a little taste of the city

i envy anyone who has the pleasure of calling new york home. i am one hundred percent in love with manhattan and i would visit that lovely island several times each year if i could. (i am watching the today show as a type this, wanting to strangle all the people frantically waving behind matt lauer. how come they get to be there and not me?!) anyway.... one of my favorite things to do while in ny is to snarf up some of magnolia bakery's banana pudding. heaven in a cup. i finally made myself a batch here at home and felt like i was back on the streets of manhattan. this stuff is amaze-balls.

magnolia bakery's banana pudding

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups ice cold water

1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups heavy cream

1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers

4 cups sliced ripe bananas

in a small bowl, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. it is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

in a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

to assemble the dessert, place 2-3 semi-crushed up nilla wafers in the bottom of a clear plastic cup (the recipe calls for the entire dessert to go into one large glass container, but i prefer individual servings). place several banana slices on top of wafers. dollop a generous spoonful of pudding on top off wafers and bananas. continue layering until cup is full. the recipe should yield about 18 individual serving cups. cover cups tightly with plastic wrap and allow to refrigerate for at least four hours (but no more than eight).

if you love banana pudding, this will blow your mind.

tagg's line-ups

tagg is really in to lining things up lately. he does it with everything. this was a line-up i tripped over a couple days ago. its my favorite so far. he's certifiable.

pat the bunny baby shower

yesterday i had the pleasure of throwing my adorable friend, megan, a baby shower. i got the idea for a pat the bunny theme shower and was really excited about all the little details. then craig informed me that no one would know what pat the bunny was (its a CLASSIC childrens book, duh!) but it was too late, i was too excited and there was no turning back.

i was also super excited about doing a PINK shower. pink, pink, and more pink.

the table scape. turns out, most everyone (including megan, who was the one that really mattered) knew and loved pat the bunny book. so there, craig. and jocelyn.

each page of the touch-and-feel book was incorporated into the shower.

so naturally, i had to get a life size picture of alex (the daddy-to-be) and give him a sand paper beard. the beard was cut into a puzzle with different questions on the back.

i had asked alex a few questions in advance and everyone had a riot listening to his responses. lets just say one of the questions was "do you remember the nite of conception?" yup. i went there. and yup. he did.

after the daddy game, lunch was served. marcia, megan's MIL, prepared the fantastic spread.

a lady asked me where my recycling bin was so she could throw away her empty water bottle. maybe i lied to her and said "oh yes, we have one, let me just do it for you."

after lunch, we played a game. ok, i am not a game person but peek-a-boo had to come in somewhere.

so we played the adult version of peek-a-boo. which, actually is a very fun game: the sheet game. two groups stand on either side of a sheet being held up. each team sends one person to stand right behind the sheet. at the count of three the sheet is dropped and whoever calls out the other person's name first wins. then the losing person is sent to the winning team's side. a lot like red-rover. but without the broken arms.

craig's mom let me borrow some of her vintage children's books. craig thumbed thru the books and remembered when cheri read them to him. very sweet.

the mirror corner with baby pictures of megan and alex.

then it was time for presents.

megan opened tons of gorgeous things. her little girl is one lucky lady.

after presents it was DESSERT time. everyone gathered around for....

"mommy's rings" also known as MY mommy's famous donuts. these babies usually only make an appearance at the halloween donut party but i twisted my mom's arm to get up at 6am that morning to start the process of making a batch.

my aunt megan made her dewicious sugar cookies too. some serisouly good treats.

each lady took home a petite vase with a crepe paper flower (spritzed with perfume, of course). emily and i stayed up late one nite making these little numbers. fun, but our fingers were raw afterwards.

me, megan (the darling mommy-to-be), emily and elliot. i could not have done the shower without emily's help. she was such a good little worker elf.



my mom warned me not to over do it with decorating the disposable water bottles. does she not know me? i am gaudy by nature. but honestly, i had a blast planning every second of this shower and watching megan have a great time.

bet you cant guess his favorite color

orange! for some reason (chalk it up to me being his mom) i think it is totally adorable that his favorite color is orange. it gets me every time he says it.

ps. tagg doesnt drink gatorade on a normal basis. but he has been feeling a little under the weather (i think he might be getting his two year molars) and for some reason gatorade seems to be the cure all.

serious cookies

these are the cookies i served at the school-theme baby shower. they are seriously good. jocelyn told me about them (she hasnt even made them yet! shameful) and after i made them she asked me if they were worth it. YES. they are.

america's test kitchen best-cookies-ever

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

14 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

preheat oven to 375 degrees. line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

heat 10 tablespoons butter in skillet (preferably not non-stick) over medium-high heat until melted, about two minutes. continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, one to three minutes. remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. stir remaining four tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. let mixture stand for three minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. repeat process of resting and whisking two more times, until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. stir in flour mixture until just combined, about one minute. stir in chocolate chips.

use a #24 cookie scoop and arrange balls of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. eight cookies per sheet.

bake cookies one tray at a time until they are golden brown and still puffy and the edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes. rotate cookie sheets halfway through baking.

the recipe says to cool completely before serving. but honestly they are the best straight out of the oven. enjoy!

i'm a big girl now

i just purchased my very own sewing machine! and i have been going to town on a few projects ever since it arrived on my door step. dont even ask about the point of this circus quilt. i realize i have a son and that this quilt is a tad on the feminine side. but i just loved all the fabrics.

and its not like it can be an airplane quilt for me because i am 26. still like it though.

a few years ago, my mom made me an amazing chenille quilt. i use it every nite and have wanted to try and duplicate it for some time. and i always like me some shabby chic! so this is my version of the "spa quilt".

and i made a freaking dress. i bought a dress from target a couple months ago and literally wear it every other day (its to the point where i think people might wonder if i bathe...). it is just so comfortable and perfect for fatness. i thought: how hard could it possibly be to make a copy?! um, hard. as my mom said: and this is why people buy clothes in stores. but thanks to her help we put this little ditty together and now i have an alternate to my target dress.

he's basically a teenager
in the past week, tagg went to the nursery for the first time for all TWO hours without craig/me AND got his first official haircut. now, one might ask why tagg needed to trim his ten strands of hair and that would be a valid question. but there was a clump in the back that was quite long and so off we went to see HOLLY!

he was such a good boy. and it had nothing to do with the m&ms being shoved in his mouth the whole time. honestly though, he was quite the little gentleman.

exhibit A: a full mouth of m&ms. i am obsessed with my big boy.