Growing Up Savvy Posts

{this moment} – A spontaneous Wednesday decision Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Babiators

Moments

I know, I know… most of you are thinking that this post is about two years, too late. We didn’t decorate Sophia’s nursery before she was born. I was and still am, much to my husbands chagrin, fairly superstitious about these sorts of things. When Sophia was a few months old, we bought a crib, a dresser, a hamper and a lamp and called it a day. Now.. a good fifteen months later, I have finally gathered enough strength and energy to put further finishing touches on Sophia’s room.

Crib and Floor Pillow Crib and Floor Pillow

I would like for the nursery to be a place where she enjoys spending time outside of her naps.

Minnie!

Life

You didn’t really believe me when I said I decided to indulge myself in making the most of salad ingredients, did you? Well, I am sticking to my guns on this one, Ok? Besides, hubby and I are a great team in the kitchen and out of it too! I assemble the mise en place and he finishes everything off with expert precision.

Mise en Place for the Salad

The latest installation of flavorful and healthful salads had romaine, kale, carrots, cucumbers and lightly roasted broccoli. Hubby whipped a basic vinaigrette and we were off to the races for lunch. It was light, crunchy, had a variety of textures and overall very satisfying.

Light Garden Salad

Cookery Culinary Adventures Flavors Hubby Cooks

It was ungodly cold here today, at least in my opinion. Furthermore, the cold and flu have been very aggressive. For me the cold + cold & flu = we stay in a LOT. In fact, even if it was warmer and the flu wasn’t wide-spread, we would still probably stay in for meals. It is expensive to go out and twice as difficult to go out with a toddler in tow. This has never stopped hubby and me from ensuring we widen our horizons with ethnic fare. The only dishes we abstain from cooking at home are sushi — everything else is fair game in our household. To date, we’ve made pho, carnitas, tacos, spring rolls, dumplings, mole and lots more.

This weekend, I craved Pho. It is a common, peasant food often enjoyed by families at home, but making it takes time. It took about 4 hours of inactive time and about 1 hour of active prep. Not only was it absolutely delicious, it filled our home with the most aromatic scent of star anise and cinnamon.

Charred onion and ginger, cinnamon, star anice, bay leaf and cloves
Charred onion and ginger, cinnamon, star anice, bay leaf and cloves – Broth Spices
The meat that cooks in your bowl once the soup is assembled
The meat that cooks in your bowl once the soup is assembled
Onion, jalapeño, mint, basil and mung beans
Garnishes — onion, jalapeño, mint, basil, cilantro and mung beans

… and now … drumroll…

..

.

Pho assembled
Pho

Cookery Culinary Adventures Flavors Hubby Cooks

This is actually old news, but I’ll share anyways. A while back, inspired by my sister and cousin, I decided to get back into knitting. I must admit, I was never that great at it, mostly because I have less patience than a two year old. This time around, however, I found it to be incredibly therapeutic. I finished this cardigan a few months ago, but didn’t get the buttons on until, well, yesterday. This is the first item of clothing that Sophia is wearing that I made, and I must say, it feels great. She better not spill on it, though!

Sophia in a Cardigan

Crafts

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Moment

Moments

We all had the entire month of January to get healthy … and let’s all admit it, it didn’t happen. So here we go again: the salad lifestyle. It may seem daunting and not tasty, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. The first one, which was today’s dinner, is what I called a Kitchen Sink Salad. That’s the type of salad I tend to make when I am trying to make some space in the fridge or ready the fridge for a new load of groceries. Take a look at this beauty:

The Kitchen Sink Salad
The Kitchen Sink Salad

I am sure your first reaction is that I dressed it with a creamy dressing … maybe a ranch. In fact, I dressed it with a homemade dressing made form 2% greek yogurt, mint and cucumber. That’s right, no additional oil and low fat. Given the healthfulness of the dressing, I could dress the salad a little more generously to up the luxury factor. Aside from the super dressing, the salad had kale, romaine, carrots, raw beets, and basil. It was soooo good!

Flavors

… for Sophia to play with. In fact, these are my favorite things, because these are her favorite things. Our house is filled to the brim with toys and books. Of those, the  majority provide a momentary distraction between the real play Sophia embarks on with the select few.

Play

As I mentioned in one of the more recent posts, we’ve decided to add a little structure to Sophia’s days via … well… art. It is a bit ironic in that art can’t be forced and usually isn’t structured, but a free expression of one’s perception of their surroundings. Here is Sophia embracing her inner artist with some crayons. We’ve also been working on colors, although I must say that everything is “red” to her. 🙂

Calling All Crayons

From the Rocking Chair

It has been almost five years since our wedding and if you can believe it, I have had the top tier of our wedding cake stashed in my parents freezer. My mother all but evicted it several times already and each time, I had managed to convince her to keep it just a little longer.

Traditionally, you’re supposed to eat it on your first wedding anniversary. We spent that anniversary blissfully in love celebrating in Italy. And so… my in-laws were visiting with us while we visited with my parents in Delaware. It seemed like the perfect time to try the cake — with all the people who supported us to the chuppah and since then too. Hubby and my mom (the pharmacist) were both curious about the goodness of the cake since it had been frozen for well… four and a half years.

Drumroll ….

Wedding CakeIt tasted… dry-ish and sweet. It wasn’t like I remembered it to be at the wedding. But then again, when you’re in love and celebrating, everything tastes like manna from heaven. I like tradition, but some things are best re-invented. We’ll celebrate our next anniversary with fresh culinary delights.

 

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