What Ana Does

I don't know about you, but I go through cookbook phases, in which I have a little love affair with a book's recipes and author. And I love buying cookbooks, so I have quite a collection. Here are the cookbooks in current rotation: The Homemade Pantry  is my go-to for all the from-scratch cooking I've been doing lately; from my foray into yogurt making to the fresh lasagna noodles I made for Christmas and last night's pizza dough. Alana's writes super-simple directions that are easy to follow -- you can tell she makes these often, and is not just perfecting them in a test kitchen and moving on. Plus, she includes little memoirs of the recipe origins or her experiences with them. I'm planning on trying the homemade ketchup and mayo someday, and Dave has been begging me to make the pastries (homemade "PopTarts") that are on the cover. Seriously, it's the best. Get a copy. It's All Good is Gwynnie's new cookbook that is all healthy meals....

My daughter Alice is loving her Spanish classes in Pre-K. And I'm delighted to discover our huge school district offers dual language Kindergarten. But, there's a catch -- it's a LOTTERY. Apparently, it's so popular (and so limited) that your name gets put into a drawing and you get in by absolute luck. Ay Carumba! Tonight's the meeting to learn more about the program and officially add your child's name to the pot -- so wish me luck!

For the second time this winter ... no! for the second time this month (!) ... it's too cold to go to school. So, I have kids running around, watching too much TV, not doing homework or reading. Yelling at each other, torturing the dog that likes to sleep in all day and being generally rowdy (I can't very well send them outside to play, can I?). All while I'm on the phone trying to do a conference call for work. Hard At Work on That Annual Report for Marketing At some point, they'll head over to the neighbor's house to pillage and destroy, leaving me precious quiet time to get through more emails, reports and meetings. Either way, the day's not highly productive. But when the girls sit in the office with me, working on an "educational" website, my workday gets just a little sunnier. Is it too early to whine for Spring?

I love the art of shopping: Discovering neat and different objects. Hunting for the best prices. Using coupons or big sales to get exactly what I want. I love bringing home new stuff. And the internet is my frenemy in this shopping fad. If Leah needs new snow boots, I can be picky and visit all my favorite "boot" sites, to find the best quality at the lowest price -- all on my lunch break. So -- for the past several years, as a reaction the major spending/shopping extravaganza that is Christmas and early January after-Christmas sales (love em), I've made a practice of cutting down personal spending in February (or sometimes March) to just the essentials. Essentials = food, kids activities and needs. And the "big NO" to clothes shopping for me, hunting new house decor, or books, etc. I usually have a surplus of new stuff I haven't even worn/read/framed from the holidays, anyway. The most important step to this shopping diet is to unsubscribe to all th...

I'm on a diet, work full time and have a 2nd grader -- that means my morning is all about food prep. First, I have to make breakfast for the ladies and a smoothie for myself. Yum! Then, I have to make a lunch for Leah; she rarely chooses the school's hot lunch. That's some combination of sandwich, yogurt, carrots, cheese and fresh fruit or fruit snacks -- depending on what's available. Last, there's the two balanced snacks for myself (10am and 3pm) -- yogurt and fruit, tuna and celery, carrots and grapes, turkey slices with avocado. Lunch is usually a salad bar affair. But, of course, I don't do the tasks in any order ... it's scattershot. I think I'm trying to follow some logic, like I'll do everything that requires the blueberries first, but I lose track. But, it all gets done and put away by the time I walk out the door, so ... it works. The Island Prep Station - Prepping for Everything! I know other Moms who do this prep the night b...

How exciting is it the first time you walk on a frozen lake? We had lunch with Nana this weekend and made a pitstop at a local park when I saw the lake was frozen over. "Girls, have you ever walked on a frozen lake?" "No.... what!?" They didn't believe me until they kicked the snow away and looked down -- at ice! Sheer amazement! Running on a Frozen Lake with Nana So we made our way along the shore to some ice fishermen to peer in the fishing holes and actually see the water. "Can you believe there are fish swimming right below our feet?" I asked. "NO WAY!" The guys told us it was 8 to 10 inches deep - SOLID. And with temps averaging 25 degrees, we didn't think that was going to change anytime soon. Standing on a Tree that Dips into the Lake. Glad it Was Frozen! We told the girls that when I was little, we'd take shovels and clear a ice rink in the snow -- which they thought sounded like a darn good idea. Too bad w...

The reviews are in on my homemade yogurt ... TART!! Wow, I read that it was going to be tart with a bite, but, man, they were NOT kidding. Tart but very good. Smooth and not as watery as I was expecting.  I added some honey and gobbled down the whole jar. Tomorrow, I'll add some fruit.  Scoopable and Oh So Delicious Look at me! I'm a yogurt maker!!