Recipe RoundUp No. 5: Five Ideas for an Impromptu Summer Cocktail Party

One of the random things I pride myself on is the ability to pull together an impromptu cocktail party on no notice. To be clear, this happens basically never, because all my friends have kids under 8, we're scattered all over the Bay Area, we work, and we aren't exactly a spontaneous bunch.  Still, IF the opportunity were to arise to do something festive and unplanned, I would hate to miss out because I was unprepared.  That would just be a damn shame. Anyway, it's Friday, and after a downer of a week, I'm holding tight to happy times, dedicating this Recipe Roundup to an ... [READ MORE]

Recipe Roundup No. 4: Summer Loving

I was just remarking to someone that I'm super getting into cucumbers lately, and that is, of course, a kind of ridiculous statement.  In my defense, we were eating cucumber salad at the time, but still.  Who gets into cucumbers? I'm going to start this recipe roundup by getting real with you and owning the fact that all my efforts at self-care went flying out an 8th-story office window for the better part of April and May.  Last week I stared in the mirror and realized that I looked a lot how I felt: creatively & professionally fulfilled, totally exhausted, obsessed with red lipstick ... [READ MORE]

Friday Recipe Roundup No. 3 (and on a Thursday!)

Last Spring Break, back in 2015, I took it upon myself to spirit my kids to Tahoe, where it was very cold, but Babygirl insisted on walking around in goggles and a swimsuit because, Spring Break.  The girl just felt it in her bones.  It was quiet, and chill, and a whole lotta mom-and-kids crafting, and cooking, and Penguins of Madagascar, and Easer-egg dying, and of course Chutes and Ladders, and dressing Bitty Baby. This Spring Break, I am knee-deep in this professional proposition, which is really fun, and such a dynamic change of pace, and also...hard.  We had an incredible Easter (like, ... [READ MORE]

Friday Recipe Roundup no. 2 (and on a Tuesday!)

Oh look, Week 2 of Friday Recipe Roundup came and went and I didn't post! I promise I have a good excuse...which will, in the short-term, be my excuse for all the things that will surely fall to the wayside between now and June: on very short notice I have started a temporary, full-time gig which is taking priority over, well, everything besides la famille.  Mostly because I haven't worked full-time since I was pregnant with Babygirl, and those muscles are tight, and also because I'm psyched about the gig and I just want to bring it, you know? But...first days being what they are (um, ... [READ MORE]

Friday Recipe Roundup

It's Friday night, and my husband is off to his Fantasy Baseball draft (do you capitalize Fantasy Baseball? le hmmmm).  Anyway, this was fine with me because a) I totally get his need for a virtual escape and b) the kids were exhausted and went to sleep without a fight and c)  I was way jazzed to watch Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Deux...except that d) it's only available for pre-order and my TV picture is all screwed up because, kids + remotes. So instead I am reminded that my dear girlfriend the other day recommended I start doing a Friday Recipe Roundup on Less on the Floor.  She said ... [READ MORE]

GIVEAWAY with Sheet Pan Suppers & Workman Publishing

If there is one topic my mom-friends and I can talk about ad nauseum it's what to make for dinner.  And how to find the time: time to shop, time to plan, time to cook.  When the whole family rolls home at 6pm (from work, from after-school care, from soccer practice and swim lessons and tutors and therapy and any of the other slew of things we all do in a day -- I mean, how do we do it??)...then there is the dinner to think of.  Most of my friends are avid home cooks, like me, and so we recipe-swap and share Pinterest boards and anything -- ANYTHING -- to make the process of feeding our ... [READ MORE]

Making Cake out of Beans (because we do crazy things like that in San Francisco)

On Saturday my sister and her girls came to town for the day (they live about 90 minutes north of here, on a bucolic hilltop in Santa Rosa).  We took a chilly morning walk along the Embarcadero with our strollers and ended up at the South Beach Marina playground for a spell, where Babygirl and my older niece took turns trying to get injured on the merry-go-round (aka, the Wheel of Pain and Tears).  My brother-in-law would be working for the next, oooh, twelve hours or so, and like any self-respecting mother of two toddlers facing an entire day of activity planning solo, my sister looked ... [READ MORE]