My Husband's Daughter

Happy Monday!  We had a great weekend, although Ken worked most of the time.  We packed in the family fun with a night in (Houston experienced unbelievable flooding!) and realized that we get HBO (for free) and rented our first on demand movie! Although it was a bad movie (This Is 40 or something---- very strange), it was fun and convenient!  Woohoo- welcome to 2013!  We are kind of late technology adopters.  Have you heard of Instagram? Yeah, I think I was the last one to join.  But it rocks and I love seeing photos of friends!  Maybe I will get on Twitter sometime or my husband will join Facebook, too!  Watch out, world!  This little family is going to catch up very soon!  Kidding.  He would NEVER join Facebook.  Anyway, we also went to a first birthday for a friend and Malley and I joined the ladies for cooking club (more on that later).  Malley is such a great baby, so it's fun to get out and explore with her!  She loves to see new faces and places.

I am pretty sure our daughter looks exactly like my husband.  You know, a beautiful baby girl version of him.  Sometimes she looks just like my brother, too.  Many people think that my brother and husband are actual brothers, because evidently they look similar.  Weird.  In fact, my mom may have once confused their high school graduation pictures.  Awkward.  Whomever she favors, we are loving every minute with her!  She and her daddy have a very special bond, which makes my little heart swell with joy.  She is just the greatest baby!  Sleeps through the night.  Smiles. Lights up when she sees her daddy after he's been at work all day.  Really only fusses when hungry or tired. Looks adorable in bows.  And brings us so much joy!  I can't imagine our life without this little beauty!

Homemaker

I am sure this will come as a surprise, but life with a newborn is unpredictable!  Thus, I am not quite finished with the cloth diaper posting.  Hoping to get to it this weekend.
Today, our one-day-a-week nanny started.  She is going to sit with Malley so that I can start grad school again in June and allow me designated blogging study time.  Today she asked me if she could fold laundry while the baby napped.  You mean that giant pile of clean clothes on our guest bed?  Ummm......sure!  A little secret (not really a secret at all) about me....I love the washing part.  But I am terrible at the folding and putting away.  Like my mom still folds laundry when she comes to town because it embarrasses her.  Terrible.  I am getting a little better, but it is very much a chore!  And forget ironing.  My husband has been known to kiss his shirts goodbye before putting them in the stack of "to be ironed" clothing.  Which, after 2 weeks, he usually just carts them off to the cleaners.  They love to iron.  Me?  Not so much.  Which is why I am trying to slowly ease into my new role as stay-at-home mom.  I am decent at the mom stuff, but the keeping up with the house stuff is not my best work!  Although I used to hire people all of the time for my job, hiring someone to watch your 2.5 month old baby is completely different!  She came very highly recommended, but it's still your baby, you know? Anyway, I snuck away to wash my hair and then to get a pedicure.  It was delightful! I worried the whole time, but I came home to a happy smiling baby and pretty toes.  Success!


And so that my entire post isn't about laundry, I bring you a delicious recipe! This is one of my "go-to" easy and fast meals.  Serve it with salad and potatoes, or anything really!  It is so easy and so delicious!  Pardon the web photo- I didn't take a picture as I made it this week, but rest assured mine always looks EXACTLY like this.  You know, when I photograph my food on beautiful slate countertops that I do not own.  As my newborn screams from the other room because I had the nerve to let her swing for 20 minutes as I quickly made dinner. Picture perfect!

                                            
                                              Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr


                                               Meyer Lemon Chicken Picatta

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine

Ingredients

·         2 (8-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Click to see savings1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/3 cup sauvignon blanc or other crisp, tart white wine
Click to see savi1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
2 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained

·        1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I skip this part)

Preparation

1.      1. Split chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Place each cutlet between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each cutlet to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle cutlets evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge cutlets in flour.

2.      2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cutlets to pan, and sauté 2 minutes. Turn cutlets over; sauté for 1 minute. Remove the cutlets from pan. Repeat the procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 2 cutlets.

3.      3. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in chicken broth; bring to a boil. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 4 minutes). Stir in juice and capers. Serve over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Julianna Grimes, Cooking Light
MARCH 2011

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!  I am working on a post about cloth diapers, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  Little Malley's nap time was occupied with paying hospital bills and laundry.  SO glamorous, right?  Ok, maybe there was a little online shopping.  My mom called and told me that she ordered some orange Tory Burch flats.  I know!  Ms. Burch made them with me in mind.  So I took a little birthday money and made these little flats my very own.  I find this style very comfortable, unlike some of her other styles.  I wasn't on board with the TB flats until I got my first pair last month.  I am a late adopter, but they're actually well made and seem to hold up very well.  I don't mind paying a little more for shoes if they'll stand the test of time and being resoled/ reheeled 3-4 times.  Plus, I use Ebates for all online shopping which gives me cash back on my purchases!  So far, I have earned over $300 for my online purchases.  I love free money.

via Nordstrom

Today is Earth Day and I am excited to talk about cloth diapers tomorrow!  In the meantime, I leave you with a pic of our little cutie sporting her Fuzzibunz green cloth diaper in honor of Mother Earth.

And here is a picture from our weekend in San Antonio at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort.  My heart is so full of love for these two!  We had lots of fun.  Malley is a great traveler thus far!

Ch-ch-ch-changes: Crawfish boils through the years

Even before we met, Ken and I both loved hosting crawfish boils.  My parents (ok, my mom) threw me a crawfish boil party for my 17th birthday (oh, a couple of years ago) and ever since then, I think they're a super fun way to celebrate.  And I LOVE to host parties!  The 1998 crawfish boil was legendary.  You know typical teenager stuff. None of which I care to admit to now, nor care to elaborate on, given that I hope that my children will read this some day. Fast forward 10 years to 2008, and Sunida and I hosted one for our 27th birthdays.  Andrew (my brother) cooked all of the crawfish, there was a keg, it was wild until the wee hours of the morning.  One guy was drinking vodka from a handle. My best guy friend was singing and professing his love via a serenade from West Side Story (they're now happily married, by the way!) to a good girlfriend of mine. It was kind of a crazy night!  That birthday, I wished to meet my future husband.  And only a short month later, I met the man of my dreams!
So, naturally, we hosted a shrimp boil together a month after meeting for July 4th 2008, and then a crawfish boil together in 2010 (we skipped '09 because we were still rebuilding from Ike)!
Ok... I am rambling.  Stick with me....there is a point!
So, 2010 was the 1st annual Zimmer/Lutschg crawfish boil.  It was a blast! We had about 75 people and partied until about 3am.  We had a live band, lots of beer, went through 3 tanks of margaritas and 150 pounds of crawfish. Andrew and Christina met for the second time (they're now getting married....I see a trend here!) and we did a midnight boat cruise for those who stayed late.  It was a wild night.

In 2011, the second annual crawfish boil happened and it doubled as my 30th birthday party.  It was wild. We had a great band, 100 people, 200 pounds of bugs, 3 tanks of margaritas, tons of beer, and the evening ended with a couple of people passed out from too much whiskey around 3am. At one point my best guy friend closed the garage doors and took keys to convince people to stay and party all night.  The captain had enjoyed too many beverages to embark on said boat cruise. . 

Last year, 2012, was a little calmer. Still lots of people and crawfish, but the party ended about midnight.  My best friend brought her brand new baby, Hayden, who was 2 weeks old and a premie.  There were lots of cute kids and pregnant women. The change was rolling in, but we were still footloose and fancy free. 

 

And then there was this year.  We didn't finish the first tank of margaritas.  We went through half of the amount of beer that we normally do.  And we rented a bounce house.  Nothing says "wild party" like a huge bounce house!  Oh, and we had a newborn!  The party fell on Malley's 2 month birthday.  Too soon for a party for 75-100 people?  Maybe. But we had a blast and loved seeing our friends and family.  Had my mom not come in for the party, I probably would have suffered a nervous breakdown, but she and her workhorse ways made it happen!  Needless to say, I didn't have a chance to shoot many pictures.  Perhaps because our normally perfect baby chose the day to be difficult by not napping, fussing, and deciding that she wanted to stay awake for the entire party. She was darling, but exhausted.  Anyway, the last guests left at 9pm. What?  9.  I am not complaining because I was exhausted, but it was quite the change!  I guess this is a natural transition to normal adulthood, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.  We're parents and our friends are too.  And I wouldn't change it for anything.  Because I get to call this beautiful baby our own!