Caprese salad and basil pesto.

I have recently become the proud owner of a new library card. That, paired with my Kindle, is all I need to access a seemingly endless assortment of old cookbooks, sent to me instantly, that most people in their right mind would never pick up, as well as things normal people read, like novels.

Happy hour.

Having a child really messes with your social life. I'm sure someone has mentioned this to you before if you haven't already experienced it yourself. I think I was still in denial when I was pregnant with my son, Charlie. I was twenty-nine and my husband and I were living in Brooklyn, so the bar scene was still pretty central to our social life. I remember going to bars with my husband and our friends on the weekends, drinking seltzer water and quickly realizing that bars when you are not drinking are (surprise!) not the most fun. They're usually too loud, you often can't sit down or have a normal conversation. I remember thinking, just wait - only six more months before I get to enjoy beer and going out to bars again! Little did I know that I would never go to a bar again. This is not entirely true, but almost.

Black bean, corn, and poblano salad.

I adore bean salads. I think part of it is because I grew up with a mother who served a green leaf salad with every meal. It was so terribly healthy and terribly, terribly boring. She would usually serve it undressed, which meant we could choose from an array of old dressing bottles in the fridge. Don't get me wrong, my mother can make a mean salad, but the day to day was less than appetizing.

Toddler burgers.

I can't really take vegan recipes seriously. Or restaurants for that matter. I enjoy reading more than one wonderfully written blog by a seemingly normal woman with cute kids who likes to discuss running work-outs and stroller purchasing and vegan eating. But the recipes? Sorry, no chance. At the same time, vegetarian food I can get behind. I've recently become a little obsessed with trying every single recipe in my birthday gift for this year, a little book you might know called Plenty which I believe everyone with a mouth has at least heard about.