If you've ever been to Joy on York in Los Angeles, you'll probably know about the amazingness—nay, the JOY--that is their Thousand Layer Pancake filled with everything. And if you live nearby and haven't tried it yet, GO NOW! Stop reading and just go and eat it.
Unfortunately for me, my family moved out of the area almost four years ago and I have since had a Joy-sized hole in my heart. While nothing will come as close as their original Thousand Layer Pancake, this was my attempt at bringing a little bit of Joy back into my life on days when I can't make the 30 mins to an hour drive to the restaurant. I hope you add Joy to your list of must-try restaurants ASAP and in the meantime, try this recipe:
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One year into the pandemic, in January 2021, my mental health was suffering. The pandemic had taken away my tried-and-true coping mechanisms and so much of what made me feel like myself.
I had lost a job that I was excited about, I hadn't seen friends in months, my usual methods of self-care and relaxation weren't available anymore. Then pile on three four-day weekends in quick succession with my kids during Thanksgiving and the holidays, with almost no time for myself and a method of birth control that wreaked havoc on my hormones.... I had turned into a person I didn't recognize: quick to anger, irritable, anxious, too exhausted to take care of myself. I didn't like who I had become. It was in this season that my husband and I instituted Self Care Saturday (and weekly therapy) for me and Self Care Sunday for him. For the last two and a half years, we have protected these days ferociously. Almost every Saturday without fail, barring sickness, travel or a birthday party, my husband has taken our kids to his parents' house on Saturday morning from 9 am-ish to 2 pm-ish. On Sunday evening, it's my turn to take our kids to see my parents. At first, I couldn't remember what I used to enjoy doing for fun and relaxation. Being alone and having time exclusively for myself had become so foreign to me. Who was I when I wasn't actively mothering, wife-ing, or working? What would I do when no one was demanding a single thing from me? My self care days started slow: a shower, breakfast, TV and a nap. Some chores or errands that I had been putting off. Eventually I fell into a rhythm of asking myself every week what would make ME feel most cared for in these hours that I had. I developed a sort of self-care recipe that works for me and I thought I'd share it with you in honor of World Mental Health Day in case it gives you a few self care ideas too. Recently my son thought it would be fun to buy a butternut squash. I want to encourage him to be excited about all foods even though I was dreading figuring out what to make with butternut squash. For some reason, the thick skin and shape feels very intimidating even though it shouldn't be.
On a random day with no other ideas for dinner, I decided to tackle the butternut squash once and for all. I found some bacon and cheese in my fridge to add to the mix. It came together surprisingly easy and it was delicious. As autumn approaches and you're looking for butternut squash recipes, I hope you'll try this one: Content Warning: Describes disordered eating habits.
Exactly five years ago, I was deep in the trenches of my last diet ever. For 30 whole days, I obsessed about bagels and croissants. My mental health suffered and it was debilitating to be in social situations, go out to dinner, and attend parties. I know I wasn't fun to be around, too, because all I could think and talk about was my diet. Fast forward to last night. As I was getting ready for bed, the realization dawned on me that I did not eat a single sweet thing all day nor did I think about eating a single sweet thing or crave sweets at all for the first time in my entire life. I was, as the kids say, shook. In her podcast, Food Psych, Christy Harrison explains as restriction and binging as two ends of a pendulum that swings from one extreme to another. The more you restrict, the more you binge. But eventually, with trust in your own body and the intuitive eating process, the pendulum settles into equilibrium. After five years, my pendulum has finally found balance. This is what the process looked like for me: I haven't heard or read much about whether Portland, Oregon, is a family-friendly city. But we decided to visit Portland with kids and realized that Portland is weird and kids are weird. It’s a match made in travel heaven!
During a recent summer break with our 3 and 5 year old kids, we contemplated several locations for a week-long family trip from Los Angeles. The contenders were Hawaii, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Portland. We landed on Portland for several reasons: it’s a short flight from Los Angeles (and a great introductory flight for my daughter’s first plane ride), the hotels, flights and rental car are more affordable than other locations and there are lots of activities to keep us all entertained for a week. In this comprehensive week-long family-friendly Portland itinerary, we'll guide you through our carefully curated selection of attractions and experiences which were fun for both children and adults in our family. You won’t find too many of the usual items on other travel guides because we generally like to avoid overly touristy activities and I hope you will learn about a new restaurant or experience to add to your Portland must-do list that you didn’t know about before. When most people think of visiting Oregon, spending time in the state's abundant and great outdoors is usually top of the list. There are dozens of waterfalls near Portland specifically, but some of the most well-known ones are in the Columbia River Gorge. Originally, I had included this as a section in my Portland Itinerary but it felt deserving of its own post. If you're planning a trip to Portland soon and want to venture out on a waterfall trek or two, read this first:
Have you been hiking in Columbia River Gorge? What are your favorite trails and falls to see? Last week at the farmers market, I came across this food truck that makes different kinds of loaded fries. I was in the mood for Philly Cheesesteak and thought it would taste amazing if I air fried some potato wedges and topped them with a mixture of ground beef, mushroom, peppers and onions, then broiled it all together with melty cheese. I tested it out, and let me tell you, it was incredible on the first try. If you're looking for a Philly Cheesesteak recipe, I encourage you to give this one a try. I promise it'll satisfy your craving!
After watching my own kids spend hours coloring (and researching the benefits of coloring for adults), I decided to take the plunge myself. According to the MayoClinic, "coloring is a healthy way to relieve stress. It calms the brain and helps your body relax. This can improve sleep and fatigue while decreasing body aches, heart rate, respiration, and feelings of depression and anxiety." Some of my favorite photos are the ones I've taken in Paris so I thought I'd turn them into a coloring book for more people to enjoy. \/ Click to Download Free Adult Coloring Pages \/When people think of family-friendly vacations, Las Vegas is probably quite low on that list. Sin City doesn't necessarily scream, "BRING YOUR KIDS!", but our most recent trip to Las Vegas proved to be more family-friendly than I was expecting.
I have been coming to Las Vegas with my own parents since I was a kid and have many fond memories at the arcades at Circus Circus, Luxor and Treasure Island, spending hours on the water slides at the Flamingo hotel and the lazy river at Mandalay Bay, watching the fountain show at Bellagio and going back for thirds at buffets for every meal. As a young adult, I returned with my girlfriends to explore the nightlife, learn how to play craps (and lose track of time on the craps tables with $1 beers), and discover some of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas. I've been to Vegas dozens of times over the last three decades and have never had a bad trip. While a lot has changed since COVID (the arcades, Rio carnivale, pirate shows and many of the buffets are gone), there is still a lot to love and a lot of fun to be had when visiting Vegas as a family. On December 6, 2021, I received an email in my inbox saying that I had been selected to purchase tickets for Adele's Las Vegas Residency, "Weekends with Adele." It was a long process which included submitting a profile to prove I was a "Verified Fan" and not a robot, winning a lottery to gain access to the Ticketmaster room in which I would have the opportunity to purchase a ticket IF THEY DIDN'T SELL OUT IMMEDIATELY.
Seeing Adele perform was on my 40 Before 40 Bucket List which I wrote on my 30th birthday, four years after Adele's previous album was released and she had no new music on the horizon. This was also before Adele damaged her vocal cords and announced she will take a break from singing. And in 2017, she said she will never tour again and had to cancel two of her shows due to a vocal cord injury. All of this to say, that if I wanted to hear Adele's voice live, it was now or probably never. I was determined to get tickets to this show because I do not live my life with regrets. The original plan was for two of my girlfriends and I to go together. But when the time came for me to enter the Ticketmaster room and purchase the tickets, they were both at work and it was difficult to coordinate the logistics and all of the tickets got snatched up within minutes. I was disappointed and heartbroken that I might not have the opportunity to go to this concert. But I had the option of staying in the Ticketmaster room for an hour. After ten minutes, some tickets started popping back up for sale (probably from expired carts). Every time a ticket popped up, I clicked on it to try to purchase it, but it would be sold already. As the minutes ticked by, so did my hope. I had nothing to lose so I stayed in the room and kept trying my luck. By some act of god, with literally one minute left until the room closed and I got kicked out, a single ticket popped up and I purchased it without a second thought. |