barking at Kathy

Banned Books Week

2011-09-28T04:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, it's Banned Books Week. I love Banned Books Week.

There's fun stuff on the website, as always...like the list of frequently challenged books, and the list of banned classics, as well as the list of most frequently challenged authors of color, and the
Virtual Read-Out.

On my personal bookshelves, I have a lot of challenged/banned books to choose from, but I think it's time to read Brave New World (again).

The Purple Hotel

2011-09-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

It's finally coming down, or so I read in my local newspaper.

I think I'll feel sad about that when it happens, even though nowadays the building is just an eyesore for the village of Lincolnwood. Still, it's big and purple. What could possibly take it's place?

It makes me think of the Magikist Lips that once stood over the Kennedy Expressway at the Montrose Exit. That familiar landmark was replaced with a big, boring storage facility.

How to Change the Color of Your Walls (Painlessly)

2011-09-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

In the summertime, I don’t mind the colors on our living room and dining room walls. But during the long, gray days of a Chicago winter, those same colors start to look too dark to me. I’ve been thinking about repainting…

…and then a bloggy friend of mine decided to host a paint event! We all met up at a Benjamin Moore store, where we listened to a professional presentation about using color, were encouraged to touch the finish on the store walls (really), and snacked on sausage and cheese trays.

Afterward, we journeyed to Kim’s new house for prizes and dessert and to help her select paint colors for the interior walls. The Benjamin Moore designer advising Kim had previously chosen some color palettes for each room, and the swatches were hanging on the wall. I voted for the light colors in every instance, but in truth I don’t think she can go wrong. The Benjamin Moore rep is leading her down the right path, and that’s reassuring to me. Her home will be a beautiful thing, no matter what colors she selects.

Not only did I learn that 1) there is such a thing as paint technology, 2) that painting a ceiling dark makes it appear higher, or 3) that you should pick the paint color before the bedspread/furniture/rug if you can, but I learned that hiring a professional is a great idea. I’m happy Kim hired one, and I’m happy she shared with the blogosphere what I can only believe is a very positive experience.

Please help Kim decide on her paint colors by voting here.

My Simple Plan to Save the Post Office

2011-09-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have a drawer for storing stationery. It's filled will different styles of thank-you notes, leftover invitations, greeting cards, random post cards, note paper, and envelopes. At my current rate of thank-you note writing, I don't believe I will ever work my way through this supply. Sound familiar?

I'm sure this is a common scenario in many American households. And if so, then I know how to save the United States Post Office! All we have to is send some of this stuff through the mail now (not later). For example:

- In the last four days, I've attended three lovely parties. Instead of informally thanking my hostesses via email, I can write three formal thank you notes AND SEND THEM THROUGH THE MAIL.

- I was thinking of inviting some friends over for drinks. Now I have a good (and fun) reason to dig out a pretty invitations AND SEND THEM THROUGH THE MAIL.

- My daughters want to invite a group of friends over for some themed event, so instead of doing the Facebook thing, they can be creative/go the extra mile by designing an invitation AND SENDING IT THROUGH THE MAIL.

It's so simple. Everyone likes to receive a note or a card in the mail, right? Yet I can't save the Post Office all by myself. Please help me by sending someone a note, or sending a thank you to a special person for nothing in particular, or by sending out an invitation to...anything!

End of Summer Reading, Part 2

2011-09-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

I'm curious to see which teachers are returning to CPS this school year. I know of one who won't be. An amazing high school librarian friend of mine decided to retire a little early and build her dream home. When I saw her last week, she had begun cleaning out books she no longer needed. And, as is her way, she handed me a pile of books for my daughters to read.

And so, in this last week before school, our 15-year-olds got a heavy dose of dysfunctional YA literature, 1500+ pages of the stuff. They sat on the couch together and read Ellen Hopkins' Crank, Burned, and Impulse back to back, nonstop, handing off the books to each other.

"Wow, now I'm depressed," said my daughter, when she finally came up for air. "No wonder so many teens love Disney movies and My Little Pony."

End of Summer Reading, Part 1

2011-09-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

Chicago Public Libraries reduced the hours of operation for most branches a while back, and that's a big inconvenience for me, a heavy library user. Sometimes, the only day I can get in there to pick up a hold (or pay a fine) is on a Saturday. And if I'm busy on Saturday...then my whole reading life gets out of whack. I can't let that happen!

Case in point, I had a book on hold--Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth--and by the time I could get to the library, the book was returned to the branch that sent it. Bother. The clerk suggested I put it on hold again.

And I was just about to, but I realized I wasn't too excited about reading that one. Instead, I put some books on hold that my old buddies were reading and enjoying and talking about during our reunion weekend.

I'll save Hot for a rainy day....

How Not to Buy a Rug

2011-08-29T03:32:00.000-07:00

After dim sum in Chinatown and before dropping my friends off at O'Hare, we all hit the shops on Armitage Ave. We stimulated Chicago's economy a bit more...at Lori's, the Paper Source, and a beautiful shop that was new to me, the Green Goddess Boutique ("sustainable chic"). I saw a gorgeous rug there that would be just right for our little Chicago bungalow. I loved it so much, I was finally tempted to look at the price: $4,500+.

Since we had spent a good chunk of time earlier in the weekend talking about/comparing tuition at various universities, I laughed at myself for even fantasizing about owning that rug. My first thought was that the rug represented about a semester of college (at an in-state, public university).

My second thought was that I could probably weave a rug for less than that.

BFFs

2011-08-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

I don't get to see my college roommates very often...we all live in different cities now. But last Sunday morning before our reunion came to an end, my friend and I walked up Michigan Avenue, from Monroe to the Water Tower. Then we crossed to the other side and walked back down. We walked and talked and walked and talked.

It really is a Magnificent Mile.

Yoga Fun

2011-08-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

The very accommodating staff at the Hotel Burnham, where my college roommates and I were reunioning, lent us some yoga mats on Saturday morning so that we could try the free yoga class in Millenium Park. I've always wanted to do yoga outside against a beautiful backdrop, like on the yoga videos. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover I could do that right here in my own urban setting. Savasana with my eyes wide open!

Gumbo v. Jambalaya

2011-08-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

Do you know the difference? An infamous story in my household concerns a fourth grade reading teacher and her mind-boggling, multiple-choice pop quizzes. You now, the ones designed to make children hate reading? On one of these 5-question tests, my daughter incorrectly matched the definition of jambalaya to the word gumbo and the definition of gumbo to the word jambalaya. She ended up with a big fat "D" on the quiz.

I told this tale to my college friends at our roomie reunion this weekend, here in Chicago. While we were eating lunch at Heaven on Seven! So before we left the restaurant, we made sure we all understood what makes gumbo gumbo.

The Interrupters

2011-08-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we took our fifteen-year-old daughters down to the Gene Siskel Film Center to see the documentary The Interrupters. This is the Alex Kotlowitz-produced film spotlighting violence mediators working in Chicago neighborhoods.

The theater was full, the audience engaged (including my daughters). It's a riveting movie for many reasons. Afterward, one of the interrupters (not shown in the film) was taking questions. Someone asked how many interrupters are currently active, and I think he said 15. But even if he said 50, I'd be discouraged. Seems like we need more interrupters on the planet.

So, consider a financial gift to the organization. Or consider seeing the film. It will be playing through August 25th. And if you go this weekend, the three interrupters featured in the film are scheduled to appear at some viewings.

Hello, Again

2011-08-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Recently my 12-year-old niece asked me, "Aunt Kathy, why don't you ever post anything on your blog anymore?"

(Ha! I just didn't see that coming. I had no idea she even knew I had a blog.)

Well, I've almost forgotten how to do it, but let me try a little warm-up exercise to see what happens...Quick! 5 things I love about Chicago in the summertime:

1. The beach. Last Friday afternoon I was thinking about my brother-in-law moving to California. I was sitting on the beach (Foster Ave.) looking out at Lake Michigan...and hoping he was able to spend one last peaceful afternoon on Chicago's lakefront. The Pacific Ocean is awesome and all, but I bet he will miss his beautiful view of the Lake.

2. Mexican ice cream carts. And those coconut ice cream bars. Delivered to me at the beach, at our block party, on my front porch!

3. Out-of-town visitors. This weekend 5 of my college roommates are coming in to hang out. (One from Minnesota, one from New York, one from Pennsylvania, one from Michigan, and one from England.) Woot! Woot! They'll be arriving just in time for the....

4. Chicago Air & Water Show. Still exciting after all these years.

5. Eating breakfast/reading the paper outside on the back porch.

Now that wasn't so bad. But I must go eat my sorbet now. Ciao!

Chicago Recycling

2010-02-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't seen this. Because I hadn't, until very recently.

We Wait

2010-02-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Acceptance letters for Chicago Public high schools mail on February 19th.

And it actually feels good to just wait. In other words, to not have to do something. No more weekend open houses, no more interviews, essays, applications, and math problems! (see below).

You can get a glimpse into my world of late, if you so choose. Here's a little math problem that was handed out to all the students (and parents) at one of the last high school open houses we attended:

"What is the least possible positive difference between two three-digit numbers which together use the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9?"

Good luck! I will post the answer.

Simple Pleasure

2010-01-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I spent a lot of my free time this January immersed in two Scandinavian books.

One was Swedish author Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I listened to the recorded version during my commute, and Simon Vance's reading made that time pass quickly and enjoyably. (Better than the news!) The book is mostly plot and a little-over-the-top, but much fun.

The other book was Norwegian author Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses. This I read in large chunks, early on two weekend mornings before my family woke up. The beauty of this book, and its ease in transporting me to another time and place, made me remember the way I used to read, in my youth. I spent hours reading long novels in my father's hammock on summer afternoons. I ignored bedtime and stayed up reading long after my brothers and sisters and parents went to bed.

It's been a long, long time since a book had that kind of pull on me.

Random Thought

2010-01-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

Our daughter's outing to Harold Washington Library to do research for History Fair was uneventful. She came back with some books. Last time around, she came back with this story.

And as things turn out, our little warrior is testing for her black belt in Taekwondo in a few weeks.

And Finally - the Worst Field Trip Ever

2010-01-28T05:16:00.000-08:00

Going to Lane Tech to see High School Musical.

I'm sorry, that's not good enough. I can't think of an eighth grader who's interested in High School Musical (and I know a lot of eighth graders).

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for going to see high school theater productions and supporting high school theater programs. But this show seems like something a family can go see on their own time.

If I was a 14-year-old, I would interpret this as punishment.

Other Good Teaching

2010-01-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

I must say the eighth grade teachers are on the ball this year.

Our daughter said to us last night, "I passed my midterm...and I get to make sushi!" Huh? Apparently, her math teacher promised that interesting prize to anyone scoring 86% or higher.

(I wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall for that one, though.)

Best Homework Ever

2010-01-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

"Create 10 Shakespearean insults for tomorrow's insult battle."

Oh, to be a fly on the wall. (But I'm sure our daughter will provide us with an unforgettable play-by-play.)

Blog Time

2010-01-21T05:27:00.000-08:00

These days, the only time I can find to blog is while the family is getting ready for school and work, when I'm waiting for my two teenage daughters to get out of the bathroom.

Fun Museum Facts

2010-01-20T04:13:00.000-08:00

Our daughter came home from the Field Museum today with lovely, weird news:

1. Sue twitters
2. the museum possesses an ancient Egyptian sculpture that looks like Michael Jackson

I don't know about you, but in the past when I walked through the ancient Egypt rooms at the Field, the little mummy twins gave me enough to think about...

Coolest Field Trip Ever

2010-01-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

Trip Destination: House of Blues

Purpose of Trip: To attend the Blues Schoolhouse Program, which includes a tour of the folk art collection and a blues history performance.

Chicago Memories

2010-01-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

An old, disposable camera turned up in all the holiday cleaning and decorating, so I dropped it off at Walgreens. What could be on this role of film I asked myself, since I can't remember the last time I bought one. The girls think it was maybe for Girl Scout Camp?

Ha, ha! They were wrong (but they got the time period right). The shots were taken at least three years ago - my daughters and their friends smiling out at us minus the metalwork on their teeth. They look so much younger. Half the photos were taken the day Grandma brought all the kids to Noble Horse Theater and the other half were taken while rock climbing at the Winter Wonder Fest at Navy Pier, before that event became a mob scene.

Epiphany

2010-01-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

We headed out to see an Epiphany pageant last night, a play filled with adorable moments, but memorable music as well.

My favorite part was the prelude - a classical guitar solo, played by a young adult, still in high school I believe. The church was dark, he sat in a chair on the altar, under a spotlight, playing Concierto del Sol by the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.

I'm sure most people in the audience felt as humbled as I.

If You Can't Sleep In

2010-01-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Woke up at the crack of dawn on this Saturday morning to get our daughters to the high school test by 8am.

Then we drove east toward the lake to run an errand. And then we drove back home.

There's something kind of beautiful and mesmerizing about driving miles through the city when there's no traffic. You notice the architecture and the new businesses and the empty storefronts . . . the way things change.

Low Tech Considered

2010-01-06T03:47:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about that NPR show "All Tech Considered". I listen to it now and then, and have picked up some cool techie tips by doing so.

But I cling to my former low tech life, as I suspect others do.

The whole conversion to digital television, for example, was mostly an inconvenience. In our neighborhood, Channel 2 doesn't come in unless you have cable TV, and being forced to buy cable doesn't sit well with me. Six months into the endeavor, my friend's antenna recommendation solved the problem. Phew.

Then I saw how hubby could make certain people very happy by hooking up their old VCRs. At Christmastime, he helped out my father on this front. And before the day was out, Dad was blissfully watching his tape of La Bohème.

And that made my Luddite self smile.

Better than Bally

2010-01-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

I have a lovely little yoga group. We meet in the basement of a neighborhood church.

If you can appreciate how cold that basement floor is during a Chicago winter, you will understand how loyal this group is. I tend to drop in and out, but whenever I do make class, there are A and K and C and J and E, and of course our beautiful instructor, who thanks us for practicing with her.

One evening in 2009, after class, we all rolled up our mats and walked over to A's house for strawberries and wine and conversation. Can you imagine?

It's true.

A Little Light Reading

2010-01-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

The other day I drove a friend to the police station to pick up a police report. While waiting, I grabbed some "Tips for Teens" brochures:

The Truth about Club Drugs
The Truth about Heroin
The Truth about Cocaine
The Truth about Alcohol
The Truth about Tobacco

Tomorrow morning, school starts up again. I guess I can put this reading material out for our 14 year olds to read over breakfast. Hoo hoo! Wake up, vacation is over! Let's have a heart-to-heart!

Much to Ponder at the Vet...

2010-01-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

...where I saw a prominently displayed flyer reminding the public that February is National Spay/Neuter Month. Cook County residents can get a $40 rebate on a spay/neuter surgery (cats, dogs, ferrets) during the month. I wonder, how much does it actually cost to neuter a ferret?

Also, the doctor reminded me to drop off a stool sample from the pooch, and handed me a high tech stool-sample-collection gadget. Hilarious!

But I don't know if I'm up for the task.

Libraryland

2010-01-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

I'm enjoying my birthday present of Friday through Sunday delivery of The New York Times. On this morning's Chicago page, I see a news item about the Chicago Underground Library and its new permanent home in the lobby of the Red Tape Theater in Lakeview. It opens January 16.

Meanwhile, neighborhood branches of the Chicago Public Library begin reduced hours tomorrow.

Good Schools Require Saintly Parents

2009-12-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

Ages ago, when my daughters were babies, I knew a smart, inspiring woman with two young sons. Her boys were quite impressive, too, both in the way they carried themselves and in their accomplishments. I asked my friend where they went to school.

She told me the name of the Chicago Public School where they were enrolled. She then highly recommended the teacher/administrator who shaped the program there and later became a principal at another CPS elementary school. My friend added that if I wanted to find an excellent school for my daughters, I should find the woman and the school.

Which I did. One of my daughters attends that school, even though the (yes-it's-true) amazing principal has since retired. The new principal has retained much of her educational philosophy and most of her staff. But almost immediately, the new principal ditched the practice of assigning homework over Winter Break. Yay!

Still, my daughter occasionally gets an assignment that pretty much requires doing homework over the holidays. I suppose the quality of teaching developed under the former principal is too deeply ingrained. These teachers teach, after all. And so, this year, my daughter's group assignment - to film a 4-5 minute commercial having to do with the reading of Brave New World - is due Jan. 6th. School resumes Jan. 4th. Are you kidding me?

What do you think about that? I don't know anymore. On one hand I'm annoyed, because scheduling six 8th graders around family plans is tedious and difficult. On the other hand, getting six 8th graders together is socially fun, and I'm sure they all took something positive away from the experience.

The mom who hosted the event? I'm sure she took a gigantic headache away from the experience. After 6+ hours of dealing with technology issues and personality issues and the teenage stomach, this woman deserves public thanks, a hug, a beer. Or, maybe a get-out-of-chaperoning pass for the remainder of the year?

I Dream of Italian Cookies

2009-12-30T05:30:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up distressed by a dream in which I finally discovered my Grandma's recipe for pizelle, but I could not decipher the measurements. Instead of cups and teaspoons, she had jotted down a P or a Q. I didn't know what that meant, and then I woke up thinking "It's pints and quarts!"

So, should I mind my Ps & Qs today? Or get out the pizelle iron?

Now to spend some money in the iTunes store. . .

2009-12-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

I'm adding Said the Gramophone to my blogroll. "More music" is usually on my short list of New Year's Resolutions (along with "more vegetables" and "more flowers").

But I'm also linking to it because of this fine post, a reaction to Vic Chestnutt's suicide.

Food for Thought

2009-10-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

My dog likes tofu.

I wonder if that's okay.

Stormwater Management

2009-10-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

We've been meaning to do this for a couple of years, but we finally got around to installing a rain barrel.

In Chicago, one way to get a rain barrel is to sign up and get your name on a list at the Chicago Center for Green Technology. And then you wait and wait and wait. And then you are notified when you can pick it up. The CCGT provides you with a date, and that's the day you pay your $45 and pick up the reserved rain barrel. We actually tried to get a city rain barrel through the park district before, and that list closed in about 10 minutes. Anyway, yesterday was our pick up day.

And now we have our own hideous bright blue rain barrel. Yay!

I think maybe our daughters should paint it. . . .

On the Low-Tech Theme

2009-10-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I never considered that a pedicure wouldn't include soaking my feet in a high-powered mini jacuzzi for 15 luxurious minutes or so. . . .

My friend, who booked our reservation, warned us about the spa's different pedicure style - she lowered our expectations, you could say. But when they brought out a huge bowl filled with very hot, scented water poured over smooth stones, I stuck my tired feet in gratefully. I actually found the pedicure to be more peaceful without all that bubbling noise.

And it reminded me of a quiet summer afternoon many years ago, when my young daughters gave me a "pedicure" in our backyard. They gently poured cold water over my feet and then wrapped them in large leaves. Both experiences were very simple, gentle, and kind.

Too Cold to Seal the Deck . . .

2009-10-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

. . . but not to mulch.

I haven't been in a gardening mood lately. I've been a little stumped with the whole layout.

Sometimes, when I'm letting the dog out in the morning, I just look at the garden objectively. And there are things I like about it. BUT SO MUCH I DON'T. Then I get a little epiphany - something I could do to make it all work! But as usual, there are other things in life that must come first, and my gardening plans will have to wait 'til next year.

So, today I will mulch. And put the garden out of my mind for a while.

Girls' Getaway

2009-09-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Just booked a spa weekend with my college roomies. . .

I Resist

2009-09-27T06:18:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about getting a laptop for myself. It's hard to share a computer with two eighth graders and a husband who needs it to make and promote his books.

But I feel like I'd be spending a lot of money so that I could blog more frequently. To tell you the truth, I'd rather buy a plane ticket somewhere.

As for my personal writing, there just isn't much time in my day to do that anyway. Even if I had a laptop.

And then, sometimes I walk by a cafe and see a person sitting inside at a table - alone with their laptop, maybe plugged into earphones, too, - laughing and smiling, and apparently having a great time. It creeps me out.

Computers are insidious.

I Still Love the First Day of School

2009-09-08T19:52:00.001-07:00

It doesn't matter how many meetings are added to our calendar, or how many forms to our pile of paperwork, it's all worth it for the stories alone!

Eighth grade . . . I remember it well.

Super Kids

2009-08-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

Our daughters have spent a good portion of the summer writing a comic book. Hubby had the pages photocopied and stapled into books, and then sold them at his table at Wizard World.

The girls may or may not post any more pages online, but here's the cover.

Not That Worried about School Supplies

2009-08-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about CPS, in my opinion, is that the school year always starts the day after Labor Day. This year, that's September 8th. So there are still three weeks of summer left for us!

Those are the three weeks into which we try cramming all the things we haven't done yet. We still need to hit the Bristol Renaissance Faire, camp, see the Blue Man Group, spend time at the beach.

And I suppose, buy some school supplies.

This Is Not a Food Blog

2009-08-08T07:24:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine noticed I've been writing about food a lot lately - that my blog seems to have morphed into something else. That's true, but I think it's only temporary.

I've been working on a personal project - collecting some family stories and writing them down in some format or another. It's going slowly, because I haven't hit upon the right presentation. Many of the stories revolve around food, and so I've been thinking about how much food has changed over my lifetime. For instance, I grew up watching my grandmother make bread. . . letting it rise and punching it down. My daughters have never seen that process, because the only bread I make is banana bread. They love homemade bread, and we own a bread machine. . . but still. I keep thinking about what has been lost.

This project - a kind of family food genealogy - is always floating around in my head. I only seem to make progress on it if I jot some of these details down somewhere. To make room for more details, I suppose. . .

Anyway, perhaps I'll make some headway on this gray Saturday, since hubby and the girls are at Wizard World.

The Veggie Box Dictates the Dinner

2009-08-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Mostly, the vegetables from our farm share end up in easy to prepare side dishes. One of my favorites is sliced zucchini, onion, and halved cherry tomatoes sauted in a little olive oil with seasonings. Another favorite is a simple salad of greens, fresh basil, and cucumber slices. I used to put onion in there, but I find that only detracts from the basil. And hardly anything is easier than corn on the cob.

Sometimes the veggies are more critical to the main dish, as in stuffed green peppers, or tuna salad with swiss chard, or salad nicoise with new potatoes and green beans.

Very rarely, the veggies are front and center. Like in a late-lunch of roasted carrots and fennel; breaded, fried cauliflower; and plenty of naan. I actually prefer this way of eating, and would like to serve more meals like this in our future.

How Preschool Teachers Think

2009-08-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

The other night, after many days of phone tag, I had a long conversation with my daughters' former pre-K teacher. Our daughters are entering eighth grade this year, so I've know this woman for a long time. Over the years we've visited her often, but since I've gone back to work full time, it's been awhile.

I was worried about state cuts in preschool funding and her amazing program. She wasn't.

She said, "Tell me about the girls. What do they look like now? Where will they be going to high school?" She asked us to please come and visit the classroom. She gave me her email address and asked for the girls to send her a note.

She asked me if I was pregnant. What?

"What?!" I said. "No."

"Oh, I thought you might be calling to tell me you had another little one coming up that I could teach."

My family and I had a good laugh over that one.

For All the Years I Spent in Orthodontia

2009-08-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

The sweet corn from the farm share is delicious.

In fact, it's so delicious, I'm going to be selfish and not cut it off the cob for our two daughters who wear braces. If it stays on the cob, there's more for me!

One Thought As I Head Off to Work

2009-07-31T04:47:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons why I started writing about food lately is because taking time to eat and cook better helps slow down the pace of life a bit. I guess I'm just not a fast food gal.

Living, working, and raising children in the city has pulled hubby and I in many different directions - for many years. It's hard to keep up the pace! But I've come to understand that the process of seeking out ingredients and recipes and tastes helps ground me in the moment. Frankly, it takes my mind off the mind-numbing details of modern life.

'Cuz we have to do that, you know.

Comparing Peaches to Peaches

2009-07-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

Events aligned in such a way that yesterday I was eating a Michigan peach, freshly picked and sold from a roadside fruit stand. Then, this morning I ate an Illinois peach, grown on an organic farm I've visited by a farmer I've talked to (and who sends me emails). This is so much more fun than shopping at the grocery store.

Slight taste advantage to the Michigan peach, though.

Didn't Seem Like That Much When We Bought It

2009-07-28T04:39:00.000-07:00

These blueberries, Flamin' Fury peaches, Early golden plums, Methley sugar plums, sour cherries, Lodi apples, and berry tomatoes come from a small farm's roadside fruit stand in Watervliet, Michigan. We stopped there on our way back into the city, and got a little carried away....

So I taught our daughters how to make blueberry smoothies (with kefir and honey).

And I'll bring some of those little plums into the office to share.

Preschool Blues

2009-07-23T04:42:00.001-07:00

From an advocacy alert I receive: "Early childhood programs are marked for funding cuts of one-third – $123.3 million – in budget decisions approved by the Illinois State Board of Education on Tuesday. That move would strip preschool help from more than 30,000 young children. . . ."

For those of us living on the northwest side of Chicago, this could mean the elimination of preschool programs in 60 public schools in the area. That's 70 kids from my daughter's school alone. I don't know what this news means for preschool teachers. (I can imagine what it means for families, though.)

I have a call into my daughters' former preschool teacher - one of the best teachers I've observed in our 9 years with Chicago Public Schools. To see her program dismantled would be an outrage.

Meals from the Farm Box

2009-07-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to cook when friends are in town, but I managed to use up all the veggies except the swiss chard. Tonight I'll cook it, so I can make room in the fridge for today's farm box.

Saturday Cookout
Instead of the standard mustard, ketchup, relish, I topped my burger with 5 purple basil leaves, a little mayo, and a 1/2-inch thick slice of grilled sweet onion. Superb.

No Fancy Salad This Week
Just sliced cucumber and fresh basil with lettuce mix.

Broccoli Side
The steamed broccoli, dressed with balsamic vinegar, made it into our lunches. But mostly I just snacked on it.

Fruit Right Out of the Box
We practically inhaled the cherries within minutes of opening the box.

Zucchini with Chickpea Flour
We had big plans to grill the zucchini, but I ended up making a big batch of the above gluten-free side dish. It's tasty and easy, but I need to try it one more time. I don't think I cooked the flour long enough.

The Bad Hostess That I Am

2009-07-21T04:50:00.000-07:00

We had some friends over for a cookout on Saturday night, during which one of our guests noticed that we "have a lot of food in our fridge."

As it turns out, there wasn't enough food in our fridge, because I could not produce the jalapeno pepper he was craving.

I don't usually cook with jalapeno. In fact there are only two recipes I use that call for it: 1) homemade salsa, and 2) a very special quesadilla made with fontina cheese. Neither of those items were on the cookout menu, so my friend was out of luck.

But now I know. I'll be ready next time!

I Feel a Food Coma Comin' On

2009-07-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday lunch at Tub Tim Thai.
Thursday night takeout from Kamehachi.

Frozen kefir at Starfruit on Friday afternoon.
Indian dinner at Hema's Kitchen (Lincoln Park) on Friday night.

And we'll top it all off Sunday morning with dim sum in Chinatown!

Veggies are Multiplying in Our Fridge

2009-07-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

I did as best I could with the farm share this week:

cucumber slices
I barely have time to work on my personal writing projects, let alone cook for writing group. But one of our members has wheat allergies. I needed a gluten-free appetizer in a hurry, so I grabbed store-bought hummus and sliced up the farm cucumber.

taco salad
I was craving a taco salad, so I used about half the mongo head of leaf lettuce from the farm for this easy, favorite dinner.

basil salad
I used the other half of the lettuce for a salad to go with grilled italian sausage. I left out the onion this time, though, and went heavy on the basil. Yummy!

kale/italian sausage soup
I used all the farm kale in an easy soup with onion and leftover italian sausage. It was an awful lot of kale, though . . . should have doubled the broth. There is still some leftover kale and onion, but all the broth and italian sausage was eaten up. I'll have to think of something to do with it.

Never got to the broccoli or zucchini, and there is still a nice portion of basil left. Yikes! We're falling down on the job.

And the new farm box came last night.

Coffee Therapy

2009-07-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Recently, I donated some things to a community rummage sale. One of the items was a medium-sized Turkish coffee pot. This is the pot I once left unattended on the stove, just long enough for its contents to reach a pressure point and explode all over the kitchen ceiling and window blinds. And though I haven't made Turkish coffee since, I'd like to again.

But lately, I've gotten into the habit of making myself a cappuccino using one of those pod coffee machines. It's quick and easy, but not delicious. There's no technique involved. And so I've been considering other ways to make myself a cup 'o joe.

My grandmother used to boil her coffee in a saucepan on the stove. That always seemed old-fashioned and unappetizing to me, and I've realized I have no idea if her coffee was any good or not, because I never tasted it. My mother made (and my father still makes) instant coffee with water heated in an electric tea kettle. This I have tasted, and I really don't need to ever again. On the other hand, my brother's wife makes great coffee, Lebanese coffee, and that's more like what I'm craving.

Somewhere in our cluttered house, I have another, smaller Turkish coffee pot for making individual drinks. It was given to me years ago by a very cosmopolitan friend of mine. We've since lost touch, but I think of her often. She lived with her family in a beautiful 4-bedroom apartment on the north side, in which we'd sit around drinking Turkish coffee and talking for hours. It is this sensation . . . this rich flavor I'd like to have in my coffee-drinking life again.

I'll have to go buy Turkish coffee, and I'll have to learn how to make it again, and I promise I won't leave the stove while it's boiling. But in this deliberately inconvenient way, I'll be ready to recycle the Senseo when the next rummage sale comes around.

In Other Fashion News . . .

2009-07-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

. . . our daughters finally found acceptable purses (sorry, bags), and their friend finally found a fedora. Ostensibly at Irish Fest for the live music and the Guinness on tap, I enjoy the shopping, too. I have to admit it's nice to check something off the to-purchase list.

As for the family bands performing Saturday night, I'll take Searson (three sisters out of Ottawa, Canada) over The Screaming Orphans (four sisters out of Donegal, Ireland) any day.

I Bought It So You Don't Have To

2009-07-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

I succumbed to a supermarket-checkout-line-purchase the other day: Teen Vogue.

Shortly thereafter, my Popular Science-reading daughters asked in an accusatory tone, "Mom. . .why is there a Teen Vogue on the counter!?" I explained that I was curious about how Vogue would target teens (which is the truth), and suggested they look through it themselves. Their pithy review follows:

- Emma Watson is still cool--she's going to college and will live in a dorm like other freshmen.

- But why is she all dressed up and walking down a driveway with two ponies?

- Uh, duh. Of course Converse are the height of fashion.

Feel the Pain

2009-07-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Our daughters' taekwondo instructor has started an exercise class for the mothers of his students.

After many months of sitting in the chairs watching our children work out, I think we probably all feel motivated (obligated?) to get on the mats ourselves.

Musa, musa, musa! Ladies rule!

(But I'm still sore.)

It's True, Sometimes I'm Late Because I Have to Hear the End of the Story

2009-07-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

Listening to the radio on my way to work yesterday, I heard an eye-opening story about where we grow most of our food in this country--California's Central Valley. Think residents are healthy? Wrong. Lots of gang activity, roaming dogs, fast food joints, and cases of obesity and diabetes. Not so many sidewalks, grocery stores, or farmers markets. It's all connected you see. . .

. . . and reported by the Kitchen Sisters.

Dreaming of the Sun and the Sand

2009-07-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

This morning a co-worker of mine brought Munchkins into the office to share and asked, "What better way to celebrate Summer Hours than with fried dough?"

Um . . . an afternoon at the beach?

(Don't get me wrong - I love fried dough. And believe me, if she'd brought in some funnel cake, I wouldn't be complaining!)

Reading in the Car Doesn't Make Me Carsick

2009-07-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

A good thing about driving back and forth between Chicago and Detroit is reading certain lengthy magazine articles I could only skim during a normal work week. For example, while hubby was driving us back home, I luxuriated over:

An article about Nora Ephron and her new movie.

And this piece about an inspirational urban farmer in Milwaukee. His organization has an outpost here in Chicago, too.

The 4th with My Fam

2009-07-07T04:59:00.001-07:00

I think what might be more interesting than listing the contents of a weekly box of produce is listing the meals that came out of it. Here's a few from the last few days:

Asian cole slaw (with red cabbage)
This cole slaw is a recipe my mom used to make all the time, and it's usually made with green cabbage. But I suggested to my sisters that we try it with the red, and we all loved it. Looked pretty, too, at the barbeque.

Feed-a-crowd Fourth of July salad (with red-leaf lettuce and cucumber)
My younger sister made the salad for our cookout. When she makes a salad she chops everything up in very small pieces (unlike my lazy cooking self who doesn't even dice onions anymore.) My father dressed the salad, because no one can do it better in my family. However, he wouldn't eat any because he only likes head lettuce.

Green Curry (with kohlrabi and swiss chard)
When we got home, I used up the rest of the vegetables that didn't make the 4th of July menu. I tried making a green curry dish for the first time in my life. There is plenty of room for improvement, so I will try it again.

Food That's Fun Is Cool, Too

2009-07-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

The Vermont beer we are drinking at the moment contains beet juice color. So we poured it into a stein, and sure enough, it's red. (Kind of like the red velvet cake thing.)

Plus there are little sayings printed under the caps. Mine says: "The Planet has Needs for your Deeds."

Gluten-Free

2009-07-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

For various reasons, many of my friends are going gluten-free these days. I don't know that much about it, so I borrowed a gluten-free cookbook from the warehouse (publishing perk).

Happy to learn some foods I love to eat can be classified as g-f:

potato pancakes
enchiladas
pad thai
flourless chocolate cake
macaroons

There are plenty of other appealing recipes here, too:

cornmeal pancakes
zucchini w/ toasted chickpea flour
Thai salad rolls
rice noodles with broccoli and tofu
noodles with baby shrimp
turkey piccata
spicy roasted chickpeas

So I'm thinking of instituting a weekly g-f day at our house, alongside the weekly vegetarian day I've been talking about doing forever.

I know the point is to eliminate gluten from the diet, but for now, baby steps. Just trying to educate myself.

Taste of Chicago (Localvore Edition)

2009-06-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

So if you live in Chicago on the weekend of the Gay Pride Parade, Taste of Chicago, and the Cross Town Classic what do you decide to do?

If you're me, you drive 55 miles south of the city and tour the CSA farm you're supporting. Farmer Vicki hosted her annual potluck and gave a tour of her farm. About 75 shareholders from all over the Chicago area came to see the fields of onions, zucchini, etc, tour the greenhouses, meet the new kittens, and sample some delicious veggie dishes.

Very inspiring. I came home and weeded my garden.

Farm Girl

2009-06-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the suburbs and have been living in a big city for the last 20 years. But I've never lived the rural life. Sometimes I think I might like to do that, as this woman did.

On the other hand, I could just read her blog and try some of her recipes.

Lots 'o Lettuce

2009-06-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

The family we're splitting our farm share with doesn't cook with cabbage and is still making their way through the lettuce from last week. So they let us take all the cabbage and lettuce from this week's veggie box.

We now have a tremendous amount of lettuce in our fridge, and a monster head of cabbage.

Fortunately my book club is meeting this weekend, so I'll bring a big salad. I'll make Chinese noodles with the cabbage.

Also this weekend, a group of shareholders are touring the farm with Farmer Vicki. Hubby and I will be there with our daughters.

If You Like Michael Pollan . . .

2009-06-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a NYT article about David A. Kessler's work and new book "The End of Overeating." I saw Dr. Kessler on the news the other night, and then was talking to my father about it. Kessler's work examines our culture's "conditioned hypereating" and the food industry's role in "designing" or manipulating our food to encourage it.

Makes me want to eat my veggies.

And Then There Was One (Daikon Radish)

2009-06-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm making with all that remains of this week's farm share.

Otherwise, I would have eaten it raw (what they heck)!

I Didn't Make Salsa with the Cilantro (for Once)

2009-06-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

It seems like people either love cilantro or hate it. I love the stuff, and one reason I frequent this Mexican restaurant is their lovely cilantro salad dressing.

I was trying to find a similar recipe online last night, so I could use my fresh cilantro. I found this recipe instead, and I decided to make it because I had all the ingredients on hand. It was delicious and worked really well with the chipotle chicken we grilled.

Note: A friend of a friend owns a lavender farm, which is why I actually have a stash of lavender buds.

Teenage Grazing

2009-06-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I are always accusing each other of eating all the food. Of course, it's really our daughters eating everything. My precious chocolate milk - gone. Pudding mixes, muffin mixes - all gone. Bowls of cherries, gallons of milk, lunch meat, frozen waffles, et cetera.

They ate 11 cheese sticks in two days??

However, I can pretty much guarantee that they will never, ever touch the veggies from the farm share. And so, because we've been busy, this week's produce is still sitting in the fridge:

bunch kale
bunch spinach
head leaf lettuce
fresh cilantro
asparagus
daikon radish
strawberries (FRUIT! Gobbled up as soon as we opened the box)

'Cuz People Asked What I Do with the Turnips

2009-06-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading cookbooks more than I actually enjoy cooking. Likewise watching cooking shows. Here's a recipe I thought I found in a 700+ page cookbook someone gave me, but turns out I googled it.

Nice essay on gratin dauphinois in the cookbook, though, in which I learned this technique: "Pour heavy cream over it and bake."

And This Kid-Friendly Pasta, Too

2009-06-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

Also, my daughters are very enthusiastic about these noodles.

For obvious reasons. Peace out, rock on.

CSA - Week 2

2009-06-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

In her weekly email, Farmer Vicki says she had to cram some of her early crops into smaller spaces because of the wet soil. She apologizes for another light delivery. This week's box contained:

rhubarb
head of leaf lettuce
head of bok choi
strawberries
turnips
fresh oregano

I happened to be talking to my excellent friend (and excellent cook) yesterday and asked her if she had any yummy recipes for bok choi. Of course she did, so I made it for dinner.

I love when people are excited to share a recipe. This one fills all my requirements: easy, delicious, few ingredients, easy to make substitutions.

Yummy! And I've discovered my girls love udon noodles.

For My Girls Who Love Biscuits

2009-06-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

We've eaten all the produce except the thyme. Right now I'm making Honey Thyme Butter for breakfast tomorrow:

1 stick butter
3 T honey
1 T fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Serve with biscuits.

Too Booked to Cook

2009-06-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

Eating dinner out with family and friends tonight and tomorrow, so no homemade dinners this weekend.

I have decided to wash all the greens and have them ready in a bowl. Today's and tomorrow's lunch will just be garbage salad. (I need to clean out the fridge anyway.)

Also, last night hubby and I ended up at Cafe 28 for drinks/appetizer/
dessert. They placed some fantastic salty/spicy butter on the table with the bread, and I was reminded how much I love herbed butters. I think this is one way I will use Farmer Vicki's herbs this summer. The other way is in dressings, as I have been wanting to break myself of the habit of bottled salad dressings for many years.

Wine & Radish

2009-06-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

After work, I sliced the radishes and set them out on a plate, but I have nothing to serve with them. (Wish I had olives and feta and pita bread, oh well.) I guess I"ll just squeeze lime over the radish, and have a glass of wine while I watch the news.

I have chicken in the oven now, and I'll serve it with the purple asparagus for dinner.

FYI, teenage daughters declared Kale Krisps "interesting". And spent much time cleaning the green stuff out of their braces!

Pretty Purple Asparagus

2009-06-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

In her weekly email, Farmer Vicki says that because of the late spring, the box would be light this week (and that she will make up for it in next week's box). When I opened the box, I thought it did seem light, especially since we are sharing the box with another family. But after dividing everything in two, I think it's safe to say the Broderick family will probably be just fine with the following produce for the next six days:

3 radishes
bunch kale
bunch spinach
mesclun lettuce mix
bunch thyme
stawberries
bunch purple asparagus
(I gave all the rhubarb to my friend, because I harvest my own rhubarb from our garden.)

We ate the sweet strawberries with breakfast this morning. I will make Kale Krisps tonight, as recommended by Farmer Vicki.

A Farm in St. Anne, Illinois

2009-06-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

We bought a share in a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm for the summer—Genesis Growers.

“Our pledge: We will do our utmost to provide you with a wide variety of fresh, chemical free produce weekly, but please remember crop failure can occur, and while this rarely affects our boxes, there is a certain risk involved in farming.”

The summer season begins today and goes for 21 weeks until sometime in October. We decided on the summer season, since grilled veggies are yummy and that’s when we’re most likely to grill. We went with the medium share, rather than the large share, and we decided to split the cost of the share with another family of four. Cost per family is $14.29/week. Since we paid for the season back in February when we signed up, it now feels like we will be getting free organic veggies through October.

I’ll pick up the box after work today.

Food Labels

2009-05-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Although I've learned to decipher Big Ag food labels, English labeling is still a crutch I lean on.

I don't think I can handle all the international products at Fresh Farms. I'm impressed by the selection - I just want to know what I'm eating!

More on Fresh Farms later.

I believe I can live the rest of my life without eating another Totino’s Pizza Roll

2009-05-25T06:22:00.001-07:00

Ingredients: tomato puree (water, tomato paste), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), pepperoni pizza topping (pepperoni made with port, chicken and beef [pork, mechanically separated chicken, beef, salt, spice, dextrose, oleoresin of paprika, sodium ascorbate, garlic power, sodium nitrite, lactic acid starter culture, BHA and BHT and citric acid added to protect flavor] water, soy protein isolate), water, mozzarella cheese substitute (water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, rennet casein, modified corn start, potato starch, sodium aluminum phosphate, vital wheat gluten, salt potassium chloride, citric acid, potassium sorbate [preservative], sodium phosphate, sodium citrate, titanium dioxide [color], maltodextrin, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, vitamin A palmitate, riboflavin, vitamin B12) partially hydrogenated soybean oil, modified corn starch, rehydrated pasteurized process nonfat mozzarella cheese (water, nonfat milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B6, sodium aluminum phosphate, sodium citrate, sodium phosphate), salt, sugar, defatted soy flour, dried whey, dried onion, spice, methylcellulose, rehydrated enzyme modified cheese (water, milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), natural flavor.

Notes on ingredients:
1) I love the vagueness of “spice” and “natural flavor” and the irony of including them on the ingredient list.
2) One of these days I really would like to see the machine that mechanically separates chicken.

More Reasons Why Winter Bums Me Out

2009-02-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Things changed over the last few frozen months. My neighbor's little fluffy puppy is now a gigantic German Shepherd.

And my garden is a cesspool.

Ginger Ale

2009-01-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

My daughter can't seem to beat this bug she picked up somewhere. The BRAT diet of Broth, Rice, Applesauce, & Tea is getting old, so we offer her flattened ginger ale, too.

We've discovered something about the stuff, besides the fact that it's delicious mixed with cranberry juice. Not all ginger ales are the same. Well, they're mostly all the same, except the ginger ale you get at Whole Foods. Which tastes really weird. In a bad way. Too gingery? I don't know if that's it, but the cranberry juice doesn't mask the odd flavor.

Ginger ale consists of carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate (preservative), and caramel color. The Whole Foods 365 brand doesn't use high fructose corn syrup, though. This ginger ale is sweetened with regular old cane sugar.

Which makes me freak out some more about high fructose corn syrup. What is it, exactly?

My other daughter was more optimistic about the strange ginger ale. She said it will probably start to taste better then the regular stuff after a while. Kind of like natural peanut butter. "You know, it tastes bad at first, but then you get used to it? Now JIF just tastes nasty."

Rahm Encounters

2008-12-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. . . I've been thinking about pulling the blog down. Or maybe starting a new one in a different vein. Today I'm leaning toward the latter.

Anyway, I just got my automated "So long and thanks for all the fish" call from Rahm Emmanuel. And since I really haven't heard anything but negative Rahm comments from everyone I know, I thought I'd weigh in with my positive spin.

I've met the Congressman twice. The first time must have been about six years ago - when he was running for office - at my local Jewel. I recognized him at the door, and I literally yelled out, "Rahm Emmanuel!" He smiled at me and we talked for a minute or two. He asked what my issues were, and I remember feeling like he was listening (not just campaigning). I introduced him to my daughters and he was kind to them.

A few years later I saw the Congressman at a Rahm's Readers event. This was a program he started in the Chicago elementary schools that encouraged children to read. At the program end, he invited participants to an awards program/social event. My daughters and I attended, and the Congressman was there with his wife and beautiful young children. But the day wasn't about Rahm Emmanuel . . . he was really just in the background. The day was about the school children. (And too often it's not.)

Cool, huh?

Summer Vacation Plans

2008-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

1. Avoid household chores
2. Read more for pleasure
3. Eat more potato chips

In other words, act more like my 12 year olds and less like Micro-manager Mom.

Summer Reading Dilemma

2008-08-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

My daughter's copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream (No Fear Shakespeare) is perched on top of a tower of books. Hmm. . . .haven't read that in years. Next to it, on another pile, is Fugitive from the Cubicle Police Hmm. . .I am on vacation now.

Shakespeare? Or, Dilbert? Shakespeare? Dilbert?

I adore Summer. . .because there's time for both. But which one first?

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

At the store this afternoon, I was thinking of something else my father told me once. This was his advice when we told him we were having twins:

Earn!

My Father, the Unschooler

2008-06-11T03:14:00.000-07:00

My father’s mother immigrated to this country when she was 11 years old, in 1919. As the story goes, she did not speak any English, and school officials put her in the second grade—with the 7 and 8 year olds. That, as the say, wasn’t working for my grandmother, and thus ended her formal education.

My father graduated from high school, but never finished college. School was never as satisfying to him or as intellectually rewarding as the public library.

Five of his six children have college degrees, though. His sixth child, never went to college. He was born in 1974 with Down syndrome, and went to school longer than all of us. He wore a cap and gown at his formal graduation—at the age of 26.

My father doesn't tell stories about his success at school, because there wasn't much. He tells stories about his success at life. My father is an autodidact. Growing up, I remember him writing and painting and reading and listening to music. To this day, he studies philosophy texts and books on quantum physics in his spare time. Right now, he's teaching himself how to speak Spanish.

He taught himself, and in doing so, taught us.

A Very Good One

2008-06-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

I’m sure there were many, many ways in which my father wanted to influence his children. Too many to list here. The crucial things, I absorbed unconsciously growing up in our big, loving family. For example, he wanted us to know he respected our mother. He wanted us to know he was available for us whenever we needed him. He wanted us to know he would always tell us the truth.

When I was all grown up and married, he told me he wanted to be a good father. How I love that he added the qualifier! Wanting to be a father wasn't enough.

He wanted to be a good one.

A Lovely Night Out. And Yet.

2008-06-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about my father’s “before the age of 15” credo on Friday night, at a dinner with a group of moms I’ve come to know through my daughter’s school. Our children are growing up together in an urban environment, and so when we get together, we talk a lot about what our children know and don’t know. About what academic (and life) lessons they learn (or don’t learn) at school.

At one point during the evening I realized that two of the mothers felt perfectly comfortable having their sixth graders read and discuss Night by Elie Wiesel, but felt completely uncomfortable having an in-depth discussion of the “facts of life” with these very same children.

This seemed inconsistent to me—parents who believe their children intellectually and emotionally mature enough to handle the work of Elie Wiesel, but do not believe the same children intellectually and emotionally mature enough to handle “the talk.” (I mean, I can’t imagine that a child’s questions about the human body are more difficult for a parent to answer than questions about the human soul.)

A healthy, honest, and meaningful dialogue with your children on the subject of human sexuality and reproduction takes time to develop. Years. What are you waiting for ladies? Fifteen will be here before you know it. . . .

Thoughts on a Saturday Morning

2008-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

My father—a father of six—once shared with me his personal parenting philosophy:

If you want to influence your children in a certain way, you should probably do so before they turn 15.

My father’s view is that after the age of 15, children aren’t paying much (if any) attention to their parents, even if you think they are. There’s a 15-year window of opportunity available to parents, and then the window snaps shut.

I love that imagery. It’s been a useful parenting tool for me. I don’t know if Dad is right or wrong, but as a mother of two 12 year olds, I’m guessing he’s closer to right. Interestingly, the closer our daughters get to age 15, the more right my Dad’s words seem to me.

This week at Barking at Kathy, I will reflect on my father’s wisdom, and on why his words reverberate for me.

What I Saw at the Beach

2008-03-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Chicago many years ago, I lived and worked within walking distance of Lake Michigan. I’d often go to the lake at lunchtime to clear my mind. Or, after dinner, to watch the day turn to evening. The lake calmed me, and I enjoyed its many moods.

Now, I live and work miles west of the lake. But I have a friend who lives right there, and when I visit this friend, I often take time to walk down to the beach. This afternoon, as I pulled away from my friend’s house I thought about stopping at the lake, and then about how I didn’t have time to stop, and then about forcing myself to stop and do something good for myself. Ultimately, I turned down a side street, double-parked my car, and walked quickly to the shoreline to soak up a little of Lake Michigan’s beauty. After all, the sky was blue; the air was crisp and clean.

But Lake Michigan looked dirty—the water was brownish blue. Way far out, at the horizon, I saw what seemed to be clear blue water. I stayed for just a few minutes, and I didn’t feel better. Today, Lake Michigan failed to energize me.

I don’t recall that ever happening before.

Spring for the Organic Farmer

2008-03-23T05:01:00.000-07:00

It’s time to sign up for a CSA if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Our experience purchasing a half-share in an organic farm was quite the adventure last year, and probably not the ideal experience for first-timers like us. Then again, maybe it was. We learned a lot.

Here’s Farmer Renee’s latest, thoughtful letter about organic farming. Always fascinating!

On this Easter morning, I wish her my best.

Race & My Formative Years

2008-03-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

In a memoir-writing class I took last year, I found myself writing about story-memories like these:

In the mid-1970s—when I was in sixth grade—the only African-American child in our class and I were the shortest kids in the room. For every line-up, every assembly, every class photo, this boy and I stood side by side. Funny how one gets to know a person. Thirty years have passed, but I often think of him—and about the day some classmates of ours tied his hands and feet together and left him outside while everyone else went inside at the end of recess.

In the 1970s, I learned that it was practice for certain Asian-American girls to have cosmetic surgery on their eyelids to achieve a Caucasian-like crease. My friend underwent multiple surgeries to correct scarring.

I remember another classmate of mine, in perhaps second or third grade. Unlike the rest of us, this boy had brown skin and black hair and black eyes. His ethnicity is unknown to me, but I remember his beautiful eyes—with the longest, thickest eyelashes I had ever seen. After the other kids began teasing him about his looks, he cut all his eyelashes off with a pair of scissors.

Of course, there are many, many more tales to tell from my predominantly white, suburban, American youth—but those three stories bubbled to the surface first.

Worth the Time

2008-03-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it took me twelve hours to read Barack Obama’s speech on race. I started reading at breakfast, continued during lunch, and finished after dinner. (Such is my life, these days.)

Since childhood, I’ve always been interested in how people talk about race, and Barack Obama does it remarkably well. Which is why I’m remarking on it. Really, I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m just telling you to read his speech.

It should only take a half hour or so, uninterrupted.

Easter Candy 2008

2008-03-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

It’s not as much fun buying candy when your kids are wearing braces. That became very clear to me in the Easter candy aisle at Target on Saturday. I had to tear myself away from all those lovely jellybeans and Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls, but I bought a lot of chocolate—the best I could find. Our daughters can coat their teeth in the stuff, and the brackets will remain intact.

Still, I hung around examining the wares. The blood-orange colored Peeps made me gag. The mom standing next to me and I both agreed that the flavored, edible grass for the Easter baskets was just weird.

Trying to Reduce My Caffeine Intake

2008-03-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

A while back, I tore this info out of a Chicago Parent magazine. I meant to share it with a couple of Starbucks addicts I know. I just found it in a pile of stuff on my dining room table:

Caffeine Counter (per 8oz serving, unless otherwise noted):

Chocolate milk—5mg
Decaffeinated coffee—5mg
Green tea— 25-40mg
Black tea—40-70mg
Diet Coke (12oz)—46mg
Mountain Dew (12oz)—55mg
Red Bull (8.3oz)—80mg
Coffee, drip brewed—102-200mg
Starbucks Coffee (Grande, 16oz)—320mg

I don’t know how accurate these numbers are. But there’s this, too.

Maybe chocolate milk is the way to go!

The CPS Middle School Vote

2008-02-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

My daughter's teacher conducted a mock primary today.

Out of the 91 students he polled, 82 voted for Senator Barack Obama.

Musa, Musa, Musa

2008-01-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

I’ve been watching my daughters’ Tae Kwon Do class since they started in January. I’ve learned a lot about my children sitting there as an observer. For instance, they’re impossibly flexible. They are also loud and fast and aggressive. I realize I’m not in the habit of describing my daughters with these words.

Earlier this week my daughter’s sixth grade class went downtown on a field trip to Chicago's Harold Washington Library to do History Fair research. While the children were diligently pursuing their assignment, a strange man approached one of my daughter’s classmates and asked her to follow him. She went to get her teacher instead.

I found out about the incident when my daughter called me after school with the worrisome details. She said the whole thing was creepy. There was a pause in our conversation—because, as you can imagine—she was creeping me out, too. But before I could come up with the words to make her (and myself) feel better, she made this statement:

“If anybody ever bothers a friend of mine again, I’m gonna practice my tornado kicks on him!”

Thank you, warrior daughter. I feel better already.

CPS Saps My Energy

2008-01-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I send our twin daughters to two different Chicago Public Schools (CPS). It's a long story, and one I'm not going to tell now.

But over the last few days, I've been thinking about what we've gained by sticking with that decision. As a family, we've been exposed to diverse educational experiences; our daughters to a broader curriculum. We've found more friends, had more fun, worked with more teachers and teaching styles, and learned about the politics of different neighborhoods. Double-everything hasn't always been easy. (Truthfully, at times, it's been downright difficult.)

But I'm fond of saying that difficult things are worth doing. In this case, our decision forced Hubby and I to keep the big educational picture in mind. We could never just focus on one school, one set of issues. And that was worth it, because slowly we've come to see how all the CPS children and CPS educators and CPS schools are connected.

The downside of our experience is that we've come to realize the problems CPS faces are just too vast. Each year I ask myself, what program/
teacher/school won't be around next year? And now, after the CPS week we've had, I'm quickly losing confidence in our ability as a city and as a society to solve these problems at all.

If this is how I feel, as a parent, imagine how the teachers feel.