Category Archives: Shout Out

NUMB3RS: May Flowers

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OK, I know I am super-late with this.  Whoops!  Can you blame me?  We were in California and Avery’s crawling all over the place… I rarely have a free second to write anything, and if I do it at home, Avery wants to join and his contributions are along the lines of, “o23rt90AFGI1292348ER][rwGN.”  Which in so many letters is him slamming on the keyboard because – hey, it’s fun.

Anyways… to the stats!  May was another busy month.  Here’s the recap for May:

The Blog

1 Award!  We were nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!

21 Visitors googled ‘ratnam residence’ to find us last month (it was 10 last month).  Some other terms people googled to find us:

  • “bikinis after 40″ (which brought them to this).
  • “how to build a army crawl thing” (which brought them to this)
  • “gentle rain paint” (which brought them to this or this)

54 Countries checked us out in April, alone!

Top Countries: #1 US.  #2 Germany.  #3 Canada.  #4 UK.  #5 South Africa

75 Followers. That’s 20 more than last month!  Hello newbies & thanks for reading :)

263 Visitors on our bussiest day, ever! The most visits was on the day we I shared about the completion of my FIT in 40 health kick, Avery’s crib bumpers, & we left for Costa Rica

3,043 Blog visits – a record! 150+ more visits than last month!

Most Popular Posts in May:

  • FIT IN 40: BEFORE & AFTER.  I finished my personal 40 day challenge to get fit to wear a bikini our our trip to Costa Rica & shared the ‘after’ picture.
  • VACATION COSTA RICA.  We took our first trip away from Avery to attend a friend’s wedding in Costa Rica and it turned into a nice getaway vacation for us.
  • ALL DECKED OUT.  We got our tax return and used a portion of it to build a deck!
  • BABY’S STAY-CATION.  Avery spent some quality time with family while we were in Costa Rica.
  • ANNIVERSARY CAKE TOPPER This month marked our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! We celebrated with some cake smashing!

Avery

1 number of weeks Avery did his ‘Army Crawl‘ before it turned into a full-fledged crawl! We thought he was really into everything last month, but coming into June, he can pull up on furniture and pull down things in reach!

1 we took one family trip to the park down the street on a weekend.  We try to do it a few times a week after we get home.  We’ve met other neighbors, so it’s been great meeting other parents – we got invited to a Brazilian BBQ the other day!

2 Avery is a new Stage-2 Carseat!

2 Avery has TWO Teeth!  He was chewing on everything, even my phone,  this past month!

3 We have lost three of Avery’s socks.  I go shopping in the store and the lady points out he only has one sock on.  Thanks.  I’m not surprised.  He kicks them off, just like his shoes.  He even lost a sock at the Zoo!

4 We put Avery’s 4 bumpers back in his crib because he kept moving around so much, now that he is mobile, and kept bonking his head.

5 Days Avery spent with family while we were away on vacation.

The House

1 date night this month.  We had stayed home with some glasses of wine and a game of Monopoly!

2  Flags sit in our new stump flower bed on – we made on Memorial Day Weekend.

3 I made a special shout out to New Duds this month, highlighting three orders I made with them for custom t-shirts.

4 Avery gave me a L-O-V-E picture frame (4 pictures, one of each letter & him) for my first Mother’s Day.

40 My Fit-in-40 challenge was a little sweeter when I made Apple Baklava, a recipe from my friend at Dare to Desert – YUM!

81 we budgeted $1,000.00 for our new deck and only went over by $81…even after we bought a new grill!

What projects and family activities do you have planned for this coming month? We are adding lights to our deck, going on a weekend vacation in Western Mass for Father’s Day, and baby-proofing our house! Did you missed our previous recaps? -  January,  February, March, April

FIT-in-40: Dare to Desert Apple Baklava

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This is it.  Day 40 of my FIT-in-40 health kick.  What better way to go out, than with a desert inspired by my health-kick?

My dear friend at Dare to Desert featured a recipe for Apple Baklava, just for me to try out! When I’m not busy at work, with Avery, or other household ‘stuff’, I like to fit in some cooking or baking.  I’ve recently made homemade baby food & banana bread. So, I squeezed in some time on Sunday (between installing Avery’s new carseat and a birthday party) to make this yummy desert.

 

 

 

Apple Baklava courtesey of Dare to Desert

Gather ingredients:

  • 6 Oz. Raw, Unsalted Mixed Nuts (not containing peanuts), finely chopped in a food processor to the consistency of corn meal
  • 1/2 Cup Organic Agave Nectar
  • 2 Medium Apples
  • 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
  • 6 Tbsp. Butter (not margarine or any butter substitute)
  • 20 Sheets of Phyllo Dough (typically one roll of frozen phyllo), thawed according to the manufacturer’s directions

The hardest part of this recipe was gathering the ingredients.  I don’t eat nuts, never heard of Agave nectar before, and what the heck is Phyllo Dough?  It took a couple emails back and forth with D2D, to learn that you’ll find the Agave Nectar in the grocery store next to the honey, and Phyllo Dough in the freezer section next to the deserts.  Oh and, I swear we spent 10 minutes looking at nuts (hehe) because all of them were salted.  So, before you dare this recipe, make sure you have all the ingredients, because it took me over a week to find the time to go to the grocery store, and before I went, I had to know where to look for this stuff!

Gather Tools:

  • 13×18 cooking sheet
  • knife
  • frying pan
  • cutting board
  • something to grind nuts – i used potato masher but it didn’t work too well.  I need one of those bowl things with the club that smashes stuff… (very technical here.  What’s it called?)
  • mixing bowls
  • marinating brush

Instructions:

1. Thaw phyllo dough.  Take it out of the freezer, keep wrapped, for 2 hours.  If the box has two rolls of phyllo dough, put the other immediately back in the freezer for later use. (you’ll want to make this again)
2. Core & dice apples.  Leave peel on.

3. Saute butter (1 tbs) in a frying pan on low heat until lightly softened. Add cinnamon and diced apples and toss to coat. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Finely ground nuts. Combine with agave nectar to make a paste. Set aside.

5. Melt the remaining butter in a bowl on low power in the microwave.
6. Preheat oven to 350° F.
7. Line the baking sheet with phyllo dough (2 sheets) and spread a very thin and even coat of butter on top (I used a brush). You want to use just enough butter to barely moisten the dough. Add another layer of dough and press down lightly. If the butter soaks through, add another layer, and then another thin coat of butter.

After maybe 6 layers of phyllo, evenly spread the nut mixture on top of the sheets of dough. Add another few layers of phyllo, being sure to butter lightly in between layers.

Evenly spread the sautéed apples on top. Layer the remaining sheets of phyllo.

Butter the top of the last layer.

8. Bake in the oven at 350° F for about 5 minutes, or until the phyllo is golden on top. (took about 10 min for me) Watch it closely, it’s thin and will burn very easily.
Remove and allow to cool before slicing into 20 evenly-sized pieces.

Nutrition Stats:

  • Calories/Square: 96
  • Carbs: 14g.
  • Protein: 1g.
  • Fat: 4g. (but it’s good fat!)
  • + Add a dollop of whip cream for only 15 calories!

For my first Baklava, I think it came out pretty good!  I put the squares in some Tupperware and gave to a coworker and a friend to share.  What a sweet way to end my health kick!

Have you tried any new recipes recently?  Are you more of a ‘baker’ or a ‘cook’?  Do you have any yummy (but healthy) recipes to share?  Although my health-kick is ending, I’ll still keep eating healthy :)

Shout Out: New Duds

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Now before you get super-excited for me, this isn’t a post about a high-paying sponsor.  Nope – we’re not THAT popular….yet. Au contraire, it’s actually a free shout-out…kinda a big THANK YOU to a company that has helped me out with some super-awesome gifts over the years.

New Duds http://www.newduds.net  (Blog:http://newduds.blogspot.com/)

New Duds is a hubby & wife run apparel company in Vermont.  Their designs are handmade, 100% original, they do custom orders, they even make cat-toys!

I enlisted New Duds for a couple special projects over the years.  First was my girlfriend’s bachelorette party weekend.  New Duds designed a T-shirt that matched their fall wedding theme.  We sported them all over Boston during our bachelorette scavenger hunt:

Then, as my Mom’s birthday approached, and after 26 years of gift-giving, I was running short on ideas… so New Duds designed a T-shirt of her very own, custom-made of her favorite person:

And most recently (This morning, actually), we surprised a co-worker on her 50th birthday at work – everyone wearing this shirt, courtesy of New Duds.

Oh, and of coarse Avery sports New Duds. He got this penguin blanket and the pile of shirts on my knee at the baby shower…

So, if you’re looking for some New Duds, or a creative gift – check them out!  You can find them online and here’s a list of shops that carry their goodies.  Or just contact them here.

Do you support any local or family companies?  Would you rather buy something online from a random impersonal company, or go to a local shop?  Did I mention these guys are my cousins?  Pretty awesome, right?!