Cooking Mag Mommy

A few days ago, I blogged about Rylynn's birthday party...in July!  In keeping with the catching up theme, I'm blogging today about Eyrleigh's birthday...in November....in, you guessed it, February.  Oh, well! This past August, our family traveled to Glacier National Park in Montana and during that trip I decided Eyrleigh's party was going to incorporate hiking somehow!  I wanted a party idea that was fun for both boys and girls as many of Eyrleigh's good friends are little boys.  We have been super lucky with great weather for her birthday every year and I was counting on that this year.  One of the county parks near us has a mixed paved and dirt wooded trail system and I knew it would be perfect for a hiking themed party.  I sprang the $100+ to reserve the pavilion to guarantee I had the space to myself and in the event of rain.  I love tinyprints.com and changed out the words in this Thanksgiving dinner invitation to fit what we needed.  link to invitation

 Blogging about your child's birthday party is much like giving wedding gifts.  You have a year to get it done!  Rylynn's birthday is in July and it is only February so I am well within the time frame:) Both of my children's first birthday themes have been based on their nursery theme.  Eyrleigh had butterflies, hence a butterfly birthday.  Rylynn had Peter Rabbit and so I knew that had to be the theme of her first birthday party.  I could not have chosen a better theme for a simple party on the road.  This year we were up at my parent's home in New Hampshire for Rylynn's birthday so I had to have simple decoration and food ideas.  My parents live in a pretty rural area so any party supplies had to be brought with us or purchased from the very limited selection at the small grocery store near them. *While I'm mentioning it, you may notice the pictures for this blog entry are much better than any other post on this blog....there is a reason for that.  My inc

A small sampling of the Super Bowl desserts...complete with napkins I bought on clearance years ago  The problem with posting your ideas for themed Super Bowl desserts after the big game is this...Will these two teams ever play each other again in the Super Bowl so I can duplicate this idea?   Chances are slim but I suppose it's possible.  Last night's game didn't hold a lot of intrigue for me.  I'm a sports fan but two weeks before I was entertained by the possibility that my home team (the New England Patriots) and the team of my home (the Atlanta Falcons) would play tonight.  After the disappointment of neither team making it, I was a bit underwhelmed by the thought of watching two teams I've never had a particular affinity to. Lord Baltimore "Whoopie" pies  My solution?  Have fun with the desserts if you don't care about the game!  My dear friend had invited me to her dad and brother's home theatre store (think t.v. in the restroom ki

Gong Hei Fat Choi!  Happy Chinese New Year!   I've mentioned many times I'm a sucker for themes and nothing brings out themes like international holidays.  Chinese New Year is an easy holiday for anyone to celebrate.  Chinese food (or an Americanized version) is easy to find and many websites suggest fun ways to decorate for the holiday.  I used epicurious.com to find a simple kid-friendly menu and www.activityvillage.co.uk  for some cute Chinese New Year printables.  Eyrleigh and I decorated the table together.  I had some gold place mats and napkins that I tied with red ribbon.  I found some pillar candles and an Asian-style vase to make a centerpiece.  We printed out a lantern to glue together and some lucky money envelopes.  I slid some money in and Eyrleigh could barely wait to open her envelope.  She was so excited! The menu on epicurious was titled "Chinese in a Flash" and it was a super easy take on Chinese that Eyrleigh loved.  The main dish of Hoisin Ch

I've always loved the prospect of a new year with new goals and new challenges. I hear some say that making resolutions just sets one up for failure but I for one love to feel like I can try again. I've even made and stuck to some significant resolutions over the years. After years of resolving the read the whole Bible in a year, I finally did it in 2001 and then again in 2010. Thankfully, major weight loss has never been an issue for me but in 2008 I did my first triathlon, in 2009 I did my first half marathon, and one of these years, when training doesn't involve pushing a jogging stroller, I will do a full marathon. This year, I didn't even think about resolutions until we were a few days into 2012. Rylynn was sick and we were up in New Hampshire at my mom and dad's. I've always been a big fan of practical resolutions.  Eat healthier is too vague and impossible to quantify.  Eat more homemade meals is better but still not specific enough for me. 

Nope, didn't post the whole month of December!  I'm only posting now so I remember a few things when I start the crazy cookie train next year.  One, I do not like the combination of mint and chocolate.  I know, I'm weird but Andes mints don't do it for me and sadly, neither do really cute, totally thematic holiday whoopie pies.  The Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies in the December '05 Bon Appetit are beautiful.  They scream Christmas cheer and if you do like the chocolate/ mint combination, by all means, make these!  They just weren't for me.  I want my chocolate rich and warm, the very opposite of a breath mint! I did find a simple cookie that I want to make again and again and again and I don't even think you have to wait for Christmas.   The Cardamom Crescents in the December '11 Bon Appetit were excellent.  Sadly, my crescent making skills are somewhat lacking as the picture shows but do not be deterred.  These cookies had a wonderful warm spice tas

Several months ago, I began looking around on the Internet for good ideas for a 4-year-old pajama themed party.  I decided to have a pajama party when I realized that Eyrleigh's preschool's major fundraising event of the year fell on her actual birthday and there was no way I was going to pull off both on the same day.  That left Friday night available for a party and what better way to party at night than in your pajamas!   I decided to choose the decorative stuff for the party around the pajamas Eyrleigh picked to wear for that night.  We went shopping at some of our favorite stores at the mall and she FINALLY picked a pair of Old Navy pajamas that were liliac and purple with a cheetah (or it could have been a leopard, I never did figure that out!).  So purple cheetah print it was!  I'm not an animal print fan myself but there is a lot of animal print stuff out there so it made it easy...sort of.  Purple cheetah print was a little tougher to find than pink.  I never d