travel Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Posted by Meaghan Barry on October 14, 2013

britax contest

I realize that at 2 Sisters 2 Cities, we usually focus on recipe posts and DIY projects. However, I was recently asked to review the Britax Advocate 70-G3 car seat and I agreed to it as car seats are a major part of our life now! There would be no trips to the grocery store or craft store without our trusty carseats! And the best part is that Britax is also giving away a Britax Advocate 70-G3 convertible car seat to one lucky 2S2C reader (keep reading this post for more details…)

As an owner of two other Britax car seats (the Britax Advocate 70-CS and the Britax Marathon 70), I was excited to try the latest and greatest product from Britax. In addition, baby N Hates (with a capital H!) his infant bucket carseat. He cries almost non-stop whenever we are in the car…it is torture to listen to my poor little guy cry his heart out. It’s funny to hear about people taking their babies for car rides to get them to sleep. That would never happen in our household! I was thinking about moving him to a convertible car seat to see if he tolerated the car better. The timing could not have been better to try out the Advocate 70-G3!

When the car seat arrived, T ran out the front door to check it out. What can I say…we get really excited about safety in our house!

britax_delivery

After watching an episode of Curious George in the new car seat, T agreed to let baby N have a try. Both 3-year old T and 3-month old N are able to use this car seat as Britax convertible car seats can be used rear-facing from 5 to 40 pounds and forward-facing from 1 year and 20 pounds, up to 70 pounds. With the Quick-Adjust Harness system, it’s super easy to adjust the shoulder height for each kid (no re-threading of straps necessary!) Everyone seemed to be a fan of the Britax Advocate 70-G3 during our dry run in the house.

britax advocate 70g3

Next up was installing the Advocate 70-G3 in the car. While admittedly this is not my favorite task in the world, it was actually pretty easy to install with the LATCH system. I had the bucket seat out and the new convertible car seat installed in less than five minutes.

The real trial was up taking baby N on his first car ride in the new convertible car seat. The result: definite improvement! While he still cries about 50% of car trips we take, he seems to like the new seat a lot better. And the best result (besides a safe car ride,) a sleeping baby!

britax_sleeping_baby

The best part of the Britax Advocate 70-G3 are all the amazing safety features that are incorporated into the seat. One of Britax’s car seat taglines is “Safety You Can See” as all of their safety features are in plain sight. They include:

True Side Impact Protection is deep side walls with energy-absorbing EPP foam along with a head restraint which offers a double layer of EPP foam to distribute crash forces, shield from vehicle intrusion, and contain the head, neck and body while keeping them “in true” or aligned
HUGS Chest Pads with SafeCell Technology are affixed to the seat shell to ensure proper positioning while SafeCells compress to manage energy and provide resistance to the forward movement of your child in a crash, reducing the risk of head injury
Base with SafeCell Technology features SafeCells designed to compress in a crash, significantly lowering the center of gravity and counteracting the forward rotation of the child seat which normally propels the child toward the front seat
Integrated Steel Bars strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce forward flexing of the child seat during a crash
Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether features a staged-release tether webbing to slow the forward movement, reducing the crash forces reaching the child, and a two-point attachment to minimize forward rotation while anchoring the top of the child seat
Click & Safe® Snug Harness Indicator is an audible aid that provides extra assurance when the harness is within range of appropriate snugness
Tangle-Free, Five-Point Harness distributes crash forces across the strongest parts of the body and provides a secure fit

britax advocate 70g3 safety features

I was especially impressed with the new HUGS Chest Pads. T has a tendency to pull the chest clip down and remove the straps from his shoulders when he gets bored in the car. This new feature would definitely prevent (or at least make it more difficult) to lower the chest clip. I also definitely like the True Side Impact Protection that would provide extra protection if we ever got into a car accident.

One of the drawbacks of switching baby N to the Advocate 70-G3 is that I can’t simply unlatch the seat and carry him in it if he falls asleep. I usually have to transfer him to his bassinet or the Moby Wrap if we are out and about and he usually wakes up. This is more of an issue of an infant bucket seat vs. a convertible car seat however.

Another limitation is that the seat is pretty bulky and wide. If you have a small car, this carseat might be a tight squeeze. Traveling with the Advocate 70-G3 might be a bit cumbersome for airline travel. In the past, we have used the Britax Car Seat Travel Cart to tote T and his car seat around the airport. It’s always a bit tricky then installing a large convertible car seat into a tiny airplane seat. I have not yet attempted it with this car seat, but I imagine it would also be a bit tight on certain airline carriers. However, all of the great safety features greatly outweigh these drawbacks in my opinion.

Now it’s your chance to try the Britax Advocate 70-G3…enter this giveaway through the Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck and safe travels!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

sister m signature

Safety matters when it comes to car seats. I want one that will protect my child. And Britax convertible car seats have so many safety features — and knowing that makes me feel like my child is safe while in the car. Click here to learn more about Britax safety features.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Britax. The opinions and text are 100% mine.

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on April 28, 2013

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Last weekend, my family and I went to Chicago for our cousin’s wedding. It was a great trip for several reasons. First, I got to see my family for the first time since Christmas and my extended family since Fourth of July weekend. Secondly, both my boyfriend and I had never been to Chicago before so it was all new to us.

My boyfriend and I had a better time of getting to Chicago than the rest of our family. The majority of my family’s flights out of Syracuse got canceled because of flooding in Chicago (which oddly enough didn’t affect me coming from California.) My two sisters (Our very own M and little M), my brother-in-law, and my nephew (plus soon-to-be nephew) were locked down in Boston because of the search for the Marathon Bomber suspect #2. One second, I was so excited to see my family and the next my mom called to tell me no one except me, my boyfriend, and my sister C were going to make it to the wedding. Of course this was right before take-off so for the whole four and a half hour flight, my boyfriend had to console a very sad and disappointed K. Upon landing, the texts started to come in that everyone scrambled to get new flights and would be coming staggered throughout the weekend, but would all be there for the wedding.

Excited and hungry we got off our non-dramatic SFO-to-Chicago flight and cabbed it into the city. We quickly checked into the hotel, dropped off our stuff and were on our way to find some Chicago-style grub. It was windy and cold mixed with a little snow/hail as we walked to find Al’s Deli, which in my mind is how I imagined Chicago all my life. Our hotel was in the middle of everything so it was only about a 10-15 minute walk.

Our cousin had listed some places to visit for food in Chicago on her wedding site and Al’s Beef for a “hot dog dragged through the garden” was one. As we were ordering, we ordered an Italian Beef Sandwich with hot peppers and I then asked for a “hot dog dragged thru the garden.” The girl looked at me strange and said “I don’t know what you are talking about, dragged thru the garden?” I then explained that I didn’t know what it meant, but my cousin said I had to get it. The check-out girl went to go ask her manager and he responded with “yeah, that means everything.” Rest assured, I got my hot dog “dragged thru the garden” or as I will now just call it “everything.” We split both and liked them, but were especially impressed with the hot dog.

Right across the way from Al’s Deli is Portillos. This place wasn’t on our list, but it looked pretty hopping. After checking it out on our iPhones, we realized it was also pretty famous for their hot dogs and Italian beef as well. We decided we had enough room to split another hot dog so we proceeded to do so. Also very delicious, and we both sort of liked it more then our first! Sorry Al!

As we headed back to hotel, we saw all the places for Chicago-style pizza like the original Pizzeria Uno’s. I promised Matt that we would try some the next day because there was no way I was going to eat more before the rehearsal dinner that night. The next day, my sister C, my mom, and I got our hair done at this awesome Blow Dry Bar called Blow-By Blow, highly recommended if you are ever in the area. I also think I found my new love for Blow Out Bars, mimosas and getting my hair shampooed and styled…ummm, yes please! My boyfriend and dad went out to get more hot dogs and to possibly try to get a pizza to bring back to the hotel. The pizza places all had a 45 minute wait for pizzas because that is how long they take to make. They ended up not having enough time to wait so they brought back more hot dogs for all. We never did have time for the Chicago-Style Deep-Dish pizza.

The week we got back, I decided to surprise my boyfriend by making a deep dish pizza since we never did get any. It was surprisingly easy to make and so tasty! I had one piece and I was so full! I put turkey pepperoni on ours because that is what we had in the fridge- that’s why its sort of curling up, but you can top with whatever you like.

Slice of Deep Dish Pizza

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

Author: 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Ingredients

Dough:

1 ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour (in-between 8.1-8.2 oz. on scale)
¼ cup yellow cornmeal (Not corn starch M!)
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1⅛ tsp. instant yeast
½ cups plus 2 tbsp. water, at room temperature (5 oz.)
1½ tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

Sauce:

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. grated onion,
⅛ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes
⅛ tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. fresh basil, coarsely chopped
1½ tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Additional Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Assembly:

2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese
Sliced pepperoni (optional)

Instructions

Dough:

Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, and yeast into the bowl of your mixer. With dough hook attachment mix on low speed for about 1 minutes until all ingredients are combined.
Slowly add in water and melted butter and continue to mix on low speed for about 1-2 minutes. Make sure to scrape down the sides to get all ingredients incorporated.
Increase the speed of the mixer to medium and knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes. The dough should become smooth and glossy.
Take a large bowl and add in 1 tsp. olive oil. Using your hands coat the oil on the bowl and add the dough ball to the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place at room temperature in an area without drafts, for about 1 hour.
To laminate the dough, turn the dough out onto a dry work surface. Form dough into an 8- by 6-inch rectangle. Using a spatula or butter knife spread the 2 tbsp. of softened butter evenly on the dough leaving about a ½ inch of un-buttered dough around the edges. Stating at the 6-inch side, roll the dough tightly into a cylinder shape, pinching the ends together. Place the seam side down and flatten the dough into 9- by 2-inch rectangular. Fold dough into thirds, folding up the bottom side and then folding the top side over. Pinch the seams to form a ball. Place the dough ball back in the oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Let set for 40-50 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Sauce:

This can be done while the dough is rising. Melt 1 tbsp. of butter to a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat. Add in onions, oregano, and salt. Stirring occasionally, cook onions until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add in garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. You should be able to smell garlic. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar and increase the the heat to about medium high. Bring the sauce to a simmer, lower heat to medium-low and keep at simmer for about 25 minutes. The sauce should thicken and reduce to about 1¼ cup. Take the sauce off heat and stir in basil and 1½ tsp. olive oil. Set aside.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Coat a 9-inch cake pan with 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Take dough out on to a dry clean work surface and roll into a 13- inch wide circle. Place the dough in the cake pan and lightly press into the corners and up the sides so that it just reaches the top edge of the pan.
Add the mozzarella cheese to the surface of the dough. Top with the tomato sauce and spread with a rubber spatula so it covers all of the cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and then add desired toppings.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until crust in golden brown. Let rest for at least 10 before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Source- adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Cook’s Illustrated

Deep Dish Pizza

sisterk (2)

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on January 4, 2012

Happy new year everyone! I just got home yesterday from our Christmas holiday trip to Hawaii. We spent 9 days in a cottage in Lahaina, Maui and 2 days in a hotel in Honolulu. Husband M and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon, but we never got a chance to make it to Maui. We decided Christmas would be a great time to make the trip there. It was such a fun, memorable vacation and I wanted to share a few of the recipes I made while we were there.

Our lanai had a great view of Lanai!

On the night we arrived, we were too tired from the trip to grocery shop and cook. Fortunately, I had rented some baby equipment from Akamai Mothers and utilized their grocery service to pick us up some milk, coffee, yogurt, and fresh fruit for the morning. When Baby T had a 4am jet-lagged wake-up call, it was a welcome sight! We also woke up to the beautiful view seen in the pictures above and below. Those mountains remind me of the tv show Lost!

The next day, we made a grocery list and planned a few nights of meals. In addition to the regular grocery store, we found a local market and a fish store to pick up some authentic Hawaiian food. At the fish store, we bought marlin, opah, shrimp, and walu (more on the walu in a bit!) Here is the recipe I used to cook up the first two fish:

Grilled Local Fish with Chili Garlic Compound Butter in Foil Packets with Scallion Rice

Ingredients:
-4 fish fillets (any type of white fish would be good, but I used marlin and opah)
-salt and pepper
-4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softenened
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-1 /2 tsp grated orange zest
-2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
-2 garlic gloves, minced
-2 tbsp diced green chilies (from a can)
-1 15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
-1/2 red onion, diced
-3 scallions chopped
-1 cup white rice
-2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:
Heat a grill to medium heat or preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine with a fork the butter, the chili powder, the orange zest, half of the garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.

In a medium bowl, combine the green chilies, the orange juice, the remaining garlic, the beans, onion, 2/3 of the scallions, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Mix well to combine.

Lay out 4 squares of foil and place a fish fillet on each square. Spread the butter mixture evenly over each fillet. Then, divide the bean mixture up and place on each fillet. Fold up the edges of the foil to seal the packet.

Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the package directions. Once done, stir in the remaining scallions and set aside.

Place the packets on the grill, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes. Or, you can bake the fish in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the fish is cooked thoroughly. (We had trouble with the grill that night so we ended up doing a combination of both and it still turned out great!) Open the packets and plate them. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve with the scallion rice.

Adapted from Annie’s Eats

——-

Right before I left, I happened to see Sunny Anderson make Hawaiian Pork n’ Greens on the Food Network. We decided that would make a great Hawaiian dinner for Christmas Eve. The only changes I made were that I omitted the white pepper and chicken broth, used pork chops instead of tenderloin, and grilled the pork (vs. cooking it in the oven.) Here’s a picture of the final result:

For our Christmas dinner, we grilled up shrimp, steak, and bread and served it with garlic herb compound butter. At the local market, we had picked up some really tasty homemade Asian salad dressing so we used that to make a side salad.

Now onto the walu…Husband M was trying to give us the true local experience and asked specifically for special local seafood at the fish store. They recommended the walu. I decided to cook it up in this great recipe for fish tacos by Aarti Sequeira (host of Aarti’s Party on the Food Network.) We decided to look up what a walu was right before we started cooking it up…we were definitely surprised by what we found! It’s also known as escolar, Hawaiian butterfish, and it’s known for causing…err, how do I say this…gastric symptoms within 30 minutes to 36 hours of consuming (thus also known as the ex-lax fish). We freaked out at first, but then read if you consume less than 6 ounces at a time and grill it, it would not cause any side effects. We did up going ahead and eating it, but I’m pretty sure it was on the back of our mind with every bite. Fortunately we did not experience any symptoms from eating it. It was quite a delicious fish, but be aware if you see it on a menu as I read that many restaurants serve it without informing their guests of the potential side effects.

At another organic grocery store, we found purple Maui sweet potatoes. I cut them up into fries and baked them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. It was a tasty treat!

I loved using all the local produce that is quite different than what is grown in New England:

I also loved being able to open an entire wall of glass to cook al fresco each evening!

We had a cocktail each evening for sunset and I made Bobby Flay’s version of the Mai Tai. Here is what the sunset looked like each night:

I also made smoothies each morning with a combination of Fage Greek yogurt, fresh Maui pineapple, papaya, a squeeze of lime juice, guava nectar, orange passion fruit juice, and ice. I really want to get into the habit of making smoothies for breakfast on a more regular basis, but I never seem to find the time!

It was great to have a Mele Kalikimaka in Hawaii and I would definitely recommend experiencing it yourself sometime!

-m

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on March 3, 2011

We just returned from our first vacation with Baby T! We went to Grand Cayman for the trip and it was much easier to travel with him that I thought it would be. I think he loved the warm air- he took great naps down there. T was excellent on the plane rides as well. American Airlines even gave him a certificate to mark his first flight and the captain announced it to the whole plane.

One day for lunch, we stopped at a restaurant known for their fish tacos…the Sunshine Grill. They were excellent! When we returned home, I’ve been craving to have them again. Over Christmas, I had seen the Food Network show Aarti Party and I was drooling over the fish tacos she was making. She also recommended pairing them with Allagash White beer, which is easy to find around here as it is from Portland, Maine. I made them last night and served it with the beer pairing- they were amazing. I definitely recommend trying out this fish taco recipe! (For a quick shortcut, I recommend just buying some coleslaw mix instead of chopping up a head of cabbage.)

-m

Posted by Meaghan Barry on March 2, 2010

This past weekend, my husband and I took a quick weekend getaway to Miami for my 30th birthday. My actual birthday is February 29th, making me a leap day baby. So technically, I was celebrating my 7 1/2th birthday. This is a terrible time of year for a birthday in my opinion because it is still in the dead of winter and everyone is beyond sick of the weather. My younger sisters all had summer birthdays, and therefore were able to have huge pool parties. Not I…always an indoor party for poor little me (my sisters are definitely going to be rolling their eyes as they read this!)

Before we went on a cruise 2 years ago, we stayed at the South Beach Marriott overnight before we embarked. We really enjoyed our stay there and have always thought about going back. My 30th/7.5 birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity. We were able to fly directly to Ft. Lauderdale after a series of mishaps with Jet Blue. Our plane getting into Boston was delayed an hour, the Jet Blue systems went down and they grounded all flights for an hour, and then a plane on the Ft. Lauderdale runway lost communications with air control and we had to suddenly avert our landing and circle again. Fortunately, our dinner reservations were for pretty late….it’s Miami!

On Friday night, we had dinner at Nobu, a famous sushi chain. It was really delicious food, but our meal got cut a bit short when our tables got cleared and we were given dessert menus (we had been planning on ordering a bit more sushi). Afterwards, we hit up the Sky Bar which was outdoors and was very nicely decorated. They also had gas lamps, which I parked under all night as it did get a bit cool.

The next morning, we grabbed brunch at a place right around the corner from our hotel called The Big Pink. We hit up the beach after and we were pretty much the only people for the 4 hours we hung out there. It was a bit windy and overcast, but we got occasional bursts of sun. It was really relaxing to just read, talk with my husband, and watch the water. One of my friends from college, who now lives about an hour from Miami, met us up in the afternoon and we grabbed drinks and apps at the hotel bar. It started to downpour while we were there and the whole crowd watched in dismay (ok, slight amusement) as the wedding decorations set up in the area adjacent to the outdoor bar all blew over and fell into the hotel’s water fountain!

For dinner that night, I had done some researching on OpenTable and Yelp and decided to try out Wish. The food was excellent and they had menus that actually lit up as you opened them. The back garden was closed due to the weather, but we were still able to eat outside. On Sunday morning, we woke up on the early side to sit out at the beach for an hour. We then got ready, checked out of our room, and hit up the Sunday brunch downstairs. Here is the view from the South Beach Marriott:

We then headed to the airport and we were back in Boston by 6. It was definitely a very fun birthday and one I will always remember!

-m