a peek inside the fishbowl

We refer to Piper’s tail, which is usually curled up over her back end, as her mood barometer. Unless she’s been startled by a falling toy or an unexpected appearance of the garbage can, it’s usually upright. 

Dogs have a fantastic range of facial expressions, don’t you think? It’s amazing how well they’re able to communicate with a glance, or a grin. 

p.s. If you’re so inclined, there’s still time to enter the Extra Helping giveaway !

M & C are a very sweet and fun-loving couple. Their photoshoot was one of the most fun I’ve ever done. They had great ideas and were able to let loose and go with the flow. I was thrilled to be able to photograph them at this special time.

Ms. C charmed the pants right off me when, at one point, she exclaimed that I was surely too young to have 11 and 9 year old daughters. (!!)

They are in my good books FOREVER.

I dropped a CD of their photos off at their home on early Tuesday evening. We joked that it might be The Very Thing That Sends Her Into Labour.

Baby L arrived Wednesday. :) I’m not sure if they’ve seen all their photos yet!

I wanted to post a few of my favourite “before” shots, the ones I think best represent this lovely couple (now trio!). My goal, as always, is to portray people as they really are in their natural state - to create an image that will truly endure. It was hard to pick only a handful to post here. These people are seriously adorable, inside and out.

JUST LOOK AT THE LOVIN’.

Congrats M & C, on the arrival of Baby L. You will be awesome parents.

A few of you are already in on the secret but it’s time to come clean. I’ve been working on some special blog-related content which will be available to readers who sign up for it.

SOME people might call what I’m doing an e-newsletter, or heaven forbid … <COMMENCE JARGON> an e-blast. </END JARGON>

I’m calling this little venture an Extra Helping, because that’s what it is. Extra stuff! Fortified with freshness! This content will not be archived here on the site or anywhere else online.

Many of you currently receive Fishbowl posts by email. This is not that.

I’m still ironing out the kinks figuring out how to use the mail program, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sign up RIGHT NOW. You might get a little something if you do!

The kind folks at Ten Thousand Villages are giving a $50.00 gift certificate to one lucky subscriber. (!)

Please note: the gift certificate is only valid in Canadian stores. This means that the giveaway part is only open to Canadians. Non-Canadians, however, are welcome to subscribe to the newsletter regardless. :)

Here’s what you need to do:

1) Leave a comment below, telling me: (a) what kind of content you’d like to see in the not-a-newsletter and (b) what you’d spend your money on if you won the gift certificate. Ten Thousand Villages HQ has an online store at www.tenthousandvillages.ca. Only about 20% of their inventory is online but it will give you a good idea about what’s there. There is a TON more stuff in stores. The Richmond Road location in Ottawa is the one closest to me, and it is chock full of really beautiful and interesting things, all of which are handmade by artisans across the world and support the principals of fair trade. This is the foundation upon which Ten Thousand Villages is built. They are good people.

Do good; feel good… that’s what I say!

There is a full listing of the stores in Canada (in case you want to check to see if there is a store near you) and many of the local stores are on Facebook and Twitter as well. It’s a great way of keeping up with what’s new.

2) Sign up for the Extra Helping!

You need to leave a comment and sign up for the Extra Helping to qualify for this giveaway. That’s it!

I will do a draw using Random.org at noon (EST) on August 5, 2010. The winner will be contacted by email and will need to provide their mailing address. Please make sure you provide a valid email address so I can contact you quickly!

If the winner is not from Canada I’ll have to do another draw. (This has happened, which is why I am mentioning it.)

Anyway, over to you! Good luck!

Sarah did.

Here she is when she first got her glasses in March 2008:

I remember when she first got them. I was weepy about her pretty face being covered by glasses (I am so over that) and also freaked out that she hadn’t been seeing properly this whole time.  (Lesson learned: get your kids eyes checked! In Ontario it’s free until they’re 18.) 

Anyway, here she is now:

At first she was going to get the same kind of frames, but she kept coming back to this pair. It’s hard to tell by the photo, but the frames are copper-coloured, with shiny aquamarine legs (or are they called arms?).

By the way, the service and selection at Bonoptics on Carling Avenue (near Westgate) is fabulous. They specialize in children’s eyewear. I recommend them to anyone looking for kid-sized glasses.

I am not entirely sure if the lady helping us was convinced that these were the right pair for Sarah. She kept saying things like: “Those glasses sure are DIFFERENT.” And I agree, they are a big departure, but I think they suit her perfectly! All kidding aside, the lady helping us was actually very helpful and patient. She even called around to see if some frames came in different colours, and didn’t seem to mind that it took us 20 minutes to pick out a new glasses case. :)

We are all happy with Sarah’s choice of eyewear, especially Sarah.

I was at the grocery store last night, browsing the bakery section, looking for a dessert that would satisfy a nagging craving. I picked up a frozen pie, skimmed the nutrition panel and the ingredients, and put it back. The pie was made up of a whole list of things that I didn’t recognize, including one thing I did recognize: palm kernel oil. As I was putting it back I realized there was a woman about my age poised to grab the same box.

“What is it,” she asked. “Something bad?”
“Palm kernel oil,” I said.
“Why, is that bad?” There was concern in her eyes. Or was it disgust?
“Apparently it’s one of the worst oils out there.”

She put it back.

I don’t think I was far off in my dislike of palm kernel oil. Here’s what Dr. Weil writes about it:

… unlike palm oil, palm kernel oil can’t be obtained organically. Instead, the oil must be extracted from the pit with a gasoline-like hydrocarbon solvent. In short, palm kernel oil is a cheap, unhealthy fat, and I recommend avoiding food products containing it.

And so I do. Apparently it is high in saturated fat, which, according to the American Heart Association, is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. The Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation also recommends reducing saturated fat in our diets.

This past week’s KMDM activity was to:

Pick out a new recipe to try this week together. 20% of families eat frozen dinners and another 20% eat pre-cooked meals.

I would like to know more about that 20% who eats frozen dinners. How often do they eat frozen dinners? And why? Is it because theyhate to cook, don’t know how crappy most frozen dinners can be, or don’t have time?

I’m probably going to offend some people here, but I’m not sure if I buy the “don’t have time” argument. I think we, as parents, make choices about how and where we spend our time. And I know fatigue plays a huge part of it (I don’t have the energy to make elaborate meals), but it’s not entirely unfair to say that fatigue - for some of us at least - may be partially caused by overloading on processed carbs.

Many people plan and prep their meals once a week, say Sunday mornings. Personally, I wish I could be better at this. More often than not I’m doing menu planning by the seat of my pants. And I work from home!

Is time really an issue, or is it about priorities and the choices we make? We make time to check email and watch YouTube videos and go shoe shopping, so why can’t we find time to make healthy meals for our families? There are so many recipes that don’t require a lot of time and effort. Slow-cookers, roast chickens, and make-ahead dinners make meal prep a little easier too.

Anyway, back to the challenge.

The first goal was to find a recipe. The girls weren’t keen to flip through my cookbooks, so instead we talked about our favourite dinner-related meals. Emma immediately suggested spaghetti - which was a good one - but the idea here is to try a new meal. So we talked about our favourite ingredients.

What came out of this was:

• ham
• pineapple
• bread
• cheese

Now this was something I could work with!

I had just been looking at Pioneer Woman’s delicious-looking recipe for Grilled Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas. So that’s what we made - but with ham. (Not my preference, but STILL.)

I wish I had photos of our meal to share with you, but frankly, I was too hungry to take the time. Mark grilled the pineapple and the ham on the BBQ. The girls helped grate the cheese and put everything together. Admittedly, this was more about assembling - not so much cooking - but the end result was really good and the girls were very proud that they helped.

Mark and I added jalapeno peppers to ours. Next time we’ll add sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro just like Pioneer Woman did.

I will say this: they turned out great. Roasted pineapple is divine. The ham was a little dry, but no one noticed. One kid liked them a little bit more than the other, but ate them anyway. Mark and I both agreed that this recipe was a keeper. Don’t you love it when that happens?

Do you have a recipe you like to make with your kids? I’d love to hear about it if you do!

This is next week’s Know More Do More activity:

Have a dance-off in the kitchen after dinner tonight [Woo hoo!] Increased physical fitness and active living opportunities have positive effects on academic performance.

I have no doubt this one is true. I would also add “… and helps them sleep better at night” too!

Some time ago I came up with a handy dandy summer survival motto for my mom-self: One Thing Every Day.

The Things I’m referring to are activities I do with the girls. The idea here is that I do at least ONE THING with the girls every day - big or small - and the rest of the time they’re either on their own or asleep. :)

Small things can include:

• going to the neighborhood park or splashpad
• visiting the library
• playing a game together after dinner
• baking cookies
• doing something arty or crafty
• making sidewalk paint and making your own hopscotch grid
• enjoying a picnic lunch (a.k.a. changing the location of our regular lunch)
• going for a special bike ride (make it special by choosing a new destination)

Big things can include:

• Organizing a date with friends (meeting friends for breakfast is one of my favourite things to do)
• Going to see a movie
• Going on a roadtrip, or a hike, or both
• Going to the art gallery, the fair, the museum
• Checking out the local waterpark (Mont Cascades has totally dropped the price of admission this summer, so do yourself a favour and skip busy Calypso for now.)
• Hosting a lemonade stand
• Writing invitations and hosting a teddy bear picnic

… you get the picture. I know I’m using the word “big” pretty loosely here - all things are relative - but in a way it refers to energy expenditure. Some days I just have so little of it to go around. 

Whether or not you tell your kids about your One Thing Every Day plan is up to you. I haven’t. It’s just something I have in the back of my mind. It prevents me from totally vegging out, and/or sitting in front of the computer all day and allowing the three us of to loll around the house, pyjama clad and unwashed all day long. (Although that might be fun too.)

The other day we had a picnic lunch. We didn’t even go very far from the house (in this case it was in the backyard):

… and Piper got a little something too:

Great thing about the picnic idea is that the girls were actually happy to come grocery shopping with me in preparation.

They are hilarious, and so creative. On Friday we had a movie night. To my surprise the girls took it upon themselves to design a movie poster, make tickets and organize a raffle. (!) Mark won a book that’d been lost in the basement.

The beauty of the One Thing Every Day plan is that it:

1. (a) Gives kids something to look forward to. 
2. (b) Allows parents to say things like: “Henry, we can’t go to see the monster trucks, we’re having friends over for lunch today instead!” Because sometimes I feel like I can ONLY DO one thing.
3. (c) It makes me feel like we’re doing something together as a family.
4. (d) It shakes things up a little bit and makes ordinary things (like meals) a little more fun. 
5. (e) If I do one thing with the girls I can give myself permission to work, compose overdue emails and occasionally nap in the afternoon. :)

I don’t want to snooze my summer away, it’s just too short, you know what I mean?

The girls slept over at their grandparents the other night and Mark went out with friends, leaving me flying solo. You know what I had for dinner? Tortilla chips and guacamole. I told Emma the next day and she didn’t quite believe that I didn’t make myself a well-balanced meal. In fact, I could see the wheels turning in her brain: So! Eating what you want for dinner is one of the benefits of being a grown-up!?

The short answer: YES.

The truth is, I really didn’t feel like cooking. What was the point? Besides avocados are one of the healthiest fruits you can eat! The health benefits of avocados are enormous. They are high in “good fat” and can help lower cholesterol.

So I turned to my favourite guacamole recipe. It’s a keeper. Guacamole is one of my favourite appetizers (disregard the fact that I was eating it for dinner). I serve it with tortilla chips, nachos, tacos and quesadillas too.

You will need:

1/4 red onion (or to taste)
1 firm, medium-size ripe tomato
2 ripe avocados
1 fresh jalapeno pepper (I just used half of one because that’s all I had)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional - not everyone likes cilantro. I LURVE IT. And it will make your guacamole taste more sophisticated.)
juice of 1/2 fresh lime
tiny pinch of sea salt

Grab a bowl. Using the course side of your grater, grate the onion and the tomato right into the bowl. Discard the last bit of tomato skin in your hand. I don’t want to be responsible for grated fingers.

Leave some of the accumulated juice. Good guacamole is not too thick, not too thin either. It’s a mighty fine balance.

Grate the jalapeno into this mixture too. WARNING: It’s best to  wear gloves (a plastic produce bag over your hand works too) and do not under any circumstances let the jalapeno juice come in contact with your eyes/lips or any other kind of soft tissue. TRUST ME.

Slice the avocado in half, and separate. Behold its beauty before you go any further:

Remove the pit and scoop out the innards with a small spoon. Using a fork or a potato masher, mash avocado into the tomato/onion/jalapeno mixture.

Take your 1/2 lime and, using your bare hands, squeeze the juice straight into the bowl. (Skip the juicer, this is more fun. And your kitchen will smell nice. Get your fingers right in there. You’ll end up with a tablespoon or so of juice.) Discard peel.

Add cilantro.

Mix with spoon. Decorate with cilantro that you did NOT find on the floor.

It’s not pretty, is it, but it’s GOOD.

Cover (you should put plastic wrap directly on top) and pop it in the fridge to let the flavours meld. (I was only able to wait 10 minutes. It was too close to dinnertime.)

Whether you’re serving it with tortilla chips or tacos, make sure there’s a beer somewhere around, because for some reason guacamole and beer go really well together.

I picked up these really good (and patriotic!) white and red corn tortilla chips at Produce Depot on Carling! Yum.

It was so.good. (By the way, Mark had some too, so please don’t think I ate the whole bowl.)

Let me know if you tried this recipe!