Apple Cider Donuts

Freida and I made a little impromptu pit-stop at BabycakesNYC last week, and I indulged myself (and all my senses!) with an Apple Cider Donut. My mind was blown. When I got home I googled the goodie, and apparently these little meltable morsels are all the rage right now! Thought I'd share some of the fall donut love before the deep-fried festivities begin!

Here's the recipe from StyleMePretty.com:

Ingredients

• FOR THE DONUTS:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp apple pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup apple cider
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
• FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions

1. FOR THE DONUTS:
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, apple pie spice & salt.
4. Stir in cider, milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.
5. Beat together until combined.
6. In a lightly greased donut pan, fill each cup 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the donuts spring back when touched.
8. Cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove from pan.
9. FOR THE TOPPING:
10. Meanwhile, mix together sugars and cinnamon until combined.
11. Brush each warm donut with butter and toss in cinnamon sugar mixture.
12. Enjoy while still warm!

If you need a good kick in the pants to get to making some of these fried sweet clouds of heaven, read this Washington Post article. And if you want more of a rustic version...

Homemade Apple Cider Donuts with Buttermilk (you can make buttermilk at home!)

If you want a side of humorous reading with your recipe.

And of course there are heaps of recipes on Pinterest. You can even go Paleo with these babies!!

It's the perfect way to capitalize on this years mash-up of fall and fried! Enjoy!!!

So, How Was Your Day?

Vacationing in a different city always leaves me pondering my daily productivity. Not like how many tasks I crossed of my "to do" list, but more about how many quality activities I've gotten around to doing. While traveling, the common focus is usually about squeezing in as many activities as possible (...if we're on the beach by 10am we could do lunch nearby at that hot new cafe, and check out the street art exhibit in the afternoon, stop for ice cream, visit our cousins, be by sheva brachot for dinner, make it home on time to put the kids to sleep and still have a late-night swim and some fun in bed...!), and I'm often left wondering why I don't push myself to do even close to that much on a regular day in my regular life!

I'm lucky enough to live somewhere I absolutely love (every time I return home from traveling I realize just how much I love LA!), and I feel like I don't take nearly as much advantage as I should! For instance, Runyon Canyon (gasp below!) is practically in my backyard, and I really don't go often enough. It takes me about 7 minutes to get there and always makes me feel brighter, more alive, and much much happier. If we were tourists vacationing here, I'd probably try and knock out an early morning hike each day! Not to mention the weather - how often do we actually hit up the ocean? Sure, in the summertime we go every weekend, but all spring long the beach trips are next-to-none...

While I was making a plan to figure out how I can accomplish more quality time on a regular day-to-day, I happened upon a site this week that inspired me even more - So, How Was Your Day? is the most simple journal-like content filled website that interviews a slew of random men and women about their day-to-day life, routines, food, and habits. It's almost pathetic, reading these strangers journal-like logs on life, but on the other hand before I'm finished with an entry I realize I've learnt something new about how to be more effective, more efficient.  Plus, it's weirdly entertaining to find that people in similar lines of work develop similar routine habits, and I love reading about all these different business women and how they seem to juggle their lives...

I'm going to try and revert my journal entries to 8th grade-esque, and log my mundane daily doings, for a little while anyway, and see if it helps me fit in more than usual. Starting with this weekend! :)

Have a happy long one!

The Best Moms Know the Heimlich

You know how at times we're all in awe of that mom that cooly click-clacks in her heels across the toy spillage on the living room floor on her way out the door for a date night, while blowing a freshly-lipsticked kiss to her neatly pajama-ed little boy? Well, that's about how I feel when I see a mom in total control during crisis. It always freaks me out that as a mom my job is to take care of my children, and I'm always worrying about what would happen in the case of an emergency where I don't know what to do and am completely out of control. Take choking for example, I know what I'm supposed to do, I'm just not sure I know how to do it properly. And so I wind up worrying about it in a really unproductive way...

During our previous Babyccino series ("Neighborhood and Community Helpers"), when we were chatting on "Doctor" week, some of the ladies requested a CPR course for moms - specifically geared toward infant and child CPR. And there it was. The simple solution to all the worrying. A proactive way to nix the nagging anxiety about childhood emergencies. One of the women (thanks so much Chani G!!!) took this by the horns, and worked on finding the best CPR trainers, locking down the dates, and organizing the program. We held the first one 2 weeks ago, and while I thought my mommy-brain attention spam might just not make it through a 90 minute lecture, the whole thing was entirely entertaining! The trainer was funny and engaging, and the course was very much hands-on (the dummies, that is). There is another one being held here in LA tonight, and I thought I'd let you all in on it since there are still a few open spaces.

Come join us tonight for a literally life-saving 2 hours! And enjoy some donut holes and hot chocolate to boot! :)

RSVP to babyccino@shaareitefila.org.

P.S. Feel free to RSVP for a babysitter, nanny, or grandmother - this course is easy, cheap, and saves lives!!

Rock & Scissors

It recently dawned on me one day that I hadn't gotten Freida a proper haircut in a very long time. During the summertime I loved being able to whip it up away from her sweaty little face and stick it in a bun on top of her head, or a swinging side pony. And by the time summer was over, I was finally having fun working her hair into a french braid or twisted-bun pigtails. In any case, I looked at her one day and realized she needed a haircut. Badly. And so we took to the pavement on Friday afternoon and walked down our street to Manasseh's barbershop of choice: Floyd's.

This place is original rock and roll. And I mean serious rock and roll. This biker chick with tie-dyed hair walks up to Freida and introduces herself as her stylist. Freida doesn't even flinch; she smiles, introduces herself, and jumps up in the barber chair. I'm eavesdropping on their beauty-parlor conversation, and I can't help chortle a little laugh when I hear Freida brag about being 3 years old. I don't know why, but I love when little kids forget their recent birthdays! Mostly since they are so obsessed with their age ("3 and 3 quarters") and who's older than who etc. that I get such a kick out of watching her puff up her chest at the mention of 3, forgetting she just celebrated her 4th birthday. :)

Anyways! More about the haircut? A while ago I was sent a link to a new European company featuring hispter opticals for kids, and while the glasses were insanely awesome, my eyes went immediately to the hairstyles! They were so fresh, real, and natural, and all I thought about was my mother brushing out my hair while I kvetched and cried, and then placing a plastic toothy baret clip on one side of my no-longer-unruly head. For some reason that memory stirred wonderful childhood feelings, and I found myself longing to cut Freida's hair to something similar to how I wore my hair as a little girl. And these folks did a great job at cutting it exactly how I wanted it. With a little rocker edge, to boot.

Seriously, how cute is this ad campaign for Very French Gangsters optics??

Freida was quite the trooper, and sat through this haircut beautifully.

Even amusing herself for a while by making faces in the mirror.

She did so well, they even gave her the complete treatment - whipping out the vintage massagers! (Now I know why my husband won't go anywhere else.)

She got a little pre-Shabbos treat for doing such a good job, and we headed home. Now, I'm in search of some wonderfully retro clips and baretts!! Which, was the entire point of this post. Hit me up if you know where I can snag some of those snagging hair accessories!! :)

And next time you need a haircut, check out Floyd's - the place rocks!!

Perfect Puzzles

A few years ago I posted here about Kid O puzzles, the most aesthetically awesome and most practical puzzles on earth. But when Freida was actually ready for them, they seemed to be discontinued and I couldn't find them anywhere! On my latest trip to Scottsdale I scored the "fractions" puzzle for $3 in my favorite kids consignment shop "KID to KID" (seriously, I think about driving to Arizona just to shop there!!), and Freida is now totally hooked on fractions!

Seeing how well-made and kid-loved this puzzle is got me searching once more for the rest of the original Kid O puzzle family  (on the Kid O website there are plenty of puzzles, but none even come close to the greatness of their originals!). And so, after a wild web hunt, I managed to track down most of their versions somewhere online. Here they are, grab 'em while you can:

Narrow to Wide Puzzle, Short to Tall Puzzle, Fractions Puzzle, Shades Puzzle. Enjoy!

She sure does!! :)