curious living
Stroopwafels are popping up everywhere. And by everywhere, I don’t just mean in the usual hipster haunts–Target now carries the Daelmans brand in their cookies aisle, nestled next to the shortbread and Petit Ecolier offerings. And why not? These delicious, strangely-satisfying treats from Holland have all the hallmarks of the American palette: sweet, relatively large, and completely filled […]
Who doesn’t love a sandwich? It’s the ultimate in portable sustenance, infinitely customizable. Yet, occasionally, at least for group, it can be a pain. For starters, you need counter space if you are going to do everything batch-style. You need sandwich bags. You need a certain number of pieces of bread (which sounds silly, but can […]
Mark your calendars now…any future birthdays of mine have officially been changed (by me) to sometime in January or February, forevermore. I am a Christmas baby by birth. Not a Christmas Eve baby or a Boxing Day baby or any of the other days in December, who I understand also have to deal with birthday-related […]
People really seem to beat themselves up over certain choices. The pulses race. The minds flip flop and then settle. The camps get divided — and heated. But there are many things that are framed as “either/or” choices that really aren’t just either/or. Forcing you to pick a “side” on these types of debates means […]
There I was, quasi-yawning through a parenting magazine the other night a few minutes before midnight, and the words seared in my brain. “You will only have 960 Saturdays with a newborn until they go off to college.” Only 960 Saturdays? Could it possibly be true? Well, my darling Benjamin is already five. That means […]
I recently re-read the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and came across this passage from Little House in the Big Woods: “Each day had it’s own proper work. Ma used to say: Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday.” […]
I have been looking for ways to create family traditions for our own little family unit, especially now that Benji is older. It’s definitely true that traditions are part of what define a family, so I wanted ours to be fun and throughout the year, instead of just at Christmastime. This kicked off for us […]
Being somewhat fearless is definitely necessary to be a parent of a toddler. Taking that toddler on a trip, especially a long trip abroad or that requires a long plane flight, requires nerves of pure titanium (and some masochistic tendencies don’t hurt, either). We took our three year old, Benjamin, on a trip over the […]
I learned quite a bit at the UT Sustainable Business Summit last Friday, including this little factoid: tea is one of the few crops that goes directly to from the field into a bag and then into your waiting cup of hot water to drink. WITHOUT BEING WASHED, chems and all (if non-organic). Though it’s […]
This week, I’m trying a new method (based on a plan from a book I picked up used on Amazon, Katie Brown’s Weekends) to decrease our meal preparation issues during the work week and to also try to get us to eat more veggies, less meat. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE meat. That’s sort […]
I think tonight would be a good time to open up a new topic…perfection in craft. Before you gag on your embroidery needle thinking I’m conceited about it, let me just say I love crafts. Specifically, I like doing is pretty much the same stuff I liked in grade school. Applying hot glue to random things, […]
This is a yard sale trick I have done a few times and am *almost* embarrased about, but clearly not enough because here I am, announcing it to the world. 😉 It’s surprisingly easy to pick up new items at yard sales and return them to the store they were bought from for store credit. […]