three for tea

My niece, Hannah, is visiting us this week so in between all the regular summer outings (pool, mall, beach) we decided to do something extra special.  We left Harriet at home and headed to the big city for Afternoon Tea at the Drake Hotel.  We had such a fantastic time.  It appealed to each of us, a 4 year old, a 13 year old, and...me.  It would be great for grandmas and aunts too and every age in between.

The Drake Hotel is one of the oldest most beautiful hotels in the city.  Afternoon tea takes place in the Palm Court which is a lovely room with a fountain in the center topped with an enormous flower arrangement.  I had been to  afternoon tea a couple times before, years ago, with girlfriends and my mom but it was so fun seeing it through Eloise and Hannah's eyes.

 We each chose our tea variety.  Everyone gets their own pot and there is cream and sugar cubes with little silver tongs which was very exciting for Eloise.  Next comes the three tiered tray of delicious treats.  Scones and breads on the top, tea sandwiches on the middle tier, and pastries on the bottom.  These were served with preserves, lemon curd, and English Double Devon cream.  I really was a little surprised at how delicious everything was, and we were stuffed!  The girls got a kick out of being extra fancy and proper.  For those of you that know Eloise, it should come as no surprise that she thought it would be super fun to talk in British accents the whole time.  Well, it was fun.  Me and Hannah did it for a little bit but you know Eloise was committed to her character and kept it up the whole time.

There was a beautiful harpist playing right by the fountain.  Hannah and Eloise requested "anything from Mary Poppins" and were treated to Chim chiminey.  At one point they had to go check out the very fancy Powder Room and came back with a full report of the decor, details,  and how "every stall had its own sink!!".  I mean we can't be fancy all the time, we had to have some potty talk at the table.

This is definitely something that was not on the "free things to do in Chicago" list but it was very fun for a special occasion.  We will definitely go again.  Oh, and did I mention that the American Girl Store is a mere block and a half away.  I saved that for a surprise after tea.  Heads exploded.

entrance to The Drake Hotel and the iconic font

hotel lobby with beautiful arrangement

tea and treats

Eloise trying to eat "like a little lady"

three for tea

toddy for the party

When the weather starts to heat up, my coffee needs to cool down.  Over the years I have fine tuned, and dare I say, perfected my iced coffee method.  The secret is in using a cold brewing method or toddy coffee.  I don't care how you try to sell it to me, you simply can not chill a hot cup of coffee to get great tasting iced coffee and don't even try to give me that 'just make ice cubes out of coffee' bullshit.

The toddy method is so simple.  I use the Filtron and you can find it here.   It comes with everything you need to get started.   
                                 
You fill up the bottom container with 1 pound coarsely ground coffee and a filter pad.  You can use any kind of beans.  In fact, I usually use a less expensive brand roasted any which way.   Definitely save the best stuff  for the French press.  The beauty of this brewing method is that it results in a cup that is super low in acidity and very mild.  I have even used Chock Full O Nuts or Dunkin Donuts brand and ended up with a winner.  You plug up the bottom of the container with the included stopper.  I would like to mention that by some miracle we have not lost this tiny stopper in almost 5 years!  Although, now that I have just typed that sentence I think I can hear the stopper getting up, packing a bag, and leaving town never to be seen or heard from again.
Fill the top compartment with cold water. It has a teeny tiny whole in the bottom and as you leave it on the counter overnight it slowly drip drips into the grounds and hangs out there brewing the coffee concentrate.
When you get up in the morning and stumble down to the kitchen, remove the stopper and set the container full of coffee and water over a carafe and let all the goodness drain out.  What you now have is a delicious concentrate of delicious coffee.  You can do whatever you want with this concentrate.  It keeps in the fridge for about 6 weeks.  You can add water to it and make a cup of hot or iced coffee. You can add lots of milk and a little water to it and make kind of an iced latte, which is what I do every morning and some afternoons once the temp hits about 70 degrees.  Seriously, you should try this.  

the grounds in the bottom container

I realize this is not a pretty picture

draining the concentrate 

my drink

princess and the pea

Ever since Eloise heard she was getting a younger sibling she has dreamed of one thing and one thing only.  Bunk beds.

I don't think she has ever slept in a bunk bed and she doesn't have any friends or cousins with bunk beds so where this life long desire came from I have no idea.  The other day she really really really wanted to "play bunk bed" with Harriet.  I wasn't exactly sure how to play this game but rest assured that she had a plan.  It went a little something like this...

Eloise gets in the "top bunk"

nothing to see here.  just a dust ruffle...

what the what?  how did she get there?

Eloise arranged a little bed down below so Harriet could be on the

"bottom bunk"

and, we've got bunk beds, people.

retail therapy

Every year I say I will never do a yard sale again and every year I find myself pulling stuff out of the basement and putting it out on my lawn.  I am still not sure how I accumulate enough stuff in ONE YEAR to justify having a sale but there it is.  Today was the day for the sale of 2010.

I think it must be my retail days that I am longing for.  I think that is what gets me pumped up to do the sale every year.  I kind of pretend I am setting up for the Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale or something.  I work for weeks to get everything cleaned out of the garage, basement, and all the closets.  I have special staging areas around the house so I can get everything prepped, priced and marked  as much as possible ahead of time.  The morning of the sale I am up at dawn and hauling all the stuff out to the front lawn and setting it up in "departments".  Yes, I know I am the only person having a yard sale with "departments".  Once all the stuff is set  I am out there trying to merchandise it and making sure I have all the correct signage with proper prices that are easy to read.  I am practically doing a planogram for product placement and figuring out what we can put on the endcap that has the highest profit margin. The funny thing is that no matter how hard I try every year it still just looks like a yard full of crap.
 I know I sound like a lunatic and I have to now admit the truth...I love having yard sales!

It is not about the money.  Some years we do awesome, others are just okay.  It is just a really fun summer day.  This year we did it with three other families that brought all their junk over and we had a great time.  I actually think we ended up mostly exchanging goods between the four of us.  Not sure why the onesie that you are selling looks better to me than the 50 that I am trying to get rid of, but somehow it does, and it ends up in my pile.  
We sat outside all day, laughed at ourselves and at the people at our sale, ate great food, and just hung out.  The kids played in the back yard and the babies played on the blanket.
I am exhausted and sunburned and I can barely walk but it was all worth it.  See you next year with more junk.  I mean, treasures.

early morning customers

the team

"how much for the duckie?"

strawberry

We've been up to our ears in strawberries these past few weeks which is fine by me.  The strawberry season is so short and even though you can find strawberries in the grocery store year round those are flavorless, rock-hard blobs compared to home grown, fresh picked strawberries in the late weeks of spring.

Mostly we we just eat them right out of the container and I toss them in my yogurt every morning but this season we tried a few new things to enjoy them even longer.  Because they are so ripe and dark red they are perfect for freezing.  I rinse them, cut off the stems and freeze them whole on sheet pans (but I am actually using a 9 inch cake pan because my dumb freezer is too narrow for a sheet pan, or a frozen pizza incidentally).  Once they are frozen, in about 24 hours, place them in a ziploc bag and enjoy them however and whenever.


We also made ice pops.  They were delish.  Here's the easy breezy recipe.

Strawberry Ice Pops
2-3 cups strawberries (hulled and quartered)
3T sugar
1 1/4 cup low fat plain yogurt

Puree the strawberries with 1T sugar.  I used an immersion blender and it worked great.
Whisk 2T sugar with the yogurt
Pour into popcicle molds alternating layers until full.  Insert sticks and freeze  until solid.


We decided to make Strawberry ice cream.  I would never normally choose strawberry as my flavor for ice cream. I mean give me chocolate, some nuts or something,  but this was so delicious.  It was not too sweet and just the right amount of tanginess and the most beautiful pink color.

We have this ice cream maker and we have been pretty happy with it but it is loud as hell so don't do it during naps or if you want to watch anything on t.v.

***recipe is now below...

Not to leave out the savory folks, I also made one of my favorite salads for several lunches and dinners.
It is nothing fancy or complicated but so fresh and delicious. I don't really measure because I just throw it all together, usually with one hand and hopefully before I hear any rustling on the baby monitor.

Strawberry Salad
Fill a bowl with your favorite greens. I like to use spinach and mixed greens.
Add quartered strawberries, chicken, turkey, or protein of choice, chopped pecans, crumbled goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette ( I do a ratio of 3 olive oil to 1 balsamic vinegar with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper all whisked together).

Hope this might give you some ideas of what to do with all those fresh berries. Try to stock up, this week might be the last of them at the farmer's market.  So, until next year...

***Here is the strawberry ice cream recipe...
3        cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
4         T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2   cups sugar, divided
1 1/2    cups whole milk
2 3/4    cups heavy cream
1 1/2    t pure vanilla extract


In a small bowl, combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar.  Stir gently and allow the berries to macerate in the juices for about 2 hours.  Strain the berries, reserving juices.  Mash or puree half the berries.


In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and remaining granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed strawberries and vanilla.  Turn the machine on;  pour the mixture into the freezer bowl (of the ice cream machine) and let mix until thickened, about 20-25 minutes.  Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the reserved sliced strawberries and let it mix completely.  The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture.  If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an air tight container and place in the freezer for about two hours.   

, 

jillian juniper

Today the world welcomed one of the luckiest little girls.  Little "baby J",  as we had been calling her, was finally born this morning.  She is the daughter of my sister, Jenny, and her partner Liz.  If you know Jenny and Liz then you already know what incredible parents they will be.

Jillian Juniper was born into a long legacy of strong, lovely, smart and beautiful women--all with J names, and all wearing the J ring.  Our great-great grandmother, Johanna wore a simple gold band as her wedding ring.  She gave that ring to her daughter, Jessie who had the letter J put on it in diamonds.  Our great grandmother, Jessie, gave the J ring to our grandma, also Jessie, who gave it to our mom,  Johanna, or Jody, as she is known.  When Jenny told my mom she was gay years ago, my mom gave her the J ring and said that she hoped that one day Jenny would  give it to someone that she loved as much as mom loved Jenny.  Today, with the arrival of Jillian, I know that she finally can.

To Jenny and Liz, as you embark on this new chapter in your lives please remember that there is no such thing as the "perfect parent".  There is the "pretty damn good parent" and the "I'm doing the best I can parent" and of course, the "holy shit, I'm just making this up as I go parent".  Any of those parents would be perfectly suitable at any time.  I remember someone saying that as hard as you imagine being a parent could be, you end up wishing it was that easy.  But don't fret.  It is also filled with moments so wonderful you think your heart just might explode from the overwhelming amount of love and happiness.
I am definitely not an expert on parenting but I am willing to help with anything you need at any time. Middle of the night phone calls through tears are my specialty.  That is what family is for.
I was not given a ton of advice that I remember but some of the best I ever received was, "Teach them how to pump their own legs on the swing as soon as possible."  So simple.  So brilliant.

To baby Jillian, you are so lucky you don't even know it yet.  You have been born into two amazing families and every one of us is just dying to love you.  I will always be there for you.  You can always count on your super cool aunt Liz,  especially when your moms are being totally lame.
Jillian, if you grow up to be half as sweet, hilarious, brave, brilliant, generous, kind, open hearted, and fun as your moms, then you'll be twice as sweet, hilarious, brave, brilliant, generous, kind, open hearted, and fun as anyone I know.
Congratulations.  I love you.  Enjoy.

Jillian and her beaming moms

with the J ring

It's a pillow! It's a pet!

In case you were wondering if marketing to children is effective, look no further than the Pillow Pet.
My 4 year old watches a show on Sprout TV that runs a commercial for these kind of freakish  things that are one part pillow and one part animal and the only thing separating the two identities is a 1/2 inch piece of velcro.

Eloise had been begging for one since before Christmas.  She pretty much memorized the commercial and would constantly extoll the benefits of the Pillow Pet.  I knew it was pretty serious when we saw them in a toy store (or the knock off version of them) and she asked me to check out the "reinforced stitching and hook and loop closure"  all while caressing it in a manner befitting a Price is Right model.

She was absolutely sure that she wanted the Unicorn pet.  She had chosen it from all the different animals.  There was no doubt in her mind.  Well, apparently, all the other 4 year olds had chosen that one too because by the time her birthday rolled around they were sold out.  Devastation.  Instead, for her birthday she got a bike, about 500 other toys, and a swing set but that night she asked about a Pillow Pet again.  A frickin' swing set!!  Are you kidding me with this??

On her last day of school, as a special treat,  I told her we could try to order the Unicorn again (why do I think Unicorn should be capitalized?  they're magical, people).  She was in luck and the order was placed.  I have never seen such excitement.  I explained to her that it would take some time to arrive but that I would let her know if I heard ANYTHING about the status of her order.  Every morning after that she asked me, "Mom, has it been 7 to 10 business days yet?"

As indifferent as I was about this gimmicky and quite frankly, kind of stupid toy,  and as much as I did not want another stuffed animal in this house,  I have to say that it really is true love between Eloise and Pilly.  Short for Pillow Pet, of course.  She sleeps on her every night and yesterday Mike found her reading stories to Pilly early in the morning.  They were both sitting on her bean bag together.  Move over, Commander Flufferton, there's a new pet in town.

realizing that this box has the words pillow and pet on it

now it's a pillow...

now it's a pet.

pure happiness for only $19.95 (plus shipping and handling)