Weekend Round-up!

Happy June weekend, ladies!! I'm feeling the season all around, and love getting gifts of weekly seasonal fresh flowers (thanks love!!). Gladiolus like these would make for a lovely buffet table arrangement by adding height and color to the food layout, don't you think? I'm sure you are all in a recipe/tablescape buzz right about now, getting ready to ring in the summer holiday via dairy deliciousness! Thought I'd take a minute to link some of my favorite things around the web this week...

- The most adorable kids craft/play idea for Shavuot!

- I need to remember this more often...

- My latest article for the Algemeiner: Born this Way?

- New on the Market: modern House Numbers @ Heath.

- Simple + Charming + Convenient DIY for Father's Day gift.

- HOTmilk Maternity/Nursing Bras ridiculously reduced at Zulily!

Some holiday-relative posts you may have missed:

- Cultivate social conversation at the table via big buds/low florals.

- Idyllic Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Also, for those of you who asked for a white cream sauce recipe when I posted this pasta dish, the most important part of any cream sauce is a good Roux for the Béchamel (white cream sauce). I learned this technique within the first few months of marriage (while watching much-too-much Food Network!), and it has come in so incredibly handy so far, and I've used it countless times since then. Here's the best step-by-step directions! I personally use that starter recipe + a cup of grated parmesan cheese and some crushed garlic cloves. From there you can add to what you'd like it to be (mushroom cream sauce, white wine reduction, salmon, pink sauce, florentine etc.) Enjoy!!

In the Garden

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know the tone of yearning in my writing when I dream about owning a home with a yard and a fruitful garden... Well, the next best thing is having a friend who has one! Freida has been immensely enjoying the benefits of the Berkowitz's (remember Zalmy?) backyard and garden these past few months. We head over there every week on Wednesday morning (the day her garden-savvy dad comes out from Huntington Beach to tend the earth and plant and reap) and hang out in the shady haven. She digs and rakes, and scouts for worms in the dirt, munching on garden bounty straight from their vines as she plays. Her garden-guru, Zevi, teaches her how to identify and uproot weeds, keeping the vibrant garden plot clean and cared for. :)

I'm such a strong believer in the importance of teaching children that food comes from a much more valuable place than the market! Watching the fascination on Freida's face when she sees fresh basil (an all-too-familiar kitchen ingredient) growing from the earth (I guess windowsill herb gardens are not nearly cool enough) was completely priceless! She walks around the garden looking at all the tags and asking Zevi which plant is where and which flowers will bloom which vegetables. It's totally adorable, and it makes me so happy to know that she is learning about the earth's resources and also able to begin to understand the concept of making specific "food group" blessings over food.

It's also incredibly peaceful to watch her pick and munch on her own choice of veggies. The sugar snap peas are out of season just now, but for a kid who only ate peas of the frozen variety, she sure consumed her fair share of fresh peas in this garden! Loved knowing all the crunchy consumption was not just fresh garden bounty, but organic, to boot!

It's just so satisfying to know that my ever-curious little person is slowly learning about where food stems from and a bit about how to tend the earth to make it grow there. (Thanks Berkowitz Family!!!!!)

It's a Wrap: the Caterpillar Unit

Finally, after spending the last 2 months crawling through our little bug's life unit, we have graduated. We finished off with an art project that will hang out as a reminder of all the bug-lovin' fun and learning. We did a basic paper plate caterpillar, but when I couldn't find a frame at the thrift store big enough to host those plates, I grabbed a smaller old frame and shaved down the bug's body a bit. Freida helped glue on the legs and antennas (and made sure they got some glitter as well)! :)

The finished product turned out cute enough to be given a permanant home with the rest of our living room decor, and Freida is incredibly proud!

We also reviewed the whole bit via library books and magazines on life cycles...

We're now moving on to a little unit on vegetation, in sync with the whole upcoming Shavuot theme....

Memorial Monday

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your extended Memorial Day weekend! Good luck cleaning up the grill, and getting back into the swing of things starting out the week a day late...

We spent Shabbos up in the mountains at Running Springs with many other fabulous young couples on the Young Chevra Shabbaton, and had the most incredibly outgoing, uplifting, and fantastic time!! The weekend was so inspiring that I'm now compelled to write about it... so you will be hearing more about the amazing weekend getaway soon enough! :)

Anyways, for some reason Memorial Day always makes me feel like it's finally Summer, and with yesterday's weather I was really getting excited! My sister drove up from Arizona with her family, and met up with us at our Long Beach community BBQ at the Hebrew Academy campus. Freida was so over-excited by their impending visit (and intensely overwhelmed from the whole weekend away), that it was the first time in her little life that I let her fully skip her nap! And surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind that much... Granted there was enough excitement (swimming, boon bounce, cousins etc.), but it was good to know that if I ever need to do that again, I can. I always thought she'd be so out-of-whack by 2pm that it wouldn't even be worth the effort of taking her out in the first place, but she was really great and well-behaved...!

And of course she didn't forget her best-buddy cousin Shlomo!! :)

While she fell asleep on the car ride home at 3pm, and I couldn't put her down until a while after her usual bedtime last night, it was still well worth a day out with family!! Maybe our Sunday visits to the beach this Summer won't look that bleak after all.... Always worth a try!

P.S. I am getting a serious kick out of the fact that Freida is wearing the same bikini for the 3rd summer of her life!! I know Freida is tiny, but am I alone in feeling like swimsuits just never fit any smaller??

Paper Beads

Well, we're still laying low today. Freida is still running a mild fever, but thankfully slept through the night peacefully, and seems to be doing much much better. Getting her to eat is apparently going to prove difficult today - she keeps saying "no! don't want to frow up again on the floor!", so we're still taking it slow in the meal department (eg. cups of warm soup. applesauce. yogurt.), but I suppose that means she doesn't truly have an appetite.

Anyways, being home for another morning was nice and peaceful, but since she is on the recovery and not quite as under-the-weather as yesterday, she wanted to actually do something. While playing with the lacing cards and shoestring in her bedroom, she asked me if she can make a necklace... I didn't have any beads on hand, and I wasn't keen on a cheerios-around-the-house mess, so I thought I'd make some paper beads with her. I had seen a tutorial on Mini-Eco (via Creative Jewish Mom) a while ago, and I knew I had all the components on hand, so we got busy!

You basically just need some paper (I used colored card stock, but magazine print works fabulously as well) and glue (I added some glitter; at the point with Freida, sparkle = fun). Just cut isosceles triangles from the paper, wrap it around something like a pen, skewer, or paintbrush, and use some glue to hold it together. Then slide it off, let it dry, and get to lacing!

And while she still wasn't feeling well enough to do much else before lunch, she smiled proudly each time she fingered her glittery beaded jewelry. :)