REPOST: easter brunch

March 26, 2024 in family, holiday, recipe

my whole life there have been two essential easter recipes served at our brunch: my mother’s mushroom crust quiche and her easter buns. they are both a little trashy… the quiche has smashed up saltines in the crust and the buns are made with the dough that comes in a can you bang on the counter to pop open. but they are both delicious. the quiche (or KWEE-CHEE as theo used to call it) LOOKS a little more elegant, but the buns are never pretty. the filling always squirts out and the jam slides around so they are just a mess. i have tried and tried to clean them up to no avail. when new people come for easter, they usually bypass them on the buffet and i have to force them to try one… no one has ever been disappointed. AND they are both still yummy, cold, the next morning as leftovers. happy, happy easter all! x0xx

girlie weekend (with hank of course!) at THE BROADMOOR! x0x0xx

March 12, 2024 in family, hank, holiday, travel

(how PRETTY is this hotel nestled into mountains?)

there are few places i like to visit as much as the broadmoor. my heart just soars when i am there and i feel kind of giddy. set against some group of colorado mountains and centered around a big, beautiful lake, it is unbelievably scenic. the interior spaces are so detailed and intricate and layered you are always discovering something new. on this visit, i really started noticing all the swans. aside from the actual swans who live on the lake, there are swans throughout the resort painted on the walls, tiled into floor mosaics, featured in oil paintings and even edible meringue swans available at the little patisserie. i HAVE been watching “the feud” featuring truman capote and his swans obsessively, so maybe that’s why i was so drawn to them.

happy, happy valentine's day! x0x0xx

February 14, 2024 in family, hank, holiday

we’re sending you all so much LOVE on this valentine’s day! x0x0x

photo: heather knierim of HBK photography

aloha! x0x

January 23, 2024 in family, holiday

since theo is a SENIOR this year (honestly, it is HARD for me to even write that as i am already torturing myself with anticipatory grief when i should probably just be enjoying him) we are trying to do all “the things” before he goes to college. so we went to hawaii over the holidays. i have not been in at least thirty years and the kids and first have never been so it was pretty exciting.

PRAISE JESUS we made it to january! x0xx

January 09, 2024 in family, holiday

(artwork: lesik aleksandr)

i DO love the holidays and thank goodness because we do them ALL: thankgiving, sinterklaas, hanukkah, my birthday (i DON’T love this one as much!), christmas and new years. i love baking the cookies, making the gingerbreads, lighting the candles, driving around to see the lights, putting out our clogs, decorating the tree, hanging the stockings, eating the latkes (i DON’T like making them - too messy!), hiding the shelf elves and their reindeer friend, going to the parties, delivering the cookies, sending the holiday cards (although this is always a loaded task!) receiving the holiday cards (much more FUN!), giving the gifts, enjoying my mother’s sticky buns, finding out who got the monkey and spending time with family. but i am always EXHAUSTED by the time we get to january and so grateful to bunker down and have a super quiet month (after i have VACUUMED up all the pine needles, which is my absolute favorite post-christmas task.) wishing you all a quiet, restful month with lots of sleep and TV! (my recent favorites: lessons in chemistry, black cake and the gilded age.) x0x0xx

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR! x0xx

January 01, 2024 in family, holiday

wishing you all peace, happiness and beautiful experiences in 2024. x0x0xx

REPOST: the monkey

December 25, 2023 in family, holiday

(even at 15 my grandmother seemed to know exactly what she wanted)

my paternal grandmother was fierce. she lived the way she wanted and you pretty much just went along. she liked things a certain way and if something wasn’t to her choosing she would wave her hand, say, “oh FISH!” and carry on as she deemed appropriate. you didn’t really want to get in her way.

REPOST: gingerbread houses

December 19, 2023 in holiday, family

* i am feeling really SAPPY and a bit gutted because this is the last year theo will be home to help with the gingerbread houses before he goes to college… i have no idea where the time went and i kind of can’t wait to be a grandma so i can share this tradtion with littles again… x0x

my birthday twin! x0x0x

December 12, 2023 in holiday

(anne marie and me on our fiftieth birthday! )

today is my FIFTY-FIFTH birthday! i am stunned and quite horrified to be associated with this GIANT number that is odd to boot (i really prefer even numbers.) i am not sure how to process this milestone and realize i need to start thinking of myself as SIXTY because that’s what happens when you round up and time seems to be moving at warp speed (theo is GRADUATING this spring and hopefully going to college in the fall - HOW did that happen??) so i need to be prepared.

REPOST: raisin-free cranberry sauce

November 21, 2023 in holiday, family

* something really interesting happened to me a few weeks ago… i tried eating blueberries and i LIKED them! previously, i have only enjoyed them in eggos and i’m pretty sure those aren’t real blueberries. hank really likes them too so we have just been scarfing them down. my kids were wondering if i might give raisins another try… of course that is just ABSURD! which is why i am reposting my favorite raisin-free cranberry sauce recipe in anticipation of thanksgiving… ENJOY! x0x

* theo went to a “friendsgiving” the other night and brought my cranberries and they were a bit HIT with the teen crowd! x0x

HAPPY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! x00x

October 31, 2023 in hank, holiday, pet

(halloween hank as a turkey! i think he’s worried that we’ll throw him on the thanksgiving table…)

there are two things i love about halloween: dog costumes and candy. all the scary, bloody, gruesome stuff i could really do without. also the WORRY about whether my kids will make it home alive. this year hank is going as a ROASTED TURKEY! i am beside myself because i think his back legs already look like drumsticks.

REPOST: yom kippur, the day of atonement, is coming!

September 21, 2023 in family, holiday, recipe

(hank thinking about his transgressions during the year)

* i am reposting my story about yom kippur as it is approaching… l’shana tova! x0x

this week is yom kippur, the day of atonement in the jewish religion. while i never converted, i am raising my children in the faith of their father (with santa and the bunny thrown in) and i have spent more time in temple than i have in any other religious setting. i have hosted loads of seders, rosh hashana dinners and break fasts (i can cook all of the holiday food, except brisket - my brisket is TERRIBLE - so we have roast chicken instead), i know a fair bit of the prayers, or at least the tunes and i have a general understanding of the fundamentals of the religion.

happy, happy new year! x0x

September 19, 2023 in family, holiday

(hank sharing his sweet rosh apples)

when we moved to boulder we did not join a temple straight away… first we collected a group of jewish (or half jewish) families that we have been celebrating shabbat, rosh hashana, yom kippur, hanukkah and passover with for over a dozen years. this special group has made us feel grounded and connected and has been such an important aspect of our lives in boulder. also, several people in the circle know how to make a proper, delicious brisket, which is my achilles heel, so my kids have been able to ENJOY that signature dish, rather than dread it.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling dad! x0x0x

September 03, 2023 in family, holiday

wishing my very handsome father the happiest of birthdays! so excited to celebrate with you! i LOVE you higher than the sky is high and deeper than the ocean is deep! x0x0x

to read more about my dad click here or here

REPOST: my bay area restaurant tour

August 15, 2023 in exercise, holiday, travel

(artwork: aaron alvarez)

* i am reposting this story because our summer time in california has come to an end. we ate and ate as much as we could. this summer we were forced to explore new spots because cesar, one of our favorites has closed…i am still SLAYED about that. here are some of our new places:

REPOST: plum cake

August 08, 2023 in family, garden, hank, holiday, pet, recipe, travel

* i am reposting this story because it includes the recipe for plum cake… a few summers ago the plum tree at our cottage went bananas with fruit. early each morning i went out to harvest (i DO have farming roots) enough to make plum cake. sometimes i gave it to someone, but most days we ate it. they are so DELICOUS! unfortunately, i totally over plum caked lucy and i don’t think she will ever eat one again. that is truly unfortunate. (i also did that to her with scrambled eggs - a big bummer both because i make AMAZING scrambles and because i think they are such a healthy way to breakfast.) today when i popped over to my parents’ house the yummiest smell was wafting around… mom was having her quilt friends over for lunch and had made the coveted cake. i was beside myself so, of course, i stayed for lunch! ENJOY! x0x

HAPPY, HAPPY 4th of JULY! x0x0x

July 04, 2023 in holiday

(lucy and me on the fourth of july years ago - lucy is wearing a sweet, smocked flag dress handed down from dear friends)

wishing you all a SAFE, happy fourth of july! x0x0x

memorial day blues

June 06, 2023 in family, hank, holiday, pet

(the boulder creek fest)

every memorial day weekend in boulder there is the “creek fest” which features lots of food trucks, bouncy castles, bungee jumping, henna, face painting, artsy vendors and “bossy” vendors who give nutritional, political, environmental, parental, etc advice. every year i think i like the idea of a festival and every year i forget how fucking HOT it gets. this year we were obligated to go because lucy’s awesome dance troop, streetside, was performing.

holding on! x0x

May 30, 2023 in family, holiday

(theo celebrating his third birthday with a chocolate cupcake)

my son turned seventeen a few months ago. while i am no longer planning big themed parties with magicians or puppet shows or the olympics or pajamas i do still decorate the house, make his favorite breakfast (poofy pancakes) and plan SOMETHING. i love doing this and get super excited at the approach of these celebrations, even though he only begrudgingly poses in a birthday hat for photos now. but this year i was bummed in the same way i get when one of my own “big birthdays” arrives (40, 50, 60 - sixty hasn’t come yet, PRAISE JESUS! but i am already dreading it.) it hit me that next year will be his last birthday at home before he goes off to university and i just felt gutted.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my darling babela bu! x00xxx

April 11, 2023 in family, hank, holiday

my dearest, darling lucy is THIRTEEN today! she has been full of surprises ever since our doctor called with the news of my very much desired but completely unanticipated pregnancy. she arrived with a bang and has been upending our lives and our thinking and our hearts ever since. lucy - i cannot begin to tell you how proud and GRATEFUL i am to be your mama. wishing you a thirteenth year full of joy, adventure, SLEEP, snuggles, GOOD BOOKS and loads of LOVE! i love you higher than the sky is high and deeper than the ocean is deep! x00xx