Archive | November 2012

Guest Post – Ice Cream Pizza

I have invited a guest blogger to write this post, since he is the one who introduced us to the idea of Ice Cream Pizza. I’ll let him introduce himself:

I am Benjamin Pickles and I’m 5 1/2 years old and Ben is the short form for my name.

I got the idea for ice cream pizza from Team Umizoomi.

This is a picture of Mili, Bot and Geo from Team Umizoomi.

On one episode they had to pump up an ice cream truck because the ice cream truck had a flat tire and they also had to make another ice cream pizza because there were 4 kids that were waiting for ice cream pizzas and there were only 3 ice cream pizzas. That’s how I found out how to make an ice cream pizza.

Recipe For Ice Cream Pizza

First step: A cookie

This is a picture of the cookie. ©PicklesINK 2012

Second step: You need to put ice cream on the cookie.

This is two cookies with the ice cream on the cookies. ©PicklesINK 2012

Third step: Put gummy candies on top of the ice cream on the cookie and you can put chocolate on it too.

This one is a picture of one ice cream pizza with the chocolate on it. ©PicklesINK 2012

This one is a picture of the ice cream pizza with the gummy candies and the chocolate on it. ©PicklesINK 2012

And after that it’s all done! After you’ve made it, you can eat it!

This is a picture of Molly eating an ice cream pizza. ©PicklesINK 2012

This is a picture of me eating an ice cream pizza. ©PicklesINK 2012

If you try out the recipe you might like it or if you have kids they might like it too. Ice cream pizza is one of my favourite things to eat for dessert and I hope that you will like it too!

~ Ben

What do you think? Are you going to try it? Did you like it?

Grinning from ear to ear – Part 3

Nov29

and finally…

THE VOTE.

Credit: “Stained-glass Rainbow Flag with Cross (Baner enfys gwydr lliw gyda Chroes)” by Andrew Craig Williams

We won.

The knot that has been in my stomach for weeks has finally disappeared and has been replaced by a whole-body glowing sense of relief. Not only did we win, but we won by a landslide – for every person who voted to keep the status quo, 4 people voted for change, and the atmosphere in the room when it was announced was alive and joyous.

I explained it to Ben and Molly thus:

We had a really important meeting at church yesterday, and I was really worried about it because we were having a vote about something that I think is really important. Our church had a rule that not everyone could get married at our church. That meant that for some people, even if they came to the church and said, “We really love this church, and we really want to have our wedding here!” we would say, “No,” and I didn’t think that was fair, because God loves everyone equally. I thought that anyone who loved God and loved the church and wanted to have their wedding there should be able to do that, and so did a lot of other people, so we had some meetings, and we arranged some times that when anyone could come and talk about how they felt about it, and when that was all finished, we had a vote.

Everyone wrote on a piece of paper if they thought we should keep the rule the same, or change it so that everyone could get married at the church if they wanted to. And I was really, really worried that more people would want to keep it the same, but it turned out that lots more people wanted to change the rule and so we did, and now EVERYONE who comes and says, “We really love this church and we would like to have our wedding here!” will get a, “YES!”

~ karyn

Jesus with Rainbow Sheep, http://www.othersheep.org/

Grinning from ear to ear, Part 2

Nov28

The second thing that happened this week to make me happy was that Justice Charles Hackland handed down his ruling in the conflict of interest case against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, removing Mayor Ford from office.

I’m not a fan of democratically-elected politicians being ousted on trumped-up-charges of whatever in a way that diminishes the democratic process, but in this case, the politician in question knowingly broke the rules for personal and political gain. I believe very strongly that this means he should no longer hold his political office, regardless of what I think of him as a person or as a mayor. I have heard the concerns – this is a left-wing conspiracy; where will it end; the people who want him out are just sore losers; if you elect someone you have to live with them and you can’t just use some backdoor shenanigans to get rid of them – but to be honest, I actually do hope this is the slippery slope I’m told it is and that it will lead to more politicians being held accountable for doing, you know, illegal stuff.

Please note that I have not included any of the usual red-faced, blustery pictures of Mayor Ford. The fact that he is not the most aesthetically pleasing Mayor Toronto has ever elected is irrelevant to the issue at hand. The fact that he was recently caught on video falling over while throwing a football is irrelevant. The fact that he is overweight is irrelevant.

Here are the facts:

While serving as a city councilor, Ford used city letterhead to solicit donations on behalf of a personal charity, a private football foundation created in his name, giving the impression that the City of Toronto was endorsing or soliciting on behalf of this foundation, which was not true. The City’s Integrity Commissioner ruled that this action was a breach of the city’s Code of Conduct and recommended to Council that Ford be required to pay the money back to the donors. Ford’s original fundraising-related action showed extremely poor judgement, but was not the reason for the court case or the judge’s decision to remove him from office, and this was clearly stated in the judgement.

When this item was put to Council, Councillor Ford cast a vote despite the fact that he had a clear pecuniary interest in the matter, as if it passed, he would be personally responsible for reimbursing the $3,150 to donors. In an affidavit included in the judgement, Council Speaker Sandra Bussin stated that she alerted Ford to the existence of a conflict of interest when the time came to vote, stating in a clear voice, “Councillor Ford. This matter deals with an issue regarding your conduct. Do you intend to declare a conflict? You are voting? Okay.” She further avowed, “Councillor Ford did not seem surprised when I told him that he had a conflict of interest. Instead, he just nodded to me, indicating that he understood what I had said but that he was voting on the item. He then proceeded to do so.”

Ford then ignored 6 requests from the Integrity Commissioner to repay the money – $3,150 would have made the whole issue go away – and the issue again was brought before Council. Ford spoke to the matter, describing the charity and saying, “And then to ask that I pay it out of my own pocket personally, there is just, there is no sense to this. The money is gone; the money has been spent on football equipment.” He also spoke in response to a question about the use of the letterhead, saying, “I made a mistake before a few years ago, for the last I don’t know how many years, that is exactly what I send out. No city logo, no titles. I don’t know what else I can say.”

Side note: When I say, “$3,150 would have made the whole issue go away,” I don’t mean that Ford should just have ponied up to make the Integrity Commissioner happy. Much has been made by Ford and people defending him about how he should not have been required to pay the money back personally, and how the money had gone to a charitable foundation to do good things, so what good is there in paying it back? If any of those donors made their donations under the false impression that the City of Toronto was somehow involved with the charity, then that impression needed to be corrected. The Integrity Commissioner however chose NOT to punish the charity for Ford’s mistake – a mistake he acknowledged – but instead asked Ford to act with integrity and make things right. He could have simply returned the money to the donors along with a letter that explained the situation – he had mistakenly used city letterhead in correspondence regarding a personal charity, he apologized for the misunderstanding, and would they still consider donating. If he truly believed that the use of city letterhead in no way influenced these donors’ decisions, he had no need to fear being out-of-pocket any money for more than a few days.

Ford then voted in favour of a motion to rescind the decision of the Integrity Commissioner to require him to pay the money back. The motion passed 22-12. If he had declared a conflict of interest and sat out the vote, it would still have passed by 9 votes. There was no need for him to vote at all.

This all would have been swept under the rug except that a citizen of Toronto decided to take the now-Mayor Ford to court over it, and when he testified, Ford argued that despite more than a decade in municipal politics, having been issued a copy of the City Council’s Code of Conduct each time he was elected to office, he had never read the Code of Conduct and was not aware that his speech and vote constituted a conflict of interest, since he did not benefit financially from the action, despite the fact that the Council Speaker had warned him of exactly that.

The judge ruled that this constituted “willful blindness” since there was no way a reasonable person could not have some understanding of how this would be a conflict of interest and that he did have a pecuniary interest since the decision meant that he didn’t have to pay back the $3,150 personally. To summarize, regardless of any good he has done, he broke the rules, he was called on it, he refused to make good, he was called on it again, he was taken to court, and he lied to try to get out of it.

As Justice Charles Hackland stated in his decision:

The MCIA is important legislation. It seeks to uphold a fundamental premise of our governmental regime. Those who are elected and, as a result, take part in the decision-making processes of government, should act, and be seen to act, in the public interest. This is not about acting dishonestly or for personal gain; it concerns transparency and the certainty that decisions are made by people who will not be influenced by any personal pecuniary interest in the matter at hand. It invokes the issue of whether we can be confident in the actions and decisions of those we elect to govern. The suggestion of a conflict runs to the core of the process of governmental decision-making. It challenges the integrity of the process.

As far as I’m concerned, the decision to remove Rob Ford from the office of Mayor of Toronto does not undermine the democratic process, it upholds it. Moreover, as Joe Fiorito points out in his Toronto Star column, Justice Hackland actually issued the most lenient punishment that he was allowed to under the law – he was required, if he determined that the MCIA had been violated, to immediately remove Ford from office, but he opted NOT to bar him from seeking office again for 7 years.

If the worst thing that happens as a result of this case is that politicians learn that it’s not enough to get themselves elected – they actually have to, you know, be honest, ethical, and transparent in order to continue hold office. Is that really such a bad thing?

~ karyn

Grinning from ear to ear, Part 1

Nov27

I pretty much can’t stop smiling…it’s been a weekend of nothing but WINNING – so much WINNING, in fact, that I have to split it into 3 separate posts!

So first things first – after 72 hours of rehearsal and 8 performances (almost all of which were COMPLETELY sold out), the ICHTHYS Theatre Productions / Paris Performers’ Theatre joint presentation of Joseph Robinette’s Anne of Green Gables has come to an end.

Full Cast Picture
©PicklesINK 2012

It was universally agreed by cast, crew and audiences that our Anne was born to play the part and was a consummate professional despite having NEVER acted before!

Young Anne arrives at the train station
©Sandy Anderson 2012

Anne returns from Queen’s Academy
a young lady
©Sandy Anderson 2012

This was my second foray into community theatre – the first being Godspell in the spring – and I’ll definitely keep it up since I’ve discovered that somehow in the midst of my introversion and debilitating shyness I also quite enjoy making a complete idiot of myself in front of a huge crowd!

Acting like an idiot in Godspell
©PicklesINK 2012

If you’re not familiar with the story of Anne of Green Gables (which I keep almost typing as “Anne of Green Bagels”) here are the bare bones:

An elderly brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, decide to adopt an orphan boy to help around the farm but are sent a girl by mistake.

Marilla reacts to being sent a girl by mistake.
©Sandy Anderson 2012

A ~~rude, obnoxious~~ kind, motherly woman, Mrs. Blewett (that’s me) generously offers to take Anne in ~~to look after her pack of ill-behaved quarrelsome children~~ as a favour to Matthew and Marilla, who cruelly refuse, deciding instead to ~~save her from that fate and raise her up properly~~ keep her for themselves and treat her as slave labour.

Mrs. Blewett appraises Anne
©Sandy Anderson 2012

Anne wins Matthew and Marilla’s love, endears herself to the people of Avonlea, discovers kindred spirits, gets into and out of many scrapes, makes friends, goes away to school, wins a prestigious scholarship, loses a loved one, and finds herself a true home at Green Gables.

Anne apologizes profusely to Mrs. Rachel Lynde
©Sandy Anderson 2012

My part was small but SO much fun to play because I got to be a real bwitch! I also got to lead the cast in all of their off-stage singing – Ben called me the “secret singer.”

I had so much fun with it, made lots of new friends, and received the ultimate compliment of winning 3 “KOSO” (Knocked Our Socks Off) Awards which were voted on by the whole cast – so cool, and so unexpected!

My KOSO Awards!
©PicklesINK 2012

Warm fuzzies from head to toe!

~ karyn

Are you an introvert or an extrovert, or does it change with the situation?

Life is a great big canvas

Nov21

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

~ Danny Kaye (1913-1987)

I picked up the raw materials for a craft for Ben and Molly a little while ago and have been saving them for a rainy day. The opportunity presented itself last week so I set them up and let them go to it!

Cotton swab (Q-tip) painting on canvas – materials:

Cotton swabs
Paint
Small white canvases
Egg carton
Painting smocks

Paint, cotton swabs, canvases and egg carton.
©PicklesINK 2012

I put a different colour of paint into each egg cup and stuck a cotton swab in each. The only instruction I gave to Ben and Molly was to use each cotton swab for only one colour. I wanted them to be able to mix the colours on the canvas while keeping them unique in the cups.

Molly painting a pink line.
©PicklesINK 2012

Molly, true to form, immediately picked the “pretty, pretty pink!” (With some urging from Ben – “Look Molly! There’s pretty pretty pink paint!” – There’s a bit of a chicken or egg situation when it comes to Molly’s love for bubblegum colour.)

Ben, painting coloured shapes.
©PicklesINK 2012

Ben started with his favourite colour, green, and concentrated on making distinct shapes, one of each colour.

One of the things I find really neat about Ben and Molly is how close they are to one another and how interested they are in each other’s activities. I was wandering around tidying etc. while they were painting but snapped pictures occasionally of what I thought what their singular focus on their own paintings. I didn’t realize until I looked at the pictures on the computer screen tonight that I had captured two very typical Ben and Molly moments:

Molly taking a break from her painting to watch intently as Ben paints;

And vice versa.

Ben has always struggled with his fine motor skills (inasmuch as what he is capable of producing does not match up to his satisfaction with the picture in his head, which frustrates him), so drawing and painting have not generally been his favourite activities. He seemed to find the cotton swabs an easy tool to manipulate and he concentrated very hard to paint one shape in each colour. He was incredibly proud to sign his name to his finished product and wants to hang it in his room!

Molly started out painting directly on the canvas and then took the craft in a uniquely Molly direction and started painting her fingers and hands and making prints for a neat effect of layered multi-coloured handprints.

While watching Molly start painting her hands for a second painting, Ben said, “Oh no, Mommy! Do you see what the paint says? It says, ‘Washable’!” Thinking he had misunderstood, I said, “It’s okay, bud – that means it will wash right off Molly’s hands.” Ben said, “No, mommy! It’s WASHABLE! We have to be careful never to get my painting WET!”

The colors live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied to the canvas.

~ Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

I will be very, very careful to never get these paintings wet!

~ karyn

The Sneaky Chef

Nov16

One of the most successful strategies for dealing with picky eaters is the one around which Missy Chase Lapine, also known as “The Sneaky Chef” has built an empire – hiding “healthy” foods in foods with more picky kid appeal. Her first book includes recipes for a number of make-ahead purees in colours that will hide easily in various foods. For example, her Purple Puree becomes an invisible part of her Brainy Brownies. It’s a brilliant idea, and I sure wish I’d thought of and cashed in on it first!!

The basic idea is just that – basic – though, so you don’t really need to buy her books in order to mix less “desirable” ingredients into recipes that will spark a more positive reaction (or at least less screeching) than those ingredients on their own. (One I’m really intrigued to try is a recipe I have for brownies with pureed black beans. Don’t tell Ian.)

This week’s success story was a ham and cheese pasta bake, one of Ian’s family’s favourites growing up. It’s a delicious casserole dish full of cheesy yumminess, but incorporates no fruits or veggies, so usually they would have to be served on the side.

For some reason, even though it is made entirely of stuff Ben LIKES (individually) pasta bake is guaranteed to provoke a dinnertime meltdown before he eats that crucial first bite…and a Ben dinnertime meltdown is guaranteed to provoke similar complaints from Molly even though she doesn’t actually mean them (“Yeah! I don’t like this too! *nom nom nom* It’s yucky! *nom nom nom*).

Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake

1lb cooked short pasta (ie. fusili, penne, rigatoni)
4 eggs
1/2L half&half or table cream
200g shaved ham, chopped
2 cups (at least) cheese (ie. cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, gruyere – don’t use all orange cheddar or you’ll get that icky orange grease, and don’t use all mozzarella or it won’t have enough cheesy flavour)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix eggs and cream together. Mix in cheese (reserving ½ cup for top) and ham. Pour over pasta in a large casserole dish (or 2 smaller ones) and mix well. Top with remaining cheese. Bake in oven for 45-60 minutes or more if necessary to set filling. (The deeper the dish, the longer it will take.) Broil for a minute or so to brown top if desired. Top with fresh ground pepper for serving.

Delicious! Delicious hot from the oven, delicious reheated for lunch, delicious with a side salad…

Anyway, the other day I was inspired to try to make it a bit healthier, Sneaky Chef-style, as well as remove the need for the vegetable side, so I suggested that Ian (who was in charge of the cooking that day) replace part of the eggs and cream with a can of pure pumpkin puree. The result was:

The kids literally ate it up (and in this case, use of the word ‘literally’ will not make me figuratively insane!). I think I may have to bring it to market: Picky Pickles-Pleasing Pumpkin Puree Pasta – It’s so delicious I guarantee that the only thing melting down will be the cheese!

One thing that I do find important about the “sneaky” method is not actually being sneaky. Once the kids have tried and like it, I do the big reveal: “Do you know what the secret ingredient is that makes it so yummy? PUMPKIN!!”

I was hoping that the pumpkin would be neutral and not overpower the cheese, but it came out a touch sweetly pumpkinny for the grown-up palate. I think it might have been better with a stronger-flavoured cheese, like a Gruyere or goat cheese. As well the ham got a bit lost, so I would be tempted to replace it with either a mild Italian sausage to complement the pumpkin or a salami or Chorizo sausage to spice it up a bit.

What do you think? Appealing or yucky? How do you deal with dinnertime meldowns?

To a time when “coming out” doesn’t exist

Nov10

I had a lovely visit the other day with my friend David (also known as The Guy With BPD – when you have a moment, mosey on over to his excellent blog!). We got to chatting about all the usual topics – heterosexism, homophobia, religion, marriage equality – you know, typical dinner-table conversation! He asked what my kids knew about the idea of sexuality and being gay or straight and how I explained it to them.

My educational background is in child studies and social work, which means I have a pretty good understanding of child development and a strong interest in social justice. When it comes to my kids, I’ve answered any questions that they have had (mostly Ben, but Molly listens carefully to all of it!) in a way that I hope will reduce the impact of heterosexism (the idea that being heterosexual and cisgender are the only “normal”) in a way that they can understand.

When it comes to sexuality, at this point, Ben understands that when he grows up, he will hopefully fall in love with someone, a man or a woman, and might decide to marry that person. He understands that a lot of grownups are married, some to people of the same sex and some to people of the opposite sex, and also that some people who have been married have decided not to be married anymore and have gotten divorced. I have deliberately chosen not to explain “queer” or “gay” yet because they require an understanding of sexual attraction that Ben and Molly do not yet possess. As far as they are concerned right now, love is love. There is no difference between the love they feel for each other, me and Ian, their friends, boys and girls – in fact, Ben was devastated when I had to explain that one of the few people he would not be able to marry eventually was Molly, since she was his top choice.

When it comes to making babies, he understands that you need the seed from a man and the egg from a woman to actually make a baby grow inside a woman’s uterus, so if a couple is the same sex they need some help from someone of the opposite sex to make a baby. Babies and children can also be adopted, which is when a baby’s birth parents aren’t able to look after him or her and so they place the baby with an adoptive family.

Finally, when it comes to gender norms, and this has been the one that has impacted Ben’s life the most so far, he understands that he can wear or play with whatever he likes, and that people will sometimes laugh or tease when they see something that they don’t expect (like a boy with a ponytail or a Dora lunch container). I also taught him the word “stereotype” which is when people thinks that someone can’t do, wear, or like something because of what they are, like “boys can’t like Dora” or “girls can’t play with trains.” Now I’m just waiting to overhear the argument between Ben and his friends – “Don’t say that! That’s a STEREOTYPE!!”

Going back to the visit with David, as we were nursing our delicious coffees from the Mulberry Street Coffee House and discussing this, he said, “Wow. I have so many friends raising their kids like that…if more people would do it, can you imagine? We will end up with a world when coming out is superfluous!” Wouldn’t that be amazing – to have our kids grow up in a world where they can just say, “Mom, dad! [or, of course, ‘Dad, dad!’] I’d like you to meet the person I’m in love with!” and know that the response would be, “Oh, sweetie! We’re so happy to meet the person who makes you so happy!”

~ karyn

BREAKING NEWS from Canada on US Election Day 2012

Nov6

Received via email – original source unknown.

From the MANITOBA HERALD, Canada (a very underground paper):

The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration. The possibility of a Romney/Ryan election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly. Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

“I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,” said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. “He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn’t have any, he left. Didn’t even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?”

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. “Not real effective,” he said. “The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn’t give milk.”

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves. “A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions,” an Ontario border patrolman said. “I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. “They did have a nice little Napa Valley Cabernet, though.”

When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumours have been circulating about the Romney administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves from airplanes, deny evolution, and act out drills preparing them for the Rapture.

In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the ’50s. “If they can’t identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age,” an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and are renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies. “I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can’t support them,” an Ottawa resident said. “How many art-history and English majors does one country need?”

Okay, Americans – today’s the day! Get out there and vote!

~ karyn