Just wanted to share this gift packaging epiphany that has been blowing up all over the blogesphere this holiday season: paper + tape. I nixed the gift wrap this Chanukah in leu of some butcher paper (always on hand for painting and crafting anyways) and some Happy Tape. Voila! Minimalist, modern, and still fun! :)
Okay, I know I've mentioned these before - but they're insanely delicious enough to share properly!! Head directly over to Smitten Kitchen for the detailed recipe and enjoy these latkes of the garden variety!!
Also, don't forget about these intensely satisfying Root Latkes, and these party-perfect Vodka Latkes!!
Happy Holiday Fressing!! :)
This little family has instituted a new activity as part of our weekly routine: on Tuesday evenings before dinner, the 3 of us take a walk at dusk to the Los Angeles Fairfax Branch Public Library to take out 2 books for the week. We started the first week we moved here. Well, to be quite honest, Manasseh started the tradition. As I was cooking dinner one Tuesday, he said he is taking Freida out for a walk (mind you, she was in flour-covered leggings and fuzzy bear houseslippers) - and came home 45 minutes lady with a bright faced little girl carrying her very own library card! Her excitement over the whole event (application form, her name - in bold, black letters - on the card, and the 2 new books she excitedly shared at the dinner table) was insanely adorable! Since then we've been taking these lovely walks each Tuesday once dinner is in the oven, and it's quickly become one of my favorite times of the week. This week we've been reading a charmingly illustrated Chanukah title: Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah.
I thought the author and illustrator did a lovely job at conveying the actual message of the Chanukah miracle in it's time.
It's humorous and heartwarming, and definitely depicts the images I would have liked to relate to Freida...
I won't lie, her favorite parts are the quirky illustrations :)
Check it out if you're looking for a new Chanukah book - we've really been enjoying it!!
Looking for something fun and useful to gift a special friend this Chanukah? My Brooklyn Slate Co. cheese board just arrived last week (thank you Fab.com!!), and can't wait to put it to some party-hard use!! I couldn't even resist trying it out right after opening, and whipped out some soft cheese from the fridge to experiment the chalk use on the well-oiled slate. The effect was positively lovely, and it even brought about some Camembert taste-testing from my cheese-loving 3 year old!
Check out the Brooklyn Slate Co. lookbook for serious slate inspiration. Their boards lend just the right amount of rustic warmth to liven up any festivities via cheese, fruit, or anything at all! Perfect addition to a Chanukah latke layout - nothing like some specialty cheeses to really get the party started!
P.S. It's still available on Fab from $16 - $20!! Check it here.
Now I just need some of this to care for it, and one of these to really have fun with it. :)
Last Sunday we celebrated Freida, and her arrival at the big 3. There are so many things to be grateful for when a child reaches a new age, a new year... but the most important thing to celebrate is the child themselves. I can't even begin to describe the magnitude of joy that having Freida in my life has brought about for me. When we named her Freida (yiddish for joy), I did so with my great-grandmother (her namesake) in mind - there was nothing quite as joyful to me as the memory of the intense joy that older women portrayed when I met her as a young girl. She twirled me in circles singing Hava Nagillah with the brightest of smiles lighting up her warm and wrinkled face. I so wanted joy like hers in my old age as well, and so I named my firstborn daughter with what I hoped would be a guarantee for giggles, good nature, and great big smiles. This little 3-year-old blessing has in fact brought such intense happiness to every moment of my life - and while days surely go by when I take this for granted, her very special day of birth serves as a concrete reminder as to how much appreciation I truly have for the gift of birth, life, and for the special little birthday girl herself!
Naturally, having my mother in town to celebrate her with was the icing on the cake. I just kept thinking of the day after Freida was born - Shabbos morning - sleeping in my hospital bed, cuddled up with my sweet sleeping newborn, and opening my eyes to see my mother sitting there on the chair just watching us sleep... There really is nothing even close to the bond of a mother-daughter relationship, and I feel so blessed to be so close to my own mom, and even more grateful to be given the gift of a daughter!
We gathered the gang of family and cousins together for a little afternoon backyard princess-gone-medieval party :)
Freida took the "no bouncing without a costume" rule very, very seriously. To get into that bouncy house you must don some dress-up garment or accessory. No two ways about it.
Happiest Birthday wishes, little lady!! I can't believe I've only known you for 3 short years - and yet can't believe you are 3 years old!! Looking forward to sharing many more bright moments through your sweet blue eyes in the year to come! Happy Birthday!
