The Gravy Train

mela and roam fame

My friend Courtney of Mela and Roam was recently featured in Vogue, and I couldn't be happier for her!  Her dohars (Indian summer blankets) are a dream to sleep with.  The texture is like a slightly thicker, dreamy, layered topsheet.  We've had ours for over a year, and not only has it held up to multiple washings (the bed is sort of a family hangout these days), it's the only blanket we use year-round here in Charleston.

Before Gravy Too was born she also sent us the most adorable block-printed bloomers.  I think every little girl needs ruffled, hand-printed fish covering her bottom, no?  Now if only they made these in adult sizes ...

masak-masak makan!

A friend pointed out over the weekend that a few food bloggers from Kuala Lumpur were featured in the New York Times recently.  I've been a fan of Masak-Masak since my first days back in KL, and was so happy to see her featured at the top of the story.  Congrats, boo!

(The only surprise to me was that one of the bloggers took the reporter to my beloved Imbi Market but that they ate Sisters' Popiah, which can be found even in Pavilion KL mall these days, and not the amazing pork curry laksa, which still keeps me up at night.)

gravy train in the macaroni kid

I've written a guest post about The Gravy Baby's transition into big boy underpants for the Charleston edition of Macaroni Kid, a national community and events newsletter for parents.  Check it out here.

how we move, and where we go

 

In the spirit of Labor Day weekend, when we're all hitting the road or (like us) hosting family who are doing so, I thought I'd feature this interesting infographic brought to you by EasyFinance.com about how we travel and where we spend our money.  Happy Labor Day!

 

Source: EasyFinance.com

carnita-vores

When my sister hosted us in Charlotte a few weeks ago, she made a delicious carnitas tacos in her slow cooker using pork shoulder she'd bought at their local farmer's market.  Inspired to do the same, last Friday I set up a taco bar and let my boys have at it.

Our preferred homemade salsa of choice is a fresh corn, black bean and avocado salsa, and I had all sorts of other garnishes -- chopped jalapenos, wedges of lime, grated cheese, sour cream, chopped tomatoes and minced cilantro.  A taco bar feels like the right kind of Friday night meal.  It's fancy enough that it feels like the weekend, but doesn't require me to break out a sweat trying to pull everything together.

Around here, it's sometimes hard to convince the Gravy Baby to eat something other than Asian food, but we discovered that when it comes to carnitas, he digs right in and enjoys the whole, er ... enchilada. 

Here's a roundup of some of the more intriguing carnitas recipes I was able to find:

Homesick Texan's Carnitas, as told by Smitten Kitchen

Slow Cooker Carnitas

David Lebovitz's Carnitas, with a great observation of why people feel the need to call thirty minutes before they arrive at a dinner party at your house, just as you're frantically rushing around trying to finish everything

Slow Cooker Beer Carnitas, which is very similar to what I did (but notice I'm not posting my own recipe because I basically seared my pork shoulder, then threw it on top of a pile of onions, jalapeno, brown sugar and cumin and doused the whole thing with a Corona)

Rick Bayless's Carnitas, because if it's anyone who can tell us how to do it, it would be him, right?

new story on babble.com!

A short piece I wrote about being pregnant overseas is featured today on Babble.com.  Click here to check it out!