This trip to Barcelona wasn’t my first. I had spent a few days there just after college when I was working in London. However, I only spent two nights and...
My friend and I attended this event on February 18th. We missed the march and joined the rally at City Hall in downtown LA. It was a much smaller crowd...
This is so cute. There are many variations on Pinterest. I think the original idea came from the Free People blog which is worth looking at. I had these animals...
Last fall when I heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge I claimed to have felt bullied into donating since I didn’t want to make a spectacle of myself on Facebook....
We braced ourselves for the start of kinder this year. After all, we knew how pre-school had gone two years prior. She only cried every day for 1.5 years of...
It’s getting HOT and making pasta every night is killing me. I’ve been trying to branch out to more salads now that it’s summer. This is a really tasty dish...
Here’s a REALLY easy cookie recipe for when you have NO TIME.
I just made these this morning for our daycare’s caroling at the convalescent home. Totally forgot I was going to make them until around 8AM. D’OH!
No pictures – no time. These are winners from The Pioneer Woman. You only need one bowl. You are done making them from start to finish within about 20 minutes. They are chewy, tasty & yummy. The only change I made was to use the turbinado raw sugar to roll them in but if you don’t have it you can use plain sugar too.
A simple recipe that’s simply delicious!! Spicy & chewy – not your run of the mill holiday cookie.
Ingredients
1 c sugar
¾ c Crisco
¼ c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
2-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cardamon
¼ tsp salt
turbinado sugar for coating the cookies (regular sugar works too!)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix sugar, Crisco, molasses & egg together until well combined.
Add dry ingredients, stirring until combined. (If you don’t mind two bowls – you can whisk together your dry ingredients first in a separate bowl.) I did it all in 1 bowl and they came out perfect!
Roll tbsp sized balls in your hands, the roll through a plate of turbinado sugar (or regular sugar if that’s what you have!). Place on cookie sheet leaving ample room for spreading.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or for 1 minute after cracks appear on top of them.
Notes
Makes between 30 and 36 cookies depending how big you make them.
I decided to start up my “Weekly Green” postings again since the environment is an issue that weighs heavily on me as it might on you too. Before I start – let me just say that I fail in my efforts to live green, every day. But I try to make small lifestyle changes to be better. My main goal is to teach my children to want less, to go for a walk or hike instead of shopping, to think carefully before buying/wanting things (make sure the things they buy/want are high quality, can be passed on to someone else, and are not part of planned obsolescence).
Have you seen that Saturday Night Live that Tina Fey hosted a couple of years ago in which she plays Bedelia’s mom who’s been invited to the sleepover? The boys who’ve just snuck in the basement window are shocked that her mom is there. Bedelia thinks her mom is way cool.
You brought your mom to this?
Oh yeah, she’s the best! She re-uses Zip-loc bags, she dry shaves. I’m like, “Sign me up!
Here’s a link to the whole skit for SNL fans! (Apologies if you have to endure the Cristina Aguilara “Red Sin” Perfume ad first!!)
I’m afraid I’m that mom. I rinse out Zip-locs.
My counters DO look a mess due to the bag drying fields.
My kids get re-used Ziplocs for lunch (on the rare occasion I use them) And SO CAN YOU!
2. You probably heard by now that there is a garbage patch somewhere between the size of Texas and 1.5 times the size of the United States (though it is fluid & changes constantly) out in the Pacific Ocean. Although it’s a democracy of garbage, some common types of garbage found there are plastic bags.
3. You may say, “Oh well, at least it’s all confined to that area.” But since the plastic bags are made of petrochemicals that leach into the ocean, we are also slowly poisoning our ocean (which is essentially the Earth’s air conditioner!)
To learn more just Google “garbage patch pacific ocean” or check out 5 Gyres site.
I realize one nerdy mama re-using Ziplocs ain’t gonna save the world. But hopefully my kids can observe my efforts to be mindful about the resources we use.
I am writing in my pjs, a hoody & some Smartwool socks. But only a few weeks ago it was hot here. Like really hot. We decided to take a hike in Topanga Canyon. Packed up the kids, the water bottles, sunscreen, Chariot, snacks, dog, leash and ourselves, got in the car & drove up to the trail. We learned the hard way to bring some form of jogging stroller for tired little people so that we don’t end up carrying anyone. By the time we got there it was even hotter.
I am too hot to remove this hat.
Who decided to put Bea in black yoga pants?
(Btw: I just realized when adding the link to the park that the dogs are NOT allowed on the trail. D’OH! If you are looking for a dog-friendly hike where dogs can be off leash – try Westridge. It’s a fun hike but there is NO shade!)
As we started the ascent, the front wheel fell off of the stroller. The pin that holds it in was stripped so there was no quick fix. From there we pushed it on 2 wheels. The only one having fun was the dog and with a black coat, even he was burning up.
After about 20 minutes with the broken wheel we gave up. Between the tantrums, the heat & the wheel we admitted our defeat & headed back to the car.
On the way home we decided to stop over at Spitfire Grill for lunch. It’s a little spot by the Santa Monica Airport that happens to be across the street from a nice dog park & playground.
I had eaten lunch there a few lifetimes ago when I worked at SimEx in the Santa Monica Business Park. The meal wasn’t memorable. But we weren’t going there for the food.
When we got there we sat on the patio. There were other dogs out there, lazing in the shade. Bea was asleep so we put her back in the front wheel-less Chariot and ordered a couple of $3 mimosas.
Not my typical post-hike beverage but since we didn’t really hike, what the hay?
The kid’s menu is pretty standard:
Maddie is the only kid I know who prefers a salad to fries. Or adult for that matter.
So relaxing with Bea asleep.
Agghh!! Bea woke up.
Post-nap daze
As you can see from the menu, the vegetarian options are few but perfectly fine. I got “The Glider” (“Roasted red peppers, baby spinach, avocado, tomato & daichon sprouts on a grilled herb focaccia with pesto and melted jack cheese”) Tasty!
G actually got a hot pile of ribs. It was like 90 degrees out and there he was tearing hot meat off bones. [No photo, luckily.]
We took a look at the Happy Hour menu.
I don’t find the appetizers compelling. The well drinks are good deals. Anyway, I’m not doing a Happy Hour recommendation on this post as I wasn’t there for it!
In a nutshell: here’s one way to handle Spitfire Grill: eat there during the day on the patio. Perfectly kid-friendly lunch/early dinner spot. Take your dog and you can run over to the dog park to play before or after. If you don’t have a dog, take your kids to the park across the street to burn off some steam. If you don’t have kids or a dog, you’re SMART!
Feel free to share any comments about the Happy Hour or any other park of the SM Airport campus.
If you have any issues with the comments section of the blog, please email me at [email protected]
What do you do with leftover cranberries once you’ve made cranberry simple syrup for mojitos? Or cranberry sauce? It seems like a heee-uge waste to toss them so I scanned the internet(s) for recipes.
Originally I said I was going to make scones but then I found this coffee cake recipe on the King Arthur Flour page that looked better!
You need:
INGREDIENTS:
There are 3 parts to this coffee cake: streusel, filling & batter.
Streusel
5 TBSP cold butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
big pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c + 2 TBSP all purpose flour
Filling
1 c whole-berry cranberry sauce (this time I used the remaining cranberries/sugar mixture I made my simple syrup with but you can use cranberry sauce as well)
Batter
1/2 c butter
1 c + 2 TBSP brown sugar
2 large eggs (not pictured)
1 c plain yogurt (not pictured!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 & lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.
Make the streusel first:
Using a large bowl, cream all but the flour together.
Add flour and beat until even crumbs form.
Note: my crumbs were sort of small/fine for my taste. Next time I might cut out the extra 2 TBSP flour to see if it clumps up more.
Now move the streusel aside to a small bowl. You can use this big bowl again for the batter. I appreciated this note in the original recipe! Love saving me some dishes.
Cream together the butter & sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs.
Note: For the past 6 months or so I’ve been experimenting with using egg replacer or other substitutes but have had a few kitchen FAILS. Stay tuned as I continue in my quest to bake without eggs!
Keep beating! Add the yogurt, vanilla & almond extracts, baking powder & soda, salt & flour.
The batter will be THICK.
Spread into a lightly grease 9×13″ pan or whatever molded cake pan you prefer!
Sprinkle the cranberry sauce/cranberries atop the batter.
Next time I think I’ll use a spoon to semi combine the cranberries with the batter.
Cranberries add a surprising tartness & beauty to a yummy coffee cake! Perfect for the holidays & great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce.
Ingredients
STREUSEL
5 TBSP cold butter
½ c brown sugar, packed
big pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c + 2 TBSP all purpose flour
FILLING
1 c whole-berry cranberry sauce*
BATTER
½ c butter
1 c + 2 TBSP brown sugar
2 large eggs (not pictured)
1 c plain yogurt (not pictured!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 c all purpose flour
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 & lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.
Make the streusel first: using a large bowl, cream all but the flour together.
Add flour and beat until even crumbs form.
Now move the streusel aside to a small bowl. You can use this big bowl again for the batter. I appreciated this note in the original recipe! Love saving me some dishes.
Cream together the butter & sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs.
Keep beating! Add the yogurt, vanilla & almond extracts, baking powder & soda, salt & flour.
The batter will be THICK.
Spread into a lightly grease 9×13″ pan or whatever molded cake pan you prefer!
Sprinkle the cranberry sauce/cranberries atop the batter. Lightly combine cranberries with top of batter if you like! It makes it very pretty when you cut it.
Sprinkle the streusel atop.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Allow to cool fully before cutting.
Notes
To add a simple glaze combine 1 c powdered sugar with 1 tsp vanilla extract and enough water to reach your desired consistency. Drizzle over the cake!
