Christmas Eve

Little supervising sugar cookie decorating.

Sugar cookies ready for hungry bellies.

 Delicious crab cakes made by E & L.

The frantic search for the pickle ornaments.

Opening the medium pickle prize.

Holiday Party

The Mad Men style holiday party was a success. Fun was had by all as you can see from the array of bottles, dishes, and glassware in the background. I realized last night after everyone went home that we didn't take one single photo together. So, I set up the Gorillapod and we posed for the camera before collapsing on the couch. Jesse had already removed his tie, but you get the idea. I'm pretty sure I also forgot to take photos of the food and drink, but maybe there's a stray shot of the nibbles in the background here and there. 

With J at the makeshift bar whipping up champagne cocktails, martinis, gimlets and sidecars, it was practically a crime to walk around with an empty glass. One of our friends had the brilliant idea of bringing a case of candy cigarettes, which were quite a hit. I initially thought they'd be great Bah Humbug props (for those who chose not to dress up), but everyone came dressed to the nines. It was awesome. I'm pretty sure we'll be scrubbing simple syrup, Creme de Casis, and those little white sticks of sugar off our floor for months. However, as a good friend of mine recently said, "The floor is disgusting. That's the sign of a good party." 

As for Mr. M, he slept like a charm through the party, hence the lack of photos. After such a good night's sleep, he was happy and alive at six o'clock sharp. I brought him into bed with us and he thrashed around until I relented 45 minutes later and decided to let J sleep in. I popped two Advil and a Lindt truffle, chugged a glass of water, and waded through the kitchen to find the french press and coffee beans. As I waited for the kettle to boil, I dreamed of bagels and leftover smoked salmon that we talked about before bed. For a split second, I thought I'd head out to the bagel shop with M and surprise J. Then, I saw that it was 35º and decided that another truffle and some stale popcorn sounded like a perfectly reasonable breakfast. I think I will definitely need two cups of coffee to make it through the day, but it was totally worth kicking off the holiday season with a splash.

Oh (Giant) Christmas Tree!

J, Little and I went out to Costco in Vancouver, WA to pick up supplies for our party. We decided to venture up to Washington because we didn't think it possible that they would have state controlled liquor stores like Oregon. I'm not sure why we didn't bother to look up this "fact" on the internet. As it turns out, Washington too only has state run stores for booze. Boo. Also, as it turns out, the Vancouver Costco has a pretty crummy cheese selection. Total bust (except for the flat of pomegranates that we used to make grenadine). 

On our way home we picked up our Christmas tree. Like last year, it's a cute Noble Fir, but quite a bit taller at 5'6". We cleared out a spot in the corner of our living room and I was really excited to put it into place. Now, our stand is supposed to be good for a tree up to 6' tall, but clearly ours has a very large trunk. I guess that's what you get for buying a $12 Christmas tree stand. I rushed out to the hardware store with the mission of either buying a new stand or a hacksaw to get rid of some of the nubs at the bottom. I decided to upgrade to the $17 -- good for trees up to 7' -- since we were pushing the height limit of our miniature one at home.  

Now that I'm a pro at putting together these crappy tree stands, I was eager to get home and impress J with my Christmas ninja skills. And....Christmas tree fail. With our bigger stand the stumpy little Noble Fir trunk did not reach the bottom spike. In retrospect, I should have bought the stand AND a hacksaw. We both had a good chuckle, but neither of us wanted to go out in the rain to the hardware store again. So, we improvised.

J dug deep into our toolbox and pulled out a knock-off Swiss Army Knife branded with "Motorola" on the side. It was likely some giveaway that my Dad picked up at the office. I'm not sure if we had ever used it before. J pulled out all of the tool attachments and found one that looked like a saw. Rather, I should say "saw", because we might have been better off using a nail file. I got to work on one of the larger branches and quickly realized that it might take a while. Thankfully, Little was taking a nap and we were able to take turns hacking away with our mini Motorola pocket knife. 

J developed a good technique of leveraging the tree branch with his foot and in no time we had cleared an entire row of branches. I held my breath as he lifted the tree off the floor and made our third attempt at getting this darn tree standing. It was a Christmas miracle. The tree plunked down into the stand with a crack. And Little promptly woke up screaming. Since J was holding the tree upright, I had to go tend to our little cherub with sap coated hands and forearms. He didn't seem to mind and giggled when we walked into the living room and saw the tree. 

After dinner and a few cooking projects, I started to put on the lights. Since we have at least another foot or two of tree than last year, we're going to need one more strand to make it around the bottom. Given that this is only the second year that J and I have purchased trees for ourselves, I'm guessing our experiences could have been much worse. I'm very happy with how it looks so far and am pretty excited to finally bust out the Christmas music and get to decorating. I think it's going to make a great gathering spot for all of the friends and family that are going to share the holidays with us this year. I'm really looking forward to having a full house for the rest of December!

Tour de Miles

We're back from our Thanksgiving road trip and very happy to be home. It was great meeting up with family and friends, but I will be so happy to sleep in my own bed again. Little was sleepy when we walked him up the stairs, but as soon as we were in the apartment and he was on his familiar changing pad, he kicked and smiled. I'm pretty sure he's happy to be home as well -- back to regular nap times, bed times, and familiar toys.

Thanksgiving Travel

We set out on our first road trip with Miles yesterday morning. Miles isn't terribly fond of his car seat, so we were a little worried that he'd have a hard time with the 12+ hour trip. Overall the first leg was pretty great. We stopped about every two hours to feed and change him and let him stretch his legs.  Miles had a small meltdown around Grants Pass, but after he settled down and went to sleep it was smooth sailing. After looking at the weather forecast, we opted to take the coast instead of the Siskiyou pass. It ultimately will add a couple of hours on to our trip, but saves me from experiencing flashbacks from two Christmases ago. We stopped in Klamath, CA for a nice long rest before heading to Eureka for dinner and a hotel for the night. 

Miles was happy to be out of the car. So were Jesse and I. It felt nice to uncurl for the night and recharge. Miles took his uncurling very seriously and arched his back for several minutes to stretch. I don't blame him. That car seat can't be very comfortable! Today we set out on our second leg and will end up in Berkeley before dinner and our Thanksgiving week will officially start.

Tastes Like Fall

I picked up a pork tenderloin at the grocery store the other night because J and I were craving meat. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the cold rain that we've had for the past couple of days. Maybe it's some primal urge to put on bulk for the winter. So, anyway, I had this pork loin, some apples, and a craving for potatoes. I went to Epicurious to find an old favorite recipe and stumbled on something new: Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Cider. The dish was amazingly simple and incredibly tasty. Paired with mashed potatoes with a little butter, cream, and smoked sharp cheddar, dinner tonight was top notch.

Side note: I also got to use my All Clad saute pan to its fullest by taking it from stove top to oven to table (well to serving dish). The only disadvantage of the whole oven to table part is when the chef forgets the hot oven's effect on the pan handle. Yes, I burned the ever-loving crap out of my right hand. Don't worry, no blisters, just throbbing hot fingers. I'm currently typing with my left index finger. What? I'm a dedicated blogger.

Thankfully, I had lots of help in the kitchen. J really stepped up to the plate in order to supervise Little doing his chores. (Actually, J is responsible for the stellar mashed potatoes.) Little was a trooper and chipped in by helpfully lubricating the counter top with his drool. Salivating while whisking is pretty hard work and not long after this photo he had a righteous meltdown followed by a 30-minute nap (the longest stretch he's managed lately much to our dismay). At least it allowed me to muddle my way through the rest of dinner prep handicapped by the lack of use of my dominant hand. Despite my injured state, the pork was fabulous. In fact, you could say it was so easy that one could make it with a hand tied behind their back (or dangling in crippling pain). Just a thought -- do you feel sorry for me yet?

As you can see, Little changed into his dress pj's for dinner (code for barfed all over his clean outfit) and chose to skip the pork for something much more delectable. Giraffe butt. Some say it's too gamey, but if Little could talk I'm sure he'd say that they're just weenies. Just look at that face. That's one satisfied baby. In my opinion though, I'd say that the squeaky, chewy giraffe meat doesn't hold a candle to the tender pork and apples.

Now that Little is finally down for the night, I'm off to Walgreens for some burn cream and maybe a little chocolate to soothe the pain.

Holiday Party

Jesse and I decided that we are going to host a holiday party at our place this year. We've yet to have many people over to our new apartment, which is a shame since we've been living here for exactly a year now. Morning sickness and a crippling lack of energy during the early months of pregnancy throws a damper on holiday celebrations. However, I've used my get out of jail free card now, it's time to party Mad Men style. This year's party has a dress code -- 50s or 60s chic. I'm talking skinny ties, smoking jackets, button down sweaters and fab cocktail dresses. Of course we'll let in modern day fashion with the caveat that there will be Bah Humbug accessories handed out at the door.

We're actually pretty excited about it and will likely go overboard on planning and execution. This weekend, our friends Ben & Daphne were in town and we used them as guinea pigs for a few potential retro cocktails on our drink menu. We've narrowed down the selection and will continue to tweak a couple more recipes. After dropping off Ben & Daphne at the airport on Sunday, we went shopping for a few holiday decorations and started brainstorming our food menu. Last night we took a walk to the library to check out a few books on cocktails and finger foods. Then we mulled over our book selections at Deschutes Brewery while sipping their winter seasonal beers. They were delicious! 

I can't wait for Christmas!

Status Update

I'm always surprised when I look at the calendar and find that nearly two weeks has gone by without me even noticing. It seems like Halloween was just yesterday, but now Thanksgiving is just two weeks away and Christmas is just around the corner. We will set out on our maiden voyage with Little to San Francisco and Santa Cruz in exactly nine days! I surveyed our trunk the other day trying to figure out how exactly we are going to pack in all of the baby stuff necessary for nine days away from home -- stroller, infant carrier, portable crib, swing, enough outfits for the two day car ride without doing laundry, and a cooler big enough for all the Corralitos sausage we'd like to bring home. We still haven't planned our exact route. I mean there aren't an abundance of options, but taking 101 for a portion of the trip instead of I-5 all the way down is a possibility. 

I had every intention of scoping out potential hotel stops, organizing the things we'll need, and running errands this week. However, our sweet, dear, adorable Little has had quite a stretch of incredibly cranky days. I'm thinking that he's going through his stormy period just before Wonder Week 12 and is wearing me and J thin in the process. Naps are erratic, night sleeping is spotty, and he gets incredibly angry at the things he can't do like rolling over and crawling. His brain keeps telling him go go go, but his body has yet to catch up. At points I feel bad, because I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be for him, but it's hard to feel sympathy for too long when he doesn't just demand to be held, but entertained for every waking hour. Luckily, there are a few bursts of sunshine during the day and it helps to remind me that he's learning so many new things in such a short period of time. For instance, tummy time is no longer torture. In fact, he loves his new view of the world.  

As for my errands and chores, well, they can wait for another few days. Our friends Ben & Daphne are in town for the weekend and I intend on making the most of their time here. We are going to bundle up this afternoon and take a walk downtown to enjoy the crisp fall air. 

Date Night Resurrected

My mom was in town last week to lend a hand with Miles while Jesse had a business trip to DC. On Friday night, she offered to spend some quality time with her grandson (we really had to twist her arm) so Jesse and I could spend a couple of hours alone. We chose to dust off our date night tradition and headed out to Cascade Brewing Barrel House on Belmont Street. 

Cascade specializes in sour beers, which is a welcome variation in my opinion to the sometimes overly "hoppy" northwest brews. I am partial to more complex Belgian style beers, especially those that are spiced and dark. My first sour beer was in the form of a rather popular cherry lambic a few years ago -- a starter variety for sour beer drinkers or lambic with training wheels. Two years ago at the Cheers to Belgian Beers festival here in Portland, we sampled a local sour that was pretty awesome. In preparation for our trip to Belgium and Germany last fall, we decided to do our own sampling of Belgian varieties of lambics. We determined that some were very much an acquired taste -- with flavor descriptions that included "horse blanket" -- and others were rather delightful.

I was excited that Cascade Brewing managed to stay on the delightful and complex spectrum of sour beers and provided a spectacular evening of beer sampling. We started off with a glass of their special Cherry Bourbon Double Red and a glass of Bourbonic Plague. According to their menu:

Cherry Bourbon Double Red (11% abv) is a sour double red aged in Maker's Mark oak barrels for 9 months. The beer is then aged with sour pie cherries, fresh sour pie base and bourbacide. The result was a wonderfully tangy beer that had hints of bourbon. I was amazed at how much you could really taste the cherries. This was one of our favorites of the evening.  

The Bourbonic Plague (12% abv) is aged for 14 months and consists of strong dark porters aged in oak wine and bourbon barrels that is blended with dark porter that was brewed with cinnamon and vanilla. This is probably one of the best beers that I've tasted in a very long time. Its flavor was complex, slightly sour, and full-bodied, but not heavy. I was skeptical about ordering a 12% abv beer, because in Belgium that was almost a guarantee that you'd get a syrupy heavy concoction. This beer was exactly the opposite. Seriously, you have to try the Bourbonic Plague.

We also sampled Cascade's Bourbon Gold Yeller II (in photo on the right), and the '09 Beck Berry. The Beck Berry was outstanding (pictured on the left), but the Gold Yeller II just didn't stand up to the Bourbonic Plague, Cherry Bourbon Double Red -- I wish it had been one of our first sips rather than our last. We took home a bottle of the Bourbonic Plague to enjoy sometime in the near future, since I'm not sure when we'll get out there again in the next few months. However, I can't wait until our next visit so we can try more of the many beers on tap!

Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to our friend Staci's 6th Annual Halloween Extravaganza -- this is our second year attending. We have the good fortune to have friends who love dressing up and spend months thinking and scheming about their costumes. It forces us to stay on our toes. This is our first holiday as a family of three, so I had a lot of fun figuring out our costumes. Naturally, J and I were merely accessories to Little, I mean, Thing One. 

The party started at 7pm and we were the first to arrive. Little charmed the early arrivals for approximately 45 minutes and then decided that parties pretty much suck. I went into the back room, swaddled him and shushed him to sleep and placed him in his stroller where he slept for a solid two hours. I guess the boom of the music and the the loud voices of the 25+ people were the perfect white noise. I was still nervous about leaving him alone where I couldn't hear his cries, but managed to have a great time while checking in on him every 20 minutes or so. 

By 10pm, J and I were both pooped. So, I fed our sleepy baby, wrapped him up tight, and walked briskly home in the rain. Little stayed dry under the canopy of his stroller, but squawked toward the end to make sure we knew that it was way past his bedtime. Halloween was great this year, but we were all happy to be home and tucked into our warm beds.

Online Dating

While reading a chapter of the Wonder Weeks aloud to J the other morning over breakfast, we found out that around this M is really starting to see colors and patterns more clearly. He also is starting to enjoy movement more, such as rustling leaves on the treetops and shiny clothing or jewelry. Before J left for his business trip to D.C. (and before the weather abruptly changed from warm sunny days to cold and rainy) we had been taking afternoon walks with M in his stroller. His eyes would stay wide open, taking in all of the scenery, and then about 10 minutes from home he'd fall asleep and nap. So, I feel that we've done a pretty good job of exposing him to new objects and places. 

It's people that we've left out of the equation. Yes, we've introduced him to many of our friends, but it's been in the comfort of our apartment -- a very familiar setting. He's definitely starting to take interest in people walking by and facial gestures, but J and I were struck by the fact that by 8 weeks, M will start to enjoy watching other children play. It was one of those "oh crap" moments, because we know very few couples with babies. Our friends Anna and Brian are our closest friends with a little one and Elliot is quickly becoming a little boy and is sort of indifferent towards M (I don't blame him...J is much more fun at this point in time). We love our friends here in Portland and have every intention of attending many more happy hours, camping weekends, and birthdays, but it's time to expand our social circle -- we need to start putting ourselves out there to meet more people in our neighborhood with kids. 

So, Operation Find More Friends has commenced. J and I joked that it's like dating all over again. We both managed to avoid doing the online dating game the first time around, but this time I think it's inevitable. Don't worry (moms) we're not posting creepy Craigslist want ads or anything. I'm going through completely respectable channels to pick up other couples with babies. I joined a group of ladies called the Super Strollers who go out walking on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the weekends. There are only 3 or 4 in the group, but they all live in NW Portland. I haven't actually gone out with them yet, but making contact and setting up dates is the first step right? I'm also going to join a parenting group at the local hospital that meets once a week. With M as my wing man, how could I go wrong? M is already honing his Blackberry skills for all of those phone numbers we're going to rake in.

Naptime Gourmet

My goal yesterday was to utilize Miles' morning nap time to the fullest. Some days I just don't have the energy to do much more than check my email and stare off into space, but Miles (knock on wood) has been sleeping really well at night, so I've been waking up quite refreshed. He went down around 10am and I got to work in the kitchen. 

I decided to crack open the Slow Cooker Gourmet and try another recipe since the first round was so successful. Sticking with the Mexican section, I flagged the Pork Stew in Tomatillo sauce. As I mentioned before, this isn't your average slow cooker cookbook, so there was some prep time involved. I roasted tomatillos, serrano peppers, onion and garlic under the broiler until everything was soft and slightly blackened. This veggie mixture was combined with chicken stock and I added a small bunch of cilantro before blending into a sauce and added a bit more salt. I was supposed to put a corn tortilla in there before blending to thicken the mixture, but I forgot. I will remember to do this next time.

Next, I salt and peppered a pork roast, diced it into 1 1/2 inch cubes and browned it in two batches and put the browned meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. I think browning the meat is one of the most important parts of having success with the slow cooker. If you skip this step then you'll likely end up with bland unappealing hunks of meat in whatever sauce you're cooking. It took some extra prep time, but was totally worth the effort. After the two batches of pork were browned, I de-glazed the pan with a little dry vermouth (white wine or even water would do as well) and poured the liquid over the pork in the bottom of the slow cooker. Don't skip his step! The browned juices are the best part. 

I then dumped the tomatillo mixture over the pork, covered the slow cooker and set it on low for 6-8 hours. If the sauce looks too thin, just remove the cover for the last hour or two to let some of the liquid evaporate. Even though the recipe had a bit of work before going in the slow cooker, I was still able to finish it up in about 45 minutes and still had time left over to clean up the giant mess I made in the kitchen.

And the result? Incredibly tasty. The pork fell apart when pressed with a fork and the sauce was tangy and slightly spicy. We served it over rice with a liberal sprinkling of queso fresco on top. The cheese melted over the hot stew and added a nice salty kick. I paired my meal with a Drop Top amber ale and it was perfect. It feels so good to be able to cook delicious meals again even though I don't have nearly as much time to devote to cooking as I did before Miles came along. I'm going to continue to experiment with recipes for the slow cooker and maybe even develop a few of my own once I get the hang of ratios and ingredients. 

Pork Stew in Tomatillo Sauce (Ingredients and Recap)

2-3 lbs pork loin (or a fattier cut if you wish)
3 lbs tomatillos
2 serrano peppers
1 onion peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic peeled
2 c. chicken stock
1 c. fresh cilantro  
1 corn tortilla
salt to taste
queso fresco and fresh cilantro for garnish





Salt, pepper and dice pork into 1 1/2" cubes. Brown in two batches and place in slow cooker. De-glaze pan with white wine or water and pour liquid over pork.


Roast tomatillos, onion, peppers, and garlic under broiler until soft and slightly blackened. Blend veggie mixture with chicken stock, cilantro, and corn tortilla. Salt to taste.


Pour tomatillo mixture over pork and cook on low for 6-8 hours (removing lid for last hour or two if mixture isn't thick enough). Serve over brown rice with crumbled queso fresco on top.

On My Bookshelf

Lately, my bookshelf has been a revolving collection of baby, parenting, and post-pregnancy books on trial from the library. After reading quite a bit of "professional" advice on eating, sleeping, and routines, I've happily dumped most of them right back in the library return box. The extent to which some of these guides want you to structure your day is exhausting. I just don't have the time or inclination to schedule "alone play time" for my 7-week-old and trying to structure feedings by the clock has proven to make my days more harrowing than restful. Anyway, there have been two books that I actually felt compelled to buy. One about me and one about Miles. 

The first is a book called The Wonder Weeks, which takes a more positive spin on the fussy periods in an infant's development. Instead of seeing Miles as a cranktastic baby that needs to be fixed, it has helped me understand that these trying times are actually quite wonderful because it means he's growing, both mentally and physically. After reading the chapter on the Wonder Week 5, I realized that earlier in the month, Miles wasn't just being a total pain in the butt for no reason. He wasn't napping, he was feeding constantly, and was generally a grumpy little guy -- all indicators that he was making mental leaps and was probably really overwhelmed. The next milestone is Wonder Week 8 in which babies start to understand that they are not one in the same with the world around them. He'll start to recognize that his arms are in fact his and colors and patterns are more clear. The book also provides a really great checklist of some of the things that you might start to see in the week leading up to and following each wonder week. For instance, this week one of the games they suggest is helping him pull up into a sitting and standing position. We tried it and he loves it. In fact, he wants to stand all the time now, which is awesome and a little frustrating because it really tires him out. One thing that we also read is that around this time, babies really enjoy watching rustling leaves and being outdoors, so we decided to take him out for a spin in his Baby Jogger stroller because the weather was so nice. 

Which leads me to my second book, Exercise After Pregnancy. Even though I only have about 3-5 pounds to shed to make it back to my pre-pregnancy weight, my belly is still pretty mushy and jiggly. The other day I pulled out my prenatal pilates DVD, which has a special postnatal workout, and found it nearly impossible to finish the 20 minute session. I don't consider myself to be greatly out of shape, so struggling through the "easy" warm-up exercises was difficult to swallow.  

I learned from the book that it's important to take it slow and focus on getting your abs back into the right place before doing any hardcore strengthening exercises. Apparently, a lot of women's ab muscles split down the middle and are stretched to maximum capacity -- and we all know how big my belly got toward the end! When I checked to see if this was the case with me, I found that I had a good three finger widths between my right and left side. With that in mind, the book focuses on getting back your posture by gently strengthening your core. Also, all of the women pictured in the book are actually moms -- round midsections, love handles and all. For me, exercise is much more tolerable when it's coming from a woman who actually looks 12 weeks postpartum as opposed to Brooke Burke cheerfully bouncing on an exercise ball with unnaturally perky boobs and a 14-inch waist.   

So for now, I'm now working on getting my rectus abdominis pulled in closer and then I can focus more on shortening the muscles to back where they should be. I mean, while my maternity jeans are oh so comfy, I'd really like to be able to put on a normal pair of pants sometime in the near future.

Apple Season

J and I always look forward to this time of year. The weather starts to get cooler, but is still sunny and the grocery store fills up with all kinds of delicious local apples. We thought about attending an apple tasting at a local nursery. However, J got his flu shot on Friday and M didn't have a very restful night, leaving us worried that he might be catching a cold. I'm pretty sure M is just fine (and his gurgling, snorting, and coughing were just quirky newborn noises), but we both decided that it would be a great weekend to just hang out in our pj's. Fortunately, our lounging didn't interfere with enjoying one of the season's greatest treats. 

It's been a while since J baked a pie, so he was eager to dust off his favorite crust recipe and try out the new apple peeler that I picked up at Kitchen Kaboodle. We've had one of these gadgets on our kitchen wishlist for a while, but given that our cooking spaces for the past seven years have been so small, it always seemed like a luxury item. Well, now that we're in a much larger space, it no longer seems like a luxury, but a necessity. J peeled and cored this whole bowl of apples in about 10 minutes. It was great. We used a combination of Braeburn and Granny Smith apples, so there was a nice mixture of sweet and tart. 

J only made enough dough for one crust, so we whipped up a crumble top for the apple pie. While M took his afternoon nap, we cleaned up a bit and did a few chores to the smell of baking apples and cinnamon. Nothing like a pie in the oven to motivate you to get things done! I kept telling myself that if I successfully rearranged the guest bedroom closet that I could maybe have an extra large piece of pie as an afternoon snack. You know, for all those extra calories I would burn re-shelving bedding and camping gear.   

Just look at those perfect apple layers. And the taste is phenomenal. I have to say this may be one of his best baked goods to date! As you can see, less than 24 hours later we've managed to kill half of the pie. We had a slice in the afternoon because neither of us could wait until after dinner to sample the goods. Then, we had a celebratory slice when we finally got M to sleep after nearly two hours of his cranktastic antics. J had a piece for breakfast, followed by his usual oatmeal later. And I'm about to dig in for my second breakfast. I'm thinking that apple pie will not be a regular item on our menu or we'll need a crane to get us out of the apartment come springtime.

More Purple Food

We had an abundance of these purple beans from our CSA sitting in the refrigerator. Tonight I needed a quick vegetable (other than salad) and decided to saute them with a little butter and garlic as a side for the main course. They were pretty cool looking, purple on the outside, and bright green on the inside. I couldn't wait to test them out. Much to our disappointment though, they didn't stay purple. As soon as they started to cook, they turned green and looked just like any other bean. Luckily they were tasty and we had no trouble finishing them all. 

The main course was much more exciting. Jesse and I purchased a slow cooker a couple of weeks ago knowing that life with a baby just wouldn't allow us to spend hours in the kitchen tending the oven and stove. When I was coming up short on inspiration for what to cook (other than pulled pork), my good friend Lauren suggested I purchase the Gourmet Slow Cooker. I was pleasantly surprised when not a single recipe called for canned soup! 

I decided to delve into the Mexican section and prepared chicken in peanut chili sauce for dinner, which really turns out to be more like a mole. The recipes do require more prep time than the usual slow cooker concoctions that I've seen, which involve dumping cans of stuff and cooking the crap out of it. However, I browned the onions and garlic, blended the sauce, and prepped the chicken in the 30 minutes remaining on Miles' nap time. It cooked for about 3 hours on high and the chicken was perfect. We served it over a quinoa pilaf and sprinkled it with a bit of queso fresco. Paired with our hypercolor beans, I was really happy that dinner exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to try out the next recipe on my list, pork stew with tomatillo sauce.

I made quite a mess with the blender and sauce, so Miles and Jesse offered to help with the cleanup. What can I say, I'm one lucky gal.

E & J Diner

One of my favorite meals to eat out is breakfast. In D.C., we frequented The Diner just around the corner from our apartment on Saturday mornings. Sometimes it was after a late night of drinking (where the reuben omelet helped soothe our hungover bellies) or just an early morning. Our rule was to get there before 9:30am to avoid the crowds of more sensible hungover people who slept off the previous night's debauchery. It was always fun to go around 8am when bleary-eyed parents would bounce infants and toddlers on their knees while scarfing down a stack of pancakes. We'd chat about the cuteness of the babies and the brilliance of choosing the diner for meals with little kids -- it was always so noisy that nobody cared when the little ones howled. 

Today, we were those bleary-eyed parents, but lacked any place like the Diner for an early morning meal. Last night wasn't particularly bad for sleep, but Miles was wide awake at 6:30am and ready to rock. I rolled out of bed, changed his position and popped in his pacifier, which bought us exactly twenty-two extra minutes of rest. Jesse groaned something to the effect of, "We've been in bed for 11 hours. I shouldn't be this tired." Mercifully, those twenty-two minutes were just enough for us to wake up and embrace the day (and our baby who was sounding more like a rabid Ewok). Jesse offered to walk over to Ken's Bakery to pick up a baguette for French toast, but then I remembered that we had bacon in the fridge. Hell yeah! Breakfast was on. 

By 7:45, Miles was fed, changed, and happily cracked-out on breast milk in his swing. So, I whipped up a batch of biscuits. Instead of baking and gorging on all twelve, we sensibly froze half of the uncooked dough for another sleepy Saturday morning. Once the biscuits were cut and ready, Jesse got to work on cooking up the bacon and eggs. It was a proper diner breakfast with orange juice, coffee, and a bottle of Cholula that I liberally applied to my scrambled eggs. I forgot how much I love Cholula and vowed to never eat eggs without her again. 

Throw a (Pickled) Egg on It!

Our friends Larson & Serena gave us this great book, Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it, a while ago. While I've poured over the pages from time to time and made plans to have a big pickling/jamming/curing day, it just never happened. 

When my mom was in town a couple of weeks ago, Jesse and I took advantage of her stay to go out for happy hour at Clyde Common for our anniversary. In addition to some of the most delicious mixed drinks I've had in a while (that'll have to wait for another post down the road) we shared small plates including an assortment of house pickled vegetables. On the pickle plate was a wedged pickled egg. I've always been kind of grossed out by pickled eggs, particularly the ones that are colored with purple beets, so I almost wanted to hold my nose when sampling. However, their eggs had a slight yellow tinge, which was not nearly as gross as purple, so I ate one. And I was hooked. It was mind blowing. We decided it was about time to give pickling a try. 

The only thing missing in our kitchen were all the ingredients for pickling spices. So, on Tuesday afternoon I decided to pick up the CSA solo (instead of our usual family trip that can become a somewhat harrowing experience with a screaming infant near the end). I left a few minutes early and stopped by Penzey's in the Pearl and purchased a jar of their pre-mixed pickling spices. This afternoon we decided to hard boil six eggs for a trial batch. They need to sit for seven days to attain maximum pickleness, so we won't have a verdict until then. I think they're pretty spectacular looking though.  


Here's the recipe for our first try at pickling eggs:
(I'll update later if we tweak it a bit)


6 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. water
1 T. Penzey's pickling spices
1.5 tsp. kosher salt**
3 cloves garlic, sliced 


Place eggs and garlic in a 1 pint mason jar. Bring vinegar, water, salt & spices to a boil. Pour over eggs and garlic. Let cool on counter and place in refrigerator for 1 week. Enjoy!

**The first batch turned out to be way too salty, so I halved the salt to 1.5 tsp.

Maybe Moby?

When I got pregnant, I had set out a game plan of ideals. One of my main goals was to have a natural childbirth -- clearly that did not happen. Another one of my goals was to wear the baby as much as possible. I thought it would be so easy to just sling Little on my chest, wrap him up and go about my normal life. Well, just like my birth, life threw a curve ball. I gestated a child who hates swaddling (unless under extreme duress) and despised all forms of child carriers including the famous Moby wrap that apparently is loved by all babies and parents. The first time I put Little in the Moby he howled. The second time he screamed as though I were prodding him with hot pokers. The third time, well, it took us an hour to calm him down. I'm not one for giving up, but needless to say, the Moby went on a high shelf never to be touched again. 

The galling thing about his reaction to the Moby is that it places him in the exact upright position in which he loves to be held. For some reason, after two weeks of avoiding it, I decided to pull the wrap off the shelf today to give it another try. I wrapped it a little looser than usual and slipped him in with hardly a whimper. After a minute or two, he realized he was being confined, so I popped in the pacifier. It worked like a charm. He tolerated it for about 15 minutes then began to rooting around to be fed. I nursed him and slipped him right back in and he passed out for a catnap. In fact, I'm blogging while baby-wearing -- how very new age mom of me.

A Quilt for Eloise

I started this project a long time ago, but morning sickness, exhaustion from pregnancy, and life in general prevented me from finishing it. The project sat in my closet as a lonely quilt top for a good six months. When I heard the news of our friend Linnaea's new baby girl, Eloise, I pulled it out of that "to do" pile. I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible, which becomes more complicated when you stray from the traditional yellow/green combo. The big question was whether I should include blue? It was a tough decision, but ultimately I'm very pleased. This quilt also marks the first time that I used a dark color as the background. I played around with a few different colors, but decided that the slate fabric compliments the color palate much better than plain white sashing -- also, white and babies usually don't mix. 

Given that I was recovering from birth and settling into new parenthood, my mom was gracious enough to offer to finish it while she was in town. She finished the back, quilted the layers, and sewed on the binding. I have to say it's kind of nice having more than one person involved in a baby quilt's creation. Just that much more love has gone into the gift. While Miles was napping on Monday, I finally got a clear window of time to take it over to the post office and send it down to Santa Cruz. The quilt was packed with entire package of newborn sized diapers that Miles, my jumbo baby, outgrew at two weeks old. Eloise was just shy of seven pounds at birth, so I'm thinking they'll be useful for a while.

Welcome to the world, Eloise!

Morning Daycare

Little is one month old today. It's hard to believe. On one hand, I feel like I've hardly accomplished anything, but on the other, he's changed so much. One thing that we have developed is a pretty consistent morning routine. Little is usually awake and alert between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. We both get up, I nurse him and J changes his diaper and takes him to the office (the dining room). Most mornings he happily coos in his swing and drifts off to sleep. I also happily drift off to sleep for another hour or two until Little is ready to eat again. 

However, this morning he was not stoked about the swing and wanted to be held like a sack of potatoes over J's arm. Unfortunately, typing with one hand is not really an option when rapid-fire emails flood your inbox, so Little was back in the bedroom with me for the morning. Even though we technically got seven hours of sleep last night, I was pretty drowsy. So, I nursed him again and instituted the Brasilliant school of morning daycare (dim lights, a nice belly rub, and a pacifier). It worked like a charm. We slept in until 10am.

Baby Houdini

Little is a pretty great baby. He cries when he's hungry, sometimes when he's wet, and when he gets overtired. The rest of the time he's quite the charmer. Lately though, he's been pretty restless and quite noisy at night. Not crying, but grunting, rooting, and rolling around. We've been swaddling him in the evening with some success, but recently he's managed to strong-arm his way out of our tightest wraps. Last night I woke up to him grunting and fussing because he'd managed to free his arms and legs, leaving only a small piece of the receiving blanket wrapped around his midsection. So the problem? His beefy arms and strong back. 

Exhibit A: Little awake (and a pretty good approximation of his sleep activity):

 

 

 

 

He is noticeably more cranky throughout the day following a restless night, so his sleep activity isn't just an annoyance on our part. Our friends gave us a Miracle Blanket as a gift when Little was born and up until this point we haven't pulled it out of the drawer. Since our swaddling techniques had been working pretty well to date, we almost forgot about it. However, tonight we're going to experiment with the "baby straight jacket" with the hope of a better night sleep for all three of us!

Purple Pesto

We got a lovely (giant) bunch of purple basil at our CSA on Monday. It was so fragrant that it filled the entire car on the way home. Had it been green, there would have been no question as to its final destination -- a giant bowl of pesto. However, purple pesto? Ick right? I've never been a huge fan of purple food. I mean, I love red beets and will eat them on their own, but toss them with some cheese, which immediately turns pink, and barf. Not really all that stoked about it. I quickly got over my purple food phobia when J started blending the leaves in the kitchen. It smelled divine. 

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it definitely cast a dark tinge on the pasta (for the record the fusilli is not whole wheat). Tossed with a few fresh cherry tomatoes, we had a perfectly spectacular late summer meal, even though yesterday was technically the first day of fall. Despite our fully stocked freezer, thanks to my mom, it was nice to be able to put together a meal on our own and eat some of the fresh summer treats from our CSA. No doubt we'll be back to kale, collards, and late fall crops in no time. Also, pesto is great for new parents because it hardly takes any time and is so satisfying. As we sat down to eat dinner, Miles decided that he was no longer satisfied looking up at us from his swing. 


So, we took turns scarfing down our purple pesto while jiggling/ making googly eyes at our little man. Notice that Jesse is not sitting on a chair, but rather our exercise ball that has gotten quite the workout this week. Little sometimes is only happy when being bounced up and down. I like to think he's just urging me to get back into my pre-maternity pants -- at this rate I'll have a rock hard core in no time.