Everyone has their demons. Mine seems to be plastic. No, not credit cards. Although I’ve had my share of issues with those in my younger days. I mean the actual material, plastic. It seems to be a running theme through some of my daily struggles – physical and ethical. For example, JavaGirl and JavaBoy have [...]
{ 1 comment }
As a little girl, some of my favorite memories with my mother are of spending time with her in our big kitchen. We had a large center island with stools you could pull up to it and I would talk to her as she cooked, and sometimes she’d let me help out. I always felt so grown-up whenever she let me help.
{ 0 comments }
I have been enjoying both the fruits of the farm we belong to and the great loss-leaders some grocery stores have been running (4 pints of blueberries for $5 – yum!). Every time I run across a great deal, I find myself day-dreaming that I will somehow turn into Martha Stewart or Bree Hodge and whip up several festive dishes with these fruits — some jellies, pies, and whatever else you can do with them — but it never happens.
No, our dirty little secret is that we like our fruit just plain. Washed and raw. Sometimes the kids will eat it in plain non-fat organic yogurt. (I did not develop the same tastebuds they did, so I at least have to either have French Vanilla non-fat yogurt or sweeten the plain with Splenda.) But give them a bowl of fresh fruit and my kids are happy as larks, and I keep asking myself, isn’t this what parents are striving for? Should I mess with their love of a healthy snack by creating pies and such? Is it okay to be “boring” and just eat the fruit fresh and not do anything more creative than a fruit salad with it? This year I didn’t even make my dip for strawberries (see below) because I don’t need the extra calories and I figure there’s no need to get the kids started on bad habits.
{ 1 comment }
I have a LOT of basil.
I mean a LOT. My mother brought me a sprig of purple basil from my great-grandmother’s garden a few years ago and it has turned into a hedge of basil, I kid you not. It is a wonderful bounty, and I love to share it — I gave each child in my son’s preschool class a plant to start in their own gardens and I’m always offering it to passing neighbors, strangers, the A/C repair guy…
{ 13 comments }
The JavaKids love vegetables.
I don’t know how I ended up so lucky… whether it was following my sister’s advice to feed them green beans as their first baby food after rice cereal, some sort of divine intervention, or winning some sort of genetic lottery… but many times, given the choice between some sort of junk food or raw veggies, my kids will pick the veggies. I have to pre-wash all vegetables before storing them in the fridge because JavaGirl will break into sealed packages of mushrooms and start munching on them when I’m not looking. JavaBoy can clear out a crudites platter at any party.
{ 5 comments }
Good Stuff Eatery is the name of the restaurant Chef Spike Mendelsohn, of Bravo’s reality show Top Chef, launched in Washington DC last year, and it was the setting of the realization of my own good “stuff” — I have been invited to be a part of the DC Metro Moms Blog. (More on that in a minute…)
{ 13 comments }
Okay, I jest. I need a little levity these days. But have you SEEN them? It is just wrong, so wrong, I nearly had to shield my young children’s eyes when we saw them as we turned the corner.
{ 3 comments }
All rights reserved. No republishing without permission.
