar-like of all the cheeses we tried. Almost like a mix between cheddar and Parmigiano. This one is made from the milk from Amish farms near the creamery in Milton, Iowa.

 And here is, by far, the worst cheese of the night, as evidenced by Kayla's face below haha..

I definitely do not recommend Bayley Hazen cheese. So nasty!

Anyway, it was such a fun night overall. It's always nice to try new things with friends and, of course, drink wine!

Stayed tuned for my next cheese monger post at the end of February! If you are interested in becoming a cheese monger, you can always go to the Hoboken Cheese store, they are so sweet there and really know their stuff! There's also Murray's in the city which has a few classes each week.

Umbrella Etiquette

Photo credit: atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com

Let's talk about NYC umbrella etiquette on what was a rainy day today. Rainy days always lead to frustration, especially if it's windy too. I had to say a sad farewell to my favorite umbrella a few weeks ago (May she rest in peace). That umbrella lasted me 5 years of NYC rain. But the GALE FORCE WINDS(!!!) were too strong on that fateful day.

There are a few unwritten rules in the city about rainy days and umbrellas. And they are:


*Don't take up too much sidewalk space. No golf umbrellas in the city, please! I work in an area that doesn't have the ridiculous foot traffic that Midtown has. But even with all the space I have on the sidewalk, I get so annoyed when I get stuck behind someone with a golf umbrella. There's no room to get around them! And it always happens that the people with the golf umbrellas are the ones that love to stroll along...

*which brings me to the 2nd rule...Don't walk slow when you have an umbrella! Hello! It's raining out! Why do you want to be enjoying this wet and cold day?! Unless you start breaking out in song and dance, a la Singing in the Rain, put the pedal to the metal...

*once the umbrella is turned inside-out and ripped to shreds (like the one below), its time to give up.

Photo credit: kaufmann-mercantile.com/images/craig-wylie-broken-umbrella.jpg

Throw it in the trash. Or throw it towards the direction of the trashcan. They'll all end up piling there by the end of the day! Just face the facts that you'll look like a wet poodle by the time you get into work!


Do you ever get annoyed by people who don't play by the umbrella rules?

Bye Bye Maternity Clothes

It only took me 6 months, but I've finally put away the last of my maternity clothes. I had kept a couple of tee-shirts because they were long (i have a long torso and shirts can never be long enough for me) until I realized that they were just long in the front and not in the back! I must have looked so stupid wearing them around for the past half a year!

It makes me sad to put them away. In some ways I miss being pregnant. I think you get a certain sense of pride walking around with a giant belly. Although I wasn't too keen on taking a lot of pictures of myself when I was pregnant (because your belly isn't the only thing that grows when you're pregs), Bartek did snap this shot of me on my way into the hospital.

Now its time to start fitting into my old clothes instead of buying new, bigger ones. Oyyy, I've got my work cut out for me! Sugar is a cold-hearted temptress!

Ridiculously Cute Baby Clothes

Gap has a super cute line of clothes out for babies right now called the Circus Collection. Look how absolutely adorable this is.

It's gender neutral too, so its great for mommies-to-be who don't know the baby's sex!

I love the graphics in this collection! It reminds me of the art of one of my favorite sellers on Etsy,  TrafalgarSquare. Her art is so gorgeous. I think it should be made into a children's picture book! I bought a few of her pieces on Zulily and am dying for them to deliver! It's not only for Landon, but also for me to hang up in my office, like this one.

Anyway, back to baby clothes. Landon has sooo many clothes. He really doesn't need me to buy any, but that doesn't keep me from browsing for him. Look how cute these would be together:


My boy certainly is going to be a preppy!

What are some of your favorite brands of baby clothes?

Stuck in a Dinner Rut?

Lately, planning our meals for the week has been a painstaking process. Our Sunday mornings usually go like this...

Me: "Bartek, what do you want to eat this week?"

Bartek: (stares at the TV, not answering)

Me: "Hon....hello?!? What do you want to eat this week?"

Bartek: "Uhhhh I don't know. Chicken" (continues to stare at TV)

Me: "Ok, that's one day. What do you want the rest of the week?"

Bartek: (no answer)

and on, and on, and on...

Yes, we are in a dinner rut! We seem to make the same meals every week!

And then I remembered! The recipe box! My lovely bridesmaids put this together for my bridal shower. They asked each of my guests to write down their favorite recipe. And they put them all in the super cute box. 

So we pulled out a recipe from my lovely friend, Marta, for Garlic Shrimp Linguine! It was delicious! And took maybe 15 minutes to make! 

I was thinking, people do cookie swaps all the time. Why not do a recipe swap? Other people have such great ideas that you never think of. Why not spice it up? Having a nice box of recipes as a go-to makes things so much easier when you and your husband are clueless. 

What do you do when you're in a rut?

Sweet Tooth Sundays-Rainbow Cake

We took a little baking hiatus last week since Landon was so sick. But we are back with another tasty treat this weekend. Behold my latest undertaking, the rainbow cake:

Photo from LoveandOliveOil.com

It was first conceived by Martha Stewart here. This blog tried it too and they have beautiful pictures. 

So here is my outcome:

I went the "semi-homemade" route, a la Sandra Lee because I was incredibly lazy. I used two boxed butter yellow cake mixes from Betty Crocker. I made the cake batter as per the instructions on the box. Then I separated (as evenly as I could) the batter into 6 bowls and added tons of food coloring to make purple, blue, green, yellow orange and red. 

Since the cakes you are making are much smaller than usual, the cook time is much less. I checked the cakes after 10 minutes. After that, they each needed an additional 5-10 minutes of cook time, until a toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean. 

Since I only have 2-9 inch round pans, I had to go through three rounds of baking the cakes. No biggie! Between each round of baking, I let the cakes cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes, then transferred them to a cooling rack for another 5 minutes and started icing them while the others were baking. 

Again, going the semi-homemade route, I used store-bought chocolate icing, warmed it up a little in the microwave to make it more spreadable, and then used an icing knife (greatest thing ever) to spread the icing between the layers. 

The white icing does make the cake look so much prettier, but I know my family loves chocolate, so we had to change it up. I tried to do a stucco pattern on the sides to make it a little interesting. After icing it up, I added some M&Ms around the top for some whimsy and color. And added a "Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa" in terrible, terrible writing. Need to work on that. 

After working on my cake, I realized how much it reminded me of the last time we had a colorful cake. When we found out we were having a beautiful, bouncing baby boy...

Snow Day...Finally!

Finally, the snow has come to the tri-state area! Besides that freak snow storm we had on Halloween weekend, we haven't had any snow here in Hoboken. But this is what we woke up to this morning! Yay! Not a lot, but I'll take it!

I've been looking forward to this for months. Especially since I bought Landon this super cute snow suit

It's reversible with a Yeti print on the other side. I love it! We had an early appointment with the vet, so little man got to wear it first thing in the morning. He was nice and warm and dry while we were getting pelted in the face with ice crystals. 

We didn't get to play in the snow today, but hopefully we get some more soon. Today was more a day of staying in and cuddling. And what is more cuddly than a just bathed upside-down baby.

Personally, the thing that I cannot wait to do is go snowboarding. It's been so long since I have. Last year I was pregnant and wasn't allowed to go and I had just bought a new board at the end of the previous season. I'm dying to use it! Hoping to go within the next two weeks!

Hope you all had a chance to enjoy the snow. What are your favorite snow day activities?

Bad days

Ever have days where it seems like everything goes wrong? That was my day today.

From getting about an hour of sleep total (with my poor sick baby crying all night long), to talking to an incredibly rude receptionist at the pediatrician's office who cut me off at each attempt to explain why I was calling, to having a messed up paycheck (totally my fault, but seriously, got paid HALF of what I should have been paid!!!)

What do you do when things don't go your way?? How do you relax yourself? Calm your nerves?

I just want to curl up under my covers and take a nap. If I worked closer to Yelo Spa, I would totally indulge in a Power Nap on my lunch break
http://www.yelonyc.com/spa/yelo-treatments/powernaps/

Off to bed, my friends. Hoping for a much better day tomorrow. And maybe we'll get to play in the snow!

My Rebuttal to Guest Blogger: I LOVE LISTS!

My name is Chrissi, and I make lists.

Yes, its true! Nothing gives me more joy than creating a list and then crossing off each item as its accomplished. Ok, not entirely true. Many things give me more joy, but "listing"-as I will now call it-is my guilty pleasure!!

I think "listing" is a genetic disease, inherited, most definitely, from my mother. She is the queen of lists and even has abbreviations for things-our names, rooms in the house, etc. She even gave me a new list pad in my stocking for Christmas- YES! I was so excited when I saw it. It has a magnet to hang on the refrigerator and everything!

I also have another confession: sometimes I write things on my list that I've already done, just so I can cross it off! I'm sure endorphines are released each time I cross another thing off my list. Its blissful! 

I also have a slight obsession with office supplies. All the better to create lists with, my dear! You should see my lists at work. Crossed off in highlighter, to match my mood of the week. This week its orange, which I think is extra peppy and energetic. I use pink highlighter when I'm feeling particularly cute. Blue when I want to change it up. Yellow when I realize that I haven't used the most popular highlighter color in a while. And green, like never. Ughh, who uses green highlighter? Ok, now I'm sure you can see my obsession with office supplies rearing its ugly head!

There is a scene from the first season of Modern Family (one of my favorite shows!) that soooo mimics mine and Bartek's relationship. (Sorry if I can't remember it 100% accurately, but I'm trying here...)Phil and Claire Dunphy are at a hotel for Valentine's Day. They decide to meet at a bar and pretend they're strangers, Clive and Julianna. 

"Julianna": (seductively) So Clive, tell me about your wife. What does she do? 

"Clive": She makes lists

"Julianna": (rolls eyes)

Is there some way to make list-writing sexy?

As "Daddy" pointed out, yes, he is "blissfully unburdened", but guess who gets the weight of the burden times two? ME! If it weren't for my lists, he'd have a mountain of clothes sitting on his side table, waiting to be put away. Oh wait, he does. Guess that's one thing he didn't cross off the list today. Maybe because the list was destroyed by his co-conspirator....

Yes, I may be a "joykill", but guess what, if it weren't for my lists, you'd have no clothes to wear, no food to eat. You would be surrounded by filth. You, "Daddy", are a man, and therefore, do not know how to take care of yourself. Its something that only me and my lists can do!

Guest Blog: Daddy Speaks

Hello All,

Since the little man is feeling under the weather we've decided to keep him out of day care for the week, so today it's my turn to stay home and make sure he gets back on the road to being the healthy future quarterback/rocket scientist/vineyard proprietor in Napa that we want him to be.

So I will take this opportunity to take a small break from my Awesome Daddy duties to discuss something that drives me (and I assume most men) crazy.  and that my friends and dear readers is...LISTS!!!

I woke up this morning feeling pretty rested after a relatively quiet night.  With my first burst of energy, I got Landon dressed bundled him up and took my boys for a walk (as by this point Bailey was going nuts).  After our walk, and before I even took a breather to make myself breakfast, I fed Bailey, gave Landon his antibiotics, fed Landon, and then did the nebulizer.  All in all, I felt pretty proud of my accomplishments so naturally I called Chrissi expecting a nice pat on the back.  Instead I got the dreaded..."Did you see my list?..."

I cringed and walked over to the kitchen counter where she had left it in the one spot that I couldn't miss it which  of course I had completely missed.  There it was staring at me, my schedule for the day.  All of a sudden, my day off wasn't so much of a day off after all.   Chrissi has a penchant for, actually more like an obsession with making lists.  I  on the other hand hate them.  Some may say I'm cripplingly dis-organized, I prefer blissfully unburdened.  Believe it or not my life functions just fine without having to list the tasks I have to do that day.  Why can't (or more accurately won't) Chrissi understand that?

A list makes me a) feel like a kindergartner  and b) is a constant reminder of the limitations that I have to work my day around.  They are the ultimate joykill!

So ladies and gents, what say you? Are you with me that all list-making should be abolished.  Or am I way off-base here?


P.S:  Go 49ers!!! 2 wins away from a record tying 6th Super Bowl victory.  Can you Giants fans even count that high?

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

You were there the day I was born...

 And now you watch me grow before your eyes.

You love me and my big cuz...

But that's no big surprise.

You're there when we need you the most...

And for the fun times, too.

You're the bestest in the world, Grandpa...

And the most comfy kangaroo!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA! I love you!
Love,
Landon

The Other Love of My Life

I have three loves of my life-my heart is split in many ways, apparently! My husband Bartek means the world to me. My son, Landon, is the light of my life. And my dog, Bailey, is the third piece of my heart. Yes, he's a dog, but he still holds a piece.

On some of the mommy forums, people call their pets "fur babies" and that just seems weird to me. Yes, I refer to him as "Landon's Brother". When we talk to Bailey, we say "Go to Mommy" or "Ask Daddy for your leash". It is strange, but Bailey was our first responsibility together.

Becoming a pet parent is a huge step in your life. You have to learn to keep a schedule, find time for walks (at least three times a day- at least that's what we do), you have to potty train them, you have to teach them how to behave, and most importantly, you have to give them lots of love and attention.

I think Bailey was a great step for us in becoming ready for parenthood. As much as I don't want to compare dogs to children, its kind of true. We had to become ok with cleaning up poop and puke (yuck!), we had to be responsible for another life (feeding, cleaning) and we had to learn how to care for someone that's dependent on us. I feel like cats are a bit different. They are much more independent than dogs. They'll be fine if you leave them for a few days. But dogs need you constantly. And they love constantly.

Here is my little photo bomb of Bailey pics....

Our first pictures of him, when he joined our family in 2008

He's never ashamed when we dress him up!

He loves to chase away nasty geese

 And run for frisbees as fast as he can

He loves coming in for a close up

And snuggling after a rough day at work

He's a great wine buddy

And is best friends with who ever will rub his belly

Nothing is better than jumping off the dock into the lake

And then drying off on dad

 He's a TV Star

And a great big brother

 He's loves to get a tan on the couch

And pull the socks off my feet

He loves opening presents more than any child does

Has a couple of best friends

And is incredibly patient

I love my dog! Sure, he knows that he's not number 1 anymore, but I think he's slowly beginning to accept that. He's starting to really enjoy having his little brother around and I think it will only get better from here.