We went to Ice Cream Sandwich last night, another annual vacation tradition. Every year I stand there reading the menu for far too long, until I remember that all I want is soft serve with chocolate sprinkles.

What’s a trip to Cape Cod without seafood? Last night we enjoyed our annual feast at Seafood Sam’s in Sandwich, MA, a yummy, family-friendly restaurant that we visit every year.

I can’t resist Baked Stuffed Shrimp. I just can’t.

How about this baked seafood platter? It was everything I could do to NOT steal that lobster claw from my sister!

Next we have lobster ravioli, which was surprisingly light…and of course tasty.

Fried scallops anyone?

For those of you who don’t like seafood, the chicken tenders are awesome. I didn’t get a picture, but the onion rings are delectable as well.

I loved these clothes pins by the front register. They were practically begging to be photographed.

The house that we’re renting this week on Cape Cod sits between a beautiful marsh and the beach. On the marsh side there is a long dock. The owner of the house told us if we dangled uncooked bacon on string off the dock, we could catch crabs.

Nate took Cate and her cousin Abby out to catch crabs yesterday afternoon. This activity kept the girls occupied for a really long time.

I’ve never seen two four-year-olds so focused for such a long time. It was adorable. I couldn’t help but think about how at that very moment we were forming their childhood memories. I hope this one stays with them, it’s a goodun.

In case you’re wondering, we did not eat the crabs…or the bacon.

I back am in the thick of Dunkin’ Donuts Country. I forget how prevalent DD is in the Northeast until I step off the plane and see the world painted in orange and pink.

And even though these are not my favorite donuts, I simply can’t help myself. I do believe we are on Dozen #4. And we’ve been here three days. Scary.

Time to EAT the donuts.

I’m on the Cape. And there’s no where I’d rather be. And I’m not planning a menu.

I’m on vacation.  I never take vacation, from graphic design or keeping up with this blog. Which isn’t a bad thing, but I’m just going to take it easy this week.  I may share some of our delicious Cape Cod eats with you, but I’m not planning on anything and just letting the ocean breeze carry me.

If you’re NOT on vacation, then please share your menu for the week! I’ll need some ideas when I get back in the groove next week! So please please plan and share a menu!

What a WEEK. I think I’ve slept an average of 3 hours a night for the last four nights. But it’s been worth every lost wink of sleep!

The Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge was unbelievably fabulous. This Week for Dinner WON the Tastiest BlogLuxe Award, along with the oh-so-lovely Pioneer Woman Cooks, whom I had the chance to meet & spend a little time with last nigt! Thanks to all of YOU for getting me into the Top Five…and to the VIP judges for selecting my blog as a winner!

Oh, and Ciaran Blumenfeld and I appeared on CBS 2 Chicago this morning! Roseanne Tellez interviewed us for a segment on mom bloggers.  Here’s the link!

More to share, of course, but I’m going to bed. Finally. But first, BIG THANKS to Swiffer, Kodak (who gave away the ZI6 HD pocket video camera in all of our swag bags!!) and all of our amazing sponsors! We could not have pulled off the party without their support.

And love and hugs to my co-hostesses for SocialLuxe Lounge – Allison Czarnecki, Marie LeBaron, Jennifer Sbranti, Beth Feldman and Ciaran Blumenfeld. It was truly an amazing group of women to work with.

It’s summertime, which means any of you who have planted zucchini (or have friends who have planted zucchini) are probably buried in it. I can’t believe how that plant grows, and grows, and grows. If you’re looking for something to DO with all of that zucchini, check out last year’s call for recipes. Don’t miss the chocolate zucchini bread recipe!

There are also a bunch of zucchini recipes here on the Martha Stewart website that may be fun to peruse and try out.

If you have more zucchini recipes to share, please click here and add it to the comments!

Happy Zucchini-ing!

Oh my goodness, I’m in love. With Caribbean food. And two restaurants in particular. Back A Yard in Menlo Park and Coconuts in Palo Alto. They are owned by the same people and are both fantastic. So I feel it my duty to share with the world just how great they are!

First, Back A Yard. We go here for takeout, and while it’s pretty small, they do have seating. Annetta, the woman working the counter every time I go, is the sweetest.

So far my favorite items at Back A Yard are the jerk chicken (dark meat) and the corn festivals. Ah, the corn festivals. If you’ve never had them they are like a donut of sorts…taste kind of like beignets, to me. Yum-ed-y-yum-yum-yum.

Now on to Coconuts! Coconuts is much larger and really cute, with live music on weekends.

And the curry shrimp I ordered? To DIE for.

Nate tried the curried goat, which was actually quite good…and our friends got jerk chicken and jerk salmon, which were both delish. My favorite was the pork bites appetizer.

This food has made me fall in love with SPICE. I used to be kind of a chicken when it came to hot, spicy foods. But now I can’t get enough of the stuff! If you’re ever in town, I’ll meet you for some Caribbean for sure!

Coming this Saturday I’ll be flying straight from the craziness of Chicago and BlogHer to Cape Cod and VACATION. I can’t wait to be with family, relax and eat lots of vacation food…like s’mores. Yum!

Now that SocialLuxe Lounge is here and vacation is starting soon, I’m not really going to be cooking much. Yippeeeee! But I’ll still post menus, even though they may not be all that inspirational. So, please share your menus! You definitely are going to have to rely on one another for ideas!

MONDAY:
- Hot dogs

TUESDAY:
- Spaghetti

WEDNESDAY:
- I’ll be in Chicago!

THURSDAY:
- Party time!

FRIDAY:
- BlogHer

SATURDAY:
- Flying to Cape Cod

SUNDAY:
- Who knows? I’ll be on the beach, so I think anything will make me happy.

Time to announce the winner for the HauteMammas.com giveaway!

Michele, who said “Neat idea!  Pick me!”

You’ve been picked, Michele! Congratulations and enjoy your cards! For everyone else…better luck next time! And don’t forget to use the code TWFD 20 on the HauteMammas.com website before Noon on July 31 to get 20% off your order! A little hint…Gift Lables are on sale right now!

The Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge is literally right around the corner! I can’t believe it’s already here…and I’m getting super excited. The music playlist is ready, my SINGLE dress has arrived (it’s lovely!) and I’m ready to party!

Swiffer® is the title sponsor of the event. As part of the sponsorship, they sent each of the hostesses the newly redesigned Swiffer® Wet Jet® with Antibacterial Solution. Cate and I gave our new Wet Jet a test run today, with great success! Here are the reasons I am really liking this new Swiffer Wet Jet:

1) The pole is stronger. You can get much better leverage and it just feels nice and sturdy. I am so happy they made this improvement!

2) The scrubbing strip has been moved to the front of the mop, which is nice and handy.

3) It’s battery operated! I had a similar wet mop years ago that had tubes I needed to rinse out, and the little trigger that was kind of ‘iffy.’ The Swiffer Wet Jet has a nice, simple, battery-powered button that sprays the soap through dual-action sprayers (fancy!).  There are no tubes, no messy bottles to pull in and out spilling all over the place. It’s just smartly designed.

4) Cate is in love with it and wants to clean all day long!

Seriously, she loved “Swiffering” the living room and would have all day if we didn’t make her stop to eat! And look at all the dirt she cleaned up! The floors were mopped just three days ago with a traditional mop…I can’t believe all the dirt the Swiffer Wet Jet picked up! (Should I be embarrassed for sharing this picture? Oh well!)

Big THANKS to Swiffer for a great Wet Jet and for being the title sponsor for our party!

My second guest post on Make and Takes is up! You won’t want to miss it…I actually did something creative and artistic with food…rather than just preparing and eating as quickly as possible! Click here to read about Watermelon Pie…it’s adorable AND yummy. What could be better in the summertime? Maybe running through the sprinklers, but that’s it.

We recently went olallieberry picking! You may be thinking, “Olalawhat?” You’re not alone – I just discovered them myself. Olallieberries are grown primarily in California and are a cross between the loganberry (which is a cross between raspberries & blackberries) and the youngberry (which is a cross between blackberries & dewberries).

Now that you know the olallieberry’s genealogy {yawn}, on to the fun stuff! We picked our olallieberries at Phipps Country Store & Farm in Pescadero, CA…a lovely spot nestled in the hills near the ocean. How beautifully northern California is that view?

Phipps Farm was so fun, a great place to take your kids. Old tractors all over the place and more chickens than you can imagine (Anna’s favorite attraction by far). We went with one of Cate’s little friends and his family. It was just a really happy afternoon.

The kids had a BLAST picking berries, which are ripe when they are BLACK. Needless to say, Anna was almost exclusively attracted to the bright red berries…which sadly were as sour as could be!

Phipps had the largest assortment of beans I’ve ever seen. They were beautiful and I had to resist the urge to photograph every bean I saw.

There are two sure signs that berry picking was a great success.

Sign #1: Ridiculously dirty kids.

Sign #2: Ridiculously delicious homemade jam.

In case you’re wondering…for my olallieberry jam, I followed the freezer jam directions for raspberries from the pectin box.

This Giveaway is now Closed. Thank you!

In addition to “mom” and “food blogger,” I am also a graphic designer…a title that actually pays some of the bills!   HauteMammas.com is one of my fabulous graphic design clients. They are a mom-owned business and sell personalized calling cards, thank you notes, gift labels, address labels and MORE!

HauteMammas.com just relaunched their website, and I wanted to make sure you see it…both because I had a big hand in the site design (ain’t it cute?) and they have great products that you NEED! In fact, use the code TWFD 20 to get 20% off your order from now until Noon PT on July 31!

In honor of the site launch, HauteMammas.com is giving away one FREE set of CALLING CARDS! (Retail value $65.00) There are oodles of adorable designs to choose from and the print quality is amazing. These are great to have in your purse, instead of having to jot down your email and phone number on the back of a receipt! Or get a set for that teenager in your life with a babysitting business!

To enter for your chance to win a set of fabulous HauteMammas.com calling cards, simply add a comment to this post. Only one entry per person, please! Please comment before Midnight, Friday July 17 to enter. I will announce the lucky, random winner on Saturday, July 18.

And don’t foget to use the code TWFD 20 to get 20% your purchase.  Good luck with the giveaway!

I recently wrote some articles for Kellogg’s new and improved Snackpicks site…and the site launched this week! I’m one of the “Snackpicks Moms” and am even featured on the home page! So far I have two articles on there – tips for Sumer Party planning and Kid Birthdays.

Time for this week’s menu!

MONDAY:
- Leftovers (we have quite the assortment of random leftovers right now!)

TUESDAY:
- Breakfast for dinner

WEDNESDAY:
- Chili

THURSDAY:
- Hot dogs/hamburgers/fruit

FRIDAY:
- Leftovers

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Grilled chicken breasts (either BBQ or honey mustard) with veggie and potato of some sort

Please share your menus! Fancy or plain, I love reading them! Plus, I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off since the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge is literally right around the corner…so my menus are pretty boring and un-inspiring.  Please inspire each other!

I know, I know…I keep bugging you about pingg. But until every online invitation I receive in my Inbox is from pingg, I won’t stop pestering you!

pingg is one of the sponsors of the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge that I am co-hosting in 2 short weeks! I’m excited to announce that pingg has created a girls’ night in/pamper collection of invitations and e-cards inspired by the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge!  How cool is that?

Here are a few of the designs from the collection. Now, go plan a fun girls’ night…the invitations are ready to go!

Quick disclaimer: Until now, I have not received a penny from pingg.  And while they are one of the sponsors of the party…I honestly and truly LOVE THEM, sponsor or no sponsor. The more I use the pingg service the happier I am with it. Okay, disclaimer over.

Remember the amazing ribs Nate cooked on the 4th of July? The recipe is from the Weber’s Way to Grill cookbook that I {stereotypically} gave to Nate for Father’s Day. Hey, it worked, I’m already benefiting from the book!

Anyway, the recipe for cooking the ribs is LONG and involved, so I’m just going to share the wonderfully delicious sauce that went with the ribs. I will give a quick overview of the process…the ribs cooked on the grill for HOURS, Nate put a divider in the grill with water under the ribs and coals on the other side, he added hot coals throughout the cooking and he used hickory wood chips for smoking. As for the sauce, when the ribs were cooked, he took them off the grill, laid them on foil, smothered them in the sauce and wrapped the ribs up in the foil for about 30 minutes. Delish!

SOO-WEE SAUCE FOR BABY BACK RIBS
From Weber’s Way to Grill, modified by us!
- 1 C apple juice
- 1/2 C ketchup
- 3 T cider vinegar
- 1 T soy sauce
- 2 tsp molasses
- 1/2 tsp pure chile powder
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
- ~1 T honey (this is our secret ingredient…we added to thicken AND sweeten the sauce)

Mix ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes (we simmered longer). Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste if needed. This is NOT a thick sauce, but it was perfect for the ribs.

Okay, you twisted my arm. I’ll share a bit more of the recipe. The rub definitely helped make the ribs delectable, so here you go.

RUB
- 2 T kosher salt
- 2 T paprika
- 4 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
- 4 tsp pure chili powder
- 2 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tsp freshly ground pepper

The Weber cookbook is a great resource for grilling…click here to check it out!

As a contributor with the SV Moms group, I’ve had a lot of fun opportunities come up…like meeting Maria Shriver and Bill Nye! I recently had the chance to attend a discussion with other SV Moms and the creators of Super Why, a children’s television program on PBS.

The discussion centered around children and media and was very interesting. For example, when Fonzie got a library card on Happy Days, teen library card sign-ups increased 500%. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the most important thing I learned that night, but it was a fun fact nonetheless and an interesting commentary on the power of media. Angela Santomero, the producer of Super Why and Blue’s Clues, broke down an episode, explained the purpose of each section, and outlined how an entire episode is developed.

PBS sent us home with supplemental activities to do with our children in conjunction with watching Super Why. Cate and I held our very own “Super Why Week” and she LOVED it. It was really fun tying in what she had watched on TV with activities I could do with her, reinforcing various reading skills. Click here to download the activities yourself, definitely a great summertime activity! Super Why Week also helped me to be more engaged in what Cate was watching, rather than taking that 20 minutes to check email or work. It was good for both Cate and me.

If you are interested in reading more about children and media, this PBS webpage is chock full of great information. Happy learning!

Hope your Fourth was filled with flags, food and fun! Ours was filled with all three, especially food.

Nate and I cooked up quite a feast! Potato salad, fruit salad, corn on the cob and RIBS. Ah, the ribs. Nate spent hours manning the grill and the result was amazing! Click here for the BBQ sauce recipe.

I’m not going to be very gourmet the next few weeks…the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge is almost here and we are BUSY getting ready!

MONDAY:
- Rachel sandwiches

TUESDAY:
- Spaghetti
- Salad

WEDNESDAY:
- Chicken Cordon Bleu (from grocery freezer section)
- Rice & Veggie

THURSDAY:
- Lasagna (with Barilla no-bake noodles)

FRIDAY:
- Leftovers

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Quesadillas

Please share your menus for the week, can’t wait to see your ideas!

One more thing – Keurig is giving away a Platinum coffee maker on the SocialLuxe Lounge website. And there are only 31 comments, so your chances of winning are good!  Winner will be announced Wednesday, July 8, so get over there and make a comment with your favorite flavor!