Five on Friday

Happy Friday and happy birthday to me!  Today I turn 37.  As I get older, my birthdays have become less of a big deal to me.  I’m good with a card and having the kids sing to me.  I told the husband in advance that I didn’t want anything.   Last weekend we went to the Hudson Valley Wine and Food Festival, as an early birthday celebration.  Spending quality time with my family is the best gift!  Tonight I’m sure there will be some sort of special treat after my husband makes dinner (homemade Korean at my request!)!  This weekend we will be busy with soccer, Town Day and Supper Club.  Here are five things from this week:

1. Reading – This week I finally finished reading The Girls and despite it being a NY Times bestseller, I was not a fan.  I have just started reading The Widow, another NY Times bestseller.  I’m in the mood for a good suspense/thriller and hope this fits the bill.

2. Watching – My husband and I have started catching up on episodes of Breaking Bad.  He’s already watched all of the shows but is re-watching with me.  When I’m alone, I either catch up on Grey’s Anatomy or watch any of the Real Housewives.

3. Eating – I’m not a huge wine drinker, but I enjoyed tasting some different ciders at the Hudson Valley Wine and Food Festival.  And I did sample a few wines too!  They had a food truck lineup and the family shared some poutine, empanadas, pierogis and a Kielbasa Reuben.  Yum!

4. Excited – to sleep in a little this weekend.  Now that school has started I’m up at 6:15 to help get my daughter out of the door on time for middle school.  I need a lot of sleep and getting back into the school routine has messed up my sleep schedule!

5. Joining the gym – My husband and I joined Retro Fitness, which recently opened by us.  It’s time folks!  I am feeling really blah about myself and now that the kids are back in school I have the time.  So, I’m getting serious and will hopefully be in shape soon!

This was a slow week on the blog.  I shared my August 2016 reads with the Show Us Your Books linkup on Tuesday.

Linking up with Tif, Andrea and April.  Have a great weekend!

I can’t believe that it’s Friday again.  The school year has started and the days are flying by!  This has been a pretty slow week around here.  It was all about getting back into the school routine.  The kids are adjusting to earlier wake up times and having homework each night.  Luckily, most activities haven’t started yet so they are able to get in some relaxing time after school.  Here are five from this week:

1.Mets Game – Sunday night we went to Citi Field and watched the Mets vs. Nationals game in a suite box!  My brother-in-law gets tickets every year and it’s always a fun time.  The kids especially love the Shake Shack that we always get.  The game didn’t start until 8 PM (my son’s normal bed time!).  We left at the top of the 8th inning, around 10:45 PM when the Mets were winning 5-1.  Well, it turns out no additional runs were scored by either team after we left!

2.  Reading – I picked up The Girls from the library this week.  I just started it, so no opinions as of yet.  I’ve heard mixed reviews, so I’m hoping I enjoy it.

3. Shopping – I used to be able to buy my daughter’s clothes for her, doing most of the shopping while she was at school.  At 10, she is now very opinionated about what she wears.  This usually means that whatever I pick out is shot down.  She was in need of some pants and sneakers for school, so we took a quick trip on Monday to the Woodbury Common outlets.  It was super busy, but there were some good deals to be found.  My husband got some Sperry Topsider fall shoes, which he was looking for.  He also found a pair of Merrell hiking sneakers to wear on the Cub Scout hiking and camping trips that he goes on with my son.  Although my daughter didn’t get gym sneakers, she did get a pair of Keds low-top sneakers that she loved.  Amazingly, I didn’t get anything!

4. Eating – Haagen Dazs has a destination series ice cream collection and I may be attempting to eat my way through the entire line!  We have already tried the vanilla tangerine and shortbread cookie and sweet cream coffee caramel.  The toasted sesame brittle is sitting in my freezer as I type!  Out of the two flavors we’ve already tried, the sweet cream coffee caramel is our fave!

5.  This weekend – Soccer starts up again for my son this weekend.  My husband is participating in a local tae kwon do demonstration.  And on Sunday we will be going to the Hudson Valley Wine and Food Festival.  This is my early birthday celebration pick!

6. (Bonus)  Pokémon Go – I finally broke down and downloaded the game for the kids.  Let me tell you, it came in handy keeping them occupied while my husband was trying on shoes at the outlets on Monday!  If played safely I think there are some benefits to the app, mostly getting kids (and adults) moving!

ICYMI this week on the blog:
Monday I shared our weekly meal plan.
Wednesday I participated in the September Currently linkup.
Thursday I wrote about our recent trip to the NY Renaissance Faire.

Linking up with Tif, Andrea and April!  Have a great weekend!

It is back to school week here at NY Foodie Family!  The kids went back to school yesterday, with my son entering third grade and my daughter starting fifth grade, which is middle school in our district!  The first two days have gone smoothly but the kids are happy for a three day weekend to help them readjust to being back on a school schedule!  So far this weekend we are planning to get together with my in-laws as well as go to a Mets game.  Here are five things from this week:

1. Watching:  Catching up on Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.  Even after all these years this show still has me in tears every episode!  My husband and I have started back up with watching House of Cards.  We are only on episode 31 though, so still have lots more episodes to go.

2. Reading: I just started Behind Closed Doors.  I love a good suspense thriller and hope that this one fits the bill!

3. Listening:   The beginning of the school year always feels like the new year to me.  I’m on a mission to really clean and organize now that the kids are in school during the day.  So, I’ve been downloading episodes of various organizing podcasts.  There are so many and since I’ve only been listening to an episode here and there I don’t have a favorite yet.   I’ll keep you updated on my favorites!

4. Eating:  The first day of school required lots of treats!  Although the kids wanted Dunkin’ Donuts for the first day, we knew we wouldn’t have time to make it there in the morning.  So, when we were at the grocery store Wednesday, I had them each pick a donut from the case.  My daughter went with  a PB & Jelly and my son chose a Salted Caramel Apple donut.  Shoprite’s bakery is getting fancy!  Then, while they were at school I made some cocoa krispy treats for a special first day of school treat!  We’ve been eating healthy too though, with lots of fresh veggies from our CSA.

5. Family Time:  Last weekend we took the kids to the NY Renaissance Faire.  It’s a recreation of a Renaissance village with stores, food and entertainment with everyone dressed in clothing of the time period.  What is fun is that visitors can dress up as well, which many do (not me of course, I really hate dressing up!).  We saw some great shows and even though it was a hot day, we had a really good time!

6.  (bonus!) Loving:  Everyone’s back to school pictures!  I don’t post much on my personal Facebook page.  However, I always share my kids’ first day of school pics with my friends and family.

ICYMI this week on the blog:
Monday I posted about Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.
Wednesday I shared Fall 2016 Tween Movie Previews.

I’m linking up with Tif, Andrea, Amanda and April!  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!  It’s been a quiet week around here as I was husband-less and kid-less for most of the week!  We went to Rhode Island last Friday and my husband and I left Sunday.  The kids stayed with my parents for a few days and did not come back home until yesterday.  My husband had a work training for almost three days in New Jersey, so I was home alone!  I got to have dinner with a friend who I hadn’t seen in ages, got lots of shopping time, and lots of quiet reading time in, so I can’t complain.  A little peace and quiet does the body good!  I’m so happy to have the kids (and husband!) back home and am looking forward to some quality family time this weekend!  Here are five from this week:

Watching:  This week while I was home alone, I finally started watching the most recent season of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.  One episode in and I was in tears.  I also watched a few episodes of Scandal as well.  Now that my husband’s back we watched a couple more episodes of American Odyssey and are almost finished with it.

Reading: I am currently reading The Choices We Make by Karma Brown.  It’s a great book that has me interested in the storyline.  I will definitely have it read by the weekend.  I am so behind on my magazine reading!  I have last week’s US Weekly to finish, Glamour, Westchester Magazine and a Cooking Light!

Eating: While in Rhode Island we took my parents out to dinner for their anniversary.  My son decided he HAD to have the stuffed lobster.  I decided we’d share it and my daughter and husband shared the paella.  Needless to say, my son learned that he still loves lobster in butter, but he doesn’t like the “stuffing.”

Enjoying:  Date night!  We don’t get many date nights in, so it was nice for my husband and I to be able to go out to eat.  We had drinks (I had the frozen sangria, above!) and tacos at Taco Dive Bar and then went next door to the Hudson Creamery where we shared a sundae.  The weather was beautiful and we had a gorgeous view of the Hudson River.

Excited:  The kids start school next Thursday.  This past week they got their teacher assignments and they are both happy with who they got.  This of course makes me happy!  I think they are both going to have great years!   For myself, today I went to a photo shoot for the Westchester County Moms Blog.  I have been accepted as a contributor, and once a month I’ll be posting an article on the blog.   It’s looking to be a great new resource for moms, especially in Westchester County!

ICYMI this week on the blog:
Monday I shared our weekly meal plan.
Wednesday I posted books you should read before you watch the movie this fall.

Linking up with Tif, Amanda, Andrea and April.  Have a great weekend!

These summer days are flying by!  Just like that, July is over!  Luckily, we have one more month of summer fun.  This week wasn’t too exciting, but sometimes, relaxing and hanging out is just what we need. Weather wise, today and the weekend aren’t looking that great.  We need the rain, but it puts a damper on summer weekend plans.   Today we’re spending the day at the aquarium with a friend and her kids.  Tomorrow we are supposed to be going to a neighborhood pool party and Sunday we think we are going to head into the city.  Of course, rain may end up changing these plans!  This week’s five include:

1. Supper Club – Sunday we hosted our monthly supper club.  This month’s theme was Turkish cuisine.  We made grilled chicken which we served over rice pilaf, eggs cooked in a pepper and onion dish as well as a grilled eggplant dish with spicy chickpeas and walnut sauce.  Everything was delicious!

2. Day with friends at the lake – Friends of ours live in a community on a lake.  They had their annual Summer Regatta and invited our family.  The kids all had fun swimming in the lake and kayaking, as well as participating in games. We then went back to their house for dinner.  Our sons are friends, but we adults hardly get to see each other.  It was nice being able to spend time with them relaxing and catching up.

3. Reading – I’ve been on a YA reading kick lately.  I just finished The Flip Side by Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson.  This is her first fiction book.  It was so YA that I’d almost call it middle grade fiction, minus the prom and other high school related events!  I am now reading The Museum of Heartbreak which so far is just so-so.

4. Dining Out – We normally go out to eat on the weekends when we are out and about.  However, Saturday we had dinner with friends and Sunday we had supper club.  So, the only dining out that happened this week was yesterday when the kids and I had lunch at a local ramen restaurant, Ramenesque.  They shared that bowl of ramen, which I might have helped them with, along with some gyoza, while I had a kimchi pancake.

5. Watching – My husband and I finally finished Orange is the New Black.   I can’t believe that we have to wait a whole year for the next season!  My husband had us watch the first episode of Stranger Things, a new Netflix original supernatural/sci-fi/horror series.  I’m not sure it’s really my thing, but there are only eight episodes, so maybe I’ll watch them all with him.   I am caught up on the Real Housewives of Orange County and have just started watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

ICYMI this week on the blog:
Monday I shared our weekly meal plan.
Tuesday I posted What Is Your Yearbook Quote?
Wednesday I spotlighted leeks in my CSA challenge.

Linking up with Andrea, Tif and Amanda!  Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!  What a crazy week it has been.  We had a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend and then my kids spent a couple of days at my in-laws house for a visit.  The visit was cut short by a day and a half when my son started breaking out in an itchy, bumpy rash.  They brought the kids back and I of course took my son straight to the doctor, where we learned that he has contact dermatitis (an allergic reaction to something he came into contact with).   After some discussion and research, my husband and I think that the allergic reaction may have been caused by a new seersucker type button-down shirt that he wore on Saturday.  Allegedly, blue dye 106 and 124 are known to cause allergic reactions.  So, while not contagious, his bumps are not pretty to look at.  Plus, the poor guy is so itchy.  Hoping for a quick recovery for him.  And we learn something new every day! Well, onto some brighter parts of the week:

1.Watching –  This week I watched the romantic comedy How to Be Single.  It was an okay movie that my husband was happy to let me watch by myself.  We are one episode away from finishing the latest season of Orange Is the New Black.  Pretty crazy stuff going on at Litchfield!  I have watched a couple of episodes of Scandal and am almost caught up on the Real Housewives of Orange County.

2. Reading – I most recently finished Turn Up the Heat by Kimberly Kincaid.  This is a romance book that I read for a goodreads reading challenge I’m in.  Otherwise, not really my type of book.  I am currently reading First Comes Love by Emily Giffin.  I’m a fan of Giffin’s books though and am enjoying this one.

3. Dining Out – While the kids were away, my husband and I got one date night in.  We went to a local restaurant that made the Open Table top 100 Restaurants list.  While the food was good, I’ve honestly had better at many other nearby restaurants.  This Sriracha Shrimp appetizer was my favorite dish of the night.

4. Family Fun – Last Friday evening we went to a local, minor league baseball game (see below for details!) and a fireworks show after.  Saturday I saw my first polo match when we went to the Victory Cup Polo Match.  Then Sunday we had a family party to celebrate my son’s 8th birthday.  It was a busy but fun weekend!  Then last night we went to the movies to see The Secret Life of Pets.  The kids had been wanting to see this movie since it came out a few weeks ago.  It was pretty cute!

5.  Highlight of the week:  While we were at the baseball game Friday night, we were chosen to get upgraded seats behind home base.  I have never seen any professional type of baseball game that close up!  Even my daughter, who commented that she doesn’t even like baseball, had a great time and was so excited for our closer seats.  In one of the mini games that they play on the field between innings, our new seat section won tickets to another game!  Unfortunately, the game is for Sunday and we already have plans.   The kids were so amazed at our luck that night it was so cute!

ICYMI on the blog this week:
Monday I shared our weekly meal plan.
Tuesday I posed Part 2 of my daughter’s The Tween Reads June 2016 post.
Wednesday I spotlighted watercress in my CSA Challenge recipe post.

Have a great weekend!  Linking up with Tif, Amanda and Andrea!

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer.  We are half-way through July, which I can’t believe!  This week was a busy but fun week.  My son turned 8 yesterday which started out with doughnuts for breakfast and fondue for dessert.  The celebrating continues this weekend with his family birthday party.

This week:

1. Watching – The kids and I went to the Regal Summer Movie Express and saw Pan.  They also watched Kung Fu Panda 3.  My husband watched The Big Short, which I started watching with him, but couldn’t get into.  We’ve watched a couple more episodes of the newest season of Orange is the New Black.  I’m trying to catch up on The Real Housewives of New York and haven’t even started OC or Jersey yet.

2. On the Internet – 16 Must Make Mac and Cheese Recipes – This post is bookmarked for the fall when mac and cheese feels like the ultimate comfort food.  10 Tips to Help the Pokémon GO Beginner – We have not yet downloaded the Pokémon GO app, but I know my kids would love it.  This article gave me a great overview of the game, since I know absolutely nothing about it! When to Buy and Pay the Least – I’m all about a bargain and not paying more for something than I have to.  This post shares when it’s cheapest to buy some pricier items.

3. Dining Out – We visited the recently opened Stock Up in Beacon, NY.  This Big Bird sandwich was one of the dishes that we all shared.  Delicious!  I took the kids out to breakfast at The Peekskill Coffee House for some coffee (hot chocolate for them!) and crepes.   We also went to The Melting Pot to celebrate my son’s 8th birthday.  My kids LOVE this place!

4. Reading – This week I finished Meternity and have started When the Morning Glory Blooms.

5. – Family Fun – Last weekend we went blueberry and raspberry picking.  This week the kids and I went out to breakfast, went to the movies, went mini-golfing, made our weekly library trip and tonight we are going to a local, minor league baseball game.  I am trying to fill up our 69 days of summer with a mix of relaxation and fun.

What have you been up to this week?

ICYMI this week on the  blog:
Monday I introduced a new weekly CSA Challenge feature and shared an escarole recipe.
Tuesday I shared my June 2016 reads and joined the Show Us Your Books link up.
Thursday I wrote about our berry picking experience at Fishkill Farms.

Linking up with Tif, Andrea and Amanda.

Have a great weekend!