the 6 month mark!
.
Oh boy little one! You’re six months old today! SIX MONTHS?!? How in the world did time go by so quickly???
.
.
I guess time flies when you’re having fun… and boy are you having tons of it! You still roll around a bunch, but much prefer sitting up like a big girl for endless amounts of time.
.
.
You’ve got lots of toys to play with, but on many occasions, a headband or piece of paper is much more to your liking.
.
.
You giggle when Dad puts on your mouse ears, and you drool your way through at least 1-2 outfits each day.
.
.
You started eating rice cereal just a few weeks ago, and quickly mastered the ability to open your mouth when the spoon was coming. Unfortunately that went away when your FIRST TOOTH popped through this week! Even without that solid food, you’ve somehow managed to edge your way to the 19 lb. mark!
.
.
You definitely still have Daddy’s eyes and Mommy’s see-through skin, but your strawberry blonde locks seemed to have emerged from a skipped generation!
.
.
You may be growing up, but you’re still not too old to enjoy an afternoon nap on Daddy’s comfy shoulder (much better than Mommy’s).
.
.
.
the birthday surprise: part 2
.
As we walked up to the doors, Mr. M had no clue where we were going nor what was inside. He didn’t google, and therefore the surprise I thought was ruined was really still fully in tact. We were here:
.
.
Morimoto’s newest restaurant location in Napa. You know, the only Iron Chef that’s really an Iron Chef? And the one that makes an awesome Soba Ale? Unfortunately our reservation was for 8:30… and unfortunately a new restaurant always has kinks when dealing with people who don’t want to leave their table after their meal is complete. So we perused the collections of sake cups and $62 soy salts while we waited in the front room to be seated. Luckily, when we did get the opportunity to chow down, it was all worth it!
.
We decided to make the meal quite simple, and went with the Omakase (or chef’s choice). Traditionally, omakase in a sushi restaurant is really just whatever the chef wants to make for you. Morimoto’s is similar in the fact that you don’t know what you’re getting, but it’s more organized and closely resembles a blind tasting menu instead. And it’s not just sushi.
.
1st course: the infamous toro tartare. And yes, guacamole and crème fresh tastes amazing with tuna!
.
.
2nd course: a play on Mr. M’s favorite appetizer – hamachi w/mushrooms and yuzu.
.
.
3rd course: Bagna càuda with local vegetables. (aka. hot olive oil w/garlic & a wee bit of anchiovies)
.
.
4th Course: Foie Gras w/seared duck (I took the photo after I started eating…ooops!)
.
.
5th Course: palate cleanser of kelp tea.
.
.
6th Course: Nigiri
.
.
7th course: Surf & Turf & Turf (pork, wagyu beef, & 8-spice lobster w/crème fresh)
.
.
8th course: poached pears with pistachio ice cream and champagne zabaglione (this is a HUGE bowl)
.
.
And the end birthday result:
.
.
Happiness!
.
the birthday surprise: part 1
Keeping birthday plans from your husband is a difficult task, as the element of surprise is most definitely an art I have yet to perfect. As Mr. M’s birthday was on Tuesday, I had asked him to keep Saturday evening free and clear for the last part of his birthday celebration. He logically assumed we were headed out to dinner, and asked for one question to be answered, “Is it in town?” I answered no… and his immediate reaction was “Hooray! We’re going to Mustards!” My reply was simply, “Nope. You’re wrong.” How his mind jumped so quickly to this assumption of dinner in Yountville, I’ll never know, but he’s been craving an afternoon visit for weeks to enjoy a savory Mongolian porkchop. Luckily he was wrong… but he somehow still managed to nail down the vicinity of the destination. This would be the first erosion of the secret…
.
Then I got a call on Friday night when I was on my way home from work. Mr. M asked if I wanted to go out and get sushi… and I stumbled. I said, “How about anything but sushi?” Quickly the phone was transferred to the hands of our friend who tried his best to convince me that all I wanted to eat was raw fish. “No really… anything BUT sushi.” He kept insisting until finally I said, “I don’t want it to spoil Saturday!” That stopped him in his tracks and utterly confused him, so the phone was passed back to a now befuddled Mr. M. “What do you mean it would spoil Saturday?” Ugh…. Why couldn’t I just say that I ate sushi for lunch, or that I was feeling ill, or …. something else? Now the cat was out of the bag as to our food of choice…
.
So we went out to eat “not sushi” for Friday with our friends, and arrived home to greet my parents who were enabling our getaway on Saturday. All was swell as we were chatting away until the local news flipped to its sports segment and started talking about the race this weekend at Infineon. “You guys are going to need to watch out for traffic up there tomorrow.” Gulp… uh oh mom… don’t say it! “But mom, we’re not going to Sonoma.” “Oh I know, but people will still be all around Napa anyway.” Baddump. Secret destination confirmed.
.
Surprise clues revealed: Dinner. In Napa. Serving Sushi. Oh boy.
.
I asked Mr. M not to enter his clues into Google, and luckily he didn’t. As he had to work all day, I set our destination time at 4pm, and we were both dressed and ready to go out for our “not so surprise surprise Birthday celebration.”
.
The first stop was definitely a bit of a surprise. Seeing a movie in a movie theater is quite the luxury these days. As neither of us can attend during a “kids hour” show mid-week, we usually trade off the favor between us (so far it’s mainly just Mr. M going and me staying at home). So halfway to Napa I made Mr. M exit the freeway and drive into the parking lot of a megaplex and we went to see this awesome flick:
.
.
Yes, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was pretty wonderfully nerdy and fun. We giggled throughout it at the sly gaming references and the gag lines as well (VEGAN superpowers!)… and drank our way through our large “snack” of a fountain Coca-Cola. Then it was off to the real destination…
.
(to be continued)
font of the week: sadey ann
size is all that matters
You may have heard me mention previously that I limit my clothes shopping to a certain brands and stores. I’ve primarily done this to limit the amount of crying I do when I take a trip to the mall… trust me, it’s not pretty. I’m not sure anything will come close to the great Nordstrom boot meltdown of 2003 at the Grove (like full meltdown of epic proportions in the middle of the shoe department… it was bad!), but I try to prevent clothing fit mishaps from happening if I can help it.
.
Because of this, I’d like to pass on any sense of safety I can to my fellow fearful clothes hunters if I can. This week I saw a new app on the iphone called What’s My Size. Since sizing varies so differently from store to store, this app takes into account your height, chest, weight and hip measuremetns, and then spits out what your size is at various stores.
.
.
If you’re wondering, there were only like 5 stores that gave me a size. And they’re the stores I shop at now. Now there’s some validation for my selective shopping! But I tested it out with some imaginary girl who wasn’t 6’1 and it worked beautifully! 
Hopefully this will empower some of you to try out some new stores now that you know your size, and let some of you have a lot more fun than I do at the mall!
.
so simple that I was clueless…
.
I love pumpkin pancakes. I love them so much in fact that when Trader Joe’s released a Pumpkin Pancake mix last fall, I stocked up on the stuff and held on to it like a precious commodity. Mr. M gave me a quizzical look when he found a few extra boxes hiding in the upper cabinet a few weeks back… as if to question my squirrel-like habits as autumn, and subsequently pumpkin pancake mix season, was approaching yet again.
.
That makes today’s discovery from a PR briefing email that I received that much more astounding. IHOP emailed me to not only let me know that pumpkin pancakes would be returning to their restaurants in October, but to include tips on how to make these elusive pancakes at home. (If you know me well, you can certainly picture me holding my breath as a I whisked through the contents of the email for the secrets it held.) When I read the secret, I was dumbfounded. It was so simple that it never even occurred to me… despite the countless batches of pumpkin pancakes I’d consumed in my life. It said simply:
.
The batter: Start with your favorite pancake batter recipe and simply add canned pumpkin pie mix.
.
Seriously? That’s it? That’s all I need to make pumpkin pancakes?
.
[Head thud on desk]
.
At least the email shared another great tip that I felt was useful and not well known: “When preparing dry pancake mix, it is essential that the water is chilled to less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Use ice to bring the temperature of the water down.” It made me feel a little bit better and not completely a creative pancake failure… but the answer was so obvious that it still makes me blush at my ignorance. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it had fallen during the same week as my discovery of how to make brown sugar. Hmm….
.
ep
Amanda
Aubrey @ My Simpl...
Julie
Michelle
Janet
Katie
