Waiting: A Lunch Date With Daddy
March 06, 2008
Read more: Chipotle | Quicksies | TWH | Wednesday Wrap-up
This was our Wednesday lunch: a date with Daddy at Chipotle. It rocked.
We beat him there by a few minutes—just long enough to run to the bathroom and wash hands after an hour of cricket-chasing at a nearby park. (Can I say how happy I was to have a warmish sunny day at last?) This is Baby A waiting patiently for his arrival:
Hope your Wednesday was this good, too.
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So Much for "Don't Play With Your Food"
February 26, 2008
Read more: A. Says... | Quicksies | Thoughts
"Look out!
We've never been big on not playing with food—within reason. Throwing it? Making intentional messes? No way. But a little thing like this? I can deal. Everyone needs a little levity.
Switching gears completely: Can I tell you how sweet things are right at this moment?
I'm sitting on our bed, listening to the rain outside (rain! in the South! the grass may yet survive!) as Baby A and The Wonderful Husband finish the second book in the My Father's Dragon series. (It's awesome for early chapter-book readers...or listeners.)
Our next baby is tumbling around inside me, managing somehow to thump me hard in the back on my left and poke out on my right side at the same time. At just twenty-one weeks along, it has already been a big mover and shaker for quite some time; TWH jokes that he or she is going to roundhouse its way out of the womb.
I'm in the last stages of a big chunk of freelance work—an annual report for an institute within a major university nearby—and the deadlines have kept me from posting here much over the past week or two. I'm looking forward to finishing. Think it will be the last big project I take on before the baby arrives around the first of July. (And that, THAT, will be the big project for at least three or four months afterwards. That and the quest for sleep.)
TWH and Baby A have finished the book now and are talking about it. There's a map inside the cover, and she's telling him which islands are which. I know from reading the earlier chapters that she has them wrong, but what does it matter? TWH lets it go. Sunday night, when we started this book, Baby A nuzzled down into my side and turned to me with an unmatched look of excitement on her face. I recognized it and something inside my chest went all warm: She was incredibly excited to be on the verge of starting a new book.
I'm so grateful she feels that, too. We do get lucky and pass on some of the good stuff, don't we?
Posted by QSMama at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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Guy Kawasaki, You Don't Know Me, But I Say You Rule
February 18, 2008
Read more: Alltop.com | Guy Kawasaki | Linkage | Site News
For more than ten years—and from thousands of miles away—I've admired tech innovator Guy Kawasaki. He's someone with big ideas who actually gets stuff done. Lots of stuff. I'd love to have created one-twentyseventh of what he's created and helped others create.
But, uh, no.
So it's a great feeling to be part of one of his newest launches, the mommy blogs page of the beta of Alltop.com. That's a screen shot of the page above—see how clean and simple it is? The idea is to give readers all the sites related to a given topic, from politics to sports to parenting. Here's how Kawasaki puts it:
I am the CEO of a company called Nononina. We recently released a website that is a collection of 'single-page aggregations' organized by topics such as Fashion, Celebrities, Sports, Gaming, Macintosh, Science, Green, and Autos.
Just go to the mommy blogs area, right here, to find current feeds from Quick Serve Kids and lots of other incredibly interesting and talented writers—Dooce, White Trash Moms, Not Calm (dot com), and lots of others well worth your visit.
Bookmark, rinse, repeat. And tell your friends.
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How Much Prodding Will It Take?
Read more: Burger King | Food Safety | In-N-Out | Jack in the Box | McDonald's | Thoughts
Let's start with this: the sheer size of the recall:
The amount of beef—143 million pounds—is roughly enough for two hamburgers for each man, woman and child in the United States.
Then let's add in the fact that a big chunk of the recalled meat went to vulnerable populations (not that all Americans shouldn't expect food safety regulations be followed):
About 37 million pounds of the recalled meat went to school lunch programs and other federal nutrition programs since October 2006, said Ron Vogel of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service.
Next, let's think about the real dangers posed by this event. I'm a layperson and all, but I know that downer cows are more likely to carry the prions that cause mad cow disease, which can cause Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. That's when people get the same symptoms as mad cows. And die, always. And it can take many years for the symptoms to show up. By that time, who can say whether this incident was the cause?
Another more immediate danger is e. Coli contamination. Poisoning shouldn't happen if the meat is cooked properly. But why should we have to worry more about it? Why isn't our food safety system (ahem, HELLO, USDA) monitoring these things more closely? Can I hereby request that my tax dollars that are currently going to shoot the daylights out of Iraq be diverted to keeping our own food safer? 'Cause it's pretty clear we don't have enough supervision on the ground here.
If my family and I were vegetarian, I'd be very happy there was no chance we'd eaten this beef. But we're not. And I don't think I could be.
So, again, I'm renewing my commitment to buying our meats from small farms that care for their animals well, feed them right, and practice clean, humane slaughter. (I know. It's not humane. But there it is.) I'll also buy meats from the Niman Ranch Cooperative, which I know holds its farmers to strict standards. I won't buy from the "naturally raised" brands in the larger retailers because the guidelines for that label are fuzzy. I don't trust them.
Still I can't rule out the occasional burger out somewhere. I can't help digging the burgers at Five Guys and at a little burger stand up the street. But I think we'll limit those to once a month or so.
PunditMom covers the topic well on the DC Metro Moms blog.
I'd love to see more of the major restaurant chains address food safety. Jack in the Box and In-n-Out have stepped up. Where's everyone else? Hello, McDonald's? Burger King? Large companies can do so much to reassure the public and change safety policy for the better.
Where are you, Forces for Good? How much prodding do you need to make sure (or at least to reassure us that you're making sure) our food is safe and our animals are treated right?
So, readers, how has this news affected your thinking? Not at all? A lot? Let me know.
Posted by QSMama at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)
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The Valentine's Cookies that Took Three Years to Bake
February 13, 2008
Read more: Thoughts | Valentine | Valentine's Day
May I present to you...
da da da DA da DA DA!...
Valentine's cookies that were three years in the making!
This batch didn't really take three years. They just represent three years' worth of trying. Since Baby A was born more than three years ago, I've tried to make iced cookies for some holiday, ANY holiday. But I'd always be too busy—getting ready, cleaning the house, managing a stupid workload, packing up to drive somewhere. Today, though, it happened.
It wasn't too hard; I used this easy recipe for no-chill sugar cookies, and Baby A was able to stick with me for much of the pouring and mixing. She even rolled a few balls of dough for the cookie sheets, although they weren't too ball-shaped. ("Look, it's a cookie snake!" she told me. Snakes are a current obsession, in a good way.)
Once the cookies were out of the oven, she even sprinkled on some sprinkles, when she wasn't sprinkling them straight into her mouth. (There must be a gene for that.) But she also had to work in a number of laps around the house, as well as a re-creation of the "It's a Hard-Knock Life" scene from the Annie movie.
That's okay. We did it. And even though these cookies couldn't ever grace a magazine page, I now feel like the most bada$$ combination of Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray you evah seen. Mom goal #187.3: check.
And to little E. in Alexandria: these cookie pictures go out to you. See, Baby A wanted so, so badly to send you some of her Valentine's cookies. It took a lot of gentle explaining that the cookies could not travel through the mail, that they'd break into tiny pieces as they made their way up there. So know that your buddy wanted to send you a gift on this Valentine's Day.
Posted by QSMama at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
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Right and Wrong Ways to Enjoy a Burger
February 12, 2008
Read more: Thoughts
This is the right way to enjoy a burger:
Nice going, Baby A. By contrast, this is the wrong way.
Can you believe that story?
Posted by QSMama at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
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Dude! I Did This Quiz First!
February 10, 2008
Read more: Site News | Thoughts
Fast Casual magazine did a big news release last week about its quiz relating personality traits to Mexican food preferences.
Dude! I did it first! But I included all kinds of fast food.
Find out what kind of fast food you are. For realz.
Let me know whether or not you agree with your results....
Posted by QSMama at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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An End run Around Super Bowl Ads: Smart Move? Or Cheap-o?
February 03, 2008
Read more: KFC | Restaurant PR, Promotions & Contests | Super Bowl | Super Bowl Ads
Tom Petty is this year's halftime act? I hope he doesn't have a wardrobe malfunction....
So the Super Bowl is on, and like millions of other indifferent football fans out there, I'll be running back and forth from the TV room to catch the commercials. (Turns out I could just catch them later on Myspace.)
Seems this year KFC's parent company, Yum Brands, didn't want to spring for the cost of Super Bowl airtime—or thinks it has found a clever way around the expense, which, if you're wondering, is $2.7 million price for a 30-second ad. Presumably the company might have used the time to promote its Hot Wings product, pictured above.
Instead, KFC is offering to make a $260,000 charity donation in the name of any player who scores during the game and does the chicken dance in the end zone.
Mmmm hmmm. Right. There have been some pretty silly dances so far, but I don't think any of them qualifies as the Chicken Dance quite yet. (Instructional video included!)
KFC spokesman Rick Maynard was quoted in MarketingDaily earlier this week: "There are lots of ways to advertise. We think this is unique, and will get people talking about something that might take place during the game itself."
Talk about expensive: If you wanted to have your Super Bowl experience in person, ticket prices reached a record level this year—$4,190—although the average price was expected to go down closer to game day.
Posted by QSMama at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
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A Chance to Eat in Peace
February 02, 2008
Read more: Dining Experiences | Linkage
Oh my gosh, this is brilliant.
Now can it come to my city?
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They're Picky and it's Okay
February 01, 2008
Read more: A. Says... | Linkage | Pre-K and Kindergarten | Quicksies | Thoughts
It's amazing how many kid-development milestones just kind of happen on their own. Just when you're despairing, thinking you'll be changing diapers (or throwing away unsalvageable underwear) forever, they start using the toilet. Just when you think they'll be packing tubes of Little Bear toddler toothpaste for college, they learn to spit.
And just when you think your child won't ever lighten your day with some bathroom humor, you get a song like this: "I went some at school, and some at the Y, yeah,/ Poopy poopy, poopy, poopitypoopitypoopity POOP!" (copyright 2008, Baby A, just in case you were thinking of pirating that one).
Aaaaaaaanyway, seems it goes the same way with expanding their palates, too. Here's one writer, over at the lovely Babble site, who's taking that whole process in stride.
And that's cool. All things in time, right?
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If It's On Your Cup, It Must Be Your Name
January 29, 2008
Read more: A. Says...
When I tell you that A. really likes to get into character, I am serious. This is how deep it goes. Yesterday morning, she was Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" again. That means a jumper with buttons in the right places, a white shirt underneath, folded-down socks, ruby-red slippers, and not one but TWO braids in her hair. (Try putting two braids in that fine, short haircut, to her exacting Dorothy-matching standards. It's the perfect morning-tantrum storm.)
Then when we stopped for coffee, I let her have a hot chocolate in the hopes I could read a politics story in the newspaper. She went back to the counter, asked the barista if she could please borrow a pen, and came back and wrote her name on her paper cup.
Then, because she couldn't do the whole thing, she asked me to please complete her thought. Per her instructions, I had to turn what she had written into "NOT A. but DOROTHY." It turned out like this:
This kid.... Today, though, today has been maelstrom-free so far. It's been great.
Posted by QSMama at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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This Is Why I'm Tired, Y'all
January 25, 2008
Read more: A. Says... | Quicksies
So last night we're making a forty-five-minute drive home during the second half of the Duke - Virginia Tech basketball game. I love me some Blue Devils, so I build it up really big with Baby A: "Guess what? You get to listen to the Duke game on the radio! With me! Like a big kid!"
She's all, "Mommy, you LOVE radio! Especially NPR! And you love Duke! Yay! This will be FUN!"
But here's how it actually goes, copied from a sympathy-pleading email to my husband, who often doesn't understand why I want to take a break from talking for a little while after he gets home in the evenings:
we missed the whole game, though, in no small part because a. WOULD NOT STOP TALKING as i tried to listen on the radio on the way home. here is a two-minute slice:"he's dribbling? that means bouncing the ball, right? devils scored! did the other team loss, er, loser, um, not win yet? seventy is more than fifty-five, right? duke has seventy. that's more. the man said duke THREW THE BALL AWAY? so he put it in the trash can? why would he do that? how can they play the game if the ball is thrown away? OH NO! can someone get it back? do they have extra basketballs to use? just an expression? what means an expression? does duke have the ball now? what color is the other team? is it clemson? they're orange. or is it temple? is it the grey team we saw the other day, um, um, um, gorgetown? i'll be a cheerleader! goooooo, duke! dukedukedukedukeduke duuuuuuuuukkkkke!"
i swear i've never head a person so capable of keeping up a nonstop stream-of-consciousness chatter. so then i'm Mean Mom, punching off the radio and yelling, "SHUSH! just listen!" over and over but it's like she is on speed and can't stop her mouth.
la la la la la la....
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A Scoop on Kids' Meals
January 24, 2008
Read more: Thoughts
Kelby at Kids Cuisine has a good reminder about how much little kids like to dip and eat their meals. It's an easy, fun way to get good stuff into them. (Unless, of course, your kid is Baby A, who is among the 0.5 percent of kids who don't care to dip.)
So why haven't restaurant chains caught on to this notion? Imagine how well a dipping-inspired meal would do on kids' meal menus. Parents would snap it up, service would be easy, and these things have a pretty decent fridge or shelf life. Yes, McDonald's offers Apple Dippers (pictured above), but they're caramel. That's dessert. Why not expand upon the idea? Take your yogurt sauce, or the hummus or peanut butter that's already on your menu, serve with carrot sticks or graham cracker sticks, and voila: toddler meal.
Hello? Menu R&D departments at restaurant chains? Here's a hint from the real world that could revolutionize your kids' menus.
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Road Trippin'
Read more: Linkage | Quicksies
When your family road-tripped, was McDonald's your mealtime stop? And when you were a kid, was that not the most awesome thing about the trip? Somehow it made those hours of confinement, during which your little brother could not keep his BRATTY HANDS on HIS HALF of the BACK SEAT, bearable. I mean, really, what about the imaginary line down the middle of the bench seat did he not understand?
The only thing better than the set of arches on the horizon was the time we pulled over at a rest stop on the South Carolina-Georgia border and ate a surreal picnic of hard-boiled Easter Eggs. (Fortunately, this was an actual Easter trip.) What, break, peel, and eat these works of art? At a picnic table? Here?My parents must have been truly desperate for a stop.
Heather Armstrong of Dooce remembers McDonald's and road-trip details as their family sets off on an impromptu road trip to California. She's funny enough to make your latte shoot out of your nose--as you might already know--but the best part of this post for me was realizing other couples actually do fight. Badly. And get over it fast.
If McDonald's wasn't your family's regular road-trip stop, what was?
Posted by QSMama at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
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I'm All Over the Place With This One
January 22, 2008
Read more: Chipotle | Dining Experiences | Kids' Meals | Quicksies | iPhone
What's up with the difficulty of planning meals and shopping lists when there are little kiddos around? Grocery lists become just one more bit of proof that I can't think through anything from start to finish these days. I try, really I do, but it's just frustrating. And that's before the shopping trip, which always ends up feeling like a freakin' marathon event.
Jessica Ashley, better known around the blogging world as author of the Sassafrass blog, knows your pain. And mine. She's got a great post at Strollerderby today. It'll make you think, Okay. It's not just me. And then she links to inspirational posts from bloggers who do manage not only to get it done, but to blog about how they did it, and how we can do it, too. (Props. Mad props.) There's CityMama, and Foodmomiac, and Adventures of Bittyman, and An Ordinary Mom, and Mommy Cracked.
There's more inspiration for you here at Quick Serve Kids...scroll down and look under "More, Please" on the right-hand side.
Lately I've been using my iPhone (what is it NOT useful for?) to keep a running grocery list that I'm sure to have with me. That image above is my most recent version. (Too bad the phone can't help me make better blog graphics. Sigh....) As you can see, it's, um, pretty short. From there, I'll grab two more kinds of groceries: staples we always keep on hand (cheese, pasta sauce, fresh fruit) and things that look good at the moment or inspire some thoughts for that night's meal. The cart is never full, though. I like to keep it fresher than that.
What's your strategy for keeping the pantry and fridge reasonably stocked? Or do you let take-out take care of it?
Speaking of this whole struggle, this is probably a good time to catch up on our family's own quick-serve trend--which is sharply away from quick-serve patronage. It's not part of any kind of campaign, or really anything purposeful at all. For a while, Chick-fil-A, Panera, and a couple other concepts were figuring into our mealtimes once or twice a week. Lately, though, we're doing a lot of home cooking. I like the variety, and home is snuggly and relaxing when it's 20 degrees outside.
If we do go to a chain these days, it's Chipotle. There are more locations near us now, which makes it convenient (which, duh, is our point). The food there is fresh and delicious, the wait time is near zero, and I love love love the natural and organic consciousness that company is pushing. Go here and click on Manifesto. Note as you read that this quick-serve chain actually recommends you read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. How's that for confidence in its mission?
Sweet. We actually visited Chipotle two days in a row recently. But mostly, lately, we've been doing a lot of cooking at home. It just feels right.
Hmmmm, why all the pickiness? Why the strange domesticity?
Could it be...
I'm nesting?
Posted by QSMama at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
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Kicking the Seat of My Own Pants
January 20, 2008
Read more: Quicksies | Restaurant PR, Promotions & Contests | Site News | Subway
So. It's been a while. Now I feel like I've just run into an old friend on the street.
"What's new?," she asks. And though a million things have happened in the meantime, but not knowing where to start, I say, "Nothing, really. Same old. How are you?"
I've had so many ideas for posts. Really, I have. Just haven't had the time to flesh them out and actually, uh, post them. Haven't had the energy, either, but I'll leave the juicy details on that for the next post.
Then this morning I opened my inbox to find a message from one of the Noodads, alerting me to his post about a recent family trip to Subway and his disappointment in the kids' meal toy. The picture above is his; read the whole post here. It's worth the trip over.
The amazing thing is hundreds of people have continued to visit Quick Serve Kids every week. Granted, they're staying less than a minute on average, but that's to be expected. For pete's sake, my last post was a big whine, and that was weeks ago.
This week will be different--and I have a lot to share. Stay tuned. And keep on checking back.
Posted by QSMama at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
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Sniffle. And That About Sums It Up.
November 15, 2007
Read more: Linkage | Site News
Y'all, we've been sick. Really miserable. It's getting better, a little better each day, but...yuck. I'm sure we've killed no less than six trees in tissue usage over the past few weeks. Baby A had 104-degree fevers last week, and didn't eat for days. Is it any wonder my mind wasn't much on guiding her through some fast-food world? We were just getting through the days. And the nights. Oh, my, the nights. No. Sleep.
So there are tumbleweeds blowing right through this poor blog, but here's an entry, at least for today. I recently happened upon the KidsCuisine site, a fellow BlogHer Network member, and I really like what I'm reading there. Go on over and check it out.
See the vegetable alphabet idea? I think we might give that a try, starting soon. It's a great idea for me as a cook, too—how do I make creamed chard? What could I do with daikon root? And is there a veggie that starts with Q?
Now I'm off to Target to buy, like, twelve more boxes of tissues.
Posted by QSMama at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
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Pumpkin Patch Girl - Halloween 2007
November 01, 2007
Read more: For Laughs
Next up: photos of Good Witch Glenda and her friends from the Oz crew. Stay tuned!
Hope you had a fun Halloween.
Posted by QSMama at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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The Very Thought!
October 25, 2007
Read more: Site News | Thoughts
In the one and a half years I've been doing this blog, I've grown numb to the offers of the hundreds of spam comments I get each day.
Now, my advertising contract with the fabulous BlogHer precludes me from laying out the specifics of these offers. But let's just say that if, at THIS VERY MOMENT, I wished to engage in a game of naked online poker in which my opponents were an assortment of fake personal body parts of women and recently-become-women of a variety of races—and simultaneously broadcast that game on a webcam to thousands of enthusiastic viewers—these robo-commenters would be happy to show me how. INSTANTLY. And I could probably win, like, $50,000, too, and have guaranteed income for life.
You should see how quickly I can (1) select all, (2) hit delete on that Junk Comments page.
But yesterday one robo-comment finally threw me for a loop.
The promise? "Flush caffeine from your body, instantly!"
Why? Why?? Why would I waste that perfectly good $3.35 latte?
That was the craziest thing I've ever seen. Just plain nasty. The very thought!
Posted by QSMama at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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What Do You Eat When You're Alone?
October 23, 2007
Read more: KFC | TWH | Thoughts
This guy I dated a long time ago was an amazing cook. I learned much of what I know about cooking and wines from him and his mother. As my mom will tell you, I couldn't be bothered with learning to cook when I was growing up.
But whenever I was away for days at at time—on a business trip, say—this guy's place would be piled up with KFC buckets and pizza boxes. What in the world?
Fast-forward to today: When The Wonderful Husband is out of town (which, thankfully, is much less now thanks to a new job), fast food isn't what I want. If we've been having a good day and she deserves it, I'll take Baby A on a "date" to a yummy local pizza place. "I'm having some Mommy time!," she'll tell everyone in sight.
But most days, after twelve straight hours dealing with Hurricane A, I prefer to feed her an early dinner and put her to bed so I can relish a little time to myself.
It's then that I cook the things that TWH doesn't like so much, dishes with Asian themes like curry and fish sauce and fresh cilantro, with tons of veggies and maybe some tofu. You can't beat a big bowl of curried noodles, especially when you're free to eat it on the sofa with full possession of the remote control and several episodes of "The Daily Show" on the DVR.
Case in point: the dinner pictured above, consisting of lo mein noodles, broccoli, scallions, finely diced sweet potato, and a home-made red curry coconut sauce with plenty of cilantro and lime juice. I wished for a little tofu or beef to add to it, but veggies were all I had on hand. Oh my GOSH it rocked. It was hard to stuff my face with it while laughing at Jon Stewart and crew, but somehow I managed.
So, no empty KFC buckets rattling around The Bungalow. Sadly, there are no curry leftovers, either.
How about you? What do you like to eat when it's all up to you? Do you reach for fast food, or would you rather cook?
Posted by QSMama at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
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Princess Meltdown: A story in pictures
October 15, 2007
Read more: A. Says... | Dining Experiences | For Laughs | Pre-K and Kindergarten | Restaurant PR, Promotions & Contests
As a special treat, we stopped into a Great Amercian Cookie Company and got Baby A and, ahem, ourselves cookies. There was a giant floor poster depicting the company's partnership with Disney Princess characters, which are appearing on mini-buckets and kids' cups. The poster looked a lot like this, only even more enticing, if you can IMAGINE that:
[image thanks to the Great American Cookies site]
Do you know what that does to a kid who spends her days dressing like this? And rearranging furniture to build "carriages" to take herself to "the grand ball" where she can "find her prince and fall in love and get married"? * mom shakes fist angrily at Disney *
Oh YES YOU DO KNOW, if you've ever raised a two- or three-year-old.
So even though she got a cookie embedded with yummy colored chocolate drops (which we'd already handed her before she spotted the poster), do you know what kind of shape she was in when we left the store? This kind of shape:
In all fairness, that picture was taken a few weeks ago, but you get the idea.
Good thing there was a display of ginormous pumpkins nearby to distract her from her decidedly un-princess-like breakdown.
Posted by QSMama at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
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Looking for 'Dem Good Apples
October 14, 2007
Read more: Environmentally Smart | McDonald's | Quicksies | Thoughts
Last week, Baby A was "helping" me shop at Trader Joes, meaning each time I turned to focus on something she loaded up the cart with whatever caught her eye—in this case, almond biscotti, a huge package of trail mix, and a pound of French roast coffee.
As if, child. That's about the last thing she needs.
The one contribution of hers I kept in the cart was a paper bag overfilled with smallish but gorgeous red apples. But it was sort of against my better judgment because the handwritten sign above them touted how they were "treated with minimal spray"!
Now, I'm not always careful to get organic apples. Sometimes surviving the shopping experience becomes more important than making sure each item is as carefully selected as you'd wish. Know what I mean?
But somehow having the "spray," however "minimal" it might be, pointed out so plainly, as an incentive to buy, turned me off. Visions of containers of Roundup with little spray nozzles filled my head, with the nozzles pointed straight at my child. It's probably silly, I know. I wash and peel apples for Baby A (also against my better judgment) so there's little chance this one instance of "minimal spray" would get to her.
But. Still.
Then tonight I noticed that McDonald's recently sent its moms panel on a tour of one of its apple growers and processors. Take a look at their journals and video—it's pretty interesting. Of course, there's nothing negative. You wouldn't expect it. But it's a fascinating look into (1) the power the Mom Demographic wields today and (2) just how much McDonald's can influence its producers. Let's put it this way: If McDonald's suddenly came out and said it would buy only organic apples from now on, a big fraction of U.S. apple production would shift to organic.
What's your take? Let me know.
And while we're at it, here's a hypothetical: If you knew McDonald's offered organic apples, would you be more likely to buy your kids the McDonald's Apple Dipper snacks or side dish?
I would.
Oh, the minimally sprayed apples? They're crispy, sweet, and delicious. But I think we'll buy our next batch from the local farmer's market, where I can ask the grower how they're grown. We get some awesome Pink Lady apples around here.
Posted by QSMama at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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No Blanket Necessary! Virtual Nurse-In at Quick Serve Kids
October 10, 2007
Read more: Breast Fest | League of Maternal Justice | Thoughts
Today is the Great Virtual Breast Fest, sponosed by the League of Maternal Justice. All too often, restaurant managers (not to mention other guests!) have been part of the backlash against moms who get the need to feed while they're in a public place. Case in point: this recent incident at a Kentucky Applebee's.
The restaurant said it would keep blankets on hand? Are you kidding me? As soon as babies are a few months old, they yank the blanket off of their faces. Any parent knows that. And, really, why the blanket? Would you like to eat with one on your head? Can I put blankets over the heads of adults who chew with their mouthhs open? Or cackle at the table? 'Cause those things offend me.
The way I see it, kids have to eat, too, even the youngest among us. And though I doubt any mom *plans* to have to breastfeed her baby at a restaurant—I certainly didn't—sometimes things just happen that way, and better a contented baby than a screaming one any time.
That's life. Everyone needs to deal with it. I definitely fall into the If-you-don't-like-it-don't-look-so-hard camp. It's extremely hard to actually see anything private unless you stare really, really hard. So don't.
Because Baby A weaned almost a year ago, I can't participate in the nurse-in. But to celebrate the cause, I've gone back through saved email messages to find some nursing memories. Wow, these make me sentimental. Who would have guessed something so mundane as Feed the Baby would have so many emotional aspects?
Here's an early one, written to my brother and sister-in-law, when Baby A was just about three months old:
Continue reading "No Blanket Necessary! Virtual Nurse-In at Quick Serve Kids" »Posted by QSMama at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
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The Long Arms of...Dads
October 08, 2007
Read more: Dining Experiences | Thoughts
See the orange lanterns in this picture? That's the bar at the coffeeshop nearest our house. It offers caffeinated beverages, interesting people, and a speedy wireless, making it one of my favorite places on earth. For a part-time WAHM who doesn't much like to WAH, it's an oasis. An oasis with lattes and pastries, which beats the kind with water and dates any day.
Baby A was ready for preschool early, so we stopped by this coffeeshop to share a toasted English muffin with cream cheese and drinks—milk for her, a double latte for me—before parting ways for the morning. She stayed in her seat for a while, but soon wandered a few steps away to the barstools, hooked her foot into one, and started pulling herself up to the seat.
I was close enough to catch her in case of a wholesale backwards tip-over. But she's climbed up many times before, so I just sat, watching. You know when your kid first tells you, "Go stand over there and watch! I can do the monkey bars all by myself!" And you have to swallow hard and let her, even though you're not sure how well things will go once those little hands weaken and lose their grip? It was one of those moments. (And there are so many, aren't there? Please, SOMEONE, comment to say "Just wait until she asks for the car keys!")
Seated in the chair next to the one she was scaling was the father of an eight-year-old girl. He's quiet, a transplant from San Francisco who rides a skateboard. We first spoke with when our daughters played together the one morning it snowed last winter. They were so sweet to indulge a toddler who was starstruck that a "big girl" would teach her to make snowballs.
To his left on another barstool was the father of a three-year-old girl who is just a few weeks younger than Baby A. He's a part-time barista at this place and full-time high school band drum line consultant. He's also a great artist and a master of fine arts, to boot, whose works are hanging in the shop's gallery right now.
And walking behind Baby A at that moment, on his way to the sugar and cream counter, was a third dad. He and his girlfriend or ex-wife, I'm not sure which, share custody of a gorgeous two-year-old with black curls to her shoulders. He was alone this morning.
So A. hoisted the top half of her body onto the chair, her feet pedaling briefly in the air as she worked her knees up to the seat. The barstool made a tiny screech. And at that moment each of those three dads threw out an arm to guard her. Three hands were suddenly in the air at her back, just in case.
The scene lasted two seconds, but the picture of it will stay in my mind for a long time. She was fine, of course, my surefooted little climber, and I had to fight the impulse to apologize to those guys, or thank them, or something needless like that. They were just doing what came naturally, and that's what was so awesome. They turned back to their coffees, Baby A sat down properly, and that was that.
To me it's all proof that it really does take a village to raise a child. Or, as our friends who own another local coffeeshop like to say, it takes a coffeeshop to raise a child.
Posted by QSMama at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
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Dunkin' Giveaway a No Glow
October 06, 2007
Read more: Dunkin' Donuts | Infants and Toddlers | News | Quicksies
I really should apologize for that headline. But at least you're still reading.
Passing along a news release from Dunkin' Donuts...if you've bought a dozen donuts or a box of Munchkins and got a Halloween glow stick as a prize, you'll want to keep it away from young children. Here's the word straight from the company:
Dunkin' Donuts Announces Withdrawal of Glow Sticks
CANTON, Mass., Oct. 5—Dunkin' Donuts LLC is voluntarily withdrawing approximately 1,000,000 pink and orange Glow Sticks. Dunkin' Donuts has determined that the glow sticks distributed were not labeled properly to warn customers that the cap and lanyard, when dislodged from the glow stick, pose a choking hazard for children under the age of three (3) years old. The company has not received any complaints or reports of personal injury.
Dunkin' Donuts distributed the glow sticks free with every purchase of a dozen donuts or 25- or 50-count box of Munchkins donut hole treats beginning the week of September 24, 2007, at participating restaurants nationwide.
Consumers who have received a glow stick should take them away from children and discard them immediately. For more information, call Dunkin' Donuts Consumer Care at (800) 859-5339. Consumers also can visit the firm's Web site.
Posted by QSMama at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
