Month: July 2009

Cruise 09

Our Western Caribbean Cruise (Part Five)

Karen

Lost? You can catch up here with the precursor, part one, part two, part three and part four.

****

We arrived at Cozumel, Mexico at 8:00 a.m., June 26th.

This was the stop we were looking forward to the most.

It had been 19 years since Kevin and I took our honeymoon in Cozumel, Mexico and everything looked different, yet at the same time, it all seemed familiar.

Nineteen years ago, we had arrived on the island via a little prop plane (that was only held together with duct tape and I’m so not kidding about that!) I was scared out of my mind. Not only because that was the first time I had flown, anywhere, but because that was my first time out of the country and I freaked out just a smidgen …

Okay, I freaked out a lot.

In fact, I was so freaked out, that I stayed in our hotel room while Kevin went snorkeling.

Yes, I was a downright wimp.

To say I’ve come a long way since those early days of traveling would be putting it mildly. Traveling has opened up my mind and heart to new experiences and given me a new appreciation for home.

I hope the boys are learning a lot from our travels as well.

We hadn’t planned an excursion this time around, we were more interested in trying to locate our old hotel and in getting to the other side of the island – the really pretty side. At least in my opinion.

The pier was stuffed with shops — really nice tourist-y shops. Dude felt downright uncomfortable with the sheer number of locals that tried to lure us into their shops. We were being bombarded from all sides …

“Senora, please come see our beautiful jewelry.”

“Senor, we have low prices. Come look!”

I always feel awkward in this type of situation, also. On one hand, I hate to be rude and just ignore them, but on the other hand, if you give any sort of encouragement they circle around and block your path like a hungry shark.

So, we just kept moving.

We located the pavilion where all of the taxis were lined up and rode one to the square. We had honeymoon pictures of us eating on the square and we wanted to see what it looked like today.

It was huge, much more developed and quite pretty. We didn’t see as many tourists in this section of town and we were a bit uncomfortable with that — we were heading off the beaten track.

There were several shops down alleyways and every time Kevin steered us down one, I started to get nervous. Even though I’m sure the people on Cozumel are perfectly nice and they were certainly hospitable, you still never knew what their intentions were so even though we wandered down a few alleys, we didn’t usually go too far from the main thoroughfare.

We were down one such alley when a man approached us. He was trying to coax us into renting one of his cars. I wasn’t terribly interested, but Kevin perked right up. He negotiated with the guy and the guy then led us back to his office down a side street.

My heart jumped into my throat. I began picturing all sorts of bad things happening (naive family of four is found murdered in back alley), but I kept it together so I wouldn’t spook the boys. He led us back to his office and we rented one of his cars. (There’s a picture of us standing in front of the car in the slide show. I have no idea what kind of car it was, but it was a convertible and we had a ball putting the top down and appreciating the clean, salty sea air). He even offered to give us a ride back to the pier so we could catch our boat.

And for the record, everyone was super nice. In fact, while we were waiting for them to bring the car around, we walked into a 7-11 to buy something to drink and the clerk didn’t know English. A local woman translated for us and we were able to complete our transaction. We walked away with 20 pesos (a little over a dollar in American money — the exchange rate, at that time, was 11 pesos = 1 dollar. That’s important later).

We piled into the car and Kevin drove us to the other side of the island.

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It was wonderful. We were on our own! We stopped for lunch at a restaurant right off the beach. We were hot, but there was a cool breeze coming from the ocean so it was really pleasant. The only fly in our ointment was our money situation. We hadn’t taken enough money on shore with us and we weren’t sure we would have enough to pay for our meal. So, we ordered two dinners and shared them.

There were three college-aged boys at the table next to us who were laughing and having a good time. They ignored us, for the most part, but it was hard for us to ignore them. They weren’t obnoxious, only interesting to listen to. After a time, they finished their meal and all three stripped down to skimpy spandex swim trunks.

I thought they were quite beautiful to look at, but all three of my guys were really uncomfortable being so near half-naked men and the top of my head nearly exploded as I tried to hold my laughter in at their horrified expressions.

The other side of Cozumel is undeveloped and wild. We asked our server why that side didn’t have big hotels and other development there and he said it was because that that was the side that received the brunt of the storms whenever they blew in and destroyed everything they built on that side. The current is very strong on that side as well, so it was unsafe to go swimming, though that didn’t deter our three “friends.” 🙂

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more about "Cozumel Coast – Pt. 2 on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

We got back into the car and continued our drive. Our car guy gave us a map with directions on how to find his office and when we reached the outskirts of town, we stopped at a gas station and began to navigate our way back.

(Side note: Our credit card was denied at the gas station. Luckily, we had another card to cover the cost [always carry a back-up credit card!], but now we were worried about why our credit card company had denied us).

According to the map, all we had to do was continue down the road we were on and it would take us directly back to the office. So, we sat back and enjoyed looking at the city. We passed one corner that had one speaker on one side, and another big speaker on the other side, both playing quite loudly and both playing something different — it was as if they were competing with each other for attention.

Imagine our surprise when we encountered a dead end. We could no longer go straight, we had to turn either left or right. We were unsure what to do, so we turned left and promptly got lost.

We were caught in a labyrinth of side streets that all looked the same. Kevin, nor I, had our glasses with us and the writing on the map was so small, neither one of us could read it. We had the boys look at it and since the streets are in Spanish, they couldn’t read them out loud.

They had to spell the names of the streets to us.

In the meantime, the clock is ticking. The afternoon was passing us by and if we didn’t make it back onto the boat by 4:00, they would leave without us. And to top my stress off, I forgot to bring my watch on shore with us (the watch we bought on the ship so we could use it for this very reason!) and we had no idea what time it was.

I started to panic.

We backtracked and made our way back to the gas station. We took a moment to look more carefully at the map and with the boys’ help, we managed to find the streets we needed in order to make our way back to the office.

We finally stumbled onto the office. I was the only one who had paid attention to the landmarks surrounding the office and it’s a good thing — we would have likely driven past the thing, several times.

We got out of the car and went into the office. There was a different guy behind the counter and he didn’t act none too pleased to hear we had been promised a ride back to the pier.

I started to panic.

We were out of money. We had one dollar and the peso note. That was it. It cost $7.00 to take a taxi back to the pier.

And time was ticking.

Thankfully, our guy came running and he happily loaded us back into the car and drove us to the pier. Kevin engaged him in conversation (his English wasn’t great so we all got a laugh at our attempts to communicate with him) and asked him if very many people had gotten sick from the swine flu.

To our surprise, he snorted and then began to laugh. He said that no one got sick and that it was all a ruse from the media to make people scared. He said that the mainland (Cancun and beyond) had had a few cases reported, but nothing like the American media made it out to be.

We liked him instantly. 😀

We arrived safely back at the pier, thanked our very helpful guy and made our way back to the boat. It was about 2:45 by this time so we had cut it close, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if we hadn’t found our way back to the office as quickly as we had.

We really enjoyed renting that car. And it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing — just like it had been 19 years ago when Kevin rented a scooter and we had driven to the other side of the island together. We felt like we had come full circle.

(Side note: Kevin called the credit card company. Apparently, they got suspicious when they saw that someone was trying to buy gas in Mexico. Which was us, by the way. Even though it was a little annoying that they had cut our access, it was reassuring to know that they were on top of it and noticed a strange transaction like that so early. That company was Citibank, by the way, and no, they didn’t pay me to tell you that.).

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more about "Cruise 09 (Day 4)", posted with vodpod

(You can see a larger version of this slide show here).

And that’s it. We had a full day at sea the day after our Cozumel stop and we had a chance to relax and stuff our faces. We arrived back in Miami right on schedule. Our number was finally called about 11:00 a.m. and we left the boat, picked up our baggage, slid through customs and got right into a taxi — very smooth process. We arrived at the airport about noon, had some lunch and boarded our plane back to St. Louis at 3:30.

We caught the parking lot shuttle back to our car and started the four-hour trip back home, which seemed like it took much longer because we were all pretty tired and really ready to get home by that point.

We did pull over and have dinner at a Jack-in-the-Box (Dude had heard about their tacos and suggested it) and Kevin had to take over the driving from that point on. I was feeling really dizzy and drowsy by that point (something about my inner ear being out of whack from being on a boat all week long) and we finally arrived back home at about 11:00 p.m.

It was a great trip. We had so much fun and if you EVER get a chance to take a cruise, we highly recommend it.

We’re now on a course to plan our next one.

I’m thinking the Eastern Caribbean this time ….

Thanks for reading!!

Life-condensed

Revealing 25 (More) Things About Me

Karen

Just in case your new to this little ole blog of mine (Hi!), here are a few more things about me and my boring (but satisfying and happy and no, I’m not just saying that) life.

The many shades of me
The many shades of me

You can find pictures of my husband and two boys in the sidebar. ➡

(You can find more crap things about me here).

50. My second son was born in 1995.
51. He was two days early.
52. He had a huge head.
53. He was not the prettiest baby.
54. But one of the cutest toddlers I’ve ever seen.
55. My oldest son has brown hair and dark brown eyes.
56. My youngest son has blonde hair and blue eyes.
57. Yes, they have the same father.
58. My great-great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian.
59. My crooked nose most likely comes from that heritage.
60. I’m very proud of my crooked nose.
61. I started college in 1995.
62. I finally graduated in 2003.
63. I have a Bachelor of Science in Professional Writing.
64. I wanted to major Creative Writing, but my husband talked me out of it.
65. My first website was an accident.
66. I volunteered to take over my sons’ elementary school website.
67. Word spread and I’m currently maintaining seven eight school websites.
68. I LOVE MY JOB!
69. I want to start selling blog templates.
70. I want to design my own blog theme.
71. This requires a thorough knowledge of php.
72. Which I know nothing about.
73. But I’m working on it.
74. I currently drive a silver ’08 Pontiac Vibe.
75. I forgot to mention that I drove a maroon Ford Escape for seven years.

Twenty-five more things coming soon.

I also have another page if you can stomach any more About Me. In addition, I took a quiz that exactly sums up who I am and why I am the way I am. Proceed with caution. 😐

random stuff

We’re All Connected, But Do We Know This?

Karen

Perhaps I’m weird, but I prefer to connect with people online.

That way, it’s on MY terms.

I can connect on MY schedule.

I don’t have to screen calls from friends because I’m not in the mood to drop what I’m doing to rescue them.

I don’t have to worry about what I look like, what I’m wearing or how much extra weight I’m packing when compared to them.

And I especially don’t have to worry about disappointing them with my imperfections.

This impersonal, distant connection that we all share?

Is actually perfect for me.

Abundant Life

Teaching: The Dead Are Dead (Part Two)

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

The truth sets people free
Many people believe when a Christian dies, he or she goes to heaven and is with Jesus, and they take comfort in that. This seminar is not designed to cause people discomfort. Jesus taught us that there is great value in the truth. Jesus taught us that the truth would set us free, and there is great freedom in knowing what happens to people when they die.

The Bible teaches that when a person dies, he is dead in every sense of the word. His body is dead, his soul is dead, and his spirit is gone. Some people hearing this for the first time may find that revelation upsetting, so the information will be set forth as kindly and factually as possible.

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(RSS READERS: I’ve posted a wonderful video that talks more about this subject in detail. Please click over to see the video. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

In What State of Being Are the Dead?

[This article was taken from chapter 5 of Truth or Tradition’s book Is There Death After Life?]

The “Sleep” Metaphor

1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

As we have seen, the dead are truly dead and in “gravedom.” When their bodies have rotted, they have ceased to exist. But because they “exist” in the memory of God, He remembers them and intends via Jesus Christ to raise them to life. Thus He figuratively refers to their state of being as “sleep.” This clearly implies a future awakening. Because both their body and soul are dead, the term “sleep” has to be a metaphor.

The purpose of biblical figures of speech is to communicate truth more effectively or forcefully than would simple statements of fact. A metaphor or analogy is useful to augment our understanding if we carefully analyze the points of similarity between the compared terms. In this case, death and sleep have at least five points of similarity that give us much insight into the state of the dead, consistent with what we have already seen from the Old Testament.

The first similarity between death and sleep is that both are overpowering forces. A human being needs to rest. If deprived of sleep long enough, a person will literally fall asleep in the midst of any task, no matter how demanding. The human will is no match for the power of sleep. Consider Jesus’ disciples. Close to the time when he would be arrested, Jesus and his disciples were on the Mount of Olives. There was probably no more critical time for Peter and the disciples to stay awake and pray.

Mark 14:35-38
(35) And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
(36) And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
(37) And He cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
(38) Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Like sleep, death is an inexorable force for all men (unless they are still living when Christ appears). No amount of self-discipline can cheat “The Grim Reaper.” The most we can ask is “to be old and full of days,” as God’s Word describes many Old Testament saints upon whom He had conferred His blessing. Our days on earth may be healthy and full of joy, but they will eventually end. Only when the day arrives that we receive a body fashioned like Jesus Christ’s glorious body will we become immortal beings who cannot die.

A second point of similarity between sleep and death is that in either state there is no consciousness of time or space. Remember that Ecclesiastes told us that the dead “know not anything.” This is also true of those who sleep, and that is why people are very vulnerable to danger while they sleep. Because we are somewhat helpless in this state, God has provided us with encouragement and a promise of protection.

Psalms 121:2-4
(2) My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
(3) He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber,
(4) Behold, He That keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalms 3:5
I laid me down and slept; I awakened; for the Lord sustained me.

The lack of consciousness in sleep is also illustrated in Elijah’s mocking of the 450 prophets of Baal. After they had tried many times to evoke his power, saying, “O Baal, hear us,” the Scriptures teach that there was “no voice, nor any that answered.”

1 Kings 18:27
And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing [out for a walk], or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

The analogy of waking the dead from sleep makes no sense if the dead are already conscious in a higher sphere of existence, and the argument that only the body “sleeps” in death, while the soul continues to function, holds no water. On the contrary, the sleep metaphor emphasizes the absence of consciousness.

During physical sleep, bodily functions continue uninterrupted. It is the mind that sleep reduces to un-consciousness. The following biblical usages of physical “sleep” show the mental emphasis of this concept.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 and 7
(6) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
(7) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

The sleep metaphor thus must refer to the absence of mental awareness or consciousness, which is the major qualitative difference between the sleep state and the waking state. The sleeper is not aware of elapsed time, nor of the reality of space and time in the conditions that surround him. When he awakens, his mind becomes alert and aware once more. Likewise for one who has died, when he is raised from the dead. A dead believer is absolutely unaware of the passage of time. Whether he has been dead a few days or thousands of years, the moment of his falling asleep will be, in his conscious awareness, the moment of his awakening to new life.

A third point of similarity is that both in death and in sleep no productive work can be done. Perhaps that is why God contrasts sleep and productivity.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

You can read more about this subject here:

Is There Death After Life?

Free Online Seminar: Death & Resurrection to Life

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Life

Just One More to Go, I Think

Karen

missing-totoh Jazz lost an eye tooth last night.

Yes. The boy is 14 years old.

No. I have no idea if this is normal or not. But it’s OUR sort of normal so …

We were eating Chinese food (a favorite in our house) when Jazz suddenly put a hand to his mouth and pulled out a bloody finger. Only, he didn’t know it was bloody and was getting ready to wipe it on his white t-shirt.

Mom’s excellent observations skills saved the day once again.

“Hey buddy, you’re bleeding.”

Jazz was surprised and went to get a paper towel.

Jazz’s top permanent eye teeth actually grew in above and over his baby eye teeth. As a result, they didn’t push his baby teeth out, and Jazz refused to work on them to get them out (which irritated the stuffing out of me), so they stayed that way for quite some time.

He had two sets of eye teeth. It was quite attractive.

The only reason the first baby eye tooth came out was because he had chewed on it wrong and forced it out.

The same thing happened with this tooth, too. Only, it didn’t come out, it just started bleeding – a lot.

Jazz has never really handled losing his teeth very well. He doesn’t DO pain — he’s a bit of a wimp when it comes to his pain threshold. (I can say that, because my pain threshold is pretty high and I always lose patience with people who can’t handle it on the same level as me. No, it doesn’t make sense. Don’t even try).

He’s the type of kid who tends to make a fuss and go on and on and ON (sometimes for DAYS) about a tiny pin prick on his finger. Drives me nuts.

So the first thing that struck me when I saw that much blood was the fact that he was handling the pain pretty well.

(I remember sitting in front of a mirror when I was little and working, working, working on a tooth to get it to come out … and sort of LIKING the pain that it caused …

Yes. I’m weird).

The second thing that struck me was his determination to get it out. He was sick of putting up with it and he stood in the kitchen (while the rest of us tried to ignore him and his bloody paper towel while we ate our dinner) and worked that tooth until he could finally get a good hold of it and yank it out.

It was another proud momma moment. 🙂

He gave the tooth to me and said, his voice all manly and mature (because Jazz has jumped into puberty with both feet this summer — won’t his classmates be surprised by how much he’s changed this next school year) …

“Let’s save time. Just give me the five dollars now and we’ll skip the whole tooth fairy thing.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh, or cry, at his nonchalance over the whole tooth fairy thing.

(And yes. I made a HUGE parenting mistake and gave my kids $5 for every tooth they lost. They’ve made a fortune on us over the years. New parents – don’t do that!)

I’m so relieved that tooth is finally out. I was afraid the permanent tooth would grow so far down over it that he wouldn’t be able to get a good enough grip on it to pull it out and we’d be forced to go to the dentist.

As far as I can tell, Jazz only has ONE more baby tooth to lose – and that’s a bottom molar. Either way, it’s now time to make an appointment with our orthodontist to see what sort of work we’ll need to do to get Jazz’s teeth to straighten out. I don’t predict he’ll need much work done, he has plenty of room for all of his teeth (as opposed to Dude who didn’t and had to have his palate stretched to make room), but his teeth are spaced out and there are those two eye teeth sticking out from all the rest so he’ll probably need braces for a little while, at least.

This is actually perfect timing. Dude is getting ready to have his braces removed July 30th (if all goes according to plan — crossing fingers) and now it will be Jazz’s turn to have some work done.

I am wondering how Jazz will handle the discomfort though. I predict quite a few cranky episodes.

Life

Please Pull Forward, Sir

Karen

drive-thru For those that don’t know, Dude is driving now. He got his permit back in March and his driving skills have gone from newbie, to excellent to downright scary in that time span.

He started out pretty nervous, but then worked his way to confident until we were nearly side swiped a few weeks back when Dude failed to yield to an oncoming car. We were turning right and Dude didn’t see there was a car coming. When I cautioned him about the car and told him to stop, he got flustered and hit the accelerator instead of the brake. And when my “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP!” got frantic, he still continued forward.

Luckily, the car had plenty of time to react and easily switched lanes to avoid us. They did give us an angry honk, though.

I’ve since “coached” him on the importance of listening to me when I say STOP — especially in that tone of panicked voice. Defy me all you want to but, bud, when I say STOP, there’s usually a very good reason why I’m yelling it. Stop next time.

He’s been downright scared out of his mind since that incident.

However, we have trudged forward. After all, it would be unrealistic of me to tell the boy that that kind of close call will never happen again — of course it will. We’ve all had close calls in our driving lives, it’s a fact of driving. Sometimes you make a mistake or misjudge, sometimes (okay, MOST times), other people do something stupid. And when these near misses happen, he will just have to trust God to protect him. What else can he do?

We’re back to taking short drives to close places; in essence, we’re back to square one. Part of the reason that whole side-swiping thing happened to begin with was because I was distracting him by talking to him.

I’ve since learned to keep my big trap shut.

I’ve apologized to Dude for my part in the near accident and we have both agreed to just take things a little slower this go-around. I will try not to push, he will try not to kill us. 😀

And part of our going slow process is driving to a nearby fast food restaurant and ordering quickie meals.

The first time I asked Dude to drive to a restaurant (Wendy’s), I thought the boy was going to hyperventilate.

Scratch that — he DID hyperventilate.

His eyes got glassy and he nearly drove past the speaker before realizing that he had to stop.

His problem? He was actually going to have to talk to a real live person.

OH! THE HORRORS!

But seriously. Dude is a quiet, shy, introverted kid and he doesn’t speak much to us, his family, let alone strangers. And let alone, voluntarily. So the thought of having to actually speak to someone really threw him in a panic.

I was amused and just a tad impatient with his reaction. I knew he would react that way, I wasn’t surprised, but I guess a small part of me had been hoping that he wouldn’t. That he would just throw his shoulders back, hold his head up high and exude confidence.

I gently coached him on what to say. And through several gasps for air and broken English, he gave the drive-thru attendant our order.

After we had gotten our order and were pulling away, I said, “See? You talked to someone and you’re still alive. People truly don’t bite.”

He laughed me off and he began to relax. It was as if we had broken through some sort of mental barrier at that point. I then told him (after we got home, not during the drive), that when it was time for him to get a job, he would HAVE to talk to people. Especially if he landed his dream job (at this moment, anyway) — working at Game Stop. He would be required to not only talk to people, but he would be asked lots of questions about the various games and to give them advice.

I told him, that sometimes, you have to force yourself to step outside your self-imposed personality box and BE another person. I remember having to do that a lot when I started working. My problem wasn’t being too shy, my problem was being too short with people. I had to teach myself to be patient with people.

I had no idea if what I preached told him had sunk in or not, but now I’m beginning to think that some of it sunk in.

Yesterday, Dude and I drove to Burger King to grab some lunch. He didn’t want to at first mainly because A. he doesn’t like to drive, it scares him (see above) and B. because he was meeting a friend online so this friend could teach him about PHP (a computer language and *SQUEE* — finally!! A serious interest in something!! *ahem* I have to downplay my enthusiasm though because if Dude knows I’m excited about him taking the initiative on something serious he’ll totally lose interest) and didn’t have that much time until they were scheduled to hook up.

But I sweet talked him into going (okay fine, his stomach won), and he drove us to Burger King.

When it was our turn to order, he did so with a strong, confident voice and he was articulate enough that the guy understood what he said.

When the Burger King employee said, “Please pull forward, sir,” I laughed.

SIR?!

It was a proud momma moment. 🙂

Summer Fun

Summer Fun: July 10th

Karen

Are you ready for some fun ideas to keep your kids busy this next week?

Here are five ideas to get the creative juices flowing (and please, take these ideas, build on them, make them your own, use them as a springboard for bigger and better ideas):

Day One – Talk to your child about avoiding strangers. Teach your child what to do in case of an emergency.

Day Two – Hide a treasure with your child and draw a map to find it.

Day Three – Practice printing or handwriting with your child. Make a certificate for job well done.

Day Four – Take a walk or bike ride with your child.

Day Five – Discover when things were invented with your child. Make a timeline.

Crafts for the Kids (by age)

Featured Craft of the Week:
Toddlers
15 Fun Outdoor Toddler Activities

4 to 5 year olds
Good Measure Growth Chart

6 to 8 year olds
Knotted Anklet

9 to 12 year olds
Flower Friends

Here is a fun activity from the book, “A Lithgow Palooza!”:

groovy-face2 Literary Dish

Much of literature is infused with intoxicating references to food, often times so tempting that it’s hard to wait until the end of a chapter to grab a snack. While Hemingway writes of salty oysters and Proust has his buttery madeleines, children’s books are also spiced with fanciful foods. When kids see that it’s possible to make incredible foods — green eggs and ham, anyone? — spring from the page and onto the table, they just might try a new dish or two. Creativity is key here, so don’t be afraid to let the literary dish run away with the spoon!

arrow-right-side What to do:

For the youngest eater-readers, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle inspires a mini-tasting menu. If tots find themselves feeling like the caterpillar with an insatiable appetite, they can follow him on his Saturday food scavenge. Taking small tastes of a smorgasbord of berries, cheese, pickles, salami, muffins, and cherry pie prevents anything akin to the caterpillar’s Sunday-morning stomachache. On a cold, snowy day, everyone can contribute to Little Bear’s big black pot of birthday soup. The chef might replace his hat with the cub’s space helmet (perhaps an old metal strainer), and guests can enjoy a hot meal alongside favorite (stuffed) animal friends.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl is full of sweet ideas for older kids to explore. Recipes for simple fudge or candied fruit are easy to locate, and green oomp-loompa food coloring adds to any dessert. Concoct recipes for Wonka’s wacky inventions, such as “toffee-apple tree” (first cousin of the candy apple), “hot ice cream for cold days” (some hot sauces, perhaps?), and “fizzy lifting drinks” (carbonation is the key). Fans of Shel Silverstein will also find inspiration for new recipes in many of his poems. Read Silverstein’s “Eighteen Flavors” as a starter and choose a mix of flavors to experiment with in creating a new dessert.

In Judi and Ron Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the town of Chewandswallow experiences deluges of dinner and buttered toast breakfasts. The meals described in this whimsical book aren’t on a plate, rather they swirl around the air like the weather. Cloudy-inspired meals don’t come from recipes, instead ask a child to imagine what his meal might be, meteorologically speaking. Kids can create their own food forecasts out of their ordinary meals. Storm clouds of scrambled eggs, smoothie sleet, and a butter-and-jam tornado. For mashers and stirrers, an ice cream and chocolate sauce cyclone.

EXTRAPALOOZAS:

Cheesed Off
The Stinky Cheese Man, by Jon Scieszka, prompts an easy food-shopping activity: find a local gourmet grocery store and get to know the cheese man. Let him introduce you to a new seriously stinky cheese every week.

Riddles for the Griddles
Dr. Seuss’s books seems to have been written with the kitchen explorer in mind. Flip through any one of the fantastical books for new recipe ideas. Thank red-fish-blue-fish sugar cookies. Or potato-chip pork chops. Seuss’s book of riddles, Oh Say Can You Say, is also a double delight for the tongue.