If you are in the mood...

If you are in the mood, Madewell is having a 40% off insider favorites today only.

Here are a few things that I like.

What would you pick? 

ps: scroll down for an earlier post today

 

Food for health

 

For all the health conscious foodies out there - have you tried the baked apple? 

It may sound so cliche, but I served this to friends over holidays, and received so many surprised exclamations, I decided to share just in case. It is very simple and easy to make and we are all about easy here ( busy schedules plus a little crew will do it to you)

There is nothing better then a delicious desert that does your body good, right?

You will need: 

equal size apples - take as many as you want, and I do not stick by a "certain type" of an apple. Whatever is on hand works. 

equal parts ( i used 1/2 cup each for 4 apples) of nuts - i used a combination of almonds and walnuts , raisins - white and red, cranberries and whatever else you want. A diced apricot adds a nice flavor.

about 1 cup of liquid honey ( if yours is solid, run hot water over a jar for a few minutes. viola! you have some liquid honey!) 

1 TBsp of butter

about 1 cup of grape or apple juice

The process cannot be more simple:

Preheat the oven to 400*

Remove the core from your apples.  Cut the skin of the apple in some decorative shape. This is absolutely optional, and does not reflect the process or taste, but makes your simple and delicious desert that much more impressive. 

Mix together chopped nuts, raisins, dried berries and diced fruit ( if you are using it) , add honey and fill the empty cores with the mixture.  Put apples in a deep baking pan. Place a drop of butter on top and pour the juice into the pan. 

Bake for about 30 minutes or until ready ( try with a toothpick - the apple needs to be soft all the way through) and ENJOY!

I promise if you haven't tried it yet you'll love it. 

You can be as creative as you wish , adding cinnamon, cloves or other spices as you see fit. For me, nothing beats the aroma of a fresh garden apple and local honey, but sky is the limit for you imagination here. 

Have you tried this before? Do you have a favorite health conscious deserts? 

Baby, it's cold outside!

weather boots, book 1, book 2, carrier, blanket, tea, tea cup, tea tins, cast iron tea pot.

The weather outside has NOT been delightful as of late. As wonderful as seasons are, but anything in extreme measures is not that awesome in my book; though I must admit , it has been somewhat of an adventure trying to figure out how to go on with regular life and activities (many of which require a lot of outside walking time) when it is nice and crispy -2 outside. With hardly any sidewalks properly shoveled.

I'll tell you this. If given a choice between THIS and 108 degrees in September, I much rather do the extreme heat - at least you can go swimming, right? I swore to myself to never, ever, EVER again to wish for colder weather * as i might have been guilty of over this extremely hot summer

On the bright side though, we discovered some de-lisious teas, made a whole RITUAL of how we make and drink it, and read a bunch of awesome books. I am in heaven from the fact that my kids find the books I loved as a child just as fun as I did then ( thought the credit is not mine here. kids would love anything if presented right) 

  

The forecast is predicting high 20s this weekend , and we are keeping all our fingers crossed.

Bring it on , heat wave! We NEED you! 

How are you? I have some more fun things to share this week. Check in. You won't be disappointed, promise. 

 

Happy 2013!

 

Happy New 2013 Year! 

It's a week after the event itself, but I nonetheless want to wish you all the happiest of all the years yet. According to Chinese calendar, 2013 is the year of a Water Snake. May it bring for all more beauty to life, wisdom, health, wealth, happiness, luck and success in everything. If tears, may those be tears of happiness and laughter. If some difficulty or hardship - may there always be around you those to help, time of a trial - short, and the reward 100 times sweeter.

 May the deepest of your heart desires come true this year. 

May the "13" be the lucky number for all!

We've honored both Orthodox calendars this year ( some orthodox traditions are on Gregorian while others - Russian is one of them - still use Julian. While Easter is always the same, Christmas differs by 2 weeks) , commemorating one on Dec 25th and the Russian tradition on the 7th. I wondered if it would be confusing to kids, but to my surprise (and happiness) , they understood and loved it. 

 Taking into account that in we are also big on New Year's celebration, we decided to stay very simple with the presents, because, really - a Santa, Ded Moroz, Christmas gift exchange, and then throw in some birthdays that we've got in December, and it's just ... too much.

We still made sure that Santa took care of the stockings, and Ded Moroz knocked on the door at midnight on New Years, but with simple things. And one per person. But more then any other year, we focused on creating something that would bring warm and sweet memories to our children that they would maybe even want to pass on to their kids, just like I want them to share mine. We made a lot of messes baking, cutting napkin snowflakes,  making ornaments, watching some of the holiday stories and cartoons from my childhood and reading lots and lots of books under the blanket with a cup of hot cocoa.

It's been ridiculously cold  (-8 F is no joke, when it never gets below 20s here) with overwhelming amount of snow for my liking, but we bundled up, strapped "unwalkables" on in a baby carrier and went venturing into gorgeous Mother Nature, a true Winter Wonderland. We came home many times frozen, but that cup of hot cocoa under a warm blanket took care of our way-too-cold hands, but let me tell you - I have not seen my kids happier then this Christmas vacation.  And while lots of times I have no idea what this parenting thing is all about, seeing them all this happy made me feel that , maybe, this time I have achieved something good.

I hope your Holidays were wonderful!

And here are a few IPhone captures of some of our moments.

 

 Trying to catch a snowflake : 

How were your holidays? Do you love traditions?