6 May
I love making cheesecakes–they’re deceptively simple. This is one of my favorite recipes–Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl from Martha Stewart.
Despite employing a number of supposedly preventative tactics, I almost always have trouble with cheesecakes cracking. The nice thing about this recipe is that the cracks occur along the swirls, making them a bit less noticeable!
6 May
In the last few hours, I’ve tried to make coffee without grinding the beans, left the shower without rinsing the conditioner from my hair and washed the remote control with a load of laundry. What gives?
5 May
It’s 75 degrees outside. You need to mow the lawn. What’s a fashion-forward girl to wear? How about a sweater, pajama bottoms and mis-matched winter boots?
Perfect.
4 May
Olivia hit the five-month mark a few days ago. She celebrated by cutting a second bottom tooth, and I don’t think her top teeth are too far behind.
She’s spending a lot of time scooting around her on belly, and when that doesn’t get her where she wants to go fast enough, she’ll just roll. She still loves to nap and manages to squeeze in about four a day. When we lay her down, she rolls over on her belly and buries her head in the fitted sheet. She’d prefer to nuzzle up to a blanket or soft toy–she has a penchant for situating highly-suffocative objects right next to her nose. She allows just enough room to cram her thumb into her mouth.
When her thumb’s not there, Olivia is constantly trying to find other things to put in her mouth. As Ava almost always has something on hand, they make for a dangerous pair. In the past few days, I’ve caught Ava trying to give Olivia a rock, a Cheddar Bunny and sip of milk. Needless to say, there’s a lot of supervision going on around here.
As predicted, Olivia has lost most of her hair. The mop left on the very top of her head is getting lighter by the day. She may not be as blond as her sister, but I don’t think she’ll be a real brunette, either.
I’m a little sorry to note that she’s discovered there’s a world beyond her mother. While she used to spend hours just staring at me (while I was staring at her), she’s now realized that there’s always something a tad more interesting to check out, and besides, she knows what I look like anyway. So instead of being unable to nurse because she’s too busy smiling at me, now she’s unable to nurse because she’s trying to crane her neck around to see what exactly is making that noise. (It’s almost always Ava.)
Still, I’m a pretty lucky mom–she’s a delightful baby.
3 May
Ever since Bryan and I visited Louisville, Kentucky, for our friends’ wedding, I’ve been completely enamored with the area. My two favorite stops were Churchill Downs and the Maker’s Mark distillery. Fortunately, the Kentucky Derby presents an opportunity to celebrate both—with a drink, of course. What could be better?
Here’s my favorite recipe for mint juleps. There are thousands out there, but I prefer one that muddle the leaves instead of boiling them into simple syrup. Maybe you can stir up a batch before the race this afternoon.
Here’s all you need–sugar (preferably superfine, but you can spin regular sugar in your blender or food processor if you don’t have it on hand), mint and bourbon (I like Maker’s; Bry loves Wild Turkey).
Pour a teaspoon of sugar into a glass and add six mint leaves and a couple of teaspoons of water, then smash it all together with the back of a spoon. Traditionally, mint juleps are served in cold silver cups, but who has those on hand? I found this glass worked pretty well.
Then, fill the glass with crushed ice and top with a shot of bourbon and sprig of mint. Cheers!
2 May
Saturday was our last night in Boston, and we went out with a bang. Katie took us to the Barking Crab, an open-air seafood restaurant on the harbor. The atmosphere was great–marine-varnished picnic tables, old fishnet lanterns, great local beer and a (very loud) live band.
The seafood was fantastic, too, thought we all agreed that we should never divulge the cost of this meal. After all, we had to crack the crab legs with a rock. That’s right–no tools, just a stone.
I really wish I had a photo of Katie covered with lobster insides–she forgot to cover the lobster with a paper plate before cracking the tail from the body…with the rock, of course. As I was not the one covered in what I can only imagine to be crustacean poop, I thought it was hilarious. Thank goodness for those wet-wipes they leave at your table.
This is the “crab bowl”–three different kinds of crab, some local, some Alaskan. All delicious.
The nice thing about a loud live band is that the kids don’t even try to compete. Olivia was content the entire time; Ava loved the “wobster.”
It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip.
2 May
By late afternoon yesterday, temperatures had reached 85. By 6 pm or so, the sky to the north east started to darken and the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch. A couple of hours later, a storm developed to the southwest, though we didn’t hold much hope for rain–a large lake in that area usually causes even the most organized storm to split in two and go around our part of the city.
It quickly became apparent, though, that wasn’t the case this time. Here are a few photos I snapped around 8 p.m.
The storm passed without much fanfare, and we went to bed a bit later.
At 1 a.m., I awoke to a terrible storm–there was near constant lightening, roaring thunder and wind so strong I was afraid our open windows were going to break off. I’m sure my senses were heightened because of the midnight wake-up call, but it was really scary! We grabbed the girls and headed down to the basement. We turned on the TV to find that we were in a tornado warning–there was radar-indicated rotation in our area. We could hear the doors and windows rattling upstairs, and Bryan said the trees he saw on the way down looked like they were going to blow over.
It was all over within 45 minutes, and we didn’t lose a single tree (or window!). Two city residents claimed to have seen a tornado, but the trained spotters in the area did not. The National Weather Service said the storm produced straightline winds up to 80 miles an hour. Incredible!
I saw about seven or eight downed trees on the way into work, but all in all, the damage was surprisingly minimal.
1 May
On Saturday, we hit Boston’s North End, a very Italian part of town.
We followed the Freedom Trail from our starting point, Mike’s Pastry, famous for (at least in my mind) gelato and cannoli…
To the even more famous Old North Church, where the “one if by land, two if by sea” lanterns hung on the night of Paul Revere’s ride.
The church sits below Copp’s Hill, which is the site of one of the oldest cemeteries in America.
Ava tossed a penny (actually about 14) in the church’s courtyard fountain. I wonder what she wished for?
Katie and Ava heading home:
And, as promised, more of that sweet, sleeping baby:
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