Leah's Life: Pearls and Oysters

Tired Parent, Goes Hungry

On our way out the door to camp, a rare rainy morning required rain boots. I opened the shoe cabinet to find not only my Hunter rain booties but wedged between all the shoes a bag of tortilla chips. Until you have children you don’t know what tired really feels like or how silly things…

Bygone Baguette Days: Mon Dieu, A French Shift in Habits

It is hard to believe that there was a time when Wonder Bread was king and anything other than that required a plane ride to Europe. You might have found a good Irish soda bread depending upon the heritage of your community. If you lived in NYC crusty, fresh, Italian loaves were baking daily but…

Simple Lunch for Mom & Son

Sometimes a simple quiet lunch in the kitchen is better than any fancy meal out. It is all about finding those spaces between that help stretch out summer days in a good way. After dinner last night, we had pasta left over. Keep even a small serving of leftover pasta for a day. It is…

Silk, Linen, and Pearls: 12 Years Married

Silk/linen and Pearls. Silk for the flawless soft, sensual feel of silk but knowing it can snag easily and needs a lot of special care. Linen for the crisp, clean, earthy feel and look. Linen is a light, airy, carefree fabric, but at the same time it wrinkles easily and somehow works best if just…

Le Bec Fin: Pop Ups, Revivals and an Era of Nostalgia and Innovation

Frank Bruni of The New York Times covers the three day revival of Le Bec Fin and, as I read, I get goose bumps again because of what an exciting time it is for restaurants, chefs and diners. Now don’t get me wrong, I still recognize that a chef’s life is an extremely difficult, exhausting…

Feeling Green: Gardening with Starbucks

Whether you’re a daily Venti Americano drinker or an occasion shaken Passion ‘Tea-totaller’, love or hate Starbucks, they’ve got something your garden likes and they give it away too. Starbucks has wonderful bags of grounds for you to pick up and add as a brown layer to your compost or to sprinkle around your hydrangeas…

Fall Fashion: My favourite stores to clothe the kids

As a kid, I remember always loving the end of summer and beginning of fall. Maybe that makes me a bit of a nerd but in fact, I think it had very little to do with school. ‘Back to school’ meant new clothes, even if was just opening up the box of hand me downs…

5 Ways To Upgrade Leftovers: Season to grownup taste

Leftovers used to be something I dreaded as a child because my brilliant mother would whip it up into what she called cottleston pie. I am certain it was in fact delicious, but as a child who liked flavours and textures totally separate, there was no way I ‘d even let myself enjoy any bite…

The Summer Interns

Sometimes, the lines between writer and blogger blur. It definitely depends on the blog or blogger. Some bloggers are journalists with paid jobs. Some journalists cringe at the idea of a blogger being held in the same regard as them. I don’t think of myself as a journalist or a food critic. I am uncomfortable…

Dog Days of Summer Camp

Whether you’re a full time working parent (okay, we’re all full time working parents, but what I mean is if you have another job outside of parenting) or you just have spent way too many blissful, blisteringly hot, days with your children, summer camp in August is sometimes essential. It is especially those last days…