Modern Femme eats...pantry linguine

I can't stay away from you guys today! It's still Sunday and I'm stuck at the house with the little man and no car. Mr. Modern Femme had to work today and left us behind with nothing in the fridge! Or did he? Hunger is the most inspirational of kitchen fellows.

What I found, after some scrounging, to work with: Roasted garlic oil, handful of ripe cherry tomatoes, red pepper flakes, a hunk of Parmesan, half a bag of linguine and some wilted basil.

What it made: Yumminess!! Which I'm enjoying this very second as I fold laundry and post this from my iPhone blogger app.

Modern Femme loves...French Toast Pudding leftovers

Good morning, my dear readers.  I hope you're having a delightfully lazy Sunday.

As a follow-on to yesterday's post, I just had to pop online and say that life is really, really good when you can enjoy a warm bowl of French Toast Pudding leftovers, smothered in maple syrup and berries.  The baby is napping, the sun is shining, and I'm tucking into this velvety goodness and enjoying one last cup of piping hot coffee in peace and quiet. Ahhhh.

Life is good, no?

xoxo,
MF

The Modern Femme entertains...Saturday morning breakfast

I started this post originally with a couple of long, and frankly, boring paragraphs about entertaining.  Instead, because I want to get to the good stuff - the breakfast party I had this morning for some friends, let's just use a bulleted format for my introduction:

1.  I like throwing parties.
2.  Used to be dinner parties, now includes lunches, brunches, breakfasts and seasonal parties.
3.  I like feeding people.
4.  I like feeding people food made from scratch.
5.  This used to make me hell to live with because I'd get wicked stressed before the party and take it out on my husband, the poor thing.
6. I'm better now.
7.  I have some thoughts on how to go about reducing stress related to entertaining, but I'm not going to go into great detail, because it's pretty simple:

Relax.  No one is going to notice that little thing that you're freaking out over, whatever it is. Promise. Have a good time.  Remember that your friends want to see you, not just be fed.
Don't commit hari-kari if what you make isn't as good as you hoped for/was too small of a portion/somehow fell apart at the last minute.  That's why God invented wine and Chinese takeout.

ANYWAY, let's move on.  I had a breakfast get together this morning for some friends and their two little boys! It was fun.

I used a very casual place setting, piling everything on a table runner to encourage a family style atmosphere.  Since my friends have little ones, I wanted to keep everything as laid back and kid-friendly as possible.

Love white as a base color for any party, because it makes everything else pop.



Being a new mother myself, I still have a lot to learn about making a home kid-friendly, but I did learn one new thing today: melamine plates (love this one) and cups are the way to go for kiddie guests.  Less stress for everyone when the little mister or misses decides she wants to smack her plate on the table!

Another thing I do now before any party is lay out the serving dishes I will be using.  This is the big take-away tip dear readers. By laying out the bowls and serving ware you need in advance you don't need to root around for them while trying to be a good host, and it helps remind the more forgetful among us of all the dishes we intended on serving.

From left to right: serving ware for the maple bacon, maple syrup and butter (for the French toast pudding), fresh berries, and granola. (Not pictured, a serving bowl for the yogurt.)

It's worth giving this old trick a try for your next party.  There's something calming about seeing these trays and bowls, all lined up and ready to go.  Makes even the most stressed host feel a little better prepared.

I have a stable of old reliable recipes for brunch and lunches, but breakfast was a first. After giving it some thought, I settled on the following menu:

• French Toast Bread Pudding, from Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa)
• Maple Roasted Bacon, again from Ina
• Fresh raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries
• Vanilla yogurt
• Granola
• Fresh squeezed orange juice

I chose the first two dishes because they were easily assembled in under five minutes and then baked in the oven.  No muss, no fuss.  I could be calm and collected as my guests arrived, happy in the knowledge the breakfast was cooking away in the oven.  Beats slaving over a hot stove to make individual french toasts and sputtering bacon!! 

Everything came out nicely.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of most of it, but I was meticulous about photographing the production of the juice.




The juice ingredients.  I like to use a little bit of pineapple when making fresh OJ.  I think it brightens the taste.

Juice, baby, juice!! 

 Almost there...

Et voila.  Fresh juice, just waiting to be devoured.  Do you like my attempt at an arty shot?  It's hard to tart up juice, folks.  Gotta try where I can.

I think fresh juice really can help take the whole breakfast experience to the next level.  While there was french toast, bacon, and some berries left over, this juice was all gone.  Lip smacking good.

Verdict: a breakfasty success.  It was nice to catch up with our friends, and the french toast pudding was good - though more pudding than french toast.  I totally meant to get a picture of the food on the table, but I done forgot.  I'm new to this whole photo-taking/blog thing.  I'll get better, I promise.  The best I can do is show you what a heaping portion of the french toast looked like:



 Mmm.  Pour some maple syrup on that, in the name of love.  (Oh yes, I did just go there.)

And finally, because I like to keep it real here at Modern Femme, I'm going to leave you with a closing shot of how I roll during post-guest-departure cleanup:

Awww yeah.  Ain't no bacon grease I can't scrub when Sam's at my side.

Till next time, dear readers, may your parties be fun, your guests charming, your food divine, and your dishes few.

xoxo,

MF



Modern Femme loves...L'Occitane

As a teenager, I had tremendously oily skin.  I used very light moisturizers when I wasn't using prescription creams, and would break out anyway.  This continued well into my 20s.  Now in my 30s, I've noticed that my skin is shifting from oily to normal (I guess) - and drinks up moisturizers that I wouldn't have dared slather on my skin even 4 years ago.

My most favorite skincare brand is L'Occitane, the French skincare line.  I love their Shea Butter Ultra Rich Face Cream.  I started using this last year as part of my evening skin care routine, and my skin has never, ever felt so soft. 

I didn't have a single breakout when using this cream - I'm telling you, it must be made out of fairy dust and unicorn horn.  A-mazing.

For the summer, I decided to try something a little lighter, and switched to L'Occitane's Angelica Hydration Cream.  I use this at night, and my skin hasn't lost any of its softness.  And still no breakouts!





I cleanse my face at night with the Shea Cleansing Milk.  I started using this in the winter, but have kept up with it - although it's part of the Shea line and a creamy cleanser, it's not so heavy that you need to set it aside in the warmer months. 

I love the smell, and it cleans my skin well, taking off 90% of my make-up, without leaving my face feeling dry or tight.

Finally, the last L'Occitane product I'm using is their Shea Butter Fabulous Serum.  I use this as part of my morning and evening routine.  I'm not sure how I feel about serums in general - they seem to be all the rage now, the way exfoliating scrubs and masks were in the past decade (just writing that makes me feel old).  L'OC says this product smooths fine lines and helps to regenerate the skin. 

Whether this serum is doing all that it claims, I can tell you it isn't hurting my skin (no breakouts, etc), and I haven't noticed any increase in fine lines.  It has gotten pretty good reviews on the L'Occitane site as well!

 And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my all-time favorite L'OC product:



The Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream is the BEST. CREAM. EVER.  I don't know where to begin.  It's thick, but absorbs immediately into your skin, leaving no residue.  One tub lasts forever, because you only need to use a little bit.  It has a light, clean fragrance.  After a week, my skin was the softest it's every been.  I used it every day during my pregnancy, and didn't get a single stretch mark.  In short, I'm a total convert.  If I could only use one L'Occitane product for the rest of my life (what a sad, sad day that would be!), it would be this one.

I also love their Lavender Hand Cream, as I mentioned in my "The Modern Femme Travels" series. It has just the right consistency for repeated daily use, and the scent is divine! 

There are other L'Occitane products that I would love to try - their Immortelle line gets consistently high reviews, but will have to save my pennies. 

I love these products (no endorsement deals here, just genuine fandom) as you can tell.  Any L'OC fans out there?  If so, what do you use?

xoxo,

MF

The Modern Femme at home...egg timer trick

We've all been there.  It's at the end of a long day, and all you want to do is go lay down.  The family has been fed, the kids put to bed, the pets walked and watered. 

And now you're staring at a pile of dishes, or baby bottles that need to be washed and refilled for the next day, or food that has to assembled for lunch tomorrow, or laundry that has to be folded.  You contemplate the Goliath of a task in front of you and hear that siren song:  "I'll do it tomorrow. I'm tired.  I'm going to go watch tv/take a bath/go to bed."

I've done this so many times, I've lost count. The promise of tomorrow is a mirage, because often, you don't do it tomorrow.  The laundry sits unfolded in the corner for the week, the dishes pile up, people get sent off with money to buy lunch instead of being sent out with food. 

So, here's what I do, when faced with my Goliath task, feet sore, eyes bleary, will weak:



I get my egg timer.  I set it for 10 minutes.  I tell myself "get as much as you can done in the next 10 minutes, and then you're done."   And every time, I end up finishing the task before me, for one of two reasons: 10 minutes sounds deceptively short, but you can get quite a lot done in that time; and even if I haven't finished the whole task, often by the time the 10 minutes is up I'm nearly done, or have gotten enough done that I'm determined to finish the whole task.

If you struggle with completing chores when tired, give this a try.  If you can't stomach the idea of 10 minutes, start with 5.  Most of us can do anything for 5 minutes, even if we're exhausted.  And nothing feels as good as knowing that when you do go watch tv/take a bath/go to bed, you can do it with a feeling of satisfaction that you faced down your Goliath and won.

xoxo,

MF