Lately I’ve been a little obsessed with the idea of getting a chalkboard for my kitchen–with a cute antique frame. I’m convinced it would be fun to write the dinner menu on it each night, as a daily traditions (other meal-time traditions I love: prayer, candle-lighting, talking about our days, and of course, some pre-dinner wine for mama).

If I had a chalkboard, here’s what I would have written down for tonight (warning: It’s a very random dinner, but we all loved it–even the 1 year old!):

Of all the surprising things about writing and selling a novel (it’s lonely, isolating–yet strangely tons of fun–scary, hunger-inducing (think of all that mental exercise), back-breaking, etc.), I admit, I hadn’t put much thought to the idea that people around the world might actually read my book (which as I mentioned before, will be published by Penguin in the summer of 2011). I mean, surely, this was just the lucky plight of a handful of bestselling novelists, right? Well, then my amazing literary agents sold my book in Germany, after a 6-publisher auction. I got the news on my Blackberry while I was at Trader Joe’s grocery shopping with my two kiddos, and I practically fainted on the cereal aisle. Right next to the instant oatmeal.

Remember making cut-out snowflakes as a kid? Somehow mine ended up looking like Native American art (which was kind of fun) this year. My mother in law said they looked Navajo (they kind of do, don't they?!). Carson and Russell think they're great. Russell would

Aren't they cute? I was wooed by a carton of fresh, organic cranberries at the store today, and after I put the boys to bed, I made a big batch of cranberry muffins. I don't know how this happens, but I always bake when I'm

This photo just makes me grin from ear to ear. Hope it brightens your day, too. (P.S. Russell is 9 months old, and we call him "Russie." He's a (big!) baby who is very mellow and sweet. But watch out, he sometimes bites.)

Since this summer was completely swallowed up and eaten by the Great Big Real Estate Monster, I’m thinking back, fondly, to last summer (well, spring actually) when I made these amazing rustic fruit tarts for my editor at Hallmark magazine. The project: A big food feature centered around a progressive dinner (remember those from the 80’s?) that was photographed in my home and neighborhood. Hallmark sent out their production crew (including stylists and a makeup artist, which was so fun and yet kind of a trip–they put makeup on my husband even!) to photograph the event, which was a ton of fun. Too bad the issue of the magazine that this was slated to appear in was at the press exactly when Hallmark decided to pull the plug on the magazine and shut it down due to economic woes. Oh well. I’ll always have these tarts to show for myself. Recipe follows…

Amazing, right? (P.S. It's a green zebra tomato doctored up with gel and sesame seeds to look like a watermelon. See more about the experiment here.) [Photo: Playing with Fire and Water]