Peter’s Newest Cook with Peter Video: Ginormous Meatball
Our little guy’s new “Cook with Peter” video.
I’m thrilled to announce that as of today, DailyLit is joining forces with Plympton. It’s an exciting time for me, as founder of DailyLit, to see that DailyLit has a wonderful new future with Plympton. With DailyLit having sent over 50 million book installments and having worked with the finest publishers, literary agents and authors, I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished.
As I move on to my new venture, Ziggeo, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for DailyLit. I’m confident that co-founders Jennifer 8. Lee and Yael Goldstein Love will continue in the tradition of bringing to DailyLit’s readers the best books and series through cutting edge technology. You can read more about DailyLit on DailyLit’s blog here and Plympton’s blog here.
My son, Chef Peter’s new “Cook with Peter” video on making French Toast.
This past weekend we followed a tradition we’ve had for the last couple of years. We drove out to Westchester to take our Golden Doodle, Dori, to see her twin brother Tucker. It was their 2nd birthday.
Just by chance, we met Tucker when they were puppies in a dog park. When we saw how similar the dogs looked and compared birthdays, notes etc., we realized they were twins.
It’s the sweetest thing watching the two play with each other. They spent their time being rough and tumble with each other and having a blast. Who knows if they realize they’re related. It actually doesn’t matter. It’s a lovely tradition, and one I imagine we’ll keep up for years to come.
Nice discovering another branch of the family.
Did you ever feel you’ve been transplanted into the wrong family? I found myself thinking that on a recent trip to Costa Rica with Albert and the kids as I:
-scuba-dove In Playa Hermosa, 50 feet under with sharks (more on that here).
-zip-lined on a 17 station zipline above the Monte Verde cloud forest that culminated in a 1000 meter non-stop line (the thickness of which didn’t exactly inspire confidence).
-secured by a rope, hurled myself off an enormous tree to chants of my kids yelling: “you have to do it,” “you can’t be a chicken!”
-held on for dear life in an inner tube that shot through river rapids.
-clung to a horse (on what promised to be a nice calm ride) who spontaneously decided to gallop to keep up with a nearby cowboy.
-surfed (or rather attempted to surf) in Tamarindo, being clobbered one too many times by the enormous waves crashing on top of you.
It wasn’t exactly the relaxing vacation I’d imagined. But the kids had a blast, I conquered certain fears and came home with only a few bruises left to heal.
I read some great books over the break so before I lose track of them, I thought I’d share them here:
Just Kids by Patti Smith: Finally finished it. Makes me really appreciate my new Chelsea neighborhood and morn the loss of the Chelsea Hotel and all the great writers and artists who’ve been lost over the recent years.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: it’s a great mystery read — make sure to read at least half of it, and you’ll start to see the world turned upside down.
Summer Lies: Stories by Bernhard Schlink — thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. First book of his since The Reader I’ve read (which, if you haven’t read it, is a terrific book).
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain: Really fun romp through Hemingway’s time in Paris with Gertrude Stein told from the point of view of his first wife. Great fun.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling: picked it up at the airport - a quick, light read - perfect for the airplane.
Started reading The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe — enjoying it so far, but my mom who came to dinner this past week swiped it so looks as though I’ll have to wait to finish it (luckily, she’s a fast reader).
I’ve replaced it with The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin. I’m a big fan of Seth. More on that in a later post.
My 13 year old daughter and I have a new-found tradition. For the past few months, we’ve been splurging on getting joint mani-pedis (that is, manicures and pedicures) Each month we scheme on which nutty toe-nail color to choose. Now I should mention that before this, I never — I mean, NEVER — got any colored nail polish. A light pink was the craziest I’d gone. And now, with this tradition, my toes have been shocked with an orange coral kick-off; a bright red for Christmas; and now florescent olive for my new website launch (green means go!) We scheme on which colors to try and take turns being the final decision-maker.
After each pedicure, we take (as my daughter puts it) the “walk of shame” when we quickly tippy-toe back to our house in the freezing cold with our toes exposed in flip-flops.
It may not seem earth-shattering, but it gives us much needed time to hang out, be silly, and share a secret indulgence (secret, that is, up until now).
I’m thrilled to be launching Ziggeo today in open Beta. It’s taken months of work and years of thought and finally, now, anyone who goes to Ziggeo.com can easily set up a private, virtual screening room.
What’s Ziggeo? It’s a service that saves you from hours of painful meetings by letting you pre-screen folks before you meet. Candidates record short videos of themselves answering any questions you like. You can check out the videos in private, on your own time, before you agree to meet.
How is Ziggeo useful? In Ziggeo’s blog, I’ve been highlighting different use cases, including screening job candidates, screening roommates, and screening dates. But there are dozens more use cases I can imagine, including for every listing on Craigslist.
Here’s more about Ziggeo: why I created it, how Ziggeo works, and some videos explaining the service and a few use cases.
I found myself this past Christmas off Costa Rica, diving 50 feet under with our 3 kids, swimming about 6 feet from sharks.
It’s not exactly what I had in mind as we all embarked to get scuba-certified. 10 feet under, maybe. And definitely not with sharks.
But there we were — Albert, me, and our 3 kids (ages 10, 12 and 12). We all crammed as we took the (PADI) on-line course, did the required pool dive once we reached Costa Rica, and headed out on a boat a day later for our first of the required four dives.
What struck me most was how we all bonded. It’s amazing what sheer terror (on my part, at least) can do for a family. The kids were cheering me on to face my fears, and we became Team Wenger.
Thrilled and proud that we all managed to get scuba certified, we made up a Costa Rican-themed song to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas that had a middle stanza we all proudly shouted through the rest of our trip: Fiiiiiive Certifiiiiiiied Diiveeeeers!!
