I'm Dreaming of a White......

It's early to start thinking of winter, especially when here in SoCal we're having another Indian summer and it's almost 90 degrees on the westside. Growing up in South Carolina and now living in LA I can't say I'm a pro at winter. Real winter. I love to romanticize it, imagine myself in muffs and long wool coats in crunchy snow making my way to my chalet where I'll cook stew, serve rich red wine to a table full of friends, and sleep with 4 dogs under a big fur throw. Faux fur of course. No animals have been harmed in the production of this daydream.

In truth I get cold when it's 60 degrees out and don't know how to make a proper snowball.

The Heath seasonal collection, however, might serve as well as a vacation in the Alps, and if I use that as a gauge, is totally affordable....I love the etching, like branches in snow, and the warmth of the interiors.

It's not too early to start dreaming about winter, after all.

bowl of roasted squash and farro, anyone?

surely a neighbor has some bushes with red berries for this......

But for now I'm going to get a popsicle.

Peaches and the Great Indoors

It was so incredible to read your comments on my birth story. Thank you so much for all the love and support. To all of you who hopped over from Lovely Morning over the last couple of weeks, it's a treat to have you! Stop by anytime. And to the mamas who shared your experiences and feelings about the whole thing--it really brought home what I'd heard and now know to be true---once a mama, you feel so tied to all other mamas. You made me cry too:)

This weekend Sky and I dove deeper into the rhythms--or lack thereof---of new parents. Whereas prior to having Luciana, we'd be plotting how many outdoor and/or urban adventures we'd have in 48 hours, on Saturday we stayed in our PJs til noon and watched summer out the windows. Luciana, I believe, will love the outdoors; for now she likes small doses of it when she's awake, though we do take long walks with her in the Moby wrap, in which she loves to sleep. That morning, though, we'd all been up at 5:30, so rather than tackling the Venice streets, we rested with her, inhaling her newborn-head scent while we caught up on episodes of Web Therapy (completely hilarious) and The Big C, which managed to make me cry (surprise). I am always bittersweet as the summer light starts to look more like fall, but this time rather than racing to the beach as often as I can, I'm appreciating being warm in tank tops and bare feet as I hang inside, front and back doors open, watching my little one watch the outdoors from our big front window.

I did go a little crazy with peaches in the kitchen, however, peeling and slicing up a bunch of them and freezing them so I can make peach ice cream in December. Then I made my second batch of Bourbon-Poached Peaches from Martha. The first time I made them they were delicious, but I wanted even more flavor of bourbon. Maybe it's because I'm not drinking it yet. All the booze cooks off in this, of course, so breastfeeding mamas, go to town.

This time I reduced the sugar-water portion of the recipe by about a fourth, and poured the bourbon a little more liberally. I think I like this second batch even better. So, as always, tweak to your liking.

My dad visited last week, and he texted me yesterday to wish me and Sky a sweet weekend. And that's what it was. I can't say we're settling into a routine; at this age Luciana doesn't have one, but yes, we're learning to read her better and she's staying awake a bit longer and can entertain herself by looking out if we put her down for a few minutes. She loves the changing table, which at first she would wail on. And of course we made sure to practice, since we're perfecting it, the family nap.

Hope you all had a beautiful one.

Luciana 12 days

I'm working on my birth story. It's taking me a while. In the meantime, I have nothing to tell you about my life that doesn't involve my daughter. No new recipes, no outings, just cocooned in the baby bubble. So here she is in her first week at home. She's 12 days old now.

Adventures include:

Meeting both grandmas

Having several baths and getting to use what is perhaps my favorite item in the baby layette: the hoodie towel

Ahem, my daughter fell asleep with her hand in the mudra of knowledge.

We love Instagram

especially when our friends fit the 1977 option so well

We take a long time to get out of bed in the mornings, and I usually return there to nap with her once a day. That's her burp face.

She's my angel. Asleep and awake.

Belly on Blue

You all know I have the most rad sister-in-law in the world. Amazing designer, crafty person, party planner, blogger, MAMA, and yes, photographer. She popped over yesterday with my nephew and snapped a few quick end-of-the-road belly shots. I LOVE them.

The turquoise wall is the accent wall of our nursery--I promise I'll post pics of the whole house sometime this year--and it's such a perfect photo wall. Who knew? I love that there's one with Sky in it too. He is, after all, a rather key element in this whole journey.

I have some more maternity pics taken by my friend, the beautiful Ramona Trent that I'll be posting once I have a disc. There are a lot of nude ones in that set, though, so most of them won't make it on the internet. I'm picky that way.

So here we are. 40 weeks on Sunday. My birthday is tomorrow, so as of now it's looking like each year we'll celebrate my birthday and then baby's....but anything can happen between now and.....now.

Olive Part II

As promised, the story of Olive....

She'd started hanging around the house in early June and seemed to want to adopt me. Then I had the fiasco with the cat carrier I could not wrangle her into (did I post about that? I forget. It didn't go well) and in the process ticked her off and she stayed away for a few days. This was followed by this week's adventure: I borrowed a humane trap from the Stray Cat Alliance and planned when I'd hopefully and sneakily trick her into entering said trap. I felt slimy already. But it was for her health! I wanted to take her to the vet to get her spayed and vaccinated and de-bugged. After skipping 2 feedings (what I was taught when I got the trap), I put organic wild-caught-super-stinky sardines in the trap (a step up from the organic canned food I've been giving her) and waited. She went in after about an hour. Then I had to listen to her paw and scratch and meow and try to get out. I was traumatized. It was Sunday night, Sky was out of town, and I lay in bed almost in tears. I went out to check on her and that was a mistake-I actually did cry.

The next morning she was no less upset when I picked up the trap, carried it to my car with a cat running back and forth in it which is no easy feat at 9 1/2 months pregs, and drove her to the vet. When we got there I thought I'd be allowed to stay with her--you know, hold her paw or something while they treated her, but no. I had to leave and come back in several hours. I went to the pool, swam, and said prayers for her.

When I picked her up about 3 hours later, the vet told me she'd actually already been fixed. So she belonged to somebody once? Or someone spayed her but never adopted her? I don't know. I wish she could talk and tell me. Maybe we should go to the movie Beginners in there. Or watch Up. There is animal/people communication in those. So I don't know her story. They didn't know, of course, that she'd been spayed til they'd put her under, so the poor thing had to spend another almost 24 hours in the trap recovering from anasthesia. I covered the trap with towels to make her feel cool and safe, was told not to feed her until the following morning, and brought her home. This time she was totally mute, which was almost more upsetting than the raucous meowing she'd done for me the whole ride there. She got de-fleaed and de-wormed, and vaccinated for rabies. THEN, to make me feel like the worst mother ever, I said they could do the "ear clipping" which I thought was something like ear cleaning, because when we had dogs they were always getting stuff in their ears. Only after I got her back did I learn they actually named it for what it is: they clipped a tiny portion of one of her ears to show she's been spayed. I lay awake Monday night for about 2 hours asking her to forgive me for maiming her unnecessarily. I honestly felt SO BAD. Sky was even appalled when I told him, which didn't make it better.

playing "Where's Olive?" which she thinks she is good at

When I let her out of the trap Tuesday morning, I put out the rest of the gourmet sardines---I've always been easy to bribe with food--thought she might be too--but she ran away. Wanted nothing to do with me. And can I blame her? I had visions of us bonding on the front stoop while she ate her first meal in over 24 hours but no. She was mad and I was sad.

she's very serious in front of the camera

The story has a happy ending, however. It's afternoon of that same day as I write this. I came home to her lounging outside the front door, and as I sit on a chair in our front yard, she's cruising around my legs and coming up on the chair to be loved by me. I might have to get some extra sardines since she's been so generous in her willingness to forgive. I have to say here that it's been rather hilarious that in our completely vegetarian household there are now on a daily basis cans of meat products in our fridge. I keep telling Sky that Olive was not raised by a homeopath in Del Mar, and besides, I don't think there is vegetarian cat food, and if there is, I'm inclined to think I should go with nature on this one and feed the girl what her teeth are made for. No one will notice her ear but me, though I'll probably beat myself up over it for a year. But we're good, and I'm completely in love. Now all we have to do is convince Sky she can come into the house. Once baby is settled, of course.

Letting me love her.....

Plums and Olive

My landlady recently had a juicy harvest of plums. When she texted me to ask if I had any good plum recipes, I sent her this one and let her know that if she had too many and wanted me to make jam I'd give her some of the bounty when it was finished. She took me up on it (we live around the corner from each other) and I made what I hope isn't my only batch of jam this summer. With the hummingbird due in 11 days, it might be. Or who knows--I might think there's nothing better to do at naptime than turn fruit into preserved spreadable summer.

This one is a standby hit: a little tart, a little sweet, of course depending on the plums you use. This recipe calls for vanilla bean, which I use in moderation because I actually don't like too much vanilla flavor in my jam. I added some white cardamom pods because I had them, and they added a little sass. I'd use them again for sure, and if you don't like cardamom leave them out. You could try a cinnamon stick or just use the vanilla. For stronger cardamom flavor, open the pods and crush the seeds before adding, for a milder one throw the whole pod in there and remove when you remove the vanilla bean.

Plum Jam with Vanilla and Cardamom

adapted from Martha Stewart

makes 4-5 8-oz jars

3 lbs red or black plums, halved, pitted, chopped

3 c sugar

6 2 1/2 in pieces lemon zest, plus 2 T fresh lemon juice

big pinch salt

1 vanilla bean, scraped, seeds reserved (you'll be adding both to jam)

5 white cardamom pods, either whole or seeds removed and crushed (see note above)

Bring all ingredients to boil in large pot, mashing with potato masher or wooden spoon. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is texture of thick honey (this usually takes me about 20 minutes); let it be chunky: it's yummy that way. Skim foam off periodically and discard. Remove vanilla bean, cardamom pods, and lemon zest. Either pour into clean containers and refrigerate, or can according to your jam jars' directions.

What's the Olive part of this post? My kitty. Yes. MY kitty. I posted about her not too long ago. I've named her Olive, and the saga of our mutual adoption will be posted in detail tomorrow.

If I Were a Flower.....

I do realize I posted peony pictures last week. However, those passed and I bought more. At any other time of year I put off going to Trader Joe's as long as possible because of their parking lots. At peony time it's worth organizing an afternoon around. This new bunch became so spectacular that they needed their own post.
One actually opened up on the car ride home. They're so eager to be gorgeous. Kristina also posted peonies last week and she put it well: they're the hussies of the flower kingdom. No shyness around their beauty: just begging to be loved, admired and adored. I should name them all Scarlett.

These have now turned to almost white which is what happens right before they drop their petals. I'm remiss to change the water because I don't want to make that happen because I move them. Except that I did go buy more today. At $6.99 a bunch I feel no shame.

First June Weekend

I can't take credit for these photos---that goes to Kristina when she, Brock and Dashiell stayed here while their house had some painting done on the inside. But I will take credit for landing at Trader Joe's where it is indeed peony time, and landing there at the perfect moment to snatch some of the most luscious ones I've ever seen in their big plastic pails. Going again this morning. They opened end opened and opened til the pink ones were almost white and the red ones looked like they were shedding big feathers.

Speaking of Dashiell, here's my sweet nephew (with his gorgeous and talented mama). Even with a scratch on his nose he's perfect. We had some good baby-in-the-house-practice during his visit, including a rare 4-am wakeup and lots of quinoa pancakes. This was taken after Kristina and I walked here:

Gjelina Take Away. It's a little scary that Sky and I can walk there, as that might mean I eat several egg breakfast sandwiches a week, which could slow the loss of baby weight once I get to that point. I haven't tried lunch yet, but it's only a matter of days. Can I have a kitchen like that? With an open wood-burning oven, shelves of pickled and canned things, and loaves of crusty bread awaiting my creations? One day. The culinary adventures continued at Tasting Kitchen Sat. night (they have a radicchio salad which I must copy--better than the one I posted last week) and that culminated in my first night out at a bar in a while. Nevermind that I fainted and fell off a barstool. That's what padded pregnant rears are for: to cushion such a fall. I was mainly concerned upon waking up that bar patrons would think the clear liquid in my glass was vodka not water.

First baby shower! (Next weekend is one for my friend Ami, pictured here, due 3 weeks before me with her 2nd little bairn.)

Some of my yoga students hosted it for me in this backyard. Yup, that's a backyard and not a state park.

Some of baby's loot from said shower, including an original rubber ducky, a kimono-style onsie, and baby's first piece of Marc Jacobs. I was ovewhelmed on the drive home-- in the good way---by how lucky baby and I are.

You can kind of see a piece of the turquoise we painted the accent wall in her/his room too. All sitting atop this dresser which we did in fact assemble in about 3 1/2 hours, not including a 24-hour break we took when we came to instruction 18 of 32: little happy diagram man telling us to hammer FIFTY-FOUR nails. We stared at it for a minute and then ran out of the room.

These are all handmade by friends who were there. My friend Jessica silk-screened those blue birds on a simple Gerber onesie--brilliant. Heather made us that bib which is backed in soft felt, and my friend Lee made the Happy Bunny onesie--she has an etsy shop and when I find her card I'll post it. I was cooing and rubbing soft fabrics to my cheek like a goon.

This one slayed me: the softest organic sleep sack with a little turtle at the top. A gift from my mom. Baby will lie in sleep sack on this Ikea sheepskin rug. All I need to complete the picture is....baby! Who's due in 6 weeks and 6 days.

Hope you had a beautiful weekend.

A Salad That's Almost a Sandwich

Have you noticed I declare blogging schedules and then am incapable of following them? My 3x a week posting plan has gone.....I don't know where. To the land of prenatal yoga which I seem to be doing on those mornings I envisioned myself here. Ah well.

To catch you up on

Mamaland: reading A LOT on vaccines. Still not sure where I stand on this. I suspect, like most of my decisions, I'll be taking the middle road, like using some cloth and some disposable diapers--doing some but not all vaccines. Especially when some of them were only put on the market in the last 10 years so I, Sky, all our friends never had them and we're fine. Definitely want a pediatrician that's open to spacing them out and skipping certain ones if we choose to. Have met some good ones.

Actingland: have done 2 of my 4 days on I am I. Remember my friend I posted about who was raising money for her movie? It's in mid-production, going to be brilliant, and yours truly shows up in a few scenes. Baby's first job!

Homeland: chaise outside arrived. We spent a good few hours over the long weekend picking Flor tiles. Sneak peek: we're copying this for our bedroom. Planted tomato starters and they've already tripled in size. YAY! I failed to get the kitty into the cat carrier. Must restrategize once it trusts me again to pet it.

these have nothing to do with anything except they're the prettiest wine labels ever

Familyland: Brock, Kristina and Dashiell are staying with us for a few days while the inside of their house gets painted. We joke that we'll buy a big piece of land with 2 houses and have our own mini-commune. Last night I got home close to 8 and wanted to make dinner for everyone. Enter new delicious salad sent to me by a good foodie friend. Radicchio doesn't always strike me as a summer lettuce, but there's been a gorgeous supply at the market lately, plus this recipe uses zucchini pickles, of which I am a huge fan and are really best in the summer. Both Kristina and I are fans of the Zuni Cafe recipe, and she posted it a while back so I'm just going to link you there. Sky, after one bite, proclaimed This is really interesting. Which coming from a Meltzer could be a good or bad thing--they're not known for their adventurous palates, though Sky has broken form of late and gotten into some new exotic things. Like egg on pizza.

But I think the salad is really good. I've adapted it slightly because in my opinion the recipe didn't add nearly enough pickles and parmesan, and I had different herbs on hand. It's important to soak the radicchio to cut the bitterness, so save some time for that. I shortened the soaking time a lot since I didn't want us to eat at 10, and it was good, but more soak=better salad. Make the pickles and marinade the day before, and you'll have a fat jar of pickles left in your fridge for use on other salads and sandwiches.

Radicchio Salad with Zucchini Pickles, Green Olives and Parmesan

adapted from an adaptation of Jason Neroni of Osteria La Buca restaurant

1 recipe Zucchini Pickles

1 c red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, peeled

few sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 medium red onion

2 small heads radicchio, quartered and coarsely chopped

small handful chopped mint leaves

small handful chopped Italian parsley leaves

EVO

1 1/2 c grated fresh parmesan

1 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted

1. Make marinade the night before: combine vinegar, onion, garlic and thyme. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Soak radicchio in bowl of ice water for an hour. Drain, dry and reserve. Strain marinade and set aside.

3. Toss radicchio with mint, parsley, a big handful of pickles, 1/4 c marinade and a good glug of olive oil, parmesan and olives. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Long Weekend!

from the ever-beautiful

We may or may not head out of town. You? Hoping the weather stays warm so I can do a long hike with the man. I'll follow the blogging trend of leaving you weekend tidbits, and wish you rest, play, and only good memories this Memorial.

You can imagine how silly I felt when I went to link this song that I'm obsessed with and discovered it's 2 years old. I'm not always on the cutting edge. Obviously. Currently obsessed with this one; have hit the repeat no fewer than 6 times in a car ride. Definitely on the birth play list. And the band is one I've always liked but never really gotten to know. That's changing now.

Made this again this week. It's just as delectable as it was last year. (Recipe at the end of what seems to be a really long post:) )

The firepit we want for outdoors. Why do we ALWAYS gravitate to the most expensive stuff? Wanting does not mean we're getting, btw. But wouldn't it be fun? It doubles as a table, and maybe one day I'd use it for butter again. Nah.

We'll be making progress in the hummingbird's room and assembling the dresser. It's currently in 15 pieces on the floor.

I'm a new pinterest fan

The Great Outdoors

As we continue to make progress on the inside of the house, it's getting rather gorgeous outside so we've been taking some action around outdoor furniture. I have fantasies of nursing the baby on a big chaise lounge in this half of the front yard

which as you can see is screaming to be occupied with something. We found a double-lounger/big chaise at West Elm and took advantage of their summer sale plus a coupon we had that I think is going to work. There's room for all 3 of us on it and I'm into the orange cushion. We seem to always gravitate to color around here (I told you the accent wall in the baby room is turquoise, right?).

The pending question is what to put in the other half of the yard

I'd take any of these:

here--this is in Bali, no less. Of course.

the always-brilliant

Martha comes through

via here

House Beautiful this is so beautiful--it's not a front yard but I am inspired

you again

The reality is we're probably going to end up with some colorful plastic chairs and a bistro table for now. The budget dictates something along those lines. But seeing the yellow chairs above gives me some hope it can be cheerful and classy at the same time. I've been looking on Craigs List but this is probably not the time people are selling their amazing outdoor furnishings. I will look again in October......

Meanwhile, this little one is hanging around the front door and I, gulp, bought some cat food after giving it milk for about a week. Another creature that I'm not sure is a boy or a girl. We're to the petting stage now, which means I should get some gloves and borrow a cat carrier and take it to the vet for shots. If I'm in fact going down this road. Which is looks like I might be. Maternal instincts are powerful things.

But give and you are given to! I had no idea I had an artichoke plant in the yard til a week ago when these appeared! Dinner tonight.