It was today and the universe gave me a beautiful day to enjoy in NYC, part of which was spent at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to see the cherry blossoms starting to bloom. Wish I could say it was peaceful and relaxing, but with 4 kids in tow (went with friends) it was a constant battle of making sure the kids stayed out of trouble (“Don’t pick the flower petals! They’re for looking, not for picking!” “Don’t swing that sharp stick around, it’s not a lightsaber!” “You’re walking too close to that water!” “The coins stay in the fountain!”). There were some good moments in the day, but I think I’ll just file this birthday away.

So, this wasn’t a big birthday, but it’s close and I’ve been thinking about getting older and aging. Seems like I’ve been having a lot of “how did I get here” moments lately (cue the Talking Heads). How did I get this old? Are these really my kids? I usually don’t think about it, but once in a while I’ll catch the 3 of us in the mirror and wonder how I produced 2 kids who look nothing like me. I was actually sitting in a cafe last week with Mia, my sister-in-law, her cousin and her daughter when the waitress came by wanting to ask the mom whether it was ok if the little girl had a cookie. But she hesitated and admitted that she didn’t know which one of us was the mom. Oh snap! Burn! It doesn’t matter as it did give me a laugh, but I confess that I sometimes look at the girls searching for something of myself in them.

…And one last thing before it turns midnight and another birthday passes: thanks to all who entered so far in our first anniversary giveaway. Reading those comments was seriously the only thing that took me out of the blahs that I’ve been in for the past few days. I especially loved that there were some long-time readers who delurked to leave a message (hello there). It was one of those “Look! There ARE people who read this thing!” moments. It’s nice to meet you.

It’s our Etsy anniversary which means that a year ago today we opened up shop for online orders. Etsy was initially supposed to be a temporary venue until we had our own website outfitted with e-commerce but it’s been so good to us that we’ve decided to keep it open. We quietly passed the day that we officially consider our first day of business, April 6th which was the first day of the Brooklyn Flea, but the Flea is returning this Saturday, April 18th to what it supposed to be warm and sunny weather. Last year at the inaugural opening, it was damn chilly and we froze our butts off, but it was such a memorable day. I still remember the very first sale that we made to our first customer not long after doors opened. I practically jumped up and down and hugged the poor unsuspecting guy. In related news, we had a nice mention in this New York Magazine article about food at the Flea.

So to celebrate this month of anniversaries we’re hosting a giveaway to our beloved blog readers. 2 people, chosen at random, will win their choice of 3 products or one of our Classic or Herbs & Spices gift boxes. Just leave a comment, any comment. Winners will be picked next Monday. **Note, my friend just reminded me that yes, the giveaway is only open to US folks – we are so sorry that international shipping isn’t cheaper or faster.

Oh, and yes, the lemongrass marshmallows are finally in the shops, new photos and all.

UPDATE: Winners announced! Many thanks to all who entered and congrats to our winners Jackie and Darleen!

I’m not sure why we never visited the the Nassau County Art Museum before this weekend, considering it’s only a 7 minute drive from my parents house, but we went on Easter Sunday and it was the perfect place to spend a few quiet hours. While there wasn’t a whole lot plants in the cultivated gardens yet, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom in the sculpture meadow. Such lovely grounds and the best part is that it’s only a $2 parking fee to enjoy the outdoor landscaping if you don’t feel like going into the museums. While we didn’t visit the main art museum, we did check out the Babar Museum of Art exhibit at the Ridder MiniArt Museum for children. If you’re a fan of the elephant, than it’s well worth a visit. Plus they have this mind-boggling 1 million dollar castle dollhouse that will blow you away.

So our pysanky (Ukrainian eggs decorating) didn’t really work out so well, mostly because the candle wax we used didn’t stick to the egg and kept coming off. If you do this, get the proper wax, not any old candle that’s laying around – in our case, a rose scented Yankee candle that we found at my mom’s house. Mark and his sister, Lara, who are part Russian, have childhood memories of these eggs around Easter. After the egg dyeing activities we went on an Easter egg hunt out in the yard, which compelled Mia to put on her bike helmet for the hunt. Maybe she had some premonition that she would get sick later that day. She’s totally convinced herself that her fever and illness is from eating too much easter candy and chocolate and vowed only to have 1 piece at any given time. She hasn’t been eating much food since Sunday and even refused apple pie last night. She’s taking this no sugar policy seriously and I think she’s scared herself from candy now! Claudine, on the other hand, has always loved chocolate (Mia’s not such a fan of chocolate strangely enough) and could have eaten piece after piece as she kept cramming chocolate eggs down until we had to decide that the sugar nazi needed to come back from vacation and take the chocolate away.

It was a quiet sunday. The rain subsided the night before and the house was flooded with light. We spent the morning dyeing eggs.

Still visiting with family. Saturday was a wash with all the rain, but we drove out for Korean BBQ with my parents to eat a gluttonous dinner. Sometimes Korean food really hits the spot.

We’ve got family visiting from Seattle, so I’ve been on a bit of a break from work the last few days, though Mark has been busy as usual working on a big order that we’ll announce later (though if you are on twitter, you may have heard). We’ve been doing a lot of walking around and window shopping and Mia’s come with us, like one of the girls, going into shops and picking up and looking at EVERYTHING. I’ve never taken Mia shopping with me before so it was sort of a new experience for the both of us (and a glimpse into my future, especially since we were with Mark’s cousin and her 14 year old daughter). Mia had a ball trying on high heels at DSW in Union Square and she picked up and carried around every little shiny bauble and bling at Forever 21 (we were with a teenager, remember?).

We’re headed out to Long Island for some Easter fun. The girls are very excited to be decorating eggs. I’ve never given them Easter baskets but I bought a few goodies for them this year. I don’t know…I always felt very strange reducing such a religious holiday down to chocolate bunnies and egg hunts. I grew up going to church, but stopped going as soon as I left home for college so it’s not because I am particularly religious. Christmas is one thing, but somehow commercializing Easter felt a little weird to me so I didn’t celebrate it in any form at all. Maybe that is fading. Or maybe it was just hard to say no to the girls when they came upon all the Easter stuff at Target (so much stuff!!!). Hard to resist aisles and aisles of pastel cuteness and sugary little farm animals.

Here’s another childhood favorite of mine. Its origins are unknown to me (Mom?), but it was a fairly regular dinner item in my house. I remembered it several years after I moved to New York and had to call my Mom each time I wanted to make it because I neglected to write down the recipe. This time I just kind of made it up based on the three main ingredients: shrimp, minced clams…and crushed Ritz Crackers. I know it sounds a bit weird, but the tastes and textures all work quite well together.

Shrimp and Ritz Cracker Stuffing (serves 4-6)

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 Tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
2 cans minced clams, drained, reserving the juice
1 12-ounce box Ritz Crackers, roughly crushed
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the shrimp, garlic, lemon zest, parsley and clams in a mixing bowl. Mix in the Ritz crackers, lemon juice, melted butter and white pepper. Mix in just enough of the reserved clam juice to achieve your desired consistency – more juice will make a moist stuffing, while less will be a bit drier and more crackerey (is that a word?). Transfer to an 8-inch square baking dish. Drizzle the olive oil over the top. Bake for about 20 minutes until the shrimp are just cooked through. Run under the broiler for several minutes if you want a crisper top. Serve immediately, with an extra squeeze of lemon juice if desired.

What to do when it’s cold and rainy and you’ve got 2 restless kids and loads of leftover batter from a recent cupcake order? Have a cupcake tea party, of course (baked without wrappers because Mia likes to EAT them, ugh). We let the girls loose on a few dozen cupcakes and loads of sprinkles to do what they wish. Mia took to the task meticulously, decorating each one carefully while Claudine’s style was to pile on as many sprinkles as possible onto one cupcake. It looked like a lot of cupcakes but somehow, they all disappeared within 2 days.

Have you ever heard of lemongrass marshmallows? Long-time readers might recall that we made them for a Fragrance Foundation event last year, but in thinking about some new Spring flavors, it immediately came to mind. We’ve been very slow to list them in our shops as we’ve been very busy, and for whatever reason, I’ve been having a hard tome photographing them (how many different ways can you photograph a marshmallow?). We did actually sell a package to a marshmallow lover as part of a 4 flavor gift order and got really good response. So what does it taste like? It’s got the refreshing flavor of lemon, though subtle, with an interesting bite to it. Sort of hard to explain, but I like them. Marshmallow season will soon be over as hopefully we’ll transition to ice cold drinks soon, but these lemongrass marshmallows are sort of perfect for spring. As soon as we get our labels, they’ll be in the shops.