STONE FOX WEDDINGS

So honored to be featured on my good friend Molly's incredible website for Stone Fox Bride. Check out the little feature she did here.

Be sure while you are there to check out all of her amazing custom gowns, jewels, and crowns and be sure to send your engaged lady friends there while you're at it.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we finally checked out Underwood family farms which seems to be THE pumpkin patch to check out if you live in LA. We piled in the car on an overcast Saturday morning and first stopped by my husband's favorite deli in all of Los Angeles and then we headed over the farm. I was shocked to see how crowded it was so early in the day. This was not your average pumpkin patch. There were all sorts of rides, two corn-mazes, cowboy-types juggling and lassoing things, animals galore. Mike was heartbroken that we missed the pig races (they happen only every two hours). It was a lot of fun, and despite all of the people it didn't really feel too crowded. Last year we went to a little pumpkin patch and Hank was still so little. Here are two photos of him last year. He still has so little hair! 

I highly recommend making the trek to Underwood Family Farms. Here are a few more photos we took over the weekend: 

Dreaming of Fall Sweaters

It is 94 degrees at the moment here in Los Angeles. This means my dreams of hot apple cider, roasted pumpkin seeds and cozy nights by the fire need to be put on hold for a while. It is full on summer here but that won't stop me from dreaming of a cozy new fall sweater. I will probably have to settle for the H&M version but here are some really cute ones (you'll notice I tend to go for a granny/Wether's Original Grandpa-type sweaters - there isn't really a dainty cardigan to be found):

inhabit

vince

Rag and Bone 

by Malene Birger

Etoile Isabel Marant 

Crack Pie

The Momofuko explosion happened mostly after I left New York city. I think only the noodle bar was there during my time in the city. David Chang is definitely building an empire. He now has restaurants all over the world and even his own magazine. I have actually only eaten at the Ssam bar once. I never made it to Ko or Ma Peche although I would like to someday. I think I remember being blown away. It was a while ago but everything was really delicious. I have kept tabs on all things Momofuko over the years. I bought the cookbook and I was fascinated by all the buzz around Momofuko's Milk bar. I am not a huge sweets person but the creations of Christina Tosi have always sounded amazing. A few years ago I made my first crack pie. I found the recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit. It did not disappoint. I have made it a few times since and it always disappears quickly. I highly recommend trying this. It's a crowd pleaser. 

Crack Pie Recipe:


INGREDIENTS
OAT COOKIE CRUST
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
5 1/2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt
FILLING
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
6 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (for dusting)
PREPARATION
OAT COOKIE CRUST
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray. Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.
Using hands, crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet.
FILLING
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble). Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Continue to bake pie until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still moves slightly when pie dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes longer. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; keep chilled.
Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into wedges and serve cold.

Life Lately

Sweater Weather for a brief moment

Why must you always fall asleep right before we land

Cocktail and Bag of Cheerios at the Breslin in New York

Recreating "Rebel Without a Cause" at the Observatory

Checking out the fountain at The Americana 

Our very own train at Griffith Park 

Future Vassar Student 

Loving the rain 

Checking out the New York City Parks 

Aspirational Tuesday Fall Edition

Just before we left New York on Sunday the temperatures dropped and it got cold. For a brief moment it felt like Fall. The kind of weather where you need to be walking on crisp leaves and sipping an apple cider. Back in LA fall is a bit a more subtle and there are no crisp leaves to be found. The temperatures are finally down in the seventies  here and may even be in the sixties before the week is out. So I am embracing our version of fall today. I am wearing boots and a sweater and it feels so nice after endless months of heat and sunshine. My boots are Steve Madden and they are pretty cute but here are the boots I would buy if money was no object.

The Isabel Marant Dicker Suede boot. Below is Katie Holmes rocking them. There are lots of good fakes out there but there is just something special about the real deal. They are just so stylish and perfect for fall. 

While we are on the subject of Isabel Marant fall boots. I would also probably get these Jenny boots as well. They are the perfect slouch.

Here is Gwynnie P rocking them. 

Lloyd Dobbler Forever

We were off at a beautiful wedding this weekend in Rhinebeck, NY. Sam, one of my husband's best friends, married Casey in a beautiful wedding weekend at the incredible home they are slowly restoring by hand. It was a Quaker wedding ceremony. This was my second time experiencing a bit of a Quaker meeting at a wedding where for the bulk of an hour you sit in silence and wait for your peers to be moved to stand up and say something. It was fascinating and beautiful and overwhelming at times. I was envious that my husband and his friends grew up experiencing this in school every week. It is not always easy to sit in silence, especially in middle school. I think his friends, who are an incredible bunch, are forever changed by having had this experience countless times when they were young. I am so thankful to have been a part of such a beautiful wedding weekend, but while I was away I apparently missed a special concert at the Hollywood Bowl. One where perhaps one of my favorite cinematic moments was recreated on stage - John Cusack holding up the boombox in "Say Anything" blaring "In Your Eyes" to his beloved Diane Court who tries her best to resist him in her bedroom upstairs.At this weekend's Peter Gabriel concert John Cusack came on stage holding a boombox, AND Cameron Crowe was there too. If you are around my age then most likely "Say Anything" was an important movie for you. I know it was for me. I watched it hundreds of times probably. The song "In Your Eyes" is also a significant one. I think it was played at every middle school dance and all of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah's I attended (I went to a lot people). I associate it with a mix of excitement/anxiety of the slow dance that would always commence with that song. Will you be dancing with the cute boy you liked? Will you have anything to say to each other. I think only "Stairway to Heaven" was played more at these gatherings. It was an gorgeous weekend but I am sorry to have missed this moment.

My New Fall Jam

I have always felt like animal prints were for Real Housewives of New Jersey and basically something one ought to refrain from ever wearing. That is why I am not sure what came over me but I recently purchased these flats above from Madewell. Seriously every time I catch a glimpse of myself wearing them I feel glamorous and so chic. It kind of is the same feeling I get when I've had a manicure and I feel like all of my hand gestures suddenly look more lovely. There is just something about this leopard print that feels so cool. As much as I love these flats I don't think I could go much deeper than shoes when it comes to prints like this but you never know. For some reason they seem like something Marilyn Monroe would have worn while playing the ukulele in Some Like It Hot. I highly recommend that everyone gets a pop of animal print in their life. It seriously lifts your spirits. 

Hank's Doctor's Appointment Leads to a Fall Shape Up

Hank pre-appointment

Yesterday morning we took Hank to his two-year-old checkup, and it was not pretty folks. Maybe it's because he is old enough to remember the doctor's office? Or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he woke up at 4:15 am yesterday ready to party and finally fell asleep on the car ride over only to be woken up when we arrived, whatever it may have been, man he was not having it. It turns out our poor guy has an ear infection which means we have to go back in two weeks to finish the appointment. Awesome! We did attempt to weigh and measure my poor screaming son. He was so resistant to being measured that finally the lovely nurse suggested Hank and I get weighed together and then me alone and we could figure out his weight that way. Wow, as if the morning wasn't tough enough already I now have to be weighed in front of my husband who, bless his heart, still seems convinced that I weigh nothing. I didn't want to shatter his illusion. Turns out my illusion has been shattered as well. Gone are the skinny months a year ago when the only exercise I needed was nursing. I am not nursing anymore but I am eating like I am still pregnant. This was not the cutest moment. To be honest I do my best to avoid scales. I think we know our bodies well enough to know when things fit us well and we are slim and when we are not at our slimmest without being a slave to numbers. I've spent enough time in my life being utterly obsessed by how I look. I've tried more recently to measure things more by how I feel. But I am only human and something about hearing the numbers did kind of wake me up. Especially because even the nurse kept trying to make me thinner than I am on the scale. It was if she too couldn't quite believe it.

I am not sharing the exact numbers because I am not crazy but let me say this - I am really committed to losing some serious pounds this fall. I am going to exercise five days a week, today happens to be day four for me so I am off to a good start. Exercise has been really hard for me to keep up with as a working mom. When I leave work I feel like I really should be spending all of my non-working hours with Hank. It feels wrong to be leaving him to do something so selfish but I am over that folks. Frankly the time I spend with Hank is much richer if I have had a chance to sweat and burn some calories. For me these days I need a lot of bang for my buck. I don't have hours to spend at the gym so I am mostly either spinning here or I am running outside or if it's 100 degrees like today than I am running at the gym. I will try and mix in maybe one day a week of Pilates or a DVD, or maybe a fun dance class. I hope since I am actually putting this in a blog post that I will really stick with it and I can update everyone on my process in a few weeks. We have a wedding this weekend on the East Coast near where I went to college. This is a good test for me because I need to find time to exercise even here.

In addition to exercise I will just try to a bit more devout about eating healthy. To be honest I cook a lot and most of what I cook is really healthy - fish, chicken, salads, etc but between family visits and various things to celebrate there has been a bit more indulging of late. I figure if I can ease back on indulging and stick to my new commitment to exercise I just may be ready to face Hank's next checkup where I may have to get weighed again!

Fern Dell Nature Walk

This weekend we had so much fun exploring the park across the street from Trails Cafe in Griffith Park. I have somehow missed this portion of Griffith Park until now. It's really great for kids especially. There is a small little playground area and tons of places for kids to explore, complete with a little creek to walk along. 

To Skuut or Not to Skuut

Now that Hank is two it seems like some kind of bicycle should be in his not too distant future. A few years ago I saw a friend's then four-year-old son ride around the park on a two-wheeler without training wheels like he had been doing it all his life. When I asked him when he took off his training wheels he looked at me a bit confused. He explained to me that he simply never had any. Instead he learned on the Skuut bike, a balance bike. Since then I've seen other friends' kids tool around on the skuut. They simply glide and use their feet but they get the balance down so well that by the time they shift to a proper bike with pedals it's really easy.

Does this mean we avoid the trauma that I remember so vividly when you learn to ride a bike. You're being pushed on the two-wheeler and the terror that overcomes you once you realize your parent has let go. And the falling, I do remember I did some falling. Hank seems just about ready to tool around on a skuut but it might be a bit hard for him, whereas if we got him a tricycle I think it would be easier for him now, but maybe in the long run he would be better going right to a skuut.