Five on Friday

Happy Friday! This week was so busy with errands and activities. My daughter is having her Sweet 16 birthday dinner with friends tonight and trying to get her cake was an ordeal! My son had another track meet yesterday. My daughter has been doing study sessions for her AP Euro exam, which she’s taking today. Plus over the next several days it’s my mom’s birthday, my brother’s birthday and my niece’s birthday. I’ve been running around picking up presents for everyone. I’m exhausted! The weather isn’t supposed to be great this weekend so not sure we’ll be able to enjoy Mother’s Day outside like I was hoping. Here are five from this week:

1. Theatre– Friday night my husband and I saw Million Dollar Quartet at the Westchester Theatre at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. Although the Westchester Broadway Theatre closed, it’s wonderful that theatre is still accessible Westchester County. 

Sunday afternoon we saw our high school’s  production of In The Heights. I may be biased, but they always put on an amazing show! For such a small school district, I am amazed at the number of talented students we have!

2. Reading – I read Sadie on a Plate by Amanda Elliott. It’s a romance set on a reality cooking show (definitely gives off Top Chef vibes). As a fan of cooking and cooking shows this was right up my alley! 

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was Greek Baked Orzo. It was fairly easy to put together and tasty.

4. Watching – We watched a couple episodes of Bullsh*t on Netflix. I could NEVER be on this show since I’m such a horrible liar! It’s hosted by Howie Mandel and was something to watch that I didn’t have to pay a whole lot of attention to.

5. Drinking – Cavit moscato. I’m not a huge wine drinker, but if I am going to drink wine I like it bubbly and sweet. Moscato is my favorite type. Palm Wine International sent me a couple of bottles for a post I did for Guilty Eats. 

6. Cinco de Mayo – Yesterday my son had a track meet. We ended up going to El Coyote after the meet with three other families. It was a fun evening out. It was just sooo busy that our food took a long time to arrive. These shrimp tacos were very good though!

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I posted about Million Dollar Quartet debuting at The Westchester Theatre.

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! Today’s intro is short and sweet. It’s been a long, busy week and I’m so happy for the weekend! Here are five from this week:

1. Orange County Arboretum -It’s been over two years since we visited the Orange County Arboretum. It’s beautiful in the spring and on our recent visit the tulips were in full bloom!

2. Eating – Sunday after our visit to the arboretum we stopped at Thank Goodness It’s Vegan for lunch. We shared the Shrooms basket, Chick’on littles with teriyaki sauce and cheese taquitos.

3. Reading – This week I finished reading Home Made by Liz Hauck. This was the April book pick for my local foodies book club. We had the meeting last week but I hadn’t quite finished the book. I ended up finishing it this week and am glad I did. This is a nonfiction book about a woman who starts a cooking program at a residential home for teenage boys.

4. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was Cauliflower Grain Bowls. I substituted farro for quinoa and also bought a tahini salad dressing instead of making homemade. I’m all about the shortcuts, especially on a weeknight!

5. Watching –  Being quarantined for several days I ended up finishing watching all the episodes of Old Enough on Netflix, which I had written about last week. It’s such a cute show!  

I also am almost through watching the second season of Bridgerton.

6. School Play– My son was one of two stage crew managers for his middle school play, High School Musical. We saw it Saturday night and it was so good! 

7. Drinking – Boba Bam kindly sent me samples of their instant boba tea for a post I wrote for Guilty Eats. Our family, especially my teens, love bubble tea. This is found only at Costco and select Aldi’s 

8. Check out my recent articles for Guilty Eats:

Cocktails to Celebrate Mother’s Day

Surprise Mom With a Vinebox for Mother’s Day!

Up Your Sandwich Game with French’s Mustard Spreads

Palm Bay International has the perfect bottle of wine for mom

HEINZ DIP & CRUNCH Will Transform Burger Night

Give the Gift of Lenox This Mother’s Day!

AHA Sparkling Water Introduces Three New Flavors!

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a happy Passover and Happy Easter! I didn’t have a Friday post last week because we were on vacation! We flew to Barbados and went on a 7 night Caribbean island hopping cruise. The trip was in honor of my daughter’s 16th birthday. Instead of a big party, she asked for a tropical vacation. Seeing that we hadn’t taken any real vacations in over two years, we thought it was a great idea. It was a fantastic trip and although there were so many things that could have gone wrong, we had a seamless trip. It was definitely a bit stressful pre trip – packing, COVID tests, etc. However, the trip itself was amazing. It was so nice to unplug (we didn’t buy wifi) and spend some real quality time as a family. Here are five from this week:

1. The Cruise Ship – We sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas. This is one of their smallest ships, which was fine with us for this trip. There wasn’t that much to do in terms of activities, but that was fine since we were off the ship every day exploring the different islands.  The ship left from Barbados and then went to Grenada, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Vincent, Dominica and St. Lucia. I’ll be posting more pictures of our travels on Instagram. 

2. Eating – Overall, I was actually pretty disappointed with the food on the cruise this trip. Normally, I really like the food on Royal Caribbean. I did enjoy this lobster tail for dinner on one of the formal nights. Our head waiter told us a story of a previous cruise where a woman ended up eating 32 lobster tails! Pretty unbelievable.

3. Reading – I ended up bringing my kindle on the cruise since I didn’t want to lug bulky books around with me (and our suitcases were already stuffed!).  I borrowed a bunch of digital books from the library…..and realized when I went to read one that I hadn’t downloaded them to the kindle! So, I was stuck reading what was already downloaded.  Fortunately, I had a Netgalley ARC of Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter.  This is a contemporary romance about, “a bingo-based sex pact” that is set to be published this summer. 

4. Cooking – It was so nice having a week off from grocery shopping and cooking! Reality set in though and I’m back at it. One of our favorite dinners was Pinch of Yum’s Spicy Peanut Tofu Bowls.

5. Watching – On the plane headed to Barbados I slept, since we were up at 1:45 AM to head to the airport! On the way home I watched 22 Jump Street with Jonah Hill and Tatum Channing. I didn’t realize this movie was so old (2014), but it ended up being an entertaining, light watch.

I also found the show Old Enough on Netflix and have been binge watching it. The short episodes feature a Japanese toddler sent out to run errands. These kids are so adorable and are only 3 -4 years old (some are even younger!). They are walking busy streets, going into stores, etc. by themselves.  

6. Driving Permit – Of course as soon as we got home, my daughter wanted to go take her permit test.  She went Monday afternoon and passed. We now take her out every afternoon driving (in parking lots and empty streets).  She’s not quite ready to hit busy roads yet! 

7. COVID – I thought the cruise did a great job with their COVID precautions/testing requirements. We tested the day before we left for our trip, we also got tested before we could board the ship. Then we got tested Saturday before we could fly home on Sunday. Monday I had a cough that got worse later in the week. Wednesday I finally took an at-home test and tested positive! It’s crazy that I made it over two years without getting COVID and then got it now! I am so thankful I was not positive on the ship though, where I would have had to quarantine on the boat for 10 days! So, I’ve been home the past two days quarantined in my bedroom. I’m fine and just have a cough and runny nose. It feels like a cold, which is what I thought I had. Unfortunately, we had to postpone my daughter’s birthday brunch celebration with her friends. But thankfully, the rest of the family is negative! 

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! This weekend starts the kids’ spring break. We are going on vacation so there won’t be a Friday post next week. I wish everyone an early happy Passover and Happy Easter! Here are five from this week:

1. Hike – Saturday morning we went on an early hike to Rockefeller State Park Preserve.  We walked around Swan Lake and walked the Old Railroad Bed Trail to Peaceful Path. It was nice seeing spring trying to make an appearance. I am excited to be able to get more hiking in, now that the weather is starting to warm up!

2. Eating – After our hike we stopped at Falafel Taco for lunch. This is an Israeli-Mexican fusion restaurant. We shared several items including this Fatoosh Taco (fried eggplant, fried egg, black bean hummus, and Israeli salad) along with an Israeli Corn Salad and Mexican Latkes!

3. Reading – This week I finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Even though this isn’t my usual genre, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed his other book The Martian. I’d heard such good things about Project Hail Mary, I thought I’d give it a try and I’m glad that I did.

I also finished listening to The Therapist on book on cd.  It was an okay suspense read. 

4. Cooking – one of our favorite dinners this week was Honey Sriracha Tofu that I served with rice and roasted broccoli.

5. Watching – Friday we watched King Richard, which was a great movie. Kind of makes me want to play tennis again! 

We also watched Tick tick Boom, the musical about Jonathan Larsen.  I saw Rent on Broadway twice and it was so interesting to see Jonathan Larsen’s life before that.

A fun television show that I’ve been watching is That’s My Jam on Hulu. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, it’s a music and trivia game show with musicians and celebs competing against each other.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I shared a post about Brothers Fish & Chips.

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Hello Friday! I hope you all had a good week. Can you believe it’s the first day of April?! It’s gearing up to be a very busy month around here. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so I’m hoping to get outside for a bit! Here are five from this week:

1. Anniversary Dinner – Saturday, the weather was crappy and we had a free evening so my husband and I went out for an early anniversary dinner. Our actual anniversary is April 4th but April is a super busy month for us. Since we had no plans, we decided to celebrate early and went to our favorite restaurant Brothers Fish & Chips. We had the chef’s seafood tasting menu which was 12 courses (including 3 dessert courses!). It was such a beautiful and delicious meal! I am working on a post for next week to share all about this amazing restaurant.

2. Eating – Over the weekend my daughter decided to make a big batch of Muddy Buddies using a box of chocolate Chex that we had. I’ve never made Muddy buddies before and they were so good!

3. Reading – My new job has a longer commute, so I’ve started listening to books on CD.  This week I finished listening to Instamom by Chantel Guertin. I thought it was going to be a fluff book, but the narration was good and I surprisingly enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

4. Cooking – This week one of my favorite dinners was Cajun Garlic Butter Shrimp with Creamy Pesto Pasta. I cooked the shrimp for my son and I and I made ravioli with pesto sauce for my husband and daughter. I modified the recipe and used bottled pesto sauce instead of making homemade. So much easier, especially on a weeknight!

5. Watching – Last week we watched The Power of the Dog on Netflix. It was slow and not really my fave. I didn’t realize that it was based on a book, which I will likely never read. I didn’t watch the Oscars, even though this year I’ve watched more movies that were nominated than ever before. 

6. Guilty Eats Posts: Check out my recent Guilty Eats posts: 

What’s New at ALDI in April

Angry Orchard Launches Tropical Hard Cider

Vanderpump à Paris Now Open

7. Twitter Finds: This tweet thread is hilarious!

My 8yo daughter met a girl at summer camp last year named "Internet." I said no way, that can't be her name but my daughter has been adamant. For almost a year we've been having this discussion.

ANTOINETTE. I just found out her name is Antoinette.

— Brianne M. Kohl (@BrianneKohl) March 18, 2022

8. Heardle – Is anyone else still doing Wordle?! I am on an 83 day streak! Although there have been numerous spin-offs of the word game – (check out this site for all of the variations!), the only other “-dle” game I’ve been enjoying is Heardle. It’s a music guessing game and I am the WORST at remember artists and song titles, but I still think it’s fun. Some days I get it, some days I don’t.

Sharing with Friday Favorites. Have a great weekend!

Hello Friday! Did you have a good week? We are nearing the end of our calm time as spring sports start soon. My son’s modified track practice begins next week, so he will have practice every afternoon. This weekend my daughter has another sweet sixteen celebration for one of her best friends. My son has a Boy Scout paintball outing and then will be camping overnight. My husband and I get to chauffeur them around! Here are five from this week:

1.Hiking – Sunday we went for a hike at Madam Brett Park in Beacon. I love this waterfall and the water was really flowing! You can check out my Instagram reel to see more of the park.

2. Ipsy Bag – I started up my Ipsy bag subscription again. I’ve started doing my hair and wearing makeup to work (who am I?!) and I want to be able to try out different beauty brands and products before committing and spending a lot of money. I think I’ll actually use everything that came in my first bag, though I’m not a big fan of the bag itself. It includes The Crème Shop Jelly Mylk Double Cleanser, Refreshments Luscious Hand Cream, Danessa Myricks Beauty Oil, Context Skin lipstick, and Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz.

3 . Eating – I have been obsessed with these mini cucumbers that I found at Shoprite. They are crunchy. They go great with hummus for a snack!

We visited MoMo Valley in Beacon after our hike for a late lunch. Besides momos, we also enjoyed this Vegan platter, which was delicious!

We had takeout from a local Puerto Rican restaurant, Izla, for dinner over the weekend. While they don’t have many main dishes that are vegetarian friendly, we make a meal out of sides. It was a very tan/beige meal (cheese empanada, yuca fries, tostones, rice and gandules, and plantains!) and my son loves the pernil. It was tasty as usual.

4. Reading – This week I finished reading The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. This was a good read about an unlikely friendship.

4. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was this Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana Soup. The recipe said it serves 3-4, so my husband told me to double it. Well, the original recipe would have been fine for us! We ended up with tons of leftovers and my husband ended up eating this for lunch everyday!

5. Watching – I’ve watched the first three episodes of Life & Beth on Hulu. I like Amy Schumer and heard good things about this show. I’ve also been watching the new episode of The Dropout each Thursday.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Wednesday I wrote about MoMo Valley opening in Beacon. 

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Hello Friday! How is everyone doing with losing an hour of sleep last Sunday? Even though I was exhausted this week, I’m looking forward to it being lighter out later! We don’t have any big plans this weekend but my daughter has another Sweet 16 party to go to. Here are five from this week:

1. Snow – Last Saturday we had more snow. It’s so beautiful but I’m over it. Especially when it comes on the weekends!  My husband and I went for a short hike at Depew Park in Peekskill.  This was our first time visiting and it was beautiful with the last of the snow.

2 . Eating – Saturday night we ordered takeout from Stella’s.  I ordered a shrimp Parm hero.

While were in Peekskill on Sunday we got coffee and a pain au chocolat from The Central, a newish coffeehouse at the Peekskill train station.  

3. Reading – This week I finished reading an ARC of Deadly Little Lies by Stephanie DeCarolis. It took me awhile to get through this book and it’s supposed to be a suspense/thriller.  Enough said! 

4. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners were these Swedish Meatballs (where we substituted Impossible grounds for the beef).  This is a repeat recipe that we’ve made several times.  It’s so good served with mashed potatoes. 

5. Watching – We had another family movie night on Saturday and watched Ghostbusters Afterlife.  It was not the greatest movie but we had some good laughs talking about all the ridiculous things that took place! 

6. Puzzle – My friend was giving away some of her puzzles and I picked this Disney Pixar puzzle. I finished it in a couple of hours on Saturday when we were at home because of the snow.

7. Guilty Eats Posts: Check out my recent Guilty Eats posts! 

Snapple Elements Returns.

OMNI Hotels & Resorts New Junior Chef program.

Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Flavored Jelly Beans.

March ALDI Finds.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I wrote about Levity Live West Nyack.

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I survived my first couple of days at the new job! It’s a new position for me, so there’s a learning curve. It’s been an adjustment since I get home a little later and it’s a longer commute. My son was nominated for Order of the Arrow for Boy Scouts but needed more night of outdoor tent camping to qualify. His troop went cabin camping this past weekend but Friday night he slept outside in 24 degree weather to complete his tent camping requirement. I texted him first thing in the morning to see if he made it through the night and he did. He said it was bad and he didn’t get much sleep, but he survived. I was so proud of him for doing such a hard thing. And then he got to sleep in the cabin on Saturday night.

My kids have the day off of school for a Superintendent’s Conference Day. As of now, our weekend is wide open, which is super rare! We have lots of house stuff that needs to get done….but I hope to get out for a little bit. Here are five from this week:

1.Flowers – My last day of work my colleagues hosted a breakfast in my honor.  I also got these flowers and a small rose bush plant. 

2. New Job – This past Tuesday I started my new position at a new school district.  I was welcomed there with a breakfast as well! I am slowly learning all there is to know about the position, but so far, so good!

3. Eating- I saw Turkey Hill had a mystery ice cream flavor and I had to get it. I usually only buy ice cream, not frozen dairy desserts. But this was an exception. I submitted my guess and I’m curious to find out what the actual flavor is.

While my son was camping this weekend we took our daughter to the Palisade Center mall to get a dress for a Sweet Sixteen party she has coming up. After shopping we had lunch at Blue Alehouse, our first time visiting this restaurant. We ended up ordering a bunch of appetizers as our meal and our favorite were these Mac and Cheese Bites. They were really good!

Monday I was out running errands and got a falafel sandwich from Go to Greek.

4. Reading – This week I finished Burn The Place by Iliana Regan.  She’s a self-taught chef with restaurants in Chicago and this is her memoir.  It’s this month’s pick for a local foodie book club that I’m in.  Otherwise, I hadn’t even heard of this book.

5. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners were these Crispy Cheese Poblano Avocado Burritos.

6. Watching – This past weekend was a movie bonanza! A former colleague (it feels so weird to say that!) had a Funko pop on her desk of Michael Bolton and Samir on her desk. She said it was from the movie Office Space and asked if I had seen it. I didn’t think I had so I found it on the Roku channel and watched it Friday night. I realized I had seen it, but just didn’t remember since it was so long ago! 

Saturday I watched CODA on Apple+. This is an Oscar nominated movie about a hearing girl who lives with her deaf parents and brother.  This was an emotional watch but was really good.

Sunday night we had a family movie night and had dinner together while we watched Encanto. It was a good movie and it was even nicer having us all together watching it.

My husband and I also started watching The Dropout on Hulu. We’ve been fascinated with this Elizabeth Holmes story and listened to the podcast. 

7. Listening – in the first episode of The Dropout the song “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” by Alabama plays.  I had never heard this song before and now I’m playing it all the time! 

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I shared my February reads.

Thursday I posted about our winter weekend in Rochester.

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!

Hello weekend! Today is bittersweet, as it was the last day at my former job.  I am starting a new job on Tuesday working at a different school district. This week was filled with goodbye lunches and a “surprise” last day breakfast. I am going to miss my colleagues so much! However, I am ready for a change. My son is camping with his Boy Scout troop this weekend. I will be taking my daughter dress shopping for a Sweet 16 that she’s going to in a couple of weeks. Here are five from this week:

1. Eating- Over the weekend we finally visited Rossi and Sons deli in Poughkeepsie.  This is a very popular deli up in Poughkeepsie and I had to try it! My husband, daughter and I split The Kitchn and this Quattro Falso sandwich which had crispy eggplant, herb roasted ricotta, fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, balsamic glaze and herb pesto. This was my fave!

2. Reading – Last weekend I finished Know My Name by Chanel Miller. This is a nonfiction book that had me both crying at what Chanel went through and outraged at our judicial system.  I highly recommend this book.

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was this One-Pot Spicy Eggs and Potatoes from Pinch of Yum. We also made their Miracle No-Knead Bread in our Dutch Oven to soak up the tomato sauce.

4. Watching – Friday nights are usually pizza and popcorn movie  nights.  Last week we watched Cruella. I’m trying to watch the Oscar nominated movies and Cruella is nominated for best costume design and best makeup and hairstyling.  I had no idea what the movie was about before watching it. I’m curious as to what audience the movie was made for. It’s rated PG-13 so it’s not a kid’s movie but I’m not sure how many adults are running to see the origin story of this character. Overall, it was an okay movie which had some great music.

We also watched House of Gucci which I wasn’t a huge fan of. It is also nominated for an Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling as well. It has a great cast. However, I lost interest in the movie about halfway through.

5. Destressing – This week has been full of mixed emotions. The war between Ukraine and Russia, NY state lifting the mask mandate for schools, my last week of work….I ordered a paint-by-number during the pandemic that took over 3 months to arrive. When it finally arrived I had lost interest and left it in its packaging. When my daughter was quarantined to her room with COVID, she started it, but barely painted anything. I’ve been painting it for about an hour every day. I sit and paint while I listen to podcasts and find it very calming. I’ll post a picture of the finished painting.

Sharing with Friday Favorites. Have a great weekend!

Hello Friday! I am enjoying a day off from work since we got hit with another snow storm.  The kids had the week off for winter recess and we spent this past weekend up in Rochester exploring the city.  A big blog post and lots of Instagram posts will be coming soon! Here are five from this week:

1. Eating- we had so much tasty food up in Rochester. This vegetarian crepe from Simply Crepes was so good! 

As were these empanadas from Juan and Maria’s at the Rochester Public Market.  But seriously, everything we ate on our trip was delicious!

2. Reading – I haven’t had much reading time but did manage to finish one book this week. I read My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle. I need to take a break from mystery/suspense books. I’ve been reading a lot of them and just haven’t been wowed.

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was this Spicy Pesto Pasta Alla Vodka. This was really easy to prepare and was very good! Half Baked Harvest recipes don’t disappoint!

4. Watching – My husband and I started watching Reacher on Amazon since we need a new show to watch together. I’ve never read the books but I hear the show follows them fairly well. I just wasn’t into the show so now my husband is watching it on his own.

I finished Cheer on Netflix. It’s a show that I don’t have to put all my attention on, so I’ll write while watching. I’m also caught up on Abbott Elementary on Hulu. This is a fun comedy!

5. Vegan Dinner – Last night my husband and I went to The Bit for a special 4-course vegan dinner.  Although we are no longer following a strict vegan diet (I’m now pescatarian and my husband and daughter are vegetarians) it’s so nice to see more restaurants offering vegan options.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Wednesday I posted about the recently opened LOOK Dine-In Cinemas in Dobbs Ferry.

Sharing with Friday Favorites!  Have a great weekend!