Being a tourist in your own hometown - May edition

For the last week and half we had family visitors - my parents and my sister Marie.
We went to some old favorites and tried a few new places!

Saturday May 11: 

My sister-in-law Alison and I started the day with a Color Me Rad race and everyone was there to cheer us on. After getting cleaned up we had lunch at Juan's Flying Burrito, one of our favorites. Greyson and I have taken to sharing the jerk nachos because they are so big!

Sunday May 12

This was Mother's Day. We had a nice luncheon at home and then all headed out to the City Park Botanical Gardens. The kids paid a lot more attention this time with other adults there to point out the plants, trees, flowers, vegetables, greenhouses, miniature railroad and even a few cute baby ducks! We ended the afternoon by eating dinner at DatDog, another favorite!

 

Monday May 13

My parents took me to lunch at Emeril's. This was the 2nd Emeril's restaurant I've been to in New Orleans and as always, their service is superb. I had the yummiest whiskey upside down cake with sweet potato ice cream for dessert!

 

Tuesday May 14

Lunch with my parent's was at Felipe's, another favorite when we are going to visit the Audubon Aquarium or Insectarium - and we did end up at the Insectarium! Later I picked up my sister Marie from the airport and after picking the kids up from school we went to Midway Pizza.

Wednesday May 15

The kids have a half day of school every Wednesday so we headed to the New Orleans Museum of Art, which is free on Wednesdays! The kiddies always love to eat in their cafe and then we checked out the art, including the current World's Fair exhibit.

Thursday May 16 

While my sister headed on a field trip with Greyson's class to the French Quarter, I had lunch with my parent's at Salvo's since my dad was so impressed with it the last time he came and Alex took him. My parents both had crawfish and oysters and I opted for a grilled shrimp salad. Then we were off to the Aquarium. I've been to the aquarium more than a few times - but this time I saw an owl in the Louisiana display that I've never seen before!

Friday May 17 

While my sister Marie was doing a little shopping my parents and I went to the Cafe Du Monde location in the mall so they could try beignets. I even told my dad he had to order his coffee as Cafe au lait since that is what they are famous for! We then went to The Bulldog which is famous for it's fountain made out of beer taps. Afterward my sister, dad and I went on a tour of Old New Orleans Rum distillery. I've been on the tour before, but it is always informative and you get to sample all of their rums!
For some nightlife, Marie and I went out to the Hotel Monteleone and got a seat at their famous carousel bar. Yep, it really spins while you are on it! Stanley & Alison ended up meeting up with us later.

Saturday May 18

Marie, Stanley, Alex and I got a personal tour at Covington Brewery. It was very informal, but informative! They usually give free samples, but had taken down their taps to set up for a festival later in the day. We made our way over to Abita brewery which includes free beer for the hour of their tour, but I stuck with the yummy rootbeer!
After picking up Alison & the kiddies we headed back to Covington to eat at the Mellow Mushroom and then we went to the Taps on the Trace festival that Covington Brewery sponsored.

Sunday May 19

After enjoying food and music at the Bayou Boogaloo festival we started getting hot fast, so we hopped on the streetcar and headed back to the Hotel Monteleone for some rooftop swimming. We followed that up with another visit to DatDog to wrap up the adventure with visitors!

Science Funnies

Here is a collection of the funny things my kids have said lately. It seems there are quite a few on on a science theme.

April 25
"This is getting exciting!" Grant, in the middle of reading If You Give A Pig A Pancake.

April 24

Overheard: "Time machines are not toys Greyson!"

April 22

Greyson at play, "We have a sonic transmitter that will annoy mom, but dad won't be able to hear it because those over 39 can't." 

April 21

Me, "Grant if you flew off the Scrambler, do you think you could fly to the moon?"
Grant, "I don't think I'm strong enough to go through the earth's magnetic field!"

 

April 10

Me: Grant, I can't understand you, you're speaking whinese!
Grant: why can't you understand whinese?
Me: I think something happens when you grow-up and you just can't understand it anymore.

April 4

Me, "Well, if you don't like it, grow-up and move out and get your own place to do what you want."
Greyson (age 10), "No way! I'm living here as long as I can, moving out is expensive!" 

Easter

Easter was a pretty good day, so I'd like to share it with you!

We started out with the kiddies invading our room at about 6:30, yes the same kids I have to DRAG out of bed at 7 on school mornings! After they lay in bed with us for a while, Greyson says, "Get up so we can look for eggs and look in our baskets!" After thinking 'Yes! They know they need to wait for us so we can see the joy on their faces when they look at everything,' I say, "Go ahead and find the hidden eggs and then we'll be out."

Baskets held Michigan tee shirts, chocolate and a few small toys for the kiddies. After going through his basket, Greyson famously announces, "Is the Easter Bunny on a budget too? Easter seems smaller!" And the real truth behind that statement is Aunt Marie wasn't here to go overboard on candy this year! I'm hesitant to buy a lot of candy when the kids have ONE PIECE after dinner! But my husband also surprised me with caramel kisses and mini Heath bars.

Then it was off to church. I have to say that normally I enjoy a contemporary service, but holidays (Easter & Christmas) leave me longing for the older fashioned hymns. So, in my mind all day long I was humming the words to "Up from the Grave" and "He Lives!"

Church was also full of activities. An Easter egg hunt followed the service and Grant was super excited to fill his basket while Greyson had fun beforehand filling the eggs and hiding them. Then there was a balloon release which filled the cloudy sky with bright colors soaring upward. There was also a flowering of the cross which decorates a cross with ... flowers!

 After church we had a lunch of lasagna which turned out great. Everyone was happy, and that's hard to do at our house. Even picky Grant eat some for the first time ever.

After the kiddies got their "electronics" fill we ventured out to the Botanical Garden at City Park. We became "Friends of City Park" members this year and that gave us free admission. While it was very interesting, I will think twice before taking my kids again. They wanted to TOUCH everything! I'm sure you're not supposed to touch every cactus you walk by or try to plug the electrical outlets together outside. Oh my goodness, I'm tired thinking back to that day! It was also hot, bordering on 80 degrees, so I'm sure that helped zap the patience out of me too.

For dinner we followed our tradition of going to Magazine Pizza. Last year we drove around trying to find a pizza place that was open - to satisfy the kiddies - and ran across Magazine Pizza, although my husband had been there before. Grant declared it the best pizza in New Orleans! Both him and I finished our individual pizzas while Alex and Greyson only eat about half of their carnivore pizza.



And because it's the beginning of the month.....
I found I do much better with my fitness goals when I post them on here.
In March I ran almost 66 miles, my 2nd highest month! However, I am making it my goal in April to get more weights in. I do a circuit training video when I can't get outside (weather or no one to watch the kiddies), but I am going to make an effort to do that every other day and run on the opposite days.
I said last month I wanted to lose 1 pound and lost 2.5. Yea! So now I have 3 pounds to lose before we get an onslaught of visitors in May, which of course means eating out. This should equal losing 3lbs in 6 weeks, so it should be do-able!

A Funny Week with the Kids

While I do have funny kids, this past week seems like that have outdone themselves. I've compiled all the snipits I've posted on Facebook for a little laugh when they start to drive me crazy and I can remind myself they really are cute sometimes!

3/23/13

This morning-
Grant, "Mom, can you help me?"
Me, "In a minute"
"....okay, its been a minute! One....Two....Three! Mom, you just lost electronics for the rest of the day!"
LOL, be careful what you say because your kids WILL repeat it!

Greyson, "Free lunch tastes good!"

There is some beatbox rapping going on in the backseat of my car by two little boys.
I'm laughing on the inside ;)

3/22/13

Today the kids had a fundraiser for the 8th grade trip to Atlanta. They could pay $1 to dress down (no uniform) and there were snacks to be sold at lunch.
They never asked me for money, but instead asked what chores they could do to earn money! I would have just given it to them, but I told them I would pay for the dress down and they could earn money for snacks.
Greyson did 3 chores and Grant did one and I ended up giving them each $2 plus an additional dollar for each chore they did.
Then I find Grant at the bus stop with a pocket FULL of nickles and pennies. I counted them and came up with $.98 and a Canadian penny. LOL, of course I gave him an extra nickle!  

3/22/13

Greyson, "In your spare time, can you invent something Mom?"
His plan for us to be millionaires so that he can have his own laptop. 

Yesterday Grant got sunburnt on his field trip.
Today after school he said, "All my friends were asking why my skin was red, so we had to talk about it in class."
"What did you talk about?"
"Sunburns and how white people get sunburnt before black people."
It's a whole different world to me. Of course little kids are going to ask about it!

Eating a grapefruit for breakfast that Grant picked yesterday on his field trip to a citrus farm.
He said, "it was pretty much like having recess all day!"  

Leprechaun Lunch and Owl Moon

I've had a ton of fun cooking lately and wanted to share some of my recipes!

The day before St Patrick's Day we had a "leprechaun lunch" and I made green muffins and green mac & cheese and served it on rainbow plates! I try to stay away from dyes in my kid's food, so the muffins were made with peas and the mac & cheese was made with spinach! The muffins were really yummy and you could not tell they were made with veggies! The mac & cheese however did have a distinct taste which I loved, but I love spinach, and Greyson said, "tastes like pesto!"
Green mac & cheese recipe
Green muffin recipe

One of our PrimeTime books last week was Owl Moon. I found the cutest owl cookie recipe that uses coconut for the "feathers." The only difference in my recipe was instead of using yellow chocolate wafers for the eyes (not in the regular grocery store) I used large chocolate chips and used "eyes" from World Market.
Owl cookie recipe

Everything was easy to make - and I am glad I have the time to do cooking projects like this now!

Books & Cookies

I mentioned a few posts ago how my family attends Prime Time Family Reading Time at the kids' school. Each week in Prime Time we receive books to take home and read with our family. This session I have been motivated to match the books with a cute cookie that we take as a snack for everyone to enjoy. It's been fun matching the books with recipes! Below are the two most recent books and cookie recipes.
At the beginning of March we had 2 books on rabbits. In one book rabbit stole honey from lion, so I modified a bunny carrot cookie (find the original recipe here) to include honey. It did turn out a little sticky, so if I made it again I might do half honey/half sugar, but the bunny shape is just too cute!

Carrot Honey Bunny Cookies

1 cup honey (sugar may be substituted
1 cup butter softened

1 egg
4 cups flour
1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 325°F. Combine honey, butter and egg in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add all remaining cookie ingredients. Beat until well mixed.

To shape bunnies, roll dough into 30 (1-inch) balls, 30 (3/4-inch) balls and 60 (1x1/4-inch) logs. For each cookie, place (1-inch) ball onto ungreased cookie sheet; top with(3/4-inch) ball and 2 logs for ears. (Make sure dough pieces are touching so that bunny is formed during baking.) Bake for 14 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.

This past week our books were Jumangi and The Elephant's Child. Since both had elephants in them I made Elephant Ear cookies. Again, I modified the recipe a little and the original is here. 

 

Elephant Ear Cookies

1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Melt butter and set aside. Stir flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in milk and 3 tablespoons of melted butter until dough forms.

Sprinkle surface with flour. Turn dough onto surface. Knead 10 times. Roll dough with rolling pin or pat with hands into a rectangle 9X5 inches. Brush with remaining melted butter. Sprinkle with mixture of 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll dough up tightly beginning at narrow end. Cut into about 10 equal pieces with sharp knife.

Place cut sides up on cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes.

I'll be sure to post next week's creation! But in the meantime, you can check out my Pinterest page for the recipes I'm considering - and the ones I didn't end up using!

Being a Tourist in your own hometown - March edition

Last weekend we were delighted to host my brother Stanley and his wife Alison as they looked for houses in Slidell, north of New Orleans.
Where is the absolute first place we took them? For a po'boy at Parkway. Parkway has served po'boys since they were invented in the 1920's to feed the striking street car conductor and is a popular tourist destination. In fact, I had a craving a few weeks ago for one - but when we went the line was out the door because of all the Rock & Roll Marathoners in town. So, I finally got to fulfill my craving!
On Friday night we went to dinner at DatDog, a restaurant we were introduced to by our friend Katy last October and have frequented ever since. It's one of the cheaper places for family eats in the area and the atmosphere is great with their colorful picnic tables set up outside. Also, the entire family can find something they love from the choices of dogs & toppings. Of course Grant still only gets cheese on a bun, but he's also branched out to cheese fries! We topped off the eventing with a trip to Creole Creamery for some yummy ice cream.

Beignets at Morning Call

Saturday morning we took a trip to the City Park Sculpture Garden and ended up at Morning Call where we munched on this city's famous beignets. This was our first time eating there and the beignets were just as yummy as Cafe Du Monde, with the added benefit of a sunny park view.

Stanley and Greyson petting sting rays

After lunch at home we took the streetcar to the Audubon Aquarium. We are members there, so we end up going a lot, but it is always fun to show off the huge tanks of fish as well as the specialties, like petting a sting ray. Afterward we stepped down the street for a visit to the Insectarium. It's hard to imagine that an attraction based on bugs is fun, but it is! Stanley and I were also the only ones brave enough to sample ALL the insects available in the cafe. Our favorite were probably the ones with taco seasoning.
On Sunday we had brunch at Cafe Navarre, which is just down the street from us and where Greyson has been dying to try. I had a yummy spinach artichoke panini. Then we were off to the Audubon Zoo. Again, we go there a lot because of our membership, but it's always a nice day when the weather is nice to walk around and look at the animals.