Faux-bois scrap paper

I like how this present came out. I keep scraps of paper with interesting patterns, this one was from a flower boquet and the red ribbon is a re-use from a gift I received.

Peeling the Onion

I love it when I see all of the layers that have been applied to buildings being peeled back to reveal their original selves. I especially like it when I find 100 year old buildings in this neighborhood being freed of their vinyl siding.

Daily Lunch Box

I really enjoy making my son's lunch. I feel like feeding him is literally one of the most important things I provide him. I pay attention to what he eats, where the food comes from, and what's in it. I am not above using boxed food (cous-cous and Annie's mac and cheese are faves in our house) and I'm definitely not perfect, but I try to keep it seasonal and local when it comes to produce, I try to give him balanced choices, full of whole-grains and veggies. Sometimes I have to be a little sneaky about it, like adding arugula to pasta sauce, and sometimes I discover things he loves (asparagus) that I wouldn't have expected him to like. He is a picky eater and I don't ever force him to eat anything he doesn't like, but I make him try everything before he decides he doesn't like it. By preparing his food from mostly fresh ingredients I can control what sustains him rather than a big conglomerate teaching him to like high-fructose corn syrup and re-configured chicken nuggets. I hope that he grow up to be strong and healthy, but also to appreciate food, the farmers who grow it and raise it and most importantly that it does matter what he puts into his body. I've started recording his daily lunches, hell, I'm proud of them, and I thought I would post them here.
Pearled cous-cous with basil. I added peas, dried cranberries, and Parmesan cheese.
Cucumber slices
Baby Carrots
Fruit leather

I feel like this is a little lacking in protein, at home when I make the cous-cous I add almonds, but his school is nut-free.

Spiderman at a Princess Party

This was the scene at the birthday party we went to this weekend. For a long while B was the only boy there. It was a Prince and Princess party, but B wanted to be Spiderman. He says that Spiderman rescues the Princes and Princesses. Who am to argue with such logic.

There was a dance class involved, and he joined briefly, but then when all the little girls started running in a circle with floaty arms, he just stopped and looked around, the expression on his face bewildered. I snuck over to him to ask what was up and he wanted out, so he came and sat with me and we had pizza while the little girls all floated.

What to do over a rainy weekend

Clean off your fridge. Obsessively line up every single word from your word magnets, categorized by word length. Create a magnetic movable alphabet, which your son quickly tires of.

Bauhaus - ha ha ha!

So I am obsessed with the new blog Unhappy Hipsters, which takes photos, mostly from Dwell, and attaches some hilarious copy. Last week this picture appeared:

with the following caption, "Daddy was making them watch yet another documentary on the impact of Bauhaus on American architecture."
This made me laugh aloud for many reasons beyond that it was just funny, not the least of which my Dad was a big documentary/NOVA/politics watcher and forced us to sit through many things, like the presidential debates between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980 (I was 6) or cooler things like the time he woke us up in 1981
a few minutes before MTV debuted at midnight with Video Killed the Radio Star. I recently actually dragged my 3 year old son to the MOMA with me to see the Bauhaus retrospective.
Anyway,why this made me laugh is not really the point. What is my point, well humor. My BB has lately been trying to figure out humor, and so when I laughed aloud he stopped what he was doing and ran over and demanded to see what had made me laugh. I showed him the picture and read him the caption, and he laughed hysterically and said "Bauhaus" followed by more hysterical laughter. So now all I have to do is say the word "Bauhaus" and he cracks up.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week I went to B's school to decorate valentine's "mailboxes" with the kids. It was a lot of fun...I forgot how much fun stickers can be! It was the first time in a while I had so much fun with Valentine's Day that I forgot to cynically comment on this "Hallmark" Holiday. Really what are we celebrating? What about vicious massacre says "I love you"? Well there, I guess I couldn't let it pass completely without comment...

What we had for lunch - adding some green

B pretty much refuses to eat anything green other than broccoli or peas. I have been forced to become a little sneaky and do things like this. Sautee a little arugula, add jarred marinara sauce (Newman's Own Marinara, in this case) heat and puree. Served on a snowy afternoon with pasta, peas, and some grated cheddar.

Baby Boy says something cute

Baby Boy watched an X-men cartoon yesterday with his Dad (we were snowed in along with the rest of the North East!) which has led to a new game. Jumping around on the couch and setting things on pretend fire by shooting pretend fireballs out of his hands. He says "SHHHHHHHHOOOOOO! Your Fired!"

Vintage How-To - Playhouse

This project is from a Better Homes and Garden Book from 1977, Outdoor Projects You Can Build. I actually have a huge collection of vintage design books and how to books that I often reference for work. I thought this would also make a great bunk bed project, sort of like the Kid's Room from Studiomama that made the blog rounds last year.



On another note, more of my tech illiteracy, I need to figure out how to increase the quality of my scans.

Cool Idea

I love this idea via the kitchn! I also have one of those oven handles that sits very close to the oven door, so little room to slip my towel behind it. This is a project simple enough that even I can finish it in one go.

What we had for dinner last night

Pizza Toast. This is another left-over/quickie dinner that B really likes, definitely not a new idea (god knows I remember eating this quite a bit when I was a kid!) I started with the photo of the final product, but here is what I had to start with:

A yellow pepper(that I meant to use for a tex-mex take on red beans and cornbread, but haven't gotten around to making this week)
Some baby spinach (from my own salad making ingredients that I never seem to make it through)
3 different kinds of cheese, Romano, sharp cheddar, and jack, with just a tiny bit left of each.
Health Nut Bread from Arnold (My dad always got this for us as kids and both my sister and I love it and crave it. It is yummy and nutty, and full of whole grains, though it does have some sugar in it.)
Newman's Own Organic Pasta Sauce, Tomato and Basil
Frozen Peas (I only buy the Cascadian Farm Organic ones. I thought it was my imagination that they tasted better than the regular ones, but B refuses to eat the regular kind. These really are rounder, brighter, and they hold their "crispness" and "vegginess" when they are prepared.)


Assembling the ingredients is the hardest part of this dinner. I popped the peas and the sauce into a pot and let them heat up for a few minutes over a low flame, just to warm up the sauce and defrost the veggies. While I was doing that I pre-toasted the bread. This is important because if you don't do this it will come out of the toaster oven soggy. I also chopped up about 1 quarter of the pepper and washed the spinach. After the bread was toasted I set my toaster oven to broil, and B and I assembled our pizzas. The real question here, at least in my mind, is whether to put the veggies over or under the cheese...matter of personal preference I guess. For the record I put the veggies on top, except for the peas which were mixed in with the sauce.
I decided to throw some sunflower seeds on the top at the last minute because they were sitting out on the counter and looked good, but they were really too much with the health nut bread. They probably would be good with just a plain whole wheat (or almonds...)
Popped it in the toaster oven, and let it stay in until the cheese started to melt and brown....about 3 or 4 minutes I think.

Simple dinner and easy way to get my B to eat some veggies. Quick too. In fact I think writing this post took me longer than cooking this dinner!

Inspiration: Chalkboard Headboard

kid room, garnet hill
Originally uploaded by shalomama

I must admit that I am fully on board with the chalkboard wall trend. In this apartment I haven't done one, but in my previous apartment I painted a whole room with chalkboard paint, and the apartment before that (almost 10 years ago!) I created a huge 4' x 6' chalkboard in our entry. I loved this idea that I saw a while back in Garnet Hill's catalog. They turned the wall at the head of the bed into a chalkboard...I know this was just a bit of clever styling meant to sell the solar system bedding (which I also love!) but I see it as an even cleverer solution to changing themes in a bedroom for a growing child. If you were an artsy sort of parent you could do a new wall mural every few months (or even just a few times/year, as chalk smearing necessitated) to reflect the changing interests of your young one. A quick bedding swap from time to time, and walla, it's years before your kid outgrows their room!

Collage?

Not sure this is exactly what I want, but at least it gets all images together instead of floating about...was really easy to do with Picasa.

East Village Craigslist

I've been really missing living in Manhattan lately. I started to furnish my imagined East Village abode from Craigslist last night, and today it all seemed to come together with a few additions from Overstock and ebay.


I loved this little round table (perfect size for my new (imagined, but lets be realistic) smaller abode...and have always lusted after the eames shell chairs with the wooden eifel base and these knock-offs are on sale at Overstock for $187/pair.


Next up the living area...I still need to find a coffee table but I love this sofa with the vintage industrial rolling cart as a side table and this rug:

I really love this chair, but feel like it needs something a little more subtle (and a little softer)then the hit you in the face green, so I found this vintage french ticking fabric on ebay.

















And of course I couldn't live without books, and everyone needs some extra storage, so these metal shelves from HON (there are 3 available, so perfect to line a wall) fit the bill, but I would add some vintage wallpaper to peep out from the back, maybe this busy, but bright pattern that I keep watching on ebay but never seem to buy:


Finally a few accessories; these antique drafting stools (there are four available) would look great set at different heights with a few ferns on them in a corner or by a window, they also continue the sort of industrial theme I have going in the shelves and tables so far, maybe could even use one of them with a lamp on it for a side table next to the chair:

and finally a mirror to hang over the sofa:

I like this one because it is smoke glass, so a little more subtle than a regular mirror.

That's it for my imaginary move to the East Village...on a side note, I really need to figure out how to lay out a photo collage on the computer so I can put together inspiration boards......

Oh, one more thing, all of these craigslist items are located in the east village (except for the mirror, which is in the west village) so easy pick-up and delivery.

What we had for dinner last night

I have been embracing soup this winter, and one of the easiest things I do is make what I call my left-over vegetable soup.
Just saute about half an onion and a few cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Add a pinch of salt. I don't know exactly how long I saute for, but usually while I cut up veggies. For this soup I had carrots (about 4, medium sized)and broccoli (a little more than one head), since carrots take a little longer to get soft I threw them in the pan while I chopped up the broccoli. Tossed the broccoli and carrots about until the broccoli was bright green, about two minutes, then added two cups of veggie broth (this makes a thick soup, and you could add as much as 4 cups) Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 5 min. (I always just test the veggies by taking some out with a fork and tasting to make sure they are tender, but not overcooked) My son will only eat soup if it is pureed so I keep an immersion blender about, which is perfect for this task. Salt and pepper to taste.

I added some sharp cheddar and a piece of whole-grain toast. Probably could have added a little more protein, white-beans maybe? but B and I enjoyed our warm dinner.

Detail

A little detail of the vintage throw, against the Thomas O'Brien for Target coverlet.

My Bed

Sorry for the off-colors in this image. Been having a hard time getting good shots in the dead of winter with my little point and click...I am longing for the sunlight to come back! Anyhoooo, I like the mix of patterns on my bed. The art over the bed is a street find. I'm not sure if it is the right scale, I might move it, but I like it well enough for now.

Vintage Curtains

I cleaned out my fabric closet yesterday...this is my collection of vintage drapes...I used to have even more but I sold some and gave some away. I swear I'll use these one day.

B and his Dad

Two of the greatest things about living in NYC are The Museum of Natural History, and street hot dogs. Here are my boys enjoying the later while sitting on the steps of the former.