The Gravy Train

a very chinese thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving back turned out even more fun than all the hype we'd built it up to be in our heads over the past month -- lots of family, lots of laughing, and of course, lots of eating.  I'm still sifting through photos and trying to put together some glimpses of the fun we've had getting ready for, hosting, and recovering from the excitement of it all.  For now, I think this image of my dad's local clams that he harvested himself, sauteed with black bean chili and basil sauce sums it up best; our Thanksgivings are a little bit Lowcountry, and a little bit wok 'n' roll. 

How are you recovering from your holiday?

reflecting on fall food

Sorry for the long food silence, Gravyheads.  The chilly Charleston winter (read: it was 50 degrees) hit our tropic climate-warmed blood, and everyone in our family has been fighting colds for the last two weeks.  Now that it's warmed up to a much more reasonable 75 degrees, I'm able to go back and revisit some of our finer food moments that we enjoyed while sniffling and sneezing our way through it all.  First up: a fresh apple pie, home-baked with local, organic Braeburn apples.  

Another high point was this pomegranate, avocado, shallot and shaved Parmesan salad I made tossed with a light apple cider vinaigrette.   

And we found a way to help the Gravy Baby enjoy the one food he dislikes -- eggs.  I fried up some potatoes and onions, then added lightly beaten eggs and voila!  Spanish tortilla, a toddler favorite.  

The peak of our food fun from the last few weeks, though, has to be Lobster Night.  I remember when my parents used to buy lobsters when I was a kid.  As a kid, cracking those lobster shells and fighting over the claws -- even though no specific night or specific lobster sticks in my memory, I remember the nights we spent eating them just felt special.  And so, when the opportunity arose to buy some lobsters at a school fundraiser, I jumped at the chance to give the Gravy Baby an experience I used to have as a kid.

I'm happy to report that the Gravy Baby enjoys a good claw.  Even if the whole experience was completely mind-blowing to his thirteen month-old self.

giveaway: alphabet placemat

The alphabet animals placemat from Modern Twist

How fun is this alphabet placemat from Modern Twist?  If you'll recall, a few months ago I gave away a set of placemats that could double as kid-friendly placemats.  

As it turns out, Modern Twist also designs placemats specifically with kids in mind, including designs from one of my favorite modern design companies, Dwell Studios.  These design-friendly placemats are made out of food-grade silicone, and Modern Twist even makes markers that your little ones can use to color in their placemats to their heart's content while you rush around to get food on the table.

The Gravy Baby loves the alphabet animals placemat we now have at his place at the table.  Every morning we play a little game out of pointing to the animals he knows and loves (elephants and pigs, mostly, but I think the latter is because we're huge pork eaters...oops).   Best of all, the placemat provides a slip-proof area for me to put his plate, which reduces the likelihood of unintentional spills.  Note that I said "unintentional."  We've had a rash of intentional food-flinging when the Gravy Baby's dinner not up to his high standards.  Case in point: a few weeks ago we took to using our cappucino maker to froth the Gravy Baby's milk.  Let me tell you for you gourmand parents out there -- if you start down this path, you have to commit to it.  Lord help the parents who, like us, dared to give their child a cold cup of refrigerated milk one chilly November morning.  

(I am still cleaning milk up off the ceiling from that harrowing incident.)

Anyway, so that you may share in my continuing love of all things Modern Twist, you can have your very own alphabet placemat in my giveaway today!  Details, after the jump.

the fun cage

The Gravy Baby's new playroom, with bulk bins (in white) so he can access toys easily and his prized Radio Flyer walker wagon; I decorated the walls with vinyl alphabet letters

This afternoon we invited some other little ones over to our house so that the Gravy Baby could have a taste of hosting his own party.  All week I've been working on getting his little playroom ready.   The area we've designated as his exclusive VIP party lounge is actually what's supposed to be the dining room in our house, so it's sandwiched in between the kitchen and the living room.

From left: we complemented his baby pool-turned-ball-pit with an IKEA painting that used to hang in our condo in DC; top, right: a closeup of the alphabet wall; below, left: the Gravy Baby's modified IKEA Latt table

The Gravy Baby's room is, quite honestly, the room we've dedicated the most thought to ever since we moved in six weeks ago.  We knew we wanted wall-to-wall foam mats, and I liked these that we could order in custom colors.  While I'm a big believer that bright colors are great for kids' rooms, I also have tried to stick to a general scheme when decking out his playroom in the hopes that it doesn't become a vivid, rainbow-colored headache living right in the middle of our house.

Top: a picture of the IKEA Latt table from the IKEA website; bottom: the hubby's stellar job modifying it for the Gravy Baby's use

The hubby did his fair share, too.  We're trying to encourage the Gravy Baby's independence, and so we thought a little table might help him feel so very grown up as to have a snack or an afternoon cocktail of whole milk and -- well, whole milk.  The problem is that most tables and chairs seem to be built for 3-year-olds, and the hubby and I believe that it's never too early to start learning manners.  We hemmed and hawwed for a few weeks before finally realizing that we could just purchase a too-good-to-be-true IKEA Latt for only $20.   The hubby sawed down the legs of the chairs and the table, and then spray painted the natural wood a calming light blue.  And wouldn't you know it -- the table is one of the Gravy Baby's favorite things about the playroom.  He loves having a snack there and today I caught him putting his Blue Bear in one of the chairs.  He's just like his mother that way -- he hates dining alone.  

Top, left: the view from the Gravy Baby's playroom into our kitchen; top, right: the view into our dining room

The best part about the Gravy Baby's playroom, though, is what lies just beyond its steel-cage walls.  We roped off the pass-throughs between the kitchen and the living room so that, when we're rushing around trying to get ready in the mornings or trying to get dinner on the table, the Gravy Baby can have a big, safe space to play without us having to hold him back from all the dangers of home.  Seriously, no one ever told me that houses are death traps for toddlers -- sharp corners, electrical outlets, slippery wood floors -- it's a miracle any of us made it past the age of 2.  

Lest I fool you into picturing our lives as this ideal, with the Gravy Baby puttering about happily in his ball pit while I bake struedel in the kitchen -- this little model area we've set up only works if the intended target also embraces our concept.  He does, sometimes.  Most of the time, though, he shakes the bars of his iron-gated, cheerily decorated prison, yelling what I can only imagine is babyspeak for, "GET. ME. OUT. OF. HERE."

For more on how you might build your own happy fun land of containment, check out these links:

Fun vinyl stick-ons; I was skeptical, but they really are easy to apply and fill a large wall space inexpensively

Foam mats are good for exercise rooms, too

The IKEA Latt table is so affordable that we figure we'll just buy the Gravy Baby a regular-sized one once he outgrows his doctored version

Bulk bins from Pottery Barn Kids are a great way to contain toys, produce or shoes (plus, they stack in tight spaces)

Baby gates: we have this one and this one, and we like the step-down, hands-free version so that we can use both to chase our toddler

thanks, ohdeedoh!

I got a great shout-out from one of my favorite blogs for children and home design, Ohdeedoh.  I'm so excited to be included.  More than a year later, I'm happy to report that my fabric panels are still intact and holding strong.  Of course, this could all change the second that the Gravy Baby learns how to climb over his crib and wreak havoc in his nursery.

truckin' through dinner

An average dinner for the Gravy Baby, consisting of broccoli, turkey meatballs with gnocchi, watermelon, plums and mandarin oranges

UPDATE: Tara C. is the winner of this week's Din Din Stainless Steel Platter giveaway!  Congrats, Tara!

I've spouted quite a bit these days about my love of organization, and that's due in no small part to the demands that a busy working schedule and a very active toddler place on making it through the day.   The hubby and I are still trying to figure out how to balance everything, and we're realizing that staying on top of things takes more planning than ever.

As a result, I've fallen in love with all sorts of products that take out guesswork so that I can spend more time hugging on the Gravy Baby (one day, ten or eleven years from now, he will tell me that he's embarrassed by my hugging and wipe away a kiss, and you will probably hear the sound of my heart shattering from hundreds of miles away, such is the level of how much I relish being able to cuddle my little one right now). One of my top favorites right now is the Din Din Smart Stainless Divided Platter by Innobaby.  

The folks at Innobaby were kind enough to send me one to test out, and when it first arrived, the hubby made some joke about finding a matching tin cup that the Gravy Baby could bang against the rails of his crib when prison livin' gets too tough.  After he saw how quickly and easily I could arrange all of the Gravy Baby's food on a single plate, though, he was hooked.  For those of you who might be scratching your heads a bit because your little ones either aren't eating table food yet or because you don't have kids, let me clue you in on one thing: toddlers are messy folks.  I have found the remains of day-old Cheerios and crusty bites of grilled salmon in places around our house where no food has ever been consumed.  To avoid catastrophic messes that take us hours to clean, we dole out the Gravy Baby's dinner to him, bit by bit, spread out over multiple plates.  Think of it as the culinary equivalent of a multiple-course omakase tasting menu, except that I'm not making any foams or gelees.  

Innobaby's stainless steel bentos are double-walled for keeping food warm

Anyway, we've marveled at the end of every day at how full our dishwasher is, and that's due in part to the fact that the Gravy Baby smears everything all over himself and his immediate environs, and using multiple plates is far easier than having to scrub smeared, dried food off of a 4-foot area.   With this smart, cute divided platter, we're now able to serve the Gravy Baby at once, and I don't have to sit at the dinner table with a cutting board instead of my own plate, doling out bits and pieces at a time.

If there's anything leftover, we're also using BPA-free stainless bento boxes, like the one pictured above, for storage.  I've become hypersenstive to this whole BPA thing ever since this story came out.  Yes, I am a neurotic mom.  Isn't that my main job these days?

For more products by Innobaby, click here.  You can also like Innobaby on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

Update: The folks at Innobaby have graciously decided to give a Din Din Platter to one lucky Gravy Train Blog reader!  Details on how to enter, after the jump.