Summer cocktails

We're heading to Maine next week, and I'm really looking forward to hanging out at the beach, seeing my adorable nephew Luke, and having built-in babysitters (my parents!) for a few nights so Evan and I can catch up with my sister, my brother, and his wife over a few drinks. In addition some chilled bottles of rose and a couple of six-packs of good beer, I've been thinking of bringing ingredients to make a cocktail or two. Because there's no better season for a tipple than sum sum summertime. Here are a few of my favorites:

Michelada: Sort of like a Bloody Mary mixed with beer. Sounds strange, and it is a little, but it's also perfectly refreshing and delicious, and not at all sweet. This recipe uses Clamato, but I'd stick with regular tomato juice.

Spiked Arnold Palmer: Unsweetened iced tea is kind of like seltzer to me in that I can drink it by the gallon. Add lemonade and vodka, and you have yourself a Sunday afternoon in August.

Sangria: Wine with more booze added...and then you can nibble on the boozy fruit!

Mojito: Sure it's passe, and bartenders hate when you order it, but the combination of mint, lime, rum, and seltzer (or try this version with champagne instead) SCREAMS summer. Just make it in the privacy of your own home.

Margarita: So ubiquitous that Jimmy Buffett wrote a song about it, but there's a reason it's been one of the most popular drinks since Esquire named it "drink of the month" in 1953: made right, it will cool you down and give you a summer evening to remember (hehe or forget...).

Also, don't forget about Dark n Stormies. Delicious, even when it's bright and sunny.

P.S. What does your favorite drink say about you? This round up cracked me up.


*Top photo from nydailynews.com. All others are credited in the links that correspond to their recipes.

Popsicle maker

Hmmm...this seems like a bit of a waste of money, but I just saw a Facebook post from my favorite local kid store, My Brooklyn Baby, singing the praises of the Zoku Duo Quick Pop Maker and now I really want one. It freezes two homemade popsicles in seven minutes. Kind of a perfect summer gadget for a mom of twin toddlers, right?

Unfortunately, Jack would still have to learn that he's only allowed one popsicle per day.

How to: cut an onion

I'm making chicken fajitas tonight and I just finished prepping everything - marinated some chicken, sliced up some peppers and onions - for cooking off later. Every time I work with onions, I get a little thrill when I chop them (how's that for being a cooking dork?) because it's one of the few cooking techniques that I've mastered. I actually don't remember where I learned the proper way to do it (maybe it was either in high school home ec or from the Food Network?) but it's a great skill to have because onions are everywhere.

So how do you cut an onion properly? I'm going to let Gordon Ramsey give you the full lesson, because he's much more bad ass than I am, and everything sounds better with a British accent anyway. My bit of advice to you would be this: get a good knife. We have this set of Wustof Classic knives and it makes such a difference when you're slicing and dicing.

Twin Tuesday: You gotta do you.

You know that show, What Not to Wear (final season is this summer!)? Stacy London and Clinton Kelly take an unfortunately dressed person (usually a woman) and give them a major wardrobe makeover and a mini life makeover. Many of the guests on the show are moms who have..."given up." They wear sweatpants and never wash their hair, and I remember watching the show a few years ago and thinking, I will never be like that when I have kids.

And now, here I am. Looking like the "before" on What Not to Wear. More like Mayim Bialik than I ever wanted to be even when she wore all those fabulous hats as Blossom many moons ago. My uniform is yoga pants (and I haven't done yoga in over a year, sooo...) and a dirty-ish t-shirt. I mean, it's sad. Stacy and Clinton would not approve. Of my clothes, or my hair. I used to have really great hair...and skin, too. And now everything is just limp and sallow.

What's the point of telling you all this? It's not because I'm vain or fishing for compliments (which I know, dear friends, would not be true because I've looked in the mirror lately and it's bad), none of that. It's not because I can't get rid of baby weight that I can't fit into nice clothes - I was never svelte to begin with and "nice clothes" to me have always been Banana Republic or Anthropologie instead of "regular clothes" from the Gap. I was never a clothes horse, but I always had style. I could be considered put-together, sexy, trendy, yet classic. I loved to look good, and now...I just don't.

The point is, someone recently asked me how motherhood has changed me. And at first I could think only of the amazing ways it has: it's made me more sensitive and patient. More responsible. More conscious of how I treat other people, from the guy in the bodega on the corner to my husband. I can say with all honesty, motherhood has made me a better citizen of the world.

But there's another side to it. The harsh, unfunny truth: I don't take care of myself anymore. And the entire time I'm not caring about myself, I sing the ballad of the mother as martyr, ohhh it's because these babies are just taking up so much of my time. I need to put them first, so where do I come in?

It is a hard balance, but I admit, I'm not even trying. Jack and Nellie always look fantastic (I'm convinced people must think I'm the nanny because there's no way Dirty Shirt is mother to those two beautiful babes), they eat incredibly healthy meals, get enough sleep and playtime and social interaction and educational enrichment. Me? For breakfast/lunch I wolfed down a cheddar scone and a chocolate chip cookie and my 3rd coffee of the day. I never go to bed early enough. I haven't read a book in...I can't remember how long. I go months without seeing close friends and doing the things I used to love to do. And I've stopped caring about how I look, not in that self-assured, "I look how I look and that's ok" kind of way...but in a, "I look pretty awful so please just don't look at me" kind of way.

I'm the stay-at-home-mom who's given up on herself, and, for me, it's been the most unexpected part of motherhood. How did this happen? And how do I even begin to change back? Going to bed early might help. Eating fruit when my kids eat fruit, little things like that. But I think, most importantly, I have to remind myself that even though Jack and Nellie are small now, they're growing more observant every day. And I want them to know the real me - the woman who had enough energy to start her own baking business in addition to her stressful full time job; the woman who loved to read and go to the movies and restaurants and walk around Soho on a Friday evening; the woman who enjoyed conversations with friends and strangers and was full of life; the woman who wore yoga pants to yoga; and the woman who loved to feel pretty in addition to all those things.

Maybe the cliched lesson to learn from all this is that if I feel better about myself, I'll be a better mother. Or maybe I won't, and I'll just feel better. Isn't that enough of a reason? Either way, it's time to start putting myself first.

Or at least first and a half.

*Photo courtesy of parents.com