Naptime on the Road: Eating & Traveling with My Family

I am so excited to share the first of many blog posts from my trip to Thailand with Sea Cuisine. I hope you all enjoy reading about my seafood eating adventures as much as I enjoyed the trip!

We first glimpsed Bangkok at night as our car inched through thick late night traffic to the hotel. The streets were alive with locals doing their daily shopping at the dozens of night markets for food and clothes, endlessly bargaining for a better deal on this or that. Despite the steamy night heat the atmosphere was vibrant, intense, and cheerful. Down narrow streets people stood next to stalls eating small healthy meals: steaming bowls of noodles with shrimp, skewers of fish balls with chili sauce, and bags of fresh chilled pineapple. They spoke with each other as they ate, presumably catching up on the day. If we hadn’t been so totally exhausted from the plane ride we might have jumped out for a quick snack ourselves. With all bowls of fresh noodles and freshly roasted fish staring us in the face we could hardly wait for our Thai seafood quest to begin.

I just can’t get enough of Charleston, South Carolina. Last week we made our third annual trip to see my parents and had a total blast. We visited a lot of our favorite spots from 2009, ate with our friends from 2010 and hit some of the must-sees from 2011. Be sure to check them out if you are in the area sometime. This year our vacation was not all just playing and eating, this time there were some awesome book events too. Here are some of the highlights from my trip last week:

I am excited to report that over the next few weeks I’ll be rolling out a whole new travel series based on my trip to Thailand for Sea Cuisine. I can’t wait to share everything we did on our trip. You can expect to read about plenty of seafood, sites and beaches! I’ll also have a few webisodes for you to enjoy. Stay tuned and here is a sneak peak! :

We got an iPad for Christmas and I have totally fallen in love with it. I never thought they were a big deal, but now that we have one I’m not sure why we waited so long to get it! One of the first things I did on December 26th was load it up with some foodie apps I’d been hearing a lot about. Of all the ones I bought there have been four I’ve been turning to constantly for information and inspiration over the past few months. I’ve even find myself turning to them on the road when travel! If you are in the market for an awesome, parent-friendly, foodie apps here are a few I highly recommend.

With breakfast and dinner under control I decided to try a new technique with my slow cooker: baking. We were going out of town for a long weekend in Boston and I wanted to pack some sweets to take along with us. I’d already had some success with a batch of Martha Stewart’s slow cooker brownies and wanted to attempt something else. A simple pound cake seemed like a good place to start. I know they transport well and can be adapted any number of ways. With a jar of nutella on hand I decided to swirl it in to the batter, along with some chocolate chips and give it a whirl.

I thought it would be a fun idea to take a break from recipes today and do a little “check-in.” That is the term I use at home when I want to step back and assess a situation that seems to the focus of my days at that particular moment. Here is my check-in for today: how is your holiday cooking going? Is all your shopping done? What are your travel plans this season? Here are the answers to those questions on my end and a few last minute gifts and tips for holiday travel with kids.

I make it no secret that I am a huge fan of Magnolia Bakery. Not very long ago I lived, literally, right around the corner from the UWS location. It was a very dangerous time. I used to walk at least five times around the block before purchasing a cupcake, then walked around several more times after eating it. It was always worth it. As luck would have it, last week my friend Nicole and I went to delicious Thanksgiving dessert tasting at that very store to sample some of the amazing desserts they are offering this Thanksgiving season.

I am taking a break from recipes today to share some of my favorite things from late summer and early fall. We’ve been back in the swing of things with the school but have still managed to escape to Cooperstown and Martha’s Vineyard for some family visits. Along the way I’ve been reading some terrific books, reading new favorite websites and browsing newly released cookbooks. Here are some of them that have really stood out along the way:

This summer has been pretty low-key. We’ve been traveling to our usual haunts, trying out new recipes and enjoying the slower pace of the season. Work-wise I’ve been spending a lot of time editing the manuscript, revising the layouts (which look awesome) and getting down to the nitty gritty. It has been a blast and I truly can’t wait until Spring 2012 to show you the final product. In the mean time, next month I have a newly redesigned website so share with you.

By the end of the first day at the King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake I was exhausted. After madly taking notes on everything from how to make bread rise perfectly and the difference between flours, to Sara Moulton’s herbed spaetzle and how to properly debone a chicken breast, I had absorbed just about all […]

I had the sincere pleasure of attending Blog & Bake at the King Arthur Flour headquarters in Norwich VT earlier this week. And when I say it was a pleasure, I really, truly mean that. You all know how I love to bake. Being invited to spend two days learning tips from the pros was […]

Every spring I spend about a week in Charleston, South Carolina with my parent’s. I love visiting this gorgeous city and I think my daughter loves it even more. Not only are the rules generally relaxed when we travel, but being here with her grandparents means she is spoiled for at least a week straight. […]