Plum Stitches

where oh where did my tree go?

My little tree has completely disappeared into a sea of snow!  I do love the snow, but honestly if we get anymore, and none of what we currently have melts, I'm not sure where we're going to put it.

I baked some Blueberry Banana Muffins from the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  They were pretty good and my kids enjoyed them.  There's no added sugar - they were plenty sweet from the mashed bananas.  I did sprinkle a bit of turbinado sugar on top.  Chloe seemed to enjoy the tops of them the most, so if I made them again I might add a bit of agave for a little more sweetness.

summer of fun

We've been on the road quite a bit and I'm lagging in my reading/catching up on what everyone has been up to!  We spent a week at the beach (lots of fun, but HOT).  And then headed up to Vermont for the 4th of July.  Perfect, gorgeous, summer weather up there.  Warm during the day, but nice and cool at night.

We've devoured a few of these rustic cherry tarts.  Dough recipe is Pate Sucre and can be found over at Martha Stewart.  Would love to make a blueberry one today, but it is just too hot to run the oven.

Digging a giant hole in the sand at the beach was the key for Phoebe to get used to the sand and surf.  Although it's been nice having her a bit wary of the sand and water - she doesn't move too fast and we actually get to relax a bit.

Our Vermont trip was tons of fun.  We visited with friends we haven't seen in awhile, explored a few new places, went kayaking on Lake Champlain with both kids and just hung out.  The best part was we hit no traffic on our return trip, which is pretty much unheard of!

the garden is in!

We headed down to the beach over the weekend to open the house up.  And to get away from our house.  Climbing four flights of stairs is no picnic, one flight of stairs on LBI, was much more palatable.  I head back to the doctor today for a follow-up appointment.  I'm hoping she can tell me I can ditch the crutches and the leg brace, but I have a sneaky suspicion that's not going to happen.  I guess wishful thinking never hurt anyone.

We pretty much mirrored what we planted last year:  tomatoes (tons of them), basil, thyme, parsley, chives, eggplant, yellow peppers.  We added pole beans and a sugar baby watermelon, and then a few early lettuces and radishes.  To prep the soil, we added a few bags of manure compost.  For a few minutes we were reminded of the smell of Vermont, but it quickly dissipated.  Given the small size of the raised, bed it's amazing how much food came out of it last year and how relatively easy it was to put in.

We didn't do much with the flower garden over the weekend, we're saving that for next weekend.  Despite how dismal the soil looks in the picture above, it was amazing to see it in full bloom last summer (picture  below). Our plan for this year is to remove the awful red brick half circles and install some inexpensive paving stones and add more soil.  This coming weekend, we'll be planting seeds for the cutting garden portion of it (the piece that really excites me!)

It's nice to be back at the beach and eating breakfast together for another summer.

from sap to syrup

Goodies from our trip to Vermont a few weeks ago - on the left is a sampling of the sap and on the right is fresh syrup (thanks C & J!)  I'm headed into Chloe's class in just a bit to share this with them, along with some pictures and attempt to explain to 3-5 year olds how to make sap.  Wish me luck. 

Thought I would be able to track down a book at the enormous Barnes & Noble in Union Square, but no such luck.  The information desk looked at me like I had four heads when I asked if they had any books on making maple syrup geared towards kids.  One suggestion from them was to show the kids the back of the Vermont quarter.  Apparently there's a maple tree?  I haven't seen it.

And this is our installed Dignitet installed and in use.  We love it, it fits perfectly in the space.

Oh and one last thing - Chloe's dress in the Pinkalicious posting is from JCrew - on sale at the end of last summer, in case anyone else was interested.

new books

My little bento box experiment this week has paid off, at least for three days.  Chloe's bento box has come back empty.  I don't think I can quite declare success, but maybe we're on the right path.  For bento box inspiration:

A few felting books I've been pining after:

We made a quick trip yesterday to the Japanese book store.  Now that I've been there a few times, I'm getting better at navigating my way around the store.  Of course, I still can't read Japanese and I really don't think that's in my future, although you never know.  The section of food and crafting books is really amazing - you just don't get that kind of creativity with Western books, at least not that I've seen.  The good thing that I've noticed about the books is that they show the step-by-step process in photographs, so reading Japanese is not crucial.

I'm off tomorrow for a much needed ski weekend with a group of women from Jersey City.  No kids, no husbands.  I'm probably not going to be able to alpine ski.  Bummer.  I go in next week for a review of the MRI of my knee.  Feels like it's taken forever.  Of course, the practice I chose to go to in the city specializes in women's sports medicine and most of the office was in Vancouver for the Olympics!

placket-front and bento boxes

Pattern:  Placket-Neck Sweater, Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Size:  1-2 years

Needles:  Size 7 circular

Yarn:  Plymouth Indiecita Baby Alpaca, worsted weight

Notes:  This was from stash yarn, bought last minute on a trip to Vermont.  A great little sweater to quickly knit as a gift.  This one went to a little boy in our family that just turned one.  I use the 'magic loop' method for the sleeves.

We managed to survive all the snow that dumped on us last week.  It started as a slushy, wet mess and ended with a huge amount of snow on the ground.  I attempted to take Chloe to her after school art class while it was a slushy mess.  Pushing two kids in a stroller through that was a bit of a disaster, but I did managed a decent work out from it!  Sadly, we didn't make it to the class - it was just too much of a mess.

I've been thoroughly distracted the past few days buy the Bento Mom Flickr Group.   You must check out these fabulous Bento Box lunches that are being made for kids! 

I keep thinking this might be the 'wonder pill' that gets Chloe to eat more vegetables (I know, I'm delusional).  Anyway, this distraction resulted in me dragging everyone to Mitsuwa in search of the elusive bento tools yesterday and hours of surfing the Web. 

Jim made Chloe egg sushi last night and the hot dog octopus.  I made bunny shaped sweet potatoes.  I'm happy to report Chloe gobbled it all down!

Biggie, has fabulous boxes that she makes for her and she gives you the details on her site for creating them.

in action

A few other shots of the little sweater in action.  In hindsight, I would have made it a bit longer to allow for room to grow, but it should work for the rest of the winter.

We don't watch all that much TV, but when I do want to watch it, it never seems like anything is on!  Well, the other night, during a bit of channel surfing I stumbled on Planet Emeril on Planet Green.  Now, when I think of Emeril, all I seem to think of is my grandmother (who sadly is no longer around) religiously watching him from bed every night as she dozed in and out of sleep. 

Anyway, he has a new show on Planet Green that's his 'take on fresh, whole foods.'  It's pretty good and the episode I stumbled on was all about his adventure in Vermont.  It looks like there are some other good topics coming up.  I would also add that I think his personality on this show is really toned down, I'm not sure that I was ever a fan (or not) of his previous show on the Food Network, but I thought he was pretty likable.

croquembouche

I'm nutty about making one of these this year, either for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Ever since I saw it on the cover of MSL. 

Something about all those French desserts/pastries have me hooked.  Gougere, Buche De Noel...

Hopefully I can pull it off!

A happy baby that enjoys her dinner

The bigger one that doesn't enjoy her dinner.  Wondering if it will ever get any better?  Of course, if she could eat a Croquembouche for dinner that frown would be turned upside down in a heartbeat.

yum

Before seeing Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, we stopped at Sweet, for a few treats.

  

bento box

I've been searching on and off since Chloe started eating lunch at school for a Bento Box.  I haven't been able to find one, until today at Whole Foods.  For some reason in my twisted mind I think if she has a Bento Box she'll magically start eating all sorts of things for lunch.  Am I delusional or what?  Although their site isn't so great, there are some good lunch ideas.  The company that sells them is Laptop Lunches.  

Pattern:  Kim's Hats, Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Size:  For a child, but I followed the direction for the woman's sizing, more or less

Yarn:  Berrocco Ultra Alpaca

Needles:  Size 8 circular

Notes:  Tired of this pattern yet?  I seem to be on a hat bender at the moment, we'll see how long it lasts ;-)