rachels's Profile

Can anyone identify the casserole dish? I would love to find an all black pan just like this one!

We live in NYC and have a carseat in our car but just hold her tight and hope for the best when we are going to/from the airport in a car or taking the random taxi ride. Don't forget about the buses - toddlers love buses and they can often get you places the subway can't. Also remember to check the mta site for service updates. The past few weekends have been brutal.

You have to fold up your stroller on the bus so we usually put her in the ergo on our backs for trips like that. And it also isn't fun lugging a stroller up 4 flights of subway stairs.

There are car services that will provide a car seat for an extra $5-10. Legends is one, can't remember the other but I am sure you can find it googling. (FYI - "car service" isn't anything fancy, you just have to call them instead of flagging down a yellow cab. Particularly good if you are out of busy Manhattan neighborhoods or going somewhere in rushhour because they charge a flat rate versus a meter.)

If you are visiting during the week just try to avoid rush hours (8-10 and 4:30-6:30). Toddlers in strollers can feel very freaked out by a packed subway car. And getting on and off is difficult when 100,000 people are also trying to push their way on. And sometimes, esp on the 6 train, near impossible unless you are going against traffic.

It's all easier than it seems - worst case scenario is that you do a LOT of walking. Have a great trip!

made this last night with 1/2 strawberries and 1/2 rhubarb. Served it with yogurt doctored with cinnamon and vanilla. Delicious and easy! (Would maybe cut the sugar just a tiny bit...)

I'm not that great of a baker and could really use some help:

I am looking for a recipe for a muffin/bread that doesn't have any added sugar/honey/maple syrup.

I want to make something for my daughter (she's only 11 months) because she loves bread, bagels and such and I would like to add some veggies to her breads...pumpkin bread with zucchini? Zucchini and carrot muffins?

And, to make it all more complicated, she can't have eggs.

Texture isn't as important as to a grown-up...I actually think she would prefer dense over light and fluffy.

These aren't really staples, but they are cheaper and better at WF:

1. WF whole wheat bread
2. WF kettle corn (though hard to find lately)
3. WF chocolate hazlenut spread (no hydrogenated oils or artificial flavors)
4. Westsoy Unsweetened Soymilk
5. Vitamins and supplements, beauty and household products all cheaper at WF and all cheapest in the NYC region (was so surprised they were more expensive in Texas when I went home for a visit!)
6. Panda licorice
7. rice

Agree that milk, yogurt, olive oil, stock are cheapest and best at WF.

Beer - Fairway and TJ.
Seltzer - Fresh Direct (they deliver it!!!)
Spices - Integral Yoga or Kalustans

Still looking for: cheap sea salt for baking/cooking

We also bought the Gulliver crib and an organic mattress by Simply Affordable from Terra Luna Sol for about $225 (including shipping)

http://www.terralunasol.net/simplyog.html

The quality of the mattress is great and it arrived in just a couple of days. My only hesitancy in recommending it fully is that it seems to be a teeny tiny bit short. Not sure if it is the mattress or the crib - the mattress is handmade and so the shape can vary slightly. I am not worried about it, but it may not be for a perfectionist.

I also bought a wool puddle pad (can't remember where, isn't that sad?!) to protect it and it has made it through throwing up and leaky diapers...we just wash and hang to dry.

I drove myself a bit nutty with the pre-baby research... There is too much bad information, too many choices and never the perfect thing at the right price, but all our stuff has worked out wonderfully. Good luck everyone!

I have to put in another plug for the FP fridge. We were also concerned at first about the CR ratings, but realized that there are few things they don't take into consideration that are really important to us like size and style. They don't say it is a lemon.

We haven't had any problems and in fact, I think I have raved to everyone at how awesome it is to have a fridge that keeps the produce crisp and fresh. We cook most meals at home and the fridge is always full of fresh and/or cooked food. It is plenty of space for us - we even use one of the freezer bins to hold our compost and we still have enough room.

We bought it through Levi (you can search for him on this site) and got it for just over $1000! Can’t beat the price. One last thing – it is silver on the sides, rather than black, which was an added bonus for us.

You can check out a view of our fridge at The Kitchen:
http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/kitchen-tours/kitchen-tour-rachels-clinton-hill-coincidence-022043

I would also be happy to answer any specific questions you might have about it.