Mod Apron

Aug 23

Sweet boy all tuckered out after spending the morning shopping with the girls.

Aug 20

[click to enlarge]

Oops! Posting this meal plan a day late. Sorry! Better late than never, right?

So the big events this week are:

My parents are visiting! They arrive tomorrow afternoon. They’re here for 10 whole days and I’m all atwitter with excitement! Our meals should be simple, summery and easy to prepare for a crowd. Hopefully the dinners I’ve outlined above will fit the bill.
Friday is Maya’s 4th birthday! She wants to go our family’s favorite Italian restaurant around the corner from our house. And afterwards, we’re throwing her a little surprise party with her friends and neighbors here at home, complete with a triple-decker chocolate cake from Blissful Bites. Oh man, I might be more excited that cake than she is! Actually, probably not; she’s ridiculously excited about her special day. Just like a very-nearly-almost-4-year-old should be!
You might notice that Saturday’s dinner is up in the air. That’s because Maya wants to visit a farm her birthday so we’re taking a road trip about 45 minutes south to Half Moon Bay. We’ll be hobnobbing with goats, chickens, horses and rabbits. And I have no idea how long we’ll be gone so I’m leaving dinner open that day. I’m sure we’ll figure out something yummy.

I was hoping to do a big grocery shop today in preparation for my parents’ arrival and the week ahead. But unfortunately, Dennis’ flight was delayed and he got home just before dinner so the shopping will have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully mom and dad won’t mind tagging along.

This time 4 years ago, I was hugely pregnant (Maya was a week overdue!) and excitedly counting the minutes until we’d meet our baby girl. I totally expected that being a mama would be hard work, completely rewarding and a wonderful labor of love. What I didn’t anticipate was the fun, the joy, the bliss and all the laughing. Good lord, the laughing. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life as I have since the kids came along. This motherhood thing is hilarious! And every day just gets better and better. I’m pretty sure there’s no better job than the one I’ve got.

Have a great week, folks.

Jul 30

Only in the Haight.

As a San Franciscan for nearly a whole year now, the fact that I’d never been to Haight Ashbury was a cryin’ shame. Thank goodness, I have a good friend who helped me to remedy this blight yesterday!

I must admit, I had a total misconception about these famous streets. From everything I’d heard, I thought it’d be dirty and full of old hippies. Actually, Haight Ashbury is lovely, clean and super fun (albeit a tad touristy). And as for the hippies? Well, there were certainly a few colorful folks out and about, but I only saw one true hippie (see bottom right photo).

The Haight is full of AMAZING vintage clothing shops. Stuff you just can’t find anywhere else. I bought a really cute blouse, a bracelet and of course my obligatory Haight Asbury purchase - some incense for the house. It smells amazing!

Alison and I walked up and down the Haight, wandering in and out of shops. We stopped for lunch at this little diner and had some really yummy eats. I ordered a vegan burrito and man, that sucker was HUGE. I couldn’t even finish a third of it.

Such a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thank you so much Alison, for showing me around. Peace and love, sister!

(All the pics were taken on my iPhone because my old camera is out of commission and my new one has not arrived yet! Apologies for the sub-par photo quality. I really wish I’d had my new camera because there were so many incredible photo ops on the Haight! I guess I’ll just have to go back again when this lady comes for a visit.)

Jul 12

Henry and I met the birthday boy on Fillmore Street today for a little lunching and furniture reconnaissance (we still haven’t furnished our living room since moving into our home last February!). We stumbled upon an quaint little cafe called The Grove and had an amazing lunch!

We decided to split an appy and an entrée of the birthday boy’s choosing: A Caesar salad and some cheese quesadillas. These wouldn’t have been my first choices, but it’s not my birthday after all, so I went with it. To my surprise (and delight), both were absolutely delish! The salad was so fresh and crisp, and the salsa that came with the quesadillas was crazy yum.

After lunch, we shared a cookie for dessert. Be advised, people: The Grove makes giant, freshly baked cookies every hour. Den chose a huge oatmeal raisin bad boy (again, not my first choice), and wow. Just wow. That may have been the best cookie of my life. We bought another one to take home for later!

We walked off our meal on Fillmore Street, wandering in and out of the shops. We stopped into my favorite art and antique store and chatted up the owner for several minutes (she’s become a dear friend since we’ve moved to our new neighborhood). Dennis and Henry ended up minding the shop for a few minutes while I got a tour of her home upstairs! I’m so glad I got to see her space because I left feeling incredibly inspired with ideas for our own living room. In fact, I just completely revamped my whole plan for our living room and office area, and I am so excited about our new design direction!

It’s kind of a good thing that we couldn’t afford to completely furnish our home when we moved in. Because now that we’ve lived here for awhile, we have a much better idea of how we want to use and utilize each room.

It was a yummy lunch, a lovely walk, a blissful day.

And what did the birthday boy want to do after all that lunching and walking? What every 40-year-old wants: A nice long nap.

Jul 8

Homebody

After creating last week’s new housekeeping schedule, I decided to start things off on the right foot by doing a whole-house general cleaning and decluttering. My timing couldn’t be better because the donation truck is rolling through our neighborhood on Monday morning and I will be ready!

Yes, this does go against my declaration of ~~having~~ claiming weekend’s off. But hopefully, this will be the last chore-filled weekend for a long while. Means to an end, people. Plus, I’m feeling especially “nesty” right now and when the urge to clean strikes, you’ve gotta seize the moment!

Yesterday, I deep cleaned the whole kitchen. Man, that felt so good. I loved getting all those little areas clean that rarely get touched. Today, I’m going to work on the master bedroom and the kids’ bedrooms. Oh, and I want to move our holiday stuff down to our new storage locker in the garage. Lots to do! All while hopefully fitting in an hour at the gym this afternoon.

In other housey news, after a search spanning many months, I found the perfect runners for our long hallway and ordered the rugs. I LOVE them and I can’t wait to see them in our space. I placed the order right before bed last night and I was so giddy about the whole thing that I fell asleep and literally dreamed about rugs all night. How sad is it that I am this excited about my new rugs? (Answer: Quite sad, actually.)

Anyway, the best part is that we paid cash (as we ALWAYS do these days because we are credit card FREE) and we got a smokin’ deal on some pieces for the house that I am really in love with. We’ve got our whole lives to get this place exactly how we want it, so I refuse to settle. Nothing is coming through our front door unless I really love it. And these rugs definitely fit the bill!

I’ll do a before and after hallway post in mid-August once our new runners have arrived!

It’s a beautiful sunny San Francisco morning and I’m really looking forward to enjoying a quiet Sunday puttering around at home. Puttering Sundays are THE BEST.

Jul 6

After my massive shopping trip last Monday, you’d be right to assume I was done buying groceries for the week. But then, 2 things happened:

We started running low on produce. With all this clean, healthy livin’ I don’t think I properly accounted for all the extra fruits and veg I’d be nomming on. I partially blame California and its incredible produce - year round, but especially this time of year - on this. Plus, Den and the kids have certainly been helping to make a dent in our fruit and vegetable stockpile.
I received a “spend $15, get $5 coupon” in the mail yesterday from a market that I don’t normally frequent because it’s not on my usual walking route. But for $5, I’ll definitely walk the extra 3 blocks! That’s a good deal!

I bought:

a bulb of garlic
a giant head (this sucker is SOLID) of green cabbage
3 bananas
2 organic yams
large tub of Chobani (so addicted!)
2 organic nectarines
pint of raspberries
3 organic Fuji apples
hella organic broc
bunch of organic celery
package of Next Organics Dark Chocolate Cherries (okay, this was a total splurge, but it’s a little pressie for Dennis’ 40th birthday next week! He is going to LOVE this!)

My total came to $23.11. But I had that coupon, remember? So I ended up paying $18.11 for my haul today. Those Dark Chocolate Cherries accounted for a lot of my bill.

So, after today’s little supplemental produce shop, I’m only left with $17.43 in my $50 per week budget for next week. Next week will be a challenge for sure!

Jul 2

Holy moly I did a super big shop!

You’re lookin’ at:

bag of organic tortilla chips (Den’s request)
2 boxes of squeezable applesauce pouches (Okay, so these aren’t the most budget-friendly at 50 cents per pouch. We’ve just been out of the house so much lately, and I’ve needed food that I can throw in my bag for Hungry Henry. He’s still a bit too young and too toothless to eat most regular food, so applesauce is the perfect take-along snack. And I love these pouches because no refrigerator, spoon or bowl is required. I justify this purchase because they really do save me time and make my life much easier.)
box of Ak-Mak crackers (yumster!)
edamame hummus (hey hummus, please meet Ak-Mak crackers, above)
tub of organic cottage cheese
bag o’ lemons (I have been going through them like crazy lately!)
3 potatoes
2 yams
2 Preserve toothbrushes (I just love these toothbrushes and their mail-back program so much!)
small bottle of balsamic vinegar
jar of marinara
bottle of peppermint Dr. B’s
half gallon of organic milk
jar of salsa
2 organic pears
mango
8-pack of yogurt for Maya’s lunchbox
4 pink lady apples (used to be 5, but I ate one while unpacking these groceries. Ha!)
5 bananas
box of button mushrooms
2 Cashew Cookie Lara Bars (my little pre-gym treat)
2 cans organic garbanzo beans
bag of organic baby spinach
a bunch of organic green beans
bag of organic carrots
4 Cali yellow peaches
box of cherries (I’d like to make a batch of my homemade cherry jam out of these but I suspect Dennis will get to them before I have a chance.)
large box of organic Cali strawberries

My cupboards and fridge were pretty bare before today’s shop, so I went a wee bit over my $50 per week budget. My total today came today $64.46.

I am OK with the overage. We really needed a bunch of stuff. Next week, I’ll try to cut my grocery budget to $35.54 to make up for going over this week. Or maybe not. I may just give myself a pass on this one. Haven’t decided yet.

Jun 28

Out of sorts

I was chatting with my mom on the phone this afternoon. I told her that without having a meal plan in place this week, I was feeling really out of sorts. Mom corrected me, advising that the actual definition of “out of sorts” is something akin to “irritated”. Huh. My whole life I thought “out of sorts” meant discombobulated.

And discombobulated I am! The first few days after mom and dad’s visit, my kitchen was overrun with leftovers and I wanted to use them up. But now, we’re down to nothing, the week’s over half-over and I have empty cupboards and no plan! I hate shopping piecemeal and having to come up with meals on the fly. It’s inefficient and expensive. But if I do a big shop now, it’ll compromise my regular Meal Plan Monday schedule. I’m so screwed!

Never start a week without a meal plan. Lesson learned, my friends. Lesson learned.

Rest assured, this week hasn’t been a total wash. You may have noticed I’ve been posting less frequently over the last few days. That’s because I’ve been spending my bloggy time on a cool little project that I’ll be unveiling tomorrow morning… So check back mañana for more deets!

Jun 17

Such loveliness.

With mom and dad in town, we celebrated this Father’s Day in authentic San Franciscan style: We hiked the steepest hills across town and went to the farmers’ market!

I’d never been to the market at Fort Mason before, so this was a new experience for all of us. And wow, I think it ranks right up there at the top of my list of favorite farmers’ markets in SF. It was truly incredible!

It’s a smaller market than the one I usually frequent, but this one is very special. The quality and selection is outstanding. And for being such a small market, they still seemed to have everything - fruit, veg, cheese, eggs, bread, pastries, soap, oils, herbs, flowers and lots of prepared food vendors, including coffee! There were tons of samples. Maya ate more fruit and vegetables than I’ve ever seen. Thank you for that, farmers’ market!

Oh man, the berries. Especially the strawberries. No words. I feel bad for you if you don’t live in Cali. Because there is absolutely nothing, nothing like a freshly picked Cali strawberry. Good lord.

Fort Mason was also boasting a crystal and gem fair today and the hippie flower child in me really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, my little Henster was getting cranky so we didn’t stick around after the market. Oh well.

Such incredible food. Such a hilly walk. Such a great day!

Mod Apron

Modern homemaking for the frugal urban mama.

Homebody

Out of sorts