Thank you for all of the bowl food suggestions! This thing is going really well for me. A few people suggested the book Bowl Food: Comfort Food for People on the Move and I was going to go get it (really good subtitle), when I realized I already had it, and about twenty of the page corners were already turned down. Can't even remember when or where I got it. This book is cool. It's small, so I can take it to the store. It's not chatty; it's just recipes. With a Thai influence, for the most part? It's got a pretty color picture for every single dish. And it's all the things I like in one place: soups, salads, pastas, rices, and curries. I'm excited. So far I've made the chicken with Thai basil, chiles, and cashews and the shrimp, tomato, and saffron (my mother-in-law gave me a little tin of saffron for my birthday — isn't that a great present?!?) pasta. Both were very good, and really pretty involved, I must say. But that's probably what made them so good. Really filling, so a bowl is actually more than you need. It's Peanut Butter Puffins for breakfast, then I pick a recipe in the morning. Amelia and I walk up to get groceries somewhere after breakfast (we have a few options for that, so it's kind of fun), and then I do whatever prep I can do ahead of time while she naps during the day. She hangs out with me in the kitchen while I cook. She is SO good about this. I eat very early while she's still happy. Bedtime is between six and seven. I've been trying to come back downstairs and hang out after I put her to bed, but usually I just . . . pretty much watch episodes of Psych and fall asleep!
The weather here over the weekend was cray-cray. It was about 85 degrees and windy as all get out. Naturally, I was completely miserable. Trees were whipping around and throwing down sticks and leaves and immature plums all over the yard. Leaves blew in every open door, covering the kitchen and the studio. I think I swept four times. But it was too hot to keep things closed. Bees found their ways into the house and buzzed angrily against the few windows that don't open (why do they do that? when there's an open window just a few feet away?). The light flickered madly as the leaves thrashed back and forth in the bright sunlight. We replanted all of our containers that didn't make it through the winter. But it was just too hot and kind of crazy outside to really enjoy it. I find hot wind utterly unnerving. Monday morning Andy woke up and said, "Is it supposed to be nice again today?" And I said, "If by 'nice' you mean COMPLETELY HORRIBLE then yeah, it's supposed to be nice." Curmudgeonly me!!!
Babies in sleeveless onesies, though. OMG. Utterly, utterly sweet. My sweet, sweet girl. She's drooling so much I keep checking for a tooth, but no. Not yet!
***Shoot — I forgot to add that for those who have asked, the baby food book I am using is this one, given to me by my friend Ann. I like it a lot — it's nice and simple and straightforward. Making baby food is so much fun. Watching her eat it is completely amazing. I'm sure that sounds silly or something, but it's true. It's one of the best things in the whole wide world. The whole time she's eating I'm just sitting there thinking AW YEAH!
I don't think words are necessary, a pleasant addition, but the pictures give a great story.
Ahh Sophie how we love thee!
Looks like little Miss A is "teething" she looks so cute with her rosy cheeks!!!!!!
Food looks yummy, even the cereal. :-) Weleda's Weather Protection Cream is way awesome for drool rash and general baby dryness.
Don't ever move to Oklahoma. The weather is like that very, very often.
The sunsets are nice, though!
Love that first picture of Amelia! What an angelic little face!
Miss Amelias cheeks just remind me more and more of the paintings by the Dutch masters! She just gets more and more cute!
I think you were the unlucky recipients of what we in Southern California call "Santa Ana winds"-- we had them on Thursday and Friday. But then it rained and cooled down over the weekend. :)
Miss A is so beautiful :)
gorgeous.
My daughter is sitting beside me as I read this, and for no reason said 'I love you mama'. Just wait until little Miss A says that to you. Your heart will go pop!
Every. Single. Time.
hope that toothy isn't causing too much discomfort & shows itself soon.
Hot wind= Santa Anas, here, and they are very unsettling, especially when they fan fires.
You have my sympathy.
Can I just say... Amelia in the sleeveless onsie is utterly adorable... her soulful gaze, so compelling and steady, and those rose touched cheeks. She's from a Carl Larsson painting, a rosy cherub in from the garden.
This girl is so beautiful! There hasn't been a photo yet where I haven't wanted to keep her frozen in time, just an adorable, gorgeous pink cheeked cherub. Enjoy her to bits!!
Amelia looks the heat gets to her too as I see her rosy cheek picture. I love one bowl meals although I agree they can take some time to put together. My easiest one bowl meal is a salad with every fresh vegetable I have in the house. Along with some slivered chicken, nuts, olives, red onion . . . So good with a homemade poppy seed dressing. Cooling on a steamy day!
OMG I love baby rosy cheeks!
Laura in naperville, IL
Pictures of Amelia + the use of "cray-cray" and "curmudgeonly" in one post = priceless! ;-)
WASN'T THAT WEATHER WILD??? It was so HOT! Like, mid-August hot! Can't get anything done when it's that hot, except drink limeade, which is what we did. :)
That second pasta dish looks totally amazing. And just when I think there is no other beautiful bit of your home that you could possibly show, yep, there's another magical view of some enchanted corner. Love it so much! xoxoxo
I think that feeding babies and little children is one of the nicest and most satisfying things to do (when they eat that is). In fact feeding anyone who eats happily and in quantities is lovely.
i just want to "nom,nom,nom" on those wonderful arms of hers....nom,nom...yummy. (you know what i mean) xoxo we are finally getting leaves up here...daffodils too. xoxo
QUE SERIA QUEDO LA NENA..
TUS FOTOS SIEMPRE PRECIOSAS.
Y EL GATO!!!!!
MW GUSTARIA QUE PASARAS UN DIA POR MI BLOG.??????
SALUDITOS
She is too cute. And when I think you can't get any cooler you mention watching Psych.
those cheeks and those arms in that little sleeveless onesie are slaying me. the best chubalub ever. she is the sweetest thing. xo.
Love the pics of Her Royal Fatness. The chub is so cute I can hardly stand it.
Lovely pictures!
i wonder what goes through amelia's mind when you are photographing her...especially 'darling 1'. sooo cute. there should be a dummies book for bees. oh wait! there is! it's called "windows for dummies". :-)
I saw there was a new post this morning, and I saved it for when I'd taken the kids to school and just read it over my breakfast :-D Beautiful pictures! That baby just gets cuter by the day. I must get that bowl food book, I love the whole concept of bowl food! Yum.