Fairy Tea Party

While I profess to follow the KISS* rule of raising children, I somehow cannot resist the potential of a little girl's birthday party...the food! the decorations! the favours! the costumes! I usually start checking out sites for ideas a few months in advance, jotting down anything that grabs my fancy. I can't really credit any of these ideas to one specific site; they're kind of a reflection of what my mind does with a bit of inspiration!

*Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Wands, created in Northern Ontario from birch bark coloured with watercolour paint, glued on to sparkly fun foam; ribbons and sparkly hearts were added as embellishments, then the whole lot was attached to a sturdy twig with hot glue.

Invitations gently suggested that fairy wings be worn, and every guest complied with joy. Daddy entertained the guests with silly songs, including the faery hokey-pokey..."You put your left wing in, you put your left wing out..."

Fancy tea cups are a must for any tea party; if the Guest of Honour's name happens to be Violet, then a tablecloth adorned with violets are a nice touch!

Tiny toadstool hors d'oeuvres...made from pinching one end of a mini-marshmallow and inserting it into a raspberry. Following the note I left before rushing away for the weekend, my husband and his buddy sat up till 2:30 a.m. making these...

...and these: Faery Fruit Wands!

Strawberry cupcakes with buttercream icing, tinted pink, of course...decorated with fresh violets from the garden (of course!)...

Violet requested that mommy wear a "special dress".

Tinkerbell graced us with her presence.

Sweet girl, with pink nail polish (only for a four-year-old girl!)

A wooden play kitchen has been on our wish list for a few years, but there never seems to be the money for one...so I printed off a picture of one I liked from the internet, handed it to my hubby and his buddy (the one with the tools and the know-how!), and sent him off night after night to work on it. I'm so thrilled with what they managed to create without a pattern!

Violet was thrilled, too!

While I did the research and planning of this party, credit for its execution goes to my beautiful man, who so graciously takes on extra tasks when I'm looking like I might burn out...sends me off to the north, stays home alone for a weekend with the kids, doesn't freak out when he realises that I accidentally took the van keys with me (OOPS!), and loads the kids into his little Mazda instead to get groceries for the birthday. Violet felt like the most special little girl in the world for a day, and what more could anyone want on their birthday? My heart overflows.

Yaarrrr!

The Pirate Dad created a scavenger hunt for the pirate-partygoers, and helped the littlest ones read the clues, written in calligraphic script on tea-stained, burnt-edged scraps.

I kinda like my husband in his swashbuckling garb. I love piratey words: swashbuckling, swabbing the deck, keelhauling and parleying. I love how my husband adopts these words like they're his first language, as in "Sit ye down and drink yer grog!"

Lego pirates adorn the gluten-and-dairy-free birthday cake, where X marks the spot.

A proud first mate presents the cake to the Captain,

...and shows off her piratey grin.

By late afternoon, the guests are gone, a fire is lit, the two girls are sleeping,

and the Pirate Dad hits the bunk for a well-earned kip.

The remains of the party whisper of the fun we had,

and gifts are assembled and admired and played with.

Scattered wrappers of gold doubloons litter the floor,

and the evening sky wishes Jude River a wonderful 6th Birthday.

St. Patrick of Ireland, My Dear!

You've heard of St. Denis of France, he never had much for to brag on.

You've heard of St. George and his lance

Who killed d'old heathenish dragon.

The Saints of the Welshmen and Scot

Are a couple of pitiful pipers

And might just as well go to pot

When compared to the patron of vipers:
St. Patrick of Ireland, my dear.

~Patrick's Arrival

St. Patrick's Day has always been a big deal in our family. My parents hosted parties every year, where we sang Irish songs around the piano, drank green beer, and ate soda bread. My sister has taken on this tradition, and we'll be heading down to her place to celebrate the "patron of vipers" this weekend. Having spent a year in Belfast and travelled extensively throughout the Emerald Isle, I have a particular fondness for this day. I've been a collector and performer of traditional Irish music since my teens, and few things bring me as much joy as lifting my voice in song. Irish music can be humorous, schmaltzy, tragic, and heartbreaking. Even if you haven't a drop of Irish blood in you, raise your glass today to the people of Ireland, and to dear St. Pat, without whom we'd have one less reason to party!

Culinary

Black and Tan Cupcakes

"Dinner with Julie" is an amazing blog by a fellow Canadian; Julie (the blogger!) also just happens to be a friend of my sister's, who shared this link for Black and Tan Cupcakes with me. They look like little mugs of Guinness,(and also reference the British forces that operated to suppress revolution in Ireland in the early 1900s). Every good Irishman knows to avoid the topics of religion and politics (or so I was told on my first night in Belfast)...so, enough said.

 

Creative

Luck of the Leprechaun Painting!

You'll need:

• large piece of white paper
• tempera or acrylic paints, or watercolours
• black construction paper for the pot
• glue
• glitter
• foam shamrock shapes (optional!)

Any number of crafts are suitable on St. Patrick's Day, as long as they include rainbows, crocks of gold, leprechauns, and shamrocks. The painting you see above is what I did with my kindergarten class. Give your child some red paint first, and help them paint the first arc of the rainbow (can you tell I wasn't helping Jude with his?) Then give them orange, then yellow, green, blue, and purple! I pre-cut the little pot, and helped the children sprinkle glitter onto the glue I spread there. You can decide how much control to give your child over the glitter. I tend to be very controlling about it. It's just one of those messes I HATE to clean up. But, if you're okay with finding sparkles everywhere for the next 10 years, cut them loose!

 

At school, we glued on the pot of gold, then added some foam shamrocks. We also glued on this little blessing:

 

"May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go, and guide you in whatever you do – and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always."

 

Social/Outing

Seek out a St. Patrick's Day event! I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here in the Ottawa Valley, you could go to a different event every day of the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day, all with live fiddle music and stepdancing, hot tea, beer, and food! If you're not fortunate enough to live in the Valley (just kidding!), go here for free streaming of Irish music. Put on some green, dance a jig, and act like the Irish fools that you are (or wish you were)!

 

Fine Motor

Fill the Leprechaun's Pot!

 

As I've said in previous posts, any activities that encourage your child to pinch and squeeze will strengthen the muscles in their hands, which will lead to better fine motor control (preferably NOT pinching and squeezing their siblings...). Many children ages 4-6 struggle to coordinate their hands to grip a pencil correctly. I'll do a whole post on that soon. For now, let's concentrate on hand strength!

 

For this activity, you can use antique sugar tongs, large tweezers, or children's chopsticks (the ones that are connected at the top, available at many toy stores), OR you can make your own, using white glue, popsicle sticks, and triangular makeup sponges.

 

Neat, eh? Cheap to make, and fun to use.

Tongue depressors work even better, but are harder to find. Glue the popsicle sticks on to the sponge as in the photo above. Let dry!

Now, encourage your child to "put the gold nuggets in the leprechaun's pot"...pick up pompoms with the "tweezers", and release them into the cup.

These are easier to pinch closed than chopsticks or real tweezers, so they're a good place to start. You can begin with large pompoms, then work your way down to smaller ones. Have fun!

You might think about creating a "fine motor bin" where you keep scissors, tweezers, feathers, pompoms, paper strips, etc. When you have a moment to fill, pull it down so that the activities are special and fun for your child. If you send your child to school, his/her Kindergarten teacher will thank you for the work you do with your preschool child on these skills!

I'm heading out on St. Patrick' Day to spend the rest of the March Break with my sister and her family. We'll be returning to celebrate my husband's 30th birthday on Sunday, so I'll check back in with you all next week. If anyone tried any or all of the activities shared this week, I'd love to hear about them or see photos!

 

 

5 Ways to Love a Zucchini

Don't you just love zucchinis? The plant has leaves like an elephant's ear, tropical blossoms, and the ability to hide what's really happening under there. You'll check daily, and see nothing, nothing, then one day...kapow!

Zucchinis as big as a toddler!

1. Mmm...one of my favourite way to dispose of zucchinis is to slice them into rounds, dredge them in flour, then beaten egg, then either bread or cracker crumbs...fry them in butter and devour. Yes, if you cook them this way you'll be negating any health benefits of this lovely vegetable. And you won't regret it. This also works with green tomatoes, fresh pickerel or rainbow trout fillets, chicken strips..you name it. This is not something we eat on a weekly basis, so it's a real treat at zucchini time.

2. Grating them finely into spaghetti sauce or casserole is also a good way of using them up.

3. And then there's always:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use rice or soya milk)

Cream above ingredients together in a large bowl.

Then sift together:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp EACH cinnamon and ground cloves

Combine wet and dry, then stir in 2 cups grated zucchini and 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Bake at 325 Degrees F (160 Degrees C) in a greased and floured 9"x13" pan for 45 minutes.
(I grate and store zucchini in 2 cup bags for winter baking).

4. As a treat for the chickens, I'll slice a zuke lengthwise, and they pick it clean leaving only a thin green rind.

5. Finally, the most popular way for a zucchini gardener to use up zucchini: shower your friends and acquaintances with "gifts"...leave one on their car seat when they're about to leave your house, bring them as hostess gifts to August parties, hand them to the lady who delivers your mail, the man who cleans your chimneys (yes, we get this done in August), and the guy on the street. Most people are too polite to refuse homegrown vegetables. One day we came home to find a BASKET of zucchinis left anonymously on our doorstep. I laughed and laughed at how karma works (I'd been dumping zukes on everyone I'd met for a week)...

Resisting zucchini love is futile. Surrender to the zucchini. Make friends with it. And let me know if you come up with any other ways to use the bloody things up!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

My cookbook is starting to look like my mom's; recipes entitled "Lorna's Sugar Cookies", "Luscious Lenore's Lovely Ginger Cookies", and "Adam's Mom's Butterscotch Square" abound. My favourite from my mom's tattered old book was "Carole Dowdall's Pink Dessert". I can't say I have made it, or want to, but to me it is such a reflection of a time when adding Jell-o, Miracle Whip, maraschino cherries, and pistachio pudding to all salads and desserts was the norm.

Today I peeked through my cookbook for a quick recipe; the people who sold us our house were passing through the area and wanted to pop in. I always like to have something just-baked when guests arrive...in addition to the lovely, welcoming aroma that fills the kitchen, I think it's rather homey to serve something lovely with tea.

I came across this recipe for my grandma's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake; the first time I baked it was when I was in early labour with the baby-who-would-be-Jude...I remember calling my grandma for the recipe between those early, sporadic contractions!

Stephanie's Grandma's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 can pineapple rings, or one pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced into rings.

Start by melting the butter in an 8 inch round pan; sprinkle with brown sugar, and line with pineapple rings. You may put maraschino cherries into the centres for a nice decorative touch; I try to avoid foods that have so many preservatives, archaeologists will study them in 4000 years...but it's up to you!

Sift together:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a separate bowl, beat together:
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. pineapple juice (if using a fresh one, squeeze the extra bits through a sieve or just use orange juice!)

In yet another bowl, beat
2 egg whites (until stiff peaks form)

Then add 1/2 cup sugar to the whites.

GENTLY fold yolk mixture and flour mixture alternately into the whites mixture. Pour over pineapple in cake pan. Bake at 350 degree F for 35-40 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn onto cake platter ~ serve with whipped cream!

The topping is a delicious gooey mess of butter, brown sugar, and pineapple!

I had a bit of a tear in my eye as I baked, as when my Grandma gave me the recipe 5 years ago, she was still living in her own home, with her own cookbook. She told me this story:

When she got married, my grandma didn't know a thing about cooking. My grandpa was in love with her, and very patient and indulgent, so he didn't mind testing out her first attempts. In their early marriage, grandma would make two desserts when company was coming, just in case one didn't turn out!

One evening, when Grandpa was bringing a friend home (a man I would later meet; they were lifelong friends), she made this cake, and wrapped it in waxed paper to set in the snowbank to cool (as they had no fridge). When she went to fetch it, she found that a dog had made off with it!

Upon hearing this, Grandpa turned to his friend without missing a beat, and quipped, "That explains the big dog we saw lying dead in the ditch a ways back!"

Recipes that are handed down carry so much more than food ingredients with them. I always think that this recipe also carries the ingredients of a good marriage: honesty, patience, perseverance, optimism, and especially a good sense of humour.

My Grandma is now almost 92; she's lived without Grandpa for the past 21 years, and moved into a retirement home 2 years ago. All of her meals are now cooked for her, after about 70 years of feeding her husband, four children, and many grandchildren (all her practice paid off, and we enjoyed many wonderful meals together).

The other night, when Grandma was having dinner at my parents' house, she asked for the recipe for the meal my mom had made. When mom and dad reminded her that she doesn't have to cook anymore, it took a moment before she said, "Oh, that's right...I forgot".

Well, Grandma, I won't forget this story. It is now part of our family history. I have her story written with the recipe in my cookbook, along with "*May 14, 2005: got this recipe from Grandma - early labour activity as we waited for the arrival of our first babe!"

I encourage you to collect the recipes that accompany your family history, and write down the stories that go with them. You just might find the ingredients for a happy life.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my awesome giveaway!