In my opinion, these are the best wings in town. Now, if only I had the recipe for that horseradish/creme fraiche dip.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Comet Wings
In my opinion, these are the best wings in town. Now, if only I had the recipe for that horseradish/creme fraiche dip.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Time for Botox?
As relayed by our good friend, K:
[Last night 2-year-old daughter] calls me to get her out of her crib at 9:00 pm (like clockwork) to go to the bathroom. I'm keeping her company, sitting on the edge of the tub next to the toilet.
She touches my forehead and says, "What's that?"
Me: "My forehead?"
She: "No, Mommy, what's that? " (running her hand horizontally)
Me: "My eyebrow?"
She: "No, Mommy, it's cracked." (pronounced "cwacked")
Me: "Oh, my wrinkles."
She: "Mommy, why you so wrinkled?" (pronounced "whinkled")
[Last night 2-year-old daughter] calls me to get her out of her crib at 9:00 pm (like clockwork) to go to the bathroom. I'm keeping her company, sitting on the edge of the tub next to the toilet.
She touches my forehead and says, "What's that?"
Me: "My forehead?"
She: "No, Mommy, what's that? " (running her hand horizontally)
Me: "My eyebrow?"
She: "No, Mommy, it's cracked." (pronounced "cwacked")
Me: "Oh, my wrinkles."
She: "Mommy, why you so wrinkled?" (pronounced "whinkled")
Good question. If ever there were an argument for Botox...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Bail me out
As the Democrats and Republicans fight over this massive billion dollar bail-out deal that will hopefully save the American and global economy from completely collapsing, I'm really starting to get a bit worried. What if I or the reluctant grownup should lose one -- or both! -- of our jobs?!
Like any late and guilty converter, I'm starting to pay more attention to the financial picture. I've put all our financial information into mint.com (it's online, it's free and it's so much cooler than Quicken) and have started examining our family’s budget a bit more closely.
Exercises like this are always way too revealing. Kind of like the time I decided to keep a food diary. Two generous glasses of red wine, schmears of creamy Brie cheese, several slices of French bread and a handful of olives. Eighteen thousand calories. And that was just the first course. Needless to say, I'm one of those people who prefers to play dumb when it comes to the number of calories that I am consuming. And, as reality avoidance would have it, the same also goes for the number of dollars that I'm typically spending.
So here's the harsh reality: our family budget has been set up to accommodate the appetite of a new 90210 starlet when in fact we have John Goodman raiding our refrigerator.
What I've budgeted for:
Like any late and guilty converter, I'm starting to pay more attention to the financial picture. I've put all our financial information into mint.com (it's online, it's free and it's so much cooler than Quicken) and have started examining our family’s budget a bit more closely.
Exercises like this are always way too revealing. Kind of like the time I decided to keep a food diary. Two generous glasses of red wine, schmears of creamy Brie cheese, several slices of French bread and a handful of olives. Eighteen thousand calories. And that was just the first course. Needless to say, I'm one of those people who prefers to play dumb when it comes to the number of calories that I am consuming. And, as reality avoidance would have it, the same also goes for the number of dollars that I'm typically spending.
So here's the harsh reality: our family budget has been set up to accommodate the appetite of a new 90210 starlet when in fact we have John Goodman raiding our refrigerator.
What I've budgeted for:
- Childcare - Nanny, 40 hours
- Transportation - Subway/bus
- Clothing - A few sensible items from the Gap, Old Navy a few times each year
- Groceries - For healthy, non-processed, home-cooked meals
- Recreation - Netflix
- Childcare - Nanny, 45 hours, competitive DC rates, extra $ so she won’t leave us, several hours each week of time-and-a-half overtime due to client emergencies at work
- Transportation - Car payment, exorbitant gas prices, downtown parking garage fees, speeding tickets (as I rush home to avoid paying nanny overtime)
- Clothing - Designer clothing to better “complement” those curves, several pairs of $40 Spanx control top/butt/thighs/tummy undergarments (because I haven't had time to work out and haven’t lost the baby weight)
- Groceries - Groceries (many of which typically rot in the refrigerator), Chinese delivery that has our credit card on file, Dominos.com, cases of wine, bottles of single malt
- Recreation - Bar tabs, food/wine tabs, babysitters, pharmaceuticals (and resulting therapist bills)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Dinners this week
I've realized that being able to come home and cook a decent dinner is an absolute must in order for me to feel sane. Ordering pizza, making mac & cheese in the microwave and resorting to cereal is my version of shit happens. Putting together a quick, delicious, healthy and budget-conscious dinner makes the perfectionist cook in me smile.
So with our recent decision to sign up for Washington's Green Grocer, I am making an even greater attempt to make good dinners - and get enjoyment out of doing so.
(photo courtesy of epicurious.com and by: Romulo Yanes)
In this week's basket we got: eggplant, portabello mushrooms, corn, grape tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, cantalope, bananas, plums, peaches and a ruby red grapefruit.
At the outset my strategy was to grill a bunch of vegetables on Sunday to have ready for dinners throughout the week. This was my plan:
So with our recent decision to sign up for Washington's Green Grocer, I am making an even greater attempt to make good dinners - and get enjoyment out of doing so.
(photo courtesy of epicurious.com and by: Romulo Yanes)
In this week's basket we got: eggplant, portabello mushrooms, corn, grape tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, cantalope, bananas, plums, peaches and a ruby red grapefruit.
At the outset my strategy was to grill a bunch of vegetables on Sunday to have ready for dinners throughout the week. This was my plan:
- Sunday: BBQ chicken and corn. (Also grilled zucchini, extra corn and eggplant. Mixed ricotta with some herbs and rolled up in the eggplant slices.)
- Monday: Eggplant rolls and garlicky broccoli. (Took the ricotta-stuffed eggplant slices and threw into the oven topped with a quick tomato sauce -- sauteed can of tomatoes, couple cloves of garlic and few leaves of basil -- and mozzarella cheese.)
- Tuesday: Zucchini, corn and basil fusilli with bacon. (Super quick and easy since the zucchini and corn were good to go.)
- Wednesday: Pinto beans. (Still have most of a package of bacon and the cooler weather reminded me to bring out the slow cooker.)
- Thursday: Pappardelle bolognese. (As I was frantically rummaging through the freezer for something that would soothe the baby's teething pain - discovered bolognese sauce I made and froze back in February. I'm sure it's still good. Oh, and we don't have pappardelle. Linguini should work.)
- Friday: Have you checked out dominos.com?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Good Eatin' in St. Louis
Well folks. St. Louis was not good for losing the baby weight. Toasted ravioli. Provel cheese. Ted Drewes frozen custard. Gooey butter cake. Pork steaks with Maull's barbecue sauce. And one of the best dining experiences in recent memory at Niche, owned by chef Gerard Craft who was just named one of 2008's Best New Chefs by Food & Wine.
As soon as the July issue of Food & Wine came out and I saw the St. Louis-shout-out to Niche, I made a reservation for the Saturday we'd be there. Craft's featured recipe in the magazine, Smoky Pork Pappardelle, sounded amazing. At the restaurant in real life, it was Smoky Lamb Papperdelle, but goddamn was it good. I will be making this recipe...as soon as the new exercise and healthy eating regimen starts working.(pasta pic courtesy of Food & Wine)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Happy Half Year
I had many thoughts earlier today that ended with, 'yeah, that'll be good to blog about.' Sadly though, I can't remember too many of those.
Maybe it was the tortuous 3-hour car ride with screaming baby, chatty 3-yr-old and highly anxious husband, or the ill-planned Sunday night trip to Whole Foods to join the throng every annoying self-centered urbanite joined by - once again - screaming baby who it turns out is teething, or the scramble that was quickly cook dinner but try to entice 3-yr-old to poopy on the potty, or the well-deserved and must-needed glasses of Chardonnay. Regardless, the brain is fried. But I will leave you with this:
The baby is now Six Months Old. Yes, a big milestone. A half year. Six months. Wow. Can't believe we've made it this far. Everyone always says -- and even I've even taken to repeating it -- that the first six months is the hardest. Make it past that, and it's all downhill from there, they say.
Wonderful. But the 6-month mark has been a slap in the face to me. A bit of a wake-up call. Basically this gave me an okay-you-haven't-just-had-a-baby reminder. Yep. No more excuses. The baby weight needs to come off. I'd hate to be one of those women who complains about their baby weight when in fact her baby is. Seven. Years. Old.
So much for 'finding time' to work out. I now realize there is no such thing. I need to MAKE time. It may mean a few hours less sleep. It may mean a few hours less work - and a few more to-dos not done. It may mean a few hours less hanging out with the husband or a few hours less sitting on the porch drinking wine. But, it's gotta happen.
I'm tired of "empire waist" being my saving grace. At some point, I need to get back to being me and shed the post-baby weight. I'm giving myself another 3 months. That will be a full 9 months post-partum. I figure it took me 9 months to get here, so I at least should give myself a full 9 months to get out of it.
I feel like half the battle is realizing that the weight isn't just going to fall off by itself. It's going to take some work. And it's going to take some tough decisions to actually MAKE time. But I think I'm ready.
Maybe it was the tortuous 3-hour car ride with screaming baby, chatty 3-yr-old and highly anxious husband, or the ill-planned Sunday night trip to Whole Foods to join the throng every annoying self-centered urbanite joined by - once again - screaming baby who it turns out is teething, or the scramble that was quickly cook dinner but try to entice 3-yr-old to poopy on the potty, or the well-deserved and must-needed glasses of Chardonnay. Regardless, the brain is fried. But I will leave you with this:
The baby is now Six Months Old. Yes, a big milestone. A half year. Six months. Wow. Can't believe we've made it this far. Everyone always says -- and even I've even taken to repeating it -- that the first six months is the hardest. Make it past that, and it's all downhill from there, they say.
Wonderful. But the 6-month mark has been a slap in the face to me. A bit of a wake-up call. Basically this gave me an okay-you-haven't-just-had-a-baby reminder. Yep. No more excuses. The baby weight needs to come off. I'd hate to be one of those women who complains about their baby weight when in fact her baby is. Seven. Years. Old.
So much for 'finding time' to work out. I now realize there is no such thing. I need to MAKE time. It may mean a few hours less sleep. It may mean a few hours less work - and a few more to-dos not done. It may mean a few hours less hanging out with the husband or a few hours less sitting on the porch drinking wine. But, it's gotta happen.
I'm tired of "empire waist" being my saving grace. At some point, I need to get back to being me and shed the post-baby weight. I'm giving myself another 3 months. That will be a full 9 months post-partum. I figure it took me 9 months to get here, so I at least should give myself a full 9 months to get out of it.
I feel like half the battle is realizing that the weight isn't just going to fall off by itself. It's going to take some work. And it's going to take some tough decisions to actually MAKE time. But I think I'm ready.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
And the first shall be last
Over the weekend a friend and co-worker jokingly mentioned that she was basing her self-worth on the number of social media followers she had. I had to laugh because I realized that even more sad was what I use to evaluate my self-worth on a daily basis: number of ounces.
Lately it's been a measily 6 oz per day. Back in the day I could easily produce 12 or 15 oz.
Of milk that is. (Most of you are getting totally grossed out right about now.)
Of all the jobs I have, being a mammalian mother may be the toughest. I'm not discounting the hard work that ALL mothers have to shoulder. What you feed your kids -- whether it be the purest drawn breastmilk, Gerber baby formula, or Doritos and Diet Coke -- has little to do with the bulk of the effort. It's a hard pill to swallow when you realize that even after the pregnancy is over, it's still not my body, my choice. Having to think about what I can and can't put into my body, having to force in pumping time at work, and having to wake up at odd times in the middle of the night for months on end can take a toll on a gal.
Maybe the hardest thing about breastfeeding is the knowledge that you've got to take care of yourself in order to nourish the baby. And as all my mom friends will agree, one of the hardest things is trying to figure out where they stop and you start -- or maybe it's where they start and you stop.
Taking the time to exercise or eat a healthy meal or - gasp! - put my feet up is nearly impossible at worst and a selfish indulgence at best when the baby needs feeding, the 3-yr-old needs corraling, the laundry needs folding, the dinner needs stirring, the dog needs relieving, the husband need loving, the bills need paying, the report needs proofing and the dishes need washing.
So, ok, I guess it's not a breastfeeding thing. And maybe it's not even a mom thing. Universally we all struggle with where to put ourselves. First certainly doesn't work, but too low on the list ain't a good thing either.
For now, I'll try to keep up the breastfeeding gig. For all it's annoyances, it does guarantee some sweet cuddle time with the little guy and it does help out in the cleavage department. Speaking of which...
Lately it's been a measily 6 oz per day. Back in the day I could easily produce 12 or 15 oz.
Of milk that is. (Most of you are getting totally grossed out right about now.)
Of all the jobs I have, being a mammalian mother may be the toughest. I'm not discounting the hard work that ALL mothers have to shoulder. What you feed your kids -- whether it be the purest drawn breastmilk, Gerber baby formula, or Doritos and Diet Coke -- has little to do with the bulk of the effort. It's a hard pill to swallow when you realize that even after the pregnancy is over, it's still not my body, my choice. Having to think about what I can and can't put into my body, having to force in pumping time at work, and having to wake up at odd times in the middle of the night for months on end can take a toll on a gal.
Maybe the hardest thing about breastfeeding is the knowledge that you've got to take care of yourself in order to nourish the baby. And as all my mom friends will agree, one of the hardest things is trying to figure out where they stop and you start -- or maybe it's where they start and you stop.
Taking the time to exercise or eat a healthy meal or - gasp! - put my feet up is nearly impossible at worst and a selfish indulgence at best when the baby needs feeding, the 3-yr-old needs corraling, the laundry needs folding, the dinner needs stirring, the dog needs relieving, the husband need loving, the bills need paying, the report needs proofing and the dishes need washing.
So, ok, I guess it's not a breastfeeding thing. And maybe it's not even a mom thing. Universally we all struggle with where to put ourselves. First certainly doesn't work, but too low on the list ain't a good thing either.
For now, I'll try to keep up the breastfeeding gig. For all it's annoyances, it does guarantee some sweet cuddle time with the little guy and it does help out in the cleavage department. Speaking of which...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Good Wife? Good Mom?
Had a very good conversation with a good friend about how vices and parenthood co-mingle.
What makes one a good parents vs. a bad parent? What makes one a good wife vs. a bad wife? Struggling with the fact that getting fucked up with my hubby is actually very good for our relationship aka good for our marriage. But wondering how a hungover mommy is good for my kiddos.
Maybe Dooce knows? I think a good marriage is probably one of the best things for children. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone. A serious question though.
What makes one a good parents vs. a bad parent? What makes one a good wife vs. a bad wife? Struggling with the fact that getting fucked up with my hubby is actually very good for our relationship aka good for our marriage. But wondering how a hungover mommy is good for my kiddos.
Maybe Dooce knows? I think a good marriage is probably one of the best things for children. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone. A serious question though.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Magical
Once again, it's been a very bad month for blogging. The all-encompassing job thing continues to interfere.
The mini family reunion in my hometown of Melbourne, Florida was a nice diversion though. There may be no pleasure greater than watching your kid groove in the sand and waves at the beach.
We also gave in to the inevitable, infamous Disney World visit. Was it magical? Yes, if you consider lines that lead to other lines, hundreds of thousands of fat people with children on leashes, and foreigners gnawing on smoked turkey legs magical.
For roughly $300, the hubby, Jackal and I spent about 5 hours in that magical place. The day's events: 2 rainstorms, 3 spinny rides, 1 over-sized lollipop, 2 artifically colored and flavored popisicles, 1 fake treehouse, 1 major meltdown, 25 what-the-fuck-were-we-thinking moments, and 4 greasy tacos.
Priceless? Seeing the glee in the Jackal's eyes as he got to drive his first race car and catching a crazed mother yelling "IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M CAUSING A SCENE AT DISNEY WORLD" in the middle of Main Street as we we leaving.
The mini family reunion in my hometown of Melbourne, Florida was a nice diversion though. There may be no pleasure greater than watching your kid groove in the sand and waves at the beach.
We also gave in to the inevitable, infamous Disney World visit. Was it magical? Yes, if you consider lines that lead to other lines, hundreds of thousands of fat people with children on leashes, and foreigners gnawing on smoked turkey legs magical.
For roughly $300, the hubby, Jackal and I spent about 5 hours in that magical place. The day's events: 2 rainstorms, 3 spinny rides, 1 over-sized lollipop, 2 artifically colored and flavored popisicles, 1 fake treehouse, 1 major meltdown, 25 what-the-fuck-were-we-thinking moments, and 4 greasy tacos.
Priceless? Seeing the glee in the Jackal's eyes as he got to drive his first race car and catching a crazed mother yelling "IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M CAUSING A SCENE AT DISNEY WORLD" in the middle of Main Street as we we leaving.
Friday, May 23, 2008
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