Dinner Dilemma

Williamsburg, 2014

Ha, this pice, 'What if You Just Hate Making Dinner?' has been making the rounds for a while, but it definitely made me laugh.

I love food blogs and cook books with gorgeous photos of heirloom vegetables scattered over bread boards and all of the rest of it, but realistically? It's been a week of big deadlines and sick babies and ordering from Seamless, even though we also get Blue Apron deliveries and could in theory make something from scratch in about 30 minutes.

On the one hand, we're lucky to live in range of some wonderful delivery options. On the other hand, there is this sense that if you aren't making a wholesome meal every day you're failing in some kind of measure.

Still, that half an hour a day when we're supposed to be roasting Cornish game hens or somesuch happens to be when both boys are clamoring attention, so in order to cook I have to slap on Peppa Pig, and what do you know, I'm not supposed to do that either.

So which is it? Screen time, or dinner?

And Another Thing

Vermont, 2014

Some snippets I remembered on the long car journey south yesterday:

I loved this Zadie Smith essay, Find Your Beach, about living in New York.

This piece on how brunch is for jerks was hilarious. I have to admit that the last time I tried to do brunch (with our two kids) it felt pretty ridiculous-borderline-torturous.

Then there's this Belgian beer place opening in Williamsburg (even if you hate brunch, Belgian beer is pretty good.)

Lastly, one of my favorite food writers, David Lebowitz, came to the neighborhood. It's true, Pies & Thighs is amazing.

Tempo

Vermont, 2014

It's funny looking at this serene picture of Vermont and thinking, well, how frenetic the last few months (years?) have been.

As we caught up with friends, it seemed like a theme was beginning to emerge. 'I've been going a million miles a minute at work,' one of them said. Or 'I actually passed out at work, I've been traveling so much.' There were also a lot of 'I'd love to have a third (or second) baby but I am just so, so tired.' (We sound like a fun bunch, don't we!?) Everyone was kind of trying to let loose and be who we would have been at a wedding a decade ago, but it was hard to rally, given all of the above.

I guess in your mid-thirties (gulp), it's just a time when your career is at its most intense, or is in transition somehow, and we and a lot of our friends have lots of small kids. Some of it is New York, perhaps, but a lot of these friends lived in D.C., or Portland, Maine, or elsewhere. So it's not just the city.

I tried to catch up with one friend over breakfast at the inn we stayed at, but Will had to do some work so was squirreled away on his laptop in a corner and I was chasing Axel in circles around the hotel while he cried, 'I lost my airplane!' on repeat. Meanwhile, our friend was negotiating some argument between her two kids, one of whom was crying because they'd just tripped on something, and I thought, ack, we have a long road ahead of us (her children were maybe 4 and 6.)

Don't get me wrong, we feel so so grateful for our brood and our work and all the rest of it, but it does make me wonder when everyone around us also feels like they have a hundred plates spinning in the air. Does it settle down eventually? Last night, for instance, Will got up and worked (cue paper airplane chaos), then we went to a brunch, loaded our crew into a car, drove for 8 hours or somesuch, and then I bundled the kids into bed and got on my laptop to do some work. And then Ozzy was up 3 or 4 times.

This morning, as I was unpacking some of the kids' clothes, Axel saw the suitcase and got in a complete tizzy saying, 'Black car? I go too!' while having a big old meltdown. Poor kid is feeling kind of weary, and so are we. I am a huge booster for travel with kids, but there's definitely some kind of cost benefit analysis I am too worn out to do.

Festivities

Vermont, 2014

Had a lovely time at the wedding last night (at the Inn at Lareau Farms...where there was a great log fire and a mashed potato bar, among other delights.) And now, back on the road.

Travellers

Vermont, 2014

I feel a bit like we're a traveling circus at the moment, but it's a gorgeous, blue-sky day up here and Oscar is looking very handsome in his red corduroy overalls.

Mad River

 

Vermont, 2014

We arrived in Vermont's Mad River late last night and scaled a mountain this morning (we're definitely taking advantage of this whole foliage situation this month.)

Naturally I've already purchased some tie dyed gear for the boys. We're here for a wedding and can't wait to catch up with friends by the roaring fire here.

11211 Love

New York, 2014

I love Williamsburg, obviously, but even I had to cock an eyebrow at this real estate ad on the subway today.

I guess it's timely, given all the hoopla about Brooklyn property, but doesn't it kind of sound like an ad for wine, coffee, or chocolate?

'Williamsburg is the archetype of American life?' Really Piet Boon? As I'm walking down Bedford Avenue later I will certainly think to myself, 'I am raw. I am robust. I am intense.'

Oh Hello!

Oscar, 2014

Aaaand we're still not sleeping through the night around here. At least this guy is pretty endearing.

Back At It

New York, 2014

Back to the city, back to work, back to feeling by turns in awe and by turns overwhelmed by the tempo that is our day to day life here.

There are quiet, errand-y days, here and there, but as my freelance work picks up post-maternity leave, they are fewer and farther apart.

Somehow, even though I'm grateful to be able to do the school pick up or the back to school night before or after filing a story, there seem to be things from every corner of my life jostling for attention and making me feel a bit spread thin.

Orchard

Maine, 2014

Lots of wholesome fall activity (and constant motion) this weekend, followed by a long drive back to the city, pumpkins and apples and squash in tow.