My niece, now nearly 5, received these Sailboat Pants as a 2nd birthday present.  When I make things for the kids in my life, I usually really try and find something that they-and their parents- will like and that looks good on them.  The fabric, which sports green tomatoes, popped out at me as soon as I saw it, and I knew that the print would suit my little niece.

As the clothing gets sent from New York City to Upstate to Chicago and back to Tribeca again, we get re-surprised with favorite pieces that have made it through the paces.  These pants are one of the first things that I made for one of the cousins before we knew we would have another girl, and it is particularly sweet to get a turn wearing them.

What’s more, these pants really seem to appeal to Miss Genevieve.  She was totally working it the other day when she picked them out to wear.

What about you?  Do you recycle your clothing?  Do you have a chain of cousins or friends that the clothing gets passed down?  Do you cut up old things and give them a second life?

This salad totally cracks me up.  Made first on a whim and unrequested for my step-aunt-in-law’s Rosh Hashana dinner, this salad has taken my friends and family by storm.  It is a version of what I made all summer involving peaches or nectarines or plums or….

It was devoured at Aunt Joey’s dinner, and one of her best friends in the world swore that, though she normally cannot stand kale-even kale chips-this was delicious.  Keep in mind that I served it vegan, without the parmesan cheese, to serve everyone with dairy allergies there.  Since it was such an unexpected hit yet so easy to swing, I made it again for various dinner parties and potlucks.  This little salad has given me clout with foodies and opened small doors to new friendships.

One friend even propositioned me to start a business around it: “It’s better than that kale salad that everyone says is the best at [insert fancy and delicious restaurant in our neighborhood that is famous for their kale salad but that I don't want to diss here in any way].”

Ha!

So, after much haranguing about sharing the recipe, here it is, Yummies.  No biggie.  Crunchy, fresh, and totally simple to make.  I like it a lot but am not quite sure what all the fuss is about.

Chopped Kale Salad with Pomegranate and Apple

For the Salad:

• 2 bunches of kale, stemmed and cut into ribbons

• 1 pomegranate, seeded

• 1 crisp apple on the tart side (Granny Smith, Fuji, Honey Crisp), diced

• optional:  a handful of golden raisins, a few shavings of parmesan cheese, toasted slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, etc.

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• the juice of one lemon

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 t- 1 T. local honey

• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• optional: 1 t. mustard powder, a t. of any favorite vinegar

1. Have your mini-chef squeeze half of the lemon over the apples.  Toss the juice and the apples together and place in the  bottom of your serving bowl.

2. Place half of the ribbons of kale over the apples.

3. Cut the pomegranate in half width-wise.  Hold one half of the pomegranate, skin side up, over a wide, deep bowl and, using a wooden spoon, beat the seeds down and out into the bowl.  Repeat for the second half of the pomegranate.  Place the seeds on top of the apple-kale stack in your salad bowl.

4. Next, place the other half of the kale ribbons on top of the pomegranate seeds.  Add any other ingredients: almonds, raisins, parmesan, etc.  You can cover and place your salad in the fridge till just before serving time.

5. Make the dressing: There are two options.  Either place all of the ingredients in a mason jar and shake, or if you like to be extra fancy, or don’t mind cleaning your blender, put everything in the blender and blitz.  As always, please make sure that the blender is unplugged until the top is secured if your mini-chef is helping!

6. Just before serving, toss the salad with the dressing.  Enjoy!

In New York City, Nemo brought us the perfect amount of snow to play and have fun.

Yesterday, after we’d been outside playing for a couple of hours or more, the wind coming off of the Hudson moved right through the many layers of clothing I was wearing.  I was shivering.  My son, meanwhile, took off his hat, happy as a clam to run around with his rosy cheeks and a big smile.

It snowed only a handful of times during my Georgia childhood, and one of those times my best friend and I, fifth graders at the time, encountered a small snow storm that shut down every single business in town.  We had no mittens or gloves- why would we, in general-so we put two pairs of socks on our hands and went outside to play.  By the time we came back in, my hands were absolutely florescent pink from the cold.

Here, the snow was magical this weekend.  The quiet and the freshness it brings to the City?  There’s nothing comparable.  Still, the phrase that kept popping into my own mind as I fought the good fight to stay warm in Nemo was this:  a fish out of water.

The past weekend in New York City was rainy and dreary, and by the end of it, Mira and Liev were bored and whining and beginning to fight.  There’s nothing like two consecutive days inside to start trouble between siblings.  To make things worse, my husband was off in Florida attending and speaking at Engage!12 , which meant everyone was even more out of sorts.  The evenings, at the Witching Hour, are particularly nerve wracking.

Even for Gigi some sort of ennui seemed to be seeping in.  So, when Church Street School for Music and Arts called me up on Monday to ask whether I would be willing to take home one of their gingerbread kits and blog about it, I had one vision.  My kitchen would be a bit of a mess, but my kids would be smiling and engaged.  Yes, please!

A special box was waiting for Mira and Liev  when they got home from their after-school activities.  They were so excited to open it up and get started right away, but a solid dinner first is key since a lot of that decorating candy will end up in their mouths.  Better to feed them up beforehand so that they’re not bouncing off the walls when the gumdrops are unleashed!

While I prepared dinner, all three kids sat down at the table with a piece of paper and a pencil to jot down their design ideas for our house.  Genevieve is still in her avante-garde phase of design, but she was included all the same.

After dinner, we really got down to business.  We looked over the design ideas, opened our kit to see what we had to work with, and  talked about how we could use some of our ideas with the candy provided in our kit.  We even supplemented the kit with the last of our Halloween candy (Aw, yeah!).

We got out some paint brushes to use with the frosting.  Church Street School provides popsicle sticks for this, but my kids love to paint and wanted to use brushes instead.  Who am I to interfere with their inner artiste?

Lollipop in mouth, Liev spread the icing over the roof.  He had designed a roof with candy corn shingles that we all felt was perfect, but since we didn’t have any candy corn, Mira suggested that we use Smarties and Sweet Tarts and gum drops instead.

Genevieve excitedly announced, “CANDY!!!” several times while snatching a few treats from the table.  She crashed a few minutes later, and while I gave her a bath and put her in her crib, I told the big kids that they could each have a side of the house to decorate any way they wanted.

Being devotees of chocolate, they both tapped the m&m supply for their design.  While I wasn’t there to witness it, it seems like there might have been something like this going on: “One for me, one for the house”.  You know what?  They were not fighting at all.  Instead, “That looks great, Liev!” and “Oh, that’s a good idea, Mira!” were the things I heard coming from my kitchen.

When Genevieve was in bed and I rejoined them, we figured out we wanted to showcase the cute gummy penguins and have rainbow windows and doors.  In a few more minutes, our house was complete.

Have you ever decorated a gingerbread house for the holidays?  Do you start out with a design or just jump in?

Thank you, Church Street School for Music and Art!  Not only do you make my kids happy on a regular basis with your one-of-a-kind-in-this-neighborhood teachers and classes, you totally made my family’s night.  What a delicious way to kick off the Christmas season!!!

Happy Hannukah!  Hope you’re celebrating in the best ways!  We Bruce-Lows are never ones to miss out on a tradition that involves doughnuts… and Gigi was most definitely ready to play along.

A week ago, we were immersed in darkness and that strangely timeless time after the storm hit.  We ventured out into the daylight to see how our neighborhood had fared.

Some of the trees, really so few of them all things considered, were lying on their sides with their roots exposed.  How sad to reach down and touch them and bid them farewell.  Many of their tree neighbors, against all odds, still stood rooted firmly to their place in the neighborhood, firmly to their place in the park.  Spindly, teenage trees in Battery Park City, where the water rose so high, managed to hold on for dear life, and older more established trees with thick roots were blown to the ground.  It’s hard to understand why some fell and some did not.

Right now our internet speed is rivaling the days of dial-up, but I wanted to come here, for those who have emailed me and been worrying, to say that we kept our roots absolutely intact last week.  Never have I felt more part of this community of mine with so much love coming my family’s way.  Things, for us, are getting back to normal, but, as I hope you have heard, the same cannot be said for some families.

Downtown has mobilized now that we have the power back on, but another storm is on its way to the North East.  People need blankets, coats, scarves, gloves, hats, diapers, sanitary products, cleaning supplies, work gloves, baby wipes, tarps, and many more things to ensure they end up safe and well on the other side of this storm.  Please consider clicking over to this Amazon wish list for an easy way to help, no matter how far away you might be.  Even a small donation could make a gigantic difference in the lives of these displaced people.

On a much, much lighter note, this chicken soup I made early on Tuesday morning and kept on simmer for three days, was delicious, warm, and so comforting when our family needed comfort.  Bug hugs and kisses to you, Yummies.  New York, shine on!

Happy Friday, Yummies.  Hope your weekend is warm and wonderful!

Our tiny dancer was appalled by her toddler ballet class.  The worst offense seemed to be the choice of music.  She looked at me quizzically when the teacher put on songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “I’m a Little Teapot”.  What, she seemed to ask with her eyes, is this garbage?  Put on some Katy Perry, some One Direction, some Talking Heads, some Snoop Lion, for goodness’ sake!  After a couple of minutes of this, she gathered her things (sparkly gold purse is a MUST for making a dramatic exit!) and demanded to leave.

We did stay for the entire class, but Genevieve, the girls who adores our near-daily family dance parties, was not at all impressed with ballet.  I tried not to laugh during class, especially since the (very sweet) teacher and a couple of the other mommies seemed so serious about it.  It was an almost exact repeat of what happened when I tried to take Mira to ballet at this age.  Judging by the fact that Mira is now a dedicated and beautiful dancer, it’s hard not to just laugh these toddler moments off.

Genevieve might ask if she had the words: When do they offer hip hop, y’all?

(For more CORNER VIEWS from around the world with a THIS IS HORRIBLE! theme, head over to Francesca’s blog.)

This Moment, a Friday ritual led by Soule Mama

One day when Mira was about 4 and Liev about 2 and keeping me busy, the phone rang while I was melting the butter for this recipe.  Someone was asking for a phone number or a play date, etc., and I left the kitchen for a couple of minutes to attend to the request.  When I came back, I smelled one of my favorite things in the whole wide world: brown butter, and I couldn’t believe that I had not thought to use it instead of regular melted butter before that.

Now I can ask: What’s better than banana bread?  Brown Butter Banana Bread!

Assembling the ingredients is no small thing considering bananas usually do not make it to the overripe state around here.  We buy a couple of bunches of bananas and then start talking about how good the bread will be, and end up, more or less, with the four bananas we need to make it.

Friends have been hounding me for this recipe ever since then.  It is truly more tea cake than super healthy muffin, but after messing around with the recipe for this several years, even pre-brown butter stage, it now has reached a firm place in our family recipes.

It is good, as is.  You might, of course, try slathering it with something seasonal, like apple or pear butter, or some raw, local honey, just to gild the lily.

Brown Butter Banana Bread

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) of butter, melted and browned to an amber color
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla
• optional: 1 t. brandy, rum, bourbon, etc.
• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease or paper 3 mini-loaf pans, 1 regular loaf pan, or a 12-cup muffin tin.
3. With a big fork or a potato masher mash the bananas till nearly no lumps remain.
4. After the brown butter has cooled down, whisk it together with the sugar in a large bowl.
5. Add one egg, stir, and the other egg, and stir again.
6. Next add the vanilla and the liquor if you are using it.
7. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
8. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until they are well incorporated.
9. Pour the batter into the baking pan.
10. Bake till a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  For a standard bread pan, that will be about an hour or so, for a mini-loaf, 30 minutes, and for muffins, about 20 minutes.