Category: miscellaneous

ikea play kitchen hack

after scouring the internet for the perfect play kitchen that looked exactly how i (i mean, mila) wanted, and discovering that i just can’t justify spending nearly a thousand dollars for the beautiful ones from pottery barn… i decided to give an ikea dutkig a major upgrade, and OMG we are so happy with the final results.

there quite a few blogs and insta posts that show all the cool ways you can hack this kiddo kitchen. i got a lot of inspiration from this apartment therapy roundup of other DIYs. but in the end, i copied a little here and there from different kitchens and this is what we ended up with.

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how i’m dealing with migraines during pregnancy

during my pregnancy with mila, i was so happy because i only had one or two migraines the entire time. it was wonderful. especially because the prescription medication i take when i get migraines is not deemed safe during pregnancy.

this pregnancy, however, has been completely different. starting around week 15, i have been plagued with frequent migraines and terrible headaches that last as many as five days straight.

thankfully, being married to a neurologist has some perks and i was able to get an appointment with one of georgetown university hospital’s headache specialists — a doctor with a two year wait list. she shared some pregnancy safe tips with me to survive the headaches and migraines and i thought i would share them here in case anyone else is dealing with the same thing.

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artifact uprising layflat photo book

just before christmas i worked on a post for well rounded x artifact uprising, giving away one of au’s layflat photo books. artifact gifted me a book in return, and it was perfect timing because steven and i had just decided not to buy gifts for each other this year — and we had never had our wedding photos printed.

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purple produce takeover + potato tart recipe

millennial pink might be the color of the year when it comes to styling your home, but purple is definitely the hue for your tablescape. purple produce is everywhere. whole foods even named it one of the top food trends of 2017. i wrote a little about the trend in this weekend’s herald-dispatch — and it gave me an excuse to whip up these super cute, personal-sized savory purple potato + mushroom tarts.

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thanksgiving recipe roundup

this year, the chef and i are staying in dc for thanksgiving and we’ve invited some of his neurology co-residents for dinner. the big meal is one week from today, and we haven’t even discussed the menu. i’m hoping to create a super colorful meal using Japanese ube instead of standard sweet potatoes, heirloom carrots instead of the plain old orange ones, and swiss chard for a splash of color in our stuffing. but i’m sure steven has his own ideas. he’s much more of a traditionalist on this day than i am.

here are some recipes i’m considering:

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modern baby food and the “flavor window”

man, there are some really inventive baby food companies out there. startups that are marketing things like caviar, bone broth and quinoa to six-month-olds. i was introduced to one of the more innovative baby food services through well rounded, a digital magazine i contribute to. on their menu were things like salmon roe and falafel. cool, i thought — but do babies really need this?

a quick google search showed me a dozen other baby food start ups with similar menus. i wondered: is this just fancy, flavor-forward labeling that’s really designed to tempt the hip parent into buying, or do babies really benefit from these complex flavor blends.

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yes way, rosé

if you didn’t drink at least a case of rosé this summer, do you even exist?

though any somm will tell you rosé is good year round, it is the quintessential summer drink. i wrote a little about the pink drink a while back for the herald-dispatch newspaper and thought i’d share it here. i also met a really awesome vintner and wine distributor working on this story, who i really enjoyed speaking with. what a wealth of information!

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simple tomato canning

we started in may, planted a garden in tiny soil pods by starting with seeds. we cared for them, we watered them, the chef built garden boxes and we planted the seedlings into the ground. then we waited. and nothing happened.

all summer long, nothing. the peppers, eggplants, beets, and tomato plants we started grew and grew and grew, but nothing edible appeared — until fall. late fall. like, it’s almost thanksgiving and we’re still getting four pounds of tomatoes a week. they really are great tomatoes, but we can’t use them fast enough, so: canning.

tomatoes9

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currently

sitting in our still-kind-of-new house, living room halfway clean — the half in this picture anyway — and loving all the light that pours in here. because i love this view so much, and because in a couple months i’m sure this place will never be clean again and i will never have time to grab my camera: here’s something to remember it by.

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