What Ana Does

Last week, to liven things up from the boredom of making dinner every night, I declared it PASTA PALOOZA and challenged myself to prepare a brand-new pasta dish every night.  The girls and I love pasta, so I wanted to find a new dish to add to my monthly repertoire. The rules were the dish needed to be new to us, incorporate veggies and from a cookbook I don't often cook from.  It was a total success! We looked forward to the new meal every night and really liked each recipe, but one the most.  Sweet Leek Carbonara ( link to recipe )  This was our favorite! It's from Jamie Oliver's VEG cookbook and has very few ingredients but came together really quickly. It's really silky and super savory. Who knew we'd love leeks so much?!   Sunshine Fusilli Pasta  There's no link for this recipe online, but it's from the same Jamie Oliver VEG cookbook, on Amazon . The pasta sauce is made from yellow peppers blended up with cheese and pistachios! We all really liked...

While we were away in PA getting the lay of the land, our realtor was in our house snapping photos for the listing. We were blown away by the pictures she got. I mean, is this really our house?!  It was a great affirmation of all the work we did in this house and how much it's changed in the last nine years. These are going to be so beautiful to look at in a few years, too. This house was so so so good to us. We'll miss it. 

I watched Netflix's new series Bridgerton during my evening walks on the treadmill in the basement and whew! what a series! I was a very dedicated walker during the week I watched it.  And it does fill me with a certain amount of glee when a romance novel goes mainstream. As a dedicated romance reader, and lover of historical romance, especially, I get excited to welcome new fans to the party!  Because, yup, I totally read several of the books in the Bridgerton series. Julia Quinn isn't my favorite romance author, so I didn't finish it. But I'm really happy to watch the series, taken in a far more colorful and inventive direction -- with a queen! -- and see where it goes.  If I remember right, Anthony's story was better than Daphne's, so we have much to look forward to!  Interested in reading Regency/Victorian-era romance? Sarah MacLean and Lisa Kleypas are my all-time favorite authors in this genre. The Wallflowers and Ravanels' series are soo good. And Sar...

It's time! Let's buy a new house.  We've been talking and thinking about this move for so many months, that it seems crazy that it's FINALLY time to DO something, but it is.  So last weekend, when we were really supposed to be safe at home, we packed up the kids and flew to Philadelphia to drive around the Bucks County towns we have been investigating all these many weeks.  And while we're gone, our realtor is going to jump on the opportunity to take pictures of our house for the listing (GAH)! So much happening all at once! Let's start with flying during a pandemic; We haven't been on a plane for the last year and, while the empty planes and non-crowded airports is nice, it's still anxiety-inducing and not all that fun.  We took all the precautions -- double masked, washed hands, wipes and hand sanitizer. We kept a distance with others and I think we did pretty well. Though, I would NOT recommend anyone travel, unless totally necessary. I was a bundle o...

I love shopping but I really love shopping for solutions, don't you? I like finding the best deals for things that fit a specific purpose in my life. That answer a need. And there are a few things I'm still searching for ...  A "Shopping" Winter Coat - I have winter coats but they're huge and super-warm, great for neighborhood walks but I sweat walking around Target. I don't need the layers when I'm just going from home to car to store. Here's the JCrew Factory coat I'm looking at.  A Smaller Handsfree Purse -  I own a bunch of purses, most by the same designers: Orla Keily, Kate Spade and FEED, which I switch-out through the year based on: what my daily life looks like, what I need to haul, and what season it is. Mostly, my purses are on the large size, because I used to commute and needed extra supplies and I used to have small kids that I always needed snacks, etc. for. No more! I don't need all that room if, again, all I do is go from hom...