The two good things to come out of 2020: The birth of my son and The Quarantine Salad. Maybe in that order. It’s nothing against my son, The Quarantine Salad is just that good. I wish I had a better reason we ended up calling this The Quarantine Salad other than it was created amidst the excitement of…
Aren’t you so sick of all those “Healthy 2021” emails/posts/billboards/bus ads? Do you feel like you’re drowning in a sea of images of salads, skinny people, and before and after photos? Well here’s a lovely little post to counteract all that nonsense! Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean you have to start punishing yourself for enjoying…
Merry (almost) Christmas! It’s the time of year where I’m busy in the best ways possible – making gifts, spending extra time in the kitchen making treats, and staring wistfully out the window while thinking of Christmases past and future (a very time-consuming activity). Since free time isn’t abundant these days, it’s especially nice to not have to…
My memories of early mornings in high school include stumbling around the kitchen for something to grab on my way out the door, half wondering how I managed to dress and get downstairs in the first place, with the no-nonsense voice of Jillian Michaels coming from the dimly-lit living room. My high school days started at 5:45am in…
My maternity leave ends today. I’m a little stunned at how intensely I feel both excitement about returning to work and devastation at the thought of not being near my baby 24/7. I keep telling myself I need to at least experience life as a working mom before I completely freak out about it. Somedays I expect it…
Sandwiches are treats any day of the year, but when you’re tasked with creating the perfect birthday sandwich, it would be nothing short of irresponsible not to go the extra mile. Especially when you’re feeling guilty since you weren’t able to time your pregnancy just right to give your husband the gift of a brand new son on…
In the spirit of breaking out of the typical Easter dinner mold for the second year in a row (and a passionate hatred of ham), this year I decided to take the Asian route. Last year we had a vegetarian pizza party, which was a wild success. But what would my fans say if I simply repeated myself?…
Ah, I love bowls of food. Plates are fine, but it’s something about that concave shape that tends to house the tastiest of meals and snacks. But sometimes we make sub-par bowls of food such as stale, sugary cereal or ice cream that tastes more like ice than cream or plain rice flavored with plain beans. Sometimes, we…
Let me tell you about last weekend. And maybe the chicken feta paninis. You know, if we have time. So last weekend was the Gazelle Girl Half Marathon. It’s a women-only race in Grand Rapids and my friend had decided earlier in the year that she wanted the Gazelle Girl to be her first half marathon. I’m that…
If you ever find yourself struggling to decide where to go on vacation, let me make things easy for you. Go to Thailand. Sure, it’s a pain to get to being on the other side of the world and all, but that really shouldn’t stop you. They have these things called airplanes now that make the whole experience…