Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a safe & happy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Do Not Iron.

As I was feeding Charlie his bottle this morning, I was reading the tag on his bib. (Feeding a baby can be boring, so a desperate eye craving entertainment will read just about anything.) Standard instructions...machine wash warm, bleach if needed, tumble dry low. Do not iron. Do not iron? Um, ok. One thing that doesn't need to be added to my to-do list, I guess!

Trusted Resources

As I contemplate my holiday menus for the coming weeks, it occurs to me that out of all the cookbooks I have (not a ton, but more than 20, plus magazines), I continually turn to these three as my most-trusted resources.

• The All New, All Purpose, Joy of Cooking



• Baking, from the Williams-Sonoma Best of the Kitchen Library



• Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Matt got me the Joy of Cooking for Christmas 2000, right after we got engaged. I guess I had already gotten to his heart through a route other than his stomach, but perhaps he was trying to lay the foundation for gastric happiness in the years ahead. Actually, I remember him being a bit sheepish about me opening the book in front of my parents. It was (and still is) one of my favorite gifts, but I think he was afraid he might look like a boor for offering a gift seeming to suggest his future wife might want to brush up on her culinary skills prior to gettin' hitched. I don't think they minded a bit.

Anyway, I usually start with it & then refer to similar recipes in both the Baking & Barefoot Contessa books. I like to see how the recipes are alike & how they differ. Sometimes I follow one of the books precisely for a particular dish. Most often, though, it is some combination of the three put together. I think of Joy as more of a textbook - a way to get the best understanding of how a dish came about or has evolved over time. Baking & Contessa provide inspiration through gorgeous photography & sumptuous descriptions of each recipe.

So, wishing you happy cooking & baking this holiday season. I'll let you know how my goodies turn out.

Ta-dah!

Success! After a few hours (and only a handful of words we don't use at Grandma's house) the exer-saucer is up & fully operational. Thanks Grandma & GG!

Oh boy...

Charlie is on the verge of outgrowing his bouncy seat, so I decided to tackle the assembly of the new exer-saucer that Grandma & GG got him during their visit a couple of weeks back. It's proving to be a little more challenging than I'd anticipated, but I'm hopeful to have it all done by the end of the day!

May You Find a Trail Marker Today

I thought I'd take a minute to describe the header picture at the top of my page. I took it one sunny afternoon this summer when my husband and I were hiking in a nearby state park. Those of you who know us might laugh at the idea of us "hiking", but we spent a lovely afternoon on an easy trail and didn't run into any of the local fauna, which made the experience all the better for both of us. Seriously, I think we'd both go hiking all the time if we could be guaranteed no run-ins with snakes, spiders, bees, bears, etc, etc, etc. Anyway, as we moseyed along, we were guided by red dots painted here and there to mark the trail and keep us on the right path. I love how this picture captures the tiniest bit of one such marker on the tree in the foreground and follows the fence posts to points unknown.
So be on the lookout for your own trail marker today. These are uncertain times for many of us, but I do believe that signs abound to guide us if we only pay attention.

A Bottle in the Bag

When we brought our son home from the hospital, we were supplied with all kinds of goodies from the nursery. Formula & diaper samples, coupons, etc. At the time I had no use for these teeny tiny plastic bottles equipped with a screw-on cap that could be replaced with the pre-sterilized nipples the hospital also sent home. Now, however, I find them to be the perfect size to store an 8 oz. bottle's worth of formula powder. I keep a clean bottle & liner and one of these little jobbies at the ready in my diaper bag at all times.

Point A

"Just go out and make yourself useful." Peter Drucker

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Point A...the starting point. It is my belief that we should try to have a reason for all that we do. With that in mind, I'd like to state that the purpose of the Point B & Beyond blog is to first and foremost be useful. Useful to you. Useful to me. Useful.

So check in regularly. You'll find useful information to help you (and me!) along the path to point b & beyond.