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Jack’s Sprinkle
Friday is my nephew Jack’s first birthday! Please join me in wishing a happy early birthday to Jack! As we posted yesterday, leading up to his special day we are revisiting the fun celebrations we threw in his honor prior to his birth. Today we are sharing the details of the baby sprinkle I cohosted with Mallory’s friend Hillary in honor of the future Jack. What is a baby sprinkle? A baby sprinkle is a type of shower to celebrate a family’s second child. Instead of an elaborate event where a first-time mom is showered with gifts, it’s a more casual, lower-key gathering where a mom-to-be gets sprinkled with just the necessities. In…
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JACK’S GENDER REVEAL PARTY
Mallory’s youngest son Jack is turning one this Friday! In honor of his coming birthday, we thought it would be fun to revisit some of the fun celebrations we had leading up to his birth. In early December 2018, Mallory’s sister-in-law Anna and I co-hosted a gender reveal brunch at Magnuson Café & Brewery for her and Chris. Have you visited the café in Magnuson Park yet? With terrific views of Lake Washington and a large outdoor deck, the brewery is an excellent option to sample beer in the sunshine on a warm afternoon. While Seattle weather in early December does not lend itself to an outdoor celebration, the café worked with us…
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Lake Chelan Favorites
Here is a list of our favorite things you don’t want to miss on your next trip to Lake Chelan: First things first, on your drive into Chelan, be sure to stop by Anjou Bakery and Country Boy’s BBQ in Cashmere. Anjou bakery for the best pies, tuna sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, and home made almond milk lattes. Country boy’s for the best barbecue ribs, chicken thighs, brisket and corn bread. YUM. The Vogue Liquid Lounge is the best spot in town for coffee and the tastiest home made granola bar you will ever have. We love to grab coffees and then try to keep up with the kids on scooters…
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Chelan Bound – The Things I Pack That Make Traveling with Kids Easier
We are spending Memorial Day weekend in Lake Chelan which is where you will find us most long Summer weekends. My parents have a home there, we have been spending time there since childhood, Chris and I were married there and as a result of all of those things it is one of my very favorite places. That said, I still really do not like the process of packing up all the things and stuffing my car as full as possible and driving over there (it’s about a 3.5 hour drive for any of you out of towners :)). I wish I could tell you I had the answers but…
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Peanut Butter Bread
Need an alternative to all the banana bread you have been baking during quarantine? Still cannot find any yeast at the grocery store? We have the recipe for you! Peanut butter bread from a 1932 Five Roses Flour cookbook has been a resurgence during quarantine and has gone viral on the internet. I first saw this recipe being made by @margaux_laskey on New York Times Cooking’s Instagram stories (@nytcooking). Then I found this article on the peanut butter bread posted in the Today Show’s food section. According to both these sources, this recipe resurfaced on Reddit in a section entitled “Old Recipes”, where the community shares recipes from their families or old books. With recipes…
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An Easy Weeknight Family Dinner: Japanese Ground Pork & Rice (or noodle) Bowl (Soboro Donburi)
Today, we have a fantastic, quick, and family-friendly weeknight dinner for you that I discovered on i am a food blog: Soboro Donburi. A classic Japanese dish, Soboro is ground meat (this recipe uses ground pork, but usually its chicken and any ground meat will do) broken up and cooked with seasonings such as soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Donburi just means that something is served over rice as a rice bowl. This version is both sweet and savory and can be prepared from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. Each time we have made this recipe, I have replaced rice with fresh yakisoba noodles and added a bunch of stir-fried…
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The Three Salads I Make All Summer
It’s always about this time of year when I lose all motivation to slave over a hot stove in the kitchen. The weather is finally getting nicer and the quicker and easier dinner is, the longer we can be outside. So starting now, dinner consists of barbecuing (or smoking – yum!) and making a salad. There are three salads I make on repeat through out the Summer (in addition to the two I make year round – here and here) and given that Memorial Day is next weekend I thought now would be the perfect time to share. Arugula with Simple Lemon Vinaigrette This is a no-fail simple salad that…
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How to Throw a Virtual Bridal Shower
Last week, Mallory wrote about how to make a graduate feel special in this season without proms, all-night parties, commencement speeches, graduation ceremonies, and mortarboard tosses. But how do we celebrate our 2020 brides and grooms that have had to reschedule weddings and wedding-related festivities? Their disappointment must be truly immense let alone the costs and difficulties associated with rescheduling or coming up with alternatives. Yesterday, we helped throw our future sister-in-law Betsy a virtual bridal shower. She and our brother Will are getting married this August. COVID-19 has derailed their originally planned bachelor and bachelorette parties, showers, honeymoon plans, and more. And Betsy has handled the unknown and last-minute changes…
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COCOA ESPRESSO MARTINI
Apparently when Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson get together, they make cocoa espresso martinis. Prior to this week I had never had a chocolate martini, but heck, when two of the world’s most beautiful woman make a cocktail together, you have to try it, am I right? Moreover, its chocolate which is my kryptonite, and on goop, which obviously means its healthy. This cocktail is good. Terrifically good. So good, that in the name of recipe testing I have made Goop’s Cocoa Espresso Martini three nights in the row. So good that Ryan wasn’t even embarrassed drinking the martini in front of his five college fraternity brothers on a Wednesday Zoom call. So…
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Sandal Season – Target has all the Dupes
It is almost sandal season in Seattle and Target has so many designer dupes right now – on sale! Clink the image below to shop (and no we do not get a kick back from this – we aren’t cool enough yet ;)). Here’s to hoping we will have somewhere to safely wear these cute sandals this Summer… Or… Or…. Or… Or…. And… Don’t miss the toddler and little kid versions; Joey lived in these last Summer! I just ordered him two new pairs for this Spring. Or… Or…. This Amazon version for a whopping $19.99! I have these Valentino dupes and bought them for my sister and brother’s fiancé…
