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Food and Travel Parenting Archives Uncategorized

Five reasons why my slow cooker is ruining dinner

Bad slow cooker meal

My slow cooker is ruining my life! Or, okay fine. But it’s at least messing with dinner.

There I am, all chopping and dicing first thing in the morning before I’ve even had my third coffee, thinking about how much I am totally owning this Wednesday. That’s right, people. Give me your best shot. Deadlines? Appointments? Meetings? Lunches? Sick kids? Two hockey practices, a subway delay, and a freaking blizzard? NICE TRY. But, sorry, you can’t get me down because I have dinner made. Better luck next time.

And then. And then. You have got to be kidding me.  The stew I made for dinner had that god-awful, gag-me-now, unidentified slow cooker flavour. Again this has happened? For real? How is a woman supposed to take over the world and feed her family at this same time when dinner keeps getting sabotaged?

The taste is hard to pin point. It’s definitely an undertone that permeates the entire dish rather than one element or another. It’s not-quite metallic, but I almost want to use that description for lack of a better word. It certainly doesn’t remind me of any other food flavour I’ve experienced other than “slow cooker.” Dishes with more or stronger seasoning and less liquid seem to have less of this flavour and chicken dishes, especially any kind of chicken soup, chowder, or stew seem to have the most.

At first, I thought it was just a bad recipe. Then I got hip and realized this was a problem for me with slow cooking in general. But what I couldn’t figure out was why so many people swear by their slow cookers. Don’t they have the same problem? Then, after last night’s slow-cooking-tainted dinner, something snapped and I became downright obsessed. WHAT IS THIS TASTE?

So I used the tried-and-true method of asking around and googling a bunch and here’s what I came up with. It’s gotta be one of these five things.

My slow cooker is the worstI have a seven or eight-year-old Crock-Pot with a stoneware insert that could be, maybe, absorbing flavours. Maybe it has absorbed enough weird tastes that it taints all the dishes made in it. Maybe the stoneware itself is leaching some sort of off-tasting substance into the food! Maybe I’ve thought about this possibility on and off for years, but then went, “Eh, but it’s probably fine,” and kept on using it and now the guilt is driving me insane and I am hallucinating the flavour.

I’m doing it wrong. This is the crowd favourite and, really, who can blame them? After all, everybody else likes their slow cooker! They make wonderful and delicious meals that are hot and ready for their family AND they kick butt all day not standing over the stove. I’m probably an idiot; some kind of savant who can work a stove top, oven, barbecue, broiler, and waffle maker, but just cannot wrap my head around a frigging crock pot. Listen! I’m not saying they’re wrong. It’s entirely possible. They tell me to choose a recipe that actually needs a long cooking time, to avoid ingredients that will turn bitter like garlic and peppers, and to sear meat before adding it, and, by god, I will try to do those things better.

I’m cooking the food to death. Here’s a wild idea. PERHAPS slow cooking most food on low for 7 to 8 hours is an insanely long time and finally my dinner has to roll over and surrender. “I already died around the five hour mark, lady. Now I am actually rotting. That flavour you can’t put your finger on is decomposition.” Right. That almost actually makes sense. Like, maybe anything short of a braised shoulder roast which does, in fact, require a small eternity to break down, should just be thrown in on high for three to four hours instead. Better yet, I could simply use a pot.

I should use a liner. Hold up. Say again? You can buy disposable heat-safe plastic liners that you can dump all your food into so you never have to wash another Crock-Pot in your life?!? Sign. Me. Up. Hey, maybe that’ll even help with the flavour.

I am one of the chosen ones. Or just maybe every dish ever cooked in a slow cooker tastes like garbage, but only people with an *ahem* refined enough palette can pick up on it. But seriously! Maybe it’s like how some people gag on cilantro while the rest of us are getting fat off guacamole. Maybe not everyone can taste it. My husband, for example, thought last night meal was “pretty good.” Half the people I talk to are all, “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN,” while the other half just shrug and say, “I can give you a recipe if you want.”

Now that we’ve narrowed down the possibilities, the only thing left is to see how many more slow cooker dinners I can stomach trying to get to the bottom of this. Oh yes, I am way too crazy invested to let this drop now. Let’s see which of these theories holds water.

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Visit the ROM for the Holidays

Giveaway closed. This post is also a giveaway! Enter to win a family membership to the ROM.

Families visit the ROM.

The kids are off school for a full two weeks after Christmas this year and you will be wanting something to do. Don’t worry, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto has got us covered. This year they have put together 14 days of programming for families to enjoy throughout the winter break.

From Monday, December 26th to Sunday, January 8, the ROM will become a winter wonderland, displaying glowing lights, festive traditions, exclusive galleries, and the last chance to visit the breathtaking glass sculptures of the CHIHULY exhibit. Other highlights include inflatable balloon sculptures, touchable objects like volcanic glass or a polar bear skull, a musical show with Sonshine and Broccoli, and decorating a holiday tree. The museum is also open for extended hours; 10 to 7 most days (10 to 5:30 on Dec. 31 and Jan. 8).

And know that if you have young kids and live in Toronto, a family membership to the ROM is a veritable lifeline. How wonderful to have a warm and enriching place to escape from the cold or duck into for a couple hours on a rainy afternoon. The ROM has a great hands-on kids area as well as, you know, a large display of dinosaur bones and actual Egyptian mummies. ROM Members get express entry and unlimited free access to exhibitions and galleries, attend exclusive previews, enjoy members-only discounts, plus much more. Now is the time to pounce on this for yourself or as a gift. Until December 31, save $20 on a Family/Dual Membership for up to two named adults and four kids under 17. Visit rom.on.ca/membership and enter the promo code HOLIDAY.

Giveaway closed. Enter below for a chance to win (1) ROM Family Membership that is valid for one year.

Playground Confidential ROM Family Membership giveaway

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Food and Travel Parenting Archives Uncategorized

A family getaway to Buffalo, NY for the winter holidays

Buffalo sign in lights

Buffalo, New York has your holiday road trip needs covered. And no, I am not even kidding.

Who can afford to travel during the holidays? You just maxed out your cards on gifts, price surging is everywhere, and there’s a good chance if you do travel it will be back to your hometown. But, but, but! How often does the entire family get a few days off school and work at the same time? And, well, I just wanna go … somewhere.

Enter the semi-local overnighter. (Yes, I did just make that term up. Roll with it.) The semi-local overnighter is not a staycation. You do leave town, but just to a neighbouring city or region. And it’s called an overnighter because you only stay for one or two nights. If you didn’t have kids, these trips would be an easy one night getaway. With kids, I find the hassle of unloading everyone and their teddy bear hotel windowluggage and dragging it up to a hotel room really merits two nights.

So last December we packed our three kids and way too many stuffed animals (lesson learned) into our brand new minivan and made the first of what we hope will be countless road trips in our new family vehicle. We left later than hoped, as always, but were still chock full of excited anticipation. We had just barely cleared the Greater Toronto Area when voices from the back started to call out, “Are we almost there yet? Can we stop? I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I need to pee.”

I looked at Ed. First of many road trips, huh? That’s the plan? But the kids settled in and within a couple hours we were pulling up the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. So swanky! Booked on Hotwire! The lobby was beautiful, the room was spacious, and it has a pool. (Always book the place with a pool when possible.) Score.

Why Buffalo?

If you grew up in Toronto in the 70s and 80s you will have learned a lot about the city from Buffalo TV stations. They love their Bills and their Sabres, have massive snow storms, and suffer from a disproportionate number of house fires. Channel 2 is “On your side.” Buffalo also has a couple outlet malls where people liked to find bargains when the Canadian dollar is strong. And, of course, there are the chicken wings.

Electric Tower Buffalo

But there’s so much more! Buffalo, New York was a thriving metropolis in the first half of the 20th century; a shipping and transportation hub and industrial powerhouse. It was home to a diverse population of more than half a million people, large mansions, early skyscrapers, and beautiful Art Deco buildings. With the loss of manufacturing jobs, Buffalo’s economy has struggled, but it is still a centre for medical research and life sciences, home to banking headquarters, and is undergoing a bit of an urban revival. Most importantly for us tourists, the architecture remains.

Family To Do

downtown Buffalo

Wander around downtown to admire the stately skyscrapers and institutional giants of yore. Then wander through the Allentown and Elmwood Village neighbourhoods to soak up their urban charm and visit cafes, bars, restaurants, and shops.

Canalside skating

Go ice skating at Buffalo’s revitalized waterfront attraction, Canalside. It’s a 35,000 square foot outdoor ice rink on the banks of the Eerie Canal and we had a lot of fun on all that ice. I can’t even keep up with the bigger kids anymore. Skate rental is available (but we brought our own. So Canadian.) You do have to buy inexpensive tickets to skate and the ice surface is pretty rough which made me appreciate what we have in Toronto. (There are tons of free outdoor rinks that are impeccably maintained in TO.) But it was still a blast. Note that there’s a one-line light-rail train called the Metro Rail that runs from the Erie Canal Harbor north to the university. In the downtown core (while the train is above ground), it is free to hop on and off that train. This is a great way to get to Canalside.

Albright-Knox

Visit the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I love, love, love the Albright-Knox. It’s a top-tier art gallery for modern and contemporary art and strolling through it’s halls is such a great pleasure. It’s home Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey and Jackson Pollock’s Convergence to name a couple of my favourites. And I would love to find a way to see the Picasso: The Artist and his Models exhibition that is on until February 19, 2017. Our kids were 9, 7, and 4 when we were there and it was great. We didn’t do any special family activities, but here is a link to the programs the gallery offers for kids.

And, yes, you’re allowed to go shopping at the Walden Galleria, too. It’s a huge mall with over 200 stores and more than a dozen restaurants. We escaped the cold and dark one evening to do some window shopping (okay, and some shopping shopping) in the Galleria. There’s also an indoor playground (that we carefully kept the kids from) and a Regal Cinemas (where Ed and the kids played arcade games while I shopped).

Buffalo Target

Right, so we also popped into Target. Always.

There are even more things to do that we didn’t manage on our overnighter, like the Poinsettia exhibit at the Botanical Gardens and the Buffalo Science Museum. Note that Buffalo also has a theatre district with several options for live shows. Unfortunately, these seem to go on holiday after Christmas. I do have plans for a romantic dinner and show weekend getaway for when the kids are older, though. (Setting my reminder for 2030…)

Where to Eat

Meals can be a challenge on a family vacation, especially if you are a bit of a foodie like me. It’s unusual for us to be able to go to top restaurants in any city because it’s simply too expensive and stressful for a family of five with young kids. (The older the kids get, the less stressful but more expensive the experience becomes.) Besides, reservations for five are hard to come by! Our solution? A mix of revered local casual restaurants and local specialty street food or fast food joints.

Dinosaur BBQ

We were delighted that our hotel was in easy walking distance of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que enjoyed our first Buffalo meal there. It’s actually a small franchise with a handful of locations in New York state, Connecticut, New  Jersey, and even one in Baltimore. The large dining room was hopping on a Tuesday night, with an easy-going casual vibe. The bbq itself was the perfect blend of sweet, smoky and sticky with top notch sides. The kids meal options were true to the menu, too, which is nice, and generous enough to satisfy my growing nine-year-old.

Duff's Buffalo wings

The next night we dined (or gorged is more like it) on piles of buffalo wings from Duff’s, one of Buffalo’s most legendary wing joints. Again, the place was hopping, even on a Wednesday and we had to wait for a table. Walking into Duff’s is like stepping into a time warp. Wood paneling meets 70’s style stuccoed arches and basic black tables and chairs are set up to maximize seating. The wings are among the best anywhere (but they are spicy, so go for mild or get the sauce on the side if sharing with kids) and the whole scene was a fun slice of Buffalo life.

Mighty Taco

We enjoyed a big breakfast on New Year’s Eve, on our way out of town, at Kosta’s Family Restaurant while the staff bustled about getting ready for the night’s festivities. We also sampled a couple local fast food places to get the full Buffalo experience. Ted’s Hot Dog serves up tasty charcoal-grilled dogs on soft buns with quality fries and soft drinks (go for the only-in-Buffalo Loganberry drink). I couldn’t resist grabbing some take out from Mighty Taco, if only to satisfy a faint memory from childhood. This Buffalo chain does Taco Bell-style tacos that are entirely forgettable at best. But, hey, sometimes you have a hankering for that crunchy shell, amiright?

One final Buffalo food note: beef on weck. I did not manage to get a good beef on weck which is a special Buffalo roast beef sandwich. It’s thin slices of beef on a soft kummelweck roll, topped with horseradish and served with jus on the side for dipping and can be found at bars, taverns, restaurants or a chain called Charlie the Butcher.

Here’s the Google Map I made like a giant nerd of places where we might want to eat in Buffalo. I like to have lots of options to choose from depending on where we are at meal time. (Made in December of 2015.)

Buffalo, New York is a real city with lots of history and regional character. It’s worth repeated visits at any time of year, even during the winter holidays. But do take a look at the weather forecast first because mega dumpings of snow happen here.

 

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Food and Travel Uncategorized

244 female artists who are not Taylor Swift (and one who is)

Female artists

Whenever we’re in the car and flipping through radio stations, my seven-year-old daughter will diligently scream out from the third row, “NO! NO! CHANGE IT!” She insists we keep scanning until we find a “girl song.” And that’s fine because she’s a seven-year-old girl and why shouldn’t she listen to female artists if that’s what she likes? Of course, the “girl song” invariably happens to be a top-40 pop hit and, more often than not, it’s Taylor Swift. And that’s fine, too. How edgy do you need to be at seven, anyway? Give a girl some space to grow.

Still, I would not be doing my music-loving maternal duty if I did not at least expose my children to music beyond top-40 radio.  And I do try, but life’s a scramble and it’s hard to find the time to sit people down to listen to music. Then I realized that we are planning an epic road trip and all my kids will be strapped into a vehicle driving 100+km per hour down the freeway and they will be completely at my mercy. Is it girl songs you want? Oh, well, then it is girl songs you shall get.

I started putting together lists of female artists: women in rock, women in hip hop, Motown, singer/songwriters. But I knew I must be forgetting some. So I took my project to Facebook and asked my friends who I should include on this all-girls road-trip playlist.

My friends did not let me down. They chimed in with 115 comments and well over 200 wildly diverse and exciting suggestions. I decided I needed to make one giant, inclusive playlist that would encompass songs from all of these artists. I also decided that I couldn’t keep it to myself.

“Guess what, honey? I am putting together a giant playlist composed of all female singers and musicians!” I said.

(Side eyes.)

“Does it have Taylor Swift and Katy Perry on it?”

Fine. So, here you have it. THE EPIC ROAD-TRIP PLAYLIST made of 244 artists who are not Taylor Swift (and one who is.)

* Note that this is an inclusive playlist that has not been vetted for “appropriate” lyrics and subject matter. In fact, I can GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL find explicit lyrics in many of these artists’ songs. If you are not up for discussing language and subject matter with your children as it arises, then proceed with caution.

**I have gone through and quickly noted the “genre” of music beside each artist as suggested by a google search. This is rough and not always entirely descriptive, but it can help you try to put together other smaller, more manageable playlists based on genre if you wish.

Here is the link to the public playlist I made on Google Music.

Below is an alphabetical list of the artists.

Aaliyah (contemporary R&B, pop)

Adele (pop, soul)

Alabama Shakes (blues rock, southern rock)

Alvvays (indie pop)

Tori Amos (alternative rock, piano rock)

Fiona Apple (alternative rock, art pop)

Jann Arden (pop rock)

India Arie (soul, neo soul)

Joan Armatrading (rock, pop)

The B-52’s (new wave, post punk)

Erykah Badu (neo soul, contemporary R&B)

The Bangles (pop rock, pop)

Sara Bareilles (pop, soul)

Pat Benatar (rock, hard rock)

Beyonce (contemporary R&B, pop)

Bikini Kill (punk rock, riot grrrl)

Bjork (electronic experimental art pop, avant-garde trip hop)

Jully Black (contemporary R&B, soul)

Mary J Blige (soul, hip hop)

Blondie (new wave, punk rock)

Tracy Bonham (alternative rock, post grunge)

Braids (indie rock, art rock)

Breeders (alternative rock)

Meredith Brooks (alternative rock)

Basia Bulat (folk)

Kate Bush (art pop, art rock)

Le Butcherettes (punk rock, garage rock)

Colbie Caillat (folk rock, pop rock)

Maria Callas (classical, opera)

Alessia Cara (contemporary R&B, pop)

Cardigans (alternative rock, pop rock)

Mariah Carey (contemporary R&B, pop)

Brandi Carlile (alternative country, folk rock)

Belinda Carlisle/The Go-Go’s (pop rock, new wave)

Mary Chapin Carpenter (americana, country)

Neko Case/The New Pornographers (indie rock, alternative country)

Jennifer Castle (folk)

Catatonia (alternative rock, indie rock)

Tracy Chapman (folk, blues rock)

Neneh Cherry (hip hop, trip hop)

Chvrches (synthpop, indie rock)

Kelly Clarkson (pop, pop rock)

Patsy Cline (Nashville sound, country)

Holly Cole (jazz)

Paula Cole (adult contemporary)

Lynn Collins (funk, soul)

Shawn Colvin (new folk, singer-songwriter)

Concrete Blonde (alternative rock)

Couer de Pirate (indie pop, sings in French)

Cowboy Junkies (americana, alt-country)

Deborah Cox (contemporary R&B, dance)

The Cranberries (alternative rock, celtic rock)

Sheryl Crow (pop, rock)

Lori Cullen (pop)

Dalbello (rock, hard rock)

Brody Dalle/The Distillers (punk rock, alternative rock)

Danielle Ate The Sandwich (folk)

Zooey Deschanel/She & Him (pop, folk)

Lana del Rey (baroque pop, dream pop)

Des’ree (soul, dance)

Hazel Dickens (bluegrass, folk)

Dido (pop)

Ani DiFranco (folk rock, alternative rock)

Celine Dion (pop)

Disappear Fear (indie folk, indie pop)

Dixie Chicks/Court Yard Hounds (country, pop, folk)

Dragonette (synthpop, new wave)

Stacey Earle (country, rock)

Elastica (britpop, alternative rock)

Missy Elliot (hip hop, contemporary R&B)

Enya (new age, celtic)

Erase Errata (post-punk revival, alternative rock)

ESG (no wave, post punk)

Melissa Etheridge (heartland rock, roots rock)

Evanescence (rock)

Kellylee Evans (jazz, soul)

Cesaria Evora (morna, coladeira, sang in Kriolu)

Marianne Faithfull (rock, folk)

Feist/Broken Social Scene (indie rock, indie pop)

A Fine Frenzy (pop/rock)

First Aid Kit (folk, indie folk)

Ella Fitzgerald (swing, bebop)

Roberta Flack (jazz, folk)

Florence + the Machine (indie rock, indie pop)

Frazy Ford/The Be Good Tanyas (folk, soul)

Aretha Franklin (gospel, R&B)

Nelly Furtado (pop, folk)

Lady Gaga (electropop, dance-pop)

Garbage (alternative rock, electronics in rock)

Melody Gardot (jazz, acoustic)

Selena Gomez (dance-pop)

Gossip (indie rock, dance-rock)

Macy Gray (contemporary R&B, soul)

Skylar Grey (pop)

Grimes (synthpop, art pop)

Emm Gryner (pop, alternative rock)

The G.T.O.’s (pop/rock)

Haim (indie rock, soft rock)

Sarah Harmer (folk, pop/rock)

Emmylou Harris (folk, country rock)

Beth Hart (blues rock, jazz fusion)

PJ Harvey (alternative rock, punk blues)

Heart (rock, folk rock)

Missy Higgins (pop, independent)

Faith Hill (country, country pop)

Lauryn Hill/Fugees (contemporary R&B, hip hop)

Hole (alternative rock, grunge)

Billie Holiday (vocal jazz, jazz blues)

Whitney Houston (contemporary R&B, pop)

Chrissie Hynde/Pretenders (rock, new wave)

Indigo Girls (folk rock)

Janet Jackson (pop, R&B)

Luscious Jackson (alternative rock, alternative hip hop)

Etta James (blues, R&B)

Joan Jett/Joan Jett & the Blackhearts/The Runaways (rock, hard rock)

Jewel (pop, folk)

Grace Jones (electronica, disco)

Norah Jones (jazz, blue-eyed soul)

Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company (psychedelic rock, blues rock)

Alicia Keys (contemporary R&B, soul)

Kimbra (pop, jazz)

Carole King (pop, soft rock)

Gladys Knight and the Pips/Marvelettes (rhythm and blues, funk)

Diana Krall (jazz, traditional pop)

Chantal Kreviazuk (adult contemporary)

L7 (grunge, hard rock)

Lianne La Havas (soul, folk)

Miranda Lambert/Pistol Annies (country)

k.d. Lang (country, pop)

Queen Latifah (hip hop, jazz)

Cyndi Lauper (pop, rock)

Annie Lennox/Eurythmics (new wave, pop rock)

Lhasa (folk, world)

Lights (pop/rock)

Lisa Loeb (contemporary folk/rock)

Jennifer Lopez (contemporary R&B, pop)

Lorde (art pop, dream pop)

Lura (morna, world)

Lush (brit pop, dream pop)

Loretta Lynn (country, honky-tonk)

Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac (pop rock, soft rock)

Made In Heights (elctro-pop)

Madonna (pop, dance)

Miriam Makeba (marabi, world)

Zap Mama (world)

Amiee Mann (rock, folk)

Anya Marina (indie rock, indie pop)

Amanda Marshall (soft rock, rhythm and blues)

Mazzy Star (alternative rock, dream pop)

Martina McBride (country, country pop)

Sarah McLaughlin (pop, rock)

Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs (alternative rock, pop)

Metric (indie rock, new wave)

M.I.A. (hip hop, electronic)

Ingrid Michaelson (indie pop, indie folk)

Joni Mitchell (folk, rock)

Janelle Monae (psychedelic soul, contemporary R&B)

Monica (contemporary R&B, hip hop)

Morcheeba (trip hop, electronica)

Alanis Morissette (alternative rock, post-grunge)

Roisin Murphy (electronic, art pop)

Laura Mvula (pop, contemporary R&B)

My Brightest Diamond (indie rock, baroque pop)

Mýa (contemporary R&B, hip hop)

Meg Myers (alternative rock, pop rock)

Alannah Myles (rock, pop)

Bif Naked (rock, pop)

Meshell Ndegeocello (neo soul, contemporary R&B)

Noisettes (indie rock, pop)

Laura Nyro (rhythm and blues, pop)

Sinead O’Connor (alternative rock, pop rock)

Mary Margaret O’Hara (rock)

Lindi Ortega (country)

Beth Orton (folktronica, folk)

Joan Osborne (rock, folk)

Paramore (alternative rock, pop punk)

Dolly Parton (country, country pop)

Dawn Penn (reggae, rocksteady)

Katy Perry (pop/rock)

Madeleine Peyroux (jazz, blues)

Liz Phair (alternative rock, indie rock)

Edith Piaf (cabaret, torch songs, French)

Pink (pop/rock, contemporary R&B)

The Plasmatics (punk rock, heavy metal)

Poe (alternative rock, pop rock)

Pomplamoose (indie pop, indie electoronic)

Carole Pope/Rough Trade (rock)

Portishead (trip hop, experimental rock)

Cat Power (indie rock, folk rock)

The Pretty Reckless (hard rock, post grunge)

Bonnie Raitt (blues, country)

Helen Reddy (pop, easy listening)

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (rhythm and blues, soul)

Jenni Rivera (banda, latin pop)

The Ronettes (rhythm and blues, pop)

Diana Ross & The Supremes (soul, rhythm and blues)

Serena Ryder (pop/rock)

Sade (soul, smooth jazz)

Santigold (electronic)

Salt-N-Pepa (hip hop, dance)

Jill Scott (soul, neo soul)

Shakira (pop, latin pop)

Sia (pop, electropop)

Jane Siberry (alternative pop)

Carly Simon (pop rock, soft rock)

Nina Simone (rhythm and blues, jazz)

Nancy Sinatra (rock, pop)

Siouxsie and the Banshees (post punk, gothic rock)

Mavis Staples/The Staples Sisters (rhythm and blues, soul)

Sarah Slean (rock)

Sleater-Kinney (punk rock, indie rock)

Bessie Smith (blues, jazz blues)

Patti Smith (punk rock, art punk)

Meghan Smith (folk, jazz, pop)

Jill Sobule (folk rock, indie rock)

Solange (R&B, funk)

Sonic Youth (noise rock, alternative rock)

Esperanza Spalding (jazz, jazz fusion)

Cold Specks (soul, gothic rock)

Regina Spektor (anit-folk)

Dusty Springfield (pop, rhythm and blues)

Buffy Sainte-Marie (folk)

Gwen Stefani/No Doubt (pop, ska punk)

Sugarland (country)

Taylor Swift (country, pop)

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (no wave)

Tegan and Sara (indie pop, indie folk)

Rosie Thomas (alternative rock, indie folk)

Le Tigre (electroclash, dance punk)

The Ting Tings (indie pop, indie rock)

TLC (contemporary R&B, pop)

Tina Turner (pop rock, contemporary R&B)

Shania Twain (country, country pop)

Sarah Vaughn (vocal jazz, bebop)

Suzanne Vega (alternative rock, folk rock)

Crash Vegas (folk rock)

Veruca Salt (alternative rock, grunge)

Martha Wainwright (folk, pop)

Weepies (indie, folk rock)

Dar Williams (folk, folk pop)

Lucinda Williams (americana, folk rock)

Amy Winehouse (soul, neo soul)

Womack & Womack (contemporary R&B, soul)

Nikki Yanofsky (jazz, pop)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (garage punk, indie rock)

Yo La Tengo (indie rock, noise pop)

 

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Food and Travel Uncategorized

We made the most of our free day at the Ontario Science Centre

Last Friday was a PA Day in Toronto and we were fortunate enough to be able to arrange our work schedules so the who family had a free day together. Other than a couple weeks during the summer that we wrest from the grips of baseball/camp/family obligations/work to get away on a family road trip, we have very few days to spend hanging out, just the five of us.

What to do? What to do?! So I did what any good blogger would do and emailed Attractions Ontario to ask if they could recommend something. Note that I emailed them the day before the PA Day, so I was not expecting any freebies, but they kindly offered me passes to the Ontario Science Centre which was just about perfect because, as westenders, we don’t get there very often.

Ontario Science Centre AuraMirror

Our whole gang in an AuraMirror.

I’m not going to lie; I was worried it would be a mad house on a PA Day, but it wasn’t at all. It was certainly busy — the parking lot was full — but the Science Centre is so big and there is so much to do that it didn’t feel crowded at all.

In the past, when we were a family with preschoolers, toddlers and babies, we would camp out in the KidSpark area for much of the visit. It’s a big play space for kids eight and under to learn about science through exploration. It’s really great if you have little kids eager to run around and discover on their own (while you supervise, of course).

But we totally skipped that part this time and it was awesome! The Science Centre is divided up into huge exhibition halls with interactive exhibits that are devoted to various branches of science. There’s so much for kids off all ages, teens and adults alike. I’d forgotten just how much there is to see; you really can’t expect to do it all in one day.

Ontario Science Centre HotZone

We spent most of our time chasing light displays in the HotZone, checking out wind tunnels, robotics, stop-motion animation and more in the Weston Family Innovation Centre, exploring caves and a rain forest in the Living Earth exhibit and then closed out with some retro exhibits Ed and I remember from our own youth in the Science Arcade.

Ontario Science Centre electricity demo

My boy paired up for the electricity demo.
I should have gone up with the girls for a true hair-raising experience.

We only left because the Science Centre was closing for the day and my little four-year-old Mary kept on talking about a fantasy she came up with during our visit. “Imagine if they closed for the night and forgot to turn everything off.” she said. “Imagine if we could stay here all night long!”

It looks like we’ll be going back sooner than later.

Attractions Ontario will launch its 12 Days of Christams Giveaway on November 24th which will include prizing from the Ontario Science Centre! For more information, be sure to visit www.attractionsontario.ca or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Brunch after baby

Brunch after baby at Bareburger

“You know what I miss the most? Brunch.”

“Me too.”

This was an actual conversation I once had with my sister-in-law, and truer words have never been spoken.

That’s not to say  you can’t go out for brunch after you have kids. I mean, on the face of it, brunch is the perfect family-friendly meal. It’s casual, it’s before nap time, and between pancakes, scrambled eggs and fruit salad, odds are pretty good your kids will eat something.

But the reality is that what was once a relaxing, indulgent, weekend pastime is now some sort of Olympic-caliber extreme sport that involves speed, juggling, super-human levels of distraction, an eating competition, and then finally math. You have to place your order as soon as possible — before you even get seated ideally but they frown on that. Then you have to keep hungry and impatient tots seated and quiet (read “not screaming”) until the food comes which could take a small eon since the place is packed and there’s only so much food mortal human beings can cook at one time, restaurant or not.

Finally, the food comes and you ask for the bill right away because you know that you don’t want to have to subject the other patrons to your children for one second longer than necessary. You cut up, dole out, de-garnish, and otherwise get all your kids’ food taken care of until you finally sit down to cold eggs and soggy toast. Everybody inhales their food as quickly as possible and then you suck back your coffee while dropping a minimum of $50 on the table.

See, it’s possible to go out for brunch with a young family. It just sucks.

It sucks so bad that when I got an invitation to check out the new family-friendly brunch menu at the Toronto location of Bareburger, I only took my nine-year-old. I wanted to enjoy my meal for once and I didn’t know what the lay of the land was.

It turns out that quick service, retro cartoons, large and accessible washrooms, and delicious kids’ menu means I probably could have brought the whole gang.

And that really is the key. Go to a place before it gets busy. (I cannot stress that enough. Don’t do line ups with little kids.) And go to a place where you know your family is going to be comfortable.

Oh, and did I mention chicken and waffles? And milkshakes? (Thanks, Bareburger. Those were delicious.)

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How to eat out with kids. I’m sorry.

So who’s right, the restaurant owner who yelled at a toddler or the parents who let her “fuss” for over 40 minutes? I don’t know; probably neither of them. I’ve been in both positions and I’ve probably fallen short of ideal behavior as both a restaurant employee and as a parent. It’s not easy to eat out with kids.

Let’s look back at that one time I was working on the second floor of a certain Queen Street West restaurant in Toronto with an upstairs patio. At this particular restaurant, the servers made all their own drinks, bussed all their own tables, sat all the guests, ran all their food through the entire length of the downstairs dining room and then up the stairs to one of three dining areas. We also had to bring all dirty dishes and even glasses (!) back down to the kitchen ourselves. We did have a computer upstairs for placing orders that would get printed up in the kitchen, but any other communication with the kitchen staff who had varying levels of proficiency in English would require another trip down to the kitchen.

Right, so one sunny summer afternoon we got slammed. It had been busy all day which means that we were already short on bar stock and cutlery roll ups and all the other good prep work that is done to make your job go more smoothly, and we were all running on fumes. Some sort of festival or other (hey, this was more than a decade ago, I can’t remember) let out and the restaurant filled up. One of the tables was a family with young kids, though I don’t think any of them were babies or toddlers.

They sat on the patio and I took their order which was macaroni and cheese off the standard menu (we didn’t offer a kids menu) for the kids and probably burgers or sandwiches for the adults. I entered their order into the computer, brought their drinks and moved on to the approximately 15,000 other things I needed to do.

I did not:

  • warn them that we were slammed, so their meals would likely take a while
  • offer to put a rush on the kids meals so they would come up first
  • tell them that the cooks sometimes garnished the mac and cheese with chopped parsley and ask if that was okay
  • bring them crayons and paper (since the restaurant didn’t carry those anyway)
  • acknowledge their children in any way, shape, or form

Nor do I think it was my responsibility to have done any of those things. If I weren’t so busy, I would have been better able to accommodate extra needs. If I were waiting tables now, having had three kids of my own, it might occur to me to check about the parsley and offer to have the kids meals come first. But I was in my early 20s and, quite frankly, those extras were not in the job description at this particular restaurant.

Ultimately, I remember the parents complaining about how long the food was taking and being especially outraged that I hadn’t at least brought their kids’ meals first. All I could do was stand there panting and dripping with sweat and apologize for the wait, offer more bread and more water, and suggest that in the future they let their server know they would like the children’s food to arrive first when they place their order. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get much of a tip.

Part of the problem is that the kind of restaurant people feel comfortable bringing their children to is often also the kind of restaurant that is least able to accommodate them. (I’m not counting chains that cater to kids here.) Most people don’t take their kids to fine dining restos with a maître d, a full set of support staff for the servers, and a table to server ratio that is small and manageable. You don’t do it because it’s expensive and you don’t want to spend $30 for your kid’s bloody macaroni. You don’t want to risk bothering the other diners. And because if you do go out to that kind of restaurant, you don’t want your meal ruined by having to be constantly vigilant about your child’s behaviour. I get it. But, having worked in both kinds of restaurants, let me tell you that it is a hell of a lot easier to anticipate the needs of customers of any age when the menu is priced high enough that you don’t have to serve three times as many people with little-to-no support.

But here we are, parented up and desperate for some bourbon-infused french toast, and just a small taste of poached ducks eggs nestled on a bed of housemade cheese biscuits with a coating of lemony, herbed hollandaise. What’s a mom or dad to do? Well, you can all but forget about that new hot brunch spot for now (if you actually want to enjoy it). Sorry, but line ups are a no-go.

A few simple rules to keep in mind.

How to Eat Out with Kids

Of course, if you’re like me, you’ll find yourself stuck in a line up with three starving kids and nary a crayon in sight on a Saturday night because organization is not your strong suit. So you take antsy kids out for plenty of walks. You sacrifice your good lip gloss to be used for napkin doodles. You order as soon as possible. (Seriously, read the menu before you even walk inside.) You clean up those clumps of spaghetti from underneath the highchair before you leave. And I can promise you: that meal will suck. But eventually they do grow up and then you’ll really learn how expensive eating out as a family can be.

Good luck.

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Paradise on the beach, Port Stanley edition

With thanks to Ontario’s Southwest for our wonderful stay in Port Stanley.

We stopped to watch Ontario’s oldest draw bridge lift up at the mouth of Kettle Creek, allowing a few sail boats to set off into Lake Erie for the day. We trailed behind the boats on foot, enjoying the picturesque Port Stanley harbour on our way to the beach.

And, man, was that beach ever the loveliest. I can’t get enough of those Lake Erie sandy beaches with beautiful water you can wade out in forever. You can actually RELAX while your kids play in the water and make sandcastles and dream about uprooting your life and moving here forever because it’s like a little slice of heaven right here in Ontario.

Kids on beach in Port Stanley, Ontario

 My perfect view.

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So how’d the camping go?

selfie bomb

Funny you should ask.

We rolled into a campsite outside St. Thomas, Ontario just after 4pm. I’d picked this particular campground solely for it’s proximity to Port Stanley, Ontario where we had a full slate of family fun scheduled for the next day. (Stay tune for a full recap of that adventure in a day or two.)

So we pull up to the campsite I booked online a mere six hours later than we’d planned. Though, if I’m going to be completely honest, I knew that the 6am getaway time was pure fantasy from the moment I dreamed it up and declared it “the plan.” This meant we had just enough time to set up our campsite, make a fire and eat dinner before sunset and no time whatsoever for family nature hikes, swimming or other camping activities. (Uh? Capture the flag? Help me out here.)

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Planning a family holiday? I hear camping is cheap.

Planning a family holiday? I hear camping is cheap

Image adapted from flickr.

It’s summer. Let’s go on a family holiday!

First, set your budget. I hear camping is cheap.

1. Buy a tent.
Get a tent that’s big enough to fit your entire family plus your gear and that’s reasonably easy to put up. (Vintage is great for dining chairs and statement hats, not so great for tents.) Cost: at least $200

2. Buy sleeping bags.
Now you CAN probably borrow the 25-year-old sleeping bags that live in your in-laws basement as long as it doesn’t get too cold at night. I mean, who needs zippers anyway? All the better for your children to crawl in with you just as soon as you finally get to drift off. But you decide that it’s probably a good investment for you to own your own sleeping bags at this point. So you buy the cheapest, crappiest sleeping bags you can find. Cost: $100 – $200.