But here’s the story: when Aron and I lived in Los Angeles, we would walk a few blocks down to The Grove and the Old Farmer’s Market to hang out in Barnes and Noble, grab a “Farmeo” cookie at a place called The Farm, and catch a movie. Aron was particularly obsessed with the Farmeos, which were essentially giant Oreos. They looked a lot like Whoopie Pies, if you’ve had one of those, but the cookies were slightly firmer and the filling was more like a buttercream but with that telling grit and mouthfeel of an Oreo. When we moved away he confessed how much he missed them and, so, one Christmas when I flew home to Long Beach without him, I made a point to visit the Grove and fly him home a Farmeo cookie.
However, if you know Aron, you know he has the (annoying) skill of delaying gratification when it comes to sweets and will make things like chocolate bars last for insane stretches. It’s annoying because I’ve usually scarfed my half down in the space of minutes and then have to watch him enjoy his for what feels like an eternity. So that Farmeo sat on the counter of our apartment for long enough that a mouse came and finished it for him! Ha! If it wasn’t the knowledge that we had had a mouse in our kitchen, I would have felt justice was done.
Since then, The Farm has closed and we’ve been searching for an equivalent to the Farmeo since. (Others have looked comparable, but they’ve never been as good!) Clearly I will have to figure out how to make them myself.
So when, a couple of nights ago, I spied a recipe for homemade Oreo cream stuffed brownies (pictured) with a how-to for Oreo filling, I immediately went to the store and bought my first-ever tub of Crisco and tried making the cream filling. So easy and spot-on. The secret, in my opinion, is basically making a buttercream and adding granulated sugar! I would wager you could get great results with my frosting-for-one recipe, too—just add about 1/4-tsp of granulated sugar.
Next up is are the cookies, but I also picked up a store-made fudge brownie to slice in half and the whole combination came pretty darn close to the original.
Potential Farmeo recipe and a way to get all the Oreo cream filling you want. Danger, danger.
With Hudson, we read (skimmed) so many different baby books. Some were borrowed from friends who would pass them along to us, dog-eared and filled with promise; many were devoured while swaying in the parenting aisles in Barnes & Noble—usually frantically hoping for a golden-ticket to sleep.
We’ve barely glanced at the accumulated pile this time around (so far, at least), but Rachael’s post on sleep training last week had me thinking about which books (and which promises) I’d pass along to friends, if asked.
It almost goes without naming. We watched the DVD first and were pretty convinced about reading the book. Besides, everyone will tell you about Dr. Karp and the “five S’s,” so you may as well know what they’re talking about. Even though we don’t have this book (we borrowed it), we are totally reliant on its techniques.
My sister-in-law passed this one on to me, and I’m really glad I read through it before the baby arrived. It’s not the sort of book I found myself referencing much once I’d finished, but I felt like it started things off really well and gave me some great tips. In other words, borrow it or check it out at a library.
I lump these two together because both are very searchable by issue (as opposed to being something you read through). I really enjoyed WTE‘s monthly breakdowns: it was nice to see which milestones were right around the corner and to feel pride at things Hudson was mastering on the early side. And it helped me come up with questions before visits to the pediatrician. The guidance felt very straightforward, with little that could be seen as controversial. Each chapter—each month—is structured into Q&A format, and I would usually pick it up and just read through to see what other questions were typical around that time. I think it’s superior to the WTE When You’re Expecting guide. This is the first one I’ve pulled out to look at again.
The New Basics is a bit more unique to Michel Cohen—who runs a pediatric practice in Tribeca, and is often described as “very French.” (The “Frequently Bought Together” book on Amazon is, tellingly, Bringing Up Bébé
.) I really appreciate his no-nonsense approach (though I think the book is best paired with another source). It’s also a Q&A, structured in alphabetical order by issue (e.g. Colic, or Pacifiers).
Ah, the controversial classic. I read most of it at the bookstore, and then realized that just about every other book/plan I was considering buying/committing to was essentially an abbreviated version. So if you’re of the mind to teach your child to sleep/self-soothe and are open to leaving them to do that (crying, with checks at intervals, hopefully briefly) then I think it’s worth reading the original, often-updated Ferber. It’s a tome, with lots of sleep study info, but I felt so much more confidant about making a plan with all of that information to back me up. It gave us the tools and the confidence we were looking for, with plans I thought were compassionate and reasonable (and it worked). My two cents: if you’re going to try the ill-coined “cry-it-out,” the only way to do it kindly is to think it through ahead and be consistent. It’s the inconsistency that tends to accompany (the very familiar) impulsive desperation that seems unkind to me. But honestly you also have to trust your gut.
This is actually one of those books that owes completely to Ferber, as it basically tells you to do exactly the same thing, but it is much less dense. I’ve probably actually used it the most, because once I’d read Ferber and we’d successfully done our three nights of initial sleep-training, I’d reference this book for things like sample nap schedules (so handy) and tricks for getting back on track after a cold.
All of which Aron and I, no doubt desperately, skimmed at one time or another. (Something I’m sure will happen again soon… as those “witching hours” are getting tougher every day!)
Last year, around this time, we were just planning our garden: planting citrus trees and succulents, and making room for plots of Sungold tomatoes. We were also hoping to address an aphid problem. One way to do so, is to encourage beneficial insects—like ladybugs and lacewings—to take care of them, rather than use pesticides. Sounded good to us!
But even more appealing, to be honest, was the chance to play in the garden with Hudson—who was, at the time, just getting really excited about dirt and worms and rolly-pollies and the like. He would surely love to release ladybugs!
