Love

Punky was ready for the Easter Bunny last weekend.

The last few weeks have been a blur of working, day care drop off and pick ups, and everyone getting sick in the Handfelt Hacienda, but we've been surviving, and dare I say, falling into a routine.

Lily seems to be adjusting to her day care very well and Ben and I couldn't be more comfortable with our choice. Each morning and night her teacher Miss Linnette gives her a kiss and a hug hello or goodbye. LB's face lights up with a grin when Miss Linnette wraps her up like a burrito in a blanket and carries her around. Lily is the only girl baby at day care, and so gets lots of attention. We joke that she has lots of boyfriends...Liam, Brody, Adrian, and Leif (that hippy), among others! The other morning when I dropped her off, I met some other kids, one of whom told me that she was singing to Lily the day before and Lily was smiling and laughing. It is so funny, cute, and strange to think that LB already has little buddies that I don't know!

Going to work usually isn't too bad and I'll even admit that I enjoy the routine of work, getting coffee, listening to the radio on the drive in, joking with work friends...but by the time about 3 o'clock rolls around, I am itching to get out of there as fast as possible. I speed to pick up Ben and we run in to pick her up. Then we go home, Ben usually cooks the dinner that I've prepped the weekend before while Lily and I play and cuddle.

This afternoon Ben went to Wrigleyville to watch the Cubs game, but before he left he snapped a picture of us getting ready to take our walk around the 'hood:

Lil always gets lots of comments and compliments when we're on the street.
It's hard to go unnoticed with such a cutie!

She fell asleep on the ride home from the library...

Life is so good to us right now. I'm not one to be too mushy, but we are blessed...the windows are open and a breeze is coming in because it's a beautiful spring day...Lily's napping and making little, adorable, sweet snoring sounds, recovering from our walk...she's smiling and laughing more every day...making friends and learning more all the time...everyday I fall in love with her a little more...we have good friends, good jobs, and everything we need...and we're all getting a little more sleep! Hallelujah!

Back to the Real World

And then there were three

Lily starts daycare on Monday and I return to work on Wednesday, so you could say that it's the end of an era here in the Handfelt household...and it's a real bummer. Over the last twelve weeks, so much has happened and I feel like I've been living in some sort of foggy dream world. Hence, no Handfelt Happy Hour posts for weeks...

At first, I was so bored sitting at home in the days around Christmas, huge, waddling around, and tired of playing the waiting game for our little gal to arrive. Ben and I have always ate out a lot and gone to the movies frequently over our nine years together, but I think we reached the pinnacle that week as far as highest concentration of eating out/movie going was concerned. I swear, we went to the movies nearly every day trying to occupy our time. And the HHH blog consisted of way too many pictures of our meals. Then Lily arrived and rocked our world. I remember her being laid on my chest after she was born and looking up at me (with what I know now is one of her "classic" Lily looks) with her big inquisitive eyes and pink bow-shaped lips (and long luscious mullet-like locks). She looked so serious! And we just looked at each other, wondering who in the heck each other was and what we were all about.

Who is this little person?

Then, we got home...and for the first few weeks, the days and nights were a blur...and I REALLY wondered who Lily was. I felt like she was this tiny, fragile, cute stranger, that somehow was all mine (and Ben's, of course). Sometimes yelling at me with a red face, often sleeping with little cute snores, grunts, and squeaks, usually looking around all curiously, and always eating. Oh man, was she ALWAYS eating. We documented everything, taking pictures of her at 3am in the morning (and us, sometimes showing up in the background all groggy and bed-heady...we grabbed sleep whenever we could, and in a moment of desperation, I pulled out the vacuum in the middle of the night to create some "white noise" (which apparently helps babies sleep, according to Dr. Harvey Karp). Too bad for our neighbors! Hey, I figured the sound of a vacuum was at least marginally better than the wailing of a baby's cries. And it worked.

One of Lily's first smiles

Things got much easier once Lily became about six weeks old. We started to understand each other. She began smiling at us with a huge, joyous, carefree, toothless grin. It is literally the best thing ever. She talk/coos to us, and I swear, she is saying "I love you" in her baby language. We're still documenting everything and just caught her first audible laugh on video. She is such a happy baby, but still gives us those classic serious and inquisitive looks all the time. Check out all of our personal pictures from this wild journey here.

Likes:

• Being held upright and carried around (dear God, do NOT set her down or stand still no matter what you do! Constantly be on the move. Narrate what you are doing and where you are going. Check out Lil's inquisitive facial expression. She is taking it all in.)
• Being read the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?"
• Being sung the "Lily Lily Lily Bryn" song by Auntie Gretchen
• Being swaddled in her magical swaddle blanket from her Pseudo-Aunts Jami and Jen
• Foot kisses from Mom (She receives approximately 5,000 kisses daily.)
• Bath time with Dad and Pedro (her whale shaped baby bathtub)

Dislikes:

• Driving slow (See a video of us stuck in Chicago traffic at the end of this post)
• Pacifiers (Any attempt at inserting a "binky" in her mouth results in fake gagging, and no one needs that)
• Being held in a cradle position (Vertical only, please! And walking around is preferred.)

Things are really looking up these days

So Lily is almost three months old and now we're all jumping back into the real world...off to daycare, back to work, and hopefully into some sort of daily routine. To celebrate the three month mark, we took Lily to get some professional pictures taken this weekend, and you can check out a few of them on our photographer's blog. We'll post more once we get the rest. Wish us luck as feel our way through this new time in our lives!

Happy Valentines Day

Lil' Big Cheeks!  What what?  I'm far too young to be jaded by the notion of true love.  Valentine's Day rules!   

The Super Bowl of Hotcake Showdowns: Round 3

Round 3 of the widely lauded and hotly debated Handfelt Hotcake Showdown took place on Superbowl Sunday, and for the first time included the presence of a small child, a baby even. Too small and itty bitty to consume pan-fried cakes, the little one made sure to wait until right before we sat down to eat before having a meltdown. Clearly pancake envy was at play. Thus, let the record show that this test was conducted under duress. Let's get to the results before the kid starts crying again.

The Sample

First up, the contenders:

Hailing from the pretentious aisles of Crate and Barrel comes Barefoot Contessa's Pancake and Waffle Mix. At a staggering $7 for a 16 oz can, this ascot wearing pancake mix comes with lofty expectations. The recipe suggests either regular milk or buttermilk. We opted for the latter, a decision which proved crucial later on.













Next up is Krusteaz Wheat and Honey, one of the few sample brands that is of the 'just add water' ilk. The original Krusteaz held it's own against Aunt J before eventually bowing out...how will it's hippie cousin fare? Note that for this one, following some sage pancake advise sent to me by my mother, we substituted Club Soda for the water, which is supposed to make the cakes thinner and crispier.












The reigning champ:

Aunt Jemima Original, two time champ and pantry stalwart, tries to make the third time a charm and continue her reign of flapjack dominance.













The Method

As in previous rounds, I prepared the three pancake mixes according to directions on the box and carefully calibrated their "doneness" (perfectly golden brown, not too thick, not too thin, brimming with chewy carb goodness) using my Celaphon non-stick skillet.

One-by-one, Katy and I sampled each pancake: one bite with butter only, one bite with sugary Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and another with real, Grade A maple syrup. We then recorded our comments for each cake and ranked them on a scale of 1-5 (low to high). I was aware of which pancake went with each mix, but Katy's was a blind taste test. Being a man of principle, especially when it comes to pancakes, I didn't let this knowledge affect my rankings.

The Results

Barefoot Contessa:

Ben's comments: 5 stars, "Light and fluffy, these could be served without complaint at trendy breakfast nooks everywhere. I feel like these were flipped using God's spatula."

Katy's comments: 5 stars, "Nice golden yellow color, smooth texture. These remind me something at an expensive brunch place and are nice and buttery and tasty even without syrup."

Krusteaz Wheat and Honey:

Ben's comments: 3 stars, "Wheat pancakes have been exposed as frauds yet again. If I want wheat pancakes, I'll move into some hippie commune, take 3 wives and start growing my own cilantro."

Katy's comments: 4 stars, "Very wheat-y. These would hit the spot sometimes, but not all the time, kind of like Seinfeld reruns."

Aunt Jemima:

Ben's comments: 4 stars, "These have all the hallmarks of Aunt J, that obese yet lovable temptress. They have an unmistakable cake-y flavor to them that is distinct and instantly recognizable, like a Carlos Santana guitar solo.

Katy's comments: 4.75 stars, "Nice and light with a cake flavor that makes my inner Lily happy."

The Winner

After a long and impressive run, Aunt Jemima is finally dethroned by Barefoot Contessa. At $7 for a smallish jar, Contessa proved it's worth, although admittedly, at that price point you're probably almost better served just going the extra mile and making your pancake batter from scratch. Contessa was also aided with the 'buttermilk for milk' substitution, which gave it more flavor and helped separate it from it's gaggle of skim milk or water based competitors.

Aunt J certainly has nothing to hang her head about, and will probably still end up being the 'go to' pantry mix for everyday use. Barefoot Contessa screams 'special occasion' as much as an instant pancake mix can lay claim to such a thing.

Next up: a battle of the homemade pancake mixes, rife with special guest judges, including those who probably know best: the under 5 set.

Pancake Standings

Barefoot Contessa (sold exclusively at Crate and Barrel)
Aunt Jemima Original
Krusteaz Original
Krusteaz Wheat and Honey
Bisquick
Hungry Jack
Trader Joe's Multigrain

And with that, I leave you with the most classic pancake video of all time:

Cabin Fever- Pancakes! - The most amazing videos are a click away

Does This Pork Make My Thais Look Fat?

The Salt and Pepper Pork from En*Thai*Ce restaurant, 5701 N. Clark Street. Also pictured, the eggrolls and deep fried plantains.

Speaking as a grizzled veteran of the Thai delivery scene, you sometimes take for granted the quality (or lack thereof) of your takeout and forget why you order it all the time in the first place. Luckily there are places like En*Thai*Ce (clever wordplay if borderline mandatory these days) and dishes like the Salt and Pepper Pork to remind you why you love Thai long time.

Forcing ourselves to 'try something different' on the menu, we were rewarded with this, one of the better Thai entrees we've had in recent memory and the fried plantains, which were probably the best ones I've had since Nam'. Plantains can be about as hit or miss as Lily's sleeping habits, but these delivered...perfectly crunchy on the outside, gooey banana goodness on the inside.

One Month Birthday - January 30th

Ridiculously, criminally cute.

Kiss My Grits

The shrimp and cheesy grits at Big Jones, 5347 N. Clark Street. Not pictured: fresh out of the oven, complimentary cornbread worthy of at least one awkward moan per bite.

Lily survived her first outing to one of our favorite restaurants (yay, we can go back!), and we left happy and content, our bellies full of wine and down home southern cooking. Perhaps Lily was so well behaved because she's a future foodie like her parents. More likely, we just got really lucky. As long as she saves her meltdowns for McDonald's, we're cool.