BATCH COOKING: HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN TAGINE

It seems like every Monday, I'm on a hunt for a recipe that is sort of a one stop shop-- a recipe that I can get all the ingredients literally in one shop, put them all in one pot, and walk away. However, not only is this crock pot-codependent relationship hurting the feelings of my 5qt Le Creuset pot (I'm not bragging, I'm just saying it's really pretty), but it's starting to bore Jonah and Peter to tears: There's only so much shredded chicken tacos and turkey chili a man/boy can take.

Luckily, a few months ago, I went to New York and had the opportunity to cook with the very talented Tamara Reynolds for Lifetime Moms. One of the recipes we made was Chicken Tagine. This two-pot Mediterranean dish may sound challenging, but let me tell you it's super simple, flavorful, and is a perfect dish to satisfy my Le Creuset calling. The best part: it's a batch recipe. With batch recipes, you can make a large portion and save/freeze it for another meal or, as Tamara suggests, swap half with a neighbor or friend that is making another batch of something delicious. (Though, good luck trying to match my batch, she says mockingly).

Happy batch cooking!

SHE STREAMS'11

Exciting news! I've been ask to speak at SheStreams '11! This is such an honor as I will be speaking with women I admire... Nicole Feliciano, Melissa Gerstein & Denise Alberts, Janice Croze, Audrey McClelland... the list goes on! But we're talking serious heavy hitters. I love any opportunity to go to New York so to get a chance to connect with social media influencers and smart brands and advertisers in my favorite city in the world (okay, second to Paris) is incredible.

A little on SheStreams:

What is SheStreams conference?

SheStreams is a conference that spans two days of informative and engaging sessions intended to catapult women and brands into the future of social technology. It will take place on Friday, September 23rd and Saturday September 24, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York City.

Who Should Attend SheStreams Conference?

Who should attend SheStreams Conference?

-Women that are interested in the newest platforms and technologies that will connect them with other women and brands

-Brands and business who desire an understanding of what’s new in female social media

-Providers of new and established social technologies

Start spreading the news! http://www.shestreamsconference.com/

MY THANK YOU SPEECH

My entire life, I have dreamt about going to the Oscars. Not just going to the Oscars, but being in the Oscars... that is, RECEIVING an Oscar. As a little girl, and then a young adult studying theater at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, my dream was to win an award for Best Actress. Now, it's for Best Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay or Sound Editing. I'll take anything really. The point is, I really want an Oscar. Just seems so magical.

And I've been practicing my speech (again, it's always with a British accent for some reason) since I was 4.

Well, after watching an entire evening of Anne Hathaway's over the top "I'm so honored to be here" shtick as she "wooted" for legends like Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, I felt inspired to jot down some of the things I'm truly thankful for....

So in no particular order....

Thank you to Tricia, Jonah's trusted and loving nanny and my right hand gal. You keep us all straight and might be the only one able to talk a 3 year old down off a non stop "poop" talking ledge without losing your mind.

Thank you to my modern day pen pals: Nic of My Bottles Up and Debi of The Truth About Motherhood. If only we all lived closer, I have no doubt we'd have a lot more to connect over than our blogs. Your comments and enthusiasm keep me going. Also, thanks for not being perfect. Makes me like you even more.

Thank you to my writing partner Lisa Gache. Everyone should have a Lisa in their life. Calm, poised and an example of graciousness, Lisa's become a great friend.... And the only person I know who truly despises her arms like I do. (My arms, that is. Not hers. I think hers are perf).

Thank you to my boyfriend J. The fact that you love me despite how many socks I've stolen, how little interest I have in Seinfeld (yep, I said it ;-)) and how many sentences I start and never finish, is amazing. Also, the fact that you keep a running "Jenny quotes" list in your phone... Um. That's love.

Finally, a thank you to my mom, for never having your keys ready when you need to get in to the car, or in the front door. This unbelievable and comical phenomenon has, not only made me insane over the years, BUT made me a strive to be more prepared human being (and perhaps triggered the type A control freak side of me too. But that's a whole 'nother post). But mom. Thank you. You're always there. Thank you.

There are at least two dozen other thank you's that would need to go on my actual Oscar acceptance speech... including one to my darling and sweet Jonah. My life. My pride and joy. There are no words... And there are no spanx under this "workout" get up of mine. So I think I'll save it....

LIFE'S A BEACH...

Before I had a child, I swore that I would always be honest. I'd speak the truth to him. I'd teach him things without covering up or rewriting the facts. I'd wear my heart on my sleeve and with patience and loving kindness, share the world with him.... one answer at a time.

Then he started talking.

A lot.

And because of this, and the fact that I am an advocate of encouraging childhood imagination and literacy, I have a confession that I'm not proud of:

I am so happy that Baby-Ko cannot read.

Take for example our trip to the beach a few weeks ago.... It was a lovely day... a beautiful day... a sunny day. Despite the fact that Baby-Ko developed an insane fear of seaweed leaving me no choice but to hold him for close to 2.5 hours, (truthfully, there was so much seaweed on the shore, I was expecting for Daryl Hannah to appear at any moment), all seemed perfect at Paradise Cove..... until we had to leave.

"Time to go, Baby-Ko. Help mommy, please. Carry your pale and shovel."

"NO," he protested. "I want to go look at the seaweed."

"What?! The seaweed? You didn't want to go near the seaweed...."

"I DO want to go see the seaweed. Let's go, mommy," he said taking my hand.

Baffled and still holding on to that "let's build his imagination" BS, I walked with him back to the water, half knowing that this was all a stalling tactic.

"Okay, here's the seaweed!" I said.

"I don't want to touch the seaweed! No! Pick my up!" (That's not a typo. He actually says "my" instead of "ME.").

"What?! Baby-Ko, you said you wanted to see the seaweed. So Mommy took you to the seaweed..."

"No! I don't like it! I too scared."

"Fine. Okaaaaay. Let's go. It's time to go."

"Noooooooooooooooo!" He screamed and squirmed out of my arms.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Time to go," I said trying to hold on to him and our belongings.

"I don't want tooooooooooooo!" He screamed louder as I started to drag him through the sand. I felt people staring.

"BABY. KO. That is enough. It is time to go. We had a fun day. It. Is. Time. To. GO."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Now everyone WAS staring. That's when IT HAPPENED:

"SHH! Do. You. See. That. Sign?!" I said sternly.

"What sign?"

"THAT sign." He turned. "It says: 'Children under the age of 3 have to leave at 5 o'clock.'"

"Or what will happen?"

"What will happen if we don't leave?"

"Yeah..."

"They'll take away your paci's."

"Who will take them away?"

"The man."

"What man?" He said looking around.

"The beach man. Let's go."

He started to walk and I started to feel the judgement of the tourists happily perched under this quaint little sign rip my parenting skills, or lack thereof, apart.

Whatever. Have a nice trip, A-holes.

Sadly, my sorry you can't read sucka! attitude didn't end there.... He gets too wild at a restaurant? The menu says "Your blankie will get taken away." He starts to scream while we're driving? The street signs say "no TV before bed." He whines for more marshmallows, the ingredients say, "little boys may only have 10.... or their teeth will fall out."

Obviously, my blame it on someone or something else tactic works now and will, at some point, need to be retooled. Of course, if I continue to tell him on P. 6 of 14 that it says "this book is over and it's time for bed. The end," then it may be a while before I need to come up with something better.... Oy.

START SPREADING THE NEWS....

Last Friday I turned Thirty... Three. Considering there are so many shifts and changes in my world, including a show/job that has taken me to New York this week, my birthday was really wonderful, sweet, and happy....

It's hard to believe that 15 years ago, I moved to this city in the hopes of becoming an "act-toorrr." I wanted to do "theee-Ate-er," wear black, smoke cigarettes, and "act from my soulllll...." Okay, I wasn't that affected, but I did smoke cigarettes... a habit I picked up after my freshman RA at NYU introduced us to the Silver Bullet Deli that would happily deliver cigarettes and a bottle of water at any time of the day...

Overnight, I found my bearings, my bars, and my ballsy side...

I was a New Yorker.

As a child growing up in Los Angeles, I'm sure it seemed odd to my parents that I would adopt an imaginary friend named Bodice and her "cousin" Beem-Beem. I don't think anyone would have suspected that come college time, I would follow my "friends" to the big apple... After all, just because Bodice moved to New York to be an actress (and "Beem Beem went with her") didn't necessarily mean I should too... But I did. I was going to go to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts to become the world's most famous actress and do interviews with Barbara Walters (in a British accent... don't ask) and talk about my life, my loves, and the many many children I had adopted and saved....

Well, 11 years post graduation, I'm hardly famous and my accent is hardly British (think Eliza Doolittle meets Sarah Palin). I would have never guessed, standing on the stage of Carnegie Music Hall, receiving my diploma, that I would one day give up acting, move back to Los Angeles, find myself working in a field known as "reality television," fall in love with writing (and become a "blogger")... and I certainly wouldn't have imagined my heart could get completely stolen by a 25 pound little man who's smile is so contagious and tush is

so delicious I would actually consider (and have tried) eating it.

But here I am.... On the 30th floor of an office building overlooking a city (well not so much overlooking... more like wedged in)... in a city that I once swore I'd neeeever EVER leave... down the block from theaters I dreamt of performing in... NOW I'm behind a desk and behind the cameras...

And while my dreams of bantering with Ba-Ba-Wa may never come to fruition (unless I'm producing the famous actress who has actually adopted many children and saved many lives), it feels good to be back here... I'm a real "Working Girl...." with a real head for business and a bod for sin (if I can manage to stay awake)....

But alas, I must sign off. Get back to work and to this show... I've got a deadline.

"Katherine's" on my ass. Let the river ruuuuuunnn......