"Look out! It's TORTILLA SKULL!" she told us.

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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?

Posted by QSMama at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Posted by QSMama at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Use this tool to find out which restaurants have kids-eat-free nights and when.

Confession: I know our locally owned Fresh Mex chain feeds kids for free every Monday night. I just can't manage to remember to go there that night.

Can someone make a site that sends this info directly to my iCal, then automatically sends me email reminders?

Posted by QSMama at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I love my daughter deeply. Don't get me wrong. But our constant time together was making both of us a little loco. Baby A isn't one of those kids who play alone, nor is she content to sit down with a puzzle or some crayons. Like, EVER. Believe me, I've tried to help her learn to enjoy focused, quiet activities. She's not having it.

No, she's into elaborate make-believe scenes, requiring tons of dressing up (we're talking layers), long-spun storylines, and the construction of props—horse-drawn carriages, palaces, doctor's offices, you name it—using furniture and accessories from all around the house. Of course, all of these stories require additional characters, namely me and TWH if he's home, and extensive dialog. She is a creator, a collaborator. It's how she rolls.

And of course I love it. She awes me. But, good lord, it wears me out, if only from finding new ways to gently say no to my latest role in the latest story. There are things a mom's got to get done during the day.

So when the first days of school rolled around last week, I was a bit relieved—and I think she was, too. Her new preschool teaches through dance, chorus, drama, and art, and with all those props and plenty of kids and teachers into the same things she is, Baby A is very happy there:

** Excited? You think? **

Yes, those are sparkly silver slippers. She wears either those or soccer cleats every day. At least I'm saving money. Right?

** Check the upraised hand: "C'mon! Follow me!" **

Schoolday bonus: going to lunch afterwards with her friends and their mom. We hit a Brueggers for bagels, cream cheese, and delicious fruit cups, with grapes and balls of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. My sandwich didn't work out so well—chicken salad just doesn't stay between bagel slices. (Be warned.) But for a mom-and-kids afterschool adventure, it was yummy, easy, and a great experience.

The table tents will never be the same, though. Sorry, Brueggers.

** "I am Table Tent Monster!" **

How's your first week of back-to-school been? Anyone else secretly relieved, too?

Posted by QSMama at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Baby A does pretty well in restaurants most of the time. I won't promise quietude, or lack of motion, because that never happens (unless she's sleeping, and that doesn't happen much, either). But she can usually manage to keep her little hurricane of activity going within the horizontal and vertical space of her chair, or—even better for us—her allotted space in the booth. She never stops talking and laughing, but she rarely shouts these days.

Yet, the usual things restaurants offer to keep kids quiet don't work for Baby A. I'm sure there are many kids who will sit and color with crayons. Mine is not one of them, even at three years old. Seems it's just not tactile enough for her. We read the little placemat cartoon-y things to her, but that takes, what, less than a minute, and it's over.

This post at Foodmomiac mentions one great solution: a small ball of pizza dough, handed out at their local pizza place. We had a similar experience at a nearby Fresh Mex place, part of a small chain that makes tortillas fresh to order. The cooks there handed A. a little ball of tortilla dough, and it was miraculous. She stayed in the booth and worked it and worked it until our food was ready, and even while we ate she took little breaks to smoosh the dough another time.

Of course, it looked like a disgusting ball of fuzz and crumbs before long, and she tried to take a bite once (looking all the while at me like, is this okay? Cause I know it isn't and I'm seeing if you're going to react...).

A simple ball of dough does it for us, and costs the restaurant very little. Or, I'm thinking, if we know it won't harm the table at the place we're going, maybe we could even pack one of those mini-cans of Play-Doh. What are other solutions that help keep your kids seated until the food comes?

Posted by QSMama at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How convenient it is, two years later to the day, not to think about it.

We've had a nice morning of errand-running, playground-going, and farmer's market-visiting, including a shared peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch (prepared by Whole Foods, the market sponsor) and locally made ice cream. It's beautiful here—meaning it's not 101 degrees outside, finally—so it's all too easy not to remember the tragedy of Katrina.

For a quick-serve tie-in, and to learn from Louisiana natives just how short the recovery efforts after Katrina and Rita are falling, please take a few minutes to read this. It affects you: your grocery and restaurant bills, the source of your foods, the well-being of your fellow citizens, the lessons learned (or not) for the place you live.

Baby A was tiny when Katrina happened, so it was the parents' problems that got to me the most. The worst was watching the parents with small children and babies, sitting, helplessly, in the sun while their children cried at their feet and in their arms. I remember

Continue reading "Katrina Continues to Swirl" »

Posted by QSMama at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Each day lately I look forward to the sliver of time between when I stop working, around 11 P.M., and can no longer stay awake, around, oh, midnight.

It's the only time I have for reading, which has finally, FINALLY, re-entered my life after a nearly year of pregnancy insomnia (all right, getting up all night to pee) followed by three years with a child who has deep disregard for anyone's need for sleep, including her own. It took thirty-eight months, but at last Baby A has started sleeping for long stretches, even (gasp!) all night long. That kind of sleep deprivation? It's enough to make you collapse into bed once the work and housework are done. Or cry. Or both. Reading? Not so much an option for eyes that can't stay open.

What a treat, then, what a LUXURY to crawl into our lovely bed, nestle down, tune in to the song of the katydids and crickets and cicadas outside, and open Barbara Kingsolver's memoir Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. She and her family moved to a farm in the Virginia mountains and agreed to eat only locally raised foods for a year, excepting only a tiny handful of ingredients, such as flour, which they couldn't source. They raised poultry, grew a variety of vegetables, and shopped nearby farmer's markets for nearly everything the family consumed. Kingsolver journals that year with an easy, humorous tone. Her husband, a college professor, contributes short pieces throughout, and her older daughter Camille, a student at Duke (YEAH!), writes essays and recipes to close each chapter.

Kingsolver's got me thinking...

Continue reading "I'm Gobbling Up This Book" »

Posted by QSMama at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We took A. to hear some jazz outdoors last evening, then took her to "that piggy store," meaning the The Q Shack, for dinner. Rude as it might be, I slipped next door to snag a burger from Five Guys—something I've been craving for weeks. Little Burger (meaning one patty) with fried onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and—this is the key part—fresh jalapenos.

Uh HUH.

While I was waiting (only a few minutes, I might add, not bad for a fresh-cooked burger), I noticed a whiteboard with a hand-written note:

"Today's potatoes come from [something, I forget] Ridge, Idaho."

Nice touch, I thought. Today's consumers are more and more concerned about buying locally, for many good reasons. And when you can't buy local, a quick note like that one at least makes you feel like the ingredients were local to SOMEplace, even if it wasn't close to you—like it came from real farmers and real dirt.

What a brilliant, and inexpensive, marketing move. For the cost of a white board and a minute's time, it gives customers the feeling their food came from a place, not a black box, and that's a feeling all chain restaurants would do well to foster. Parents care, more and more.

Is your family trying to buy more local ingredients? Would you like to see more locally sourced ingredients in the restaurants where you take your family?

Before you comment, check out the amazing simplicity of the Five Guys menu. THIS is why it works:

Posted by QSMama at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Maybe it's the warm memories I have from visits to San Francisco. Or maybe it's the warmth spreading through me fron this early-Friday-afternoon Tanqueray and tonic and Trader Joe's Blackberry Crush blend I'm sipping up.

But this story got me, and even though it's not restaurant related, I'm posting about it. And don't ever tell me today's Quicksies aren't as thoughtful as any other generation. All that "it was better in my day" booshiznit...I'm not having it.

A fifth-grade class at Mangum Elementary in Durham, North Carolina, led the way with fundraising to send the school's 71-year-old custodian and his wife on a trip to San Francisco. Mr. Venable, pictured above, said his lifelong dream had been to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and thanks to those fifth-graders, along with faculty, other students, and local churches, his dream is coming true right now.

What a great note to end a hard week on. This is the best kind of Friday Fun I can think of.

[Shout-out to Wade: How much for the bridge?]
[Picture via WRAL-TV]

Posted by QSMama at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Whoa, horrible dining experience related by a blogger at the San Francisco Chronicle. And they they left the Burger King bags on the table? How would you have reacted, if at all?

Closest we've come to this is getting Chick-fil-A for Baby A and burgers from Five Guys for us, then eating outside at a cafe table between the two restaurants. Do you ever take other kinds of food along for your kids? On my Parenting Scale of Things, that is overindulgent. How about you?

Posted by QSMama at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ooooh, the butterflies. I think my heart actually skipped a beat. Two of our friends—a couple, actually—both got iPhones last night, and I got to play with one this morning.

In the wake of all the hype, I half-expected something to go wrong. It sounded too good to be true. Surely the buble would burst. But? The iPhone did everything the commercials promised. It really is amazing—sleek, light, so very fast, and capable.

A Boston Herald reviewer says:

For it's not just cool; this phone is important, in the same way that Apple's first Macintosh computer was important. The Mac showed us a better way to interact with computers, and forced the entire industry to follow its lead. Here we go again. (Read full review.)

I had the same feeling, and after playing with one, for ever so short a time, I can say: It's true. It's all true. And all over again, I'm all giddy for the beauty and vision that Apple manages to attach to everyday tech tools.

This from a kid who was raised on MS-DOS and PCs. My dad had the foresight to insist that I learn to

Continue reading "I Think I'm in Love...with the iPhone" »

Posted by QSMama at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I posted a while back about how the FDA decided not to require that growers/packers label cloned meat as such.

Here's my take: Ick. And ick. The FDA says the government can't tell the difference between meat from cloned animals and meat that came about in the, uh, regular way. Yo, FDA, here's a hint: THE CLONED MEAT CAME FROM CLONED ANIMALS. THAT ARE CLONES. We don't know enough yet. From what I understand, clones still tend to be sicklier and die earlier than their—um—parents? I'm not ready to guess what's going on at an atomic level.

And I sure don't want to feed my daughter cloned meat.

Turns out I am far from alone. The Food Marketing Institute found in a recent survey that U.S. consumers are highly uncomfortable with food from cloned animals (scroll down). Here's the highlight:

Looking at the potential future of food, consumers are not yet comfortable with eating products from cloned livestock. Six in 10 (61 percent) are not comfortable, including 31 percent who are "not at all comfortable." If such products are sold commercially, more than eight in 10 consumers (84 percent) believe cloned foods should be labeled as such. In fact, six in 10 hold this view "strongly."

Too bad the government is not listening to average Americans. How's about a little transparency, at least in the things we feed our families?

Posted by QSMama at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Question: How many of you read the BabyCenter site pretty much weekly while you were pregnant and the first few months after the baby came along? Yep, I did, from the due-date calculator to the nursing and first-foods advice and developmental milestones lists. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems Baby Center was one of the first comprehensive parenting web sites, and one of the first to feature popular parenting blogs.)

Then Baby A started crawling, and "Lord, what is she into NOW?" became much more pressing than "Wonder what developmental stage is next?"

So yesterday I found this intriguing BabyCenter page of parents' comments on families and fast food. There was one especially good tip:

We've also found that if you ask nicely, most places will put your order in the special box with a toy, and the kids are really happy then!

That's a good one. Have you ever tried it? What other good tips have you come across lately? Comment and share.

Posted by QSMama at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

And by that I mean environmentally friendly cleaners, equipment, and supplies.

Each year the National Restaurant Association holds a huge show in Chicago for restaurants and hotel companies. The most recent show featured plenty of new green-focused exhibitors, multiple green education sessions, and a well-attended special demonstration of new environmentally friendly products and ideas.

Cleaners so safe the demonstrator squirts them straight into his mouth? Furnishings made from recycled materials? High-voulme composting methods? Sounds great to me—anything to keep this place in better shape for our Quicksies and their kids. Here's hoping the interest at the show carries over into actual orders.

[Photo thanks to the National Restaurant Association's show news site, at the link above.]

Posted by QSMama at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend—okay, a barista at my favorite coffee shop, and anyone who serves me espresso is a friend—passed along a great article from the New York Times. It's called "Don't Point That Menu at My Child, Please," linked here.

Please read the article (even if you have to register) rather than accept my little summary. It's worth it. But...basically the writer decries the fact that restaurants everywhere, along with grocery stores, approach our kids with the expectation they'd rather eat the usual kid's menu of chicken fingers, mac and cheese, cheese pizza, grilled cheese (pattern here?), and fries, rather than smaller versions of what's on the regular menu:

"In short, I came to the realization that America is in the grips of a nefarious chicken-finger pandemic, in which a blandly tasty foodstuff has somehow become the de facto official nibble of our young. [...] It pains me that many children now grow up eating little besides golden-brown logs of kid food, especially in a time when the quality, variety and availability of good ingredients is better than ever."

Righteous.

Now I'd like to offer some hints on avoiding the usual kid's menu, even in the fast-food or casual dining setting. 'Cause sometimes you just want something different for your kids—you know?

• Try the unusual fruit bowls for kids at California Pizza Kitchen. Then share some of your own, grown-up pizza with your child. Presto: yummy, solid lunch for cheap.

• Visit Chipotle, where there is no kid's menu, and share a Burrito Bol and some of their unstoppable guacamole and chips with your kids. Again: yummy, nutritious, cheap. In the picture above, Baby A is proudly making her own "baby burrito" at Chipotle, spreading guacamole (ours) on a plain tortilla (hers). It cost, like, 50 cents.

• Go to Wendy's or McDonald's and get one of their premium salads—the ones with diced chicken, pecans, and fresh fruit, like mandarin oranges. Give some of the toppings to your kids, even the really young ones. Baby A loved those things when she was just over a year old. Add a fruit and granola parfait and it's an inexpensive, healthy meal.

• Try smaller versions of regular menu items, like the Bambino Burgers at Good Times or the simple taco at a place like Taco Bell or Del Taco. They're ideal for the three-to-ten age range.

• Go to a Thai, Chinese, or Japanese quick-serve place, like Pei Wei or Panda Express, and make a small plate for your child from yours, with rice or noodles, meat or tofu, and veggies. We've been doing this with Baby A for, gosh, two years now. And she just turned three.

In short, think about how you can adapt the regular menu items for your kids. The choices areout there. You'll do the kids a favor by expanding their taste horizons, and probably save $3 to $4 per meal, too. And who needs the little toys, unless it's something really special your child just has to have? (When there's a "Wonder Pets" or "Little Einsteins" meal, I'm afraid we'll have to get one. No one is immune, right?)

And, restaurants? Get ahead of the curve on changing kids' meals. I think you'll find plenty of support.

Posted by QSMama at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just found this Family Matters site and an interesting podcast on managing kids' behavior in restaurants. I'm getting ready to listen to the podcast—listen here if you're feeling the need to regulate the kiddos in restaurants. Here's a summary:

Kids in restaurants? Should they stay or should they go? It's a topic that generates a lot of heat from diners. Caroline and Jacquie talk with Cleveland Plain Dealer food and restaurants editor Joe Crea. He offers some suggestions on what parents can do and what restaurants can do to include children and make it a pleasant and rewarding experience for all parties.

Based on our experience at Chipotle at lunch today, I'm willing to visit the topic myself. Yes, we took four trips outside to stop Baby A's whining, bossing, and loud conniving.

Used to be that everyone expected some unruly kid behavior at fast-food restaurants. Today, though? Quick-serves are installing carpeting, padded seats, cool sound systems, even televisions. The bar has been raised a little, and, well, it's never too early to talk about respecting others and the meal table.

Remember, you can listen to Quick Serve Kids podcasts here. Sheesh, it's time to do a new one....

Posted by QSMama at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Have you noticed? Cool design is everywhere. You can't even shop cheap without running across great design, smart marketing, and one designer name after another.

We're used to it now. We expect it. And quick-serve menus are keeping right up with our heightened expectations. I was struck by this comment in a Quiznos news release a day ago:

"Baja Chicken really captures the mood of summer with a smoked flavor that conjures up the experience of a weekend at the grill," said Chef Zach Calkins, Quiznos director of culinary development. "Specifically, the flavors in the Baja Chicken's two sauces, the Smokey Baja and the mild chipotle mayo, have been aligned to work together to create a complex first layer of flavor. What really makes this sandwich pop, though, is the cilantro which takes the place of lettuce, bringing a fresh bright flavor to the final layer of the sandwich."

"Aligned?" "Complex?" "Pop?" Our little Quicksies are never going to know "twoallbeefpattiesspecialsauce etc. etc." It's going to be fresher ingredients and complex flavor profiles, even if it comes between two buns at a $3 price point.

Have you noticed this change?

Posted by QSMama at 05:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't believe you're three.

Trying really hard to turn me into a toad:

More pics...

Posted by QSMama at 06:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How cool would it be if your mom owned an ice-cream franchise?

First-time business owners Ann Kelly and Nicole Reinhart bought into a Dippin' Dots franchise in Tampa and opened a few weeks ago. With three children of her own, Kelly says she knows what kinds of products kids look for. "Dippin' Dots is an interesting and fun way to serve up ice cream," she says, "and my children and I have loved the little round dots since the first time we tried them. My kids were hooked instantly and will always choose Dippin' Dots Ice Cream over conventional ice cream any day."

Not me. The one time I tried Dippin' Dots, they were too cold and got all stuck on my tongue. It hurt. Give me the real stuff, preferably with chocolate gemmies, any day. Still, the ten-year-old in me says these kids have it made.

Posted by QSMama at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Spotted in the news this morning that VeriFone has released a new version of self-ordering stations. The iOrder Food Service Kiosk, pictured here, is a self-service station designed especially for quick-serve restaurant (QSR) and convenience store food service operations.

The kiosk trend has been around for more than ten years, but it's been slower-moving than many people anticipated—at least, than the kiosk developers anticipated, anyway. The idea is that customers feel more of a sense of control over the ordering experience, and that fewer mistakes might be made if you eliminate that communications gulf between customer and order-taker.

I once saw kiosks in action at a Sheetz convenience store in North Carolina. I thought the experience was okay, but I didn't have Baby A with me. Had I been trying to control her, it might have been harder to follow the directions. And one elderly woman who ordered after me was clearly uncomfortable with the kiosk experience.

What do you think—Would self-ordering be easier for you? What about when you've got kids in tow? Or would you prefer to have the help of a human being? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend who's a vegetarian recently emailed me about Burger King's move to improve animal welfare. "This sort of move," she wrote, "would prompt me to choose BK over other fast food joints for road trip fare..."

Increasingly, parents and families are paying attention to corporate social responsibility and letting those impressions shape their spending decisions. Is your family among them? If so, you're certainly not alone.

Technomic, Inc., a respected restaurant consulting and research company, recently studied which restaurant companies consumers think are most socially responsible. And guess what? Four of the top five companies consumers named are quick-serves.

The chains consumers view as being most socially responsible are McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Starbucks, and Applebee’s. (Well, okay, Starbucks might send me a nastygram for lumping them into quick service. But they are competing with quick-serves in many areas. So, Starbucks, no nastygrams, please. Oh, and I love your M&M snickerdoodles.)

Looking at U.S. consumer attitudes toward corporate social responsibility in foodservice, Technomic found that restaurant users rated health insurance coverage, living wages, and animal welfare as their top three concerns, when asked to select among fourteen different issues.

Technomic found that, in general, consumers believe restaurant chains could do more to address their high priority social issues.

“Corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important for consumers in general and restaurant users specifically,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic, when the report was released. “The foodservice industry should identify and proactively address those social issues most important to their customer base. There is big payback for companies that are able to connect with consumers in this way and major downside risk for those fail to do so.” (Emphasis mine.)

Do you talk with your kids about how companies can give back to society? Does your family tend to shop or eat with companies you think are more socially responsible? Comment and tell us about it. The corporations are reading. :)

Posted by QSMama at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to The Wonderful Husband's recent retail therapy, we have a fancy new digital cable system that lets us record programs automatically. So, like any decent parents would, we immediately filled the hard drive with children's programs—the gentle new "Curious George" on PBS, plenty of Sesame Street, and the one Disney show I like (really like): "Little Einsteins."

Trouble is, "Little Einsteins" comes on the Disney Channel, and there are commercials—or, as I'm sure Disney would prefer me to call them, "corporate mentions." This morning, I let her watch a new "Little Einsteins," and the introductory montage included a spot with the Chuck E Cheese mascot playing basketball with kids and encouraging exercise...because "it's not only fun, it's healthy, too!," or something to that effect.

That message, of course, is lost on a two-year-old. Her thinking went more like, "Chuck E Cheese! I went to a birthday party there a few months ago. There was pizza and candy and cake and games! I want to go again!" Which then became all she talked about for the next five minutes, until Leo and the rest of the Little Einsteins crew headed to Rocket and her mind moved on.

This annoyance isn't limited to Disney. Even PBS, sadly, has corporate mentions—again, Chuck E Cheese, for our local PBS channel. I hate that.

So what's to do?

Last month Elaine Kolish, pictured here, became director of the Council of Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. She will monitor and enforce the pledges made last November by 11 major food advertisers to devote half their advertising aimed at kids to the promotion of healthy diet and fitness choices.

Those advertisers include quick-serve companies and suppliers like McDonald's, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg, Kraft, Masterfoods, and Unilever.
All have pledged to reduce their use of licensed characters, product placement, and advertising in schools, and to follow the existing guidelines of the BBB's Children's Advertising Review Unit.

As this interview makes clear, though, the pledges are just that right now. Kolish will spend this spring and summer encouraging those advertisers to put some teeth in those promises. Here's an exceprt:

"[...] We're planning on announcing pledges between May and August this year. I'm not saying everything's going to be implemented between May and August—the pledges are supposed to explain how the company is going to meet the principles they signed onto last fall, to devote at least 50% of their advertising aimed directly at children 12-and-under to healthier diet choices and healthier lifestyles.

That all sounds good—really good, and best of luck to you, Elaine—but I keep thinking back to that Chuck E Cheese spot from this morning: just the mention of the name is annoying enough.

What's your take? Do you mind when your kids are exposed to advertising? Do you intentionally shield them from it? Or do you take it all in stride? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Take a look at just one day's worth of quick-serve coupons. Our mailbox was literally overflowing. Note that the square Burger King in the lower-right corner one is not one page, but a whole booklet of money-off goodies.

A couple of observations:

* Note the number of quick-serve chains promoting breakfast. This is THE battleground right now among chains. Seems we Americans are creatures of habit when it comes to breakfast. All of the major chains want to make sure you build your morning routine around them.

The Burger Kings, McDonald's, and Wendy's of the world have watched Starbucks (and, to an extent, Dunkin Donuts) and developed major, major envy.

* Also note the number of pizza offers. This coupon-cornucopia arrived on the Thursday before Final Four Weekend, and we live in the heart of Tobacco Road basketball country. (Go, Duke! Go ACC!) That tells you something about targeted marketing.

So, does your mailbox fill up with ads and coupons like this? Have you ever redeemed one?

Posted by QSMama at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today the National Restaurant Association launches the new Healthy Dining web site, which is aimed at helping Americans make healthier restaurant choices. If you watch daytime TV or read a newspaper, you're sure to hear about it because there's a big PR campaign kicking off.

All in all, this is good news. In fact, it's sorta what Quick Serve Kids is doing, in a very niche way. But I want to state something that the body behind Healthy Dining isn't making too clear: Healthy Dining is a paid directory. Restaurants pay a fee to be listed and receive a list of benefits in return, including online links and printable coupons, window decals, and a certificate to hang on the wall. It's sort of like having the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for your restaurant's healthy efforts. (What? You didn't know the GH seal is a paid thing?)

So while the idea is good, be aware that this is a self-selected group.

Now that we've got that out in the open, let's look at what the Healthy Dining finder does.

Americans eat out on average four or five times a week. Through this site, the National Restaurant Association says it's trying to help make those meals healthier. Partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the site includes nearly 30,000 popular restaurant locations nationwide, and can be a resource for people looking to make more informed food choices when dining at their favorite restaurants.

It's also a place to demonstrate the proactive efforts of the restaurant industry, says the National Restaurant Association. Some current participating restaurants include P.F. Chang's, Buca di Beppo, Au Bon Pain, and Burger King.

Want more info? You can also sign up for free enewsletters from Healthy Dining here.

Does this new site sound helpful for your family? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wanted to direct your attention to this good article at the QSR Magazine site. (That's my old stomping grounds.) The article centers around something parents of young kids do all the time: sneaking one healthier item into a meal, not making huge changes, but small improvements.

Raise your hand if you've added pureed veggies to your kid's pasta sauce. Uh-huh. I thought so. Me, too. I also do this to my own foods, throwing in peppers, spinach, or tomatoes when I scramble eggs or make a sandwich.

What if, the article asks, some quick-serve chains quietly started blending healthier ingredients into their foods? To quote the article:

But as one dietician I know likes to point out, we’ve been sneaking “bad stuff” into the American diet for years. What would be so wrong with reversing the trend and quietly adding healthful ingredients—primarily fruits and vegetables in various forms—to foods that otherwise are lacking in vitamins and minerals, fiber, or other dietary essentials?

It’s a concept known as stealth health, and it’s what would happen if a quick-serve began introducing, say, some dried mushrooms into its beef patties, some whole-grain flour to the batters with which it coats fried menu items, or even some finely ground vegetables to its chicken tenders.

What do you think? And which chain do you dare to go first? (smile)

Posted by QSMama at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Look for new signs at your local Subway restaurants today. The chain that brought you the highly successful Jared campaign (which I always thought was a little strange...who could eat only plain sandwiches for two out of three meals each day?) is taking menu fitness a step farther.

Today Subway introduces its new "Subway Fresh Fit" menu nationwide, a full line of better-for-you adult and kid menu items. The company says it's the first in the quick-serve industry to introduce a healthier menu on such a large scale—and specifically to kids.

But while I applaud Subway's stated intentions, I'm not sure this approach sits right with me. What's wrong with healthier choices just being part of the regular menu? Why a whole separate menu? "Because then you can't build a PR campaign around it," the cynic in me answers.

Here's the thing: I'm not looking for low-fat options for my daughter, who turns three this summer. Maybe that changes with older kids. Parents with older kids, please set me straight here. Baby A still needs significantly nutrition-dense, filling foods, the kinds that grow a healthy brain and body. And once kids get old enough to read the menu, and know that you're ordering off of the special, "more permissible" menu, wouldn't that get awkward? Here's what I fear:

Older version of Baby A: "Mom, I'd like the six-inch turkey and swiss."

Me: "How about the Fresh Fit version instead?"

Preadolescent Baby A: "What, do you think I'm not fit?" [ensuing negative body thoughts...]

Sure, many kids wouldn't think twice about the reference—it would slide right off of their backs. But I was one of those kids who did think into it. This is one of those cases where I really wish the company would consult more with parents.

Saying the company "has long been committed to promoting 'better for you' eating among children and adults," Subway says the meals "have been developed to satisfy the communities' [sic] desire to lead a better and more active lifestyle. The new menu also reflects SUBWAY® Restaurants' commitment to help in the fight against childhood obesity." The new menu options are aimed at providing adults and kids with better, on-the-go meals that complement living a busy and active lifestyle, the company says. And those are all good intentions.

But by creating a new, separate menu, is the company sending the wrong message, or an unintended one?

Here are more details. The Subway Fresh Fit For Kids(TM) meal consists of a low-fat, 4-inch sandwich and "fit" sides and beverages. New "fit" products being introduced include sliced apples, raisins, and 1-percent white milk. Subway says the meals are based on sensible serving sizes, are low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, and are a good source of essential nutrients such as vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

See, I don't give Baby A 1-percent milk. She still gets whole milk, or 2 percent if we're out of whole or I just grab the wrong jug. I feel her brain and nervous system are still developing rapidly and need that nutrition. Granted, that might change when she's eight or nine or ten. Again, parents, please fill me in on what you do for older kids. And apples, raisins, things like that are just normal, everday noshes. They aren't part of some special, other group of foods—with "diet" written on it.

That's a word I don't want her to ever feel any affinity to.

What do you think? Am I reading too much into this? (Granted, I'm bringing a lot of baggage.) Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's focus just on kids and parenting this morning. I want everyone who visits here to know about St. Baldrick's Foundation and the lengths parents are going to help fund research to fight cancer in children.

This afternoon, my friend Dixie is shaving her head to raise money for St. Baldrick's.

Dixie's little boy Owen had fetal neuroblastoma. If you want to know more—and you're up for some scary reading—just try plugging that diagnosis into Google. But he is doing wonderfully, and is living a largely normal life, much to everyone's happiness. Dixie writes:

This is not so much for our son Owen, who has seemingly won his battle with Neuroblastoma. I'm doing this for all the kids we see still fighting when we go to clinic at UNC—and for the kids in pediatric oncology clinics everywhere.

Words cannot describe the feelings experienced in one of these clinics. "Heartbreak" is just not strong enough. There are so many kids that the clinic is filled beyond capacity. Strollers crowd every corner because too many babies have to undergo treatment. You hear the screams of children who must endure endless poking and prodding. You see the look of quiet resignation in children who push around IV poles as if it is normal to do so. And then a scary realization sets in—these are the kids are who are doing well enough not to require hospitalization.

Please consider finding a participant near you to support. I can think of very little that's more important.

By the way, Dixie would much rather be compared to Demi Moore or Sigourney Weaver than Britney, and you can't blame her. Hey, Dixie, what about Sinead O'Connor?

Posted by QSMama at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today at lunchtime, Baby A asked for some sweet-potato fries. She's been sick, so I didn't mind heating the oven up to 450 degrees on this, the first warmish day in weeks. She deserved a small pleasure.

I took the bag out of the freezer and poured some fries onto a baking sheet. They were covered in ice crystals. "Those need to be slaked," I thought. Slaked? Where did that come from? Remember...remember...oh, yeah, from an interview ten years ago with Wendy's founder Dave Thomas.

When I was editing QSR magazine, I had the chance to interview Thomas on two occasions. The first was for the cover of the premier issue—somehow, and I'll never be sure quite how, I got one of America's best-known faces to grant an interview for a new magazine that had no sample issue, nothing but a four-page media brochure and a lot of big ideas to speak for it. I called, I wrote letters, I played up the Duke connection (I'd gone to graduate and undergraduate schools there, he'd given a ton of money to the Fuqua business school). And somehow it worked.

Thomas talked with me for more than an hour, though I'd asked for only twenty minutes. He told me what he valued most in the kitchen—like taking a moment to shake the ice crystals and moisture off of the fries before plunging them into the oil. That's what he called slaking, and he insisted that small detail made his fries better than anyone else's.

What struck me most about that interview was Thomas's completely unpretentious personality. Success had not changed him. This multi-millionaire chief executive pronounced "specifically" as "pacifically," and "spaghetti" as "p-sgetti," and it did not matter. I went on to interview many more CEOs, most of them business-school stars who had fast-tracked to leadership roles at big corporations, names you'd recognize. But Dave Thomas taught me to listen for true talents—not book smarts, but the ability to motivate all kinds of people, to be relentless about the details, to persevere and earn success, rather than have the role handed to you.

As I put the fries into the oven, I made a mental note to talk with Baby A later on about these qualities. Of course, I want her to excel in school, but I also want her to value the qualities that made Dave Thomas successful.

I also remembered that for all the criticism of quick-serve food and companies—and some of that is certainly deserved—there are also hardworking people like Dave Thomas who pursued good principles.

There's a neat Flash-based biography here if you'd like to learn more about Dave Thomas's legacy.

This post brought to you by the sweet potato...and a mom who's been stuck home with a sick kid and thinking a lot. I'm sure you've been there.

UPDATE: Dave Thomas's original Wendy's location in Columbus, Ohio, will soon be closed because of lagging sales.

Posted by QSMama at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Make sure to catch this post over at Noodad on how to avoid grazing on your child's plate when you're out to eat. Surely that's one of the easiest traps of parenthood—especially when you've paid for a meal your child has barely touched.

That post made me want to reiterate a related point: Why do kids' meal menus have to vary so widely from those of adults? Why, oh why, do they all have to be chicken fingers, cheese pizza, grilled cheese, and fries?

Holy cow, has it been a week since I posted? What can I say? Sickness, total laryngitis (try that with a two-year old!), work crunch (UGH!), mandatory preschool volunteering (double-UGH!), husband out of town nearly nontop...it kinda puts a dent in your blogging.

All of which means I have some great stuff saved up. So check back soon. And if you've come across some kids' menus with more to offer than the usual kiddie fare, please let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For Valentine's, I'm departing from restaurants for a moment to ask: Why is it that candy holidays—Valentine's, Easter, Halloween—are so much cooler when you're a kid? And not so cool when you're the parent of a kid who goes absolutely freaking out of her mind when there's a lot of candy around?

Oh. That's why.

On days like this, would it shock you to learn that the average American child ate 25 pounds of candy last year? Read more statistics at that link if you really want to be shocked. (Three to four hours of TV a day??)

I don't have a big problem with giving Baby A candy sometimes. In fact, we used PEZ candy as a reward during potty-training. What annoys me is her attitude about it—bossy, whiny, commanding. Ugh. It so annoys me, to the point that the holiday is less enjoyable.

We insist on good manners, limit the candy to small amounts (without making a big deal about it), and try to counteract the sugar with lots of protein—peanut butter, meats, milk to drink. How do you handle the candy question in your family? Comment and let me know.

[thanks to reader Michelle T. for the tip! photo sorta kinda thanks to the USPS]

Posted by QSMama at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I enjoyed this article from the WaPo, about childhood power-struggles over food can continue into adulthood.

Don't miss the last paragraph, about a woman who grew up sharing an apple with her dad every evening after dinner as they reviewed their days together. It's touching. The point she makes is important: We teach our kids best by being close to them and modeling positive behaviors.

Did you have any traditions like that growing up? Have you started one in your family?

And do you remember coming up with creative ways to skirt the dinner-table rules? I remember swallowing the required two bites of yellow squash whole. (Strangely, today I love it.)

Posted by QSMama at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More importantly: Wouldn't you want to?

This news really tees me off: Meat from cloned animals won't be labeled clearly as such.

Shoppers who want to be sure they're not getting cloned meat will have to look for the green labels indicating organic standards on meat in stores. The FDA says the government can't tell a difference between clones and conventional cows, pigs, or goats.

As for ordering in restaurants, who knows?

Thing is, truly organic meats (as opposed to naturally raised meats) are very expensive. Bill Niman, founder of the Niman Ranch Cooperative, told me that raising organic livestock is often prohibitively expensive and difficult for today's farmers, meaning the small amount of organic meat on the market comes at a high premium.

The AP article I linked to doesn't say whether or not naturally raised meats will be guaranteed not to contain cloned meat or milk products. Given the muddling of organic and naturally raised standards now that big retailers like Wal Mart, Target, and Costco are offering them, I don't trust the system so much anymore.

Disturbing thought of the day: Will the average quick-serve hamburger soon contain cloned beef? I hope not. We're just back from a yummy late lunch at Five Guys. We don't go out for burgers often—that's one thing TWH and I can cook really well—but I'd hate to think that all restaurant burgers might one day be off our menu. Cloned and genetically engineered stuff are not something I want my little Quicksie eating.

A much brighter thought: Will the next quick-serve beef craze, after Angus beef, be naturally raised meat? Let's hope so. Homemade burgers are the best, but once in a while I'd like for someone else to do the work. :)

What do you think? Is cloned meat something to worry about? I'm not asking about the technology, because it's out there—and it can have plenty of good uses, such as in health care. But would you want to eat it? Feed it to your family?

[photo from here]

Posted by QSMama at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's get this out of the way, before the e-mails start rolling in from corporate: I'm aware that Red Robin is not a quick-serve chain. It's more like casual dining. But the company does something I'm hoping more chains, including quick-serves and even general retail chains, will emulate.

Go read here about Red Robin's Unbridled Acts of Kindness program. But make sure you have fifteen minutes to spend reading because you'll get caught up in the mini-profiles of kind gestures performed by Red Robin employees, with the encouragement and full backing of their managers. And you'll leave the page feeling better about our society.

Props to Red Robin. And props to nine-year-old Adrianna Montgomery, pictured left, who recently won a national contest to create Red Robin's newest burger.

I'm looking forward to trying her recipe for a Spicy Asian Burger.

Posted by QSMama at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Caught this story today...a North Carolina quick-serve chain, Sino Wok, is using bamboo dishware that biodegrades in about six months.

So what does bamboo not do? It's used in clothing, bedding, flooring, and now dishware. Bamboo...it's the new hemp! But here's the problem for quick-serve chains: the bamboo stuff costs a few cents more per piece, and even that small increment can wreck quick-serves' margins.

Here's the real question: Could the cost be worthwhile in terms of publicity and compliance? I remember publishing stories about quick-serve chains getting sued or otherwise held responsible for roadside litter. In fact, this N&O article notes that San Francisco and Oakland last year banned restaurants from using plastic foam containers to reduce the amount of slow-degrading materials deposited in landfills.

Could bamboo be an ideal solution? Could the positive news bring more customers through the doors and make up for the cost? What do you think? Would you eat at chains more often if you knew you were producing less trash?

{image: Eatware}

Posted by QSMama at 06:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I think this letter is a total sham.

Please. Restaurants in California haven't paid the federal minimum wage for years. And if the manager is cutting back everyone's hours, who is working?

Update: The letters to Salon on this topic are really interesting. Check 'em out.

Posted by QSMama at 06:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back when fast food meant primary-colored plastic tables and chairs bolted to the floor, noisy kids weren't so out of place. It was understood: fast food was for kids, while casual dining on up was for adults...and the occasional, extremely well-behaved child.

Today it's safe to say fast-food—ahem, quick-serve—restaurants are somewhat more adult places. Most chains have seriously stepped up their decor, daring even to put fabric upholstery and flat-screen TVs in the dining rooms.

All of which make the environment a bit less forgiving to food-tossing, loud-talking kids.

Raise your hand if you've struggled to enforce good behavior from your kids in restaurants. Oh, you, too? Uh huh. We've been there, over and over.

In the ongoing search for effective discipline methods, we've been happiest with the Love and Logic series. Have you heard of it? It's not perfect—no "method" applies perfectly to every family—but I love its no-yelling, no-lecturing, consequences-driven approach.

Love and Logic sends a weekly enewsletter. Thought you might enjoy reading this snippet from a recent one:
|
|

Manners Matter

Maybe you’ve also noticed that manners seem to be a rare commodity these days. What a great opportunity for your kids! Since the rarer the commodity the more valuable it becomes, we can give our children a powerful advantage in the workforce...and in life...if we teach them. Listed below are some tips:

Model good manners.

What a bummer. This is the hardest part for me!

Set enforceable limits on behavior by describing what you will do or allow.

"We will stay at the restaurant as long as you guys can sit in your chairs, use quiet voices, and follow directions," is an example of an enforceable limit.

Follow through with empathy and logical consequences.

One mother wasn’t afraid to get serious:

I’d been practicing table manners with my three ADHD boys, and I decided to take them out for a practice session. As soon as we ordered our meals, they started acting horrible. I guess they didn’t believe I’d do anything about it. I said, "How sad, we need to go," and I took them right home. Now they get frequent compliments from others when we go out in public. The cost of that uneaten meal was sure worth it!

— Dr. Charles Fay
Love & Logic
|
|

Posted by QSMama at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Seth Godin's wonderful blog recently passed along a McDonald's training video from 1972. Take a look.

As Godin points out, the first thing you'll notice is the slow pace of the video. It's about as quick as a Baby Einstein video. Truly, our attention spans have shortened.

The second thing you'll notice is: Why the heck is that customer wearing a hard hat as he orders his McDonald's lunch? Does he expect the employee to throw his order at him? Is he afraid a batch of burgers will fall from the sky, a la Captain Kangaroo, my own favorite video treat in 1972?

We'll never know.

But overall you'll notice how little the need for good customer service training has changed. I've often said every American kid should have to do a six-month-minimum "tour of duty" waiting tables, starting around age 18. Nothing's better for teaching young adults things like...

• Just as there are rules in your family, there are organizational rules employees have to follow. Family rules are the first training ground for getting along in the rest of the world.

• It's hard to please a lot of people, but when it's your job you have to keep trying.

• It's nice to be kind to the people who are serving you. That means being polite, patient, and a thoughtful tipper.

Did you have a job waiting tables or working a register? How did that job prepare you for other parts of adult life?

Posted by QSMama at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I check the webstats on this site more times each day than I brush my teeth or tell my husband I love him. In fact, my stat checks number about the same as my espresso drinks, which is to say, three, or four on a bad day.

Sad, isn't it?

One thing I know: There are WAY more people reading these pages than commenting. That's why I was thrilled to learn it's Delurking Week, brought to you by the Paper Napkin blog.

Do me a favor and comment this week. You don't have to say much. Just type "hi," if that's all you can say. If you can type a little longer, tell me where you're writing from, or how you ran across Quick Serve Kids. I'll read every comment, I promise, and be grateful for each one, too.

Posted by QSMama at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Rumor has it that by the third or fourth kid, you give up worrying about perfectly clean hands. Now that Baby A is two and a half, I can understand. At some point, safety becomes more about making sure the child hasn't run out into the parking lot and less about keeping those little fingers sanitized.

No kidding. We recently installed a slide-lock way up high inside our front door because Baby A was opting to go on walks outside by herself. Scary, huh? And to think a (childless) friend asked me recently whether I thought breastfeeding had made Baby A less independent. Um? My child, who has never given a second thought to taking off?

Anyway.

For those of us with the luxury of focusing our cleanliness obsession on only one child, restaurants still seem like repositories of ick. That's why it was great to hear Chick-fil-A launched a program January 3 to put complimentary hand-sanitizer wipes and disposable placemats in Chick-fil-A restaurants.

The Chick-fil-A Children’s Placemat is a disposable sanitary eating surface designed to help babies and toddlers eat finger foods safely. It's ideal for kids who are using tray-less high chairs. (The official announcement specified "kids three and under," but Baby A and many of her friends gave up high chairs a long time ago, before age two.) The placemat also features educational games that parents can play with children while eating, as well as information on Chick-fil-A’s Kid’s Meal options

The placemat is supplied by Neat Solutions, Inc., which was founded by a mom trying to clean up her own kids' dining experiences.

Chick-fil-A partnered with GOJO, inventors of Purell, to offer co-branded sanitizing hand wipes at participating Chick-fil-A locations to encourage customers to clean and sanitize their hands before eating. Chick-fil-A franchisees operating stand-alone restaurants now have the option of installing a special dispenser adjacent to their playground areas that has individual Purell hand wipe packets for parents to help their children to use to clean their hands after playing.

Restaurants also will offer the wipes to on-the-go customers ordering through the drive-thru, as well as hand them out to customers in the dining rooms. The wipes also will be available at the chain’s mall locations, where it is more difficult for customers to wash their hands before eating in food courts that no longer have easy access to restroom facilities.

Amen, amen, and AMEN. Our whole family used a Purell station inside the playground at a Chick-fil-A just last week. (That was after I had to climb twenty-five feet up inside said playground to convice A. it really, truly was time to leave. But that's for another post.)

Just the other day, Baby A decided to explore the underside of our table in the food court at the mall. "What's that, Mommy?," she asked, picking at a wad of dried-up chewing gum. "Is that a treat?"

Nope, honey. But restaurant chains paying attention to what parents want? That's a big treat.

Posted by QSMama at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Funny—this time last year, I was scrambling to write a quick-turn story on the threat of avian influenza, or bird flu.

Now the press is asking where bird flu has gone.

I'm not saying it's totally gone—not by a long shot, as that AP story makes clear. And while there was understandably a lot of drama as the press and the restaurant industry followed that outbreak, I never feared for the safety of our food supply. Thanks to another bug, salmonella, everyone knows you've got to handle and cook chicken safely, and chances are very tiny any one of us is handling chicken carcasses or excrement.

Just saying it's strange, and maybe a little scary, how quickly things can change. Let's just be happy we're dealing with an ebb, not a surge.

Speaking of surging, there are more cases of E. coli poisoning, this time in Iowa. The Taco John's chain has been implicated in many, but not all, of the Iowa cases. Responding quickly, Taco John's discarded all food from one franchised location, sanitized the restaurant and kitchen, and restocked. The company also issued a public statement right away.

Posted by QSMama at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Ever thought much about food irradiation—zapping foods briefly during the harvesting or packaging process to kill harmful bacteria and viruses?

The notion used to really turn me off. Why do such an artificial and, uh, nuclear thing to our food? Why not fix the problem at the source? Plus, tests couldn't prove irradiation is absolutely safe, and supposedly it can alter tastes, textures, and nutrients.

But all this news of sicknesses is starting to get to me, now that I've got a little one to worry about. Back during Spinach Crisis 2006 I posted about a friend who was very sick with E. coli poisoning, most likely from alfalfa sprouts. How can I be sure the foods that are healthiest for Baby A are also safe?

This much I do know: Our family isn't going to stop eating yummy things like green onions, spinach and other greens, and, yes, ground beef anytime soon. We do try to make many of our meals local—that is, vegetables from local farms, meats from small producers who follow natural, sustainable standards.

But the fact is we do eat at chains, and we do buy some processed or convenience foods. (I do love me some Taco Bell, though I've never taken Baby A there.) And I don't believe even local foods are safe as long as there are things like cattle feedlots in fields nearby.

So how do we find a way out of this mess—one that's safe and reliable for us and our families? Is it time to look again at irradiation? Comment and let me know your thoughts. Me, I'm still not sure. And the bureaucrats who repeat, "The U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world" are sounding a lot like the ones who say, "We've turned the corner in Iraq." In other words, they're not seeing the very real problems on the ground.

Some related links:

* Jamba Juice says it might have served contaminated strawberries in certain Southwestern locations.

* Green onions are now off the menus at all 6,000 Taco Belll locations nationwide. Some samples of green onions in the Taco Bell system have shown traces of E. coli bacteria. The company contracted for private testing, alongside state testing.

* New Jersey asks all Taco Bells in the state to throw out their food. The same directive asked Taco Bell to better train workers in hygiene and food handling.

* Newsweek interviews a food safety expert about how consumers can keep themselves safer. She's pretty even-keeled, which I appreciate. Example, when asked if she'll at at Taco Bell again: "I would just wait until everything cleared up, but this wouldn't stop me from going back there in the future."

* Salon published a great Q & A piece on food safety and modern food processing.

Posted by QSMama at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We stopped into Chick-fil-A for lunch. It was one of those last-minute decisions. I was in a bad mood because we unexpectedly had to get two new (large, expensive, ugh!) tires, just in time for the holidays. Let's just say the other driver in the household did something really, um, silly.

So we dropped off the car and went to eat. My mood was not so good. We nestled into a booth and served Baby A her usual (chicken strips, fruit cup), then tucked into our own usuals (classic Chick-fil-A sandwiches) when I realized I wanted a packet of buffalo sauce. Lately I can't get enough of the stuff. Strange. And, no, there's no "Baby B" on the way. It's just a thang.

I jumped up out of my seat and turned to head for the counter—and nearly crashed into an older woman with a gentle demeanor and a nametag that said HOSTESS.

She said, sweetly, "Hi, what would you like? I'll get it for you." Immediately, my mood softened.

"I'd like a packet of buffalo sauce, please."

"I'll be right back with it." And she was. "Thanks," I said. "My pleasure," she said.

What an awesome thing, especially when you're the sole adult eating with young children. It is such a pain to gather up babies and toddlers just to go twenty feet away for the spoon you forgot. Even older kids can get in trouble (or just be obnoxious to other tables) in a matter of seconds.

I'd like to claim this is Southern hospitality, but it's not. If I remember right, it was So Cal–based Carl's Jr. that first put hostesses in its dining rooms—employees, most often women, who were there solely to refill your drink, grab the napkins you forgot, or just ask how your meal is. When Carl's Jr. bought the Hardee's chain, it started putting hostesses in those dining rooms, too. I believe Long John Silver's tried it seven or eight years ago. Now, clearly, Chick-fil-A has picked up on the concept.

And what a great thing. As a parent, I'd love to see more of this.

Have you seen a host or hostess recently in a quick-serve dining room? In what brand?

Posted by QSMama at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

An Indiana couple are suing Starbucks, saying one of the company's units served a cup of hot chocolate that seriously burned their little girl.

The mother ordered an adult-sized hot chocolate for herself and a child-sized hot chocolate for her daughter. The suit says that when the mother drove off, the girl's drink spilled in her lap, causing the injury. Starbucks says it is company policy to serve kids' drinks at lower temperatures that will not cause burns.

The girl was young enough to be buckled into a child restraint seat in the back—meaning she was pretty young.

Seems to me there might have been multiple failures in this situation. Starbucks has a policy, but occasionally employees mess up. I always, always try Baby A's drinks first, not just for temperature, for for freshness and safety. (She's been served rotten milk in a restaurant before, but that's for a different post.) And I'd never, ever let her hold even a mildly warm drink in the car. Really, she's lucky to get a drink of water when she's in her car seat. It's too messy.

What I'm getting at is I couldn't sue a company for my own mistakes. Not that I'm not perfect—it's hard to resist a child who's screaming for a treat, and it's easy to forget the taste-test.

What's your take? Where is that precarious edge between parental and corporate responsibility? Really, this ties into a much bigger picture—at what point are parents of overweight or diabetic kids responsible for what those kids eat at quick-serve restaurants? Can I sue because my child is obese? I say not--it is my responsibility--but it's an interesting debate, one that I'd like eventually to have here.

Comment and let me know your thoughts on this Starbucks case.

(Thanks to Blogging Baby and AdPulp for the heads-up.)

Posted by QSMama at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Call this a sort of Friday Free-for-all...an assortment of news to end the week:

If you're concerned about food safety, you're far from alone. A study released today shows about two-thirds (63 percent) of all U.S. adults are extremely or very concerned with the cleanliness of restaurants where they eat. That's about 140 million adults.

Women are more likely to be concerned than men, and adults ages 35 and over are more likely to be concerned than those ages 18 to 34.
|
|
|

Great news! Taco Bell is joining the trend against trans fats. Testing of the new canola oil began two years ago, and the company says the transition is already complete in one hundred restaurants.

The nation's largest Mexican quick-serve chain, Taco Bell uses the oils to fry its nachos, taco salad shells, potatoes, chalupa shells, and other items. All 5,000 of Taco Bell's U.S. single-brand restaurants (meaning those not paired with a KFC will change from a partially hydrogenated soybean oil to a trans fat-free canola oil by April

Baby A hasn't eaten at a Taco Bell yet, mostly because we happen to have a local quick-serve Fresh Mex place right up the street. But I do love me some Taco Hell, and sooner or later A. will end up tagging along. I'm glad there will be fewer trans fats there.
|
|
|
Guess what I learned this week? There's a Federation of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs in Spain, the members of which have pledged to refrain from promoting huge servings of food.

The other day, the Spanish Ministry of Health urged Burger King to pull an ad campaign for its monster XXL burger—which AO says is the caloric equivalent of eating ten fried eggs—because it violates a Spanish initiative against obesity.

The ministry reportedly has been asking the fast-food chain to abandon the campaign for more than a week because the commercials go against the federation. (Sounds Star Wars-ish, doesn't it?)

I doubt such an agreement for self-regulation could be reached here in the United States. But, I've been encouraged by all the trans-fats news, as well as Panera's organic kids' meal. Maybe, just maybe, self-regulation and market demand will work. Mayyyyyybe.

What do you think? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Warning: If you're not a parent, or haven't otherwise raised a toddler, don't read any farther. This post contains graphic potty-training scenes.

I mean it.

Okay, you're on board? Here we go. The scene opens in a hip, urban coffee shop. The lights are low. A DJ spins ambient and house tunes as the cool (read: non-parental) clientele hang out before hitting the club and bar scene.

Baby A and I are hunkered down at a corner table, enjoying a rare late-night (read: 8 P.M.) date, munching on biscotti and drinking milk. Suddenly, above the blissed-out music and hushed conversations, A. shouts, in that ear-shattering squeak only little girls can muster,

"Mommy, I have to POOP! Right now! I'm going to go poop! Here I go!"

All eyes turn to our table as A. hops down and sets off running for the restroom. I, of course, follow behind her just as fast as I can, relatively unfazed because, you know, this is just how life is now. It takes a lot to faze me, child-scatological-wise. And, in the big picture, this only makes the bedtime routine easier.

So while I'm squatting in front of her, helping her balance while she sits on the potty, I distract myself by thinking of things I'm grateful for in restaurant bathrooms, now that this is, you know, part of my job.

Cleanliness. Enough said. Little kids wait until the last, harrowing moments before notifying you they need a potty. There's generally not much time to locate and use seat covers. Please, restaurant industry, if you're not keeping your bathrooms sanitary for us adults, do it for kids—and those of us helping the kids.

Gimme room, lotsa room. Until kids are old enough to sit without falling in, we parents must practice a particular type of yoga aimed at keeping the child perched in place without offending the child's No, Mommy, I do it myself sensibilities. It is a delicate balancing act, and we need space in which to perform it, even if it means providing one less toilet. (I know, there are buidling codes and stuff. I'm just sayin'.)

Keep it stocked. It's a huge bummer for an adult with any sense of hygiene to find an empty soap dispenser or paper towel box. It's awfulawfulawful when you can't wash your child's hands after the potty. You have no idea the things they touch.

A stepstool at the sink. Have I not gone on about this enough already?

Thankfully, A. declared herself finished at that point, and shortly thereafter we rejoined the world of the cool with nary a red face. (Amazing how parenting changes you.)

What can you add to my list of restaurant restroom must-haves? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

How clean are the hands serving your family's food?

Today at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in New York, Ecolab Inc. announced its new Clean Hands™ initiative to raise awareness of the importance of hand washing. The program—which Ecolab is supplying at no charge—also promotes compliance with CDC and FDA guidelines in the foodservice, hospitality, and healthcare industries and aims at reducing the spread of infection from unclean hands.

The company says each year there are more than 76 million foodborne illnesses, nearly half of which can be traced to poor hand hygiene. Those illnesses are particularly harsh on kids' young bodies. I can vouch for that: When I was five, I had a shigella infection traced back to a quick-serve restaurant called the Pak-a-Chick. (Yes, you read that name right.) I remember becoming horribly sick, so much that I couldn't stand up or even stay awake. My mom says there was one night I was lucky to survive. I certainly don't want Baby A to go through anything similar.

So I strongly support more hand washing awareness and support. A few thoughts:

• The vast majority of restaurant operators I've encountered are very strict about hand washing, if only for business reasons. Illnesss outbreaks traced to their restaurants would be devastating. Training and documentation rates are high.

• Many operators put their managers through the National Restaurant Association's ServSafe program, a national standard for hygiene and food storage.

• Gloves don't necessarily replace good hand washing technique and consistency. The best strategy might be a combination of the two.

In spite of it all, I'm sure we've all seen something unsettling happen. There's no perfect way to control what people do. What do you think? Do you see enough hygiene precautions being taken when you're at quick-serve restaurants? What else would you want to see done? Comment and let me (and the industry!) know.

Posted by QSMama at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a good post over at Blogging Baby about how retailers are increasingly catering to kids—and making it easier for parents to shop and eat in their stores.

Case in point: TWH is out of town, so Baby A and I headed over a local, funky quick-serve pizza shop for dinner. While she was ringing up our order, the cashier pointed out there was a supply of kid-entertaining things in a cabinet under the flatware and condiments. We checked it out, and sure enough, there were crayons and paper, some little books, and a few stuffed animals and dolls. Baby A got to pick out a few thing to take to our table, and it was enough to keep her relatively still and quiet until our slices and salads came.

Whew. Any little help, I'll gladly take.

The Blogging Baby piece notes that kids' spending now totals $700 billion annually. Sure, but who's driving the car? (smile)

Posted by QSMama at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Update: NPR's Scott Horsley reported on this on November 13. Go here to listen.

When Baby A was a few months old, I discovered a Starbucks with a drive-thru window, and I became a regular. I'd learned one of those things they don't tell you before you give birth: Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to get out of the car. (And caffeine is a must-have when you're up three times a night.)

It's not laziness, or overdependence on the car. On the contrary, it's the simple fact that once a baby goes to sleep, you really, really don't want to wake her up. Later comes the toddler corrollary: Once a whiny, fidgety toddler is strapped into her carseat, you really, really don't want to let her out until you're at your destination.

Wireless payment (or RFID or "contactless" payment) takes the drive-thru ease a step further. All you have to do to pay is wave a small wand in front of a reader. A third-party billing system relays the charges to your credit or debit card. Increasingly, quick-serve chains have been adopting this technology—McDonald's in the Chicago and Southern California areas were among the first to do it, some five or six years ago.

Now Jack in the Box says it's installing contactless card readers at all company restaurants, meaning guests can pay simply by holding their cards in front of a reader at the front counter or drive-thru window. No swipe required. And that's nice inside the store, too, when you're holding a wriggling kid and trying to fish out your wallet at the same time.

Contactless payment at Jack in the Box requires guests to have an American Express, Discover Network, MasterCard PayPass, or Visa Contactless card or device embedded with a chip that communicates with the reader via radio frequency.

JITB says installation of the readers should be completed by December 31. With the move, Jack in the Box will become one of the first major fast-food chains to accept contactless payment at all company restaurants.

Have you ever paid this way at a quick-serve restaurant? How well did it work?

Posted by QSMama at 06:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Baby A discovered a stepstool in the restroom of a quick-serve restaurant. What a wonderful sight! She was thrilled to "do it all by myself." I was thrilled not to have to hold her up to the sink and struggle to wash her hands. Even when they're dry, toddlers are wriggly, slippery, suprisingly strong little creatures.

I recorded the experience (sorry, again, for the low light and lack of sound...it's hard to shop for electronics when your child keeps running to the "Little Einsteins" DVD racks).

Hey! Everyone in the quick-serve industry! These stepstools cost maybe twenty bucks. I'll do that and more in business at your place in the course of a couple of months if you make life this convenient. Parents love little touches like this.

Really. It means a lot.

Posted by QSMama at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Going off-topic for a moment to send congratulations to Mary Michele, founder of parenting/style blog One Chic Mama and the amazing designer behind Mary-Michele Apparel and Design. She and her husband just welcomed their second child, a 9 pound 4 ounce baby boy.

No doubt he'll be a great playmate one day to his big sister, who's three and a half and whom Baby A adores.

Here's betting Dylan will be one well-dressed little boy. And speaking of great styles, if you haven't visited Michele's sites, give them a tour now. You'll be impressed.

Posted by QSMama at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday I got to speak with Shirlene Lopez, who last week was named president of Del Taco, the California-based quick-serve Mexican chain.

Get this: Lopez has been with the company for 27 years. At age 14, she started mopping floors and cleaning tables at her local Del Taco. Those were the only tasks state law would allow her to perform at that age. She moved on through cashier, company operations, marketing, human resources—you name it, she's done it for Del Taco. (Well, except for accounting, she said.)

And today? She's president of a company that's preparing to expand nationwide.

So to all those parents worried that their Quicksies' lowly restaurant job won't lead anywhere: Here's a good example of just where that job might lead.

Talking with Lopez made me think back on my early jobs. Lifeguard: great work environment, low pay, no future. Law clerk: horrible. I put thousands of canceled checks in numerical order. No joke. It wasn't until my internship/work study job at Duke Magazine that I found some direction. And here I am.

How about you? Which early jobs most influenced what you do today?

And can any of you top Lopez for longevity with a company?

Posted by QSMama at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a brief thought for this evening. Try taking this questionnaire. It's a short quiz that shows how many of the world's healthiest foods you're taking in each day, personalized for your age, gender, and the region where you live.

Then think about how many of those powerful ingredients are available on quick-serve menus. The meats are, for sure. But greens? Fruits? Nuts? Avocadoes? Only recently have those foods found their way onto quick-serve menus, and then not in large quantities. It's progress, though.

I guess that's the challenge we face.

Posted by QSMama at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Tip: Try carrying a set of chopsticks with you when you need your young child to focus on eating. Yesterday I took her to lunch at a Vietnamese noodle house—and it worked!

It seems my child will eat anything if it's delivered to her mouth by chopsticks. Twice now she's eaten mountains of chicken, broccoli, and other veggies—things she usually takes only a few bites of—when I've fed them to her with chopsticks. She thinks it's so cool. I'm going to stow a set in my bag for those restaurant situations when we need her to be quiet and pay attention to the meal.

Last night, in fact, she asked me to switch places with her so she could finish my noodle bowl with chicken, broccoli, and orange peppers. I'd had enough, so I agreed. Wonder if she actually thought I was cool with finishing her meal, which you can see in the foreground of this video?

(I'm in the market for a new camera...sorry for the darkness and pixelation.)

Of course, she can't really use the sticks, so she eventually gives up and uses her fingers. Which is fine by me if it means I get to eat in peace. Mama Fu's, Pei Wei, Panda Express—plus mom and pop noodle houses—here we come!

Posted by QSMama at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've eaten out so many times lately that, even though it was Saturday night, we wanted to stay in. Our restaurant habits have been getting expensive (in total contradicton to this post, I know), and, besides, we were missing our family table.

So I went to the grocery store, and a look at the produce aisle had me craving one of my new favorite veggie dishes: peel, cube, and slowly cook butternut squash (or sweet potatoes) in a heavy pan in olive oil and butter for about twenty minues. Near the end, when the squash is soft and starting to carmelize, add a few cups of fresh spinach and a little salt and pepper. Saute, serve, say yummm.

Alas, there was still no spinach to be found. Not at Fresh Market, not at Whole Foods, not at Harris Teeter. Not on any of the local self-serve salad bars. And not at any of the local quick-serve restaurants, either.

Pre-washed, bagged produce, like the recalled spinach, has been crucial to the quick-serve industry's ability to offer fresher, more nutritious choices like salads—and lettuce and tomato slices for your burgers that aren't rubbery or some strange shade of yellow. I can't emphasize how important that packaging process is for fast food. Without it, the labor costs are just too great to offer fresh produce within the quick-serve business structure.

Which means it's all the more important that the growers and packagers get it right.

A friend's brush with death first taught me about this scary strain of E. coli. She fell ill with the classic symptoms of E. coli poisoning, yet she never, ever ate red meat—thought to be source of E. coli. The

Continue reading "I Miss Spinach" »

Posted by QSMama at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A story on today's newswire states something The Wonderful Husband and I have known for a while:
Oftentimes it's less expensive to eat out than to cook at home.

That's especially true when two bags' worth of groceries at Whole Foods costs, what, $40 minimum? During weeks when we cook a lot, I'll pop into Whole Foods or The Fresh Market two or three times—that's about $80, at least—and make a trip to the state farmer's market near our house. That's usually another $15 or so. Antiobiotic-free meats and dairy are expensive, but it's what we try to buy.

Now, the exception here might be frozen entrees. They're filling and relatively cheap, but usually pretty yuck on the healthy meter.
Not that I don't like a little Stouffer's Grandma's Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bake on a chilly fall evening. Mmmmmmm, that's what I'm talkin' about. But my point is you can feed a family for $6, maybe $8 if you make a salad, too.

On the other hand, we can run up the street and quickly get exquisite chicken Marsala or sushi or even just grilled chicken salads for $15 and below. Plus, the immense portion sizes at restaurants today make it easy for two adults—and even a toddler—to share one main course. Dinner accomplished, no dishes, no shopping time.

Are you finding that the economics of eating out often beat the costs of the home-cooked family dinner? Please comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I enjoyed—and learned a few things—from this interview on Salon with chef/world-traveler/writer/televsion star Anthony Bourdain.

Bourdain talks about the fallacies around foie gras and the feeding techniques used to produce it. He comes on strongly against legislation that outlaws entire classes of foods or ingredients—something the quick-serve industry is generally against, too.

I find his arguments pretty compelling, but at times I have trouble deciding where to draw that line. Yes, liberal ol' me. I think parents, teachers, institutions, guardians, the whole village has a lot more to teach my child than a law keeping her from running across certain foods.

On one hand, it seems disclosure could help people make the kinds of decisions such laws are meant to make on our behalf. For one thing, I'm glad trans fats levels are on nutrition labels now, so I can moderate my purchases. But then, it's annoying to go around in places like California where warning notices are EVERYwhere: "Warning: This could make you INSTANTLY, HORRIFICALLY ill! Warning: This could disable you for LIFE!" They're not that bad, but the ubiquity is flat-out annoying.

And before anyone fills my comments area with protests against foie gras, let me state that I wouldn't eat it—although I do respect its place in traditional and gastronomic culture. Me, I don't eat any organ meats, or any dark-meat fowl, or really any meat that looks like its origin. (Anthony Bourdain would probably make fun of me about that, but that's all right.) I love a lot of vegetarian dishes, but couldn't go completely veggie myself.

After all, I get to be picky about meats as long as I don't order anyone else to be picky about them. Right?

Comment and let me know your take on the debates over outlawing foie gras, trans fats, and other hot-button foodie issues. After all, the same arguments could be used to outlaw fast food. Where do we draw the line? At what point does concern for public health become invasion of privacy? And to what degree could legislation help keep kids healthier?

Posted by QSMama at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Filed this one away for future reference: What to do when your kids' friends have gone along for a few too many free rides?

Posted by QSMama at 06:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You know when your kid says something so funny or cute that you decide maybe—just maybe—you'll let them live in your house a while longer? This in spite of their, say, horrid two-year-old tantrums and waking three times a night?

I've decided to start recording a few of those moments here. For starters, this morning, The Wonderful Husband (TWH) got dressed and walked into the kitchen where Baby A was eating breakfast. A said, a propos of nothing,

"Daddy, you look like a circus man."

I think TWH was a little surprised by how hard I laughed. He might even have taken it a bit personally.

Posted by QSMama at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was thrilled to find a stepstool in a restaurant bathroom the other day. I complained loudly several months ago about just how hard it is to wash a toddler's hands in public bathrooms—restaurants included. It's even harder now that she's

(a) bigger, taller, and stronger

(b) by some miracle of nature, spontaneously potty-trained. I kid you not.

That's why I was so happy to find a stepstool in a local quick-serve. This week I'll take the camera in and film Baby A happily (oh, so happily) taking advantage of this franchisee's thoughtfulness.

Chains, listen up! It's small touches like this that bring us families back to your restaurants. What a relief for my post-Target-shopping-trip back.

Posted by QSMama at 06:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gretchen at The Happiness Project posted her tips on being a more light-hearted parent. Though she wrote them a couple of months back, I just found them tonight—and thought they were entirely worth passing along.

You could argue this post doesn't specifically deal with fast food and kids. And you'd be right. But read the tips and tell me they won't make you more able to spend a meal with a rowdy child without losing your cool.

Quoting from The Happiness Project now:

I’ve been working on being a more light-hearted parent: less nagging, more laughing. Here are some tips—many suggested by friends—that have helped.

1. At least once a day, make each child helpless with laughter.

2. Folk wisdom holds that unless you want to do something every day, never do it three times in a row. So when the Big Girl had the flu, I lay in bed with her until she fell asleep for two nights. But not three nights.

Continue reading "Being a More Light-Hearted Parent" »

Posted by QSMama at 07:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We got hacked! Hooray!

Quick Serve Kids was a featured Parent Hack today. If you haven't started hacking your kids yet, add this collaborative parenting advice site to your bookmarks or RSS feed now.

And the always cool Noodad linked to one of QSK's recent posts, too, from the dad's point of view. The post, and Noodad in general, are feedworthy, too.

As I get more familiar with the blogging world, I’ve come across so many great resources. A few days ago I found Urban Mamas, which serves the Portland area but has advice and discussion that's interesting for moms (parents?) everywhere. I found this post about taking kids to chain restaurants right-on. Same for the commentary.

HQ'd closer to QSK's home—but aimed at parents nationwide—is Clever Parents. This site is stuffed with advice on home life, style, parenting tools, work/home balance, and lots more.

I'm gonna start talking links every week. There's a lot to share—and whose blogrolls and bookmarks don't need a little freshening up now and then?

And—are you sitting down?—another Podcast should be posted tomorrow morning. No Tanqueray and tonics this time...just three-plus minutes of talk about trans fats and what the quick-serve industry is doing to lower them.

Posted by QSMama at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a link to a funny send-up of the announcements of moms panels from McDonald's and KFC, which I posted about, too. But not so humorously. And I didn't complain that dads were being left out.

I know QSK has plenty of male readers. What do you think of his argument? Are dads being left out? Comment and have your say.

Posted by QSMama at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy Labor Day, everyone. I hope all of you got a chance to rest a bit and spend some family time.

Parent Hacks has a funny (but true) post on Five Trader Joe's Convenience Foods I've Convinced Myself are Economically Worthwhile or are Healthy for my Kids.

(Rumor has it we're getting three new Trader Joe's locations soon. Yayyy!)

I posted a while back about convenience groceries I've realized I'm hooked on.

So what are your Top 5 Convenience Foods/Groceries? Whether it's quick-serve foods, groceries, or some kind of take-out, let us all know. I'm sure we can all use some new ideas!

Posted by QSMama at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As Tropical-Storm-or-Hurricane-I-Can't-Decide-Which Ernesto approaches us, I've found a few Fridayish tidbits:

This one's not funny so much as offbeat. Today, McDonald's in the UK starts using McFlurry lids redesigned to keep hedgehogs from poking around inside for a yummy lick.

Seems the little guys kept getting their heads stuck inside the lids and starving to death. The new lids have smaller openings.

Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, told Reuters the organization has lobbied McDonald's for five years on the issue. Reuters quotes Vass as saying she's "delighted that they have at last solved the problem."
|
|
Overheard at a quick-serve Fresh Mex restaurant where we had lunch today: "I wish restaurants would just have a cage where the kids could be locked up and run around and play together without disturbing anyone."

The way Baby A was behaving, I probably would have put her in a cage, had there been one available. But my dream of eating a guacamole and bean soft taco in peace went unrealized.

It was a mom who made the cage comment, by the way, and I could totally see where she was coming from.
|
|
Here's an example of how one family did the fast-food/home-cooking shuffle tonight. The kids were probably happier with what they got—but I have to say the parents' meal sounds fabulous! Sometimes it's so worth waiting 'til the kids go to bed and cooking something more worthwhile for the grown-ups.

Other nights, well, you just don't want to face the pots and pans afterwards.

Happy holiday weekend, if you're having one.

Posted by QSMama at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

QSK Reader RobO noted this good bit of news, as a follow-on to my post about positive changes to school lunches this fall. Thanks, RobO!

His note reminded me to write something I meant to say in that earlier post: While school lunch is not a focus for Quick Serve Kids, I do see school as a place where kids learn important social norms. Schools act in the place of parents during the day, and it's important they set a good example. Plus kids who feel better will learn and behave better.

Not to mention, when you feel confident they've had a decent lunch, you can feel better about some treats as after-school snacks. You know?

Posted by QSMama at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

QSK reader Dixie sent in a great question:

Why is there an amazing dearth of green vegetables—other than nutrition-poor iceberg lettuce salads—at most fast food restaurants? I have noticed steam-in-bag vegetables in the frozen food aisle. Why can't these be adapted to quick-serve restaurants? The bags could be sized down to individual serving sizes, distributed in bulk to restaurants, and all that has to be done is to pop a little bag in the microwave and *poof* a healthy side item.

I agree.

It's time to explode the myth that no kids like green veggies. Baby A and her little friends—the majority of them, anyway—are big fans of things like broccoli, peas, edamame, zucchini, and otherwise colored vegetables.

So why not some little cups of chopped veggies? Or peas and carrots? I'd really appreciate having that option, especially at dinnertime. Anyone from the industry, or any parents, want to comment?

Posted by QSMama at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

KFC is convening a panel of moms to seek their advice. Good news.

The company today announced it's forming the KFC Moms Matter! Advisory Board. Mothers from different backgrounds and parts of the country will join a group of mothers employed by KFC on the new Advisory Board.

Julienne Smith, founder and author of "Food For Talk," a recipe box of conversation starters that promote family bonding, will join the Advisory Board as an expert contributor.

KFC says the Advisory Board will meet in person bi-annually, hold quarterly conference calls, and host monthly dinner meetings in their hometowns to gain information and advise KFC on everything from trends that affect families to new product ideas. Its first task will be to work with the company to establish an online community (hey!) aimed at reducing everyday stress for moms. The online community will roll out nationally next year.

KFC's follows in the tracks of McDonald's, which created its Global Moms Panel in May. As I said when I posted about McD's, here's hoping KFC's move is more than a token gesture. The chains really need to listen—and if they do, together we can create better options and better business for everyone.

What do you think? Will this be more than a trend? And should it be?

Posted by QSMama at 05:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NPR's "Morning Edition" today had a good segment about a Cordon Bleu–trained chef in Austin who is developing dishes for the city's school lunches. Give it a listen.

The show followed one focus group of kids ages eight and nine who tried the chef's ideas—things like zucchini lasagna and chicken vegetable soup—and basically cleaned their plates. Well, except for one little boy who didn't want to see anything green on his plate.

Here's an idea: What if, instead of the same old chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, and fries we seen on kids' meal menus everywhere, the R&D departments at restaurant chains figured out how to adapt their regular menus for kids? By that I mean the burritos could be sized a bit smaller, the spicy dishes could be made milder, the sandwiches on a smaller roll.

That way we'd be sending a message that kids don't need exceptional foods—many of which are no good for them, anyway. What do you think, parents? How about you industry readers? Am I onto something?

Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 05:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I am not a germ warrior. The three-second-rule? I'm down with that. Germ-free environment? Impossible with kids, and probably not good for them, either. But today my own kid's hands skeeved me out, and that led to an idea.

Baby A and I met The Wonderful Husband for lunch at a restaurant. I'd gathered her from preschool—well, "book camp," where she's "studying" Sandra Boynton's Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!—and put her in front of one of her favorite lunches when I realized I had not washed her hands.

What tipped me off? The brownish grub. The dried paint. The clay under her fingernails. Those didn't bother me as much as the stuff I couldn't see. But have you ever tried to take a hungry child away from a table laden with yummy things, especially to wash her hands? It's ugly.

Then it hit me: Wouldn't it be nice if, on the condiment bar with the napkins and straws and tiny packets of Tabasco (love those, by the way), there were packets of sanitizing wipes? You know, the kind they give you after a meal of crab legs or lobster or BBQ?

They're cheap, and they'd make us skeeving parents Oh.So.Happy.

If I were one of those moms, I'd have a few in my bag, along with Band-aids and Kleenex. But I'm not. And I don't.

Posted by QSMama at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Whoa, is Blogging Baby the new nexus for parental debate about kids and quick-serve restaurants? (WAIT. THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE QUICK SERVE KIDS. Rrrggggghhh.)

Anyway. I've spent the past half-hour hitting reload to follow the comments on that Blogging Baby post. (If you haven't followed the link, it's about Eric Schlosser's newest book, Chew On This, a sort of Fast Food Nation written for the pre-teen and teen set. Here's one snippet from a comment on BB:

"[...] Besides, although I rarely eat fast food, I don't want to know what goes into every piece of food I eat. Then I would eat only plants that don't cast shadows."

Me? I want to go into every dining experience with eyes wide open. When it's

Continue reading "Eyes (and Mouths) Wide Open" »

Posted by QSMama at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a great debate going on over at Blogging Baby, spurred by a post about Burger King's new Quad Burger.

The post calls it "obesity on a bun." I think my cholesterol rose just from looking at the picture.

Visit and read...and comment!

Posted by QSMama at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So last Saturday we're in the car around lunchtime when Baby A starts begging for something. It takes us a moment to catch on, but soon it's clear.

"Let's go eat at the Chick-fil-A with the little table. Please? I want to eat at my own little table. Daddy has a table, Mommy has a table, and I have my own table. Please, let's go."

So here's my message of the day to the quick-serve industry: I can't think of a less expensive, less labor-intensive way to get kids and families back to your restaurant.

Forget those million-dollar movie tie-ins! Buy a hundred-dollar table-and-chair set and put it in your dining room.
Keep it clean and in good condition, and I bet you your investment and more that we parents will keep it occupied.

Really: We loved it. A was so proud to do her own thing that The Wonderful Husband and I got to have a few minutes of conversation. That's so worth a $10 family meal.

In fact, there are many little touches that make eating out easier on us parents of little ones, like clean, convenient bathrooms and safely sized portions. Here's another one.

Curious about the URL on the painted table shown here? It's www.prissypots.com. The site says they do wholesale. Another wholesale source for kid-sized tables and chairs is here.

Posted by QSMama at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay. While I was posting that last story, Baby A was applying a whole sheet of stickers to my legs. (I'm wearing shorts.)

Whatever it takes to get some work done, right? Man. It still beats the office. At least A can't make me go to a meeting.

Okay, off to the coffee shop, probably with froggie and butterfly stickers in places I can't see....

Posted by QSMama at 05:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I want to steer everyone to a great parenting site called Noodad and, in particular, to this post about why it's good to expose kids to quick-serve restaurants and TV—even if you're not a fan of either one.

The writer sounds like a thoughtful dad who wants to raise his kids to be savvy consumers with a healthy (meaning balanced) outlook. While you're there, read the comments from other visitors, too.

Hey...sounds like something you'd find around here!

Posted by QSMama at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

TIME magazine online has a good article posted about why the family meal is back in vogue. Among the reporter's findings:

* "social scientists say [the family meal] acts as a kind of vaccine, protecting kids from all manner of harm"

* "the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders, and consider suicide"

* "family dinner gets better with practice; the less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be, the less healthy the food, and the more meager the talk."

That's compelling stuff, and, of course, TIIME did not get some kind of exclusive on this story. These things we know.

So how, in this hurry-up, fast-food age, can we balance convenience and busy schedules with eating frequent family meals? I have a few ideas, and I'd like to hear yours, too. Here are mine:

Continue reading "Striving for More Family Meals" »

Posted by QSMama at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's step away from the restaurants + parenting theme for a moment and consider just the parenting part. Specificially, the mom part.

I'm doing a shout-out this morning for One Chic Mama, a new mommy + style blog from my friend Michele. She's recently featured some indulgent and unexpected finds from The Gap, Laura Mercier, and The Body Shop, as well as social and charitable issues every thinking mom should know about.

The woman behind One Chic Mama also designs lovely children's clothes, is an active supporter of other women in business, is raising an awesome three-year-old girl whom Baby A looks up to, and has a second baby on the way. (How's that for a chic mama?) Because our sites launched around the same time, we've had fun learning together and sharing marketing ideas.

So give One Chic Mama a look, now and whenever you need a little mom pick-me-up.

Posted by QSMama at 06:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Have you been to Paris?

I first went to France the summer after my junior year in high school. My host family, a high-strung but kind mom and dad and their three children, lived in Lille, in the northeast near the Belgian border. They took me on a wonderful weeklong trip to Paris. I fell in love...with the city, the language, the culture and history, and oh my, the cafes.

As we were strolling down some rue or another one afternoon, the dad pointed to the sign for Quick, one of the early (this was mid-80s, I hate to admit) French quick-serve chains, and said, "You see this? This is your latest export to France. This American 'fast food' restaurant thing...pfahhhhh."

I didn't take it personally, but that moment did get filed away in my mind—along with many others—as lessons in what it means to be American and to be a citizen of the world. He was right: franchised fast food is an American invention. As we continued walking and talking, I learned he was concerned about what Quick, and later McDonald's and other brands, would mean for French dining traditions, kids' perceptions of those traditions, and, frankly, the overall impact on health.

With those memories in mind, I enjoyed this piece in today's New York Times about how ingrained McDonald's is into French business and life—and how successful it's been.

These highlights from the story are especially interesting...

Continue reading "Our American Legacy?" »

Posted by QSMama at 06:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Because TWH works in technical sales, we get Cisco's IQ magazine delivered to The Bungalow. This month's issue arrived today, and because TWH is away in Atlanta doing technical selling, or whatever the verb is, I'm reading it while slurping a bowl of Thai noodles for dinner.

There are some cool restaurant-related stories in this issue. This was the first one to jump out at me: Did you know there are 35,544 restaurants and cafes that offer public (free) WiFi access? Overall, more than 100,000 public hotspots circle the globe—marking an 87-percent increase in two years.

The five cities with the most hotspots are...

Continue reading "Public WiFi: Right for Restaurants?" »

Posted by QSMama at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Early this morning, as I carried Baby A from her bedroom to ours, I reminded her to greet TWH with, "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!"

She delivered, along with a sweet, "I wuv you!"

Good thing it was so cute, because I didn't have much else planned.

We took a family walk to the state farmer's market and filled bag after bag with treats—tomatoes, blueberries, cantaloupe, peppers, chipotle goat cheese (mmmmmm!), peaches—for less than $20. There was not a cloud in the sky. Glorious weather: sunny, breezy, no humidity. This after a downpour so hard we had 8 inches of water in the basement on Wednesday. We so deserved this weather.
Thank you, TWH, for accepting our good wishes and hugs as recognition enough this Father's Day. Thank you for helping out while I spend our precious weekend time getting this site off and running.

I wuv—er—love you.

Posted by QSMama at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Are we born with some gene that compels us to yell into a fan and delight in the sound of our own voices, distorted and shot back at us?

Weekend mornings mean a family trip to the local coffee shop, where we meet informally with friends for breakfast, coffee, and talk/playtime. This morning the AC was broken, so the owners had several vertical floor fans going.

No sooner had we entered the shop when Baby A ran over to a fan, stuck her face up to it, and yelled, "Helloooooooo!," giggled when she heard her voice, and hellooooo-ed again. It took a lemon-poppyseed muffin to distract her.

I swear, we have never demonstrated fan-yelling (something I loved to do as a little kid) to her. Is it hereditary?

Posted by QSMama at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One interesting sidebar to MSNCB's online coverage of the trans-fat lawsuit against KFC is a poll asking how often readers eat fast food.

Try voting, then see how closely the results match your family's lifestyle. We were average, at least at the time I voted.

Posted by QSMama at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TWH had to spend a few hours at the office this past Saturday morning. After we dropped him off there, Baby A and I went on a little date at a nearby Starbucks. The store had posted a short article about Starbucks' rollout of newly designed paper cups containing 10 percent post-consumer recycled fiber.

I looked at the fine print on my cup, and, sure enough, it said, "Made with 10% post-consumer recycled fiber." Cool.

Starbucks claims this change will save some five million pounds of virgin tree fiber in just the first year. A pamphlet on the fixins' counter goes on to tout the company's work environment (including tuition reimbursement and adoption benefits), using sustainable trade and Fair Trade certified coffee, workplace and location diversity, and other areas of social responsibility.

Personally, I feel successful companies do owe some good works back to the people and communities...

Continue reading "Good Works: What Do Successful Chains Owe In Return?" »

Posted by QSMama at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

During a web search for good kids' meal ideas, I ran across an award the Houston Press gave to Mission Burrito, which has two locations in (duh) Houston. This link is a little old, but it got me thinking. How cool would it be if the toys that come kids' meals are eminently usable, like the stick of sidewalk chalk that Mission Burrito handed out?

I can think of some prizes we'd treasure around here: non-toxic crayons and chalk, cool little pads of paper, spoon and fork sets, neat little containers for Baby A to fill and unload with her own belongings.

Are you satisfied with the toys that generally come with kids' meals? Or can you suggest some other ideas that would work well for your family? Use the Comments link and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend and fellow blogger recently posted about how coffee shops are the hot new meet-up spot for moms, parents, and kids. I'm right there with her.

I'm sitting at one of my favorite local coffee shops right now with Baby A and my mom, who's in town visiting for Baby A's birthday. What I love is there's something here for each of us.

First, there are delicious caffeinated beverages. (smile) Second, there's a wireless, which allows me to get a bit of work done. And then there are snacks and meals, ranging from cookies to fresh fruit to full-on eggs and croissants, to suit any one, any time of day. There are magazines, fliers, and post cards for Baby A to sort, stack, and organize. And there are friends and associates, a true social and business network, to talk shop with and share business leads and ideas.

I like how the chains are working to provide a fuller environment for for customers like me and Baby A. There are the comfier seats and stay-a-while environments in fast-casual places. Even many of the traditional quick-serve places are striving to provide a wider range of choices in a more welcoming environment.

I hope to see more of this trend. Makes daily life with work and kids that much easier.

Posted by QSMama at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That's it.

Posted by QSMama at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Scene: Sunday afternoon, driving down the highway with TWH and Baby A. The kind of highway with strip-mall development on both sides.

The Outburst from the Carseat: "Mommmeeeeeee! I want to shop at that store! Yook! Yook! Shop there!"

The Cause of Said Outburst: McDonald's, with a brightly painted, two-story playground and equally tall mural featuring Ronald McDonald, the bird character (Birdie? That was my little brother's era of mcD's marketing...will have to go look that name up), and other characters.

That little one-two visual punch was shining like a freakin' beacon from the side of the road. I can picture McDonald's marketing with their checklist. "Step 32: Two-year-old's reaction? Check."

Funny thing is she doesn't know it's McDonald's. She doesn't even know it's a restaurant. (Hence, "store.")

This feels like a huge glimpse of Parenting Challenges To Come, like the moment they realize puddles are fun to stomp. Always a big draw for the kid, occasionally okay to do, somewhat annoying for the parents. (Yes, even with the improved coffee.)

But it has inspired me to set up the microphone and produce our first QSK Podcast. I'll post a notice when it's available...probably sometime tomorrow. Cool.

Posted by QSMama at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's just say this up front: I've never bought a box of Bibsters. And Baby A has the stained shirts to prove it. So so so many times, we've decided on a whim to eat out and been caught unprepared. (I'm sort of anti–diaper bag, but that's a different post.)

Each time I've reached for a box of Bibsters, though, I see the price and think, "Pfahhh, we can just stick a napkin in her shirt collar. Besides, she's getting neater all the time."

Then, once again, it's OxiClean to the rescue.

So while I was doing some kid laundry today I started thinking about restaurant survival gear. We've definitely got some favorites that help make meals easier, both out and at home. I'm wondering—what are your can't-live-without items?

We have liked:

• Bumkins bibs. Waterproof, ultra-thin and -soft, but totally heavy duty, these bibs have velcro closures and a great catch-all pocket at the bottom. My favorite part is they rinse easily, wring practically dry, and are ready to go again in minutes. How cute is this doggie-bag-style gift set?

Moving on to...

Continue reading "Restaurant Survival Gear, Kid-Style" »

Posted by QSMama at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m reading in the Boston Globe and USA TODAY that Starbucks plans to sell books in its locations by the end of the year. It's a logical follow-on to the offers of selected music.

Chairman Howard Schultz also hints the chain will offer downloads of books and maybe some proprietary reading materials through its WiFi network. (Did anyone besides me notice it took Starbucks forEVER to roll out that WiFi nationwide?)

Wonder if Starbucks will include some books or downloads featuring Maisy, Madeline, or Thomas the Tank Engine? I’d sure love to have some quality downloads for my iBook or even the mobile phone to help keep Baby A contented while I enjoy my coffee and maybe, just maybe, read a section of the newspaper.

Nah, like that’ll ever happen. But I can dream.

Posted by QSMama at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In spite of what I told my parents when I was about eight ("I will NEVER cook!"), I really do like to cook. I love my gas range, my copper All-Clad pans, and the wealth of fresh options around here. (We live two minutes from a rockin' state farmer's market, and Whole Foods and The Fresh Market are wonderful.)

The Wonderful Husband (TWH) is an awesome cook in his own right. He specializes in New Mexican cuisine, but can throw together a decent meal of any sort. We used to spend nice couple-time after work drinking gin-and-tonics or wine while cooking great meals.

Until the arrival of Baby A.

For the longest time, of course, she ate early and went to bed. Then we'd manage to throw something in the microwave (or TWH would run out for take-out). Now that she's older, we try to eat as a family almost every night. But HOW HARD is it to

(1) get everyone home
(2) spend ANY time together (maybe a late-day trip to the park up the street from The Bungalow)
(3) cook and eat as a family
(4) then do the bath-and-bed routine, all before 7:45 P.M.?

Surely you'll let me speak for you when I answer: Next to impossible.

Continue reading "Confession: Hooked on Convenience Foods" »

Posted by QSMama at 05:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)