Lunch out with my girl

Last week Tesla and I went out for lunch together at the Bravern. I wanted to check out the new mall and the new Sur La Table. It just happened to be near lunch time so I figured we would get lunch there. I didn't actually know about any restaurants though so I didn't know what to expect. The Bravern is a very high end shopping center, with a Hermes, Chimmy Choo's, Sur La Table and Neiman Marcus, la de da! There wasn't anything that I was really interested in shopping for, because I don't shop at those locations and because I'm on this whole "less is more" kick, but I sure do like looking around. I get a lot of inspiration when I window shop, and often see clothes or other items that I can make on my own.

Anyway, we had lunch at the Artisanal Brasserie and Wine Bar. It's a french restaurant that was fabulous. When we walked in, the place was pretty busy. I was a little afraid that since Tesla tends to scream at restaurants that this wasn't such a good idea, but I asked the greeter that we wouldn't mind being sat out of the way. He put us in an empty part of the restaurant which lowered my stress levels quite a bit. He then brought over crayons and  a coloring placemat, the tablecloth also had paper on it so no worries about her going over the placemat at all.

A few minutes after sitting down and getting situated they brought out a Nuby sippy cup. How cool is that? I'm impressed right there. So we had lunch got helped a bunch and all the servers and busboys had fun playing with Tesla. Lunch was super good too, although if you're on a diet I would recommend a plan before going. They have a lot of cheese there and therefore a lot of lunch items that feature cheese. I had the Croque Monsieur. It's not for the faint of heart. But it was super super good.

We then walked around, I wanted to give Tesla some time to get some energy out, so we walked about  outside the stores. She had a lot of fun chattering and looking over the balcony.

My Good Eater

Recently I discovered that we were giving to much milk to Tesla. How did I discover this? Well Washington State has a program in which they send you info every few weeks or so about your kid. They are signed up when they are born or I guess in our case after their first appointment with a doctor in Washington State. Well since we had her one year appointment last month she was is now has a child profile. What is a Child Profile? CHILD Profile is Washington State's Health Promotion and Immunization Registry system. The system helps ensure Washington's children receive the preventive health care they need.

So every few weeks or months not sure what yet, they send you a mailer with info appropriate to the approximate age of your child. Interesting. Last week I received a brochure titled Nutrition for Toddlers 18 Months to 3 Years. It breaks down the exact servings and quantities a day that your child should be getting of the different food groups. I could not believe this, as a libertarian I am ever so slightly perturbed by the fantasticness of this brochure. On one hand, I want to say, this is a waste of tax payer money. On the other hand, I have 10 books that I have purchased on the bookshelf that give a smattering of suggestions of what to feed your kid but they don't say, here give her 1 cup of vegetables, 1 cup of fruit and so on, I'll actually give the recommendations later on. Was it really that hard to make this info available. Well I guess not, but it had to come from the state... Annoying. 

From this flyer, I learned we were giving Tesla much more than what is recommended for milk in a day. We were giving her milk like it was formula, and she was drinking it like it was and her appetite was starting to fall behind. I think it had to do with the transition from milk to formula. She was drinking about 30-40 ounces a day of formula, so we gave her that much milk. Now since she was in a growth spurt at the time her appetite didn't suffer but now that she's slowed down a bit, she has started not eating all of her meals, and this is meals she's proven to like. So this past week we have been reducing that amount of milk that she's drinking down to about 16 ounces a day. What a difference, she's now eating all the healthy foods, that she's supposed to eat and getting great nutrition from them. Good girl!


Okay so as promised, the guidelines are below. One of the points that it makes is that you should be OFFERING your child this, not that they will definitly eat it all every time, but that they should be offered the foods every day so that they get a good variety of foods to make them healthy, happy and have a good relationship with foods. (That last part I think I made up, but I think it's true.)


Vegetables: Offer 1 cup every day (3-5 servings)
Fruits: Offer 1 cup every day (2-4 servings)
Dairy: Offer 2 cups every day (4-6 servings)
Protein: Offer 2 ounces every day (4-6 servings)
Grains: Offer 3 ounces every day (6-11 servings)

Cookies Review!

We went to Whole Foods the other day because I needed to get unsweetened coconut for Macaroons, I couldn't find it at the two grocery stores that I went to and I knew they had to have it there. So as I was wondering my way through Whole Foods, because that store is layed out so poorly, I found the organic cookies. My friend Annie had served Tesla a Newman's own cookie when we went to their house once, but I hadn't been able to get them at the stores that I go to regularly. (Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong section.) I got the kind that she had served us plus these super yummy Alphabet Chocolate cookies. Oh yeah, they are tasty, and very rich chocolate flavor. Tesla just loved them, in case you couldn't tell.

I thought I would suggest them to you all, not just for your toddler but for yourself! Who doesn't want to spell things out with your food?!

A Shiksa's 1st Passover

Okay technically it's not my first. Last year we celebrated Passover with some good friends who are religious and I was able to experience a real Passover. Even if it wasn't a first night. See Passover lasts 7-8 days depending on the website you look at. Yes it's true I just googled "How long does Passover last?" I'm not proud, I don't claim I actually know anything at all.

 Jason telling us the history.

Anyway, I do want our daughter even if we are not a religious family to have good solid family traditions. Growing up we always had traditions despite our religiousness. We celebrated all the holidays with the exception of the Jewish ones and I guess the Catholic ones because we don't put ash on our head or anything... I guess you can say we were uncomplicated folk. So part of giving our daughter traditions is to teach her about the Jewish holidays. I'm not sure how we're going to do this but we'll do it by trial and error. There's a whole lot going on in September that is highly confusing and symbolic, one step at a time!

 Veggie Kugel (Left) Tzimmes (right)

So what is a Shiksa's Passover if there is not a religious aspect to it? Well it's food, good conversation and the story of the travel through Egypt by the Jews as told by Papa in a very animated way. (I'm hoping to make dolls to represent everyone and then we can act it out! Wouldn't that be fun. But then Papa said I had to make dolls for each of the plagues, including the frogs... not sure about that. Although I was looking at a windup frog yesterday and thought hey! Maybe we could fill the table with windup toys. Or not.) I started cooking on Tuesday. The menu was:

• Lamb
• Veggie Kugel
• Haroset
• Tzimmes
• Asparagus
• Gifelte Fish
• Matzoh
• Matzoh Ball Soup
• Macaroons
• Wine
• Decaf Coffee

We decided to celebrate Passover just one of the nights and picked Wednesday since that is our regular dinner club night. Our friend Nigel joined us as always. It was quite fitting because Nigel is originally from New Zealand, and complains that we American's just do not know how to do Lamb. He said it was very good, which of course it was, but apparently kiwi's like their Lamb overdone, and I just cannot do that to anything. 

I did make a sedar plate, but nothing was really done with it. (Oh yes, that's really a picture of our sedar plate. Not it's not, it's from Wikipedia. Thank you Wiki!) A sedar plate contains:

• Bitter herbs (Parsely soaked in salt water)
• Horseradish
• Roasted Egg (boiled egg works)
• Haroset
• Lamb bone (we didn't do this part because we're entirely to cheap to go buy another lamb to get the bone and we just don't have east coast butchers.) 

Tesla found the Afikomen. The Afikomen is a piece of Matzoh that has been hidden. (See how I dumb that down? So simple.) In Tesla's case I showed it to her, had her chase me around the room and then placed it on the floor behind her wedge pillow... Then said "Tesla get the Afikomen!" I can't believe she found it! She's a genius I tell you!!! She loved the Matzoh, it turns into quite a mush when mixed together with all the other foods. She's a great eater though and had everything except the fish. The fact that I served fish in my home is a miracle. The fact that it's still in a jar in my fridge is because I love my husband very much.

Let me know if you would like any recipes. Everything came out fantastically with the exception of the Haroset. Jason said he's had it much more soaked in wine and my recipe only called for 4 tablespoons. Perhaps the apples were to big in relation to the wine. Not sure.

Yes she's just wearing a diaper. She's taken to crying for no reason and once I remove her clothes she's fine. She must be my daughter!

Follow the links if you're interested in more information about Passover. We had a fun night and will continue our tradition.

Patience Patience Patience

The word for the day? Patience. Most of you know that Jason recently started a new job, and for the first time since T was born I am now home alone with T, all day everyday. No not Saturday and Sunday, and we leave the house, so not technically home alone. It’s been pretty fun, interesting, tiring, and most definitely an educational experience.

I get very little accomplished in a day. I would say I’m surprised by this but to be honest I got less accomplished before we moved back to Washington. It seems like now, Tesla will spend a period of time playing by herself, which will allow me to unload the dishwasher, grab the clothes from the laundry room and complete a few tasks. 

Yesterday, we had an accident in the laundry room. One of the laundry detergent containers that was sitting on top the dryer, burst, and leaked detergent all over the dryer, washer, floor, wall, and other containers of detergent. I immediately started cleaning up but T, wanted to be right in there with me. So I kept moving her away going back to it, moving her away going back to it, over and over and over again. Finally I set up a gate and let her cry, where I could see her and where she could see me. She cried the whole time! It was exhausting. I almost cried by the end of the day.

Well today I was trying to straighten up the laundry room, clean off all the containers. Wipe down the front of the machines and the wall, and Tesla had to get right in where she doesn’t belong. I don’t know what is so fascinating about it. 

Later on I had tried to put T down for a nap. She was having nothing of it. Hoping that her attitude was because of hunger I gave her some yogurt and berries…. And then a bath.

Tonight we had our weekly dinner with Nigel. Tonight’s dinner was ribs, everyone loved it. For dessert, T managed to grab a serving spoon and was using that. None of the pictures turned out so I can’t show you but trust me it was cute. (Update, the picture kind of turned out.)

After dinner, T went right down for bed and all was right in the world. Bed time for me too! Tomorrow promises to be a long day!

Julia's Chicken

I have been really enjoying a cookbook my brother gave me a few years back by the name of The Way To Cook by Julia Child. I’m a big fan of Julia’s, and recently read the books Julie and Julia and My Life In France. 

I’ve been making my way through Julia’s cookbook. A couple of weeks ago I made a chicken sauté, which was delightful with a red wine sauce. Our friend Nigel came over for our weekly dinner and everyone loved it!

Yesterday I made a Broiled Whole Chicken. You start with the chicken skin side down and you baste it every 5 minutes. Then 20 minutes in you flip the bird over, rub it with spices and continue to baste every 5 minutes for 15 more minutes. 

It was a bit tricky since Tesla was playing around the oven. But whenever the timer went off I would just pick her up put her on the far side of the room and run back, open the door to the oven, baste then shut the door again and restart the whole process. She managed to make quite a mess though. I saved these two drawers for her to play with, and she has a lot of fun with them. 

I served the chicken with a risotto and some frozen mixed vegetables. I was going to steam up some fresh broccoli but just as everything was finishing I got a text from Jason stating that he was just about to leave work, and all afternoon on NPR they had been talking about an accident on 405, and I figured he might be quite a bit delayed. So Tesla and I ate with out Jason and I plated him up a serving and left in the oven for when he arrived; he arrived about 30 minutes later. He was very pleased with the meal and mentioned today that the leftover lunch was particularly good. I’ve been making him lunch everyday, so he won’t have to eat lunch out and so that he has something special from me everyday, and feels loved. I think it’s working!

 

Tesla sure liked it! Although I forgot to take a picture of her eating the chicken and ended up with one of her eating the fruit afterward, but I couldn't have a post without a pic of her in it. She is our main focus you know!

Pancakes and a walk around Seattle

So the last four days were all about cousin Sissy. She spent the night Thursday night, spent all day Friday crafting with me, then came over Saturday for the jewelry party with Ms. Jenna, and the Sunday after a pumpkin pancake breakfast finally went home, to return to school today, Monday. We had a lot of fun. Sissy also made pumpkin pancakes for us for breakfast on Sunday. This is one of my all time favorite recipes, and although she insisted that she doesn't like "spices" I made her smell each bottle and put each one in, because you follow the recipe, at least the first time! She's a pretty funny kid and totally tolerant of all the pictures I took and made her pose for!

Later that same day we took Sissy home, well kind of. My sister has sold her home and is looking to buy a new one. They have put an offer on a house and were having it inspected. It gave us an opportunity to take a look at it. It’s a lovely mossy green and built in 2003. I hope that they are all happy in it.

 

 

Later we went into Seattle. I wanted to go to a store that Jenna told me about the night before that has a lot of cheap containers. The store is a Japanese Dollar store, where everything is a $1.50. I know, I know, $1.50 is not a dollar but it’s a good way to describe it. I got some containers for my crafting/office room. Can’t wait to get organized!

We then had lunch at PF Chang’s, which I had never been to before. I would categorize the Chinese food there as being Tex-Mexy but for Asian food. Jason said that it was California Asian. Would that be Calsian?

Afterwards we went and walked around the urban park outside Westlake Center. Tesla had a fun time and I got a few good shots of her stumbling around. Now tell me that is not adorable.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone! We had such a wonderful Valentines Day this year. I usually find that because of the cost that's associated with Valentine's day that it's a bit stressful leading up to it, but this year we don't have any money to be spending on such things so I took matters into my own hands.

About a week before Valentine's Day my niece Sophie came over and helped me decorate. We made Crayon Hearts using waxed paper, crayon shavings and an iron. Shaving the crayons took the longest time, the rest of the craft was super quick and good to do with Sophie. I also let her use the iron! Which was a big deal. Of course I supervised the whole time, and although some melted crayon ended up on my pants, shoes and floor, we were able to clean it all up and there was no other catastrophe. We also made sugar cookies. I rolled out the dough and baked all the cookies with Sophie's help watching Tesla. Then after we had melted all the crayons, we decorated the cookies. I filled pastry bags with icing then piped it on while Sophie spread the icing and then sprinkled it with pretty sugar crystals. They looked fantastic! We hung up all the decorations and packaged up the cookies to be given away.

Since the house was decorated we had to do dinner in for Valentines Day, (well that and the fact that it could have cost a fortune.) We invited my parents over to celebrate. I made Osso Bucco and roasted carrots, served with a hardy sourdough bread and the Liberty School Cabernet. For dessert we had something that looked like a giant eclair, made with a puff pastry, that I shaped into a heart, then split open, filled with whip cream and poured chocolate sauce over. It was pretty darn good!

Overall it was a great day! The best part was spending it with my wonderful husband, who shows me his love everyday!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Spaghetti Night

How much she ate we don't know, but we do know that it was fun to eat!

Jibber Jabber

Tesla is so chatty. I shouldn't be surprised having a Papa like Jason. When we eat dinner if she's not concentrating on eating she's chatting away with us. It's super cute so we just had to video tape it.

Lasagne

Tesla is such a great eater. Tonight we started out with me feeding her some baby food. Now I made all of her baby food with the exception of cereal's. We have been transitioning her away from the mushed items to chewing items for the last couple of weeks. The last two nights Tesla has not been opening her mouth for me. I was thinking that it was because Jason usually feeds her while I'm making dinner so she just wants Papa to feed her. But it seems that she just really wants to feed herself. After about 10 minutes of struggling to get her to open her mouth I put a peice of the lasagne on the tray and she immediately started feeding herself. It's pretty cool to see how much she likes different foods. Once she was done eating her lasagna, and garlic bread (only about an inch of bread total) I gave her some applesauce and yogurt. That she let me feed her. Once dinner was complete I had to hose down the high chair while Jason wiped all the food off. This whole feeding yourself thing is pretty messy!

Tofu, Pumpkin Muffins, and New PJ's.

Today, Tesla and I went to Stroller Strides in Derry. We go to Stroller Strides 3-4 times a week. It's a workout class in which you combine cardio with strength training and your stroller. So the kids get to play with each other, mom's get a good work out and some much needed. In today's class, we also had the bonus of having the kids in their costumes. It was adorable. Tomorrow in the Salem class we're doing the same thing so I'll post some pics of them from that class. In tomorrow's class a reporter is coming to take pictures of us working out with the kids. Should be fun!

Tonight we had grilled tofu for the first time. We're going to start working it into our diet. We think it's good to have a little variety and since I don't eat seafood, tofu it is. I also made pumpkin muffins that are delicious. We'll save most of them for Tesla's play group tomorrow.

Tesla is really enjoying standing with assistance. She's started to move her feet to walk while we hold her hands too. It's interesting how all of a sudden it clicks with them. After her bath tonight, Jason put her in some pajamas that her cousin Jake got her. We think she looks adorable and just had to post her picture. Jason doesn't look half bad either!