FriendsFamily – Page 2 – Growing Up Savvy

Published March 9, 2015 by Nadya

Weekending: With Floral Flair

For the first time in what seems like forever, the weather forecast shows that we are not expected to freeze for the next few days and that alone gives me hope that spring may arrive yet. Another sure sign that winter has departed is the arrival (and departure) of the Philadelphia Flower Show. The show is a big event drawing crowds from near and far and reducing the convention center area to a standstill, especially on a weekend when the Reading Terminal Market is in full swing. Having been away for a few years, we decided to partake in what used to be our yearly tradition of visiting the flower show. Sophia went as well, though earlier in the day on Sunday and with my in-laws. This year’s theme was Disney and she was dressed in, according to my mother-in-law, a mandatory princess dress. She put the princess dress on later in the evening and now our entire house (including the toilet seat and now our bums) is covered in glitter. Needless to say, we will be retiring her royal wardrobe as a cost cutting measure since our “palace”, unlike Buckingham, does not employ an extensive cleaning staff. But I digress…

As per usual, there was quite a bit of cooking since we had on-hand help from both sets of grandparents. I made this vanilla-bean raspberry swirl cheesecake that is was divine and so very beautiful. Alas, Sophia has decided that she doesn’t like cheese and even adding cake to the name wouldn’t sway her. Except that she eats mozzarella and cheese ravioli (though we call that just ravioli). Oh well, more for the rest of us.

And when we weren’t visiting the flower show, baking a cheesecake and getting treats from our local ice cream and candy shops trying to soak up every warm ray of sunshine outdoors, we were … living and enjoying.

This move, our life is more than ever crazy, busy, and exhausting. Still, it is thrilling, wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it for all the sand in the Sahara.

Cookery Delicious Dessert Flavors FriendsFamily Life

cheesecake family flower show growingupsavvy philadelphia raspberry cheesecake spring

Published December 1, 2014 by Nadya

Weekending: Family Togetherness

Instead of alternating which side of the family we spend our Thanksgiving with, we have begun to alternate which side of the family hosts the other. In effect, we have figured out how to see our parents, grandparents, Evan’s uncles and their families, my parents, sister and her in-laws every year. It was indeed a large gathering and included some friends, too. And this gathering was hosted by my sister who was gracious enough to open her home to 25+ people on Thanksgiving. It was a truly international holiday with Russian and French flowing freely throughout the house as people feasted. I should probably have grabbed a picture of the table but I was too busy enjoying our families and the food to do that. The table was decorated with flowers of late fall colors and they were surrounded by dishes both traditional and less so. Everyone pitched in by bringing a side dish/dessert. I did acquire a picture (courtesy of my brother-in-law) my sister’s beautiful and enormous honey cake … it was impressive.

Just how impressive? 13 inches in diameter and 7-8 layers tall. The togetherness and warmth made me realize that I had, right there and then, everything that truly matters—our family together.

FriendsFamily Life

Published October 9, 2014 by Nadya

Amazing Grace

Anyone who has visited this space regularly will know that we are fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing family (here, here, here, here and here) who go out of their way to help. I have however, until this very day, held back one amazing post. Not because it was not deserved but rather because I was afraid that if I had shared, she and the magic she wields would somehow disappear. But I cannot any longer and in good conscience be quiet about the amazing grace of my mother-in-law. In all our adventures as parents and even before then, my mother-in-law has lent a helping hand. She has been instrumental in this move, both in instigating and making it come to fruition, by helping to sort, pack, take care of the kids and generally offer support.

Lately5 — Tiara and magic wand courtesy of Grammie

Judi came into the city to lend a helping hand with Sophia and Eliza yesterday since Evan was on a long day trip. Sophia was already asking if Grammie is coming back again this evening. That is the ultimate validation. Through the years (the many, many years) that we have known each other, I have time and again witnessed the amazing grace of my mother-in-law and it is time I shouted from my rooftop just how grateful I am for her.

FriendsFamily Life

Published September 2, 2014 by Nadya

Lately

Sometimes there are no words. Sometimes, the words don’t match the pictures and so this time, there are only pictures. For personal reasons, out of respect.

FriendsFamily Life

Published June 17, 2014 by Nadya

One of My Favorite Things…

The weekend was mild permitting us to pick cherries and enjoy the outdoors. The week is starting off hot and very humid and that calls for one of my favorite things: a summer borscht. Admittedly, I have not cooked this batch or any other batch. For whatever reason, I find the process of cooking borscht (hot or cold) daunting. My mother’s summer borscht is divine. If you have never had cold borscht, you should know that it is served with fixings such as hardboiled eggs, cucumbers, sour cream and dill. They elevate the very simple, clean broth to an exceptional first course.

Mom's Cooking

Published June 9, 2014 by Nadya

Weekending: Play

It has been significantly warmer and muggy around these parts. When the winter chills hit, I forget that the District of Columbia and its surroundings are pretty much one big swamp that gets hot, humid and full of mosquitos come summer time. Usually, the beginning of June serves as an unwelcome reminder and we realize that summer around these parts means early morning/evening walks and hiding out in the comfort of an air conditioner at all other times.

No matter, the weather and the sudden bout of humidity did not deter my sister and her family from visiting.

The kids, despite their age differences played wonderfully together and we all enjoyed great food and great company.
Evan and I whipped together a very easy lunch of a summer-vegetable pasta salad and a chicken sausage with sautéed peppers and onions. Sophia was my sous chef.

We deglazed the sausage and peppers with red wine vinegar to cut through the sweetness of the peppers and the richness of the onions. Since the meal was rich and satisfying and the temperatures far too warm, I whipped up a rhubarb compote with home-whipped cream, meringues and fresh berries for dessert… say a non-messy Eton Mess.

Cookery Culinary Adventures Flavors FriendsFamily Hubby Cooks Life

Published June 2, 2014 by Nadya

Weekending: With Friends, Family and Great Food

Is the weekend really over? Time flies when you’re having fun and we really had a great weekend. The only issue was that it was far too short, or it sure felt that way.
Strawberry picking season is finally here and so we headed to the farm bright eyed and bushy tailed this Saturday morning to pick strawberries. Sophia and I fed the farm animals while Evan picked. Strawberry harvesting is not that easy and it almost feels a shame to cook with any of them once you’ve worked so hard to pick them. We opted against making strawberry pies or cobblers or even ice cream and are just eating them out of hand.

We also had a special treat this weekend in seeing our good friends from Philadelphia. They were enjoying a long weekend in Baltimore and were generous enough to drive a bit further southwest to have dinner with us. Sophia enjoyed spending time with their son who is also two years old.
We also couldn’t pass up a visit from my parents this weekend who re-supplied us with Baba’s famous meat blintzes and other delicious treats. However, my parents weren’t here on just a culinary delight delivery mission. It just so happened that Sunday was our anniversary and we got a chance to get out for a lunch-date while Sophia enjoyed some time with her grandparents.

Alas, since the weekend was rather busy with being out and enjoying company, there wasn’t as much cooking as is typical around these parts. I did choose a Chicken with Cardamom Rice recipe from my Jerusalem cookbook that Evan cooked and it was a-h-m-a-z-i-n-g. Here, see for yourself.

You’re probably thinking to yourselves … “where’s the dessert?” Fear not, there were home-made, extra fudgy brownies and home-made vanilla ice cream, too. It was our anniversary, after all!

Culinary Adventures Flavors FriendsFamily Hubby Cooks Mom's Cooking

Published May 28, 2014 by Nadya

The Rhubarb Faceoff

I have dreamed of this weather, this spring, this upcoming summer since early December when it became obvious that the coming winter was going to pay us back for the past three mild ones. The appearance of rhubarb signals the beginning of spring. There are few things that are better than this red, juicy and tangy plant especially when packed into buttery doughs and topped with sugary confections.

Bright minds think alike and of course my sister and I had ended up baking rhubarb concoctions this weekend. This was most fortuitous because my parents came to visit us for a few days and ended up being the couriers of our baked goodies. We received a very generous portion of a crispy, tangy and sweet cake topped with caramelized meringue on Saturday

and sent back

this rhubarb snacking cake on Sunday. Since we don’t live too close, we don’t get to exchange our baked goodies too often.

Dessert FriendsFamily

Published May 20, 2014 by Nadya

Weekending: With Nuts!

… and not just any nuts, but pistachios and not your average pistachios but ones that come from Sicily. What were we doing with nuts? Making pistachio ice cream of course. The season and everything else going on around here hasn’t slowed down the pace at which we are churning out (literally) delicious goodies.

I used this recipe for the ice cream and ended up shelling the big bucks for the pistachio crema. It makes sense to go to Sicily just to stock up on the pistachio products alone.

We have also embraced seasonality and so Evan whipped up an amazing fish en papillote from a local catch. What could be better than ginger, lemon, scallion and herbs from our very own garden?

All of them steamed with fish in a pocket and topped with asparagus of course.

Delicious as that is… nothing beats time with Grammie and water-play!

There was of course more cooking that this … but most of the other culinary delectables were repeats from our past favorites and I won’t ~~tantalize~~ bore you with pictures.

Cookery Culinary Adventures Dessert Flavors FriendsFamily Hubby Cooks

Published May 12, 2014 by Nadya

Weekending: To Have or Not To Have … Popcorn

Whew… and what a busy and delicious weekend it was. I guess we missed being home over the weekend having been gone for the past two and so we both rushed home from work with bags full of groceries and had every plan to stay, relax and cook. The weather has been beautiful and that has influenced both our time outdoors and our menu.

Before I tell you about the menu and all the fun things we did, I cannot in good faith hold back the fact that Evan has officially indoctrinated Sophia into the club of Popcorn Connoisseurs.

As you can see, she is deliberating on whether she should have yet another perfectly popped corn morsel. Not just any popcorn, but Evan’s special, home-made popcorn too. It was a huge hit and I am glad that they have yet another thing they can share. In fact, I am not sure who was more excited about the popcorn, Evan or Sophia. In the end, I am sure her love of this snack was always a foregone conclusion. She is so much like him, it was only a matter of time!

As for what we did the rest of the time? There was fun at the big playground with a castle, a pirate’s boat and an adventure course. There was also a trip to the nursery to get some tomato, pepper and herb plants which was followed first by fervent planting and then serious groans from some sore backs (actually, just mine, but for good reason!). This year, Sophia has really embraced gardening and was so very happy to plant each and every lettuce and snap peas.

While not planting or running around the playgrounds, we stayed home, watched Cinderella and cooked. There were Evan’s obligatory asian-style, barely cooked snow peas,

and an old-fashioned burger that we made by grinding the meat ourselves (yes, it does make a difference) … with some oven fries.

They were chased by homemade rhubarb and raspberry frozen yogurt

and … because I already had the ice cream machine plugged in, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to add a little variety; I made a Mango cardamom frozen yogurt, too.

That is topped with basil flowers, of course!

These are farmer’s cheese shortbread cookies that I used to love as a child. I had these vivid memories of my mom making them and since this weekend we celebrate Mothers, I thought it appropriate to make something that brings me such warm memories of my own mom.

Are you with me? Oh yes, moving on from sweet and Russian-themed to spicy and Mexican to Breakfast Burritos we made for lunch …

… and finishing off with these amazing chicken fajitas…

topped with roasted peppers and onions and garlicky, cilantro dressing, sour cream and guacamole.

This weekend was absolutely splendid and oh-so-delicious. I just we didn’t live so far away from our families and could share the spread with them.

Cookery Dessert Flavors Gardening Hubby Cooks Life Mom's Cooking

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