Current Mood:
Happy
Clare with her pals Gwen & Finn from around the corner having some fun with the Slip & Slide.
Current Mood:
Esctatic
For those of you born in the late 70’s or in the 80’s (or those with kids born then) do you rember seeing on PBS Mark Kistler’s Imagination Station drawing lessons? I remember watching it with my brother’s - Larry in particular, as he liked to draw. Mark’s little mini shows taught you how to draw in 3-D using perspective, and shading, as well as some other things - all things I was not all too familiar with before going to his Art Camp with Clare. I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination - most of the time Clare tells me my drawings don’t look like their supposed to, but I always give it my best shot. I can however say though, that after attending Mark Kistler’s Art Camp with Clare, I think I now have some artistic skillz I didn’t even know existed!
Apparently Mark was on PBS with 65 episodes of his Imagination Station series, he also did a few other drawing series on TV, and he has also written some “How to Draw” books, as well as done some DVD’s. His philosophy is one of the best one’s I’ve read in a while it simply says: “learning how to draw in 3-D builds a child’s critical thinking skills while nourishing self-esteem. His positive messages on self-image, goal setting, dream questing, environmental awareness and the power of reading have inspired millions of children to discover their awesome individual potential.” Mark is also extremely high energy, and keeps kids (even adults) excited about drawing and being creative while teaching you how to do some pretty cool drawings. If you’d like to learn more about Mark please click on the link above, he also does what sound like some awesome school assemblies.
So, you might be wondering why I’m blogging about a summer art camp I did with Clare…why it was so special and blogworthy…was I PBS star struck, kinda, but it was even cooler than that! Earlier this Spring a flier came home from Clare’s school about Mark Kistler’s Summer Art Camp, I looked at it, and suddenly it hit me who he was. I was super excited because I remembered him from my younger years. What was even cooler, was that they were taping this art camp to be aired on PBS later this year (with any luck). Mark and his team paired up with Farris State University to tape all 5 sessions of his art camp for the entire week he were here, and every student and parent was to be a part of his live in-studio audience! Parents were required to stay for the younger 5-7 year old session, but after staying this year I think I might stay every year I sign Clare up. At least until she kicks me out due to embarassment. It was that much fun, and they encourage you to participate with your kids! Which might I say is key in having a good relationship with your children, because too many parents are dropping their kids off at school or summer camp and not taking a part in their kid’s life because they want to be rid of them. Granted, some days I find myself in this rut, but most days I’m right there along side Clare…having just as much fun as she is. I’ll step off my soap box now.
Now, Clare & I are not early risers, but we had to be the week we had art camp. If you were not there on time, you couldn’t get into the class because they were recording it. I told Clare it’s practice for school! Each session was an hour long, and if your kids were older they could do more than one session, but for Clare 1 hour was about all she could take. Being in TV land for an almost 6 year old is boring, (well other than the fact that she knew she’d see herself on TV eventually) how many times do we need to rehearse the opening to this afterall? She didn’t understand “cut”, “edit that”, or why we couldn’t leave until they were done shooting what they wanted - no matter how over our time limit we were. I thought it was kinda cool, but then again, I know what’s going on. Art camp isn’t normally like this, according to one of the mom helpers, it’s just this summer was special because of the video taping. The price wasn’t too bad either, at $89 for the week (they also give you discounts for adding classes, and offer scholarships for families in need). Many of you are gasping, I heard you. The nice thing is, Mark, his team, the video crew, and everyone helping out with this was doing this for free. That’s right free. They are donating the shows to PBS, and then all of the money raised through the fee’s to come to the camp, buying a T-shirt (gotta have that), and any donations they recieve go towards them getting the distribution rights to put this on televisions accross the world. I think that’s a pretty sweet deal.
Now, if your still reading this…I applaud you! I tend to ramble, especially when talking about something as monumentous as this. Come on, we’re going to be on PBS! If you click the continue link there are some pictures I took of Clare’s and of my own artwork. Clare has become more inspired since going to Art Camp, and is drawing things she wasn’t before - like marshmallows. We drew a few fun marshmallow pics, and since then she’s been in a marshmallow mood. Now we aren’t Picasso or anything, but I think these represent our best works. Enjoy the art!
I’ve eaten a lot of food in my life, and visited more different places than I’d even venture to guess. Any of you who know me, know that I have the girth to prove it. Some places have been downright bad, some have been acceptable for the purposes of sustenance, and others have delightfully surpassed my expectations. Chez Bayou, in Eastown, falls into this latter category.
Search around and you can read more on the atmosphere and decor. I’m generally not one to be taken by a pretty face, so I’ll allow those more eloquent to talk about how downright freakin’ cool this place is. I thought the pricing was very competitive with the “big chains” and I always get giddy about spending my money with a local small business (especially something unique and excellent) rather than have my money flow to parts unknown. That’s another blog though. For now, let’s focus on the gastronomy of the joint.
We started with peeled and deep-friend crawdad tails served with a spicy aioli. The dipping sauce is definitely one of the shining gems of Chez Bayou. It is simply wonderful. The crawdads were fresh and left no lingering “muddy” taste. Definitely cleaned well and prepared very very well. The breading is a little lighter (but still has a good flavor) and holds onto more oil than I remember having at other places. This was ok by me, but some people like a little heavier batter.
Char had an odd, but wonderfully tasty creole/Italian fusion pasta dish that had a spicy alfredo-like sauce mixed up with crab and nice little tender scallops. It was served with a group of small corn and jalapeño muffins. There was not too much sauce. The pasta was cooked correctly (firm side of al dente). The sauce was wonderfully zingy and flavorful and the crab portion was generous. The muffins were absolutely wonderful, especially dipped in the sauce.
I had a classic catfish po’ boy, served with the usual acoutriments and that wonderful aioli again. The catfish was lightly breaded and tasty, though I think it was factory-farmed and not wild-caught, which I prefer. I know that factory-farmed has a more mild taste that many prefer, but for me, the wild-caught is still the best. I think if it were blackened instead of fried, it might not have mattered to me as much. Aside from this, which I consider a minor issue, the sandwich was excellent, served on a good solid roll and with seasoned fries. The waiter was kind enough to bring me a cup of the splendid aioli to dip them in, which was top-notch.
As for drinks, Char had a well crafted and generous grape martini and I had a pint of Fuller’s ESB. The beer selection, while small, has some good choices for the discerining hops snob. The bar staff knows their craft and it shows.
For dessert… ahh… yes… THE dessert, we shared a slice of what can only be described as nutty warm heaven-on-a-plate, if there is such a place. Chez Bayou, in this little corner of Grand Rapids, MI quite simply has one of the absolute best, if not THE best, pecan pie known to man. It is a traditionally made pie (not the gelatinous off-tan-colored crap you’re used to) that is served warm with fresh whipped cream. It was so good, in fact, that as I sit writing this several days later, the taste of it has come rushing back to my tastebuds. Basically, I can’t rave about it enough. A trip to Chez Bayou for the pie alone is not a trip wasted.
So if I were backed into a corner and forced to give a “star” rating, I’d settle on a solid 4 stars out of 5. On effort and service alone, they score near the top of the class. Try them out if you’re in our neck of the woods.
Current Mood: Esctatic
Last Sunday we treked to my parent’s house just outside of Port Huron to celebrate our cute little neice’s 1st birthday. She had quite a turn out to help her celebrate, and it was fun to see yet another little one turn the big 1. We can’t wait to see how you’ll grow, especially now that you’re walking! Here’s Grandma with her 2 girls: Clare & Olivia.
And here’s the big Birthday Girl!
Current Mood:
Bored
This week has been one of the most boring weeks I can recall in a while. I really shouldn’t complain, but in the end I think I may have actually learned something about my life. I think I might actually like my daughter driving me crazy. For the past week Clare has been visiting my parents, as they didn’t get her earlier while we were on our trip (which is usually how it goes). I had a list to work on while she has been gone, have I done anything from the list….not really. I’ve spent most of my days cruising the internet, working on my Pure Romance business, and doing much of nothing because I’ve gotten side tracked a number of times. The first part of last week was heaven, I got to sleep in until I wanted to get up, I could stay on the computer for as long as I wanted, and I didn’t have anyone to bother me while I was sucked into small projects. Now, I really have little motivation to work on anything, and I found myself uttering those aweful words this afternoon “I’m bored.” Ya see, with a rambunctious almost 6 year old around I’m driven to do things I normally wouldn’t do - like go outside and throw the frisbee around, or go for a bike ride to the park, or spend some quality time cuddling on the couch watching a girly movie like “Charlotte’s Web”. I know I usually complain about having the “Mom” title sometimes, but seeing as how this summer I’ve had about 24 days without a kid in tow I’m kinda missing it. I’m kinda missing hanging out at the park, the library, or even swim lessons getting to do all the fun things that summer time brings. I can’t wait for her return on Wednesday, it’ll be nice to hear her giggles around the house again. In short I’ve learned that I shouldn’t take the little annoyances in life for granted, for some day I’ll miss them. Especially when she’s all grown up, and wants nothing to do with us because we’re icky grown-ups that aren’t hip.
Current Mood: Bored
So, some of you may have thought I’ve fallen completely off the face of the planet, when in fact - I haven’t. I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with life and uninspired in my bloggings. I’ve been reading all of your great blogs while I’ve been on hiatus, so never fear I’m well caught up on your blogginess. I’ve actually been around the internet quite a lot, and putting most of my communications into other forms of social networking. I have just about all of the accounts a social networker uses…I’m on MySpace, I’m on Facebook, and as of late I’m on Twitter. I love Twitter, and it’s a great way to send out short micro-blogs about what I’m up to. If you’re on any of these formats feel free to look me up and add me as a friend.
Let’s see, school finished in a whirlwind the first week in June. I helped out with end of the year projects, field trips, and helped out whenever I could. Clare has officially finished Kindergarten, and will be entering the 1st grade in September. I swore I wouldn’t, but I did - I cried during the last day’s little class assembly where all the kids got awards, and we watched a little photo slide show. Now my baby is going to be in school all day, and we had the joy of shopping for her lunch sack & what not last week. Hannah Montana was the theme for everything she picked out.
A week after school got out Brad & I headed out for our road trip to CO. It was a welcomed break from life, and we had a great time. If you read Brad’s postings you’d know that already. Clare stayed with Brad’s parent’s while we were gone, and she had a blast doing all the fun things they did. While we were out in CO we did some shopping, went to Boulder, visited the Redstone Meadery, had a great afternoon walk in the Garden of the Gods, went to a Renisance Festival, and did more shopping. The trip out was a little crazy, as we had to take the South route through Missouri & Kansas to get to CO due to the flooding in Iowa, and we did it in 23 hours. On the way home we were able to take our normal Nebraska/Iowa route home which was nice. We were gone for almost 2 weeks, so it was a great break.
Next thing I knew we were celebrating the 4th of July, which we did with our friend Gabby and her kiddo’s Gwen & Finn by doing some fireworks at the end of our driveway and lots of sparklers. We let the kids stay up until about 2am….kinda having a sleep over in the living room while us adults chatted & imbibed in some drinks on the porch. The following week Clare & I did an extremely cool summer art camp. I am going to write a seperate blog on that - it was THAT cool.
Currently Clare is in the middle of spending a week & a half at my parent’s house. My parents didn’t get their time in while we were on vacation, and they wanted to get some summer fun in with her - so who am I to pass up 11 days without my kiddo! That’s the update from me. Blogging wasn’t so bad, I figured it’d be like riding a bicycle and once I get back on it it’ll be smooth riding again.
In case you can’t read it, it says “Slasher Sale BERGER $88″. Do you know what it means ’cause I don’t have a freakin’ clue. Berger is a local car lot, so I suspect that it has something to do with cars, but who the hell knows? A good length of 28th St was lined with these signs which did nothing to tell me the message they were trying to convey.
I appreciate that local businesses are trying to drum up business, but there are two issues with this. The first is that 28th St is already commercial enough. We don’t need 5000 identical signs that mean NOTHING junking the place up. The second issue is that these people couldn’t be bothered enough to make a sign that made sense. As a result, I can’t say that I can be bothered to ever shop with these people (to be fair they are a GM lot and buying a GM car in my mind would equate to buying a timeshare in the swamps).
BAD advertising!
This is the recipe for what we were drinking last night. The neat thing is that unlike some of the other things that I make, this was quite quick and easy (three ingredients). We both liked them a lot.
3 parts Smirnoff White Grape
2 parts Shakka Grape liqueur
2 maraschino cherries
Measure the booze into your nearest shaker, top it, and shake away. Use your favorite straining method to transfer to a martini vessel. Load the cherries and if you like, use a fork to drizzle some of the juice from the cherry jar into the drink. It makes for an occasionally different taste that is wonderful.
So that’s it. Easy cheezy. Impress you friends. Wow your neighbors. Get really really drunk on something that tastes like it has almost no alcohol in it and have the most wonderful of regrets the next day. It’s fun and entertaining for all.
After 15 days, the first batch of lemony goodness has taken on what can only be described as a harsh “whoa” smell. I hope that aging and sugar mellow this out. It’s definitely lemon, but I have a feeling that this stuff is going to end up in the swill category and buried in mixed drinks.
The second batch, put in on the 4th, is doing much better. The first batch was peeled, remember, and the second batch I used a bar zester to only remove the outer-most skin. The second batch is decidely more lemony, but is getting cloudier by the day. I’m not terribly worried about this though because I’m really looking for taste over presentation with this one.
I’m going to start a third batch this week, this time adding the zest of a lime and using the microplane grater I picked up at the Linens and Things fire sale. Wish me luck.
Current Mood: Happy
Over the holiday weekend, we did our usual “big breakfast” as Clare likes to call it. Since I cook a lot of Southwest-style food (I love spicy food full of tomatoes and peppers), and since Char sometimes complains that I cook that style too much, I decided to throw a loop and do something in a more continental style.
Char recently gifted me with the Pampered Chef flat whisk, which in my opinion is the absolute best tool south of the blender for making scrambled eggs. I made a ton of food. Adjust as needed for your army.
Scrambled Eggs With Asparagus
8 whole eggs
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp ground pepper
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Monterrey Jack cheese
1/4 cup Feta or crumbly goat cheese
8-10 Asparagus spears, chopped into bite-size pieces
Scramble everything but the Aparagus and reserve half the Feta or goat cheese. Melt 1-2 Tbsp butter over medium-hot heat. Add mixture, then add Asparagus. Cook 5-8 minutes, turning over gently. Once eggs lose most of their “wet” sheen, remove from heat or reduce heat to lowest setting and allow internal heat to finish cooking.
Add additional feta/goat cheese over the top when serving.
French-ish Potatoes
5-8 potatoes, cleaned and cubed evenly (do not peel)
1/2 of a large sweet onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic (or ~4 garlic cloves)
2 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Salt (or to taste)
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Over medium-high heat, sweat the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes in the olive oil. Add the potatoes and stir to coat. Add herbs and salt and stir again. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat and time for crispier potatoes.
We also served this feast with country-style veggie sausage links and whole wheat toast.
