It's chocolate and it's delicious

For your foodies and knitters out there - I have two items to enter into the "love it" category. First, is a chocolate tart (originally called Chocolate Espresso Tart) from martha stewart. I had to drop the espresso part because we didn't have any espresso beans and I prefer my ganache sans coffee. The crust is not too sweet, the mascarpone adds the perfect amount of smoothness to balance the rich creaminess and sweetness of the ganache on top. It's all around delicious. You might be surprised by the shape of my tart in comparison to the picture with the recipe - I didn't have a rectangular tart pan so I used a regular cake pan, which worked fine. If you have a round tart pan, that might actually work even better for the sides, which collapsed a bit in my version.

The second item to be entered is a new addition to my yarn stash. From Fleece Artist, sock yarn appropriately called Chocolate, with slightly different hues of brown throughout. Delicious, isn't it? If fact, it's so good that my husband, upon seeing this noted very pointedly that he has no socks made by me.

City Select Stroller Test Drive

Today, I did something that seemed impossible even only 4 months ago. I took 2 toddlers to the park by myself. Now, before you think that I adopted another child - let me explain. I helped a friend by taking her soon off her hands from her for a couple of hours - a favor she has done for me many times.

So, now you might think - how did you get said children to the park. I live in a city, and the parks are close, but not quite within easy walking distance for a toddler, and my friend lives up a heinous hill. So, I borrowed her brand new City Select stroller, equipped for 2 - she is expecting in a week, so she's equipped.

First impression: I am driving an SUV and I am only used to driving a coup. Second impression: this stroller is great and with 2 toddlers weighing in at 30 lb each, it handles only marginally worse than my Maclaren loaded with 1. Major cudos to Baby Jogger for the huge wheels, easily adjustable seats and the extra large canopies that kept both of my charges nicely shaded on this sunny day. The basket is the dream of every city mom. Not only could I fit the random collection of essential park items including: the sand toys, hand wipes, ball, diaper caddy and my husband's old tshirt for wiping slides, but I also fit my not so small bag stuffed with water bottles, snacks and personal items including a makeshift boo boo fix kit of band aids, alcohol wipes and disinfectant cloths. The handle bar is a little chunky for my hands, so I would have liked for them to narrow it a little bit in the center, but it's still great.

I had the kids facing each other, since they are friends and would get a kick out of it. I would NOT recommend this position with siblings unless you have children who share an incredible love for each other and don't poke, prod or otherwise torchure each other when cranky, tired, etc. Because, let's face it, you need to pay attention to the road and not who untied whos shoe, etc.

So, would I buy this stroller? Probably. If my kids were less than 3 years apart and my oldest couldn't easily surf on a board, I would opt for it. I am hoping that my kids will be more than 3 years apart, so that my oldest will be either walking or surfing, which means I won't need a stroller made for two. If you have twins, check the bassinet setup. You may not be super happy with the way the basinets can be arranged although the dual toddler seat setup is great.

Getting healthy or not

I became fed up with my yoga instructor and started looking for a new way of getting some exercise. I've done yoga for about 6 years now (with lots of different instructors), a habit I started when I was in grad school and in serious need of some de-stressing activity.

Now I am 20 pounds heavier than I was in my grad school days, thanks to motherhood and my baking addiction. I started my "get fit routine" at Benefitness where I got a $15 class pass. Best $15 I've spent on a class in years! I walked out barely able to walk - the instructor was that good at getting me to move and burn some calories. And it showed me just how far I have to go to get myself back in shape.

Low and behold, a week after I realized that a path to body salvation lies in a gym near me, a friend sent a Groupon (group coupon) for the Healthworks group of gyms in the area: $24 for 24 day passes. That's right - $1 per day - to be used anytime between Feb and Apr 29th. It's 2 days a week, for 12 weeks. I am determined to get at least 1 day in a week before the coupon expires and I've been on track so far.
For those of you not from Boston, Healthworks is a group of 4 or 5 gyms for women, with everything from a sauna to a full class schedule to personal training, a spa, massage sessions and other fun stuff.

Here is a list of classes I've taken:

Fitness Flashback: A movement class with no props - basically, jump and move to the beat with the instructor to 80s music. Probably my favorite aerobic class so far, since it does not require me to be coordinated.

Hoop: I thought to myself: "How hard can this class be? I hooped all through childhood" Well, this class was a complete disaster. First of all, it turns out that there is a primary direction to hoop and a secondary direction. I cannot hoop in the secondary direction. Also, the hoop is weighted, with the weights forming bead like bumps on the INSIDE of the hoop. I am not sure what this is meant to accomplish, but as the instructor warned us - I had bruises all around my mid section after the class. Instead of feeling a good workout and a good burn, I felt beaten up and sore.

Body Pump: "The Original barbell workout". When I ventured into this class, I had only a vague recollection of what a barbell was. It's a bar, which has some weight to it, onto which you put more weights, and then clips on the ends to hold it all together. I am really glad that there are no men at this gym. The last thing I needed to see was some jock lifting his body weight like it was a feather. Needless to say that I learned just how weak my arms are in that class. I kept going down and down in weight until I was at the bare respectable minimum and I still was hurting. And I remember thinking to myself - oh god, even the leg exercises require you to hold the bar with your arms.

Step Express - a 30 minute step class. This gave me flashbacks to high school, where I took step after school for a year or two. For some reason, every instructor feels the need to create their own moves, which leave me baffled for long enough to lose my step and be out of step with the rest of the class. It's a good workout - both for your coordination and your body.

Slow Flow Yoga - I have never attended a fast flow yoga class, if something like this exists, but this is the basic yoga class, taught by a very tall soft spoken joke cracking British gentleman who says "Good" while you are doing a pose that is making you want to cry, and all of a sudden, with his words of encouragement, you feel good. And you really can do more...

Ironically, I've gained 2 pounds since I've started this fiasco, but I'm telling myself that it's all muscle weight. Yeah body pump!

How to get sleep and rest with a new baby

When I first had my daughter, I thought I'd never get a full night's sleep again. That's probably true - she's 2 now and I am becoming less and less optimistic about ever getting a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep. Nonetheless, there are some remedies that all new parents can make to make the situation better.

Please understand that I am not a sleep or child expert, so my advice is just that.

1. Get dimmers - when you're mixing bottles at 2am or changing a diaper, you'll be more comfortable in dim lights than in full on brightness and you'll be able to get to sleep better after.

2. Designate your time and mine. My husband used to spend 8pm to 11pm with my daughter, doing everything to keep her sleeping or entertained. This allowed me a nice 3 hour uninterrupted stretch. Then I would take over for the rest of the night, but that 3 hours was a real life saver.

3. At around 7:30pm, dim the lights in your house and turn down the music. It seems ridiculous at first, but it will help your body get into sleep and rest better.

4. Repeat your routine every night consistently so that your body can get used to the shifted sleep schedule.

A side not to the night owls. For those of you who like to stay up late, swap with your husband. Let him take the 5am - 7am shift, so you can sleep in. It's amazing what an extra 2 hours can do for you in the morning.

One Giant Leap for a Bottle

About 2 years ago, my husband bought me a Sigg bottle. I was really excited about it. First of all, it meant that he no longer had to break his back carrying water up to our 3rd floor walkup. Second, it meant that I could take almost a liter of water with me every day. Third, I would be saving the planet from the 3-4 plastic bottles I was tossing into the recycling bin every day.

Fast forward a year or so, and we hear news that Sigg, the company who made it cool to have a non-plastic reusable bottle, announces that their bottles have a BPA-lining. I'll let you read real news to judge whether there is real merit to the reasons why they didn't release the information as soon as they knew that BPA was a problem - a whopping year before the news finally leaked out. No pun intended.

Needless to say, I've chugged the Sigg bottle and now enjoy my beverages from a stylish new SubZero bottle, free of dents and BPA (it's stainless steel). Will I ever buy Sigg again? Probably not. Would you?

Dirty Food

I love the farmer's market. Here, it happens every Thursday, from 1pm till dusk, but most wares sell out by 6pm, so if you want the best fish, meat or produce, you have to show up early.

There is something truly wonderful about the earthiness of market produce. It literally has dirt on it and I come home, laden with heavy bags of produce and I shake off all the dirt from the bag after I've unpacked it. Every November, when the market closes down and I return to buying food in the sterile bright supermarket, I start to sorely miss the dirt. I get used to it by December, when the winter chill has set in and fresh food is a distant memory.

This time of year, in late February early March, when root cellared supplies are running short and the spring crops haven't yet come in, we enter the true deep freeze of winter. The body starts to yearn for fresh food and we look at the smallest sprouts in the dirt with great hope. Soon enough, just a couple more months, and we'll taste the sweetness of fresh strawberries and smell the ripe tomatoes once more and the cycle will repeat itself again.