Wedding wear update

Well, I am pleased to say that the wedding wear challenge will continue into the fall, thanks to the latest round of invitations! Hubby and I are honoured to be attending three weddings in the fall (and he'll be flying solo at one in Chatham, which is just a bit too far for baby D and I).

Congratulations to the lovely couples, who we can't wait to celebrate with! I'm looking forward to remixing more dresses and accessories, and for the last of the summer weddings (coming up on Friday), I decided to raid Travelling Sister's closet, since we are the same size and I enjoy her style. I tried on (but did not have the presence of mind to photograph) four dresses, and chose the only flattering one to wear. It's vintage and several kinds of awesome. It also got me thinking about the sole exception to this whole wedding wear challenge for 2010.

That would be my brother's wedding. That one's kind of a big deal, and thus it warrants a new dress. New to me, anyway. I love me some vintage dresses, and although I have a couple of nice ones, and have lost the pregnancy weight and then some, the old bod is not what she once was. My favourite vintage dress came from a shop in Bobcaygeon, of all places, and it doesn't zip up too well anymore, which is heartbreaking. So before Youngest Sister goes back to school this fall, we hit the shops to find a new dress each.

First stop: Rideau Centre. We were initially only there to find shoes for Mom, who already has her mother of the groom attire bought and ready to go, and didn't she go and find the exact shoes she was looking for, in her size and on sale, in the first store we went to? Oh, and they're comfortable, too. I'd be jealous if this wasn't the first time she's found comfortable dress shoes in her life. Anyway, so then we decided to look for dresses for ourselves. Baby D's already taken care of, but that's for another post.

So we looked in all the usual places:
Le Chateau (and I'm sorry, but if you want me to pay 130$ for a dress, it had better look amazing on me, and you had better have sizes for real women)
RW & Co (a few lovely things on clearance, but no great fits and no great prices either), and a few others. I decided that even if I found something nice, I didn't want to be potentially wearing the same thing as another guest. I wanted to go vintage.

Today Sis and I went downtown again, this time to check out various vintage stores. We visited Young Jane's on Dalhousie (the street is classed up, almost beyond recognition), which had mostly casual hipster fare, Aunt Olive's on Gilmour, and Ragtime on Flora. The latter two had much more in the way of dresses. At Aunt Olive's, the owner went down to the store room to bring up some more formal pieces when she found out we were looking for something to wear to a wedding. The prices were reasonable, and the help was excellent. Same thing at Ragtime, but they have so much more merchandise (some of which is rented out) that the quality of individual pieces can be lower. I tried on a beautiful blush-coloured dress from the 50s, and it was pretty much in tatters.

The dress I ended up buying was from Aunt Olive's; it's a fairly simple polyester/jersey one with an empire waist and a full skirt (both of which are must-haves). One of the neatest things about the dress is that it unbuttons at the front so I can nurse baby D if need be! How great is that? The other great things include the belt that the store owner found for me (which is impossible to describe without the adjectives neapolitan and stretchy, neither of which evoke images of beauty or class), and the price (54$ for the dress and the belt, taxes included). Now I just need a sturdy necklace and some cute shoes to match!


And since the wedding is in November, I may already have a suitable shrug to wear... cheeky baby will be slightly larger than shown.

More delicious deception

Continuing the cookbook testing, I've now made several of the recipes from Deceptively Delicious. These include:
-mac & cheese (actually, Hubby made it and used two different veggie purees, cauliflower and butternut squash)
-grilled cheese (with butternut squash, and I don't like squash but you can't even taste it. Probably my most favourite so far.)
-chocolate pudding (with avocado; very rich, but somewhat off-putting in that the green avocado oil seeps out of the pudding. And I like my pudding cold, not warm)
-chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese icing (the cake was pretty dense but dry, so I'd use oil instead of margarine next time and add more melted chocolate; the cream cheese icing was really good but also very thick, so I'd thin it out with margarine or something

Overall, the savoury items are beating the pants off the sweets. I'm hoping to test out a few more of the desserts to find something suitable for baby D's upcoming birthday (not for another couple of months, though). I also need to craft some manner of invitation if I want people to show up to this thing.

File under: I guess this is why we have baby gates

This morning I got quite a shock when baby D demonstrated a much improved ability. We had come downstairs to give Hubby a chance to sleep in, and I was letting her roam the reasonably baby-proof main level while I checked my email. She had gone a little too quiet, so I got up to check on her; I heard her banging on some cupboards, and made my way to the kitchen, where I had last seen her heading. She wasn't in there. I looked in a couple of cupboards just in case, to no avail. I still heard her, though. Which only left... wait, she can't climb stairs yet, can she?

As it turns out, she can climb all 17 of the stairs, disregard the sleeping bags and backpack on the landing, and maneuver her way into the guest bathroom where there are delightful cupboards which make a very pleasing sound when struck. I am all too aware that this could very easily have gone sideways. The baby gates are now firmly in place.

Wedding wear challenge, take 3

This latest wedding has to have been one of the most beautiful weddings I have had the pleasure of attending. And we almost didn't make it! The wedding was in TO, and our plans for D's care fell partially through. Luckily, after some last-minute scrambling, we managed to secure two caregivers for baby D- sister for the ceremony, friends for the reception. We left at 11:20 am, arrived at sister's downtown hotel at 3:50, and made it to the venue at 4:45, just in time to change into our finery.

The site of both the wedding and reception was this fabulous older mansion, and it was incredible! It had been raining during the afternoon when we drove in, but the skies cleared in time for the ceremony, so it was held outdoors in the lush green garden decorated with white chairs and hydrangeas. (As an added bonus, the programs were made of bamboo fans, so guests could cool themselves!)

Hubby was very disappointed with himself for neglecting to bring dress shoes, and had to wear running shoes. He eventually got over it after gentle reminders that no one would notice what he had on. Regardless, he looked quite sharp in the same vest and pant combo from WWC1, worn with a white and blue pinstriped shirt.

I chose a short dress in a deep plum shade with a satin sash; I had worn it to a cousin's wedding a couple of years ago, and to my birthday dinner this year, though not since. The bridesmaids' dresses were also purple, but in a very different colour and style, so luckily I didn't look like I was trying to match. Accessories included dangly purple earrings (since baby D wasn't with us) and my open heart necklace. Although it's not in the picture, I paired the dress with my multi-coloured patterned pashmina from NYC.

Also shown are the beautiful bride, one of her lovely bridesmaids, and the witty, wonderful Ms. Koux; we met in university and really bonded during our 3rd year abroad in France. We also carpooled to teacher's college every day since we lived almost across the street from each other. I miss these girls and was so happy to reconnect with them!

The only regret I have about this wedding is that we couldn't stay longer- and we were there until 11pm, which is a record for this summer! We were driving up to a cottage in the Muskokas that night, though, so we needed to head out. It was a lovely, lovely wedding and we had a fantastic time!

If mama ain't happy...

I've never been a fan of wasting money, and I really try to gear my shopping towards healthy, feasible meal options, which means that I buy a lot of fresh produce. Even more so with this new cookbook I'm trying out. What I should do is get all the chopping/washing/pureeing out of the way as soon as I walk in the door from grocery shopping. But I'm not supermom, so sometimes it gets done later that day, and sometimes I leave it until a couple of hours before we need to leave for a cottage weekend because it has to get done otherwise the biz will go bad by the time we get home on Sunday night darn it. This was my scene on Friday afternoon, which also included doing laundry, printing off directions, and running around the house fetching all the various items we'd need for ourselves and the babe for our weekend away. Baby D is increasingly busy these days, and it just seemed like she was getting into everything, and I was so frustrated that when she tried to play with my laptop, I yelled at her. And by yelled, I mean screamed. It was a bad time. I stuck her in her swing for awhile, and told her we needed a little break from each other.

So while I don't like wasting money and food, it turns out that I like yelling at my child considerably less. Which is to say, not at all. Hubby got home and, while helping me clean up the kitchen, humbly suggested that on days like this when D is getting on my nerves and I have a bunch of things to do, it may not be the best idea to cook up all the produce in the fridge and bake a zucchini cake as well (which I forgot to bring to the cottage anyway). Sometimes it's not such a big deal if the cauliflower goes bad.

(D, magnanimous baby that she is, promptly forgave me.)

Deceptively delicious!

On a day trip to the States last week, I happened upon a copy of Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook in Kohl's for a scant 5$. I knew a bit about it and a couple of friends of mine have used it. Basically, it's a collection of recipes that sneak pureed fruits and veggies into picky eaters' meals. I had also talked with Registered Dietitian Sister about it, and I agreed with her point that kids should be directly given vegetables and fruit in order to consciously make good nutritional choices later in life. At the same time, I think it would be wise to supplement snacks and side dishes with fruit and veggie purees baked into things. Hubby even leafed through the cookbook with me and pointed out several recipes he'd like to try out.

So I bought the book on Wednesday, went grocery shopping on Friday, and started making purees on Saturday. Each recipe calls for at least half a cup of a certain puree, so I figured I'd get ahead of the game. I steamed cauliflower and roasted squash, and froze each in 1/2 cup amounts. Leftovers went to baby D's meals, so I now have several reserve jars of baby food. I appreciate that she has an entire section that explains the prep and cooking times for various produce, as I usually have to look that up.

Today I tested out my first recipe: mozzarella sticks. It's a fairly simple; sift together bread crumbs with a little flaxseed meal, mix together grated cheese, cauliflower puree and cornstarch, and roll the latter in the former. Then you freeze them for a bit before pan-frying them. Think about how delicious cauliflower is with cheese, and you'll get an idea of how good these sticks are. There are 8 sticks in a batch, and I ate them all for lunch, with a bowl of soup.

Other recipes I can't wait to try out:
-mac & cheese with butternut squash
-mashed potatoes or twice-baked potatoes with cauliflower
-pita pizzas with spinach (hidden under the tomato sauce)
-quesadillas with squash (admittedly not that different from my sweet potato-black bean ones, but less time-intensive)
-creamy potato soup with cauliflower and squash
-sloppy joes with sweet potato and butternut squash
-doughnuts with pumpkin and sweet potato
-frozen yogurt pops with various frozen fruits
-chocolate chip cookies with chick peas (I know, weird, right? But I want to know what they taste like)
-lemon raspberry cupcakes with squash and beets
-blueberry cheesecake cupcakes

And we're having mozzarella sticks with chili on nachos for dinner tonight.

Ramblings of an indulgent mother.

Although Baby D and I spend quite a bit of time together, I frequently find myself amazed and utterly besotted by her. Here are some of the things I found most endearing about her today.

1. The way she munches on cherries: we've just started giving her pieces of pitted cherries, since these are in season and quite delicious. Baby D is now sporting a tooth (cut on her 9 monthday), so she likes to put it to good use. She finds it rather challenging to keep the cherry piece in her mouth, and she ends up puckering her lips while she chomps away. I need to film this.

2. Her funny new noises: these include brrm-brrm (which she mixes in with crying and which, unfortunately for her, I find humorous), and low growling. We have a fierce kid on our hands.

3. Her efforts to intimidate: she wrinkles her nose and sniffs at us menacingly. Usually when provoked. By us doing the same thing to her.

4. Petit bisous: she now leans in to give her dad and I kisses, although she remains unaware of the social custom of keeping one's mouth closed and one's tongue to oneself.

5. Her memory: my parents have been away on vacation for the past month, and while D saw them on Skype once or twice, I wasn't sure how she'd react when they got back. On their way home, they came by our place, and we greeted them from the doorstep. Initially, D leaned against me, but as they got closer, she grinned widely and practically jumped into my mom's arms! My dad had (and still has) a rockin' holiday beard, so D wasn't too sure about him for a bit, but she warmed to him eventually. I'm hoping for a similar reaction when we visit Hubby's parents at Christmas, since she sees them on Skype more often and still smiles, laughs and plays pattycake with them.

Seriously. What's not to love?