Do you enjoy cooking up fun? I love spending quality time in my kitchen, cooking, baking, adapting recipes and trying new things with my family. It makes my heart happy to put out delicious food for guests. I love entertaining and feeding my family -whether it’s experimenting with things like Chipotle Ketchup or making a family favourite recipe. I also love my Netflix. Here are some fun food related choices on Netflix that I thought you might enjoy:
A few months ago, I met a midwife named Jennica from BC. She was training doctors and midwives in a rural health centre, so they could improve outcomes for moms and babies through quality maternal care.
‘Tis the season for holiday parties and holiday makeup. Whether you’re heading out to a fancy soiree or hosting a potluck for neighbours, putting your best face forward is essential. The face that maybe hasn’t had a good night sleep since forever. The face that is stressed by all the holiday obligations but still secretly enjoys every second of the merry madness.
It is the season for giving back and if you’re wondering how to do that in the city of Vancouver, these are some great ways to give back to the community. I was on CTV to talk about all the ways you can still get involved. Check out the clip and some handy links to help you make it happen:
I love being able to delight my family with holiday treats that include a twist. Traditionally, my family would serve sinfully delicious ice cream in special dishes reserved for entertaining. The kids would sit at a special table, fully decorated for the festivities. I get giddy just thinking about melding tradition with new recipes and décor that are more on trend and appropriate for my family at this time. We all grow, change and develop, and this year I will be cooking and entertaining without using dairy. The beauty of this type of change is that you don’t have to alter much in order to change a lot. Using the right products, traditional dishes can be morphed and elevated to something exquisitely better than the original. That’s what growth is about.
I love taking photos of my family and of all the exciting things we do throughout the year. I love sharing them with my friends and family on social media, but for really special photos, I love the idea of sending the best holiday photo gifts to share our memories in a lasting way. Some moments are just too good not share and having something tangible to hang onto is special. These are some great ways to “think outside the screens” this holiday season and turn your digital images into the best holiday photo gifts.
My kids are big and active, but it seems like not so long ago they were just babies. I listen to their excited voices talking about the holiday season and I remember before they could speak, when I would delight in holding them close and rocking them in my arms to help them off to sleep. Bedtime can still be challenging some days, but I remember how they felt in my arms, how their skin smelled, what it felt like to feel their chests expand and contract as they breathed deep in slumber. I recall looking at their perfect little faces and thinking, “I want to remember this.”
I never met my husband’s mom, and it makes me sad every day. I wish I could thank her, cherish her and appreciate her in person, but the family lost her to cancer before we met. I have seen photos and heard stories, but that’s not always enough. There is, thankfully, one holiday tradition she began that I can continue. Every Christmas morning, we make her special German Omelette recipe. Through the flavours of this delicious strata, I connect with her on special occasions every year, and am able to share in some small part of the blessings she bestowed on her family.
Toys!!!! My problem in choosing toys is that I want them all! It takes me forever to select gifts like this when I just want to keep playing. Here are some of my favourite hot holiday toy picks:
Try as we might to slow down and enjoy a quiet holiday, the festive season can be chaotic as we try to squeeze every ounce of fun and joy into the month of December. We book and double-book ourselves, running from one outing to the next in a flurry of Instagrammable artisanal hot chocolate and snowflake selfies.