Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Birthday Boy

Let summer begin as we have just completed our first long weekend of the year.  Victoria Day weekend, also affectionately called May 24, is upon us and what many consider the official start of summer.   Thankfully the weather peeps graced us with amazing weather the whole weekend.

Last year we celebrated the May 24 weekend for a whole different reason, when our little guy was born.  This year it was an awesome weekend to celebrate his first birthday!

This being such a special occasion I wanted to make sure that we celebrated it properly.  No I didn't hire a clown or have a petting zoo, or invite 100 kids to the event.  But I did get balloons and decorations and a cake and invited all the close family members who we thought would want to join in the celebration.

 Here are my steps to planning a birthday bash ...

Step 1: Invitations

We of course started with the invitations.  A quick Google search quickly made me realize that just an ordinary birthday invite would not be good enough for my little man.I needed something that was going to show off my cute little boy.   This brought me to Costco's photo centre website.  While they didn't have any great birthday invite cards, I was able to transform one of their templates to suit my needs.

They turned out amazing and were actually ready in only a couple of hours.  Cost for the 25 flat cards was $11.99 and well worth it.

We quickly sent out the invitations and then waited to hear from people.  And waited ... and waited ... and waited.  Hello people you are suppose to call and tell people if you are attending or not. (sorry rant over)









Step 2: It's All About the Food

Simple and easy is the name of the game when it comes to food at a birthday party (or well any party really).  Even though it is going to be a beautiful May afternoon I have decided that my slow cooker will take the lead for this event instead of my BBQ.
Now the recipe needs to be just as simple and of course uber yummy.  I also want to make something that was paleo, but not something that would make people notice that they are eating paleo.

This lead me to a fantastic recipe I had tried out back in January of Crockpot TexMex Carnitas from Life as a Plate blog.  You can get the recipe here.

In the past (aka pre-working mama days)  I would have made all the guacamole and salsa to go with this item, but now I don't have time for that.  Thankfully there is once again Costco to help me with this.






Step 3: Decorations

Decorating for a party has never really been a big deal for me.  Usually I clean the house and use the food and the decorations.  Somehow I don't think this will work for a baby birthday party.  Again after a search on Google I found that the best places to buy party decorations are at party stores.

There are two main ones in my area, Party City and Amazing Party Store.  After many many hours of looking at the online inventory, Amazing Party Store was the winner of the where will I shop contest.  It really helps that this store is only a 3 minute drive from my house as well.

It is amazing how quickly the cost for decorations adds up.  Plus you can't have a first birthday party without having lots of helium balloons.  Those have to be pre-ordered to make sure that they can do them on the big day.  Also I learned through research that not all helium balloon suppliers are equal.  Some balloons last for days others may only last for hours.





Step 4: Relax and Enjoy the Party

I think this one is pretty self explanatory.  Spend all day running around if you must but when the first guest arrive that is when everything is done (finished or not) and you relax and enjoy the party.  Hopefully you get lucky and the guest of honour is in a good mood.




The Dentist

I have great teeth.  Just one of those things that I was born with.  They are straight without ever needing braces and they have somehow managed to never get a cavity.  Yet even with these great teeth I still hate going to the dentist.

Its not the actual sitting in the dentist chair while they work away at cleaning my teeth that bothers me.  Although really, I can't see how anyone can enjoy lying there with their mouth wide open while someone scraps and pokes and sucks water out of your mouth.  

What I hate about going to the dentist is how they treat you like you don't know how to brush your teeth.  Or how they feel the need to tell you that you should be flossing 10 times a day and then scold you when you admit that you don't floss at all.



Yes, I admit it, I am not a flosser!  But with never having gotten a cavity I am not sure I see the need to floss.


The other thing I absolutely hate is how they new decide to measure your gums and prick them with something sharp to see if they will bleed.  Hello news flash ... I am human, if you prick me with something some of my blood is going to seep out.

My dentist tries to get me into their office every six months.  Which is an improvement on the last dentist that I went to who tried for every 3-4 months.  No way I want to go sit in that chair every six months.  I manage to do every nine months, which is still more frequently that is probably necessary.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Fisher Price Disappointment

Little man got some awesome gifts for his birthday.  He loves all of the toys he receives and actively plays with everyone of them (and not just the box they were in).

One of the awesome toys he received was the Fisher Price Little People Discovering Animals Farm.  He loves this little set and has already spent a lot of time pushing the tractor around putting the animals in his mouth.

After taking a closer look at the box, we realized that there were suppose to be 2 fences included in the set that weren't.  Not wanting to go through the hassle of returning a product that R loves and has already played with a lot we decided to email Fisher Price and ask for them to send us the fences that should have been included.

The box that the toy was packaged in that clearly shows fences.


What is Fisher Prices response ... we don't do  do the fences any more too bad for you.  Oh but if you want you can buy other accessories at our website.

Fisher Price you get a great big


FAIL

Not only have you failed to provide the product that you advertise on the box but you also failed to have any reasonable customer service to deal with your false advertisement.  Shame on you.

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The secret ingredient

Besides using the freshest ingredients available there is one other thing I have noticed about all of my meals here in Provence.  A fanatastic ingredient that the French are not afraid to use and don't skimp on is the fat.

Whether it be the morning crossiant that must each contain a pound of butter to make them taste so yummy or the dips like aioli that is based with oil.  The other evening we had dinner at Leopold's in Aix en Provence, where I ordered the duck confit.  Confit is essentially the slow cooking of the duck in its own fat.   There was even a nice tasty drizzle of this fat on my plate that I happily sopped up.



Then there are the desserts.  This evening when we were out for a stroll we stopped in at Béchard, one of the top pastry shops in Aix (or so I have read). The smell in the shop alone is enough to make your mouth water and want to order one of everything.  I settled on a mini Tarte Tropézienne.  From the first nibble of cream you could tell that there were no low fat ingredients used in making this pastry. The cream was wonderful and the puff pastry part again must have had a pound of the best butter. 



After eating all these yummy full fat foods for a month it has done a number on my waist line. I wish I could figure out the French secret of how they eat all these yummy foods and still stay slim.

Our final day 😞

Well it has been a month in Provence and our final day has arrived. It has been an incredible month and we have done a lot. I however an not ready to leave as there is just so much more I would love to do.

Spring has arrived in Provence and the flowers are in full bloom. The plane trees on the Cours Mirabeau were bare when we arrived and now they are green as can be.

The weather has not been very cooperative today and the Saturday market I was looking forward to all week was a bust. We walked by around 9am to go get breakfast and it looked like the stalls were all setting up. By 10 o'clock most the stalls were closing up and going home 😞. This probably isn't a bad thing since we really don't have anymore room in our luggage.

Le Mille Feuille

We were so lucky that we had lots of friends and family decide to vacation in Provence with us for our first couple weeks there.  On our first week there A&E were staying at the apartment with us and offered us a night out.

J and I headed to Le Mille Feuille, a restaurant recommended to us by Rebecca whom we had booked a private tour of the markets with (awesome and deserves its own post).

It was a rainy Wednesday evening, so the restaurant wasn't very full but that just meant that the staff were able to give us extra attention.

We both went with the full menu that included an entree + plat + dessert for 41 euro.

J had the beef carpaccio as a starter and I had the Caillette des alpes rotie.  I could never really explain in true detail what all went into either of these dishes so it is just easier to share the photos.


Carpaccio de Fumeton de la vallée de l'Ubaye et premières courgettes, croustillant chard au gorgonzola



Caillette des alpes rôtie au four et son oeuvre de poule poché en sauce meurette



For the mains I had the fish and J had the perfectly cooked lamb chops.  You might start to notice that we eat a lot of lamb while we are in France.


Filet de loup sauvage cuit á la plainchant côté peanut, risotto crémeux, tombée d'épinards et sa sauce blurred blanc à la vanille



Carré d'agneau de Sisteron rôti, légumes du moment au sautoir, pomes de terre sautées, et vrais jus



The desserts are just as fantastic as the rest of the meal.  J with the chocolate and me with a Paris Brest. I have no idea what mine was, but it was delish!


Moelleux au chocolat chard 70%, glacé chocolat piment d'Espelette



Paris Brest à la noisette du piémont, feuillantine croquante praliné, chant illy et crème anglaise



We finished the night off with an evening walk along the Cours Maribeau.  It was surprising just how quiet the streets were in the evening.  Very different from when we were in Rome and there were always people milling about on the street.





Wine Tour

After three full weeks in Provence we decided that we better hit a winery or two. We picked two that were close to Aix en Provence and headed out.

The first was Chateau Simone.   Located just 5 minute drive outside of Aix it was the perfect choice. Situated up on a hill the drive in was beautiful. What was even more beautiful was the winery itself. The winery has been around for about three hundred years started by monks in the 1600's.   There is a small castle on the grounds where the family that has owned the vineyard since the 1830's lives.
Our host also the owner (whose name we failed to get) was a wonderful guide.  He did an excellent job explaining how the winery works (everything done by hand) and provided us with a small tour of the caves.   This is wine that is made to age for 10 to 15 years.  We purchased a bottle to bring home with us and will know in 10 years time to if the wine is any good or not.


The caves at Chateau Simone

The second winery we visited was Chateau La Coste.  A very modern winery, where you can tour the grounds and see modern sculptures.  We skipped the tour of the grounds and headed straight to the cafe for a glass of their rosé. To end our outing we hit the wine shop and bought our bottle of red to go with the beautiful lamb chops waiting for us at home.




Oh the Food in France

After narrowing down are search of anywhere in the world to go we settled on Provence.  Then came the even harder decision of where in Provence to make our home base.  Aix en Provence was the winner once I read that there is a market everyday. I have further come to learn that some days there are multiple markets.  Oh my I am in heaven!

Our first full day here we left our apartment and picked the right street because we ended up at the big market that is only held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday's.  I had never seen such an abundance of beautiful fresh food.  I couldn't believe that we could walk 5 minutes for our apartment and be at the most beautiful food shopping place.

Since that first day it has been part of the joy of Provence to wake up in the morning and figure out what we are going to eat that day and off to the market to purchase the ingredients for the day.

We knew from the start that we would be limited on the amount that we could go out for dinner with little R, especially since restaurants don't open until at least 7.  But it turns out that I have very little desire to eat out. The meals we make at home have been amazing.

Last nights dinner was whole trout with fingerling potatoes, zucchini and salad.  All ingredients purchased that day and I am pretty sure the fish was swimming in the sea a few hours before we purchased it.   Tonight it will be beautiful lamb chops with fresh in season asparagus, potatoes and salad.  Dessert will be macaroons and fresh local strawberries. Mmmmm


Lamb chops fresh from the butcher



Dinner is served


I just don't understand how we can not have such beautiful tasty fresh ingredients in Toronto.  Even when you go to the markets in and around Toronto the food just doesn't compare.   Hopefully the current food movement of eating local and fresh food will help to bring more real farmers into our markets.

The Markets in Provence

We have been home for a month now from France (wow I can't believe it has been a month already).  Lots of people have been interested in hearing all about the trip and what we did and what we ate while we were away.  These are all details that I of course love telling about over and over again.


Retelling my travel stories also reminds me constantly about not only how great the entire trip was but how great shopping at the markets everyday was.  This is probably what I miss most about France (well that and not having to go to work).

Aix-en-Provence where we were staying is a town that has at least one market everyday.  Many days a week there are multiple markets most specializing in different things all located within a few minute walk of each other.

There is the daily market that occurs as the name suggest daily even on holidays like Easter.  This is a fruits & veggie market where you can also get your bread, meats, cheeses and fish.

There is the "big market" as I affectionately termed it.  You can get many of the same items here and you get at the daily market but there are more vendors and there is also a small flea market section.  On Saturday's this market is huge with the flea market section extending down through the streets.




The flower market changes location based on the day of the week.  On days where there is no "big market" the flower market is located in that spot.  When the big market is on the flower market moves to Hotel de'Ville (town hall).


Tuesday and Thursday's there is also a big flea market that goes down the main strip on Cours Maribeau.  Here you will see many of the same vendors that are winding the streets on the big Saturday market.







Our mornings were planned around what day of the week it was and which markets were happening.  We often had to visit every market that was on each day just to make sure that I had my fill of markets.












I loved thinking about what we are going to eat that day and then going to the market and purchasing all my ingredients for that meal.  There was no point in buying a lot of one ingredient either because you would be back the next day for more. 

The asparagus and strawberries came into season while we were there.  So delicious, especially since it had been so long since we had had fresh local in season fruits or veggies of any type.











Not only was our time in Aix planned around what markets to visit.  We also planned our day trips based on which days were market days.  This took a small amount of planning, given that many places had markets on the same day of the week.  But thankfully, very few towns had only one market day so we were able to make it to every town on a market day.




The Killers Concert

A while back we won tickets to go the J's favorite band The Killers.  The concert ended up being rescheduled and of course fell in the middle of our first week back at work.  This did not stop us of course and even though we were exhausted from going back to work, we put the baby to bed and headed out to the concert!

I need to start by saying that OMG cabs in Toronto are expensive.  Just to get into a cab cost $4.25 now.  A 15 minute drive ended up costing us almost $40 to get to the concert (although it did save us an hour on the ttc).

Thankfully, not only were the tickets free, they were also actually in one of the executive boxes.  Bring on the FREE food and drinks!

The concert was held at the Air Canada Centre and I had high hopes for the food in the boxes.  Surely these corporations pay big bucks for these boxes they must be serving food that is better then what is available at the concession stands.

Boy was I wrong.  To start with there were crappy hot dogs and chicken fingers.  Both looked as though they had been sitting there for a while.  Then they brought in some pizza from pizza pizza (blah).  The highlight of the food was the yummy popcorn and the haagen dazs ice cream bar.

Service was great and she made sure that J's beer glass and my wine glass were never empty.  Turns out I drank a whole bottle of red wine during the show (eeeek).

The concert was amazing.  The band had a ton of energy and just kept belting out hit after hit.  I didn't realize how many of their songs that I actually knew.  The band actually started with their first song with the lights on in the arena so that you could see everything.

Sadly I was not smart enough to bring a real camera with me and was only able to take crappy photos on my iPhone.  Note to everyone, an iPhone is not a replacement for a camera, they take horrible pictures (especially in the dark from a distance).

Overall it was a great night out and worth being a little tired the next day at work.

And don't worry we didn't leave the little man by himself while we went to a rock concert.  Our awesome neighbours were looking after him.

Bringing Up Bebe

When I returned home from France I had 3 different people talk to me about the book "Brining up Bebe" and so I had to get my hands on a copy and see what this book is all about.

Essentially the essence of this book is about an American who is living in Paris raising 3 children that were all born there.

After a horrible dining out experience the author realizes that French babies in the restaurants are all behaving.  This lead the author on a mission to find out why French babies are better behaved.

The book covers topics such as almost all French babies sleeping through the night by 4 months, eating habits, and parenting style and focus.

I find the book to be enjoyable to read and don't see it as a parenting book, but more as one woman's observations.  A lot of what she writes about is usually something that I think would be worth thinking about.  Here are a few of my thoughts on her three main points in the book.


Sleeping through the Night

The author describes how French women don't rush right to their babies side when they start to cry.  They wait for a minute or two to try and decipher why the baby is crying and what needs to be done.  Something the author terms "La Pause".  Because of La Pause, babies are given a few moments to try and resettle themselves when they wake in the middle of the night.  This then teaches the baby to transition between sleep cycles.

I have been very very lucky to have a baby who loves to sleep.  Little R first slept through the night around 3 months.  I learned that when we was waking in the night he wasn't hungry because he would fall back asleep whilst eating.  This lead me to allow him to cry for a few moments before going in and volia! I had a baby who was sleeping through the night. ..

Of course that only lasted for a couple weeks, because then I had a baby who was teething, and then I had a baby who was going through separation anxiety.  It was around 7 months when R was consistently sleeping through the night.

Eating Habits

The author claims that the solution to having babies eat everything is to just keep offering them foods over and over again until they like it.  Really a very simple concept.

While I do agree that this practice probably does work, the reality is slightly different.  Sure I feed R the same food over and over, but I also have to make sure that my skinny little guy eats.  When we returned home from France, R would only eat fruit.  We offered him lots of other food, but he would just throw it on the floor.  As a desperate parent who wanted to make sure that my baby ate, I would then offer him fruit or rice cereal.  After all I didn't want my baby waking up hungry in the middle of the night!

 Parenting Style and Focus

This section was probably one of the biggest differences in the book between what the French parents are doing versus the American parents according to the author.  The American parent is the helicopter parent who is always there protecting and/or cheering on their child.  The French parent is more relaxed and has no problem dropping their child off at an activity and not needing to sit through the whole thing and encourage their child.

Already with day care we have seen a "helicopter parent" and are finding that this isn't good for their child or mine.  This child is also new to day care and tends to spend a lot of the day crying and wanting to be held by the staff.  Meaning that this child is monopolizing the staffs time and leaving them with one less hand to take care of all the other babies.  It all makes sense ones you learn that the child is co-sleeping with his parents and still breastfeeding multiple times a day, even though he spends all day at day care.






Monday, May 13, 2013

Baby Travel Gear

Before we started our travels I wanted to make sure I had the best travel gear for my little man. Here are a few essential travel baby items and my thought on how they performed.

1. Diono Radian Car Seat



Before our drive down to Florida it was time to move little R up to a convertible car seat. My original plan was to purchase a Britax. However then I learned about the diono radian car seat.

This car seat is FAA approved so that R could use it on the airplane. Also an incredible feature is that it folds flat and can be carried on your back through the airport.

The one downside is that it weighs a ton at 26 lbs. But that is due to the steel frame which I like to believe makes R safer in his seat (don't think that has been proven yet though).

The reviews online were all positive with the biggest complaint being installation issues. J however installed it in our car in less then 5 mins. He has now become an installation pro and installed it in 2 cans, an airplane seat and our rental car all without any problems.


5 Stars


We own an uppababy vista stroller which I love but it is just to big to travel with. This lead me after a great amount of research to their travel stroller the g-luxe.

Weight was a big deal for me.  The G-Luxe is the lightest weight travel stroller coming in at 11 lbs. (I have been told there have been changes to the 2013 model and it now weighs 13 lbs). 

The stroller also reclines and has a great big sun shade to help on those really sunny days.  The seat cushion also comes off and can be washed, which after the last few months is something that we really need to do to our stroller.  Also the basket underneath is a big deal, much larger then some of the other travel strollers on the market.

As a travel stroller it worked great.  You can't buy this smaller/cheaper stroller and expect it to be as good as the full size, expensive stroller.  But for the size and the price I would buy it again.  My only complaint is that the darn thing is squeaking.  Also when the seat is reclined it is hard to get anything in or out of the basket withput distrubing a sleeping baby.

4.5 Stars


Note: These are my opinions after using both products which I purchased myself for my personal use.




5 Things to Do on Last Week of Maternity Leave

We have been back for two weeks now and life has gotten really busy.

Little R has started day care transition. This means that we get to drive downtown everyday and spend more and more time at daycare. Last week I stayed the whole time. This week I leave him for little bouts.

Well little R and I are downtown, J is building us a new deck. More to come on that later!

I have decided to make the most of my last week on leave and so have a little to do list for myself.

Here are 5 things to do on my last week of maternity leave:

1. Get a pedicure



2. Do lunch with a friend



3. Go shopping



4. Get a massage



5. Get a haircut



Well I could have a much longer more boring list of other things that I really should be doing. But really who wants to clean their house or go grocery shopping. Plus I have to be downtown all day anyway so I might as well make the most of it!

Update:  I am happy to report that I was able to accomplish all 5 items on my to do list and they made me feel great!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cooking at home

While most the meals that we ate in restaurants were fantastic (a few flops too), the food we cooked ourselves were pretty amazing.  The markets are so amazing that I had a great time getting up in the morning with the anticipation of going out and buying that days ingredients and cooking up a storm in the evening.  Having a baby with a bed time of 7 pm in a place where restaurants don't start serving until 7 pm can seem likeable bummer, but not when you love to cook.  And it was even better when we got to enjoy our home cooking with those we love!

Here are a few tasty meals to get you drooling ...

Roast chicken with parma ham wrapped asparagus accompanied with a light green salad topped with blue cheese and tomatoes also a small antipasto platter




A large duraude fish




St. Tropez cake with a little pink bubbly for dessert




Tasty Parma ham sandwich with some nibbles on the side


Beef tenderloin wrapped in fat, with roasted fingerling potatoes and fresh in season asparagus




Lamb chops


Paleo Meatloaf

We are building a new deck on our house and our awesome family came to help.  This meant that I was able to spend lots of time cooking in the kitchen and was able to create not one but two awesome meals.  The first meal I made is Paleo Meatloaf.

Paleo Meatloaf


Now even before we started eating paleo I never bothered adding breadcrumbs to my meatloaf, burgers or meatballs.  I just never saw the point of adding a filler.  So that meant there weren't really any adjustments that I needed to make to my meatloaf to make it Paleo.

I have also already learned from my previous post that it is important to take photos throughout the cooking process so I have many more photos to share then just the final plated masterpiece.

Ingredients:
Serves 4

3/4lb ground beef
1/4lb ground pork
1 button mushroom chopped finely
3/4 cup of tomato sauce divided
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese (optional but recommended)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 egg
1 cup cheddar cheese (optional but recommended)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the beef, pork and mushrooms.




Add the Italian seasoning, ricotta cheese, paprika, egg, salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce. Using your hands mix until everything is well blended.



Put into a bread pan. Top with remaining tomato sauce.




Bake for 45 minutes uncovered. Then add the cheddar cheese on top and baked for an additional 15 minutes.

I like to turn the broiler on at the end for a few minutes to give the cheese a nice browning.




Serve with a big green salad on the side.




As I previously mentioned we eat dairy, for those people who don't eat dairy you can easily omit the cheese from the recipe.