Happy GIS Day!

OK, really it's tomorrow. But I'm celebrating today! I got to do a presentation at my daughter's kindergarten class. What a hoot. Seeing their eager little faces was definitely the highlight of my day. Thanks to ESRI's easy-to-download and follow instructions, I put together a killer talk about "What is Geography" and they learned the words "classify," "atlas" and "cartography." Fortunately, they'd been working on sorting for math, so that tied in very nicely. Then each child made a map hat, where they had to classify different items into where that item was found. Then the strips were stapled together to make a funky little hat. The kids loved them.

Gracie with her map hat. She also wanted to talk about an actual map, which she did - very quietly.

And of course, you can't have 24 five-year-olds without some surprising moments. From reading with my daughter, I'm used to working through letter-recognition and then sounding out different parts of a word. So I used the same techniques with the class:

Me: "OK, what letter is this?"

Class: "A!"

Me: "And this?"
Class: "T! L! A! S!"

Me: "Great! Let's sound it out together. Aaaatttttlaasss..."

And from the back of the room: "Atlas of the World!"

So there is a wide range of learners in her class.

Food Binge

Wow - two great food-related shows on PBS last night. First up, we watched "Food" on KPBS, which they've been hyping advertising for weeks. I was excited that a show about how our food is grown, produced, and then delivered to us would be accessible to so many. As someone who's watched "Supersize Me," "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," "The Future of Food," and most recently, "Food Inc."; I feel like I'm pretty informed about CAFOs, fish farms, and CSAs. So, really, there wasn't a lot of new material in "Food" for me. BUT! I did get my first visual of what a fish farm looks like. Wow. Ginormous. And freaky. It's like a big tent in the ocean, filled with fish.

Also, I was excited to see that a local chicken farmer was interviewed for the show and talk about his organic, free-range chickens that sell for about $20/bird. Right now, I'm buying Rosie's organic, free-range chickens from Henry's for about $13/bird. At first, this was a bit of a shocker. But with the way I'm cooking now, I get two, sometimes three, meat meals out of one bird, plus about four quarts of stock, which allows me to make two big batches of soup. So really, it's not too bad. Now, the big question: am I ready to pay an additional $7 for a local, organic, free-range chicken?

As we were getting ready for bed, we saw that "King Corn" was coming on. It's about two friends from Boston who move to Iowa to grow a single acre of corn, in order to see what happens to their crop in the industrial food system. Filled with stop-action filming and hysterical antics like trying to brew their own batch of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), it was quite entertaining - and informative! I'd been wanting to see this for a while, and so we were up for another two hours. So it was a late night for us...

Did you happen to watch last night? If "Food" whetted your appetite on finding more about our food system, here's a list of some movies that you might enjoy. I give it double props for listing some uplifting movies. Stories that have, if not a happy ending, at least a hopeful ending. 'Cause even though the whole thing can be a downer, I'm an optimist at heart. I look forward to checking them out.

Butternut Squash Frozen Yogurt

I am a recipe follower. I am not an innovator. I don't create new recipes, mostly because I feel like I'm still learning to cook and don't yet have the confidence to go out on my own. Normally, I'm not afraid to try new things and fail, because I don't feel like there's a lot to lose. New haircut? Why not! It'll grow back!

But I'll often try new recipes when company is coming over, just because I like to experiment. My thinking is, "Hey, it made it into this book. Somebody had to have tried it and liked it!" Note that this has not always been the case, apparently (I'm talking to you, Joy of Cooking).

But what if I try to make something up on my own and fail? The result is a bunch of wasted food, and I hate that idea.

We were at Fiji Yogurt for a school fundraiser last week, and I tried some Pumpkin Yogurt. I thought it was quite tasty (along with the other three flavors that made their way into my bowl), but didn't give it another thought. Until I noticed that I still had some Squash Puree, in my unending effort to get the kids to eat more veggies. It's so creamy and flavorful; I could have sworn they'd eaten this before. But instead, I'd been taking it for lunches this week, and was, sigh, kind of tired of it. I wondered aloud yesterday morning to my husband if I could make Butternut Squash Frozen Yogurt. He didn't say No, but I could feel it hanging in the air: "Pumpkin yogurt? Bleh..."

So yesterday afternoon, when my friend and I were emailing about that night's dinner menu for our weekly Family Night get together, I offered to bring Gingerbread for desert. It was on the Weekly Menu, so I had all the ingredients. Yay for no last-minute rushed trip to Trader Joe's for a packaged desert! She responded with a request for vanilla ice cream or whipped cream - which got me to thinking (again) about Butternut Squash Frozen Yogurt.

I quickly Googled "pumpkin yogurt" and "how to make frozen yogurt." My biggest issue: no ice cream maker. But apparently, if you use a hand mixer at 30 - 45 minute intervals, it'll be just as creamy.

I had made the puree with sweet spices, rather than savory, my usual choice, in an effort to entice the kids. So it was all prepped and ready to mix with my handmade yogurt. For the yogurt, most links recommended using Greek-style yogurt, which is thicker and results in a creamier frozen yogurt. I strain a lot of the whey out of my yogurt, which gives it the same consistency.

Since we didn't have enough time for it to freeze all the way, it was more of a custard consistency, which was quite nice over the Gingerbread. Overnight, it had a chance to freeze nicely, and the result was delicious. Even the kids liked it!

Butternut Squash Frozen Yogurt

2 c. whole milk yogurt, Greek style
2 c. roasted butternut squash puree (spiced with cinnamon, allspice)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vodka or Bourbon vanilla

1. In a glass bowl with a lid, mix all ingredients with a rubber spatula.
2. Cover and place in freezer.
3. In 30 - 40 minutes, take out and mix with a hand mixer. Put back in freezer.
4. Repeat Step 3 every 45 minutes, until you have the consistency and hardness you want. You'll probably need about 3 - 4 hours.

Those tricky advertisers

This morning, as I was walking my 5-year-old daughter to school, she was busy trying to earn a point by being good to the Earth, i.e. picking up trash. Oh, and listening to her Winnie the Pooh music player. And fiddling with her belt - on her shorts - with no belt loops (can you spot the problem here?). And trying to walk the dog. Finally, she relinquished the leash to me, so she could focus on her other three tasks.

We've been working on some behavior modification, using a point system. If she yells, is disrespectful, doesn't listen, or behaves inappropriately, she can lose a privilege. These can include no playing with friends, no TV, taking a nap on the weekend, or going to bed early. She can choose the privilege lost, and then puts it on the wall.

The Wall of Shame, as we've been calling it
(not when she can hear). This can get sadly full...

This, admittedly, complex system allows all of us to keep track of what's going on, and gives us some consistency, something we were sorely lacking. In addition, she can earn privileges back or earn points toward a Special Privilege. She can do this by being a Super Helper, getting ready for school without a fuss, being a Cleaner, getting ready for bed without a fuss, earning a card for good behavior at school - or helping the Earth. Right now, her board is clean (no privileges taken away - Yay!), and she's working toward the Special Privilege of "Going to a movie with Mama and Daddy." She's got three points and needs two more.

But this wall can hold so much promise...

In case you were wondering what a "Pajama Walk" looked like.
Not pictured: me or Ross - for good reason.

So she decided to help the Earth on the way to school and look for trash to pick up. What with Halloween and all, we have a few more candy wrappers floating around our neighborhood than normal, and she spotted one. I could see her eying it wistfully. If only there was candy in the wrapper... I somehow restrained my automatic admonition that "We don't eat food off the ground." Because I'm easygoing like that. Ha!

After looking at it for a minute, she declared it "Healthy." Somewhat aghast, since I saw that it was a pack of Lemonheads, I asked why she thought that. "Because it has apples, oranges, and lemons in it! Which are all healthy!" she replied, sunnily. So I explained to her that those are only chemical flavors that taste like that. It killed me to see her little innocent face fall, confused. "But that sounds like they're trying to be tricky."

Which was not the word I was expecting her to use. I expected her to use the word Lying. Because my husband and I are always being accused of Lying, with a Capital L. If she gets engrossed in a TV show, when we'd promised her she could watch a movie, but then there was no more time before bed? "You're a Liar!" I feel like I'm in a joint session of Congress, trapped with a vociferous Joe Wilson.

But apparently, advertising agencies get a reprieve, and are only called tricky. "Why are they trying to be tricky?" A perfect question from a 5-year-old. Why, oh why, would someone try to be tricky? So I launch into an explanation of the inner workings of capitalism and a free market economy. Just joking! There's no way I could explain that. Instead, I just say that they want her to spend her money on something they created, even if it's not good for her.

And mercifully, we were at school. End of conversation. I would have hated to have to explain to her that big companies don't really care about a 5-year-old little girl or her health. Even thinking about it makes me want to cry. That would be a real downer before school started.

But I know that this is just the beginning of a long discussion.

How do you talk to your kids about making healthy choices?

A Green Halloween

I wrote earlier about how ecstatic I was to be able to buy a used costume for Drake as part of my Buy Nothing (New) Month for October. That left me with two costumes to make: a Nature Fairy (Gracie) and a black widow spider (me).

Since I could only purchase used items, I went to a thrift store and bought a green dress, a piece of brown felt, a small wreath of twigs, a black shirt, and several pairs of black pantyhose. I used the felt to make a loose poncho and sewed several leaves onto it. I also sewed leaves onto the fairy wings, which she already had. I used the wreath to make a crown and attached pine cones and sycamore gumballs. Unfortunately, the crown was deemed too "poky" and wasn't worn for trick-or-treating. I have to say: out of all the costume choices, Nature Fairy was probably one of the most conducive to a Buy Nothing (New) month.

Robin and the Nature Fairy ready for a night of
trick-or-treating. My little cherubs...

On the day of Halloween, our friends came over with their daughter and we all worked on the remaining Halloween costumes, while a nice big pot of chili simmered on the stove all day. The kids' costumes were done; we just needed to work on the adults' costumes. For my spider costume, I cut the waist part off the pantyhose and stuffed them, to make legs (I already had the stuffing). The legs were then tied together with black yarn, which I already had. I sewed the top of the waist together to make a little beanie hat and glued squiggly eyes onto it. And then I sewed a red piece of foam onto the shirt for the identifying mark of a black widow. (Disclaimer: My friend provided the squiggly eyes and red foam. So even though I didn't buy it, it was still "bought," and I therefore count it against my "Buy Nothing (New) Month.")

Two creepy-crawly *poisonous* spiders. Bleh.
I did like all my extra arms though!

Meanwhile, the guys were working on their
costumes: Abe Drinkin' and John Wilkes
Vermouth. We crack ourselves up...

Even our dachshund got into the spirit with a
costume that we had from previous years. The
funniest part, aside from the devil eyes (the one
time I actually appreciate the red eyes!), was that
he was *rooted* to the spot after we put this
costume on him! It was as if we'd draped a lead
curtain over him!