Birthday details, Part 1

This felt like the longest week ever, between finishing up our lease/preparing to move and tons of stuff going on at the office. Thankfully it's the weekend, and looking at pictures from Max's Big 2 makes me forget about all those other annoying, little things.

Max turns 2!

We celebrated the Big 2 birthday on Saturday. Though we didn't have a big party, I thought the occasion had just the right amount of pomp and circumstance, and surely he knew it was a special day and felt special, too. It was filled with red balloons, his favorite bedtime story coming to life in the form of a musical stage production, and birthday cake. Yeap, lots of cake. Why, even our stuffed animal Baby FurFur got some. (More birthday details coming soon.) 

 

It's Monday! Plus a fun baking lesson.

Max's first baking lesson about a month ago was a battle of wills. He didn't totally understand the concept of things coming together in the art of baking. You might think, well he's 23 months old – of course he doesn't understand patience – but actually, his little spats weren't about waiting for the cookies to be done, it was that he couldn't deal with the stuff getting mixed together.

The best steak you'll ever have

It was the first week of fall but we wanted to capture the essence of summer at least once more. (This was before temps rose back into the 80s as it currently is, of course.) This Jalapeno Espresso New York Steak recipe is arguably the perfect transition from summer to fall. The coffee forms a lovely crust, which when you slice your steak, you get the subtlety of those chocolatey-nutty espresso notes infused in each bite – without feeling like you just downed an entire cup of 'jo. And really, there's something cozy about firing up a grill outdoors when you can feel the crisp, cool air around your toes. Bonus: now you'll have a use for all those leftover packets of hotel room coffee.