Dig that dirt, lift them stones

I am one of those weirdos who actually LIKES the maintenance day at the co-op preschool, so a crop mob appeals to me.

Making your own soap molds

A tutorial on making molds to make soaps - legos in this case, but hmmmm what else would this work on?

City Mama's Meal Planning Monday

I really like her Monday posts - she's local but shops at a different farmer's market from me (I think) so we are often on a similiar wavelength with seasonal foods.

Here's my comment on this week's post:

New Years resolution was to try at least one new recipe a week, and have at least two vegetarian dinners a week. So far, so good (except for the chix stock in the pasta monday - gah)

Monday: (also our clean-the-fridge night, so most ingredients are leftover from last weeks farmer's market) mixed greens with beets, blue cheese, walnuts & walnut vinaigrette. Cooked down leeks in butter, then added diced cremini, white wine once they were soft. It was pretty great straight from the pan like that, but I added chicken stock and a little more butter to turn it into a pasta sauce for fusilli. More kid-friendly, but I'd eat it on toast w/o the additions next time..

Tuesday: Flank-steak-ish cut o'beef from farmer's market, salsa verde, caesar salad (leftover bread -> croutons, leftover baby bibb stands in for romaine), do something with jerusalem artichokes

Wednesday: Co-op meeting, so maybe veggie fried rice

Thursday: Pasta with broccoli rabe, take the breasts off a chicken, breaded and pan-fried.

Friday: Cook the thighs from the chicken, make more stock, then make chicken soup, add escarole, maybe pasta. Dig around the fridge if kids complain about soup....this is why Trader Joe's sells food in a bag

Saturday: Out-of-town friends with kids so probably restaurant

Sunday: Fish from the farmer's market, rice & furikake, grated daikon & lemon (yea! the 8-yr old is becoming a convert) Veg of choice lately has been pea shoots or spinach from market, sauteed with maybe a little garlic

And everyone beat me to the ricotta gnocchi suggestion - YUM!!!

Bluelight Cinemas in Cupertino

A new/old movie theater opened nearby. $3.75 tickets!! Family movies, and hopefully, a family friendly environment....sounds good.

Park Report #1: Burgess Park

Next fall we'll have a new schedule, me and the kids, and I need to add some parks to our repertoire. I'd been to Burgess Park in Menlo Park with the big kid years ago, but it's not close to home so it fell out of rotation some time back. Clearly I'd missed some of it's charms:

- enclosed toddler play area (did I mention how the boy was able to slip past me and run ACROSS A STREET at a non-enclosed park last week?) 

- bathrooms

- ducks !

- toddler pool !! $5 a day and open not just 10-12 in the morning but also 2-4 in the afternoon, right when you really need something to do post-nap.

- old ladies playing tennis (fun to watch but mean if your kid picks up a stray ball - WTF? )

- water fountain

- and, I've heard, snacks and drinks for sale in either the swim center or the rec hall. 

We're making a date with our pre-school friends for next week and seeing if this one goes to the top of the park list.

Amazon.com: Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom: Dani

Hmmmm, interesting. Worth a read

Amazon.com: Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom: Daniel T. Willingham: Books

Rickshaw

Hmmm, maybe for Lily & Nico?

Rickshaw