Alternate names for this blog

Recipes That 3 out of 4 Green Family Members Tolerated

My Facebook Page But With a Much Nicer UI

Pictures of My Kids Because My Mom Doesn’t Follow Me on Instagram

Quarterly Musings

Things I Wouldn’t Mind My Tween Daughter Reading

I Really Should Be Writing a Book about My Experiences in L.A. But That Seems Too Overwhelming

Beauty Purchases I’m Currently Excited About But Will Probably Cool On in a Few Months

Half-Baked Ideas for Series*

*In my defense, I didn’t finish that Sephora fragrance sampler review because all the samples smelled weird and alcohol-y and they accidentally included two of the same and shorted me the Marc Jacobs one. In case you’re wondering, though, I finally redeemed my voucher for the Elizabeth and James Nirvana Rose rollerball which I already knew I liked.

 

Scenes from summer in Ohio

      

 

   

Lots of sunshine, baseball, grilling, ice cream, fireworks and generally being outside so far this summer. Blogging this summer? Not so much (you may have noticed). When I look at the pictures above, I feel happy. What a full and blessed life.

But the day to day feels like something else. Always a strug of some kind. What are we doing for day care when the kids start back to school in a few weeks? What about this Thursday and Friday, when our summer babysitter needs the days off again? What did you spend at the store, because the DirecTV bill still hasn’t come out and we still need to sign Greta up for soccer and I still need to replace my cracked phone and grandpa’s birthday is next week. What are we making for dinner (that the kids will eat)? The state of the damp basement stresses me out. The news stresses me out.  This president stresses me out. Our dingy living room rug stresses me out. Greta wants a bedroom makeover. She’s a tween now and doesn’t like all the baby pink. Her cheap Target bedspread doesn’t lay right. Our bath towels smell like chicken soup. Magnus needs a new bike that’s suitable for a 7-year-old. Our pitiful landscaping stresses me out. Paying for the kids’ college stresses me out. How do other people afford all the shit they do? When the skin under my eyes become so hollowed? I can barely see my younger self in the mirror. Do I look like a bitter dried apricot to my kids? To my husband? Why do I still get breakouts at 43? Why haven’t I pooped in four days? When did I become so constantly worried???

I checked a blog I love the other day, Cupcakes and Cashmere, and she had a post up about her new approach to her eyebrows. Are you fucking kidding me?? Yesterday she had a post up about her toddler going off to preschool and how she “got through it.” Yes, how DO you manage?? I can’t deal with these lifestyle blogs anymore.

The other day I was at Kroger after work and the checkout lady said, How was your day? I felt tired and annoyed that so much sugary stuff had made it to the conveyor belt. I said, Fine. She said, Long one, eh? Then she shared that this was her second job. She just came from her full-time job at an insurance company. So there you go. This poor lady was probably in her late 40s and working two jobs. As my mom says, There’s always someone who has it better, and someone who has it worse.

Both my kids are healthy and beautiful and smart and hilarious and just all-around awesome. So who cares if the house hasn’t been painted in at least 10 years?

I’m lucky that my mom is still around and willing to help.  My sister is always willing to help.  I don’t see my 8-year-old eyes anymore but I can still ride my bike like a kid. We are healthy. That’s the most important thing.

How do you stay grateful and mindful of your blessings when the day to day can seem so hard?

 

 

Everything we ate in northern California

  

  

Barrak and I just got back from a long weekend in northern California. We went out for a big trail race in Auburn, California, near Lake Tahoe, and built a wine country visit around it. We ate and drank so well. The vistas — Redwoods, Pacific ocean, palm trees, eucalyptus trees, and constant sunshine — were STUNNING. And, I read a great book during the long flights to boot. So, it was a good trip.

Here’s everything we ate, with star ratings:

*= Good
** = SO good
*** = AHH-mazing

THURSDAY – Arrival Day

 

Lunch in Sacramento**
We sat outside in the sunshine and killed a tower of poke nachos for lunch at the Iron Horse Tavern in a cute little area in downtown Sacramento. These were no ordinary corn chips — more like the fancy homemade flour tortillas you can buy at Whole Foods. They were topped with huge chunks of raw ruby tuna and avocado and drizzled with some spicy mayo-based sauce. So good. One of the servers was from Columbus and came and sat with us. Small world.

Dinner in Guerneville***
This was our big expensive dinner of the trip — the only one we had a reservation for — and sort of a consolation prize for not being able to get into the French Laundry. The Farmhouse is a Michelin-starred restaurant with a sommelier and a fixed-price menu. Our server was an older guy who was like the butler in the movie Arthur if the butler in Arthur was jolly all the time. Our first courses were asparagus soup with Dungeness crab and gin-cured Ahi tuna. For our second courses (these are small plates), we chose the grilled octopus and crispy pork belly with quail egg. Our main courses were Alaskan halibut on risotto with spring veg and chardonnay buerre blanc (above) and rabbit done three ways. Dessert was a cheese plate. By the time we got our bill, I could barely keep my eyes open (we’d been up since 3:30 a.m. Eastern time and it was around 10 p.m. Pacific time). The cost was equivalent to a week of day care, two months’ of DirectTV or mulch for the entire yard (maybe). Was it worth it? I’m still deciding but leaning toward yes. Experiences not stuff, right?

Where we stayed
Autocamp in Russian River. So cool. You get your own high-end airstream: Casper mattress, Schoolhouse Electric lighting, Malin + Goetz products in the bathroom, giant fire pits everywhere and good coffee in the morning… all in the middle of towering Redwoods.

FRIDAY – Pre-race Day

  

Breakfast in Guerneville***
On the advice of the hip chic working the open-air lobby/cantina of the Autocamp, we had breakfast at a place called Big Bottom Market in downtown Guerneville.  We had warm, sloppy yet fresh “Veggie Sandos” with perfectly hard-boiled egg, baby spinach, grilled peppers and onions, Havarti cheese, pesto and aioli on ciabatta bread. And we split “Oprah’s favorite biscuit” with housemade blueberry jam and soft butter. Holy God, it was good. This was probably our favorite meal of the trip and it was $18.

Lunch in Santa Rosa
We split a basket of jalapeno & cheese-smothered pizza crust bites at the Russian River Brewing Co. Bad order, especially right before a race. We hardly ate any of it.

Dinner in Auburn
We went to some nondescript ale house in Auburn. It stunk. I got a house salad because I didn’t want to eat any meat. Barrak got himself In n’ Out burger afterward.

Where we stayed
Holiday Inn Auburn

SATURDAY – Race Day

 

Breakfast in Auburn
A Honey Stinger Waffle around mile 10, plus about 7 orange wedges during two aid station stops. I’ve never had orange wedges during a race and wow, they hit the spot.

Lunch in Auburn
They had a big party at the race finish line. So after finishing my 25k and not knowing anyone (Barrak and his friends were running the 100k) I wandered around looking for Advil, struck out, and decided to make a plate from the Mexican buffet. I didn’t want any meat so it was a vegetarian platter of rice, beans, grilled peppers and veg, and guacamole. Then I waited about four hours for Barrak to come through.

Dinner in Auburn**
After spending some time in the hotel hot tub with chilled champagne and cold beers, we went out in search of a decent dinner. We ended up at a place in downtown Auburn called Carpe Vino that was surprisingly good. Our party of three shared Skuna Bay salmon, mussels, halibut, veal breast, foie gras, pork cheeks and a great bottle of wine called Farm.

Where we stayed
Holiday Inn Auburn

SUNDAY – Explore-wine-country Day

  

Breakfast in Sonoma***
At the recommendation of my friend Beth, we hobbled the half-mile from our hotel to the cute little area known as Sonoma Plaza and had brunch at The Girl & the Fig. We sat outside among a LOT of women who brunch and had mimosas, a bloody mary, a peach bellini, smoked trout eggs benedict and lobster eggs benedict. Top-notch.

Lunch in Napa***
Heard about this place from Beth too. The Oxbow Public Market has lots of different vendors, food counters and restaurants — like a big Eataly. Even though we were barely hungry, we bellied up to the bar at the Hog Island Oyster Co. and had the most amazing raw oysters and grilled oysters. The grilled oysters tasted like steak. They were finished with a compound butter of horseradish, dill and lemon. Incredible.

Dinner in Sonoma
Again, we weren’t that hungry when dinner rolled around so we bought charcuterie from the Fatted Calf, artisan cheeses, a jar of local honey and a Model Bakery baguette from the Oxbow Public Market. We spread it out on our hotel bed, and split a bottle of Kamen cabernet. By this point, I was already tired of eating and pretty sick of red wine.

Where we stayed
Inn at Sonoma – A Four Sisters Inn. Great proximity to the Sonoma Plaza (so we could walk), right across the street from a Peet’s Coffee and relatively affordable. Still, I didn’t love this place. I thought it was kind of creepy and dated.

MONDAY – Let’s-wrap-things-up Day

 

Breakfast in Sonoma**
We had breakfast at the popular Sunflower Caffe on the Sonoma Plaza. Barrak had a great beet bloody Mary, I had an incredible peach bellini with a wedge of real peach soaking at the bottom. I had gently scrambled eggs with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and spinach. Barrak had a burrito. All good.

Lunch in Sacramento
Based on a Thrillist list, we hit Burgers and Brew back in downtown Sacramento, across the street from Iron Horse Tavern. It was OK.

Dinner in Sacramento
We’d turned in our rental car that afternoon so we were stuck with hotel room service. Now I love a good room service club sando but here, cheese quesadillas seemed safest.

Where we stayed
A Four Points Sheraton by the airport. We spent most of the 90-degree afternoon by the pool reading a book. Er, I did. Barrak handled the car rental return, which took forever to the point that I started to get worried about him.

TUESDAY – Travel Day

You know how this story ends, right? Airport food at I-don’t-know-what-time-zone-we’re-in, pizza delivery for dinner when we finally arrived home.

REVIEW: Tory Burch Jolie Fleur Bleue perfume

Tory Burch Jolie Fleur Bleue

The promise:

“Captures the intoxicating aroma of tuberose in Tory Burch’s garden in an elegant and understated mix.”

The reality:

I like this one. It reminds of Fracas by Robert Piguet. I’ve always considered Fracas iconic. I learned about it from a girl who was the girlfriend of a senior editor when I worked at Premiere magazine in L.A.. She worked at InStyle’s west coast bureau and had tons of personal style. She was funny, never wore pants — always dresses and skirts — and talked to me in a conspiratorial, just-us-girls kind of way. One time, she attended a small early screening of There’s Something About Mary with us (Cameron Diaz was also in the theater) at a movie-plex in an outdoor mall in Century City that also had a Bloomingdales. She plopped down in the seat next to me just as the movie was about to begin and said she’d just popped into “Bloomies” for a spritz of Fracas. She was the first person I knew who had an engagement party (at their cool little place in Malibu), and their wedding was covered in The New York Times. Fracas is fresh and floral and sweet, and I’ve always associated it with L.A. and this stylish girl I knew.

Anyway, last I heard, this gal now works in PR at Tory Burch in New York. Coincidence that Tory’s new fragrance smells like Fracas? Or maybe just the circle of life, am I right comrades?

REVIEW: Atelier perfume

Atelier

The promise:
“An electrical current runs through the subtle sweetness of vanilla, jasmine and fresh lime to bond with rich oak moss, woods and spicy coriander.”

The reality:
I started with Atelier because, duh, that description! I imagined a romantic midnight stroll through the lush gardens of Savannah in balmy June (something I’ve done countless times… okay, zero times). But it was SO cloyingly sweet. Imagine if you discovered an old cotton candy machine in your grandmother’s hot, stuffy farmhouse attic. Like old sugar. Next!

Sephora’s perfume sampler

I love these Perfume Samplers from Sephora. They’re $25, you get 7 samples of seasonal scents, and then you take a “Scent Certificate” back to the store to get a full-size rollerball of your favorite. Barrak got me this for an upcoming trip.

I’ll review each scent for you, and pick a winner at the end. I already one of these, but I’m always hoping to find a new favorite for warm weather. Stay tuned!

 

A week of dinners

MONDAY

Slow-cooker chicken tortilla soup

The story: This is Pioneer Woman’s recipe and I like it because you do almost NOTHING in advance. No browning of meat, or even cutting of meat, necessary. You put the raw chicken breasts straight in the pot with the spices, beans, tomatoes, etc., flip it on, and go to work. Okay, I did chop the onion and peppers the night before and throw them in a bag.) When you come home from work, school and kids’ soccer games 11 hours later, it’s ready to be ladled up and topped with avocado, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, whatever. We would normally top with tortilla chips but only had lunchbox-sized bags of Fritos, which actually worked better. In fact, I pitched this to the kids as “Frito Soup.” (They didn’t fall for it).

TUESDAY

Grilled hot dogs and brats with Bush’s baked beans

The story: The Cleveland Indians were playing, Magnus had a soccer game AND then baseball practice til 8pm, and it was an unseasonably warm spring evening, so we did hot dogs and brats on the grill. I have to say, it hit the spot.

WEDNESDAY

Slow-cooker Indian butter chicken

The story: I got this one from a blog I like called Dinner: A Love Story. It was really good. Again, no browning in advance. Just raw chicken breasts in the pot with fresh ginger, chopped onion, garlic, tomato paste, coconut milk and spices like curry, cinnamon and cumin. At the end, you stir in greek yogurt and fresh lemon juice. They also have you stir in peas but I kept them separate for anyone who would object to green in their chicken business. I didn’t have as much rice as I thought so the kids had theirs on pasta shells, which they preferred anyway.

THURSDAY

Pizza from Cheshire Market, the local bait store and pizza carryout

The story: No explanation needed.

FRIDAY

12 West, a cool little restaurant in Delaware

The story: Greta had a movie night at the school so we took Magnus out to dinner. 12 West specializes in modern Mexican. There was a 45-minute wait so we had a round of drinks: a Shirley Temple for Magnus, beer for Barrak, and for me, a Tijuana Sour, which is bourbon, lemon juice and simple syrup topped with a little red wine. We shared a platter of really good nachos and then got seated at the bar. We ended up being too stuffed for our entrees (a burger for Mag, tacos for Barrak, a vegetarian tostada thing for me). Not sure Magnus was a fan.

SATURDAY

Herbed faux-tisserie chicken with small Yukon Gold potatoes and roasted broccoli

The story: This is weekend cooking but I’m still sharing it because you should know this recipe. You know how roast chicken sometimes looks a little undercooked and pink in places? This recipe has you cook a seasoned bird low and slow (3 hours at 300 degrees) like a rotisserie, so the meat is falling-off-the-bones tender. You do a seasoning rub of ground fennel seed, thyme, marjoram, salt and olive oil and set the bird on a tray of Yukon Gold potatoes, so the chicken fat drips onto the potatoes. I also threw some onion wedges on the tray because onions roasted in chicken fat is totally my jam. I made two chickens because both kids like chicken legs and there just never seems to be enough for the whole family with just one bird. Broccoli roasted with olive oil and salt is our go-to veg. Greta eats it like candy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In writing this blog post on a Sunday morning, I’ve paused to 1) go out to the backyard to inspect a rip in Mag’s new baseball trainer net, 2) go to the bathroom with Greta to see her glow-in-the-dark slime, 3) go back to the backyard to inspect Mag’s jaw where he got hit with the baseball, 4) hold a balloon open for Greta so she could scoop baking soda into it, and 5) answer a question that couldn’t wait: “Mommy, would you rather live in Target or Kroger?” This is why I haven’t blogged in almost 12 months.

Summer 2016

I stopped blogging around August 2016 so I missed doing my Summer Recap last year.

Want to see?

{My boys at our neighbors’ annual Derby Party — the unofficial start of summer in my book.}

{Greta at art camp}

{Weekends at the pool}

{On the white sandy beach in Destin, Florida}

{Practically front-row seats at Coldplay with my friend Michelle}

{Magnus tried his hand at baseball last summer. Safe to say, he liked it}

{Mag and I ran around Highbanks Park together}

{Love this sign we pass on the way to the pool}

{We got into it with the rest of the world}

{Greta’s soccer team}

{At a Columbus Crew game}

{Lots of tennis}

{Lots of gin drinks with St. Germain elderflower, pink grapefruit juice and sprig of rosemary}

{Amazing orangey-yellow cherry tomatoes from our garden}

Kale toast

I call this dish “When your husband is sautéing a bunch of kale, garlic and shallots for his omelet and offers you some.”

This was a brunch-time snack for me last Easter Sunday and a riff on a kale appetizer at one of my favorite restaurants in Columbus called Third and Hollywood. They serve a Staub pot full of housemade ricotta with a side of braised greens and artisan toasts that look like little surfboards.

Since I don’t have housemade ricotta on hand generally, I used plain Philadelphia cream cheese. The bread is “Farm Loaf” from Whole Foods.

A week of dinners

{Homemade blue cheese dressing from Friday night’s dinner. Pardon the streaks down the jar. Is that a gross photo?}

MONDAY

Donato’s Pizza take-out

The story: Greta scored a goal in her soccer game so when it ended at 7:30, she got to choose dinner.

TUESDAY

City BBQ

The story: Magnus’s soccer game ended at 7:30, so we let him choose dinner. Our ribs were kind of gristly and gross so I’m not sure we’ll be going back anytime soon.

WEDNESDAY

Traditional grilled cheeseburgers for Barrak and Magnus, a turkey burger with fontina for me, and leftover pizza and ribs for Greta.

The story: Because god forbid we’d all eat the same thing.

THURSDAY

Angel hair pasta with Carfagna’s classic marinara, Whole Foods meatballs and homemade garlic bread

The story: It’s a family favorite, duh.

FRIDAY

“Daddy Wings” and roasted broccoli drizzled with olive oil and kosher salt

The story: Another family staple. Barrak cooks the wings in the deep fryer outside. The kids eat them plain and Barrak and I sauce ours separately with Buffalo sauce. I made homemade blue cheese dressing from My Father’s Daughter. I omitted the shallots because it was for wings, not salad. It’s a great, easy recipe.