Fancy tummies, gather 'round the table:

I've been thumping this cookbook like a crazed evangelist.
Le Petit Appetit made it a joy to toss those sodium-sick Gerber jars from the pantry and take to the burner for everybody in the house.
Bay Area entreprenuer mama Lisa Barnes daintily introduces basic purees, homemade crackers, nutritional baking, and chicken soft enough for new teeth to rookie cooks like she would a blossoming foodie in a high-chair: Slowly, clearly, and with gusto. The cookbook, which includes snacks, meals, and healthy desserts tooled for ages 4 months to 4 years, includes age-specific food safety dos and don'ts and lots of common sense troubleshooting. Best of all, though, it carries a spirit of inclusion. There's no talking down, not to the kids in the recipe content (hello, dill yogurt dip before 12 months!) or to the discerning meal-planner (there are tips for freezing purees and loads of substitues for sensitive or choosey eaters.) And most all the goodies can and should be passed around to the bigs.

The juicy wheat-based muffins recipe has pretty much revolutionized our snack stash. C was just nine months old when I made the first using blueberry and apple purees. Since the chomper-challenged bugger already insisted on feeding himself, the soggy little treats made for a good precursor to tougher biscuits. And I've since saved some overstock bannanas and sweet potatoes by mashing them up for squishimuffins, as they're lovingly called. A proverbial thumbs-up from my permanent guest of honor:

Search "heartless + regression" on Google;

this should show up first.

Something tells me Google's first childcare facility was probably in the upper echelon of day care world, if only for the genetically prepared Google-spawns on the playmats. All those kids need are a few buckets and a Candyland set and they'll have a solar-powered car to drive their parents to interviews.

Gloss for loss

From the trenches at Sephora:

A lip gloss that'll hold you over 'till lunchtime?

We're fans of Too Faced, but this sounds a bit hokey. Wouldn't it work better to keep ingesting a little bit of that Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream on accident? (If you're new to this form of cracked lip therapy, think "horse linamint".) That'll spoil an appetite better than Healthy Choice.

Take a Bow, SB Honoree Number One

We adored the whimsical designs by Kit Pistol of Project Runway Season's Four. Even more so, we dug her own post-fem, nerd-spunky style. Those high-waisted suspenders and Cinderella head scarves she wore to the workroom were missed almost as much as her work for the competition when she was sent home.

The project that auf'd her really got us thinking: a sweeping, avant- garde, seamy-on-purpose hoop-skirted dress that featured layers and layers of pastel aprons. According to Kit, who was asked to design two pieces based on her model's short, curly hairstyle, the concept she sought to illustrate was "nesting."




Tim Gunn, Grandfather of Reasonable Fashion, was less than convinced of the aesthetic connection between the dress and Kit's idea. After the En Garde! episode he wrote on his Bravo! PR blog:

Frankly, the only nest-like aspect to her avant-garde design that I could discern was the circular shape of the skirt, but that’s a stretch. I was struck by how much the corset top, voluminous Southern-belle skirt, and apron overlay made me think of a poor man’s Marie Antoinette dressed for her le petit hameau.

Could Kit have meant to express "nesting" in the homemaking sense? Think so. We read the over-the-top premise of the dress coupled with the modest, sweet fabric and apron scheme as a homage to the fanciful image of a sweet, enterprising, leave-the-lamplight-burning-late kind of woman. Tim himself makes a case for this interpretation with his note of the Southern-belle skirt and traditional corset top.

Either way, we congratulate you, Kit, for your thought-provoking fashion choices, both on the mannequin and on your own cute bod.

We'd love to fork over sixty bucks at Fred Segal for your signature patent-leather hairbow, but we found an, um, poor man's plastic version at Claire's for $3.50.

xo,
Sugar

Operation Plan Portland: First Installment

It's important to disclose early on that SB girls are wanderlusty by default.

It delights us to support the local businesses that do thrive in our southern college towns/suburban neighborhoods/rural areas despite one-note growth and development. Best-kept secrets are more special when there are fewer gems to discover.

But Southern, er, comfort keeps us the novelties of the north mysterious and exciting: good public transportation, livable summer temperatures, and (to generalize), more culturally developed local color and European influence.

Deep down, our men recognize this. Sort of. At SB headquarters, Texas Monthy subscriptions have replaced our New Yorker daydreams, and perhaps rightfully so. We needed to fully connect with the goings-on in our indefinite home state instead of memorizing the Met's event calendar.

Our co-captain's intelligent Texas pride can come off like a high-brow Yankee-snub, though. That and a little cabin fever has caused us to suggest some enlightening travel this summer.

Now, no matter how evolved, good 'ol boys are more comfortable in the land of smaller ponds, heart-melting sunsets and fried chicken. When exposing our cowboys to locales outside of Dixieland, trips should be chosen wisely and planned carefully.

According to our very own rural-raised lover, Portland, Oregon is the first destination of choice. We agree for these reasons:

Nature abounds. Cycling trails, barefoot hikes, rivers, trees.

Um, it's Quirkytown, USA. The small business model here is especially inspiring for SB and hers, who dream of opening a classic toy store/24 hour old-school arcade/bagel shop someday.

Portland's got vineyards without the Napa travel cost, a strong, central arts scene, and is a muse to some of our favorite post-punk writers and artists.

(Maybe we'll bake Bitch some cupcakes while we're in town, with an extra dose of lightenup!.)

Outside Portland


Stay tuned for reviews of Pacific Northwest travel guides and TV specials featuring heavily-inked cooks.

More French than fries

Here at Sugar headquarters, we pride ourselves on shedding vices of the food persuasion. We've given up cheese for Lent and said buh-bye to forty pounds after baby time in late October. Sure, the photo from our high-school hotness-prime seems a bit out of place by the coffee maker. The formerly permissive kitchen is becoming a shrine to skinny.

Regardless of our fervent and rewarding fat-watch, we recognize that we share a freezer and a Kroger discount card with someone who eats a heartier diet than we do. We also happen to adore time spent enjoying meals with him. We'd like to share these meals beyond middle age. So we push the health. Champion alternatives to Cheetos (organic), bacon (turkey), and cooking with cream (fat free plain yogurt) are staples now.

Out of true and abiding love, we've long searched for a french fry substitute. Now, not even the most well-meaning meal assembler could locate low-fat french fries. But a starchy, crunchy side that could hang with ketchup had to be waiting somewhere out there.

Hallelujah, there it was in the freezer aisle, right beside its lardy nemesis:

Ore Ida's Country-Style Hash Browns

Qualifier number one: 70 calories per generous 1 1/4 cup serving.

And two: the old-school, home cookin' factor.

These shredded lovelies can go where fries can't (or shouldn't, anyway):

Breakfast

Casseroles

Nifty french pancakes

Patties!

Next on the Banish and Replace list: Powdered donuts. Leads welcome.