A little silly but a lot of fun!

Tori Spelling’s children’s clothing line Little Maven is running a model search. Simply tweet photos to @torianddean and include #torilittlemaven with child’s name and age.

Winners will be announced November 24th! Stay tuned…

In our family, the host or hostess changes (or rotates) every year. Customarily, the host prepares the turkey and main fixings, but extended family members each contribute one or two dishes.

One year, the biggest surprise was when my baby cousin T (ok, not so “baby” – he had just graduated college!) cooked an elaborate, multi-course gourmet Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, all the fixings, and three pies from scratch. Interestingly, T’s parents had him do a trial run of all the Thanksgivings dishes to avoid any disastrous last-minute holiday mishaps… which meant that one week ahead of schedule, their family of four had committed to eating to an entire Thanksgiving dinner prior to the actual holiday.

Well this year, dinner will be at my Aunt J’s house. She has been quite insistent that I bring a butternut squash lasagna that I had prepared last year as an afterthought. It’s called Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagna.

If you like butternut squash, this lasagna is simply divine. Divine!

Please note: the recipe can be time consuming and frustrating if you try to tackle the entire dish in one day. Instead, prepare the bechamel and squash filling a day or two ahead. The extra effort will be sooo worth it! Trust me.

In the past, I have tweaked the recipe a bit, and here are my changes:
1. I pre-roast diced butternut squash in the oven instead of on the stove top.
2. I add an extra layer of flavor with some roasted garlic that gets stirred into the bechamel sauce and the squash filling. Yum!
3. In place of the mozzarella-parmesan cheese combination in the recipe, I use a generous amount of pre-shredded Italian Three Cheese Blend from Trader Joe’s that consists of mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan cheese.
4. Don’t bother with peeling the skins from the hazelnuts. Too time consuming and unnecessary!
5. If pre-mixing the squash filling ahead of time, I would hold off adding the toasted hazelnuts until immediately before assembling. Last time, I was disappointed to find that the nuts had turned soggy while sitting in the mixture.

On the big day, leisurely assemble the layers in a baking dish (which takes a matter of minutes) and pop the lasagna in the oven to bake. Meanwhile, focus on the important things like playing peek-a-boo with the new baby in the family or enjoying that glass of wine.

This lasagna is elegant, sophisticated, and perfect for a special dinner. Last year, I was inundated (swamped!!) with recipe requests. Aunt J seems to be more excited about the lasagna than the turkey this year (hehe).

Move over turkey! I think you have some competition this year!

The U.S. Postal Service will be dropping its popular Santa Letter Writing Program this year. Started in 1954 in a small town called North Pole, Alaska, the program allowed generations of children to write to Santa and receive a handwritten reply from Santa with a North Pole postmark.

The program relied on the commitment of thousands of volunteers all over the country to answer each piece of mail. Last year, however, postal workers realized that a registered sex offender had volunteered for the program.

This year, the Postal Service imposed tighter restrictions that included blacking out children’s names and addresses. The extra measure was intended to prevent volunteers from having access to children’s personal information as an additional safeguard for families. Unfortunately, the changes have made the program inadvertently cost prohibitive and too cumbersome for most local postal offices. More information here.

What do you think about the Postal Service dropping the Santa Letter Writing Program? Is it time for Santa to go online, perhaps?

Kudos to the St. Vincent Medical staff for a memorable video. I’ll be sharing this video with friends and family; I hope you’ll do the same!

Fast forward to today… Onemorestory.com is a fabulous site that features an online library of classic and contemporary children’s book titles and brings the books directly to your computer screen. The site has won accolades from Parenting Magazine and has been named as one of the Top 10 Best Digital Resources by the School Library Journal.

The target reader is 2 to 9 years old. For kids who want story time, the site offers narrator mode where words light up as the voice over reads the story (musical accompaniment and sounds effects included). For kids who are learning to read, an “I Can Read” mode mutes the sound but offers assistance with sounding out the words when the child encounters difficulty.

A comprehensive list of books is available here, but additional books are being added to the library at a rate of one book a month. Popular, beloved titles include The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.

Take a sample tour here. So fun! Reminds me of an online version of the discontinued PBS show Reading Rainbow but more personalized.

A three month subscription costs $15 and a year subscription costs $44. Subscriptions can also be gifted. (What a great gift idea for the holidays!)

I have fond memories of the public library as a child, but with the changing times, it begs the question… What does the future hold for public libraries? How will digital distribution affect libraries as we know them today?

Well, click right on over to Paperspring. We launched a special offer today! Enter code “holidaycard” and receive 20% of all holiday card orders though 12/6/09. And don’t forget, ALL orders at Paperspring are eligible for free shipping.

If you need a few more reasons to consider Paperspring, take a look at some of our fabulous card designs:

Holiday Cheer: Berry

Holiday Portrait

Cool Yule: Tropical

Festival of Lights

Well, it looks like the clever folks at Wilton have come up with a way to extend the seasonally-themed holiday fun with more gingerbread houses. Check out this impressive Mini Village Kit.

In one kit, you get to make FIVE (5) little houses. Such a fun weekend afternoon activity for the family!

But can you imagine? Buy two kits, and you’ve got a little CITY of houses – or a little gingerbread suburban sprawl… Erm… Maybe I’ve been living in LA too long.

Over the next few weeks, as you start making your list and checking it twice, please make sure to stop by Paperspring to take a look at the best assortment of fresh and modern holiday cards. Make your holiday photo cards fun, festive, personal, and eco-friendly with Paperspring!

Here are a few example of some fun Paperspring holiday cards you’ll be eager to send out to family and friends:

Let It Snow2: Blue - Holiday Photo Card

Winter Celebration: Holiday Photo Card

Peppermint Band - Holiday Photo Card

Cocoa Wishes - Holiday Photo Card

From coin purses…

to $150K bling…

Hello Kitty has grown into a global sensation over the decades. Sanrio launched Hello Kitty in Japan 35 years ago, but Hello Kitty continues to be as popular and trendy as ever all over the world.

In Taiwan, apparently, expectant moms can check into a Hello Kitty hospital for a relaxing birthing experience.

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area this week, a café / shop / art space called Royal/T has a Hello Kitty exhibit that runs through Saturday, November 14th, 2009. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Come celebrate all things Hello Kitty and check out lots of eye popping, multi-dimensional displays.

Paris Hilton and Kimora Lee Simmons attended opening night at Royal/T several weeks ago, but the glamour and fun continues through the last day of the exhibit. On the evening of November 14th, check out the Hello Kitty fashion show.

For more information about the exbihit and events, contact:
Royal / T
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-6300