Gia and the preschool.

What is for dinner?

Pumpkin and Prawn Curry.

In an effort to incorporate less red meat in our diet, we are having this gem for dinner tonight. Does anyone else have some great recipes? Please share if you do!

Ingredients (serves 4)
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
400g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 3cm pieces
1 tablespoon fish sauce
270ml can light coconut milk
1 long red chilli, deseeded, thinly sliced
800g medium green king prawns, peeled, deveined, tails intact
100g green beans, trimmed, cut into 4cm lengths
steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan or wok over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is softened. Add curry paste. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add pumpkin, fish sauce, coconut milk, half the chilli and 3/4 cup cold water. Simmer for 12 minutes or until pumpkin is just tender and sauce has thickened slightly.
Add prawns and beans. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until prawns are cooked through and beans tender. Top with remaining chilli. Serve with rice.
Notes & tips
SourceSuper Food Ideas - May 2008, Page 37
Recipe by Liz Macri

French women know how its done.

I never thought much about soap. That is until I gave my mom and my mother in law this ridiculous soap (that I clearly also bought one for myself) before my wedding. There is something just amazing about the lather of a French milled bar of soap. It is so creamy and luxurious. It makes me feel like a French woman that gets to spend her day sipping coffee, shopping and eating decadent french food. So, if something can start my day like that then why not invest, right?

Right now I am loving Noodle&Boo's Glowology Believe Honey Bar. If you want to start your day like a fantastic French woman, you can buy one here.

Norwegians do it well.

For the love. I brought this home last night and fell in love. I love cheese. Any kind really, just as long as it is creamy and interesting I can eat it like you would not believe.

Well, this Snofrisk is amazing. It was introduced in 1994 at the Olympics. It is a combination of 80% goats milk and 20% cream. The tangy delight with the smooth richness of the cream is out of this world. Snofrisk could be described as cream cheese with a really great make over. It is still mild and comforting with the perfect amount of interest added.

So, I found it at a specialty market and I hope that I can continue to purchase this delight. I think it makes life that much sweeter.

Signature scent.

One of my (limited) blog readers and I wore the same perfume in college. We both wore it all four years and I think we both continued to wear it into our early professional days. Oh, Perry Ellis 360. You gave me some seriously wonderful times. From college interviews and frat parties, to buying my first car you were there.

Smell is something that brings me back and makes me giddy. I can open a bottle of Vidal Sassoon shampoo and I suddenly think of Sarah and my freshman year in High School. The same way that I had to call a friend of mine when I found a bottle of Outrageous and could not stop thinking of her.

Colgate and Nivea make me feel like my beloved grandmother is in the room. Something about my nightly ritual of brushing and lathering up always makes me have a mini conversation with her. For that I am eternally grateful.

In the same accord, my mom does not smell like a perfume. My mom smell likes my mom. She has worn Chloe, Lauren, Red Door, DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and yet no matter what commercial scent she puts on her person her own scent travels through. I LOVE IT. Every time I watch the movie Hope Floats the scene where Sandra Bullock falls into her moms dress because of the smell brings me to weeping mess on the floor. Kind of a slobbering, not sightly convulsion on the floor. As I write this, tears are in my eyes at that horrible thought.

As much as it creates a great sense of fear, it also has a huge place in my heart. My mom smells soooooo good. Nothing can recreate it, she just smells sooo good.

Well, apparently I do too. Gia came in while I was getting dressed today. Right before I put on my perfume (my current obsession is Fresh's Sake) and she grabbed my hand and said, "no mommy, you smell good just like this."

Seriously, this is what life is all about.

Two T's.

I live with the two greatest T's on the planet. I had one of the most physically and mentally challenging days of my life and they have made it all worth while. They leave me writing this with a smile from ear to ear because I feel so blessed.

So thank you to those two T's that are always there to cheer me on, bring a smile to my face and make me remember what life is all about.

I love you both so much.

Doughnut making.

A while back we had Tyler at our house for a play date. Because we do not have Gia's friends over very often (really, it is more a function of scheduling and not know that many people that we don't have many opportunities) I try to do something special or fun when we do. This particular day we made doughnuts. My maternal grandmother used to make these and they are divine. They should be tossed with powdered sugar, but given two three year olds were my sugar tossers I went with granulated sugar and cinnamon thinking it would be less of a mess. It was still messy, but I think less messy than powdered.

You can use lard or oil, whatever artery clogging kind floats your boat. And you drop the biscuits in and Viola! you have doughnuts. I opened the biscuits a little to early and they did not puff up the way they should, but the diners did not seem to mind.

The two tots had fun and enjoyed the doughnuts. Gia is a bit of a bully come to find out. Hopefully school and more play dates will make her better at sharing and more fun for the other children to be around.

After eating doughnuts, running around like wild monkeys and some arts and crafts they finished with an Elmo showing and some air popped pop corn. Thank you for coming Tyler. We always enjoy having you!

Dumb and dumber.

I am normally a pretty clean person. I work really hard to keep our house in order and keep it in a state when people can come and go and there is never any worry. And I have always done a pretty good job. Except when it comes to the dishes.



Give me a bathroom to scrub and I am in heaven. Give me floor to mop and I see it as a little blessing of extra calories burned. But make me put away dishes and I feel like you have asked me what you would like my last meal to be.



Well, a few months ago, I came across FLY Lady. Apparently, I am the last person on earth to discover her. Her concept is simple. Do little things every day and your house will be in order. This is mainly the same mine set that I have always have. What did make me want to do it is that she begins with the kitchen sink. Keeping dishes out and put away. Well, this is my shortfall, so this is going to be great.



And it has been. The entire house looks more put together. I feel less like I don't have it together. Like that horrible task is complete and not looming over my head. So, thank you FLY Lady!



Today was the day to clean the counter tops. Scrub all of them. I am blessed with a big kitchen and a HUGE island. I mean HUGE. I diligently scrubbed. Scrub. Scrub. Scrub. Polish. Polish. Polish.



I took a step back and admired my hard work. Thought about how fortunate I was to have this kitchen and the people that laugh and break bread in here. It was delightful.



A few hours later (both RT and I have home offices) I ran my hand across the counter. It had a film of crumbs. Immediately, I over react and accuse my poor husband of being the culprit. Denial. Typical. But then, much to my dismay I find that my ENTIRE kitchen has this film of crumbs.



Dummy Allison scrubbed the counters with a sponge that left its scrubbers behind. The polishing towel did not pick up the residue.



LOVE the FLY Lady. Hate it when I don't think something through. If you want to check out her system, you can do so here.

I have this in my closet.

....but JCrew makes me think I need a new pair of these in my closet.

What to wear.

I like to think that I have some sort of fashion sense. I, like most women I know love to shop. I think that I may even enjoy shopping much more than the average female. I spend hours reading magazines and imagining what life would be like if I could stroll along fifth avenue and spend with absolutely no regard.

In my prior to kids life, I really had it together. For the most part, I had two real wardrobes. Corporate America and Going Out Nightlife. The work wardrobe consisted of killer suits with deceptively conservative stilettos with a punch of pizazz to keep true to my fashion loving roots. My going out Nightlife wardrobe was full of bootylicious jeans and pretty amazing tops. There were a few pairs of slightly body hugging sweat suits for my weekend errands, but all in all I had about three pairs of non heels in my closet. Including my two running shoes that I would never dare wear with anything other than my nike leggings and running gear to boot.

Well then, I had Miss Gia and life (all of it, not just my fashion world) was turned on its ear. Suddenly, stilettos for every occasion were just not appropriate. Not to mention that I just can not, nor do I want to wear a sweat suit that in some prior world was meant to be *hot* to all of y mommy events. So now I find myself in a certain crossroads. Not only do I have a lot more casual events that I need to attend, but since ending my corporate career at the early part of last year and being a consultant, my corporate digs are all off too.

So here is the question that I pose to you the blogging world, what does one mom where to look pulled together, fashion forward and good in daily activities while not falling into that horrific New Jersey/ LA Valley mom trap of just too many Juicy Couture sweat suits?

Email test.

Testing mobile blog. Oh, and yes, this is what happens when you leave a three year old alone.

Test. Mobile text blog test.

New years at noon.

Well, we certainly did NOT make it to Midnight, but we were able to party like rock stars at the New Year's at Noon party in downtown Sacramento. With the face painting, carnival games and giveaways galore, fun was had by all. We saw the "ball" drop and even got to play lots of games. Happy New Year!