the haystack needle

update: homemade baby food cookbook

I've had a few people ask about how I'm liking The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet cookbook that I blogged about. I love love love the book. It's been my little bible for introducing Juniper to solids, and it's been going so well (knock wood). The book is packed with information. There are useful tips in the beginning, and then the recipes go month to month. We've almost gone through all of the six month recipes, and so far she loves sweet potato, banana, apples, pear, avocado, brown rice cereal, and her newest favorite — green peas. And the book has a section in the back where you can rate the recipe on how the baby liked it (applesauce cereal is Juniper's 5 star recipe), when you first made it, and any notes on how you varied the recipe. The book has made starting solids with Juniper feel really easy.

And a couple other tools that have helped me with homemade baby food: a food mill and baby-size glass containers. The food mill has been key. The portions in the book's recipes make a few baby servings, but it's still a small portion to put in your blender. I suppose you could triple the recipe, but since we're trying everything for the first time, I want to make sure she likes it first. My blender was getting stuck because there wasn't enough liquid to go around — and to be honest, it feels easier to clean my food mill than my blender. My OXO food mill works so well. And unlike a blender it takes care of the skin, seeds, etc. So you don't have to peel and core apples and peel your sweet potatoes. With the peas, the food mill takes all the inside and leaves the outside shells, which makes it an even smoother puree than a blender would make. I hunted around for the right glass containers, because I wanted to avoid storing her foods in plastic (especially for freezing.) I love how these Wean Green containers are not only glass, but they come in baby-size portions of 4 ounces. So you know how much you're storing and can see how much you're feeding her. Plus, the different color lids are super fun and can be used to color-code foods. Hooray for solids!

Images: from my iPhone and from Wean Green. 

thomas paul melamine plates

To be clear, our kitchen cabinet is stocked full with plates. Overloaded might be a better word. I cannot adopt any more, not even the summery melamine plates for dinners on our roof (I'm all set with a stack of melamine from the Orla Kiely for Target collection and Bon Genre.) But hopefully one of you is in the market for some unbreakable, lightweight, melamine plates. Thomas Paul designs a new (even cooler than the last) melamine collection every season. I adore the Thomas Paul nautical Scrimshaw plates, and I'd pair them with his Portland gingham line — I love a table dressed with mix-matched plates. If your cabinet's full like mine but you have an empty wall in the kitchen, these plates would be a fun start to a Lisa Congdon-inspired plate wall, don't you think?

(photograph of Lisa Congdon's kitchen via design*sponge)

paint by numbers plate

Oh, Anthropologie. Your site is such a danger zone when I'm trying not to spend money. This fantastic Paint-By-Number dessert plate is part of the print series, "111 Reasons to Love You" by Trey Speegle. I'd say this cheery plate is the 111th reason to love paint-by-numbers. Seeing this totally makes me want to create a plate wall out of these plates.

moroccan tea glasses

I confess that I'm just not that into china. I didn't register for china for our wedding and prefer to use more utilitarian white plates. But pretty mismatched bowls and tumblers — that's my weakness. I'm loving these Moroccan tea glasses from Cost Plus World Market. I recently found out World Market has an online shop, which is fun since there isn't a store in New York. When I lived in Chicago, there was a World Market by Dan's apartment where I'd often stop by to browse for nothing in particular. World Market reminds me a lot of Homegoods in that it's super affordable and you often need to hunt around to find something, but sometimes you turn up a total gem.

woodland state of mind

The woodland motif has been around a while — this look has pretty much circled the globe, orbited the moon, and is now hovering in space over some Anthropologie headquarters. But I still love seeing the birds, the birch, the moss, the faux bois. I can't help it. In small doses, I think the woodland trend can stick around as a classic, much like how a few whimsical floral patterns in your wardrobe will never go out of style. And I love seeing how designers are taking the woodland idea up a notch, because it's always harder to create something fresh when people have already seen a zillion things with birds and owls. Here are a few favorites.

Dutch Door Press has designed a line of letterpress 5x7 prints called birds & blooms of the 50 states. It's my favorite design from their collection, for sure. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Texas are the newest editions. I can't wait for Maine to come out, and I love the New York print below. I also think these would make a sweet favor idea if you're planning a wedding in a state you love. 

And I'm stuck on the idea of a terrarium. Maybe two. Here's a secret garden.

Moss Terrarium No. 162, will you be mine?

And I'm sure many of you know Amy Atlas. She's one of my favorite event designers. Check out the woodland party theme she designed. All the birch goodness is right up my alley, and it feels so perfect for fall. We used birch slabs cut from Dan's family's woodlot to set up the cupcakes at our wedding. If you have access to wood, it's a really simple, chic idea to create centerpieces and display food using slices of birch. Check out more photos from her faux bois dessert party right here.

Dan and I are going to see Bright Star tonight. I secretly love period films with all the amazing clothes, and I'm excited to hear Keats' poetry weaved into the movie. Parts of the trailer feel a bit like a woodland fantasy to me, too. Maybe it's the talk of butterflies and scenes of them running off into the forest together.

Have a fun fall weekend!

in and out

I'm checking in quickly to wish you a great weekend, as I'm heading out to the Brimfield antique market today! I'm so excited — not even the rainy weather report will get me down. I've been planning to go to this massive flea market for months now. My friend Yolanda and I are hitting the road this morning and hope to find some one-of-a-kind vintage treasures. I'm taking my camera, so I'll have pictures from the market to share next week. I'll also be sharing my mini bathroom makeover (thanks to Nightwood!) with you.

These in and out trays (above) are new to the Bob's Your Uncle collection of melamine. So graphic and cool — and the road trip signs are fitting as I head out in a van for a little road trip adventure.

gleena ceramics

Gleena means clay in Russian. What's the Russian translation for these handmade porcelain pieces are stunningly gorgeous? Or I can't stop thinking about your beautiful bowls and dream of drinking frothy lattes from a bowl with a calligraphy number? Gleena's artist Asya is originally from Russia and now creates her clay masterpieces in her Rhode Island studio. If you're in the New York area, you're in luck. You can see Gleena's work in person this weekend as Asya is a part of the Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea on Saturday! I'll be walking the Stationery + ICFF shows all weekend at the Javitz — so unfortunately I'm going to miss out. Asya also has a Gleena Etsy shop and a super blog where she shares more of her work (including some amazing commissioned work) as well as what inspires her. Thanks to Your Destiny is Stone Golden, where I found out about Gleena!