Leprechaun Hat

Looking for a simple project for the kids this St. Patrick's Day? This one is easy-peasy and will get you some wonderful time with your kids (or 15 minutes of break time, whichever you need more at the moment!)

1) Cover an oatmeal or tall baby formula can with green paper.
2) Add strap and buckle, if desired.
3) Decorate any way you want. I did a quick search for free printables and we cut those out and glued them on. Crayons, stickers, plastic doodads...they'll all work.

Last year, my son and I left ours out for the leprechauns to find. They made a bit of a mess as they left!

Why I Might Say "Happy Holidays"

Every year the debate rages. Is Christmas under attack? I don't believe so. However, I do want to explain my reasoning for why I might tell you "Happy Holidays", because I suspect there are others who do it for the very same reason.

Doing some quick and dirty calculations, I would say about 60% of my friends celebrate Christmas, with greatly varying combinations of religious and secular rituals. The rest of my friends celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice or a combination of several. I may have friends that celebrate another winter holiday altogether. If I say "Happy Holidays" to you, it's because I am not sure which winter holiday you celebrate and I respect you too much to assume that you celebrate one over another. Please, feel free to tell me which, if any, you celebrate so that I may offer you the "proper" greeting.

Now, I'm not speaking for anyone but myself, but the next time someone offers you a hearty "Happy Holidays", keep in mind that they may simply be demonstrating the respect that they have for you and your traditions-even if they don't know what those tradtions are.

Building a Stronger Community: Make Extra and Share

This was originally posted on my blog, The World We Wish For, enjoy!

We are coming into a period of time where multiple religious and secular holidays converge, along with all of the things that go with holidays and celebrations. Many of these celebrations include food. Some include the giving of gifts. In both cases, some of us go overboard (I'm looking at you cookie bakers everywhere!).  Instead of lamenting how much of what you baked, cooked, canned, pickled, etc is going to go to waste (or to "waist" if you, like me, try to eat it all yourself) why not share it. You could make your neighbor's day with a box of your special cookies. You could deliver some goodies to a school, office or shelter. No matter where you decide to share the fruits of your labor, they will be appreciated!

Now, I hear some of you telling me that you don't bake, cook, can, pickle...I get it, no problem. Do you knit, crochet or sew? Check with local shelters and schools. They are often looking for scarves, mittens and hats this time of year for folks that need them. Do you do other crafts? Donate some to a school's or church's craft fair. They'll be happy for the extras to use as raffle prizes or gifts for their workers. Do you love scrapbooking? Use some of your scraps to make bookmarks and donate them to your local library for their patrons. The possibilities are really endless.

The holidays are often thought of as a time of excess, but with a little creativity and a bit of community-building spirit, the holidays can be a time when EVERYONE has just exactly as much as they need.

Skull Island Haunted Halloween

I love Halloween! I love dressing up and heading to haunted houses. I love parties and friends and candy. Now that I'm a mom, I realize that many Halloween activities are either to scary for little ones or, to be honest, kind of boring. Enter Skull Island in the middle of Pontiac Lake in White Lake, Michigan.

Specifically geared towards elementary and young middle school students, Skull Island is spooky but not scary. For $35 you get entry for a group of up to 6 people and 20 tokens to use on the games, concessions and zip line. There's also a spooky trail, bonfire, bounce house, and play structure to enjoy for no extra charge. We got there early to enjoy as much as possible before it got dark and crowded. It was a beautiful night (about 65 degrees) so it got crowded fast, but getting there early is key! There is a short boat ride over to the island (life jackets are provided for the kids) and if you don't get there early, you might wait awhile for a boat. They have 3 boats that were circling constantly, but by the time we left (around 8pm) there was quite a line waiting on the mainland.

All in all, we had a good time and my oldest son is interested in the day camps and birthday parties that the camp offers in the summer time. Haunted Halloween is open one more weekend (Friday and Saturday) so go check it out!

Enjoy the Holiday!

If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~Doug Larson

Be safe and have fun today!

Last Summer Weekend

Here in Michigan, school doesn't start until after Labor Day. What are you Michiganders doing with your last, long summer weekend?

Today we're headed to Waterford Oaks Waterpark and Sunday we're spending the day in neighboring Toledo at the zoo and the Mudhen's game (and dinner at Tony Packo's, of course!). Monday we will just lay low as I get ready to send my oldest off to kindergarten.

What are your big plans?

Memorial Day

I hope all my loyal readers have a wonderful holiday weekend. Please take a moment during your celebrations to remember what the day is all about. I'll be back next week with some yummy recipes to share!

Irish Soda Bread

I know that St. Patrick's Day was yesterday, but this bread is yummy any time of the year. A slice for breakfast is simply divine! There are a gazillion recipes out there on the interwebs, all claiming to be from someone's Irish nanny, just pick one and you'll probably do just fine. Here's the one I used; my Nanny's not Irish, but the bread was good anyway!

**Yes, I know that, traditionally, this bread does not have fruit in it. But, I like it with fruit. So, I added it. I'm crazy like that.**

Irish Soda Bread
Serves 8
Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup whiskey-soaked currants (substitute raisins if you'd like)**
• 2 tsps caraway seeds
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sour cream (I was running low, so I used 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 plain yogurt)

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9 inch baking pan or cast iron skillet.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, currants and caraway seeds.
• In a medium bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk and sour cream.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix only until moistened.
• Put batter in prepared baking pan, pat down and score with a deep 'X'.
• Bake for 65-75 minutes until firm and golden brown.
• Let cool and remove from pan. Completely cool before serving.

**Whiskey-soaking is not necessary, but it adds a nice flavor to the bread. If you wish to do it, just put your 1 cup of currants or raisins in a small bowl, add enough whisky to cover and let soak overnight. Before adding them to bread, drain off whiskey and discard (or save for later if you're into that kind of thing).

Give this bread a try some time. With no rising or kneading, it's a cinch for every baker!

Mischevious Leprechauns

On Wednesday, at both preschool and gymnastics, my son reported that Leprechauns were causing some trouble. I had to explain how sneaky and mischevious the little guys can be.  Before bed on Wednesday night we left this hat and some "treasure" (green construction paper that my son cut up) in my son's bedroom to see if we might be able to see a Leprechaun in action.

Wouldn't you know it, my son fell asleep and missed whoever made this mess in the night.

Oh well, maybe next year!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

On Saint Patrick's Day we celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. Many stories have been embellished, or just plain made up, about Saint Patrick over the centuries, but I found a good synopsis explaining some of his history.

This account comes from Kaboose.com.
Who Was Saint Patrick?

Even though Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland and one of the most celebrated religious figures around the world, the factual information about his life and times is quite vague. Most information about St. Patrick has been twisted, embellished, or simply made up over centuries by storytellers, causing much ambiguity about the real life of St. Patrick. However, there are a some elements of his story about which most scholars accept to be true.

According to Coilin Owens, Irish literature expert and Professor Emeritus of English at George Mason University, Saint Patrick is traditionally thought to have lived "between 432-461 A.D., but more recent scholarship moves the dates up a bit." At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped from his native land of the Roman British Isles by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Saint Patrick worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace. After six years of slavery he escaped to the Irish coast and fled home to Britain.

While back in his homeland, Patrick decided to become a priest and then decided to return to Ireland after dreaming that the voices of the Irish people were calling him to convert them to Christianity.
After studying and preparing for several years, Patrick traveled back to Ireland as a Christian missionary. Although there were already some Christians living in Ireland, St. Patrick was able to bring upon a massive religious shift to Christianity by converting people of power. Says Prof. Owens, "[St. Patrick] is credited with converting the nobles; who set an example which the people followed."
But Patrick's desire to spread of Christianity was not met without mighty opposition. Prof. Owens explains, "Patrick ran into trouble with the local pagan priesthood, the druids: and there are many stories about his arguments with them as well as his survival of plots against them." He laid the groundwork for the establishment of hundreds of monasteries and churches that eventually popped up across the Irish country to promote Christianity.

Saint Patrick is also credited with bringing written word to Ireland through the promotion of the study of legal texts and the Bible, says Prof. Owens. Previous to Patrick, storytelling and history were reliant on memory and orally passing down stories.

Patrick's mission in Ireland is said to have lasted for thirty years. It is believe he died in the 5th century on March 17, which is the day St. Patrick's Day is commemorated each year.

The first year St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in America in 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first official St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.

Are you doing anything special today? I plan on trying my hand at corned beef and cabbage. My son and I also hid a leprechaun hat and some treasure for the leprechauns to find. I'll let you know later if we saw any!

Valentine's Day From Scratch

Ah, Valentine's Day. Have you seen some of the figures about how much people spend? Eek! I prefer a simpler event. This year is a special case. I am walking in the Boston-area Komen 3-Day for the Cure this July. To participate, every walker must raise at least $2300. As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time fundraising. So, tonight at Olga's Kitchen (a yummy, Michigan-based company) in West Bloomfield, my family and I will be dining to raise money for my fundraiser account. Suffice it to say, our Valentine's Day is going to be a casual family affair.

Now, just because we're not doing something elaborate or expensive doesn't mean we don't deserve a special treat. Chocolate-dipped fruit is a wonderful indulgence, but this time of year the strawberries in the stores are not enjoyable. They are flavorless and have the texture of softballs to keep them intact as they travel thousands of miles to my produce section. Instead, I made chocolate-dipped mandarin oranges. I love the orange-chocolate combination and the touch of sea salt (thanks for that idea, Food Network!) brings it all together in a really sophisticated way.

This recipe is so simple, it's embarrassing. Peel and section 5-6 mandarin oranges (the number of sections that get dipped will depend on how thick you make your chocolate layer). Melt about 4 ounces of good dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water or a double boiler. Dip each orange section about halfway into the chocolate. Move the section to a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle each section with a few grains of coarse sea or kosher salt and let harden. You can put them into the fridge if you need them to harden faster. These take such a short time that you could start these after you get home from work and they'll be ready for dessert.

These are absolutely delicious and only have about 50 calories per three sections, so you can indulge even if you're watching your calorie intake. Enjoy!