Posts from — January 2011

So, how bad do you think the storm’s going to be? The other day, J said, “January’s over–no more snow!” Yeah, sister. I wish. Anyway. . . .

Ah, February break.  I’d much rather have an extra week of summer vacation, myself. Personally, I don’t think that they should offer a February break unless they’re willing to give us airplane tickets to someplace tropical. Well, we’ll make the best of it. At least this year we’re excited about trying to ski for a day or two. Maybe I should be joyful about more snow.

But of course, there are camps. Okay, I’m curious: do any of you do these camps? My children are always so excited at the prospect of a week away from school that they show no interest whatsoever in these camps. Are my children just particularly slothful? Or, if you do participate, is it in lieu of what would be daycare because the kids usually do school + daycare? Or do you homeschool and then enjoy a little rigid curriculum for a change of pace?

Here are some of the February break programs that I’ve heard about. These are generally camps or special programs that require a reservation and some money. Of course I’ll have the usual weekly listing once the week arrives, and hopefully there will be plenty of free drop-in activities around as well.

The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy has an Art Safari program for kids ages 6-11. It’s $200 for non-members, Monday-Friday. For the older set, there’s a Drawing, Painting & Pottery Workshop $270/non-member) or a multimedia design workshop for $255/non-member.

Afrim’s in Latham has Action Camps for ages 3-11. You can register for between 3 half days and 5 full days (with a range of prices). There’s also  Jamaican Soccer Camp for ages 9-15, which is 9 am to noon each day with a cost of $125.

Albany Institute of History & Art has three days of Vacation Art Break from Tuesday through Thursday. Mornings are for 6- to 8-year-olds, and afternoons are for 9- to 11-year-olds. $20/class for non-members.

There’s a Kidzart-Drama Kids camp at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Colonie. It’s $210. Half-day and three-day options are available.

The Children’s Museum of Science & Technology has different activities each day for kids ages 5 to 11. It’s $50/day for non-members.

The Hyde Collection has Children’s Art Studio Vacation classes Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 12:30 pm. It’s for grades 2 to 6, and the fee is $30/non-member per 2-day session.

Clifton Park is running a camp for residents ages 5 to 11.

Tumbling Tykes: see details in comments below (it’s not on the website)

Anybody know of other February break camps? And anyone ever participated in one of these?

You know what’s crazy? January flew by! I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. We had slightly more fun than usual this weekend. Cute W and I had a date night on Saturday, dinner and then we saw Taylor Mali. He was surprisingly entertaining, and particularly if you’re a teacher, you need to check out at least one performance.

We went skiing at Maple Ski Ridge again today, and my friend and I went and saw No Strings Attached tonight. Incidentally, on the way home from skiing M was asking about the movie. “What’s it about?” She asks. There’s a pause. Cute W comes up with an answer. “It’s about dating. Or not.” Anyway, I enjoyed it, but it’s not on any Chick Flick Top Ten. Like, say, Shag.

Okay, how have I never noticed the Emmy at Villa Italia?

Anyway, here’s what I’ve found for this week.

All Week/Multiple Times:

• Sesame Street Live is at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The show is “Elmo’s Green Thumb”, and tickets range from $14 to $51. Show are on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 pm and on Wednesday at 10:30 am.

Monday, January 31st:

• From 4-4:45 pm, school-aged kids can have a Passport to Fun at the Bethlehem Public Library.

Tuesday, February 1st:

• At 10:30 am, it’s Pine Bush Pups for preschoolers at the Albany Pine Bush. It’s free, with activities inside and a short hike outside.
• At 6:30 pm, kindergarteners and first graders can join the Supereaders Book Club at the Colonie Library. Register in person.

Wednesday, February 2nd:

• At 10:30 am, it’s Pine Bush Pups for preschoolers at the Albany Pine Bush. It’s free, with activities inside and a short hike outside.
• At the Children’s Museum at Saratoga, the preschool World Travelers are visiting China from 1:30-2:15 pm. It’s free with admission.

Thursday, February 3rd:

• From 4-4:45 pm, there’s a Chinese New Year Celebration at the Bethlehem Public Library.
• Clifton Park has Cross Country Ski Lessons from 6:30-8 pm. Pre-registration is required, and there’s a fee of $12. All ages are welcome, but bring or rent your own skis.

Friday, February 4th:

• At 11 am it’s Story Art at the New York State Museum.
• Take a First Friday Hike at Albany Pine Bush, and learn about owls finding love. $3/person, $5/family.
• There’s a Gingerbread Man Puppet Show at 4:30 pm at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. It’s free with admission.
• There’s Night Ice Skating at Schodack Island State Park from 5-8 pm with bonfire and food.
• From 5-9 pm, it’s First Night in Albany.
• From 6-8:30 pm, there’s a Candlelight Ski and Snowshoe at Saratoga Spa State Park. Food, drinks, and snowshoes for rent.
• It’s First Friday at Ballston Spa from 6-9 pm.

I’m feeling slothful and uninspired at the moment. I even whined to Cute W that I didn’t know what to post tonight. Really, I have a list of possible posts, but just about all of them required some research or writing effort. So what I really meant was, I didn’t know what I could post that would take such minimal effort that I could vegetate on the sofa ASAP.

And then I remembered that I haven’t yet shared my AOA post on Places to Try Cross Country Skiing!

Hooray! I’m done! My Netflix Queue is waiting!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

Didn’t it feel almost balmy today? Here’s what I’ve found for the weekend so far. Don’t forget to Embrace Winter, too, of course.

All Weekend:

• It’s the last weekend for The Last Dragon at Steamer 10 Theatre. Tickets are $12 at the door or just go ahead and get the Steamer 10 Pass, which is 10 tickets that can be used by anyone over the course of a year, for $90.
• At Proctors, it’s the first annual QFEST, with  LGBTQ-themed films.
• Inherit the Wind continues at the  Sand Lake Center for the Arts. $16/adult, $10/under 18.

Evening of Friday, January 28th:

• Schodack Island State Park has night ice skating with a bonfire and refreshments every Friday from 5-8 pm. Bring your own skates.
• It’s Troy Night Out from 5-9 pm.
• At 6:30 pm, go on an Owl Prowl at the Albany Pine Bush and find out how owls find love. $3/person or $5/family, and pre-registration is required.

Saturday, January 29th:

• At Crossgates Mall, there’s a Ronald McDonald House Radiothon all day with plenty of family-friendly activities.
• There’s a Nursery School Fair at Colonie Public Library from 10 am to noon. It’s for adults only.
• Explore the Pine Bush Habitats at 1 pm. Preregister; it’s $3/person or $5/family.
• Learn about the fisher at Thacher Nature Center at 2 pm.
• From 2-3 pm, Dr. Patty the Pet-Vet will teach kids about caring for pets at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.
• Make Sundaes at the Museum at the New York State Museum at 2 pm. It’s $2/non-member.
• From 3-5 pm, the Chinese Community Center at Albany is hosting a Chinese New Year Celebration at The Egg. Tickets are $35.
• At 7 pm at Revolution Hall in Troy, it’s LUNAFEST, a series of short films by women.
• Averill Park High School Orchestra is hosting a Swing Dance Fundraiser at 7 pm. Tickets are $10/adult, $5/student at the door.
• There’s an Albany Devils hockey game at 7 pm at the Times Union Center. $19/adult, $14/kid.
• The Albany All Stars Roller Derby Team has a bout at 7 pm at the Washington Avenue Armory.
• Taylor Mali is a slam poet who’ll be appearing at the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady at 8 pm as a benefit for Safe Passage in Guatemala, where the youth group occasionally travels to Guatemala to volunteer. Cute W and I will be there!

Sunday, January 30th:

• Take a Snowshoe Walk at 10 am at Thacher Nature Center.
• From 12-4 pm, Cohoes is having their annual Winter Carnival. Thanks to Margaret for the tip. . . do you know about any events that the rest of us might enjoy? Don’t hold back, please.
• It’s a free movie day at 1 pm at the Albany Pine Bush nature center–the movie’s FernGully.
• The Wizard of Oz is playing at 2 pm and 7:30 pm at Proctors. Tickets range from $20 to $65.
• There’s a Siena basketball game at 2 pm at the Times Union Center. Tickets range from $11 to $30.
• At 2:30 pm, the Musicians of Ma’alwyck will be playing as part of the Beat the Snow Music Series at Schenectady Public Library. Incidentally, I don’t think that the snow seems particularly beaten yet.

Tonight at 7:30 pm there’s a presentation at Proctors of Bullied, a documentary about one student’s experiences with anti-gay bullying. Along with the documentary, there will be screenings of student films and a panel discussion about bullying.  I can’t believe I missed this, especially since I’m friends with one of the organizers! In my brain I lumped it into the rest QFEST, which is mostly this weekend.

Anyway, sounds like a good parent-adolescent event if you can make it.

Weekend post will be out later tonight.

Today’s dip is a Curried Eggplant Dip. It’s loosely based on this recipe. I bet it’s delicious. But I’m lazy, and I didn’t have the ingredients. But my improvisation turned out pretty well.

I’m not a fan of eggplant. Generally I think that it’s too boring and spongy-textured. In fact, I tried another eggplant recipe earlier this week, and the problem was that it was too clearly recognizable as eggplant. The closest I’ve come to enjoying eggplant thus far is baba ghanoush. I even once had a Baba Ghanoush Incident. That was back when I was pregnant with M. I was working as a museum educator and I was physically active all day (my boss was constantly telling me to slow down for fear that I’d bring on labor). After a long day of work, I’d ride the subway home for an hour and fifteen minutes. I would get hungry. Sometimes, I’d spend the entire ride without food, obsessing about what I would get to eat when I arrived home in Brooklyn. Like the time I obsessed about the leftover Chinese food in our fridge only to find that Cute W had thrown it out. Other times I’d grab a snack to eat on the ride. One day I chose baba ghanoush, and it turns out that roasted eggplant dip is not the most convenient snack, especially when you’re trying to read and eat simultaneously and you no longer have  lap. It was everywhere. People were moving away from me. It was ugly. Not as bad as the later Fish and Chips Incident, but still, not pretty.

But I’m getting off track. The point is, I don’t love eggplant. But it’s a purple! That’s my toughest dietary-rainbow challenge! I’m not even crazy about blueberries. But this dip is super tasty. I had it with pita chips and red pepper.  The eggplanty flavor is not boring because it’s been roasted into yummy intensity. Better still, like baba ghanoush, the eggplant texture has been pulverized beyond recognition. Just the way I like it.

Curried Eggplant Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, cubed and roasted (I put mine in an oven for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees)
• 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 t sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 t curry powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t dried ginger
• 1/8 to 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 T chopped cilantro
• 2 t lemon juice

Directions:

• Put roasted eggplant, chopped (raw) onion, tomato, and garlic cloves in a food processor and process until smooth.
• Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add eggplant-onion-garlic mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
• Add sesame seeds and other spices (through cayenne), and cook 3-5 minutes more. If it starts to stick to the pan you can turn the heat down or add a little bit of water.
• Remove from heat and put mixture into a bowl. Stir in yogurt, cilantro, & lemon juice.

This is good warm or cold. I think that you could also throw it over some rice warm. Theoretically it would be better after it chills for a while, but I wouldn’t know because I ate it. In fairness, I made a half recipe, because I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. But now I’m definitely making the second half. Because there’s nothing I’d rather do with those roasted eggplant cubes in the fridge.

Cute W is away tonight, so thanks to a tip from Mary, I’m watching the super-fun Masterpiece Theater series Downton Abbey online. Because I am that woman. If you are a period-movie junkie, allow me to hook you up.

In case you’re looking, the earlier dips were Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip and Out West Bean Dip. There was also a post with salsa recipes.

Last year, Cute W came home with Thinkfun’s Chocolate Fix as a Valentine’s Day gift for the girls.

W is always looking for super-strategic games and puzzles, and they are received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. This one went over quite well. First, it’s cute. That scores points with my kids. There’s a booklet with 40 different puzzles, and you’re supposed to follow the clues to arrange the nine “chocolates” in a specific way. It says that it’s recommended for ages 8 and up, but J could do the easiest puzzles last year at age 5 (and I don’t believe that she’s a prodigy). The toughest ones are challenging for grown-ups. It was a nice alternative to even more chocolate.

Thinkfun makes tons of educational games and puzzles. Sometimes they cross the line, I think, and get a little bit too educational. But my kids could not stop playing Zingo. Which is basically Bingo with very short words. It’s one of those games that you play with the kids once or twice and you think, “This is a great game! The kids love it!” And then you play six more times and think, “Okay, it’s getting a little bit tedious, but it’s so educational, and the kids really enjoy it.” And then you play four more times and think, “Holy crap, I would rather jump out a window [Mike Berbligia-style] than play another game of this! Oh, why oh why did I appreciate my life more back when I was childless and I could spend my Saturday afternoons  eating ice cream while reading a magazine?”

Speaking of games, we’re still big fans of Sleeping Queens, by the way. But Chocolate Fix is a great idea for Valentine’s Day. I’m pretty sure that he got it at The Toymaker at Stuyvesant Plaza, although I don’t know if they have it around this year.

We’d just sent the girls upstairs to brush teeth and put on pajamas while we finished our glasses of wine when there was a yell from upstairs: “MY MOUTH IS FILLED WITH BLOOD! THERE’S BLOOD AND BLOOD!”

What does it tell you about my bad attitude and J’s hypochondriacal tendencies that I sat back with a sigh while Cute W hustled up the stairs? Moments later W was calling down that there was, actually, quite a bit of blood.

J spit and rinsed over sink while we asked what happened.  M was happy to provide the answer: “She was trying to bite my arm!”  The bleeding slowed and we located a baby tooth on the floor of the hallway. Apparently it was almost–but not quite–ready to come out. Now J has a space at the front of her mouth that looks more enormous than any tooth ever could have been.

We all recovered from the adrenaline surge and agreed that it had been a little scary. “That was the karma,” I groused to Cute W. I say this all the time, because it really does seem like whenever one of my children is in the middle of doing something that’s naughty or bad, bad stuff happens to them. For example, M will say something snotty to me as we walk down the sidewalk, and then she’ll trip and fall, and I’ll tell her (with some satisfaction, it’s true) that it was the karma. Really, I’ve been meaning to read a book about karma so that I actually understand it as a spiritual concept. But, anyway.

I was grousing to Cute W because my six-year-old-who-knows-better was biting again. “Oh, no,” he defended her. “I’m sure that they were just playing.” These words were coming from a man who’d just finished gazing at a child with big brown eyes, braided pigtails, a sprinkle of freckles over her nose, and a brand-new space where her front tooth used to be.

He simply couldn’t be rational. Men are such suckers for a pretty face.

J has been a biter since before she had teeth. Tonight she was angry, but as a toddler she was more likely to bite out of sheer, exuberant affection. However, that’s not really much of a consolation. You can’t say to the mother that you barely know, “Yes, she broke the skin, but it actually means she likes your baby.” Or, you can, I guess. But then she’ll walk over to her other mommy friends and start whispering, and next thing you know, you’re not invited to the playgroup anymore.

Miss L, one of J's victims

Oh, my gosh, it was a long and horrible phase that we went through. She was a menace. Together, we were a menace. I’d warn people, I’d hover, I’d try various techniques. No: I never did bite her back. I’m just not that kind of mommy. Years later, women at my moms’ group would still talk about J’s biting. In fact, it’s quite possible that someone will read this post and it will finally click, “Oh, she’s that Katie! The one with the biter! I remember her!”

Somehow, eventually, it passed. J hardly ever bites anymore. Her general level of ardor has cooled, and now M is the one person in the world who can infuriate her enough to bite. After bedtime stories, J and I discussed The Incident. She confessed that she’d tried to bite M because she was angry. I reminded her that she needs to use her words. She replied, “I know that, but then I get so mad that I can’t remember.” Apparently, tonight M was repeatedly  shaking her butt at J. This is exactly the sort of obnoxious behavior that occasionally makes me want to bite M.

It would be wonderful if, between the bloodshed and the forthcoming stern note from the Tooth Fairy, this Incident would scare J straight once and for all.

But I’m not getting my hopes up.

I can’t believe January’s almost over. And, yikes–more snow this week? Please, please, please let’s keep school on schedule, shall we? Here’s what I found for this week:

All Week/Random Stuff:

• It’s Restaurant Week in Guilderland.
• The Albany Parks & Recreation has tons of programs. Non-residents can enroll, although I think that they pay more. Okay, I suck. It was Albany, Oregon. This isn’t the first time that I’ve gotten over-excited about Albany, Oregon activities and then been disappointed.  But it’s the first time I actually published it. Yikes, and thanks for the comment. Seriously, I’m tempted to move there. I bet it’s not snowing there right now, either.

Monday, January 24th:

• There’s a Mommy and Me program with Jewish stories, songs, and play at the Bach Branch Library at 1:30 pm. It’s not on their website, but I received an email from Devora, who’s leading it.
• At 4 pm, elementary school kids can have a Passport to Fun at the Bethlehem Public Library.
• There’s a Birthday Bash for elementary school kids at the Mont Pleasant Branch Library.
• At 6:30 pm, it’s Pajamarama at the Bethlehem Public Library.

Tuesday, January 25th:

• Take a Snowshoe Hike on Red Oak Ridge at Moreau Lake at 10 am.
• At Albany Pine Bush, the Pine Bush Pups will talk about Neat Feet at 10:30 am both today and tomorrow. It’s a drop-in program for preschoolers.
• At 2 pm, Preschool Naturalists are meeting at Saratoga Spa State Park. You must pre-register and it’s $3/person or $5/family.
• At Woodlawn Branch Library, it’s the annual Valentine Stamping Party at 2 pm. Pre-registration is required.

Wednesday, January 26th:

• Take a Turkey Trail Snowshoe at 10 am in Moreau Lake.
• At 10:30 am, it’s Reading Time at the New York State Museum.
• At Albany Pine Bush, the Pine Bush Pups will talk about Neat Feet at 10:30 am both today and Tuesday. It’s a drop-in program for preschoolers.
• At 6 pm, Judy Willis will present information on Emotion and Learning at the Brown School in Schenectady. Admission is free and open to the public.

Thursday, January 27th:

• There’s Story Art at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga at 10:30 am. Yeah, there always is. But Thursday was looking tragically sparse.
• At 4:15 pm, there’s a Chinese New Year Celebration at the Duane Branch Library. It’s for elementary-school kids, and no registration is required.

Friday, January 28th:

• Bring your binoculars to the Hudson River Eagle Watch at 10 am at Moreau Lake.
• Go on a Porcupine Adventure at 10 am at Moreau Lake.
• It’s Teen Time at 3 pm at the Bethlehem Public Library.
• It’s Troy Night Out from 5-9 pm.
• At 6:30 pm, go on an Owl Prowl at the Albany Pine Bush and find out how owls find love. $3/person or $5/family, and pre-registration is required.

No, I’m serious. Between the holiday and the snow day and the other snow day and my cold, I didn’t get much done this week. I am a wimpy snow driver, so I kept procrastinating away errands. I wasn’t feeling too great and the kids were around all over the place, I didn’t knock much off my To Do list, and I skipped my workouts. And then, what’s the point of eating healthy if you’re not working out, anyway?

Yep, that’s right. It became a regular shame spiral. But the week is over now, so I’ll start fresh. You know, tomorrow.

We had Boogie Night at the girls’ school this evening, and I’d have to say it was the least unpleasant Boogie Night ever. How’s that for a ringing endorsement? Well, generally the scene is a gym filled with children and very loud music. Some kids are dancing and many are running around like maniacs while their parents ignore them. As a parent, you are officially supervising, which means that you have to stand around scanning the crowd while making idle shouted chitchat. This is particularly difficult for me because I really love to dance. I miss dancing like a maniac every weekend in college. I briefly contemplated attempting to organize a regular Family Dance Party in my basement because I yearn for it so. But parents are not allowed to dance at the elementary school because that would Humiliate My Daughters and Scar Them For Life. So instead I have to stand around. Actually, I did dance YMCA with J. Hopefully M didn’t notice.

The other generally painful aspect of these social occasions, for me at least, is that I fret about my children and whether they’re feeling lonely or left out or whatever. For the first couple of years, it felt like M would just wander around these events aimlessly, and yet she wouldn’t want me to approach her. And last time, all of her friends were dancing and she went into the library’s Book Fair and read a book. Which: yeah, okay. Reading books is good. But I was trying to figure out if there was Drama or if she just doesn’t like to dance. Tonight, both of my children were happily dancing with friends, which made it all much more enjoyable.

In fact, as the entire gymnasium did the Macarena, one of my friends sidled up to me and claimed credit for the enthusiastic and skilled dancing. It turns out that it was her idea to teach kids dances in gym class before Boogie Night. What a great idea it turned out to be! When I was growing up, we’d do a unit on square dancing in school, and it was fun but stressful, with much worry about partners and sweaty hands. But these basic line dances are pretty easy, fun, and they can be accomplished with no yucky touching whatsoever. Such lame-for-your-wedding but super-fun-for-the-elementary-school-crowd hits include the Electric Slide, the Cotton-eyed Joe, the Chicken Dance, YMCA, and the Macarena. It was clear that my children weren’t the only ones who’d been practicing their moves, and it was also a great equalizer, since obviously the kindergarteners are not quite as clued into pop culture as the fifth graders. Anyway, I thought that I’d pass it along, because I think it’s a good idea, not only for fun gym classes, but to drum up enthusiasm for school events.