oh hi there. how are we all doing? hanging by a thread? us, too. there have been illnesses, there have been injuries, there was canadian thanksgiving and halloween AND the world is an absolute dumpster fire. it’s been a lot! but every day we wake up and SURPRISE! we’ve still got school drop offs and lunches and dinners and playdates and dogs to walk and laundry to do and dishes to wash and hands to shake and babies to kiss, so here we are, monthly recap at the ready. and this time? there’s a muffin recipe! and it’s good, too. it has vegetables in it.
let’s dig in:
wtf did we eat?
porridge season is back! like soup season, but for breakfast. PB & J is the go to currently. and of course, terrifying jam smiley faces on top!
ed: baby carrots. these are getting us through the twilight zone between getting home and dinner being ready.
katie: hard boiled quail eggs. hear me out. i’m seeing these everywhere in toronto and my kids really love them so we’re hard boiling quail eggs in bulk and just bodying a whole box in mere days. its nuts. also, is there an abundance of quail in ontario? why are there so many quail eggs available here all of a sudden? what is happening?
ed: dutch apple cakes. these are the real deal. here’s the recipe we made at home over the weekend. trust us on this one.
morning glory-ish muffins! recipe below. we’ve made these like 29038409238490x over the past couple weeks and they’re so good, but now we need to find a new snack because the kids are muffin’d out. fuck.
wtf did we watch?
all the halloween specials. bad guys, sing thriller and the hotel transylvanias are all on repeat forever and ever, amen.
katie: join or die on netflix. inspired by bowling alone, the tl;dr is: we used to all join clubs and everything was pretty ok, but now we are not and democracy is failing and it’s because we all got too busy/the internet ruined everything. so we should maybe consider joining clubs again, or else.
katie: the apprentice. even more depressing and terrifying now. this is a horror film, but real life. jeremy strong deserves an oscar.
katie: jenna phipps’ abandoned home reno. this is some great and wholesome youtube content, and you should all follow along.
wtf did we read?
ed: the montessori child. we’ve had to lean on this book a few times over the last couple of weeks in dublin. there've been some explosive tantrums over the weekend which have been hard to explain. thankfully this book has steered us onto the straight and narrow and tempers seemed to have cooled in the household (for now).
everyone needs a good schnitzel. in this edition of
’s substack, anna winger shares her favourite spots in berlin, and this time next week i’ll (ed) be back in our old home town, visiting for the first time with the kids! do you have any recommendations of family-friendly places to visit or eat in berlin? hmu in the comments!katie: the parents aren’t alright. technically this is an episode of the daily and you should really listen to it (subscribe to the NYT if you’re able!). if you’ve been feeling just crushed by your job as a parent, it’s probably because shit has gotten way too hard because we’re leaning WAY TOO FAR in, judging each other WAY TOO MUCH, and we all need to chill the fuck out. namaste.
katie: be ready when the luck happens by ina garten. the audiobook is ready by ina herself and it’s a great read/listen! she’s doing it right, i tell ya!
fail of the month:
katie: finally letting my 5 and 8 year old watch Five Nights at Freddy’s after MONTHS of begging (“BUT MOMMM! EVERYONE HAS SEEN IT!!”). surprise, surprise: we had to turn it off. our hunch was that it would give them nightmares and guess what, we were right! i don’t even get the satisfaction to say I TOLD YOU SO because everyone’s waking me up mid-REM and I’m too cranky to be petty! how many nights in a row do you think i had to explain to my youngest that there were 100% guaranteed no monsters under the bed? the answer might shock you.
see also: letting my 5 year old watch ghostbusters. turns out he IS afraid of ALL ghosts. nightmares for days.
ed: spending 5 (!!) euros on a bad cookie and then using it for bribery on a sleepy, hungry almost 4 year old. sometimes this tactic works, and sometimes it does not. we played a bad hand that day. woopsies. the meltdown that followed was so bad we had to consult the literature (see above).
that’s all, folks! we’ll be back in a month with a november recap. until then, see you on the internet!
xoxo,
kt & ed.
morning glory-ish muffins
makes 12ish regular sized muffins, or 24ish mini muffins.
equipment
cutting board, knife, pot, food processor or blender (optional), mixing bowl, measuring cups & spoons, spatula or wooden spoon, muffin tins.
ingredients
fruit & veg puree
(makes enough for ~6 batches of muffins, store leftovers in the fridge or freezer)
4 apples
4 carrots
pinch of cinnamon
muffins
1 cup / 225 g vegetable/neutral oil
1 cup / 200 g sugar (note: you can halve, or more, the amount of sugar if you want to feed these to an early eater. increase flour by a tbsp or so if you do this)
3 eggs
2 cups / 240 g all purpose flour
2 tsp / 6 g cinnamon
2 tsp / 10 g baking soda
2 tsp / 8 g vanilla
1 tsp / 6 g salt
1 cup / 225 g fruit & veg puree (optional: mix equal parts store bought carrot baby food and apple sauce together to equal 1 cup)
OPTIONAL ADDITIONS: a big scoop of shredded coconut, crushed pineapple, chopped walnuts or pecans
method
prepare the puree - this will take about 25 minutes. wash & roughly chop apples and carrots, add to a small pot & add just enough water to cover the chopped ingredients. add a hearty pinch of cinnamon and boil until everything is very tender, this can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes.
scoop cooked ingredients to a food processor or blender and whiz together until it’s totally pureed, about 5 minutes. put aside to cool.
OR: skip these steps entirely and mix equal parts pre-made carrot baby food with apple sauce and put that aside.
preheat the oven to 350F / 176C
make your batter. in a large bowl, mix all ingredients together gently, until combined.
scoop into prepared muffin tins, bake for 20-25 mins for regular sized muffins, and 18 mins for mini muffins. check done-ness with a knife or a cake tester, when it comes out totally clean they are ready.