Why I hate "Half Sours"

I just finished eating a classic New York-style half sour pickle and it made me furious and sad.

Actually, I ate it last Saturday as a side dish with my burger at DuMont but I still have a bad taste in my mouth. What is it with these New York half sours? It's like people in this city are so impatient they can't wait for a pickle to properly mature before they're plucking it from a jar and putting it on someone's unsuspecting plate. The result too often resembles a tasteless, vapid cucumber that no amount of salt can salvage.

Where I come from (Texas) we're not afraid to throw a bunch of cucumbers in a jar with some vinegar and pickling spice, put it on a shelf and forget about it for a year or two. The result is a cheek-puckering explosion of flavor that stands up to the pickle name. Whole sours should be bloated like an alcoholic's liver and soft to the touch. Slicing them should reveal a juiciness that's been gathering strength over the ensuing months as the chemical reactions transform the cucumber's watery insides.

During the long hot Texas summers as kids we'd go to the public swimming pool and order pickle juice snow cones. I don't imagine any New York City kids would find the brine in a bucket of deli half sours worthy of a snow cone topping. So why do the city's chefs consider these miserable excuses for a condiment a fitting accompaniment to their burgers and sandwiches?

Come on New York chefs, get with the program! Kosher sour dills are the way to go. If you don't have the time to pickle them yourself, pick up a jar of Vlasic. Heck, even a B&G Deluxe would do the trick.

Please remember this holiday season that we are in two wars and a global environmental and economic crisis. This should be a time of sacrifice, but not on flavor.

Why I hate "Black Friday"

I just finished reading this story in the paper and
it made me furious and sad:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

Please remember this holiday season that we are in two wars and a
global environmental and economic crisis. This should be a time of
sacrifice and saving. None of us know if our jobs are safe. We all
have relatives with huge medical expenses and mounting debt. People
are losing their homes. I know that none of us are going to trample
people at a walmart, but the story made me think about the holidays
and some of the pressures they put on all of us...

Instead of rushing to buy things that maybe we can't really afford
anyway, how about making something? Are you a good cook? Maybe whip
up pickles or jams or bread or cookies? Crafty with the sewing
machine? How about making tote bags, everyone needs tote bags! You
can take them to the grocery store or to run errands. Plus they're
easy. Or put together a photo album. Everyone keeps all their
pictures on their computers these days so it's nice to have prints to
flip through.

If you to want give something homemade but aren't crafty etsy.com has
tons of great stuff.

I think what a lot of people need more than stuff is free time. Have
a friend or relative who has their hands full taking care of their
kids and home? Offer to babysit, or come over and cook lunch one
weekend. Or pitch in on a cleaning service (I guess this only works
if you know they want one! Ha! It could be sort of insulting to be
told someone's hiring a cleaning service when you think your place is
really clean already).

Good with your hands? Offer to fix the squeaky window or clogged
drain or other little things around the house. Make a little book
full of coupons ("good for one car washing" "redeem for dry cleaning
drop off and pickup"). Some people feel weird about having their
friends do things for them, but I find that if you just show up,
paintbrush in hand, no one's going to stop you!

For all you techy types out there, how about setting up a website or
blog for your parents or someone who's starting a business?

Plus I know some of you are great writers and artists and photographers!

If you're good at organizing stuff, offer to tackle a project. Maybe
someone needs to sort through their boxes of stuff in the garage to
get ready for a big yard sale. These are things that no one really
wants to tackle, but they can actually be fun. Bring a pizza, put on
some music and get to work. While you're at it, organize a big group
yard sale for maximum money making!

Entertainment can be expensive and hard to find time for. Give a
friend a board game with a card that says that you'll host game night
at your place once a month. Or a pack of gift cards to a movie
theater plus your babysitting services. Or tickets to a sporting
event. Or a membership to a museum. Something that they can use
again and again, but that they probably wouldn't buy for themselves.

Share your ideas with your friends and family and see if we can create
some new holiday traditions this year.

Martha Stewart has lots of cute craft and gift ideas on her site:
http://www.marthastewart.com/crafts

I am officially questioning the efficacy of "bedtime routines"

Every night, I methodically do things in the same exact order -- dinner, bath, pjs, a little playtime, rocking in dark bedroom, singing (badly!), last bottle -- leading up to bedtime. The books tell me that if I am consistent, Junior will know that A leads to B which leads to C which leads to sleeping. Well let's just say that falling asleep without a little bit (or a lot!) of a fight is not Junior's strong suit.

Today, I picked him up from the Manny, came home, let him chase the cat around for a while, skipped the bath, didn't rock or sing, and guess what? He fell asleep after about 5 seconds of whimpering.

Tomorrow I'm going to give him his bath at lunchtime, his dinner for breakfast and take him for our afternoon playdate at bedtime. We'll see how that goes.

When Naps Cramp Your Style

Seriously, if asked, all I want in life (sadly) is my sweet WIDE AWAKE babe to NAP, and as much as possible. 12 hours? - do it.

This is, of course, both barbaric, unrealistic AND the mark of a bad mommy. But, what are you gonna do?

THEN, ironically, there are those days when all you want is to get out there (where? who cares. nowhere in particular) and hit the pavement, stroller in tow and see the WOILD, some people, a tree, some trash.

Nothing special, just a little meet and greet - a little air, no matter how toxic in our sweet neck of the woods.

It is always on these particular days/moments when junior decides to go down for the BIG SLEEP in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY! Buddy, really!? I was just getting excited.

Mommy even washed her face and slapped on a little age inappropriate, dollar store lip gloss - MEOW. She's ready to rock it.

It being the 5-block radius that is our stomping grounds.

So, there we are, buddy, deep in mid-afternoon through to late afternoon never-ending slumber, while mommy lurks, chomping at the bit, eyes glued to the monitor (even though baby's only feet away in the next room), like a caged animal.

Ready to gnaw off her own paws to escape.

Just waiting.

Waiting for the first signs of awakening, so she can do what?

Wonder when buddy will be ready for his next nap.

That's what.

Winter's coming... How are we going to fill up all these cold days?

Summer with baby is so awesome. Throw them in a shirt and shorts and out the door you go, to the park, to walk around, whatever. But then winter comes, and you realize that you're going to have to get a lot more creative with how you fill those days. I know there are a lot of classes out there, but so far I haven't signed junior up for any this fall because a) they are expensive and b) I'm not sure he even knows where he is sometimes!

For example, we did the "swimming" class at the Y over the summer. Junior was still at home laying on his activity mat for all he knew. I also tried mommy and baby yoga ($20 at Go Yoga) and ended up nursing a fussy baby for an hour. I can nurse at home for free.

But now that he's getting older (10 months on that blessed election day!), I'm ready to concede that we should start ponying up for some much-needed activities. We're trying mommy and baby yoga again (from now on referred to by the new it acronym MABY) and I'll try music classes again around the new year.

I'll post classes here as I hear about them. Please email me with suggestions! Also be sure the check the calendar.

thanks!