We went apple picking this weekend with Charlotte. The orchard had all the trimmings: apple cider donuts, music, hayrides, a small-ish orchard we could walk to, and (yay!) a petting zoo. We’ve spent a lot of time recently reading books about animals and playing with puzzles and shapes of animals; Charlotte knows the names of a lot of them and is starting to make noises to imitate them, so I was excited to bring her somewhere to see animals in real life. The goats were the best, and Charlotte bleated at them through the fence. The weather was pleasant, and the apples were delicious. On Saturday night, we used our freshly picked apples to garnish some pan-seared pork chops. For the rest of the week, Charlotte will be taking apple slices simmered in cinnamon and a bit of butter as her fruit to day care (up to this point, she’s been pretty intense in her preference for strawberries).
Here’s what I’m reading and eating this week:
How to Party With an Infant by Kaui Hart Hemmings
A few of the gems I liked are:
– Describing making a dinner for her daughter: “I can’t tell you how proud I feel when my child eats everything I put in front of her, when I can sit down with my baby and talk and sip wine at a leisurely pace and not have to scream: ‘Eat!'”
” There’s nothing better than watching your child sleep… Sometimes, life is simple and amazing and the sum of it all is right. But then the moment passes and you’re left wanting. Annie kisses her son on the forehead and then she goes into the kitchen to satisfy something she cannot name.”
“Ellie was craving princess books. I tried my best to not skip ahead or comment on all the extraneous adverbs… but I couldn’t help but ask Ellie some questions. In regard to the prince whisking off these chicks with their shy laughter and porn bodies, I asked: ‘How does she know she’ll even like him? They never even spoke to each other. He could be a total loser… But why would she go off with a total stranger who did nothing more than kiss her? I mean, is he stable? Does he work, or just live off his parents? What are his table manners like? His taste in music? His morals?'”
What I’m eating this week (in case you need menu planning inspiration):
Monday: Farfalle with bacon, spinach, and sun-dried tomato sauce
Tuesday: pasta leftovers
Wednesday: wild rice soup with garlic toast
Thursday: wild rice soup leftovers with broccoli-kale slaw
Friday: pizza night
Saturday: pork chops with apples (after apple picking) and apple cider donuts
