............ Casa Mojito

tulip from the Monkey

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Mangia is certainly a fitting heading, since all I did for mother's day was eat! The Monkey and husband brought me coffee and breakfast in bed, before heading off to Gymboree while I slept in some more. Then it was out to lunch, and a stroll through the Old Town "Art" Festival. (Not so much art as crafts and gifts, but whatever. Bought baby shower gifts.) Husband took the Monkey home to nap and left me to do a little more shopping. Then we took a quick outing to the pool at the Y, to show husband what we've been learning, and get out of the house since round two of the weekend monsoon had started. What I really wanted was to cook a fancy dinner with all the rhubarb I bought at market (I know, crazy), so I made pork chops with rhubarb barbecue sauce, roasted English peas, rhubarb collins to drink, and strawberry rhubarb goat cheese tart for dessert. And lest you worry that the husband got off too easy, he took me out to dinner tonight, for a "Hot Chefs, Slow Food" dinner fundraiser for Slow Foods USA. Yum.

Hope everyone enjoyed their mother's day!

spray fun

So remember last week, when I mentioned I needed to join a gym? Well I actually did! The Y actually, and signed the Monkey up for swim lessons. The Saturday class of course was full, so I went with the Mon/Weds morning class. Since his daycare now has music classes on Friday, I figured I'd do half days on Monday and Wednesday instead of taking off Fridays, at least for the next month. Today was lesson 1 and the Monkey was eager to get into the pool, but less excited once he was in. He enjoyed some of it, but was ready to go "buh-bye!" by the end. He loved the pool last summer, trying to run and jump in the second we got there, so I figured it would be good to start learning how to teach him to really swim. We'll see how it goes!

Eating: Favorite new taste of the week -- homemade vanilla bean yogurt and granola with fresh, organic strawberries, at the local coffee shop. Market/local dinner -- grilled chicken, asparagus and goat cheese on lemon pepper linguine. (Recipe at FoodieTots soon.)

In follow up to WorkingTitle's baby book memories... I was born a couple years earlier, so you can see the 70s influence...

breakfast on the Avenue

Ate sooo much good stuff this weekend, now I need to find the time and energy to write it all up! And maybe join a gym... The short version: cheese bar, pulled pork & ice cream at the dairy farm, crepes, amazing cocktails, wrapped up with great steak, wine, cheese and friends for Sunday dinner.

In other news, sister-in-law left this am, ending the month of non-stop family time. My dad was in town first half of month, then we went to NY last weekend for Passover, and then sis-in-law came down this past weekend. Whew. The monkey is still asking for his Uncle T, so I guess we have to go to NY more than once a year... The road trip did go much more smoothly this time around, though. The main trouble spot was the grandparents' highly un-child friendly apartment. We stayed with Uncle T, so it was only a problem while over for meals.

And now I'm enjoying a quiet, rainy Monday at home ... waiting to hear status on kitty, who conveniently decided to get sick on the day of his previously-scheduled annual check up. He seems to be having a flare-up of a urinary condition that was supposed to be resolved by major surgery he had two years ago ... apparently it was not.

NYC, B.C.: Brunch at Balthazar, walk and shop Little Italy, Soho, ABC Home, Union Square Greenmarket, Chelsea, uptown to Cooper-Hewitt (my favorite museum) ... dinner and drinks at trendy new restaurants.

NYC, W.C.: Bialys, playground, carnival at Queens County Farm, diner for lunch, and home to nap.

Now to be fair, we would have gone into the city and done Central Park yesterday, but decided to stick to the outer boroughs in light of the Pope's visit. And since we're here for Passover, we have to have dinner with the Grandparents. Will arrange babysitting on our next visit so we can go out for a proper evening in NY!

(B.C. = before child, W.C. = with child -- in case it wasn't obvious...!)

vintage Starbucks

I have always been of the opinion that Starbucks' over-roasted espresso beans required copious amounts of sugar to make drinkable, and the caramel macchiato has been my drink of choice. I did enjoy sampling some of their roasts, especially the organics, at their local festival last fall, but I feel spending that much money for a cup of coffee should include a little something extra. I've been trying to cut down on the sugar lately, and recently discovered the Caffe Misto - brewed coffee plus steamed milk. A decent compromise - and it allowed me to get the "new" Pike Place blend this morning. (Previously only available at the original Pike Place Market location.) Also amused to see the switch to the original logo. I remember reading the topless mermaid was deemed too risque for beyond the Pacific NW. I suppose when you reach $500 billion in sales, you can take a few risks.

blossoms

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Will be semi-offline for a few days (blackberry, no laptop - can't go completely cold turkey after all), recovering from my work conference with a trip to see friends & my nephew. To make up for two days away, I took off yesterday afternoon and today for touristy fun.

foodietots.com

I'm still working on the design, but I have recently revamped the food blog, FoodieTots.com, with a fabulous new header graphic courtesy of Working Title. (Check out her Etsy shop!)

braised salmon

This month's featured ingredient was salmon, with the following quick and easy (really!) recipes:

• Maple-Glazed Salmon
• Salmon Burgers
• 15-minute Braised Salmon with Fennel