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Henry and I went on a little date this afternoon while Chris was at school. We went to our favorite frozen yogurt place where they have really yummy yogi’s.  It’s on the way to Chris’ school which makes it dangerously tempting every time we drive by. Today we got this new flavor they have called ‘Plain Tart’ which tastes exactly like regular vanilla yogurt that’s been frozen. No yogi is complete without fresh strawberries and a few chocolate sprinkles! Delish!

Now, if you didn’t know me as a teenager,  you probably didn’t know I had a major fascination/borderline creepy obsession with James Dean. It’s faded a bit over the years but I am still a huge fan of his movies and to be honest, I could probably answer just about any trivia-question about him. Which leads me to Henry’s shirt (not that there’s a trivia question involved here). Given the background, how could I possibly resist buying this shirt for my little Rebel Without a Cause? Well obviously I couldn’t and I am so happy I did.

I’ve managed to type this entire post one-handed…I’ve got my little Rebel nursing (and also watching Sesame Street)… and quietly thinking to myself  that we are great multi-taskers!  Prior to Henry being born, I never knew how much I would enjoy nursing or that I would still be nursing when he was nearly 18 months old, but this little one isn’t showing any signs of letting up and that’s just fine by me. I think he would nurse 24-hours a day if I let him. He used to lay so still and it was my favorite part of the day because I could just sit and look into his big brown eyes. Now, well I often feel like nursing is more like this (Postcard #3 entitled "Sleeping-Austraila")..he’s turned into a bit of an acrobat but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I know these times are fleeting but I will cherish them all my days.  I also know that nursing doesn’t work out for everyone – and that’s okay, just do what feels right to you! Thanks SouleMama for the link!

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth… it just kind of felt like it this week…busy, busy, busy! I’ve had lots of inquiries about more recipes so I’ve posted 2 new ones for you! One is for a most delicious (and my all time fav) caramel popcorn drizzled with chocolate and the other is a wonderfully scrumptious Butternut Squash Soup. Hope those keep you busy! Ha! 

These adorable little fabrics are a little sampling of what I have been up to lately (no there aren’t any quilts in my future) I mentioned a few months ago that I wanted to open up a little Etsy shop on my blog (well not ON my blog- but you could get to my little shop via a link on my blog). I am working on getting a few things ready and am hoping to have the shop open for business in the next 1-2 weeks. I  have my cute sister coming into town and of course, Halloween (Henry’s costume still needs to be made) So I am crossing my fingers for 2 weeks- so please check back- you may just find something that tickles your fancy! In fact, I am sure you will!

I took Henry to the Zimmer museum  on Friday along with his cute friends Elisa & Leah (Mom’s were also in tow) and he had such a ball. He sat at this mini-kitchen table for what seemed like 45-minutes. Pouring imaginary glasses of water, stacking plates & cups, moving food on & off his plate, playing with the utensils… there was a little store in the next room with plastic banana’s, peppers, loaves of bread… he had so much fun! I’ve been debating on getting Henry this kitchen for Christmas (he had a wonderful time  at Oliva’s house playing in her little kitchen) and now, we’ll I think he might just need to have a kitchen of his own. I love this one because it’s blue and red and most of the ones I’ve seen are pink- which is great if you are a girl, which Henry is not. Not that I have anything against men & pink (Real mean wear pink, right? That’s what I always tell Chris. He’s not buying it). Anyway, I’ve started saving little metal spice jars that are empty and other fun things he can use in his new kitchen- I think he’ll really love it. I’m not 100% yet on buying it- but it’s getting pretty close.

We had Mick & Emily down on Thursday night for their very FIRST Pumpkin carving! Can you believe that the Aussies don’t celebrate Halloween?? I don’t think I could ever be an Aussie…. we’ll they do have the whole tim-tam’s thing going for them… but no Halloween? Here’s a pic of Emily carving her first pumpkin. We were so glad that we got to share in this momentus occasion. Happy First Halloween Falconbridges!! (Yes, Emily brought us those gorgeous burnt-orange Sunflowers AND yummy Apple Crisp. Thank you EMILY!)

Caramel Popcorn drizzled w/Chocolate
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Karo/Corn Syrup
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
5-6 quarts of Popcorn

Note:
With a lot of my recipes you can be flexible with the ingredients. With this recipe, however, it needs to be exact or the caramel won’t turn out. Try to follow it as closely as possible. This recipe was adapted from AllRecipes.com

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees. Spray the inside of a brown paper grocery bag with cooking spray. Make sure it’s well coated on the sides & bottom so the caramel doesn’t stick to the inside of the bag. Pop the popcorn, remove any unpopped kernals & place popcorn inside the of the brown bag. In a medium sautee pan (or sauce pan) melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup & salt. Bring to a boil, stiring constantly. ****This is the crucial part of the recipe. As soon as this mixture starts to boil, step away from the pan. Boil without stiring for 4 minutes.  (Not a second more, not a second less). While it’s boiling, get the baking soda & vanilla ready. As soon as it’s done boiling, remove from heat and add the baking soda &  vanilla. Stir well. Pour over the popcorn in the paper bag. Fold over the top of the bag and shake like crazy, turning upside-down and side to side. This is the best way I’ve learned to evenly get popcorn coated (Thank you Kimberly Taylor for teaching me this VERY cool trick!). Once coated, divide the mixutre evenly and place onto 2 cookie sheets and bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. This is what makes the caramel corn crunchy. It you don’t want it too crunchy, bake for less time. I seem to find that 45 minutes works perfectly. Once cooked, allow to cool completely. Melt 1-2 cups of chocolate and drizzle onto the popcorn (still on the cookie cheets). The popcorn needs to be completely cooled or the chocolate won’t harden. Once the chocolate is drizzled, you can always place the pan into the freezer for 10-15 minutes  or in the fridge for 30 minutes, otherwise it will need to harden overnight if  left out. Once cooled, break into pieces and eat your heart out!! You can add candy corn at this point if you  are into that kinda thing (which I am!)

This is a really wonderful Fall soup that consists of only a few ingredients, but really packs in the flavor. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4

2 1/2 C Butternut Squash*
4 Cups of Chicken or Vegetable Broth
1 Medium Onion, diced
1/2 tsp Sage or 1 Tbsp of Fresh Sage
1 tsp Thyme leaves (dried)
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Butter

In a medium saucepan sautee the onion over medium heat until translucent in a little butter (about 1 Tbsp). Add the Butternut Squash and cook 10-20 minutes until tender. If it starts to look like the onions are burning add 2-3 Tbsp of broth. Add sage, thyme & nutmeg and sautee for 1 minute. Add remaining broth & simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and puree in a food processor or blender (if it’s too hot, it will make a total disaster). Return to stove and re-heat. You can add a little cream or milk if you want- I added a tad bit of Fat Free Milk- but it didn’t change the flavor or texture too much. Happy Soup Making!

* There are a couple of options regarding Butternut Squash. You can buy a whole squash (1 med. squash equals about 2 1/2 cups), peel it, and cube it OR you can also buy a bag of already peeled & cubed butternut squash. Another option if you can’t get your little hands on a fresh squash is to buy a bag of frozen cubed squash. If you go the frozen route, just unthaw it and put it into the onion mixture.

This little monkey has been keeping me VERY busy this week…he’s tossed our home phone into the bathtub, his sippy cup leaked all over my cell phone and if I find one more toy in the toilet or his little fingers dangling in there (eeewww) I just don’t know what I am going to do! You can’t get mad, because he is laughing his head off and thinks it’s soo funny. Now that he’s walking around, it’s so fun having a little person in the apartment. I see the top of his little head bopping around. He is such a joy. He’s just started saying "Choo-choo" and has become fascinated with trains and airplanes. We dont live far from Santa Monica Airport so Henry is always pointing to the sky everytime he hears an airplane.

He loves this little cap which we bought in Boston at H&M. They have some really, really cute kids clothes. We are still toying around with what he is going to be for Halloween…we’d better get on that. We are quickly running out of time. I was giving him a bath last night and his hair was all wet and matted down- I think he should be Alfala from the Little Rascals. Maybe Chris could be Spanky & I could be Darla. We could ALL be little rascals. I think I might just be on to something!

Run, don’t walk, to the nearest Target and pick up some of these fabulous jammies for your little cowpokes. I fell in love with these the second I saw them. The background is this fabulous mint green and has a wonderful vintagey looking Western print on them. I can’t tell by his expression, but I think Henry likes them? Oh Target, you’ve done it again!

Happy Fall Weekend, Little Cowpokes!

 I don’t know exactly what to call this project,
but it’s what we did today at our house and we have lots of these Fall
leaves hanging in our windows.

It’s really quite simple. The color of these leaves are made from
crayon shavings that are melted in between 2 pieces of wax paper.
Here’s a step by step if you are interested in doing a project with the
kids (or just want some fall decorations for your house):

1) Pull off the paper from an assorment of fall colored crayons. Red, Yellow, Orange & Green tend to work best.

2) To make the shavings, you can put the crayons through a hand held
pencil sharpener or use a vegetable peeler. Keep the colored shavings
seperate on a plate.

3) Lay down a large piece of wax paper with the waxy side facing you. There is a smooth & a rough side. The rough side is the waxy side. Sprinkle an assortment of the shavings towards the middle of the wax
paper. You don’t want to put down too many crayon shavings or it looks
like brown mush. I would suggest using the yellow and orange and then just sprinkling a little of
the red & green. Also avoid putting the shavings too close to the
edge as they will melt out & ruin your ironing board.

4) Place another piece of wax paper (wax side facing down on the crayon shavings) on top. Place a hand towel or dish towel on top of the wax paper & using a hot iron, iron over the dish towel, melting the crayon shavings underneath.

5) Once it’s melted, let it cool for 5 minutes. I cut this leaf out from hand, you can do that or trace the outline of a leaf you already have on the wax paper. Hole-punch the top and hang in the window. You can also make a garland out of several leaves.

When I was little, we used to put leaves in between the wax paper along with the crayon shavings and that turns out really neat as well. In that case, you could cut it into a square that had leaves & crayon shavings in the middle.

I love simmering this little concoction on the stove during the Fall months. It makes the house smell wonderful.

In a small saucepan, add:

5 cups of water
1 Tbsp vanilla
2-3 slices of oranges
1 Tbsp of whole cloves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
Sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Bring to a boil & then let simmer.  I usually let it simmer all day, adding additional water in as it evaporates (you may want to add a little more vanilla as well). Also, this doesn’t have to be exact- use what you have or add in a sprinkle of allspice or whatever sounds good to you.  This will keep for 2-3 days before you’ll need to discard it. Happy Monday!!

Whoever invented that word, should be given an award. It’s genius and so fun to say. So the Halloween extravaganza began on Sunday night. I still have 2 boxes of stuff to go through- actually I dont think I have room in my itsy bitsy apartment…we’ll see how much stuff I can cram in. This picture is evidence that I have a 16 month old.  You can tell that the lamp on the left tilts to the left. That’s because Henry has stood on his little chair one too many times, tipped it backwards, falling onto the lamp and then against the wall. It’s getting to be pretty wobbly but hey- I got it from IKEA, so its replaceable. All those little black things on the curtains are spiders (ha ha), so try not to get too creeped out!

I’m always so jealous when people post pictures of their cute homes. I have absolutely no direct sunlight and well, I live in student housing which leaves much to be desired. But, I did want to share some of my favorite Halloween things, since I am a total fanatic when it comes to Halloween.

I had to use the flash when I took this photo because it was too dark outside, so the colors are off, but I bought this wreath on Saturday and I love it. It’s this bright burnt orange and has all this sparkly glitter (I guess all glitter is sparkly..duh!) on it. I put the cardboard cut-out that says  "Halloween Greetings" in the middle. Now all I need are some pumpkins for the front door.

Hmmm… what else?

 

 

I  bought this cat a few years ago from a company called Beistle Co. I bought them on-line and they do a great job of making vintage reproductions. It’s a family owned business thats been running for 100 years. I also got these at the same time:

Why does Halloween stuff have to be so cool? I love the old-school stuff. I have these loot bags too, but can’t bear to part with them.

So this was one of the many items that I bought in Boston and had to try to figure out how to get home. It eventually had to be disassembled which made it fit into the trunk I bought at the Salvation Army. Phew. So glad I didn’t have to leave this beauty behind! I thought it was so hilarious. The knob actually moves and says "out" if you turn it to the right and there is a little miniature broom hanging off the nail. Who are the people who come up with these things?? Good gravy- they must be smart cookies!

 

My Mom gave me this awesome pumpkin tree and I can’t remember where I
got this cutie patootie girl. I actually bought some great fabric for a
halloween doll that I would love to make similar to this.  I love her
little  stockings. 

Last but not least- this crazy lady cracks me up.  You put a tealight
in her head and it lights up green. I love her wire hair. I think it
was made by  Department 56. I’m  thinking I want to make some
cheesecloth ghosts and other fun halloween tricks & treats. Anyway-
that’s all for now (as if that wasn’t enough!)… Hope your homes are
starting to look  spooktacular, too!! Goodbye for now!

 

Minestrone Soup. This has to be one of my all-time favorite soups. I have been making it for at least 10 years and it is such a reminder of Fall. I make this soup many, many times every Fall (and winters, too!) Nothing beats the smell of onions & garlic cooking on the stove in some olive oil. I love it. This is a great, very healthy and hearty soup. Most ingredients you’ll have on hand. The spices are what make this soup wonderful, so definately invest in them if you don’t already have them (i.e.,. celery seed). It will make many, many future pots of soup for you. My sweet Mother gave me this recipe and it hails  from the "Skinny Soup" cookbook. The recipe below has already been doubled (the soup will keep for a few days in the fridge and it’s very good the next day). It will serve approx 8 people.
Minestrone Soup

• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• I large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, miced
• 8 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 28 oz can of tomato sauce (or crushed tomato’s)
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 med-sized carrots,  sliced
• 2 potato’s, cut into cubes
• 2 med-sized zucchini, diced
• 1/2 C fresh parsley, chopped (or you can use 1 Tbsp dried)
• 1 C small pasta (shells, macaroni, etc.,)
• 1/2 C Parmesan Cheese
• 2 tsp. dried basil leaves
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/4 tsp. ground celery seed
• Dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:
Over medium heat, in a sautee pan combine olive oil, onions & garlic and  3 Tbsp of stock. Sautee until onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the remaining stock, tomato sauce, celery, carrot, potato, zucchini and all spices (do not add pasta or parmesan). Mix and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer and simmer for 15 mintues. Bring to a boil again and add pasta & parmesan. Reduce to a simmer  for an additional 20 minutes. I usually sprinkle some more parmesan on top  once it’s served. Enjoy!

One of my other favorite fall foods to make? Apple Pie. Now mind you, in general I am not a fan of pie. I just don’t like the crust. Others would argue the crust is the best part, but nah… I’ll stick to moist chocolately cake. Unless, of course, you are talking about this pie, which I absolutely adore! One of the reasons that I like this pie so much is that it only has a crust on the bottom. The top is a crumb mixture of oats, brown sugar and butter. THEN (yes, there is a then) it’s drizzled with caramel. I love this pie. My sweet friend Sarah gave me this recipe a few years ago and it’s a huge hit everytime. I am not sure where she got it, so I’ll just give all the credit to her. Thanks, Sarah!! Oh yeah, we used this, which had all the apples peeled in about 2 minutes flat! I love this thing!

Your pie will most likely not look like the one pictured. The reason for this is that I wanted to try out my new handy dandy tart pan which I picked up at Ikea not too long ago and it’s much wider than your standard pie dish. If you are using a standard sized 8" or 9"  pie dish, the apples will make a nice big mound on the top (even after baking) and won’t look as flat as the one I made. It was good none the less. Here’s the recipe:

Apple Pie

• 1 Pastry crust for a deep dish 9" pie (you can make one or purchase a ready-made one)
• 1/2 C Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice OR Cinnamon (or allspice works great, too)
  
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6-8 Cups Apples, sliced thinly

Crumb Topping:

• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 C rolled oats
• 1/2 C Flour
• 1/2 C Butter

Directions:
Stir together brown sugar, flour & oats. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until topping resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, spice & salt. Add apples & toss to coat. Put into pie shell. Add all of the crumb mixture on top of the apples (until all the apples are covered with the mixture). You will need to press it onto the apples to make it stay. You can cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil for the first 25 minutes to prevent burning, but I usually avoid this step and the pie turns out fine. Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes. Allow the pie to cool for 10-15 minutes & drizzle the top with your favorite caramel. Enjoy!

Finally we have made it home. We originally  left on August 25th and were only home 2 days in the last month. It’s soo good to be home. We got in late on Monday night and before we could even get all the lights on, Henry walked straight over to his little wooden chair and sat there for about 5 minutes, just looking around & taking it all in. The house is a disaster as we are still trying to unpack. Why does it take so long to unpack? I feel like I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing (which is partially why it still looks like a war zone in here). Actually what I really have been wanting to do  is cozy up to "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and put out all the Halloween/Fall stuff. At this point, I don’t want to add to the disaster (I might lose Henry in all of it!) so I’m trying to get it all picked up today so the fall stuff can come out. Actually I’m updating the blog- not picking up, which I should do while Henry is taking his nap. I’d better make this quick…

So we are trying to get  back into our normal routines. We went out walking this morning. When we moved here a year ago, we started going walking every morning. Henry was only about 3-4 months old and would usually sleep for a majority of the hour long walk.

He was so tiny, his feet didn’t come close to touching the end of the stroller. I remember once he got so fussy I actually stopped the stroller in the street and nursed him on the curb in front of someones house. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Anyway, the point is, that he doesn’t seem like he can last an hour anymore. About 40 minutes into it, he starts chucking stuff over the edge and arching his back because he wants to get out. I’m trying to give him a drink, books, etc.,. to keep him entertained so I can work off the cannoli I ate at Mikes Pastry in the North End, but with all the frequent stops, I’m afraid it did no good.

Chris started today with Warner Brothers and is very excited (not excited it’s in Burbank, which is an hour away and leaves me with no car for 3 days a week) but I am so happy for him. He said that he saw George Clooney at lunch. I guess they are filming Ocean’s 13 there. He’s interning and hoping to get a job come January. Anyhoo- back to cleaning the house. Will post later a fun fall recipe and hopefully some pic’s of  all the Halloween/Fall stuff that I’m going to get out tonight!

We are such lucky ducks! The amazing Rebecca was able to squeeze us in for a photo shoot yesterday at the Boston Public Gardens (and for a quick jont over to Beacon Hill). For a sneak peak, you can view a few of our pics here. They are hot off the press! You are such a tease, Rebecca!! We can’t wait to see the rest. Thanks for meeting up with us- and for time away from Dan and your sweet, darling boys! Anyone in New England wanting GORGEOUS pic’s, definately get a hold of this gal- she’s AMAZING! Thank you!!

On a side note, I love that she was able to capture Henry on the ducks. The ducks are based on the old children’s book "Make way for Ducklings"  that I think was originally published in the early 40’s. It’s going to be so wonderful to have these photographs to remind us of this place that we called home for soo long. Thank you, thank you, thank you!