Nothing much, really. Just hanging out.
Listening to music.
Playing cards.
Doing laundry.
Reading books.
Cooking.
Just to clarify, the above cabinet is "Natalie's cabinet". It's filled with cooking utensils that she can bang and play with (we wash things well upon removing them from the cabinet to use them ourselves). We didn't expect her to climb in (like the dog-in-dishwasher picture), but, hey, whatever works.Seriously, even though it was about a billion degrees for all of August, I still managed to spend some time in the kitchen. First up, a no-cook tomatillo-avocado soup from Sunset Magazine. This one is a total keeper. I added some croutons and an extra avocado, and it was a meal for us. A little like liquid salad, but also totally cool and delicious and refreshing.
Next, what does one bake in late summer but zucchini bread? I was torn between two recipes. I ended up, ultimately, going with the one from Cook's Illustrated (the second link). Can you believe that you can fit a pound of zucchini in one loaf?! I used toasted walnuts, cut the sugar slightly, and added golden raisins. Totally yummy. This bread actually has quite a cake-like texture - perhaps from the yogurt (I did half full-fat, half nonfat)? Anyway, I could see this as a cake with some yummy brown sugar / caramel glaze drizzled on it.
Continuing on the baking theme, I made these red onion and gorgonzola flatbreads. The dough recipe called for semolina flour, which I didn't have. I subbed all purpose, and they were pretty good. I'd like to actually try it with semolina flour, though. Also, since I am not a huge lover of blue cheese, on half the flatbreads I used mango chevre from our local dairy (bought at our farmer's market that morning!).
I've also been knitting. I finally finished Natalie's baby blanket. I had started this back on the bedrest days, had actually taken it to the hospital (I know, right? But in my defense, I was told that I could have been setting up for a long induction), and had been working on it intermittently ever since. It's all cotton, so it was the perfect summer project. I also think it's the biggest thing I've ever knit.
(Natalie conducting the ever-important blanket taste test. I think I passed.)Also, on the knitting theme, here are two projects I completed during the Winter Olympics this year. I actually did something called the Knitting Olympics, where you cast on for your project during opening ceremonies and have to cast off before the closing ceremonies. Since I am, like, the world's pokiest knitter, this truly was an olympic endeavor for me. I did it, though! Since these projects were to be gifts, I didn't want to share the pictures right away.
(That's Natalie. Doesn't she look just like a doll? Also, I know that hat is slightly small on her; it was designed to be the right size for the recipient)Last, we also took Natalie for her first haircut this week. I worried this was sort of going down the slippery slope of toddler beauty pageants or something. However, since we are heading into the germier season, I didn't want us to always be touching her face to brush her hair aside. And I didn't really trust myself to put sharp scissors near her eyes - nevermind my lack of hairstyling skillz. Here's a before shot, to prove this was really necessary:
Here's an in-progress shot. This was about 37 seconds before she started howling. And she screamed the whole way through. It was awesome. Also, Mike will be taking her next time.
And here's the after shot. Isn't it just right? 
And one more cute (pre-haircut) shot, because I just couldn't resist.
