Corner View: Street Fashion: Pirates, Princesses and Fairies

17 June 2009 Filed In: all the rest, corner view





Street fashion here in Tribeca, of late, has been hard to come by.  It has been cold and dreary most days, and I have noticed that people have started to schlump a little bit-myself included.  You can only look at your pretty summer dresses and blouses hanging in your closet while you wear your same, sad long sleeve number for so long without feeling a bit blue.

Yesterday, we visited our local park, and because there was so much to do in order to get out the door before it began pouring again, I forgot to put on my son’s shoes.  He was thrilled.  He doesn’t much like wearing shoes.  Plus, he had on his Pirate Socks, brought back from Tokyo especially for him and wanted to show those off.  
“Yo ho ho!”
As for my daughter, she and her friend L couldn’t be bothered to stop and chat about fashion.  I tried and was given a rapid fire response having nothing (though maybe…?) to do with fashion:
L: I.  We can’t.  We have to…
M: We have to go quick to find the diamond!  The precious, precious diamond in the forest.
L: Yes the diamond to give to S!  We want him to marry us, and we need the diamond. [S is L’s twin brother, who was off at this moment playing Spiderman with his guy friend, completely unaware of his two valiant fiancees.]
M: Gotta Go, Mama!  We have to search deep, deep into the seeeeeeeeeee-cret forest.
L: There might be a dragon!
And off the princesses ran into the seeeeeeeee-cret forest to meet their Fate.  
The last picture is of a fairy we met about a month ago in Central Park when the weather was still nice.  
Sweet Fairy, along with helping L+M find the precious, precious diamond and helping me remember to actually put shoes on my son’s feet from time to time, could you please bringa little sunshine and warmth to our little Corner?”
Not so into Pirates, Princesses or Fairies?  Check out the Mode elsewhere around the globe:

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virgina, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian,


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Rosemary Parmesan Foccacia

16 June 2009 Filed In: bread, Breads, cooking class, Fall, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Thanksgiving, Vegetarian, Winter






Last week the mini-chefs got their hands on some dough.  Some pizza dough.  

“It’s soft!”
“It’s squishy!”
“It feels goooooood.”
It really does-so much so that some of us even had a bit of a hard time giving up the dough when it was time to place it on the baking sheet and sprinkle it with things.  After a little pep talk from the mamas, they did relinquish the dough, sprinkle it with the rosemary and the parmesan… only to pick it back up again and start working it in their hands again.  
If there is one thing that is completely understandable, it is this.  To submerge your hands in that soft, squishy, good dough?  Heaven.  So, my advice when you are making this with your Yummy?  Set aside a special lump of dough just to love after the hard work is done.

Rosemary Parmesan Foccacia

*2-4 T. chopped fresh rosemary, or to taste
*a couple of handfuls (1/4 c. ) of freshly grated parmesan cheese
*a small sprinkle of salt, optional
*a slosh or two of olive oil
*cornmeal and extra flour for shaping the foccacia

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.  

With your Yummy: Prepare two rimmed baking sheets by oiling them (Canola oil is nice here) and sprinkling them with a bit of cornmeal.  

Sprinkle your counter or board with a little flour.  Make sure that you and your mini-chef have also given your hands a good flour coating, too.  Working with lumps of dough about the size of a Big Person’s palm, or about double the size of a mini-chef’s palm, first sculpt the dough into smooth balls.  Then, stretch the dough into an oval or rectangular shape and keep stretching until you can stretch no more without tearing it.  

Lay each down onto the prepared baking sheet, keeping the foccacia at least an inch apart.  Sprinkle the tops with olive oil and massage the oil all over the tops of the foccacia.  Then sprinkle each with a bit of rosemary and a bit of the parmesan cheese.  Follow that with a tiny pinch of salt.

Big Person: Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool, dunk in olive oil, or use a serrated knife to cut carefully through the middle and make some delicious Italian sandwiches.  

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Easy Birthday Ideas: Decorating with Pretzels

15 June 2009 Filed In: Birthday, decorating




Over the past few weeks, we have really been in Birthday Land, with so many friends and family members celebrating their special day.  These pictures were taken at a birthday play date we had for my daughter’s class.  In New York, and especially Tribeca, the parties can be crazy-fancy, with clowns, famous singers strumming guitars, catering by Megu and whatnot.  We kept ours super simple, focusing the entertainment on the cupcake decoration and the free play.

Armed with a bag of Sundrops, organic m & m’s whose color palette is really great, a bag of pretzels, and a special turbo icing gun filled with my favorite chocolate frosting, we perched our butterflies atop cupcakes made using the easiest yummiest recipe, Beatty’s Cake (Thank you, Barefoot Contessa).  
I cannot say enough to praise this cake.  It is meant to be a sheet cake but makes incredible cupcakes as well.  It is moist, just chocolaty enough to please many palettes, and very simple to make.  Both of my Yummies helped me bake the cupcakes the morning of the playdate, and even my two-year-old was able to help in earnest a few times, much to his delight.  This recipe has graced our birthday table several times in the past few years, and it always leaves a chocolate smile on our faces.  
A couple of notes for first time makers of Beatty’s Cake:
*The batter is very watery.  We like to pour ours into a very large bowl with a pour spout and avoid using spoons altogether when we make this cake as cupcakes.  Bake the cupcakes about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of one.  
*To be extra bad/good, add just a touch more cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.  I will leave the exact amount up to you but suggest at least another 1/4 cup.  You do not have to alter the rest of the ingredients at all, adding up to 1/2 cup extra, since the cake will still be moist and delicious.
As for the butterflies, I had seen pretzel butterflies on Martha and in some bakeries around town, and my mini-chefs and their friends are always holding up two mini-pretzels and creating their own versions spontaneously.  Since we wanted something that the average 2-4 year old could create easily, we chose to break some of the pretzels up to use as antennae and to use chocolate candies as the body.  The possibilities as to what you use for the body are really endless-lemon drops, small gum drops, Sugar Babies, Skittles, etc. would all be gorgeous.  
In the end, we had a group of the messiest, chocolatiest, happiest kids.  Notice the tarp?  Unh  hunh.  
  

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The View From Our Window

10 June 2009 Filed In: all the rest




This is what we see: a mysterious bridge, a famous playwright (sitting down to pay his bills or write his next great work), the street after a storm, and the Yummies who usually obstruct the view.

Want to peek at some others’ backyards?  Take a look….

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe,kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva,francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e,janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate,mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte,kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina,april, rebecca, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, angelina, dorit,goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di,travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta,juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian,doobleh-vay


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Teriyaki Turkey Meatloaf with Mango Chutney

09 June 2009 Filed In: cooking class, Fall, lunchbox, Main Dish, Spring, Summer, turkey, Winter





Making healthy things that we can throw together at the last minute on a busy day and work together to make is always challenging.  This turkey meatloaf, however, fits the bill nicely.

This summer, in our cooking class, we are focusing on making an entire meal together each time.  We started with the Summer Rolls with Carrots and Beets as our appetizer and moved onto the main course, turkey meatloafs.  As the Yummies worked, I only gave them basic guidelines for the measurements of each ingredient that they should add to their work bowl, and the results seemed as varied as what they called our dish:
“Meat-luff”
“Eat-loaf”
and, simply, “My Loaf”.
After a chaotic day yesterday spent making crafts, sewing Mira’s birthday dress for her upcoming party, and lots of pretending to go to Florida (a standard around here), our apartment looked like the proverbial tornado.  
No worries, we threw together these ingredients quick as you please and had our loaves in the oven in no time.  While they cooked, we were able to make a dent in the clean up before heading out to our local park for a picnic dinner.  

Teriyaki Turkey Meatloaf with Mango Chutney

*2 lbs. ground turkey, preferably dark meat
*1/3 c. teriyaki sauce plus more for the top
*1/2 c. mango chutney
*1/2 c. oat flour***
*2 eggs
*1 c. shredded carrots
*2 scallions
*1/2 a sweet white or red onion, grated
*salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with cupcake papers (the natural kind look best here).

If your Yummy is old enough, you can work with him or her to cut the scallion into small bits with scissors.  Start at the top and snip off little pieces, until you get right down to the hairy part of the scallion.  Then, stop.  No hair in the meatloaf please!

Combine the scallions with all of the other ingredients in a large bowl, stirring gently but steadily.  

Using an ice cream scoop to keep the amounts more or less uniform, scoop up some of the turkey mixture and level the scoop.  Release it into the prepared muffin tin.  Keep scooping, leveling, and releasing until you have filled your entire tin.

Spoon Teriyaki on top of each loaf.

Big Person: Slide the meat loaves into the oven and bake 30-45 minutes or until cooked all the way through.  

***To make oat flour, put some (non-quick-cooking) rolled oats into the food processor and blitz until powdery.  

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