general life

My Almost-French Husband

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At the farmers market Saturday before last, Brian picked up some raspberries for us. Usually we have trouble figuring out what to do with fruit. If it’s not in a fruit salad, sometimes it just ends up sitting until it goes bad. Oops! Does anyone else do that!?

Not this time though. Later that night, I walked into the kitchen to find him making crepes for us! A yummy surprise. Yes, my husband randomly decided to make crepes. You’re jealous, I know.

Add a little cool whip, some berries, and roll it up.

Dessert!

Sadly, Brian has started the Atkins diet again this week. Which means no more tasty surprises like this for a long time… Anyone else want to make me dessert?

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general life

Better than a Jar: Pesto

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You may remember, our first visit to the farmers market resulted in some lettuce a couple herbs. We bought basil, parsley, and cilantro. I’ve since learned that cilantro goes to seed quickly and the best way to have cilantro all season is to plant another after the first one sprouts, over and over. In any case, our cilantro went to seed pretty quick, and the basil… well, the basil pretty much exploded.

We decided to pick it all, because the beetles were starting to eat it faster than we were using it. And what else do you make with a whole lot of basil other than pesto sauce, of course! We started with this general recipe, but Brian always makes some modifications, so here’s what we ended up with (we did it 2-1/2 times since we had so much basil!). All you have to do is use a food processor to mix it all together:

  • 2 cups basil leaves
  • 3/4 cup parmesan (freshly grated is worth every bit of effort, though we didn’t for this set)
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 3 garlic cloves (we used the fresh in the jar kind, liberally since we love garlic)
  • pepper and salt to taste
Here’s our setup with ingredients. Look at that huge bag of basil!
Adding olive oil (side note: the new camera has the awesome swivel screen, which means I can hold the camera above my head and do awesome straight-down shots. Love it)

Mmm… that’s a lot of garlic!

Pulverizing it!

Of course, you have to taste test it.

Perfect pesto! The whole process took maybe 15 minutes.

This made a lot of pesto. We used some fresh, and froze 3 bags of the rest. I suppose that means we have to share with family…

Pesto with penne and grilled chicken.

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general life, life with baby

First Fourth

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Jameson had his first Fourth of July this past weekend! It’s hard to get back to real life after a four day weekend, so I thought I’d try to extend the feeling a bit longer and share our weekend fun.

First, Jameson had to get dressed up in two holiday outfits. Luckily, there were four days in which to subject him to some photo shoots. I bought a little flag for him to wave, but he only wanted to eat it and poke his eye with it, so that didn’t happen (Brian took it away from me, sigh..).

On Saturday we spent the early morning at the farmers market. We picked up some amazing blueberries and black raspberries, along with our traditional salad lettuce mix. I couldn’t believe the black raspberries, they were across a couple stalls, so they must have been the fruit in season and perfectly ripe.

At the farmers market we also picked up part of Saturday night’s dinner, Ohio City Pasta. This is fresh pasta, never frozen. Here’s what it looks like before cooking:

We had red pepper, lemon basil, and garlic onion flavors. They stay good for about 10 days, so after having garlic onion on Saturday, I am looking forward to the rest of the week filled with tasty pasta goodness. (And these pastas, they only need butter or olive oil. They have amazing flavor all by themselves).

That night Brian and I watched the fireworks from our front porch. So fun to be able to see them, albeit far away, since we had Jameson and can’t go out late like we used to. And how amazing to sit there on a warm night together to do that.

Sunday we stopped by Brian’s parents for a cookout and brought over Jameson’s exersaucer.

Brian’s mother has filled a room full of Jameson items: crib, changing table, toys, burp clothes… everything he needs. It was so much more convenient to come over, and Jameson even took a nap in the crib.

We added those black raspberries from the farmers market to a fruit salad which we brought over to the neighbors’ on Monday for another cookout. Jameson enjoyed his friend Lily‘s pool and her toys. One toy in the mouth apparently means two more toys just arms length away. He took a little dunk and cried for a bit, but it was okay again after a little while.

Little champ loves to be held and swung by his arms. Immediately after sitting up by himself, he’s now decided that standing up is even more fun. Always looking to do things that he can’t quite do himself yet.

Hello handsome! Say goodbye now (oh well, he doesn’t do the wave thing yet, so we’ll just have to settle for a smile) Hey, look at that smile! A smile, in the grass!? Hurrah!

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diy, general life, life with baby

Digital Scrapbook: Sneak Peak!

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Today, I have finally started working on Jameson’s scrapbook. It’s a digital scrapbook and it’s gonna be huge. But no bigger than 60 pages (30 front/back), because that’s what the book I’m making allows. Or… maybe I’ll just make two? We’ll see how it goes.

So far I have done birth, family introductions, Christmas, Jameson’s photo shoot, one week, and his first bath and walk!

Last names were removed in the layouts for privacy reasons, but the images are all true to what it will look like once printed. I’m pretty pleased with how its turning out, though I am not sure where I will find the time to catch up to where I should be.

Next up:

  • Jameson’s weekly photo shoots, which I did until he was 10 weeks old. I think I’ll roll that into 2 pages
  • Jameson’s monthly photo shoot, 1 page for each month
  • Great-grandpa’s 90th birthday party… and more!

Today, Jameson went to daycare while I had off work so that I could work on this without interruption. We did pick him up early, and then his Aunt Melissa came to babysit him while Brian and I went with the neighbors for dinner at Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. It was a hike, but so worth it. I had their butternut squash ravioli, and since we were at a brewery, I had some beer as well. I hear that some beer increases milk supply…? haha.

If I have time over this holiday weekend I’ll continue working on the scrapbook but the blog will be on a short hiatus until Tuesday. Don’t worry though, I’ll have some good stuff lined up for next week! Have a great 4th of July everyone.

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general life

Vino: Ohio Winery Jaunt

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The day  I have been waiting for for weeks finally arrived; Brian and I left Jameson at his grandma’s house and went out with friends JP & Lisa to the wineries on a co-anniversary trip. We have now decided this must be an annual activity! And Lisa and I decided it will be a little while before we’re drinking wine again. But we had a blast, it was a lot of fun.

We started out at Debonne, our usual first stop. We enjoyed a couple plates of cheese, crackers, bread and finger food basics. The hunks of cheese were sizable and we drank a couple whites wines to start of the day.

When we arrived right around opening time, it was fairly empty, but by the time we left, it had really filled up with what must be the usual jazz Sunday crowd.

Brian and I left with a bottle of Razzberry Riesling (I should say I left with the bottle, because Brian won’t be drinking that fruity sweet rose wine).

Our second stop was at South River, which has always been far and away my favorite winery, in wines and atmosphere. We don’t come here for the food, anyway! The winery sits right against their vineyards, and they have a new pavilion attached to the main building, which is an old church.

Forgive the dark tinge in these photos from our phone:

Our favorites at South River are always their reds, particularly their Trinity blend and Karma. In fact, several years ago we bought a case of Trinity which we have one bottle of left, so of course we had to buy a case while we were there (the $12 a bottle case price is a very good deal, and you can mix and match bottles so we came home with Trinity, Karma, and Semillon, a white wine of theirs that we tried for the first time.)

And a better shot of the lovely South River vineyard, from Lisa’s camera. Brian and I are having a great time!

Hello, random guy who we don’t know!

We then moved on to Harpersfield. This was Brian and my first time visiting this winery. They are known for their whites, and Brian’s parents highly recommended the chardonnay. We tried the St. Vincent since they were sadly out of the cheaper stuff. (Hey, we had already had 4 other bottles, we were trying to go on the cheap!)

This vineyard was a little less polished in terms of decor, but also sits next to the vineyard for some classic photo ops, plus a little two person table that begged for a casually awkward posed photo!

Full disclosure: by this time, Lisa and I were feeling pretty good. After all, we had carried babies for 9 months prior, and had not had a lot of leisurely drinking opportunities for well over a year. But before anyone suggests that we didn’t fully appreciate the wine, I claim that better than many, the taste of wine was savored on our tongues!

Anyway, pictures at this point took an entertaining turn. I’m giving myself permission here to show one funny photo of myself and Lisa, with Lisa cropped out for full effect on my awesome face.

Our final stop was Ferrante’s which is where we always go for the food! Again recommended by Brian’s parents, Brian and I had the seafood alfredo:  “Fresh shrimp, and sea scallops sautéed with broccoli tossed on a bed of Linguine with our Romano wine sauce”. It was a wonderful rich pasta dish to sop up some of that wine.

We arrived home just in time for Jameson’s bedtime, and he had a great time at grandma’s. The little champ has his 6 month appointment tomorrow, so we’ll get to see how much he’s grown which we are looking forward to. It’s going to be a nice short week with the holiday coming up so be prepared for some adorable American pride gear on Jameson!

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diy, general life

Mmmmozzarella Cheese Making

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I know this is nothing new; there are all kinds of sites out there with directions on how to make your own cheese. But I bought a kit from Urban Cheesecraft a few years ago for Brian for Christmas, and this is the first time I’ve documented our process. I thought it was about time!


The basic ingredients for making mozzarella is:

Milk
Vegetable Rennet Tablets
Citric Acid
Cheese Salt

Pretty sure you can buy all that separately, but the kit is only $22, and I’m telling you, it’s worth it. The instruction book alone is probably worth that price. It addressed all my questions and concerns and offers advice. Brian and I have made mozzarella with just the cheese salt, and also added herbs on occasion. We’ve been impressed with it almost every time (the time we wildly experimented with salt amounts didn’t turn out to our liking).

 

First you need a glass of wine.

Well, I needed a glass of wine. Brian was doing all the hard work while I took pictures.

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life with baby

Father’s Day: Brought to you by the letters D and A

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It’s already Thursday, but I thought I’d give you a recap of how Brian’s first Father’s Day went! And of course, show you the awesome project that Jameson and I did (if you haven’t seen it already– I talked about it on Twitter and displayed it on Flickr; you can follow me!). I was waiting with anticipation to show you the project, and wanted to show it off early, but Brian couldn’t (or wouldn’t!) promise me that he wouldn’t peek. In any case, if you love it, file it away for next year!

I was inspired by this find on Pinterest. Just before I started  the new job, I had a day without Brian or Jameson. Well, before Jameson went to daycare that morning, I put him in a fashion show photo shoot with letters D & A that I picked up for about $3 each at Jo-Ann. I edited the photos in 3 different styles of black and white, in a number of poses, and printed them all off.

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general life, life with baby

Lettuce

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I go to the farmers market for the lettuce. I do, seriously. Someone from some small little internet news business took a photo of Brian. When she asked why he came there, he said for the “fresh produce”. Laughing, I corrected him with what I firmly believe to be the reason we go. The Lettuce, with a capital L. There is nothing like farm- or garden- grown lettuce. It is soft and crisp at the same time. Light, but still filling. Excellent with just a little oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

Lucky for me, it was also the only thing really there this early in the season. Maybe I was just dreaming, hoping for something a little more… but really it was just lettuce and some starter plants. We did go ahead and get some herbs which we’ll plant in pots (since we have no garden this year)

So no fresh produce for Jameson just yet. We did go to the grocery store then and buy him some more Gerbers Nature Select foods. We bought more of his favorite carrots, some peas, bananas and prunes. I am sure there are a lot of theories out there as to the order things should be done, but I figure after cereal, its a free for all (except meat, and food with more than one ingredient, or food that is too thick… I am not that crazy), just space some things out a few days and make sure there is no bad reaction. So he’s getting a mix of fruit and vegetables, we didn’t start with vegetables cause they taste bad or anything. I myself like vegetables better than fruit, actually. Not that that has anything to do with his likes and dislikes.

For the first time the other night, Jameson finally opened his mouth properly for the spoon. I think he likes the carrots. We had them for a couple nights, but when we switched to peas, spoon eating became a struggle once again. But then on Sunday night he decided he liked peas. So we will keep at it!

P.S. We are famous now, because my quotation was in the little article along with Brian’s photo. She seemed to take it literally though when I edited Brian’s comment, because Brian is quoted as saying that we come for the lettuce. haha.

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general life

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

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I don’t cook, but I do bake. I like to make cookies and brownies, though I’ve never ventured into the cake territory (except for boxed, but I don’t really think that counts). A co-worker made this lovely ice cream cake for another’s birthday a few weeks ago and I was sold. She shared the recipe with me, and the great thing about this cake is that is can be made completely unique for every birthday!

This was hers (pardon the phone photo)

And this was mine.

Brian picked out his cookie base and topping and his flavors. He chose lady finger vanilla and creme cookies, and triple chocolate peanut butter sundae ice cream, and french vanilla of course. It was so easy though it did need a food processor, but you could probably get by without one and just crush some cookies in a bag “manually”.

I’m no expert at spreading things, so I made the whipped cream flat, and layered some more crushed cookie on top. So it didn’t look as fancy as the recipe photos, but it tasted great. I have orders for the next birthday already!

So was it cheaper than just buying one from the store? Here’s the break down:

I did my cake in a 10-1/2 inch spring form instead of 9 inch like the recipe calls for, so I needed more ice cream. I have a little french vanilla left over, but I used 3 full pints of the chocolate peanut butter (ice cream usually comes in quarts, so I bought 1-1/2 quarts of two flavors of ice cream)

  • Ice cream was 2 for $6 on sale – $6
  • $4.50 ice cream sandwiches (there were 12 in the box, and I used about 8-1/2)
  • $2.50 cookies (this is a guesstimate, they were on sale also)
  • $1.25 cool whip (on sale for 4 for $5… we didn’t buy 4 though..)

Our total was $14.25, cheaper than the typical $20 ice cream cake. Win!

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I <3 Eating

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I was thinking, I am not sure whether its the act of eating (sitting down at a meal, chatting with friends), or if it’s the food I love. But seriously, food is one of my favorite things. I can never turn down a meal out, and those who know me know that I am always game for doing just about anything that involves food.

Ironically, I don’t often make food myself… Brian’s birthday is tomorrow (he’s turning the big 3-2), and I don’t have any meal planned. Usually I manage about 5 meals a year, usually special occasions (NOTE: I do bake more than that. Cookies are my specialty). Birthdays would be one time I usually make dinner, but with everything that’s been going on that particular plan has fallen by the wayside. Sorry hun. I do however have some quick and easy things saved in my pinterest I could perhaps try this weekend though… we’ll just make it a week-long birthday!

But this whole eating thing has me concerned about stopping breastfeeding. I am a believer in the “breastfeeding diet”. I mean, I can pretty much eat anything. I am not losing weight anymore, but I’m not really gaining either. I’ve been hovering in the same 5 pound range for the past two to three months. All while eating super unhealthy. Really. I have had enormous grilled cheese sandwiches (both Brian-made and restaurant-made), cheesecake, fried macaroni and cheese balls… (seems to be a theme there…). I really like this right now.

Brian-made: 16 types of cheese!

All the more because I had gestational diabetes (all diet controlled) and I think I’m still not over it. I swear, I went carb crazy after Jameson was born. I had no idea before all that went down that I had to watch CARBS. I thought diabetes was all about SUGAR. It is, of course, because carbs are converted into “sugar”. I had to go to a nutritionist who set me straight and keeping to that diet was very difficult for me. Anyway, since then, any thought of a diet went out the window. I am not supposed to be dieting while nursing anyway, but I know there’s probably articles out there about how I should be eating better because that all gets transferred into my milk… In that case, I know I’m just passing down my love for cheese to Jameson.

Before Jameson, Brian and I tried various diets. The one that actually worked best for me was calorie counting. Reporting it to a website made me more accountable. That was also a time when I was able to go home for lunch everyday because I lived so close to work. It’s a lot harder when things aren’t convenient. Does that make me lazy? Brian also tried the Atkins a couple times (pseudo healthy version with lots of turkey, chicken, pork rather than beef). Atkins worked for him really well the first time, not as well the second… so where to from here? Luckily, this is a good time, because summer is approaching, which means more activity in general and


The farmers market that we go to is opening up this weekend! This is my favorite time of year. I adore fresh vegetables (and I am pretty sure that I can eat as much of those that I want), and I’m planning on buying extra now to make some baby food for Jameson. So far, he has had oatmeal, brown rice, peaches, squash, and carrots (all pre packaged, not homemade). I finally purchased my baby food equipment yesterday (we already own a food processor, so I just needed a convenient freezing tray), so in the next week or two if the farmers market has some early vegetables we will be attempting to make Jameson’s first homemade baby food.

So many things to look forward to, and food is just one of them.

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