Recipe: The Best Lasagna

Lasagna recipe over at My Convertible Life.

It's delicious -- trust me, you want this recipe.

Fourth Quarter Meal Report

Back in January, I really didn't think I would make it all year with the meal-planning -- but I figured even a little planning was better than none, so it was worth a try.

Turns out, I did make it -- every single week! Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a moment.

Of course, we're still eating frozen pizza (4 nights), frozen skillet meals (3 nights) and hot dogs (2 nights), but we're doing it less frequently and more intentionally. And the kids are still eating too many chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches and bowls of Easy Mac -- but I still trust that one day they'll learn to appreciate my cooking.

So for the final 12 weeks of 2009, we were out of town four nights, had dinner in a restaurant eight nights (as a family or for date night), ate at a party or a friends' house six nights (hooray for holidays) and got dinner from our meal-trade five nights. Of the remaining dinners, here's a sampling of what we had during Q4:

• 24 different dinners made at home
• 22 nights of leftovers (a.k.a. good planning and lots of turkey)
• 5 dishes involving chicken in various formats (crockpot, pasta, enchiladas)
• 5 nights of homemade chowders and chili
• 3 nights of breakfast
• 2 nights of holiday meals
• and assorted other dinners

Although I never turned into Julie & Julia through this process and I'm certainly no gourmet cook, it was worth every minute spent planning and every minute not wasted fretting over what to have for dinner. Now I might just have to reward myself with a sassy new apron to carry on this great idea in 2010.

For earlier meal reports, go to Q1, Q2 and Q3.

Note: I found the adorable apron in the photo on an Etsy shop -- there were too many cute fabrics to choose from. I don't know anyone at GreatGoods (she's in Idaho -- who knew) and they haven't sent me anything (yet) in exchange for this post, but you should check out her site.

Recipe: Marbled Chocolate Treats

If you get this holiday treat from me, pretend you don't know how crazy easy it is to make. Over the years, I've slightly modified this recipe from Kraft -- a tasty and simple treat that makes a pretty gift to share with teachers, friends and neighbors. Assuming, of course, that my husband and children don't eat them all before I get them out of the house.


Marbled Chocolate Treats

Ingredients:

• 10 honey grahams, broken in half (20 squares) 
• 6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate 
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (optional)
• 3 squares premium white baking chocolate 

Directions:

1. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Arrange grahams on bottom of pan, cutting as needed to completely cover bottom of pan; set aside. 
2. Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter (optional) in medium microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted when stirred, stirring every 30 sec. Stir until well blended. Pour over grahams; spread with spatula to cover completely. 
3. Repeat microwave melting steps with the white chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the white chocolate over chocolate-covered grahams. Immediately cut through the chocolate mixtures with knife several times for tiger-stripe effect. 
4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan. Peel off foil. Break dessert into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. 

Remember me? I'm Your Wife...

What with all the ranting last week, I ran out of days to write about the glorious 27 hours I spent with my husband over Thanksgiving weekend.

That's 27 hours alone. No kids. No parents. No work. No deadlines. Just us. Overnight. For the first time in three years.

Crazy, crazy fun.

We left the kids at home with my parents on Friday morning at 9:30 and returned home the next day around noon. Picasso and Warhol at the Nasher in the morning. Pepper's for lunch. Afternoon nap at The Franklin. Dinner at Mediterranean Deli. Movie at The Varsity. The Franklin's special breakfast in bed. Brunch from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen. Plus some lovely details in between that I won't write about because my parents and my in-laws read my blog (and it's not that kind of blog anyway).

Did I mention it had been three years?

Oh, and my favorite part about staying at The Franklin? The "do not disturb" button right beside the headboard -- you don't even have to get out of bed to hang the tag on your door.

Could it be more perfect?

Dinner's Ready!

For all of you spending the day cooking, prepping, shopping, sweating and generally working your tail off to get ready for the big meal tomorrow, I have three words:

The. Fresh. Market.

Their traditional holiday meal comes pre-cooked with turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish and rolls -- all I have to do is heat it up and set the table. The best $80 we spend all year.

I mean, I know I've gotten all domesticated this year, what with the meal-planning and the cooking chicken and the trying new recipes. But seriously, people -- I do not find joy in spending three days slaving over a meal that will get devoured in about 20 minutes. I know that some of you do, and I respect that -- but I have no plan to join you (unless, of course, you want to invite me to your house for dinner).

After our children were born, my husband and I implemented a pretty firm no-traveling-for-the-holidays rule for our family. There have been a couple of years where we went to our parents' homes for Thanksgiving, but otherwise we've enjoyed the luxury of staying home. That policy also means that we've extended a generally open invitation to our parents to join us at our house for the holidays -- thus, the need for The Fresh Market.

My mother is the one who taught me this trick, after years of doing it all the hard way -- and I expect my children will be stunned to discover (years from now, when they get invited to a boyfriend's or girlfriend's home for Thanksgiving) that not all turkeys arrive pre-cooked with the fixings from the store. And I'm totally fine with that -- I'll just tell them I was supporting the local economy (The Fresh Market is based in Greensboro) and ensuring that I had more time and happiness to spend with them.

Happy turkey everyone!

Note: As always, I received no compensation from The Fresh Market for this post. However, if they offered me a gift card or a discount for my Christmas meal, I wouldn't say no.

Recipe: Crispy Tilapia

Like most parents, I'm always in search of recipes that are easy, tasty, healthy and popular with the whole family. At our house, one of the favorites in this category is crispy tilapia.

I buy the fish whenever it's on sale at HT and keep it in the freezer -- it's easy to defrost in the fridge a day or two before we use it. I usually cook two filets at a time -- slice each in half, with three halves for the grown ups and one half cut into nuggets for the kids (we call them "special nuggets" to make them more appealing).

What really makes the recipe easy to prepare is that I mix up a ziploc bag of the breading (usually double what's listed here, which gets us through several dinners) so that I can just pull it out of the pantry when we're ready to eat. The only downfall of the recipe is that the leftovers aren't as good, so you're better off just cooking enough for one meal. For sides, I like to steam or stir-fry whatever green veggies are in the fridge, plus some ready-made mashed potatoes.

Crispy Tilapia

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs tilapia fillets, about 10
• 1/3 cup flour, for dusting fish
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
• canola oil, to cover bottom of large pan

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper fish. Dust fillets with 1/3 cup of flour.
2. Mix egg with buttermilk in one bowl.
3. Mix flour, corn meal, baking soda and baking powder, Old Bay in another bowl.
4. Dip all floured fish into egg then flour mixture.
5. Heat oil medium-high in large pan.
6. Fry in three batches, turning after 2 minutes on each side.
7. Salt as soon as you take out of pan.
8. Serve with tartar sauce.

Recipe and photo from recipezaar.com.

Recipe: Pineapple Pork Tenderloin

"New Music Monday" has gone by the wayside now that I'm not on my own on Mondays... Pippi and I spend Monday mornings together while Junius is at preschool, so we often wind up at the grocery store.

So instead of music today, I thought I'd share one of my favorite crockpot recipes, stolen from another blog. What I love about this recipe: it's easy, it's delicious, my kids will eat pork tenderloin and it makes tasty leftovers. Enjoy!

Pineapple Pork Tenderloin CrockPot Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 pound pork tenderloin
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 16 ounces frozen or canned pineapple

Directions:

1. Combine meat, sugar, spices, and cornstarch in a plastic zipper bag (I add a little extra of the spices). Seal and shake well to coat. Pour contents of bag into crockpot.
2. Add garlic and peppers on top of the meat so that they're not soaking on the bottom.
3. Pour in soy sauce, apple juice, and an entire bag of frozen pineapple. (I add an extra splash of the soy sauce because I like the salty flavor.)
4. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. (The recipe said she cooked hers on high for 2 hours, then on low for another 6.)
5. Serve with rice or pasta. (I like to serve mine over rice.)

Friday's Five: Halloween Candy to Share with Mommy

In honor of the holiday weekend (and because my kids are out of school today, so no time for a more researched list), here are my five favorite Halloween candies that I'll be sneaking out of my kids' bags after trick-or-treating:

1. Candy corn: Apparently a lot of people (at least those on the Internet) really hate candy corn, but I love it. And so does my husband, who will have to wrestle me for it.
   
2. 3 Musketeers: The best candy bar ever. I like to eat the outside first, then the fluffy inside last. I don't know why, but I always have.
   
3. Reese's cups: Since Junius is allergic to peanuts, I'm really just protecting him by eating these before he does. I know, I'm such a great mom.
   
4. Kit Kat: These are tasty as-is, but even better when my husband crumbles them onto chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup.
   
5. Peppermint patties: So refreshing, yet still dessert-y. A lovely combination.
   

Note to my neighborhood readers: I am not handing out all of these at my house (duh, I'm hoarding them for myself), so don't be disappointed if you get something else.

Third Quarter Meal Report

Project Meal-Planning is at 39 weeks and counting! Still eating frozen pizza (5 nights), frozen skillet meals (5 nights) and hot dogs (3 nights), but also lots of other meals. I'm quite proud of myself, but need to clarify something before I get too big for my apron. Based on comments I've received on past posts, I seem to have created the illusion that my children are also eating all these different meals that I've been making. Let me assure you that when my husband and I are eating pad thai or pineapple pork tenderloin, my kids are having chicken nuggets or Easy Mac.

Out of the third 13 weeks of 2009, we were out of town 13 nights (including a week at the beach), had dinner out 13 nights (beach restaurants, date night, CFA, football games, etc.), and got dinner from our meal-trade four nights. Of the remaining dinners, here's a sampling of what we had during Q3:

• 21 different dinners
• 16 nights of leftovers (a.k.a. good planning)
• 10 dishes involving chicken in various formats (crockpot, grill, pasta, pad thai)
• 6 nights of variations on pork tenderloin (kabobs, grill, crockpot)
  
• 5 nights of tilapia with veggies
• 3 nights of French toast with turkey sausage and fruit
• and assorted other dinners

My goal for Q4 is to find some new recipes to add to the mix -- now that I'm cooking more, the old stand-bys are getting over-used. Would really love some recommendations for crockpot soup recipes to get us through the winter -- anyone?

For earlier meal reports, go to Q1 and Q2.

Hot Potato, Hot Potato

This video is awesome. Not only does it feature Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island (who seems really, really happy about living in Idaho), but it's the niftiest way to peel a potato I've ever seen. As someone who loves to eat potatoes in nearly every form, I may have to give this trick a try.



Thanks to Grandpa for sending!

Pizza Nostalgia

Even though Thomas Wolfe, himself a Tar Heel, said you can't go home again, I always like to try anyway when it comes to Chapel Hill. I spent four years there as an undergrad, then returned five years later for graduate school.

Over the years, one restaurant retained my unfailing loyalty:
Pepper's Pizza.

A couple weeks ago I had a work-related meeting in Chapel Hill, so I took the opportunity to head to the Hill early and treat myself to lunch at Pepper's. It's been a few years since I had eaten there, and I knew that the restaurant had changed locations, moving up Franklin Street a few spaces from its original site (shown here). I was nervous, hopeful, a little skeptical -- but I needed to know if it was still My Pepper's.

As I enjoyed my lunch (my "usual": diet coke, side salad no peppers no onions with ranch dressing, and a slice with zucchini and feta) which was thank goodness exactly wonderfully like it had always been, I had to laugh about how much things have changed.

Of course, the space is new -- much brighter and less grunge than the old space, with four televisions mounted on the walls. The wait staff still looked college-town-quirky, but none of the employees had multi-colored hair, large tattoos or excessive piercings. And even the music was different -- instead of head-banging alternative noise, I actually heard "Walking on Sunshine" (although, to be fair, that is one of my all-time favorite songs -- seriously, click the link and thank me later for putting that feel-good tune in your head and a skip in your step).

But what had really changed? Me.

Instead of walking up to Franklin from class or the dorm with a group of friends, I drove to the parking garage and ate alone with a magazine (and enjoyed it! how else would I get to read The New Yorker in peace?). Instead of wearing jeans and a t-shirt with birks, I was in suit trousers, dressy top, pearls and heels -- professional attire for my meeting, of course. After lunch, when the waitress shooed me back to my table (apparently you don't pay at the counter in Fancy Pepper's), I handed her my AmEx card instead of a wad of change and bills out of the pocket on my backpack.

But the salad was still the right balance of lettuce, tomatoes and mozzarella with just the right amount of dressing. And the pizza still has that perfect-not-too-thick-not-too-thin crust with just enough sauce, thinly sliced veggies and salty feta cheese. And the diet coke, refilled at exactly the right moment, still comes with that delightful pebbly ice.

So I decided I'm okay with the changes at Pepper's because the food is what matters most. And I'm more than okay with the changes in me because it's a good life I've got here -- even if I did look a bit dorky at lunch.

Photo from UrbanSpoon.com.

A Good Substitute is Hard to Find

He just wanted to be helpful. I was making my lunch, and Junius asked if he could join in. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

But when I watched, stunned, as his eyes began to swell shut and welts broke out across his face, I suddenly realized he was allergic to my sandwich. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the kind I'd eaten a hundred times since he was born, the kind he'd never wanted to eat himself but had just helped me make.

Somehow we made it three-and-a-half years without discovering that Junius has a peanut allergy -- but last December, it was painfully obvious why he never liked peanut butter. He hadn't even eaten any of it that day -- just got a little on his hands closing my sandwich, then rubbed his eyes. After a quick dose of benedryl, a frantic trip to the pediatrician (thankfully it was a weekday and his breathing remained normal), an epi shot and a long nap, he recovered from the reaction unscathed. A few weeks later we visited the allergist to officially confirm what we already knew.

Since then, we've stopped buying peanut butter altogether, even though my husband and I both love it. Just seems too risky to have it in the house. But I miss the ease and the tastiness of a good PB&J for lunch. So when my neighbor offered me a sample of SunButter that she'd gotten in the mail, I figured it was worth a try.

Turns out I can't get Juni even to taste it -- he is understandably afraid of anything that looks remotely like peanut butter. But Pippi and I have really enjoyed it. Although you wouldn't mistake it for real peanut butter, it has enough of the consitency, texture and flavor to make a good sandwich. And in addition to being Juni-safe, it's also "nutritionally superior" to peanut butter (according to its website).

All that to say, if you're not allergic to peanuts, you're probably happier with the real deal. But if you're looking for a substitute, this is a good one.

Note: I have received no compensation from SunButter to write this post. There's a lot of hullabaloo these days about blogging with integrity. I'm assuming the six of you who read this blog aren't worried about that, but please let me know if you have concerns. Trust me when I tell you that none of the marketers seem to have discovered my little blog, despite my hopes for lots of free "blogola."

FREE ICE CREAM! Or, What It Looks Like to Host a Party for the Neighborhood

"The Aftermath"
______________________________________

96 people (including 41 children)
+ 2 scoopers (thanks to my husband and Monsieur D!)
+ 17 cartons of ice cream (plus 2 leftover for the host family)
+ 36 single-serve cups of ice cream
+ 2 bottles of chocolate syrup
+ 4 bottles of sprinkles
+ 4 folding tables (borrowed from helpful neighbors)
+ 2 containers of wipes
+ 9 scoops and scores of spoons and cups
+ 2 yards to play in
+ 1 beautiful sunny blue sky
=
The perfect way to celebrate a wonderful neighborhood.

We're thinking this might need to be an annual event.
Thanks, Edy's!
______________________________________

Junius scooping some ice cream for his Mommy.

Pippi... well, I think the picture says it all.

It's Not as Big as I Expected

I came home this morning from taking Junius to preschool camp (it's bug week) to find this package on my doorstep. Who knew that ice cream for up to 100 people could fit in such a relatively small box?

And thanks to the magic of dry ice (and the gloves that Edy's so thoughtfully packaged into the top of the of the box), it all arrived safely unmelted and has now been transferred into the freezer.

Turns out I can get 12 cartons of ice cream plus 36 single-serve cups of light ice cream in my own freezer. Again, who knew?

So far we have 70 people signed up for the party, including children. Am feeling very popular at the moment.

Now if I can just keep myself from sampling every flavor before the party on Saturday...

Second Quarter Meal Report

That which gets measured gets done. Or so they say.

The adage doesn't always work when it comes to public education (see: NCLB), but it turns out to be true for me for meal-planning. As I reported back in April, I started meal-planning (with help from a new dry erase board) for the first time this year. Wasn't sure it would take, but figured it was worth a try -- anything had to be better than too many nights of frozen pizza or hot dogs.

Now that the year is halfway through, we're still eating frozen pizza (8 CPK BBQ chicken pizzas this quarter, to be exact) -- but we're also eating out less, using more of our groceries before they expire, and eating a greater variety of meals. This quarter I also added a meal sharing plan with my neighbor on Tuesday nights -- one week I make dinner for her family and my family, the following week she makes dinner for us all.

Out of the second 13 weeks of 2009, we were out of town nine nights, had dinner out (date night, friend night or just take-out) eight nights, and got dinner from our meal-trade six nights. Of the remaining dinners, here's a sampling of what we had during Q2:

• 27 different dinners
• 18 nights of leftovers (a.k.a. good planning)
• 8 different dishes involving chicken
  
• 6 nights of hamburgers or hot dogs on the grill
  
• 4 nights of tilapia with veggies
• 3 nights of French toast with turkey sausage and fruit
• 3 nights of sweet potato and black bean casserole
• 3 nights of skillet meals from the freezer
• and assorted other dinners
  

Must admit, I'm kind of proud of me. So what are you eating these days?

Saying thank you with ice cream

The following essay was my entry for the Edy's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute. I'm so excited to be a grand prize winner, which means I'm one of 1,500 people across the country who get to throw an ice cream party for their neighbors courtesy of Edy's. The party will be later in July, but I thought I'd post the essay now because it fits with yesterday's post about moving in. It may also remind you of my 50-word autobiography from earlier in the spring.

In August 2003, my husband and I bought our first house, located in the Lakemont neighborhood of Raleigh, N.C. Over the next few years, we had our first child and became good friends with our neighbors. Our neighborhood group quickly became our community support network – the people who brought dinner when you'd had a family illness, watched your kids in a pinch, offered hand-me-downs and holiday treats, donated to your causes, cheered your talents, celebrated your successes and mourned your losses.

In July 2007, we sold our house in Lakemont to move to Greensboro for a great job opportunity. We didn't want to leave Raleigh, but felt like it was the right decision for our family. Long story short, over the next 11 months, the job opportunity fell apart, we had our second child, my husband found a new job in Raleigh, we sold our house in Greensboro, moved in with my parents for two months, bought a house back in Lakemont (a few streets over from our first home) and moved back to Raleigh in June 2008. Phew.

When our friends from the neighborhood showed up in the front yard of our new house at the same time that the moving truck pulled up to the curb, we knew we'd made the right decision to return. It was an exhausting year – both emotionally and physically – but we felt that coming back to Lakemont was coming home for us, returning to our "family."

Our neighborhood isn't fancy, the houses aren't glamorous, the residents aren't making millions. But we have a wealth of community that I think is rare in a time when people are so transient and keeping up with the Joneses is more about the car you drive than about what sort of help the Joneses might need.

We’d love to host an Edy’s party to say thank you to all our friends and neighbors, new and old, and to celebrate how wonderful they are – they’re what makes Lakemont home for us.

Friday Five: Avocado

After yesterday's news, I feel like I'm supposed to write something in tribute to Farrah Fawcett or Michael Jackson. But I don't really have enough to say about either one, although I do have vivid memories of watching "The Making of Thriller" during sleep-overs at my friend Kirsten's house because she had a VCR and we didn't and I was always really scared and had to hide in my sleeping bag because I was just that sensitive. But I digress...

Instead, I'm going to stick with my original topic, about which (perhaps strangely) I have plenty to say: the beautiful, yummy avocado. Some may be afraid of avocados because of their high fat content, but it's monounsatured fat and low in cholesterol. They're also rich in potassium, B vitamins, vitamin E, vitamin K and lutein, in addition to having the highest fiber content of any fruit. And they make a perfect baby/toddler food that's great for brain development -- just serve it like you would banana, either mashed into baby cereal or cut up as a finger food.

Here are five of my favorite ways to work avocado into your diet:

1. Grilled cheese: I first discovered this tasty lunch/dinner at The Raleigh Times, but it's easy enough to make at home. Use good sourdough bread with slices of cheddar, tomato and avocado. Grill on your panini maker (also known as the George Foreman Cooker at our house).


2. Triscuit and muenster sandwich: My favorite snack is to make little stacks of avocado and muenster cheese on top of a Triscuit. When I was pregnant, I would eat an entire avocado at one sitting. Now I try to limit it to half the fruit at a time. It's the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, sweet and salty.


3. Mexican casserole: An easy, tasty, healthy dinner option is the sweet potato/black bean casserole. Layer mashed sweet potatoes, black beans, mexicali corn, quartered grape tomatoes, avocado slices and shredded cheddar. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until hot all the way through.
   
4. Chopped salad: We found this filling and delicious salad at Moonlight Pizza Company. Or you can make your own with romaine, grilled chicken, crispy bacon, avocado slices and crumbled bleu cheese.
   
5. Guacamole: No list of avocado recipes would be complete without this perfect dip. Again, I can probably eat the whole bowl myself with a bag of chips -- but I always try to share.

Tackling the Chicken

I just cut up two raw chicken breasts into pieces and browned them to use in tonight's dinner.

[Pause while the people who know me well pick themselves up off the floor and start breathing normally again.]

Yes, that's right. For the first time (probably ever), I took two raw, icky chicken breasts, cut them into pieces and cooked them on the stove.

As I've written before, for years, I didn't touch raw meat at all. I ate a lot of cereal. After college, I worked up to cooking ground beef or salmon fillets and, in the past couple of years, chicken breasts and pork tenderloin -- but only when I could plunk the whole thing into a dish and bake it.

Want to know how I got through it without breaking down? Imagined I was the Swedish Chef. "De cheekin smooshin. Bork, bork, bork!"

Now I'm going to Clorox my hands for the third time and take a nap.

Photo from guardian.co.uk.

Friday's Five: Restronks for the Fam

Like most people these days, we're trying to save money and eat out less. But every now and then, Junius begs us to go to a "restronk" and we agree. This probably dates back to the year I was pregnant with Pippi when we were in transition (new house, new jobs, new baby -- long story) and we ate out a lot.

Here are five of our favorite kid-friendly restaurants from when we lived in Greensboro (I've excluded Chick-Fil-A from the list, since you already know how I feel about CFA). Some are franchises, some are local, some are both -- but all are places the whole family can enjoy:

1. Ham's on Friendly: The original Ham's restaurant, this location offers tasty food, great service (nice to parents and kids) and a train that runs back and forth in the rafters. The fried potato chips are super yummy (in a greasy kind of way) and the chicken tenders are surprisingly good. Kids eat for 99 cents on Tuesdays and the kid's meal includes ice cream. Can't speak for the other franchise locations, so I recommend you stick with the original.
   
   
2. Smith Street Diner: Yummy down-home southern diner breakfast food. They serve lunch, too, but breakfast is available until they close at 3 p.m. on the weekends. Juni likes the great big pancake, but I prefer the diner classic of eggs, bacon, grits and a biscuit. If you're going to eat out for breakfast, you might as well do it right.
   
   
3. Jason's Deli: Free self-serve soft-serve ice cream in a cone or a cup. Isn't that reason enough?
   
   
4. Fincastles: A classic downtown burger diner (complete with jukebox and famous singing waiter) in a great, old renovated building. Sit at the counter and enjoy the swively stools while you sip your soda with crushed ice (the best kind) and munch on fries and a cheeseburger. Kids meal also comes with ice cream.
   
   
5. Ghassan's: My disclaimer here is that my college roommate's family owns this restaurant, but I think the many years I spent eating there only makes my recommendation more credible. Truthfully, Juni likes any meal that comes with fries and I love the chicken on a pita platter. And the great fish tank at the Battleground location helps keep the little ones entertained.
   

So what are your favorite places to dine with the kiddos?

Photo from Fincastles.

That's My Girl

Let me be clear that I have no doubt that Pippi is my daughter. After 9+ months of ginormous pregnancy, I actually maintained consciousness during her c-section delivery (unlike with my first c) and got to see her straight away. And although she doesn't look much like me, she resembles her brother so much it's scary sometimes.

But just in case I ever had any questions about whether or not she belongs to me, two recent discoveries made it quite obvious.

1. At our recent group swim class, I spent the lessons in the pool with Pippi while Juni was with his instructor. The whole time we were in the pool, Pippi flirted shamelessly with the lifeguards -- so much so that one of the guards commented that she was the cutest baby he'd ever seen. Of course, Pip flirted with the male and female guards, but she is already following in her mother's footsteps of summers spent making eyes at all the cute boys up in the stand. And I still like to flirt with my favorite lifeguard, who happens also to be Pippi's dad.
   
   
2. My girl loves some mashed potatoes, as illustrated in the photo above. Mashed potatoes are one of my all-time favorite foods (thank goodness Bob Evans and Country Crock make such a tasty prepared version). At my first Thanksgiving with my future in-laws, I embarrassed myself by declaring them my favorite holiday food, then noticing that there were none on the table. Based on her diligent efforts to lick the spoon (and her fingers) clean, Pippi seems to be on the same path.
   

As they say, the nut seldom falls far from the tree.