The Red Accordion Diaries

I took a vacation last week. There were no gigs and no obligations. You see, despite my proclivity for travel, I can count on one hand the number of times I've had an actual vacation in my adult life. David conspired with my parents to fly me up to New York City for a kid-free weekend, which was completely spectacular.

I went to undergrad (saying "undergrad" makes it seem as if I have a Masters, doesn't it?) at NYU, which seems to own most of Manhattan, at least according to the density of purple flags on the lower third of the island. In many ways, it was an absurdly fun place to go to college, but I also rarely ever got to enjoy any of the excitement of the city.

I'm 36 now, and I am, well, employed AND have a partner who is also employed. Even though we are hardly rich, I felt like we were last week -- at least in comparison to my years spent living in the City.

So what did we do?

We did the things I love doing the most while traveling: EAT and WALK.

Cities are magical. I don't understand a beach vacation, when there are so many different and wonderful cities to explore in this world.

Here are some highlights of our first day in the city:

My flight arrived at 8:45am into LaGuardia. I bought a 7-day unlimited MetroCard from a machine and was on the Q70 bus within 10 minutes of the plane arriving at the gate. (Never check a bag, people.) David kept insisting I take a taxi, but he is ridiculous. It would have cost $50, taken longer, and I would have puked in the back from the stop-start-stop-start-awfulness that is an NYC taxi. A quick bus to the train, meant I was knocking on David's Soho hotel room before 10am. Ergo, we were out exploring the City right away.

We mostly wandered around the Lower East Side and the Village, while I pointed out my old haunts and things like "the former Tower Records" to David. Then my mind was blown to see that Other Music still exists (is there cock-fighting in the back? Do they own the building? did they get a Genius Grant?). We bought the new My Morning Jacket CD there, which is purely out of support for brick-and-mortar and our friends in MMJ because we don't actually own a CD player anymore. We'll probably also buy it on iTunes, to be honest. MMJ happened to be playing in NYC that night at the Governor's Ball, but the day-tickets were sold out and I didn't feel like pestering anyone for a ticket. Anyway, we were pleased with ourselves in a yuppie/yuccie kind of way and went about our wanderings.

After an attempt to go to the Tenement Museum -- which has gotten a completely makeover/upgrade since I lived there -- we ended up at Doughnut Plant. The Tenement Museum's tours were sold out for the next three hours, and it was $25 a person anyway. Doughnuts are cheaper, plus it was National Doughnut day, which meant a cute tiny free doughnut with every purchase. I like that Doughnut plant bothers to spell out the entire word. Support! The doughnuts we wanted (creme brulee and tres leches) were all sold out, so we got these instead. I don't remember what they were, but they were good.

Here's where I 'fess up to being not-my-former-self: I needed a nap. I would normally NEVER take a nap with only a few days vacation, but we were planning a late night. I hadn't slept the night before because of a 6am flight and a two-year-old who was crying out for me to "don't go, mommy. please don't go to New York."

We had reservations at Cafe Boulud, however, and I did not want to be nodding off during that. It's a swanky French restaurant on the Upper East Side that requires super-in-advance reservations, which David thought ahead enough to obtain. I'm pretty sure we were the only people in the place who arrived by subway, but that just mean that we had more money to spend on pre-dinner cocktails (also fairly sure that we were the only people in the place who were on a budget, but whatever.) We both did the vegetarian tasting menus -- six or seven courses, maybe? I can't remember.

David asked the server if the sommelier had any advice on wine, which apparently translated into "we would like wine pairings." When the sommelier arrived with two glasses and a "lovely white I've chosen to go with your amuse bouche," it was too late to ask how much this was going to cost. We had to just pretend we knew what we were doing and went with it. It was an expensive choice, but completely wonderful and the most vacation-like thing I've ever done (I am normally SUPER BUDGET CONSCIOUS on vacation). I got chummy with the sommelier during the sauvignon blanc course by asking him if anyone ever referred to it as "savvy B," at which point David, mortified, kicked me under the table. The 24-year-old sommelier sort of choked a little, but then grinned and said, "No, but I like that, and I might start using it." You're welcome, wine world. Oxford English Dictionary, TAKE NOTE.

I did not take photos of most of our food, but I didn't care by the time the dessert came out. LOOK AT THIS MAGIC.

After consuming all the food and all the wine, we took a taxi (we were LATE!) down to the West Village to meet up with some friends at The Duplex, a cabaret club where I played piano on occasion during my NYU days. Check out the insanely-talented Christina rocking out to some Carole King while the piano player works the keys AND the lights. Also, enjoy a photo of Adam, our singing server, entertaining the crowd from atop the piano.

I ended up singing "Crazy," because that was the only country-esque tune that the pianist knew. I forget how karaoke is totally different up north.

Anyway, that was just Day One, so you can see what kind of weekend we had.

A few weeks ago, I said I was going to use this blog to tell you all about the various meal-planning websites I was going to try out. It turns out the very first one I tried is exactly what I was looking for. I'm not wasting my time with the others.

I did some research, looked at websites and their week-long free sample menus. After sampling TheFresh20.com, I looked to eMeals.com next. The first annoying thing is that it requires a credit card to sign up for the free trial. In the name of blogging, I made an account and downloaded the first week's menu -- they do have a vegetarian plan.

My initial reaction was horrible, entirely based on their signup question: How did you hear about us? Some of the options to click were "Dr. Laura" and "Dave Ramsey" which immediately made me want to puke. (I'm sorry, I know many of you love Dave Ramsey, but I think his budgeting plans are just plain common sense. And it's not Jesus who helps you out of debt, but, whatever I digress...) So, yeah, I was turned off my that, but I went ahead and got the menu.

I could tell just by looking at the grocery list that I was not going to like eMeals.com. Like many vegetarian menus planned by non-vegetarians, this one was heavy on the carbs and the dairy -- definitely not a well-balanced, healthful meal. It was also 3-4x the $$$ amount of groceries than TheFresh20 and included lots of processed foods.

I checked out a few other sites. But...

David and I have a lesson we've learned on our many travels. If you see a restaurant that looks good that you think you would enjoy eating in, go on in. Don't walk around for another hour until you get lost and hangry and wish you had just gone on in to the first place you liked.

As I'm a grownup now, which means I take my own advice (most of the time), I'm going to just stop hunting for the perfect meal plan.

What I LOVE about TheFresh20.com (and no, they are not giving me anything to promote them):

Vegetarian menus that are vegan or easily-made vegan. Translation: it's not just pasta and cheese every night.
Inexpensive grocery bills. My weekly bill has been $50-60
It's generally non-processed. The most processed food that has been on the list has been tortillas and cans of beans -- both of which are very easy to make/soak at home should I choose to.
The shopping list. (Every meal site has this, but for you newbies to online-meal-planning-sites, they give you a shopping list every week. It's a basic perk, but saves me so much time.) It prevents impulse-buys, wasted food, and also means someone else could do your grocery shopping for you (in my dreams, I send the nanny to the store on Monday mornings).
The meals for the week are designed to eliminate wasted food. You don't have half an onion in the back of your refrigerator because if one recipe uses 1/2 an onion, a later-that-week recipe will use the other half.
The variety -- sometimes it's Mexican, sometimes Asian, sometimes classic America, sometimes a one-pot-meal, sometimes a salad. I've cooked three full weeks worth of menus, with no repetition.
There are only five meals in the weekly menu (each serves four). It's perfect for my family of 3, with a husband who travels a lot. We just buy some eggs and bagels and fruit to improvise breakfast, and all of our meals are covered.
It's seasonal. The veggies are based on what's in season ("Fresh" 20, I suppose), so lately it's been lots of peas and asparagus.
It's delicious. Even my 2-year-old has loved every single meal we've made. I felt kind of like an ass when we brought a risotto to the pool for dinner last week and he told a nearby adult, "I'm eating risotto, it's not macaroni and cheese. It's risotto made with peas and mint that I picked from my garden." But I'm thrilled he's loved the meals.
It's balanced nutrition. They have nutritionists who look at their meals to design balanced meals. So I feel good about what I'm feeding my kiddo.
The meals are quick and easy. Nothing has taken over 35 minutes to cook so far.
The time-saving. All the sites have this in common, but I can't emphasize enough how much I have loved it. I don't constantly think about what in the world I will feed my boy. Dinner is not a total surprise anymore.

I only bought a 3-month subscription because I wanted to see just how long I would stick to it. But honestly, the fact that dinner isn't stressful, that I have enough leftovers for lunch and that it helps me stick to a budget, has relieved so much mental-chaos from my life ... well, I think it's going to stick.

Because I want to have written a blog, but I'm too swamped to actually write anything, I present to you a funny thing that I copied from the Facebook status of a friend. The Wee Boy is hilarious and fun and charming and such good company.

WITHOUT ANY prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say. It is a great way to find out what they really think. When you re-post put your Child's age.

The Wee Boy, 2.5years old

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I don't know, Mommy. Why?

2. What makes mom happy?
Scratching your back. But I didn't scratch your back when you woke up, so you were not happy. But now I scratched your back, Mommy. And you're happy. Awwwwww, you're happy now. I made you happy.

3. What makes mom sad?
I don't know, Mommy. Babies crying? That makes you sad, mommy. When babies cry, that makes you sad.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Ha ha ha ha, like that!

5. What was your mom like as a child?
I don't know. A baby? You were a baby.

6. How old is your mom?
I don't know. How old are you?

7. How tall is your mom?
This tall (raises arms).

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
I don't know.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
She pretends to be a starfish.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Guitar.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
You're not good at playing cars. Play cars with me right now.

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Mommy, I want to hide from you. Count to ten and then say, "Ready or not, here I come."

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Please stop asking me these questions.

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Can you find me now? I'm hiding.

16. If your mom were a character, who would she be?
Mommy, go to the sunroom and say, 1, 2, 3, and then say, "Ready or not here I come. All right mommy? Mommy, do that. Mommy go in the sunroom and count right now.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
We sing. We don't cook. Sometimes we cook.

18. How are you and your mom the same? We both have blue eyes.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Mommy, I'm going to hide from you again. Can you cover me with the pillow? The pillow that you're sitting on? Can you move and cover me with that pillow?

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Mommy, I said I don't know.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Mommy, I'm finished with this game.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
I don't know. Maybe the movies.

23. How old was your Mom when you were born?
No more questions, please. No means no.

Fresh20 Vegetarian meal planning review continued ...

Recap:

Day 1 - Meal prep. Then three of us (2 adults, 1 toddler) enjoyed the Ginger Tofu, Rice and Snap peas.

Day 2 - Dinner at a restaurant -- not a total failure though because, come on, I have a restaurant problem.

Day 3 - Invited neighbor over to eat Pesto zucchini with beans, broccoli, and roasted potatoes. We each had seconds.

Day 4 - We are only on Meal 3 here, even though it's Thursday. This was the meal I was most skeptcial about: Asian Nachos. I am a nacho fiend, and I'm fiercly loyal to Tex Mex.

In addition to my skepticism, we ended up having a surprise visit from my pal Colleen (The Meal Plannning Queen) and her 5 and 7 year old, AND we were babysitting a 3-year-old for a friend who needed a grownup evening. Colleen was a huge help in preparing the meal, advising me on whether I should substitute egg roll wraps for wonton wraps (your options are limited when you do all your grocery shopping the day after Derby) and whether the nachos should bake a few minutes more. It's much more fun for me to cook with a friend than to cook alone. The four kiddos all entertained each other by gathering every pillow in the house and putting it on the sofabed, while Colleen and I prepared our Asian Nachos.

Asian Nachos were, to my huge surprise, a hit! They were delicious. Crumbled ginger tofu (left over from Meal 1) and various veggies that I had pre-chopped during the meal prep on Monday. It was easy to prepare, and everyone liked it -- even the toddlers, though they didn't clean their plates.

I have an adorable photo of all of us eating our meal around a dinner table, but I don't want to share it until I have permission from the other kiddos' parents. And it's morning and they are at work right now, so just imagine it instead. It was actually really pleasant -- no meltdowns. We even made up those funny stories where each of us told a line or two of a story, then went around the table adding to the story. It was kind of magical.

We also had just enough leftovers for a good lunch on Friday, despite having served 2 adults and 4 children.

Two meals to go: Friday night and Saturday night.

Continuation of The Fresh 20 review! First, a correction: the grocery bill for last week's items was only $55. We bought $10 worth of c-r-a-p for a last-minute let's-have-movie-night-and-eat-unhealthful-foods, so the total receipt was $10. This only includes 5 meals and is supposed to feed 4 people. We are only 2.5 people, however, and my husband travels a lot. I invited people over to dinner every night last week to make my testing a little more scientific.

If you remember, Monday morning I did an hour of food prep -- grating ginger, chopping vegetables, whipping up some pesto for later in the week.

One thing I love about The Fresh 20, so far, is that it's mostly about whole foods. I'm not into packaged guacamole or pesto (I can always taste that same strange chemical-flavor). I also am primary caregivier to my 2-year-old, however, plus I own my own business, so it's not like I have a lot of time. Making the pesto for the week -- arugula, basil, and cashews -- was easy and took just a few minutes. It takes me longer to open a jar these days with my arthritic hands.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I had Ginger Tofu, Snow peas, and Rice, for lunch -- left over from Monday's dinner. Tuesday evening was a fail on my part, however, as I met some friends for dinner. So much for the stay-in-and-cook goal.

Still, Fresh20 only sends 5 meals a week, allowing for social events that happen unexpectedly, so I tried not to beat myself up about it.

Wednesday's dinner was Pesto Zucchinni with Cannollini Beans, Broccoli and Roasted New Potatoes. I forgot to save half of the pesto for another recipe, so it was extra pesto-y (a good problem, believe me). It was completely delicious. The Wee Boy ate all of his, and both grownups had seconds. (David was out of town, but we had a friend over to recipe-taste.) So. Good.

I think next time I will use the vegetable peeler to make zucchini noodles (or "zoodles" if you are super-annoying) instead of the rounds -- just a personal preference.

The Wee Boy's plate. He ate it all.

I think my favorite thing about this particular meal-planning service is that it thinks ahead. I love to cook and invent recipes, and planning different meals isn't the challenge for me. The challenging thing is not wasting food, or rather, using the same ingredients in various different meals without making things boring. So when Fresh20 has me roast 2 pounds of new potatoes on Day 2, but then says "put half back in the refrigerator to save for Meal 4," my mind is blown. YES!!! That is the problem I have been looking to solve. And Meal 4 doesn't include roasted potatoes, so it's not a meal-double. (Meal 4 includes potato salad made from the extra roasted tatties. GENIUS.)

Enough for today. I'll tell you about Meal 3 tomorrow ... I'm a bit behind blogging, as usual, but I will say that I enjoyed last week's meal plan enough to attempt a different menu from the same company again.

I am a working mother, and dinner comes as an utter surprise to me pretty much every day. I've tried getting friends to explain meal planning to me. They seem so smug, with their "Sunday prep day" and their freezer full of portion-controlled ziploc bags of meals. I just want someone to tell me when Taco Night is.

I prefer to shop European style* -- i.e. pop down to the market every day or two -- for various reasons.

I eat more fresh foods
I never know what I'm going to be in the mood for a few days from now (I know, that's such an entitled attitude, but, hey, I've been self-employed my whole life)
I often have evening gigs or we eat at a restaurant, thus ruining any plans I might have had.
I can't stand throwing food away, so better to buy small amounts at a time.

Eating non-processed foods is not a new thing for our family, so it's not like we don't know how to cook. We've been making our own crackers and tortillas and pasta (not nearly as much since having the Wee Boy) for years now. We are also all vegetarian, so eating healthful foods is a hardly challenging.

Still, the actual PLANNING part is somehow completely anathema to my carefree ways.

Because we spent an ungodly amount of money last month on restaurants and because the idea of paying someone to meal plan for us is no longer an only-for-the-rich-folks thing, I'm going to try out several meal planning websites and report back to you. I've avoided them in the past partly because of cost, but also because I never liked the sample vegetarian plans I had seen in the past. I'm not big on fake meat. Even tofu, though I like tofu, is a little too processed for my over-thinking brain to handle. I do like tofu, I just didn't want a meal plan based around meat substitutes.

We shall see what follows.

First up in my review will be my week of following The Fresh20.

Overview: The Fresh20 has a week-long sample plan, which I'm trying out. I chose the vegetarian option, obviously, though I do wish there were options that went along with vegetarian, i.e. vegetarian gluten-free or vegetarian dairy-free, etc. Meat-eaters get all of those choices, which is pretty annoying considering eating meat only really adds, like, 4 ingredients to a vegetarian diet (chicken, cow, pig, fish). But I digress into a rant about how vegetarianism is actually not restrictive...

Anyway, The Fresh20 weekly plan posts a menu of 5 meals, a shopping list, a prep-plan, the 5 recipes, and a nutrition guide (including serving size, calories, nutrients, etc).

Sunday: We printed out the shopping list. Yes, there there is a SHOPPING LIST, which made our trip to the store quick and easy.

Cost of groceries: $65.

Monday: I decided I would prep the first two meals. I ended up prepping all five meals because the prep for meals 3-5 only involved chopping vegetables. That seemed easy enough, and I was already on a roll.

I spent a total of 65 minutes chopping, blanching, and trimming various vegetables, but those 65 minutes include several minutes of freaking out and running around giddy when my @KensingtonPalace notification went off that the new Princess had been named (Diana, people, they were able to sneak in a Diana!! I died a little, and then went back to blanching broccoli.)

Ideally, in my hippie ways, I would have stored everything in glass containers, but I can't find any of the lids to my glass containers (who out there has the perfect lid-storage-system-that-doesn't-take-up-much-cabinet-room?). I went with the plastic, which means my photos don't look classy and we are storing our food in chemicals. Forgive me.

I wrote a number on the side of the containers to tell me which meal it's for, in case I space. I used a permanent marker and decided I didn't care. David, the genius of the relationship, suggested that in the future I use Dry Erase markers. Duh.

Monday night: We actually ate meal 1! It took about 30 minutes to cook, not including the prep. Those 30 minutes weren't actual work time though, as 25 minutes involved baking the tofu.

Ginger Tofu, Snow Peas, Rice.

I don't love that tofu was such a big ingredient, but I did love how it tasted. The Ginger sauce (homemade with actual grated ginger root) was delicious. All three of us cleaned our plates. There was one serving left over for lunch on Tuesday. I forgot to take a picture of my plate, which David artfully arranged. But here is the Wee Boy's dinner, minus a few snow peas and some rice.

Tuesday night: I totally failed and went out to eat with a friend. Am horrible person, but will get back on track on Wednesday.

The Fresh20 offers only 5 meals for the week because they recognize that families in our day and age go out to eat more often than we should. I guess I should accept that.

*Yes, I know how pretentious that sounds, but what's a better word for it? My word-retrieval skills are failing since I became a parent.

First off, let me acknowledge that I understand how absurd it is that I, a support of Scottish independence, am mildly obsessed with the Royal Family. I come to the Scottish Question as someone having lived in Edinburgh. I come to the Royal Family obsession as having grown up a girl in America who had a bizarre fascination with British history (I'm equally obsessed with Anne Boleyn as with Kate Middleton).

Anyway: Yay! A princess was born. Everyone on the internet is all upset that Kate looked beautiful so soon after the delivery. We all know she had a team of stylists come in and do her hair and makeup. The fact that her wedding ring still fit, well, some women just stay thin -- or maybe it's a larger-size mockup or she had the ring enlarged. Who knows, who cares, she's The Duchess!

People are also freaking out that she went home so soon after the birth. For a natural and simple delivery, there's nothing wrong with that. I lost a lot of blood, which was the only reason I stayed overnight. But still, the Wee Boy was born at noon, and I went home the next morning. Hospitals are icky, germy and not a place for newborns (unless medically necessary, obviously).

Also, can I just comment on how wonderful and grand it is for all of womankind that midwives attended Kate? Our bodies are amazing.

One article on ScaryMommy also claimed that "looks like she spent the day in a spa, and got a baby as a thank you gift." This made me laugh because, honestly, I don't think I've ever been in a spa that was as pleasant as the birthing suite where I had my little boy -- and my boy was born in an NHS Royal Infirmary, not a private wing of a hospital.

Check out these photos of my birthing suite. If we were living properly in the future and had smellovision, you would be able to inhale the essential oils and understand how this room smelled like an Aveda spa. I'm not comparing birthing a baby to a day in the spa, just birthing a baby in a spa, I suppose. Look at that ginormous pool, the bean bags, the funny shaped foam pieces, the artwork, the kind doula knitting on the sofabed (yes, sofabed). Then imagine if this was my free NHS room, what does the Lindo wing look like??

First up in my review will be my week of following The Fresh20.

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Brigid Kaelin