Song of the Day

I've been whistling this song all year, ever since I discovered Hospitality, via Tiny Desk Concert. But I only just got around to seeing the video today. The coastal flip-flop idea is pretty cute (reportedly, it came from the mind of a "Bob's Burgers" writer). More importantly, though...

Hello, Maeby!

5 L.A. Restaurants Where Feeding My Kid Veggies Isn't A Chore

A Saxton Freymann creation

The act of convincing kids to eat vegetables can, at times, be...well...an alternative form of birth control. Even my adventurous little gourmand treats my nerves like her own personal Theremin when she finds something non-starchy, non-protein-y and non-cheesy on her plate.

But, for whatever reason, she will relent when the veggies are offered up by a professional food server. (She's even been known to cave for the sample lady at Trader Joe's!)

So, when the budget allows, I will gladly pay for a meal's worth of sanity. Here are my best bets for getting my daughter to show some love for The Forgotten Food Group.

Song of the Day

I find some household tasks (window-cleaning, toilet bowl-scrubbing) require me to be in a trance-like state. This is both driving and hypnotic and helps get the job done.

Wantables — Let the Spoiling Begin (rather, Continue)

HomeGoods, I'm way ahead of you. Your aisles have been crammed with Halloween stuff for the past several weeks, but my mind has already jet-packed forward to Christmas. Not so much the crafty decorations, or bountiful meal plans — I'm onto presents, presents and more presents!

Bearing in mind my kid's mid-November birthday and Dec. 25, I'm already strategizing which things she'll get and on which of the special days she'll get them. Go ahead. You can judge me. But I'll rattle off the following list of gift contenders knowing that you'll secretly take a break from clowning me just long enough to mentally store some of these ideas:

Djeco is a good fit for my all-consumingly-creative child. The French brand's art kits have exactly what her brain keys into — meticulous designs, copious colors and tons of teeny-tiny little pieces that drive me crazy.

She'd love this Klimt-y kit and it would jog her memory of the exhibit we caught this summer at The Getty.

Song of the Day

I was promised a break from this overbearing heat. The doofus with the tacky suit and bad tan lied. Until I see/feel some temperatures that warrant even so much as a closed-toe shoe (is that really so much to ask for?!), I'll just put this track on repeat and fantasize about brisque breezes and accessorizing with scarves.

Art I Heart — Giant Robot Biennale 3

 

This past Saturday, the family once again converged on the Japanese American National Museum in order to mooch off of their free cultural goodness. That night's event was the opening party for Giant Robot Magazine's 3rd Biennale. There were more specially customized vinyl figurines than you could shake a stick at, all designed by the stable of artists that have helped make the Asian pop culture magazine what it is.

From Kitschy to Clinical — Our Kitchen Before & After

BEFORE:

Just in case you weren't certain which room you'd entered, the little old lady from whom we bought our 90-year-old house had filled the kitchen with helpful hints. Before we overhauled this approx. 110-sq. ft. kitchen, it was filled with vegetable print curtains, vegetable still-life paintings, decorative jars of vegetables floating in mysterious liquids and ceramic backsplash tiles featuring vegetables. The paint color, I could describe only as "flavor-blast." It was a lot of look. One year later, we managed to achieve the simple, bright and airy, easy-to-clean kitchen I always knew we could....