Valentine's.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. The most important part about Valentine's is to be with the ones you love and I sure love Tyler and our little girl.

We started the day by seeing Tyler off to work (he had got us each flowers, chocolates and a balloon for Elanor) and then I made some heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Then, Elanor and I made some Valentines. 

Elanor loves stamping, can you tell?

Elanor in her Valentine's outfit. I forgot to take a picture before her nap, so her hair is a bit messy, as are her clothes.

We went out to the Beehive Tea Room for a little "tea party" at lunchtime since Elanor had been asking for one. We had cucumber sandwiches, soup, petite fours and shared a pot of herbal chocolate mint tea. Elanor loves tea and drank 3 cups of it! It was an adorable little place and I am so bummed that I forgot to bring my camera...

We then came home for a nap and afterwards we went over to a friends house to play and decorate cookies. During Elanor's nap I was busy making dinner and dessert. I made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon with some mashed potatoes as well. If you are like me, and don't drink alcohol, nor do I use it in my cooking really, then you can do what my mom does for this dish. She uses more beef stock than it calls for to make up for the liquid in the wine and then adds a half cup of red wine vinegar. Yes, I am well aware that red wine vinegar is nothing like wine--I mean, it is vinegar----but, the vinegar in the red wine vinegar really goes well with the meat. I think the vinegar actually makes this recipe taste better. I have also known people who substitute grape juice for the wine or you could just buy cooking wine too if you don't mind. Sorry for the ramble.

Whatever the case, it was delicious.

I am lucky enough to be able to eat dinner with these two:

 Later, Tyler and I enjoyed this delicious dessert:

 Chocolate Decadence with a raspberry sauce and freshly whipped cream. I am going to post this recipe on here soon, it is of course one my mom always made for Valentine's Day.

While we ate our scrumptious dessert, Tyler and I watched a wonderful little movie called "Romantics Anonymous".  

It is a French film about two people who have anxiety, are chocolate makers and fall in love. It is very funny, quirky, and adorable. I highly recommend it. I think the translation of the title is not exactly correct. The girl in the movie attends one of those help groups and in the movie they call it "Emotionals Anonymous"--emotional meaning anxiety, not being in control of your emotions, something like that...I am not really sure. Whatever the case, it is very cute and you should watch it.

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

In the Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am always trying new chocolate chip cookie recipes. If I see one that is claiming to be the best, then I have to try it. I saw this recipe on pinterest and it led me to the to the blog Not Without Salt. So, no this is not my recipe and no I am not going to type up the whole recipe on here since you can just go straight to her blog to get it.

 Get the recipe here.

 These are delicious cookies, which is why I bothered to share them, even if they are not my creation. I still need to try the NY Times chocolate chip cookie which is all over pinterest and claims to be the best. So, whenever I make that cookie I will post it and let you know what I think.

These cookies are nice and chewy. They are bit salty (in a good way), with a pleasant crunchiness to them (which comes form the turbinado sugar). This really is a very good cookie-----but you have to use quality chocolate!!!! No cheapo, waxy chocolate chips should be used here (or ever). If you want to save a little money use the Ghiradelli 60% cacao baking chips or the Whole Foods Dark Chocolate Chunks. They are each about $3.99 a bag, but you can find them on sale sometimes. I used the Whole Foods ones since I had them on hand and they are very good. However, if you have the means, get the good stuff (a Valrhona bar or something similar) and chop it up. It will be delicious.

Elanor approves, so I am sure you will!

Happy Baking!

Tea Party

Again......sorry about being a rather spotty blogger. Last week, I was pretty busy with dress rehearsals and   a dance recital (I teach ballet and the show was last Thursday). I also had my fancy tea party this Saturday, so I was busy with that as well. I have been thinking about, planning and pinning (as in on pinterest) about this tea party for months. It finally happened and was quite a success! I just wish a few more people would have come. There were four, including me, but I invited eight. The four of us had a lot of fun!

I spent Friday night and Saturday morning getting ready, baking, and decorating. Tyler was so much help. He trimmed the hedges, made the lemonade, set up the tables, set the table, and helped me set up this tulle curtain thing. I could not have done this without him. We had quite a lot of food. I made a sponge cake with custard filling (from my Harry Potter cookbook), Rose Cupcakes (the same ones I made for the Doctor Who Party),  My Mom's Scones served with clotted cream and jam, cucumber sandwiches, strawberries and freshly whipped cream, and of course tea (mint and lemon ginger).

The Table

Food Table (sandwiches covered to keep them from drying out--it was quite windy)

In the Kitchen: My Mom's Scones

So maybe I'm on a roll here with my mom's recipes...but hey, she is an amazing cook and I use her recipes all the time! I am so lucky that I grew up with a mom who is an excellent cook/baker and also gave me ample opportunities to help her and use the kitchen. 

These scones are wonderful. Simple, but definitely gets the point across and is a great vehicle for jam (which is how my brother, Erik, uses scones or any form of bread). Scones are also great because they are easy to vary; add chocolate chips, nuts, raisins or whatever you have around. I prefer them plain with butter and jam, with a cup of tea (preferably mint or licorice spice).

My Favorite Books for a New Mom

Being a parent is such a fun, new, exciting thing, but honestly I had never been a parent before, so I needed/still need help. I don't know where I would be without my mom and some really great books. These books have been great in helping me to learn how to get Elanor on a schedule and how to alter it as she gets older, how to feed her, what to feed her, potty training, etc.

Here is a list of books I would recommend to any new or soon-to-be mom:

The BabyWise books are great. There are several more and I also highly recommend Baby Wise Two and the Toddler Wise book as well. This books helps one to understand the whole nursing/feeding, sleeping, awake-time schedule. It was rather mind-blowing. One of the things I did not know before I read it was, you don't nurse your baby to sleep and they need to learn to fall asleep on their own. Because of this book Elanor is a good sleeper. She started sleeping through the night at 2 months. There were occasionally some bad nights, but they were few and far between. Thank you, because I need my sleep.  For more tips, real experiences with the baby wise methods go to this great blog.

This book by British author, Annabel Karmel, is a really great introductory book for starting solids. It had recipes (since we did not do store bought baby food), gives advice on when and how to start solids, etc.

I have only read the toddler book, but she wrote one for babies too that I really need to read. This book is a great read and has awesome advice. I highly suggest reading it and I really want to own it, so I can come back to it at anytime. She gives advice on how to deal with and put an end to tantrums, advice on how to help toddlers get used to a new sibling, etc. Really, every parent should read this book. 

This potty training book by Jill M. Lekovic has a lot of practical advice. I just wish I read it sooner! You are supposed to start potty training at 6 months, I did not read the book until Elanor was 11 months.. It is a really easy going method and we are using it with Elanor.

Although this book is not about parenting at all, it is about food. Food is central to family life and I feel like it is important to be aware of what we put in our and our children's bodies. I am very much into eating healthy, organic, local, whole foods as much as I can. Becoming a mom, made me even more paranoid about food, because I care what Elanor eats. I don't want her starting puberty early because of what I fed her. Plus, it is better for her and our whole family. Tyler an I are a lot more susceptible to getting sick now after eating meat at someones house or a restaurant (not that we ever ate unhealthy food, we are just 10x more careful, especially with meat). There are a ton more books to read on this subject, but this is a really good starter one and really opens your eyes to ins and outs of the food industry. Food Inc. is also a really good, quick movie that gets the point across too. My professor at SVU also wrote the book Poisoned, which I need to read....

Oh, and my mom. She is a great asset to have and answers my baby questions all the time. Moms are the best.

Do you have any favorite parenting books? I would love to read them! Also, any suggestions for good toddler books, specifically how to teach (as in numbers. letters, etc.) your toddler?