Well it looks like I’ve only posted twice in the past year?!? I’ve actually been cooking A LOT, but have gotten out of the habit of taking photos and writing down the recipes. I will work on that(!), but in the spirit of not overthinking things, I thought I’d start back in by sharing a few photos and updates with you all. Things are going about the same for me, still working, mostly from home, at my music admin job and that’s going well. Andrew is finishing his DMA and he also started teaching ear training at a local music college this fall. Olive started going to “school” as well this fall, and she loves it! She comes home practicing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” which is pretty cute. Other than work and school, we’re still sticking with outdoor activities and have been spending lots of time at the Arboretum. On a recent visit, I captured photos of winter berries in an array of colors–beautiful!
We’ve been lucky enough to have warmish weather for jogging, and I’m determined to bundle up and continue to exercise outdoors through the winter. Eek. Not content just to be pushed in her stroller anymore, Olive now requests to “alk,” so we take some breaks for that. 🙂
We’ve been to practically zero restaurants in the past year and a half, but we did have a nice outdoor brunch at Saltie Girl during a recent family visit. My gorgeous cioppino:
What else? We’re getting ready for a small Thanksgiving with family and are excited for the return of this cornbread, sausage, and pecan stuffing and these Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts. We’ve been watching the new season of Padma Lakshmi’s show Taste the Nation and I would really recommend the Thanksgiving episode, which features members of the Wampanoag Nation and reveals some of the cultural background and fraught history that puts the holiday, and the food, in a different context. Living in New England especially, it was interesting to learn about the Native American roots of typical regional foods like clam chowder, and how these dishes have been around for thousands of years. This is definitely an area in which I’d like to keep learning.
With Thanksgiving this close on the horizon, we’ve also been getting ready for the rest of the holiday season, with plans for homemade latkes and Christmas baking in the works, and Christmas shopping already underway (Olive is getting, among other things, a kitchen step stool and safety knives so she can help me cook, and I’m VERY excited about it). I hope you all are doing well and staying healthy. I really hope to be back soon with some more recipes!
