Silicon Valley Moms Blog

A taste of Sonoma (with kids)

Whenever my husband's parents fly over from England, we like to spend the weekends taking them to places within a day's drive from Palo Alto, like Carmel, Monterey, Muir Woods, Ano Nuevo and so on.  One place that none of us had never been to was Sonoma County, so this year we decided that Sonoma was a must.  The one small problem -- actually, three -- my kids.  Like red wine and fish, the wine country and kids aren't generally known to go well together.   As I saw it, we had three options:

Option 1:  Leave the kids with the grandparents and spend a couples-only weekend in Sonoma, and deal with the nagging (and morbid) feeling that this may be the only chance that my 75-year-old in-laws will ever get to see Sonoma;

Option 2:  Take the whole kit and caboodle (parents, grandparents, kids) to Sonoma, and avoid the issue of whiny, nagging kids by spending the day at guaranteed kid-friendly Sonoma attractions like Traintown and Safari West;

Option 3:  Take the whole kit and caboodle to Sonoma, and find places to visit that cater to adults but welcome young children -- not sure if that's possible but let's get on the internet and find out.

We decided to save Options 1 and 2 for another time, and go for Option 3.  And God Bless the Internet;

Did You Know That Onions Grow in the Dark?

I didn't know that onions grew in the dark until I pulled one out of my closet pantry. I was wondering why my closet was smelling so bad every time I went in to grab TJ a snack. Way down low, in the back corner where it's dark, something was growing wild and free.

When I first caught a pungent whiff of stinky onions, I realized, "Shoot! We didn't finish off the 10 lbs of red onions from Costco in time. Now, they're rotting! Disguuussting!" I quickly held my breath, yanked the sack of remaining offending suckers and made a mental note to self. Next time, put half of the onions in the fridge.  Start with the ones in the closet and you'll be fine.

My husband has constantly berated me for buying garlic and onions in bulk when there are only the three of us. But hey, I'm Chinese. I practically throw bulbs of garlic and onions into my stir fry. And I swear, there's gotta be some Italian in my ancestry, because I can't get enough of my pasta. Diced onions taste so good in sauces, whether red or white. And don't forget salads, too.

So, the first thing I did when I realized my onions were decomposing was quickly destroy the evidence and spray with Oust! "There!" I thought. "Hubby won't even know it ever happened." I breathed a sigh of relief, figuring I caught the stink in time.
 

Kate's Yearly Pillsbury Warning Letter for Peanut Allergics

The baking has started.  We invited a friend over on Saturday to play and I tossed out the casual "we're baking cookies, if you want to."  The kid jumped at it.  It's easy to forget how much little boys like to make cookies.  Correction: how much KIDS like to make cookies.  What fun!

Last year, in the middle of baking cookies, I got tired of using my Yuppie Martha Stewart sugar cookie dough, so I bought some at Safeway. And was shocked to see that some of the Pillsbury cookie dough contains peanuts. Let me repeat: Some of the store-bought sugar cookie dough contains peanuts.  It's not made on machinery that also touches peanuts. It contains genuine peanut flour.  Why?  who one earth knows.

If your child has a peanut allergy, this is a REMINDER. In case you have let down your guard, and in case you let simple logic direct you (e.g. “it’s a sugar cookie. Those contain butter or shortening/sugar/eggs  

Ssshhh, It's My Little Secret

Did you see Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah?  She has a new cookbook called Deceptively Delicious.  The book uses pureed fruits and veggies in the recipes to make them healthier and help get them into your children (and your husband).

Deceptively Delicious has all sorts of things I would never think of, including cauliflower in macaroni and cheese, and spinach in brownies. Jessica also shares tips on making healthy snacks and improving store-bought foods, as well as advice on creating a positive environment around the kitchen table.

Eat Local Challenge

From Guest Blogger Gudrun:

September 2007 is Eat Local Month, according to Locavores (and many other foodie sites), and the idea is simple. For one month, try to eat what is local in your area. The challenge can take on many aspects, I guess it depends on how intense you want to get, but I liked the first two suggestions of Katherine Gray at Dish To Dirt , namely:

1. Eat local whenever possible
2. If I cannot eat local, buy from a local company

In addition, I pledge to:

3. Preserve as much as I can
4. Limit driving, and work on integrating transportation alternatives into our lives
5. Start caring where things are made and see if I can find manufactured items 1) locally, 2) in

Got Bacteria?

Milk seems to be in the news lately.  Breast milk has finally been deemed a medical necessity by the TSA, which is a big sigh of relief for those moms of infants that travel and had to "dump" their milk.  The nutritional and health benefits of breast milk are undeniable... For the infants of moms who breastfeed them that is.

Then I read in yesterday's New York Times that drinking raw milk is a new fad, claiming that raw milk tastes better and has more nutritional value then pasteurized milk.  Not for baby cows but for human consumption?  Hmmm, lets see - should I (and my kids) risk potentially being exposed to disease-causing bacteria, to get what the raw milk fans say are beneficial bacteria, proteins and enzymes?  Some include raw milk as "real food".

Hello, did ya hear about the pasteurization, "the most successful public health endeavors of the 20th century"??? And what about Vitamin D, very little is found in raw milk. And good bacteria, well have ya heard of yogurt?   I may be a healthy food mama, but my unscientific opinion leads me to skip this raw milk trend. We will stick with the raw fruit and vegetables for now.

Ooops, I guess raw vegetables can also have bacteria........ I wish there was a way to pasteurize raw spinach.  All of this talk of bacteria is making frozen foods look really good to me.

Confessions of a Sugarholic and Where to Get a Fix

Sugar is my biggest weakness. Ever since I was a little kid, it has been a part of my family culture. Here's the short list: sugary cinnamon rolls at Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner (not to mention the three kinds of pie), Oreos, Ho Ho's or Girl Scout cookies every day after school, frosting-loaded birthday cakes, candy canes at Christmas, chocolate Easter eggs, home-made ice cream in the summer, chocolate mint brownies and chocolate chip cookies (especially the dough) for any occasion we could find, sodas to go with our popcorn when watching basketball or movies on TV, and anything and everything at Halloween. It's amazing when I think about how much sugar I've probably consumed in my life. Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm a sugarholic.

Just when I thought I'd kicked the daily habit, a new store opened in Menlo Park: Sugar Shack. I was given ample warning because one of the owners, Suzi Tinsley, is a well-known member of the Junior League of Palo Alto/Mid-Peninsula and the buzz of the opening was passed along through League email lists. Immediately when I heard who was opening the store, I knew it would be a success. Suzi is one of those women who can do anything. She is probably the most popular League president in recent history, she has raised funds and participated in several local philanthropic organizations and also political causes and candidates, and did I mention she has seven children? She is always social and full of positive energy, friendly to everyone. Even if I dosed with sugar 3x/day I still could never find the energy she has naturally.

So Suzi and her friend, Beth Donnelly-Yancey, launched Sugar Shack in April right before Easter. The Almanac printed a well-written review by a thirteen year-old which captured its essence fairly well. The first time I went in, I thought the shop was all about non-chocolates, but today when I toured again, I was excited to see chocolate is well-represented. There's even an international section with some of my favorite Cadbury snacks. I love the colors of the store - bright pink & orange. And the bar at the back is super fun. They say it's a destination for kids - what about adults? I'd be ok sitting there drinking Orange Crush admiring the candy art for hours. Who needs to go home for dinner? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups have plenty of protein!

Jesting aside, I'm actually very reformed in terms of nutrition because I suffered from a variety of health problems over the past decade that necessitated some dietary changes. And I'm fully aware of the link between sugar and diabetes and the growing concerns about childhood obesity. That said, I went to a kids' nutrition workshop at DayOne on Friday where they advocated - rather than cutting sugar from kids' lives, teach about moderation. It's impossible to avoid processed sugars completely and let's face it, who really wants to? For the little ones, it's still safer to wait on sugar. My daughter's not yet two and she hasn't tried fruit juice yet, but I let her have a few bites of cake from time to time. The best thing to do, they said, is to provide the right example. Just when I was beginning to overcome my fear of the candy aisle at Safeway for myself, now I have to figure out how to introduce it to my daughter without the excess I had as a child.

The last candy store in my area resided in high rent downtown Palo Alto. It didn't have the variety of the Sugar Shack or the community feel. It only lasted a couple of years. I hope Sugar Shack stays a while. It's a great place to stop after (or before!) I pick my daughter up from school.

How I Deal with a Picky Kid, part II: What's on the Menu, tonight?

Our nightly dinner special is whatever I cook for N and me.  Well, let’s be honest - it’s what I want to eat.  Hey, I’m the chef so I get the decision, right?  Yet I feel very challenged to create something nice for the adults that I could also serve to my very picky kid.  I don't want to cook a separate meal but I also don’t want to deal with melt-down.

When we were eating dinner out a restaurant with some friends, it suddenly hit me.  Light bulb moment.  I would create my own menu-like attitude during meal time.  Since meal-time battles were often about control, I would surrender to my picky kid.  Well, surrender with a few limits.  I won't worry about whether or not D will eat my “daily special.”  D gets his own "menu" to select from. 

Once I know what I’m making for the adults, I can figure out what D will like, what he’ll refuse to touch, and where I can supplement. I decide what the choices are and D gets to make the decision. I always first offer our full meal, but make sure that I have an option for each item that may be questionable for D.

Waiter (that would be me): Welcome to Chez Robyn.  On the menu tonight we have savory chicken tikka masala served on a bed of jasmine rice.  Our vegetable is steamed asparagus.  Would you like to order that for dinner, sir?

Picky kid: No.  Yucky.

Waiter: No problem-o.  I can ask the chef to hold the tikka masala and have plain rice.

Picky kid: Plain rice.  Yeah

Waiter: Would you like the chicken rinsed (did I mention that he also is on an "Anything with a sauce" strike) or would you like cheese instead?

Picky kid:  Washed chicken.  No.  I want cheese.  No.  I want chicken.  No.  CHEESE.  NO NO NO.  I want both.  Can I have both, please?

Waiter: Sure. Chicken and a side of string cheese coming right up.  Lastly, we have asparagus.  Is that acceptable, sir?  Or would you like to exchange those for carrots?

Picky kid: Carrots!!

Waiter:  Great.  That’ll be plain rice with chicken, carrots, and a side of cheese.

Sometimes I feel like I’m reliving the Meg Ryan and the When Harry Met Sally scene of wanting everything “on the side.”  After 18 months of my toddler being on an "Anything that looks remotely like a green vegetable" strike, he ate a piece of broccoli last night!!  He picked it from the menu and ate it all. 

Now, on to making my "menu" for tonight.

How I Deal with a Picky Kid, part I: the lies

D is a picky kid.  It's genetic.  I was a picky kid.  My dad was a picky kid.  I remember having total anxiety over what was being made for dinner - would I like it, would I be forced to eat it, would I go hungry?  My parents were not consistent in dealing with my picky-habits, so I never really knew what was going to happen next.  There were times were I was sent to my room without dinner, times where my mom made me a PB&J instead, and there were even a few times when I was spanked for my disobedient (not eating) behavior. 

I didn't want to repeat any of those mistakes with my son.  So I came up with my own strategy: LYING THROUGH MY TEETH. 

When D only liked chicken, all meats were chicken.  Shrimp was chicken.  Steak was chicken.  Now D likes shrimp.  So salmon, scallops, and other seafood is called “shrimp.”  Once he has eaten the new food a few times (and likes it), I change the name back to its original.  You see the pattern.  Now rinse and repeat. 

Foods that are still in liar-liar land:

• Rice cakes are cookies.  Yummy yummy “BIG cookies” (I buy the caramel or sweet ones)
• Yogurt is melting “ice cream.  Hurry and eat it before it makes a mess!”
• Rye bread is “chocolate toast” (bet you never thought of that one!)
• Salmon is really “shrimp.”  Flat shrimp with no tail, in fact.
• Just Peas are “green cracker-balls.”  OK, so I was off my game that day. 

Yes, I am a big fat liar.  But my kid isn’t just eating cheese and Goldfish crackers for dinner. 

Eat Local Challenge

OK, I will admit that when it comes to food, I get stressed about prices, straying from what I know or being adventurous.  CityMama posted on her food blog about something called the Eat Local Challenge that she found in the San Francisco Chronicle.

There are some stipulations to the Challenge:

• The challenge is from April 23-29
• Eat only foods from within a 100-mile radius from where you live. This includes the ingredients that go into the food.   **It was also suggested, that you could define local as anything from your county to within the state or the United States.
• Spend about $10 per person per day.
• You can have some exemptions like coffee, tea, or salt, etc. that are part of your daily life but you can't find locally.

My first thought was, "You go with your bad self but I am so not down for this."  Stefania really highlighted farmer's markets and the fact that we live in California and have so many resources close to us. After reading the complete Challenge, I found that you can modify it a lot of ways.  After thinking about it some more I decided that I would try to do somethings to work towards the Challenge even though I am not ready to take on the full thing.  After all it is Earth Day so what better time to start right???

Here is what I have decided to do:

• Eat only local fruits and vegetables
• Anything else I can find to buy at the farmer's market to help with the eat local goal, do it!
• Use herbs from my own garden

I realize that these are very bare bones goals but it is a start.  I want to say that I decided not to do meat, fish, etc. because I just spent a night making food from Super Suppers so I am not going to double buy.  It doesn't make sense economically. 

I went to the farmer's market this morning to shop.  I got zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus and strawberries.  I also bought bread from a local bakery and cheese from a local guy.  I spent less than $20.  I would have bought raisins, oranges and lettuce but we just bought some at the store the other day.

I am not very earth friendly but I have been inspired by this challenge.  I hope during the next week to really work towards using local resources to feed my family.  It will mean reading more labels at stores and paying better attention but in the long run it is worth it.

What are you doing to help the earth?????

This was originally posted on Freitas Family