Articles I Want to Remember

Lots of times, I read articles that really speak to me and I want to save them. Sometimes I print them out, but then I don't know what to do with that paper and I'd rather not kill trees to save an idea. So, let me try saving some here. 
 
2/11/13
Take Care of Yourself - Kindness Challenge on Creative with Kids blog
Alissa reminds moms that we need to care for ourselves and issues a challenge to find ways to nurture our souls today.
http://creativewithkids.com/take-care-of-yourself-kindness-challenge/

My Sushiography

I love eating sushi.

Beautiful grocery store sushi.

The first time I ever had sushi was in Boston. Ginza restaurant downtown. It was love at first bite. It was also my first taste of edamame. Amazing. Something about the combination of raw fish, vinegared rice, wasabi, pickled ginger, soy sauce... It makes my brain feel happy. What causes that? It's like this woozy, smiley place, and a feeling of being full, yet light.


After trying sushi at Ginza, I went occasionally to Porter Square on the red line to have slightly cheaper sushi as my student budget allowed. There was a weird mall with an Asian market and a couple of small sushi restaurants, like Bluefin, that I went to a few times a year.

Sushi sewing project kit I completed.

In grad school in the Florida panhandle, I discovered Publix grocery store sushi. I know it's not exactly authentic, but the fish was really fresh and the sushi was so cheap. I ate sushi a few times a week. There's nothing like a quiet lunch at home, watching TV and eating cold sushi, to recover from a tough morning of school work and classes.

Conveyor belt sushi on a vacation to San Francisco.

After Florida came the move to Los Angeles, one of the big sushi cities of the US. My husband and I tried strip mall sushi and fancier stuff, but all of our special occasions included what people like to mock as Valley sushi. The Ventura Boulevard, Studio City sushi restaurants come up with these crazy rolls that "real" sushi people abhor. Think shrimp tempura, masago and cucumber inside, spicy tuna and eel sauce on top. Crazy stuff. I just think it tastes yummy. At Sushi Dan, we would get plenty of plain sushi, but we'd always supplement that with this insane creamy mayo sauce bay scallop mixture poured over a California roll and topped with eel sauce. That thing still makes my mouth water!

The bay scallop California roll from Sushi Dan as take-out.

Once, we entered a sushi eating competition at a little strip mall sushi place called Sushi Mac. For $10 each, we got t-shirts and all the sushi we could eat in 10 minutes. For a few minutes we were on the leader board. And then the real sushi-eating competitors arrived. My husband ate 16 plates (32 pieces) and I ate 11 plates. It seemed like a lot, until the winner ate something like 50 plates. Oh well.

Sushi eating leader board, way early in the competition.

 Now, back in Florida, I don't have the budget for regular sushi outtings any more, and with young kids, it's harder than ever to go out anyway. Thankfully, we've found a buffet sushi option, Kyojin, that works for our occasional meals out. We can get in fast, feed the kids fast, and still have some decent food for ourselves.

I don't know where I may live in the future. I don't know if an actual trip to Japan is in the cards (though I hope it is!). But, I can't imagine ever honestly answering the question, "What are you in the mood for?" with anything other than, "SUSHI!"

Eat Your Vegetables, Mama!

One thing my husband and I bonded over when we first were together was our shared hatred of certain vegetables and fruits. We both couldn't stand tomatoes, bell peppers, or cucumbers. I also had broccoli and a few others on my list. He had a few of his own, too. Disliking foods isn't something to be proud of - it makes life difficult! But, we were happy that our food tastes were so compatible.

When I became a mom, though, I figured I needed to do better. I wanted to be a good example to my children.

A light bulb went off in my brain when I was teaching my little ones to eat their first vegetables and fruits. You know how the books say that it can take seven or more tries for babies to start to like a certain food? Well, I realized that for some of my hated vegetables, I hadn't even given myself that many tries! I'm proud to say that I've worked on many of them in the last couple of years, and made some miraculous improvements!

Check out just a few examples:

I've tried to spread this good news around to my adult friends, but people are very resistant! It seems that most people like to label themselves by the foods they don't like. "I don't like brussels sprouts." Like it's just an immutable fact of life. "I am a person who can't stand celery. It's who I am. Don't try to change me." People say they have genetic predispositions that make cilantro taste nasty. Well, cilantro used to taste nasty to me and I love it now. For serious. I know it's scary. But take a moment to think of the possibility that with a little effort, you could change. Life could become a little better.

Here are my tips for learning to like a vegetable to hate.

• Eat it with cheese. The salt and fat in cheese masks some of the strong flavors of vegetables.
• Take a tiny bite of the vegetable with a large bite of whatever else you're eating.
• Be bold and try a large bite of the vegetable in its simplest form, unseasoned. Do this while imagining you are a food scientist. Try to analyze what you are tasting. Try to be more objective about the taste.
• Try a recipe that looks good using the vegetable or order a dish from a restaurant that you like that includes the vegetable and just eat it. 
• Ask people about their favorite ways to prepare the vegetable. Things often taste better roasted!
• Give yourself many chances to try again. Just change your frame of mind from "I don't like this" to "I will like this some day".

You will be amazed by how your feelings start to change about the vegetable. I don't glare at cucumbers in the grocery store any more. I even bought myself a giant bag of mini bell peppers. They're so pretty!

My husband is still very skeptical of my methods, but he sees them working. He has been a little more willing to try his hate foods. The biggest success so far for him was zucchini! It won't help if I force him or nag him about it, though. The reason why I've been successful is that it was my decision to learn to like these vegetables.

Have you ever tried learning to like a food as an adult? 

Goodreads is Good for Kids

My kids, like many that I know, are voracious readers at the ages of 3 and 1. They love for me to read them books. They love going to visit the library to pick out a large batch of new reading material. I love choosing special books to add to their home library. All of the books we own are very worn just because they spend so much time looking at them!

I know these books won't last forever and my kids will grow up. I thought it would be a cool idea to use the website Goodreads to keep a record of all of the books that we've read.

Goodreads is a website for readers that includes a huge database of book information along with the ability to create reading lists to share. You can choose the books you want to read in the future, rate books you have already read, and write reviews to help others choose books to read. The site is designed more for adults, but most children's books are included in the database. I have an account (they're free) just for my children so that I can include only the books that they have read.



As I add books to my virtual "shelf" in Goodreads, I have the option to rate and review them, as well as to add personal notes about the books. When a book is a particular favorite of my son, I write a little note about it, so that when he's older he'll be able to see what he liked as a young child.

I love using the Goodreads app on my smart phone. It is also free and it allows me to scan the ISBN on the back of our books or library books with my phone's camera to quickly enter the book into our online collection. It's so satisfying to input a whole stack of library books this way. My children think it's amazing to see the cover of the book pop up on the phone's screen after I scan the ISBN barcode.

I imagine that as my kids grow older, I'll create a separate account for my daughter and then hand over the maintenance of the accounts to them. It's so fun having a record of everything they've read and Goodreads makes it so easy to do it. I highly recommend it!