It’s been far too long since my vivacious mother has graced the pages of my blog! When I think of my mom I think of what someone who has a passion for life. She has this youthfulness about her and I believe it can be a state of mind. How you carry and perceive yourself really reflects a lot on how people see you. This brings me to my number one fashion tip: wear it with confidence! When you’ve finally decided what outfit you want to wear, or if you just threw something on, don’t forget to walk out your door with a good amount of self-esteem and work it!
First off I started my Thanksgiving day with some homemade granola!
I used the soybean pulp, coconut oil, honey, shredded coconut, and vanilla extract
Granola + vanilla Greek yogurt/pumpkin puree + raisins
After straightening the apartment up and running some errands, I picked up my mother at the airport and gave her a tour of the place. It didn’t take too long though since it’s quite small. She came bearing gifts from her recent trip to Germany!
German goodies!
Neela definitely understands that Germans have mastered the art of baking bread and Kuchen! Oh and making chocolate too!
Choco Gummibaerchen
Then we started cooking up a storm for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Mom also helped!
Then we set my coffee table and sat on pillows.
Looking cute!
Shall we eat?
This was on the menu:
First time trying Swiss chard!
Swiss chard with toasted pine nuts and raisins
Stollen my mom brought back from her trip to Germany
Sage and pumpkin seed encrusted "chick'n" with cranberry cabernet sauce
I used Gardein scallopinis for the “chick’n”. I also baked some maple cornbread and mushroom gravy.
All together and what have you got?
Afterwards we went on a walk with Matilda.
Then we watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I had never seen that movie, and now I see why so many people love it!
Next morning, mom and daughter breakfast
My mom had some of the gourmet cashew toffee Holly sent me, a Fig Newman, banana, toast with sunflower seed butter (her first time trying it), and an arepa con choclo. Her and I actually split the delicious arepa. For myself I tried the chocolate Heart Thrive over some vanilla Greek yogurt, cashew butter, some Newman’s Own Organic dark chocolate, and a sliced banana. I think the Heart Thrives are getting better and better with each new flavor I try. I heated this one up and I loved the melted chocolate. This one in particular tastes like a cookie. Can you guess which kind? Then we got ready for some shopping!
Dressing room photoshoots - commence!
I tried on this incredible black dress!
So awesome!
Since I’m going to Art Basel this coming weekend, I need to come up with an extravagant outfit!
I'm thinking something along the lines of what I wore to my "End of the World" party.
Also tried on an incredible top.
A dress like in Breakfast at Tiffany's!
My mom likes playing with my camera!
Matilda went shopping with us too!
We were being goofy in the store!
On to the next store – my favorite!
Of course Anthropologie has adorable ceramic egg trays! (far right)
Now it's Mom's turn to model!
I think she wanted to go to the dog bakery!
She makes me smile
Now both of us!
Awesome overalls!
A shame they were too small.
A gypsy shawl!
Then we went to Sur la Table
The cooking class that day was entirely based around chocolate. Katie, I thought of you!
Minus my feet being cut-off, my mom took a cool picture!
We were done shopping and decided to head home for some lunch. Well the day before my mom flew in I had decided to bake something for us.
The ingredients!
I used French Meadow Bakery’s gluten-free pizza crust! Pizza 1: basil pesto pizza sauce, goat cheese, caramelized onions (in brown sugar), portobello, roasted eggplant. Pizza 2: basil pesto pizza sauce, goat cheese, caramelized onions (in brown sugar), portobello, roasted red pepper and artichokes.
Pizza No. 1
I must say that I was surprised at how normal the crust tasted. In fact, it didn’t occur to me till later that, “Oh yeah! This is gluten-free crust. Wow!” After lunch we were headed out again and I had forgotten something so I went back. Then I realized I had locked us out of the apartment and my roommate was out of town. Oops! Thank goodness through some guardian angels were watching out for me and my neighbors walked into the building at the right moment. They had a way of getting me into my apartment. Imagine poor Matilda waiting for us!
Dinnertime!
We each had Sunshine Burgers topped with diced tomato, seasoned avocado, and ketchup. I also sauteed some kale in balsamic vinegar and honey + grated parmesan. Lastly, we split a beautiful persimmon! I asked my mom what she thought of the Sunshine Burger. Her response: “DELICIOUS!” After dinner we got ready to go to the movies.
And I packed some movie snacks for us.
We went to go see Julie & Julia.
The movie made me smile so much because I totally feel the same way!
The movie theater itself is so beautiful!
After the movie we wanted to go get some drinks.
We went to this French brasserie called Can Can
My friend was working so she took some pictures of me and my mom.
They brought out the bread - They ended up giving us a free baguette and another loaf!
A toast to us!
With a blackberry Bellini for me and an Indian Summer for my mom.
We also ordered a dessert.
A sweet potato tart with ginger creme anglaise and cranberry ice cream.
After a couple of hours of talking we headed home and laid our little heads to rest.
You are all so sweet and I’m incredibly thankful for each and every single one of you. I can’t remember exactly what sparked me to start a blog, but whatever that reason is – it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it brought me here, with a bunch of wonderful friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying all the delicious leftovers. Cooking shouldn’t be a problem for the next few days!