Growing Up Savvy Posts

This blog was started on the premise that we shall document our travel and culinary adventures with little Sophia. Alas, we have ventured outside the comfort zone of visiting our parents and straight into the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. The weekend was booked solid with a good friend’s wedding where hubby was supporting the groom as his best man. The details were revealed to us months in advance and our plan was hatched soon thereafter. The wedding itself took place on Saturday. There of course was plenty of rehearsing and a dinner on Friday to welcome everyone to the wedding weekend. As we live in Maryland (very close to Washington D.C.,), we needed TWO days to get to NYC. This wasn’t because our mode of transportation was a horse and buggy, but because one of our passengers (little Sophia) only travels well while napping and her nap happens to last two hours (if we’re lucky).

My husband’s parents were also invited to the wedding, so we reached out to my folks to travel with us to babysit while we were out celebrating. We started off by traveling to Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday afternoon for the first leg of our journey. Sophia slept in the car and we arrived two hours after departing without much incident. Friday morning, we repacked the car and traveled with my parents in tow to Manhattan. The drive itself was fine, although Sophia woke up after a 1 hr nap and decided she needed to be entertained the rest of the way. She finally had had enough and started to seriously protest while we were stuck in traffic coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel.

After dropping off the hubby by the gorgeous St. Thomas Church, we proceeded to the Yale Club where the wedding would be held on Saturday. Check-in was swift and we even got a little fridge and a crib in our room. All was fine except Sophia refused to take an evening bottle from my mother. Saturday was a whirlwind with running around the city and my parents and in-laws were saints for taking care of Sophia while we got ready. The wedding went off without a hitch and great fun was had by all. Sophia is a bit overwhelmed and tired after all the festivities and time away from home. On the upside, all her toys at home are brand new (to her) and she is rediscovering them all over again.

Lessons learned: bathtime in an unfamiliar environment is not nearly as relaxing, habits are hard to break for little ones and city noise is impossible to sleep through unless you are bred, born and raised in the city.

Will we travel again? Absolutely, soon and even further if we can.

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{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.

Moments

Things have been rather quiet here on this blog. We of course aren’t going hungry… but instead are becoming a traveling family of three. This past week we were off to my in-laws in Lansdale, PA and my parents in Wilmington, DE. As you can imagine, all this family time means a lot of delicious food (cooked by our families) and lots of help with Sophia. We will resume our own cooking and sharing shortly. Stay tuned!

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{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.

Moments

{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.

Uncategorized

By the time Friday comes around, I am mentally checking into the weekend. I like to make sure the house is clean, laundry is done and groceries are at least purchased. If that sounds like a tall order, it usually is. By dinner time, I am exhausted but oh so happy that the weekend has finally arrived. Back in the old days when hubby and I lived for ourselves and didn’t have an infant to take care of, Friday night dinner was within easy reach. This was especially so since we lived in the heart of Philadelphia within ten minutes of most neighborhoods and their specialties. Easy dinner takes a little more planning now and going out to dinner is a little more daunting than it seems worth. So the simple solution? A no fuss, no mess, 20-minute meal. I spotted beautiful Prince Edward Mussels at the grocery store and decided to recreate a favorite of ours from Monk’s in Philadelphia. The muscles at Monk’s are prepared in all different ways, but in our opinion, the simpler the preparation the better the end result. The exact recipe can be found here, but as usual, a picture speaks 1000 words. Best enjoyed with a white wine or a Wheat Beer

 

Cookery Flavors

As you may remember, hubby and I were determined to avoid industrially-made baby food for Sophia. Since our decision, we have purchased several brands and several types of baby food. We buy Earth’s Best oatmeal cereal and prune puree because Sophia cannot chomp down on homemade oatmeal just yet and we like to keep digestion regular. Aside from that, the remainder of our purchases, Ella’s Kitchen and Plum Organics Just Fruit, have more or less been experimentation in order to see what we could use in a pinch while on-the-go. I am not surprised that so many people have challenges getting their kids used to texture. The store-made baby food is so pureed and so pasty that it resembles nothing of the original product. This is great for a fast meal, but I cannot imagine trying to get Sophia to eat anything that has texture after she’s been savoring these types of purees.

Industrially-made baby food is also quite boring in its menu offerings… prune, squash, banana, apple, pear, blueberry, carrot, etc. The most exciting thing I have seen there is mango. We’ve started to experiment with more exciting offerings such as fresh rasberries (with seeds) and baby kiwi. They’re so little, so cute and so delicious! Passed through a food mill they are never farther than a few minutes from being offered to Sophia for degustation.

Tiny Tastebuds

I have long realized that an arsenal of easy, twenty minute dinners is a must when raising an active, attention-demanding infant. Hubby and I have quite a few up our sleeve and I recently posted seared scallops and mango salad as one of our favorites. Oven roasted salmon and asparagus is another “one-pot, 20-minute” wonder. Usually, I just place salmon filets and asparagus on a foil lined sheet (no clean-up), spritz with olive oil and bake at 400*F for 10-12 minutes.

This time, hubby decided to help which turned into him taking the culinary reigns and augmented the original by adding a miso glaze on the salmon for added savoriness and minced ginger and garlic on the asparagus. Mmmm good!

Cookery

My mother-in-law who visited and stayed with me while hubby was away at a conference in Vancouver asked me how I use cilantro. In general, I am under the impression that most people do not use many herbs in their cooking. I am a huge believer in fresh herbs especially seasonally appropriate applications. They add such aroma and freshness to every dish. I also think that this is where restaurants get a big bang in the flavor department: they season properly and use herbs. But I digress…

Cilantro is a vital part of my culinary repertoire and I don’t go a single week without it in the spring/summer. I immedeately started brainstorming and trying to think of all the ways I have and can use a whole bunch of cilantro. I usually add it to my mango salad (though it is optional, but adds a great aroma), guacamole, herbed quinoa salad, and of course a household oldie but goodie, the roasted eggplant and red pepper dip (New recipe posted here).

Just reading over this post makes me wish today was Friday and I was planning our weekend menu. I’ll be trying the eggplant dip on Sophia sooner rather than later :).

Cookery

Why is the weather forecast always gloomy, rainy and cold for the weekends and gloriously sunny when we are stuck in our offices? Perhaps it just seems so, but even the gloomiest of forecasts (55*F in late April is a crime!) couldn’t put a frown on our weekend.

Hubby was away at a conference (vacation if you ask me) in Vancouver from last Sunday to Thursday. Sophia and I both missed him immensely and planned on nothing but family time, fun and relaxation for this weekend regardless of the weather. Once back, hubby and I even got a chance to run to the market on Friday instead of the weekend and stocked up on all sorts of goodies. Among the goodies were short ribs. What a perfect idea for a gloomy day and a multi-day, one-pot wonder?! So today, while hubby pitched in with daddy duty, I made a stew. Actually, I am still making it as we speak since it is in our oven cooking low and slow, spreading delicious aromas of rosemary and thyme throughout our house. To me, nothing says “Welcome Home” and “I am glad its the Weekend” more than a homey, comforting, warm, aromatic short rib stew.  Lastly, a call out to my AMAZING mother-in-law who came to stay with me while hubby went on his conf…ehem..vacation to help with Sophia and generally keep company.

Cookery