v.2

Last week, Brenda was able to answer my call of distress and go out to dinner with me. I had a bit of a crazy week with Sienna being sick and in need of getting out of the house. Sienna had a fever for 4 days!! She’s never had a fever that long, usually any OTC meds I give her for fever takes care of it within a few hours or by next day. Her fever would reduce but then it would come back. She also complained about her ears hurting (she had an ear infection in both ears last month!) and a bellyache so we went to the doctor. The doctor said her ears were fine (thankfully!) but that she had a throat infection! Total surprise on that one. Since the throat infection was viral and not bacterial, he didn’t give her any meds. I felt so bad for her. She started getting better by the 5th and 6th day and it was actually the aftermath of the sickness that drove me batty! Mopyness and whinyness…she is now back to her usual, happy self! Whew!

Brenda suggested we head out early and go to The Meatball Shop. Been wanting to try this place as my friend Pete likes it AND they’ve been on the Martha Stewart show!

Brenda got the Everything but the kitchen sink salad with spicy pork meatball (she shared one with me!)

I was tempted to get the naked meatballs but you could only pick 1 protein so I opted for sliders and got veggie with spicy meat sauce, chicken with mushroom sauce and beef with tomato sauce.

Veggie

Chicken

Beef

My favorite meatball was probably Brenda’s spicy pork! They were all good (although I wasn’t too keen on the mushroom sauce) and I definitely want to go back to try more. But wait! Here is the best part and probably the main reason I would go back; homemade ice cream sandwiches! I love that you could pick the cookie and the ice cream (which is housemade! Awesome!!) Brenda chose the one I would have picked, chocolate chip and mint so I got the ginger snap and vanilla, which actually was the better one. I loved that they use fresh mint but it was a little too much. The ginger snap was so good and just the right amount of ginger.

Since we were in the ‘hood, had to drop by Bisou Ciao and picked up 2 macarons for home, the salted caramel and blood orange with dark chocolate filling. Do I have to tell you they were delicious?

Our next stop was Baohaus. When Brenda sent me the link and asked if I wanted to stop by after meatballs, I said hell yes!

We got the Chairman Bao, which is pork belly. Very delish! Definitely need to go back to try more!

A very small place

Cute family photos on the wall

And of course, how could I not pick up some Sugar Sweet Sunshine cupcakes to take home for the family (big wink)?

2 pistachio (by far their best), a peppermint chocolate and spicy pumpkin. And proof that family ate it:

More photos of food excursions to come as it just so happened that I went out to eat 4 days in a row! Oy, my belly…

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Sheng Wang with Joy and Brenda. Everything was so good!

Boiled dumplings (bought a bag of frozen ones for home)

Oxtail noodle soup with fried egg on top. The oxtail was disappointing but everything else was good!

Brenda got tendon with spiced egg, tendon was the way to go!

Joy got pork chop over her noodles, she wasn’t thrilled with the pork chop.

We were delighted to find meat in the fish balls. So good and I also bought a frozen bag for home.

A couple of weeks ago, went on a date night with Yves to Sally and George’s Place. The food was good but the experience was a little less desirable. There was a table nearby where the father was hacking phlegm every few minutes and the daughter, aside from sounding like a 12 year old, never seemed to learn about having an inside voice so I heard about her philosophy of life throughout dinner. Oh fun.

Assorted appetizer plate.

I got lamb over rice

Yves got kafta kebab

I met Tammy and Co (Alison, Stephanie and Jen) for brunch at Bubby’s. I was so looking forward to the homemade corned beef hash! It was a disappointment! Too much red peppers and it overwhelmed the whole thing. Tammy got Eggs Benedict, Alison got boiled grapefruit and shrimp and grits, Jen got pancakes and Stephanie got an omelet. The smallest girl at the table suggested we get an order of french toast with bananas and berries for all to share! My kinda girl!

Both Alison and Tammy are due any day now so I expect to hear about a new addition to their family very soon!!

I also met Pete for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We went to Veselka’s. My camera battery died and the extra one I carry with it was also dead! HMPH! So I only managed to get one photo of my Ukranian meatball sandwich with sweet potato fries. It was ok. I prefer the italian meatball way. You can also see in the corner of the photo the order of short rib pierogies we shared. That was awesome!!

So if you don’t think I’m a glutton already, here’s the last one to round out the latest food outtings! I’ve been attending a monthly poker night (altho so far we haven’t actually played poker!) with some local moms but this month we had to rearrange schedules and couldn’t get a room for poker. So we decided to go out to eat to Il Fornetto‘s this past Friday. I was very close to bailing out on it because Sienna was sick all week with a fever, throwing up and throat infection. Yves even called in sick on Friday since Thursday night was really tough (I ended up sleeping on the floor of Sienna’s room, which I don’t usually do ever! This might be the 2nd or 3rd time I’ve done so in her 4 years!). Yves encouraged me to go since I’ve been cooped up in the house all week and since it was local, I did go. I’m so glad I did. It was a fun evening with the ladies!

My order of lamb scallopini, one of the specials of the night. Very yummy and the lamb was tender!

Jana got chicken cardinale

Shirley got filet of sole

Daniela got caesar salad because she already ate dinner

We all shared 2 orders of warm chocolate cake. MMMMM

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As mentioned in earlier posts, we went to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia a few weekends ago. We decided to make a weekend out of it and booked a room at Crowne Plaza Hotel, chosen because of the indoor pool (which ended up being close for renovations! GRRRR!) Anyhow, lots of photos were taken so I’ll keep the words short. Pete joined us for the trip and it was great fun to have him with us. The museum totally rocked, the building majestic and I would definitely recommend this place and want to go back!

On to the photos!

Pete was a good crayon assistant to Sienna in the back seat

The sign outside

The beautiful ceiling (I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo of the building, which is beautiful)

They had a few of these cutout head bodies. Lots of fun!

Garage

Water Area

These clouds and rainbow were above the water area, I loved them!

This cracks me up!

They have an awesome Alice in Wonderland area!

We played with blocks for a little bit and Sienna enjoyed knocking down all our blocks.

These were taken downstairs in the “city” area. I don’t remember why they had a vespa there. Sienna found this dog in the house area and played with it what felt like forever! This was also the area where Pete’s video was taken of the shopping. There was also a hospital but we did not go in there.

There was also a section of old stuff and I really thought the typewriter was cool!

They also had a display of retro toys (not in the same area as the old stuff). I had to take a photo of this because we had one when I was younger.

Waiting in line to shoot a “rocket”

Shooting the rocket!

There really are so many photos I am not posting. I ran into some old friends at the museum (small world!), me and Sienna rode the carousel, Sienna ate a hot dog for lunch and we went to Dalessandros (recommended by a friend) for cheesesteaks! MMM!

And of course, I have to show Sienna wearing the 4 shirt I made for her for her birthday (which she did not want to wear on her actual birthday but the day after!)

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Video taken by Peter at the Please Touch Museum. So cute! Now, I wonder….why doesn’t Sienna like going shopping with me???

Shopping at Please Touch from Lisa on Vimeo.

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This embroidery was made for the Profile Stitch swap for cobalt gypsy

Mug Rug swap for zigg13pra, who is a GS volunteer.

Sienna went to a birthday party in early March for Olivia and I made her this shirt. Funny and cute photos of the party can be seen on here!

I have been getting Sienna into more crafts! The first photo she is coloring Princess shrinky dinks from a kit I got at the craft store (plan to make my own next time!). The 2nd photo she is helping me paint a box for Yves to keep his watches in. That one is still a WIP because we have to put Spider-Man stickers on it.

I’m happy that Sienna likes Super Heroes as much as Princesses so I made her this Wonder Woman paper doll cut with my Silhouette

And that was before she got a real Wonder Woman doll and Green Goblin (or Gobalin as Sienna says it) from my former boss at Mada Design! How I love Facebook!

Sienna’s school had a Wacky Tacky day. Wear the wackiest outfit for a chance to win a free lunch (although Sienna doesn’t eat lunch at school!). So I sewed together 3 different parts of 3 different shirts that Sienna pretty much outgrew. I wanted to take a couple of photos and she totally went into pose mode. I posted the above photo and 4 others here. She is such a crack up. I did not give her any direction whatsoever! All these poses were done on her own and within 5 minutes!

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Well, I’ll probably say this every year for the appropriate age so here goes this year’s! I can’t believe my little girl is 4 years old!! I was just telling Yves how I can remember her birth like it was yesterday. Yes, I really can! Everything else after that is pretty much a blur but the birth I can remember! Anyway, she already had 2 celebrations before today! One with my parents on Thursday and one at school on Friday. It’s good to be 4, huh? Today we are heading to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia and our friend Pete is coming along. Even though it is only 2 hours away, we are making it an overnight trip. Sienna likes staying over in a hotel with a pool, which is exactly what we are doing. We almost had a party for her but after doing some research at some party places, we decided it was just too expensive. We would have to invite all the kids in her class and then with her other friends outside of school, it would just be too much. And for 2 hours! I’ll wait to spend that money for her birthday parties when she is older and I’m sure there will be plenty of them!

Chowing down on the cake from my parents. Strawberry!

Birthday crown at school

Cupcakes for class. I like how they turned out! I’m getting the knack of the decorating tip!

Sienna in between Abby and Sarah

Sienna in between Caius and Darany

Happy Birthday circle with Sienna in the middle

A big birthday hug from Elli

Zipper pulls I made for the goody bags

The goody bags

Happy Birthday Sienna! from Lisa on Vimeo.

I’ll sure I’ll have another post about our Philadelphia adventures!

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We met up with Tammy and Zack at the Maritime Aquarium up in Norwalk, CT. I have to say that I wasn’t that excited about the aquarium (but was excited to see Tammy and Zack) as the reviews were good and bad. The aquarium rocks! The only aquarium I really know is the New York Aquarium and I have to give it up to the CT folks! They are both small aquariums but I think the Maritime one seems to have a lot more stuff. Not only that, there is an awesome burger place right down the block. Burger Bar and Bistro had one of the best burger and fries I’ve had in a long time. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I had such a wonderful burger!
On to the photos!

(I LOVE the jellyfish exhibit, I could stand and stare at them for hours if I could!)

Sienna touches a horseshoe crab!

Monkeys having some sort of important discussion (I just realized they both have monkeys on their shirt!)

FOOD!

Sienna and Zack had hot dogs

Yves got the boomer (goat cheese, mushrooms and truffle essense). Me and Tammy both ordered different sliders and split them! I got the chimi (argentinian cilantro sauce, garlic, avocado) and Tammy got the Ultimate (sweet onions, gorgonzola, pancetta and aged balsamic). The fries were DELICIOUS but no photo of them!

Zack plays connect 4

Ride ’em cows!

Overall a very nice day. I can’t wait to go back to the “aquarium!”

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Last month we took an overnight trip to the Crayola Factory. It can be done in one day but we decided it would be nice to get away (and into a hotel with an indoor swimming pool!) We originally were supposed to go during winter break but Mother Nature had other ideas.

Upon first arrival (by the way, Easton looks like a very cute town!) I was sure we would be finished within an hour. There were lots of areas to do activities but with Sienna’s ADD, I didn’t think we would be staying at any one station for too long. Surprisingly we lasted 2.5 hours there! I’m not sure if we would go back again but it was a fun time.

The first (of many) free crayons she got.

Not sure what this psychedelic motion screen has to do with crayola but it was fun!

Lots of coloring stations (obviously)

Free model magic that Sienna shaped into a hippo and colored pink

The t-shirt to color was extra but at least they had the fabric markers to use and not have to buy (because I have a set at home!)

Sienna stands in front of the largest crayon in the crayola store.

We stayed in Bethelhem at Hyatt Place. It was nice enough. The indoor pool was small and there were a lot of families around.

We went to dinner at Thai Thai II and was surprisingly impressed with the food! It totally rocked! Even thought Yves’ pad thai came with a lemon (usually it’s a lime), he still enjoyed it. Sienna ate all her chicken sate AND some of my rice and sauce. She seemed like a bottomless pit that night!

Because we stayed in one big room, Sienna did not get to sleep until late since Yves wanted to watch some football playoffs. She still woke up way too early considering how late she went to sleep. We found a Waffle House so Yves and Sienna were happy about that.

Unfortunately, the ride home wasn’t the best. I was hoping Sienna would fall asleep for most of the ride, which she usually does. For some reason, she did not sleep well on the way home. We were about 45 minutes from home when I offered her a cheese stick and she threw up shortly after. The rest of the night wasn’t fun either as she kept complaining about her tummy hurting. It was painful for us to see because she never complained so much about something! She was fine the next day, thankfully! We think it was a combination of lack of sleep and bumpy car ride that made her sick.

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Last month the band was able to get together for a meeting at Hill Country Chicken. I was really interested in trying their pie shake but was a little turned off with the pie shake of the day, apple cheddar, so did not get one. I’m sure it would have been delish but I couldn’t get past cheese in my shake! Anyway, I got the Mama El’s recipe, some coleslaw and a large cheesy fried mashed potatoes to share with the table. The chicken was good but the cheesy fried mashed potatoes stole the show! Besides the addition of cheese adding to the goodness, there were fries in it! That might not sound exciting to you but then when you taste it, you are filled with this euphoria of goodness. The fries were crisp and not mushy. Although I got a large for the table, I’m sure I ended up eating the majority of it (I’m sure the dirty looks I gave off as my band mates tried to reach for it had nothing to do with it!)

Tammy had to jet after dinner but the rest of us took a walk over to Eataly, read so many things about this place! I kept being drawn to the imported chocolates, they are packaged so cute! So expensive though! I did feel the air filled with a bit of pretension but that could have just been my own emotional state feeling like a tourist in there or because my belly was full of chicken and I just felt like a fat fart walking around! HA! Yves calls me a foodie and I’m all about the good eats but I also want to be satisfied after I eat without spending a fortune. I guess I’m a cheap foodie, which brings me to the second part of this post!

Soup dumplings in Chinatown! Yeah! Finally! Been craving this since our planned soup dumpling outing got snowed on! I decided to try Shanghai Garden after seeing my friend Cindy’s Facebook status that she just went to her favorite soup dumpling place! We went last month on probably the coldest day in the year! But hey, it wasn’t snowing! So overall everything was delicious but I do have to say my least favorite was the dumplings! Strange! I don’t know if it was because we got the order of dumplings last after we ate everything. Usually they ask you what kind you want (pork or crab) as soon as you walk in and it’s the first thing you eat. It was pretty busy in there and it’s a small place so I don’t know what happened but we ended up getting it last. Plus Joy ordered 2 crabs instead of one of each (reviews say the pork is better than the crab.) Oh well, we’ll have to go back!

Here are the soup dumplings with Joy sporting the shirt I made her!

Spicy Beef Noodles. Gotta ask Joy the name of this again. So good! Not that spicy since Yves also ate some!

Scallion Pancakes

Shanghai Rice Cakes! MMM! How I missed you! Sienna liked these too.

eek! A broken dumpling!
Not pictured, the mock duck we got (mushrooms wrapped in thin tofu.)

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As I mentioned in Miss Social Part 1, Sienna’s social calendar is better than mine! Part 2 consists of some playdates she had. The first was during Christmas break. I was so happy to get out of the house after the big snowstorm! We trekked over to Eli and Costas’ house and I was super surprised that I didn’t hear any whining from Sienna on the 10 block walk. I usually get a “I’m tiiiiiired of waaaaaalking” after 2 blocks! I think trudging through the snow made it fun for her. Antoinette and Frank were wonderful hosts. We ended up staying for several hours and had dinner there too! We all had a great day! Sienna fell asleep on the sofa when we got home.

(notice the yummy treats in the foreground? Frank is a chef at the Ritz!)

Milk break!

Sienna got an unexpected Friday off of school in early January so we went to another classmate’s house, Alexis! Alexis LOVES princesses! So Sienna was really delighted that she had princess outfits to dress up in. Alexis wore hers for 5 minutes and I had trouble getting Sienna to take off hers when we were leaving! Another great playdate!

Princesses sing Itsy Bitsy Spider from Lisa on Vimeo.

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