Tag Archives: August

Mrs. Q and me

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It’s quite the identity mind bender being Mrs. Q. I’m myself, yet not. Most days I don’t like it. But anonymity has its pluses: I’m still employed and I’m still blogging.

I compartmentalize well. Before summer started, I was able to forget about Mrs. Q during the school day. Sometimes it would just hit me. Usually I would be driving home and remember my alter-ego. Oh yeah, I’m Mrs. Q….and I’ve got a blog post to write…

This summer I’ve been immersed in Mrs. Q. I react to something with the thought, “How would Mrs. Q feel about that?” I can tweet freely during the daytime hours if I choose to.

Summer is such a fun time, but right around the beginning of August I focus on finishing up summer goals. Usually I’m running around trying to complete multi-step tasks. I have reorganized some cupboards, some closets, and under the sinks. I have gone to the doctor and to the dentist. I read some of the latest research out there for my profession. We got some family pictures taken and I filled out some random paperwork for work. I didn’t get around to a few nagging things. Nothing big, but stuff that is much, much easier to do over the summer than during the school year.

It’s also about this time that I start getting excited about returning to work. I’m really excited about the school year. You know, the summer passed by faster than previous ones. I have been very busy with the blog. I just don’t know what I did with my time last summer!

I’m already getting nervous about the school year, eating school lunches again, and keeping up the blogging. When I’m working all day and blogging all night, it feels like I never get a break. At least until the weekends.

And I’m thinking about after the project a little bit. I might just put it off until the project is closer to completion….

Urban Farming: Growing Power

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Bon Appetit June 2010
Will Allen, GrowingPower.org
Mr. Allen’s shirt reads,
“The good food movement is now a revolution,”
I want a shirt like that one too!
I have only recently learned about urban farming and had never read about Will Allen until I saw this article in Bon Appetit. I read his bio on Wikipedia. Mr. Allen is an urban farmer and his organization is Growing Power.

Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

The MacArthur Foundation awarded him the MacArthur Fellowship (genius grant) in 2008. Mr. Allen’s organization is hosting a conference in September: Growing Power’s National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference.
(Readers: I know you will suggest I go. I would but I will be speaking at a different conference in another state over that identical weekend. Sadly I can’t be in two places at once!)

Open thread: Nutrition IQ and pantry basics

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Being Mrs. Q has changed my life. I’m smarter about nutrition and I’m doing more “from scratch” cooking. My husband can’t cook and as such I am the only one responsible for putting a meal on the table. I’ve always done my best, but doing the blog has forced me to challenge myself.

I love that you, my readers, have helped raise my nutrition IQ.

We have discussed the contents of my crisper and the mystery of Fluff. I’m wondering what ingredients you keep close at hand in your cupboards. Do you meal plan? How many standard meals do you have by week? How do you grocery shop? What pantry basics are vital? Please further enlighten me.

"Drink up kid" — Dehydration

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Parenting June 2010 (I think that’s the month it appeared…)

 I’m in the “tantrum” years right now and I find a correlation between being hungry and the frequency and duration of tantrums. So I feed and offer drink liberally around my house. In fact, I feel like all I do is feed somebody most of the day.

At school my room is across the hall from a drinking fountain and I make sure to offer water as often as I can. I have seen teachers deny students water as punishment! It’s rare to see, but it happens. I don’t do that. If a student needs to drink water, they are allowed to get some. I quickly learn which students try to abuse the privilege and I manage that.

Anyway, if your child or student is acting up, he or she might just need a drink of water!

Open thread: Volunteering

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Volunteering for Common Threads was a terrific experience for me. I think I got more out of it than the kids. I learned that kids can do a lot in the kitchen, including use knives appropriately, and I learned how to cook some new recipes I probably would not have attempted at home. Do you volunteer? If so where and what do you do?

***

With respect to the recipes and why I didn’t post them — they aren’t mine so I can’t share them. However, the Common Threads cookbook is available for purchase (I’m not sure what recipes are in it).

Common Threads volunteer: Week 5 in the kitchen

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Urban Prep Charter Academy is located in Englewood. This Spring the school 
announced that of the students who graduated 100% were accepted into college.
I wonder what they eat for school lunch?
My last day in the kitchen. I have feelings towards this experience that mirror how I feel during the school year. At the beginning everyone is crisp and new, rested and energized for a new school year. The middle months are just work, work, work. As the school year wraps up, I’m tired, sad, and relieved. Since I only volunteered a little, it flew by so I’m not tired, but there is a sadness.
I found Common Threads to be open and welcoming. I didn’t notice any in-fighting among people employed by the organization. The staff was happy and friendly. It left an impression on me. Working in public education I see a fair amount of disgruntled people. On bad days, I put myself in that category too.  Sometimes it seems like I have more work than I can complete. I have to stay late every day (since becoming a mother, I can’t take work home anymore because it doesn’t get done. Now that I’m blogging, I can’t get home stuff done either).
The chef assigned me to a different station today to help out another group. Today’s lesson was about India. I was setting up and missed the chef’s usual lecture about the food and its preparation. My volunteer friend and I were running around making sure that each station had all of the ingredients that it needed. We ran out of a couple things and a different helper left to buy some yogurt and yellow onions.
I had grown comfortable working with the other volunteer and was a little bummed that I was moved, but it would be a chance to meet some new people. I told the other volunteer I going to be at a different station and she said, “Really? I need you here. Oh well.” Since she was a fantastic chef, I knew she’d be fine.
The: Chicken Korma, Vegetable Biryani, and Apricot and Mango Chutney. Each station made the korma, biryani and one chutney.
This new group was all girls and they were playful. I heard one girl tell another, “Don’t be chopping my green beans.” Written it looks like a threat, but it was said in a humorous way and made the other girl laugh. One of the girls was peeling ginger and said, “I’m so happy I don’t have to do this at home.” My heart sank. Then she added, “My sister is allergic to ginger and she swells up if she eats it.” That’s understandable!
The chicken korma was straightforward to prepare. Lots of chopping, throw it in a pan, and then just let it simmer on the stove. But the vegetable biryani seemed more complex because there were many steps, but they were done over a very short period of time as the rice was pre-cooked.
After the chopping, I worked at the stove, but I flitted back and forth a bit too. I set the chicken korma on the stove, put a lid on it and left it to do its thing. Then I had one of the girls help with the vegetable biryani. She deftly flipped and stirred; she made it look easy. Like I said before, little kids don’t hesitate. She followed the recipe instructions with my help and ba-da-bing that dish was done.
Meanwhile the camp counselor had been working on the apricot chutney. It smelled amazing. But unfortunately there must have been miscommunication because she put it on the stove and left it there. There is a lot of action on the stove top as two stations share one. It wasn’t until many minutes went by that I realized the chutney was burning. I was running around back to the station and back to the stove. I wasn’t sure it was even our pot. I tried to salvage the dish by soldiering forward with the rest of the directions, but it didn’t work. The chef came over, tried to work some magic, but at that point the chutney was DOA.
Up until the chutney flopped, I had thought to myself, “Making chutney is pretty darn easy.” After that happened, I wasn’t too sure. Actually the feeling that chutney is somehow easy has stayed with me and I do want to make some at home. Thankfully the other group’s mango chutney turned out beautifully.
The kids started their clean up jobs, food was plated, and we all stood around a sampled our creations. Delicious and fun! I said goodbye to the kitchen staff and thanked them for the opportunity to participate. I was touched by the experience and sad that it was over.
More information about Common Threads:
Common Threads Blog
Common Threads Twitter
Common Threads on Facebook
***
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

What stuck with me (I’m writing this with a migraine so hopefully it comes together):

1) Kids can cook and enjoy it. Americans buy too much food we could make at home. I’m guilty too. All I need is a little help watching the kid and I’m able to make delicious food for the family. My son is little but says, “See it?” when I’m cooking something at the stove. Cooking is inherently intriguing and fun. I will make an effort to include him in food preparation as he gets older, but considering his current interest level I’m hoping it will be easy.
2) Volunteering is more about “you” than “them.” Common Threads helped its campers in tangible ways by teaching them basic cooking skills. Other gifts given to the campers are harder to quantify. I believe they experienced a boost in self-confidence in a “look what I did” kind of way. For me it was wonderful to help out and observe kids having a good time in the kitchen. I feel like I didn’t do very much for any one child, but what I did made a difference in my own life. I feel better about humanity and grateful for the good things in my life. Volunteering feels good.
3) More confidence in my own kitchen. Part of me thinks, “If the kids can do it, so can I!” I have already made one of the rice and lentil dishes as well as the mango condiment Amba. My husband raved about the rice and lentil dish and asked that I put it into my “regular rotation” of home meals. No problem there! Personally I found the Amba to be refreshing and even spicy in a pleasant way. I’d love to eat that once a month.
4) Wanting to do more. I find myself wishing there was more I could do. Certainly I could make a long-term volunteering commitment with Common Threads (after the project is over naturally). I find myself asking what else can I do to help kids and families who have limited incomes?
Thanks for joining me for the series. Someone asked what the “bear claw” was (it’s not a pastry!). It’s a way of holding your non-dominant hand while cutting so that you lessen any chance of cutting yourself. Fingers are sort of folded in. The technique is shown in the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6AR9p2VOwE
Any remaining questions?

Common Threads volunteer: Week 4 in the kitchen

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A cafeteria away there was a mirror-image, equally massive teaching kitchen, but this was
exclusively for pastry chefs. I peeked in – this is not even half of it. Those gigantic mixers
make Kitchen Aid standing mixers (roughly $150+) look like kiddie toys.
Getting the run of a professional kitchen is empowering for me as I’m a newbie. I consider myself to be a half-way decent home cook with a preference for baking. Looking over the recipes I thought, “I would struggle trying to cook these,” and I was happy that I wasn’t the chef in charge. I was “good” at volunteering because someone was telling me what to do!
I started helping my super-organized volunteer partner set up the work stations. Here is the kind of volunteer I aspire to be: always moving, remembering everything, and not making any mistakes. It’s not really a fair comparison considering that my volunteer partner is basically a trained cook. My approach is to try to get as much talk time with the kids as I can. Cooking is social too I tell myself.

Anyway, my volunteer partner and I were talking and we, I mean she, realized we needed more cilantro and jalapenos. There are small fridges under the work stations so it is usually not necessary to resupply. But today we needed more. “Let’s go to the walk-in fridge,” she says non-chalantly. Cue scary music.

I’m claustrophobic. It’s a phobia that has thankfully decreased in severity as I have aged. I worked in food service in college and so I have walked into big fridges cautiously before. But lockable semi-large walk-in fridges are not something I usually sign up for. Entering the walk-in feels sort-of like going into the county morgue. Brr and scary…now with vegetables!

The walk-in was far away from the kitchen stations. We hustled over to it and thankfully it was well lit and narrow not box-like and dark. I was relieved. I still stood in the open door just to make sure it didn’t close after me. I mean, how long can someone even survive in one of those things? I knew that there was little to no traffic over to that part of the kitchen. How quickly would I be an ice cube? Shiver.

With our cilantro and jalapenos in hand, we marched back to the area to hear the chef discuss today’s cuisine: Peru! Cool, yet another place I had never visited, but was eager to learn more about. The menu included Seco de Carne (beef stew with cilantro-based sauce), Tacu-tacu (Peruvian rice and lentils), and Cebiche de Atun (Peruvian canned tuna ceviche). Every group was doing all three recipes.

During the chef’s lesson, she tells the group that lentils and rice are a “complete protein.” I didn’t know that and I’m sure that was new information for the kids too. I have learned doing this project that basic nutritional knowledge is important. Where are kids going to learn about “complete proteins” if not at school? The chef also had a beach ball globe, which she used during lessons to point out the location of countries whose cuisine was prepared, cooked, and eaten. The chef also showed the students the beef, its grain, and how to cut it. I thought it was a great lesson and the kids paid great attention as they crowded around the station.

After the lesson we broke out into our groups. Nobody wanted to chop onions today. One girl volunteered to chop the jalapenos. We cautioned her to be careful and not to touch her face or eyes. She de-seeded them and diced like a pro albeit at a slower rate than a trained chef. One student in my group said, “I don’t like tuna.” But she was willing to open the can and do much of the preparation for the dish.

My favorite dish from this grouping was the tuna ceviche. Earlier this summer I shared that I really enjoy tuna. The recipe for canned tuna ceviche is really a great way to make a whole different kind of tuna for a sandwich for lunch. The recipe called for onions, jalapenos, cilantro, a tomato, lime juice and olive oil. Basically you stir it all together and then serve it. The camp counselor explained to her students that this was a great way to do a whole different kind of tuna salad without mayo. My husband does not like mayo and I made a mental note to try this with him.

I was surprised how much the kids like their food with spice. They showed no fear of jalapenos. No wonder these kids get bored with regular school lunches. Processed food cannot compete with the pow of good seasonings and the occasional jalapeno.

The rice and lentils are cooked ahead of time so that the kids can focus on prep and working at the stove. The chopping and the cooking went well and quickly. The cooking went fast today, but I attribute that to my spectacular volunteer partner. The rice and lentils were precooked so after the chopping was completed, stove top cooking was all that was left.

The kids set up the little bowls and plates and everyone got to have some of the tasty food. The trio of dishes was popular with the kids as they devoured everything. And just like that the afternoon was over!

***

I got a couple questions about why I didn’t photograph the food. We were working together in a large commercial kitchen. Everyone had clean hands for food preparation. If I had ducked away to the far side of the room to find my cell phone in my purse and then come back and tried to take a picture that would have been very odd. Trust me that the food was colorful, hot and just plain delicious.

Common Threads volunteer: Week 3 in the kitchen

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The “L” tracks nearby
Each summer camp session at Common Threads is three weeks long. I volunteered the first two weeks and then I took a vacation so I missed the third and final week of that camp session. So when I showed up today, it was to a completely new group of kids, a new chef, and more volunteers than before. From what I had observed before, I had been the only volunteer during my particular afternoon for the first session. Today I noticed two other volunteers.
Another new chef introduced herself and informed me that this second group of campers had participated in cooking camp last summer. She commented that they were “pros” and would be more able to be self-directed with their work in the kitchen.
I was paired with the other volunteer and we were assigned to run a station ourselves. It was nice to work with another volunteer and we complemented each other nicely. She was far more organized than me as she had received formal chef training, whereas I have had more experience with school kids.
The kids assigned to us were focused and eager. Two girls started chopping zucchini and I told them both that I thought they looked like professional chefs in their precision and dedication to task. The other two kids were measuring spices. The chef had told us that the spice level in the earlier group had been a little too hot. She suggested halving one of the spices. I asked the kids a very hard questions, “What’s half of 1/2 teaspoon?” I know that kids their age (Fourth and fifth grades) learn fractions, but they seemed to be a bit rusty on identification of fractions. I couldn’t find a pen (I’m bringing my own next time) so that I could draw out the fractions and they could see them visually. I used my hands to describe various fractions in an impromptu math lesson.
The recipe for today’s session was the same as the first week I participated, the falafel, Kushari and the Dukkah encrusted salmon. I was on the Kushari team again, but we were also going to be making the salmon and the Amba so that was a nice change.

The chef was correct about the kids: they had participated in camp before and were indeed “pros.” There was not as much jumping around and getting excited as the previous group. They were poised at the cutting boards to the point that if they had been older, anyone would have thought it was culinary school. These kids were chopping machines — they had serious knife skillz!
The onions were strong and when the kids were chopping them, many had to step away from the table and wipe their eyes. Even the kid next to the girl chopping onions had to step away. Potent!

The recipes for dishes like Kushari are long. As I said earlier, the toughest part is the prep and chopping. When you are working with four or five kids, the prep is quick. At home a recipe like this would take me much longer to do mostly because the prep alone would take me at minimum a half hour if I was minding my toddler simultaneously. I like Common Threads’ approach because it teaches kids basic cooking skills that can be applied to any recipe. If I were running this program, I might try to water it down by attempting less complex recipes. What I like is that the kids learn not to be afraid of long ingredient lists and multiple spices. Often at home when I am looking through a cookbook for a dish, I’ll skip recipes with “too many” ingredients. I believe that the kids at camp learn not to be intimidated. Leaving the program I think they feel a lot of confidence about themselves and their abilities in the kitchen.

Two hours in the kitchen sounds very long for kids this age. It flies by as the camper learns new skills, has fun, works at the stove, and then eats. There is time to socialize with the other campers. Once I saw two girls spontaneously start doing a hand clapping game. Many of the kids are meeting new people and making new friends. They come from different schools and include people of all different ethnicities including African-American, Asian, Latino, and Caucasian, mirroring the diversity in their communities on the south side of Chicago. I love how the creed (what they read before they eat) ties into their experiences with the food and also with other campers.

Having a competent chef volunteer as a partner made my job easy. The kids worked together to finish the Kushari and the salmon. I carried around the recipe and provided guidance when necessary. I didn’t work at the stove this time, but instead helped with the clean up. The kids have jobs in the kitchen aside from ingredient prep, stirring, baking and cooking at the stove. Each station is a color and every week they rotate clean up responsibilities. This week my group had to set up the station to eat and sweep the floor. Other groups helped to wash dishes (not the knives or graters which are put aside for the hired kitchen help) and wiped the counters.

One of the stations was cleaned off and that was where we stood and ate our creations. The kids set up small paper bowls, paper plates, and spoons. I noticed that the spoons were bio-degradeable. Then I stood at the stove and helped dish up all of the kids who came through with their little dishes. We read the “creed.” They have to eat a little of everything and if they like it they can come back for more if there is any. I saw all the kids eating and some came back for seconds. I chatted with some of the kids and they told me they wanted to try some of the recipes at home. Another successful afternoon in the kitchen!