Rockin' at Rhodes

We spent Saturday morning at Rhodes for the annual Children's Theater Festival sponsored by Voices of the South. Rock-n-Romp set up a booth and did wildly popular Rock-n-Roll makeovers that included colored hairspray and tattoos.

There were also lots of other great activities. The kids loved making chickens (that actually clucked) out of plastic cups, painting tiles, and swinging on the giant rings. We also ate popcorn, drank lemonade, and climbed trees. There were lots of indoor activities that we never made it to, but this is definitely a festival you don't want to miss. Especially since it is pay what you can! (It's every Memorial Day weekend, so mark your calendars for next year.)



We had one can of green hairspray leftover that Jiro carried around with him all day. That evening at the Shell, he personally gave a handful of kids punk rock hairstyles. Before he went to sleep that night we had to discuss all of the colors that the spray comes in, how much it costs, and when we could buy some more. Rock-n-Romp will be doing makeovers at Bands Not Bombs next Saturday, so maybe I'll just put Jiro in charge.

Brains!

Friday night was the 3rd annual Zombie March on Beale. Team Oster loves an excuse to paint their faces and scare people, so we were all over it. Warren did a great job of making us look undead with homemade blood and old rice. So good that a nice young zombie woman came up to me and said, "Your wound looks awesome, ma'am." I was really annoyed by this, but the fact that this woman stayed in character longer than any other zombie of the night, allowed me to forgive her for calling me ma'am.



The march is always fun--I love seeing unsuspecting people's reactions. However, I think with all of the publicity this year, most people were expecting us. There were lots of cameras and gawkers. I was also pleased to see how many families are participating in the walk these days. The best part is just seeing how creative everyone gets with their costumes. We saw zombie girl scouts, a zombie Waldo, and even a zombie Jesus. (Actually there might have been two people dressed like a zombie Jesus!)

My only complaint is that it is a little anti-climactic. Once we got to Beale, there wasn't anything to do except turn back towards Ernestine & Hazel's where we started, however, we didn't go back as a group. However, since it was also the South Main Art Night and they had a circus theme going on, so we got to enjoy magicians and fire tribe folks on our way back.

School Wrap Up

The kids' last week of school was crazy busy. On Wednesday, Warren and I went to school for "Evergreen Cafe." The elementary kids turned their classroom into a restaurant for the day. They each had a job--server, hostess, busboy, etc. The menu featured eggs, bacon, fruit, French toast, fresh squeezed orange juice, and coffee. You could have whatever you wanted for $4. It was the best deal in town! It was really cute watching the kids "work."




After lunch, we got a tour of the gardens, which are looking awesome thanks to the kids' hard work and their fearless leader, Miss Emma. They are growing herbs, broccoli, snap peas, squash, tomatoes, chard, and lots of other good stuff. After a one week break, Cooking and Gardening Camp starts. The kids will be making their own lunches and preparing veggies and other items to sell at the Cooper Young Farmer's Market.



The school also got eight Rhode Island Red chickens and one rooster. They immediately started laying eggs and we got to bring home the first one!



Thursday was the end of the year program. Highlights included Jiro boldly taking the mic and saying his quote loud and proud; Jiro getting inducted into the elementary class with an official tie dye t-shirt; Satchel standing closest to the mic during his classes' song, and Satchel being presented a bronze medal for his score on the National Mythology Exam.

Fantasy To Do List

I don't usually do memes, but I couldn't resist the challenge to create a fantasy to do list.

My list:

1. Learn to cook
2. Run a 10K/half-marathon/marathon, maybe do a triathalon
3. Climb a big mountain of Warren's choosing
4. Retire early
5. Get paid to travel and eat like the Sterns
6. Grow up to be an old woman with a 130 babies
7. Get published in Brain, Child or the Sun Magazine (NYT would be fine too.)
8. Have a six pack (abs not Budwesier!)
9. Go to Japan; Go back to Israel and Cameroon with the rest of Team Oster
10. Be on the Food Network in some capacity (Judge on Top Chef would do)
11. Eat at one of Rick Bayliss' restaurants in Chicago
12. Help Warren open a restaurant/sushi food cart
13. Make Overton Park a State Natural Area/witness the Zoo remove the fence around the 17 acres
14. Visit Portland, Oregon in the next few years
15. Learn Photoshop
16. Become a fabulous dresser

Geez, see any themes here? I'll hopefully be marking these off one by one! I'll definitely be adding.

Tree Huggers vs. Sushi

Sunday night was the second annual Project Green Fork Spring Supper. This year it was held at Sekisui Midtown and each of the 14 PGF certified restaurants created a special roll for the evening. Margot McNeeley, PGF's executive director, warned me in advance to skip lunch. "Everyone is getting 32 pieces of sushi!" she told me in an email.

When we sat down and looked at the menu, I got very excited. Then I realized I was only looking at HALF of the menu. To prepare ourselves for the feast, our table of seven immediately began stretching out our stomachs with beer and sake.

By the fourth course we realized that eight courses was going to be a challenge. We also realized that we were the only table eating every single piece of sushi on our platters. (Margot was counting on 2 pieces per person of each roll, but we always had at least 3, sometimes 4 each!) We simply could not let such amazing food go to waste!



By course six, people actually started leaving. (And by people, I mean wusses.) This was no longer a dinner, it was a meal of epic porportions. We had no intension of leaving. (In my friend, Mary's, photos, I progressively sink down in my chair as the night unfolds--I was sooooooooo full.)

It's a good thing we stayed because the seventh course was the most incredible. Ben Smith (of Tsunami) created the most amazing jalapeno ice (think sorbet) to top his delicious seared walu (a kind of tuna). It was sooooooooo good.

After eating eight courses and drinking who knows how many beers, our table outlasted everyone (even Margot!). As we said our goodbyes, we passed around a recycled oyster tub full of leftover jalapeno ice. And yes, we ate it with chopsticks!

It was a great evening and one we won't soon forget. But the really important message here is that FOURTEEN restaurants have gotten certified by Project Green Fork in the last year and a half.

Colleen says that Tsunami went from using a 6 yard dumpster to a 4 yard dumpster that they don't even fill up! Size wise they could also reduce their pick ups from 2 times per week to once per week, but due to the amount of fish scraps they produce, they stay with the more frequent pick ups.

Their recycling pick up is also quite impressive. On average they fill 8 city-issued recycling bins with glass & plastic. And they have a huge rolling cart that's at least the size of two city-issued garbage bins overflowing with cardboard. That's in just 6 days of business.

And compost? They fill up 6 to 8 five gallon buckets per week.

Now take Tsunami's results and multiply them by 14. Then imagine what it would be like if every restaurant in town got PGF certified--or at least made a major effort to reduce waste, recycle, and compost! Margot is compiling some stats now, but I think it is safe to say that we should all be encouraging our favorite restaurants to get with the program.

Once restuarants get certified, they are supposed to continue to find ways to keep reducing their enviromental impact. For example, Colleen just started an herb garden on Tsunami's secret back patio. It's just one bed right now but she plans to expand it soon. It cost about $125 (that includes plants & dirt) and only took 30 minutes to put together. They'll save tons of money on herbs AND avoid the cardboard box and plastic bags it is usually delivered in. Not to mention the gas that the delivery truck uses.

Margot, Tsunami, and the other PGF restuarants are an inspiration. They are definitely making Memphis a better place for our children!

Toothless

"I think my tooth is almost loose," is something Jiro has been telling me for months. Recently it actually became loose. Last night it actually came out! After six years and 24 days, my baby finally lost a tooth! He was so excited. And he had great timing--the tooth fairy only had a $10 bill in her purse!

Thoughts on Biking to Work

I rode my bike to work on Friday in honor of National Bike to Work day. I had done a test ride on Sunday and mapped out my 5 mile course. I found that traffic was way different on Friday than it was on Sunday, but I made it to work just fine. Everyone asked how sweaty I got. It was kind of cloudy and windy, but I did manage to work up a decent enough sweat to change my shirt when I got to work. (I am pretty active, so riding my bike wasn't too physically taxing, I attribute the sweat mostly to the weather.) Also I should add that I don't wear make up or fuss with my hair, so I didn't care much about that. I did get a nice helmet head though and my face felt like it was coated in dust.

It took me about 45 minutes to get to work, rather than my usual 15-20. However, I did get to see some birds up close, smell a giant hydrangea bush, make eye contact with and smile at several drivers and pedestrians. My favorite was a man near LeBonheur who put his thumb out like he was going to hitch a ride from me.

Once at work, it was cool not having to worry about parking. The guard told me to bring my bike up to my office since we don't have any bike racks. I definitely raised a lot of awareness of Bike to Work day by hauling mine up the elevator, through the halls, and having it parked next to my desk!

I really liked having it when it was time to go to the expo at Court Square. I just zipped right over. And when it was over, I zipped right back.

When it was time to go home, I had to give myself a little pep talk. I was tired and not looking forward to the "long" ride home in Friday afternoon traffic. I decided to take a new route--actually one of two official bike routes from Downtown to Midtown that I learned of at the expo--North Parkway to Bellevue to Overton Park.

North Parkway, despite being nice and wide, is very trafficky. So much so that I opted to ride on the sidewalk rather than the street. (I also learned at the expo that the ordinances were recently changed to allow bikes on sidewalks as long as they yield to pedestrians.) The sidewalks on North Parkway are actually pretty nice until you pass Danny Thomas. Then it got crazy bumpy and I feared my little lunch sack would fly out of my basket.

Once I cut over to Bellevue and then Overton Park, everything was smooth sailing. I think the best part of my ride home was the big whiff of Cozy Corner that I got midway.

Now, the big question. Would I do it again? I think so. Maybe not everyday, but I'd like to try once a week. Probably not on Friday though.

For those of you who don't have bikes, you can rent them at Mud Island. It's a fun place to ride and it will give you an idea of what it would be like to have your own bike. My bike is a beach cruiser which means it has a big seat and peddle brakes like a kid's bike. It's fun and easy to ride, but I think the lack of gears may make me a little slower than someone on a moutain or street bike.

Based on this calculator everyday that I ride my bike I save $4.44. That's $22.20 per week and $88.80 a month!

Cyclin'

This week's column is all about riding bikes. Please read Here's to riding for a bike friendly Memphis.

Updatey Like

Wow, nearly a week with no post! Well, I can explain. Yes, I was extra busy working--I went back to 4 ten hour days--but I also discovered Glee. My sister gave me the first season on DVD and I watched it all last weekend. Then this week I used Hulu for the first time ever, and got caught up on the 4 episodes I missed this season.

Sad, I know, but there it is.

We didn't have too much activity this week, but we did a lot of good eating. I contributed to the creative ways to use our CSA haul by making grapefruit, orange and strawberry popsicles. I also added strawberries to my favorite banana muffin recipe. (The latter was much more successful.) Warren outdid himself with lovely salads, cornish hens, greens, roasted veggies, and a tofu stir fry. So far eating fresh and local has been awesome. I feel like we're just getting started though!

Greek Fest + Greenline

In the current issue of Edible Memphis, there's a round up of summer festivals. I did a short piece on the Greek Fest, which I've never actually been too, until Saturday. Since it was such a lovely day, we decided to ride our bikes over. I thought it would be a pretty strenuous ride, but turns out it was only 2 miles! We went down Broad Avenue most of the way and it was quite nice.

The festival was packed as expected. The kids couldn't wait to go on the inflatable slide, so we let them have a few turns while we took in the lovely aromas wafting through the church's yard. Man, I just can't tell you how awesome it smelled there! As far as the food goes, you have two options. Buy from individual vendors outside, or go inside for a plate lunch/dinner. We opted for the inside dinner. It included a choice of chicken or pork, rice, spanikopita, green beans and greek bread. We sat under a lovely tent and pigged out. That was the best spanikopita I've ever had. When we were done, we strolled around outside a bit longer and let the monkeys jump in the "bouncy house." (They had a choice of bouncing or ice cream, and chose bouncing since we completely stuffed ourselves. Thankfully the bouncing didn't cause them to vomit!)



We decided to take a different route home. As we headed towards Walnut Grove on Highland, we came to a trailhead for the soon-to-be greenline. "Wanna check it out?" Warren asked. "YES!" we all shouted.

Unfortunately we didn't get too far on our bikes. The current path consists of very chunky rocks. We decided to walk our bikes instead. Even though the path isn't suitable for much yet, it is easy to see how completely awesome the greenline is going to be once it is done. It's about 15 feet wide, maybe more, and there's tons of shade and solitude.

We were thinking we could get off at Holmes and head home on the road, but the greenline actually goes under Holmes. After checking out the graffiti, we pressed on, planning to get off at Tillman. At Tillman we discovered a giant ditch. Oops! It looked like construction has started on a bridge, but there was no way to cross. So, we went back toward Holmes and did a little climbing to get up on the street.


It was a nice little adventure. I'm glad we got to experience it before its done so that the monkeys will really appreciate it. I can hardly wait! It really is going to change the way we commute and open up all kinds of recreational opportunities.

CSA Membership

For Christmas, Warren and I bought ourselves a share from Whitton Farm's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This means that every week when we go to the Memphis Farmer's Market, we get a giant bag of goodies straight from the farm.

Last week was our first pick up. It was pouring rain, flooding, and threatening tornadoes, but we made it!


From Whitton Farms we got sweet potatoes, radishes, green onions, basil, oregano, sorrell, heirloom lettuce, and kale. Since we were early, I was able to get some farm fresh eggs for the first time ever and we also picked up some hydroponic tomatoes, strawberries, baby bok choy, chinese broccoli, and groovy granola.

It was a pretty hectic week so Warren didn't have a chance to spend too much time in the kitchen. I was happy to have fresh strawberries and groovy granola on my usual breakfast of Greek yogurt. I made omelets almost every day. We ate salads a lot! Warren roasted chicken one night and roasted the sweet potatoes too. He also stir fried the baby bok choy. On Wednesday he cooked a huge batch of kale that I shared with my (very happy) coworkers. On Friday he made some pesto with the basil.


We still had a ton of food in the produce drawers when I headed out on Saturday to pick up our second share! This week's bag included red potatoes, turnips, radishes, heirloom lettuces, shitake mushrooms and some more onions and herbs. In addition, I bought more hydroponic tomatoes, strawberries, goat cheese, and granola.



Oh but that's not all. Some (really awesome) friends who are out of town gave us their share from Downing Hollow Farms which I picked up at the Cooper Young Market. The Downing Hollow CSA included artisan bread, homemade jam, a dahlia plant, mushrooms, strawberries, nettles, lettuces, radishes, carrots, and more.


Our pantry runneth over!

I think we're actually a little overwhelmed. Stay tuned to see how we sort things out! And, come over for a salad!

Kids & Pets

Last week I was standing in the boys' room sniffing audibly. "What is it?" asked Jiro.

"It smells like a fart in here," I replied. For whatever reason, this attracted the attention of Warren and Satchel.

"What kind of fart?" Warren asked.

"I don't know, maybe like one of the animals farted, but it's been ongoing for a day or so. Like maybe Olive (our cat) pooped in here somewhere."

Jiro looked around and said, "It was probably those guys," and motioned towards a group of nearby stuffed animals.

I love that kid!

If you read yesterday's column, Morning routine filled with drama, then you know our cat woke Jiro up by puking on him Monday morning.

My poor, sweet baby boy. Olive has been sleeping on him for weeks despite our best efforts to relocate her.

On Monday morning, I came in from the Y at 7am and found him crying in the foyer. He was disraught. And covered in cat puke. I went in to look at the bed and it too was covered in puke.

I'm saying puke, but it was really more like a hairball surrounded in doo doo.

Amazingly enough, Satchel was still in bed. "You know Olive puked in here, right?" I asked.

"What?" he said as he pounced out of bed.

Jiro washed his hands like ten times, took a shower, and then washed his hands a few more times for good measure.

Guess who got to do the laundry? That's right. Lucky me.

Big Day for My Big Boy

My Jiro turned SIX on Thursday! His birthday happened to coincide with the Elementary class's field trip to Whitton Farms. Since I was chaperoning, I got him a special invite. He was thrilled.

We arrived at Whitton Farms around 10:30am. The kids dutifully posed for a group photo before taking off across the land. Keith showed us his greenhouses where they are growing a number of greens. The kids got to taste sorrell which was deliciously tart. They also witnessed a garter snake taking off with a toad in its mouth. Such a thrill for a group of kids!

Next we briefly visited the chickens, said a quick hello to the neighbor's horses, and then thorough investigated the shitake mushroom growing operation in the Forrester's mini pine forest. Here the kids also got the thrill of seeing an owl pellet and digging out the skull of a small rodent from it! Strangely this discovery was soon followed by pleas for lunch. We had a lovely picnic under the trees, a few rounds of tag, and then headed back to school. Keith was a fabulous tour guide and the kids can't wait for the next Feastival!


Back at school I got to watch Jiro do Taekwondo. (He's definitely the best one in his class!) Then my mom joined us as he did his walk around the sun and shared the cheesecake brownies we made with his class. (Warren was out of town.)


To top off our very busy day, we visited Game Stop for a present or two then got some Memphis Pizza Cafe to go.