This Week

The offerings are a little bit paltry this week, I must admit.  The kick-off-the-school-year events have already happened, and it’s not quite time for spooky-Halloween-stuff or appreciate-the-fall-leaves.  So it’s quiet.  Halfway through working on the week’s events, I decided that I really just have to clean house and work on the What About TODAY? listing.  So I’ve been looking into that and honestly, it’s a bit of a mess right now, because it’s a work in progress.  But it feels good to finally get to it after it’s been hanging over my head for a couple of weeks now.

I also did some cleaning out in the kitchen.  I had stacks of CSA zucchini and yellow squash tucked in my refrigerator, reproaching me for not appreciating them more.  I finally decided that I’d just grate a whole mess up and throw it into the freezer in baggies.  I can sneak a little bit in pasta sauce without my children noticing at all, and of course there’s always zucchini bread.  In fact, when J saw me grating the veggies she immediately clapped her hands with joy for zucchini bread.  Ummm, really?  It’s okay, but that good?  Still, I had to make some for her.  Which begs the question, exactly how much junk in a recipe makes its more favorable nutritious benefits completely null and void?  The recipe I use has a pile of sugar and oil in it, and part of me wants to try to make it a little healthier.  But I risk turning them off of the zucchini bread completely.  No really.  It’s happened before.  I start cutting sugar and oil and start throwing in flax seed and whole wheat flour and next thing you know, nobody wants to eat it anymore.  So I don’t want to push my luck.

Part of me hopes that something like zucchini bread can act like a gateway drug to more hardcore vegetable consumption.  When I was growing up, I never liked carrots.  In fact, I think that I was a young adult when my dad tried a new recipe.  Basically, you boil the hell out of the carrots, then caramelize them in butter and sugar.  Mmmm. . . tasty!  And, no doubt, almost devoid of nutritional value.  But after assimilating those yummy little candied carrots, suddenly I developed a taste for other cooked carrots.  I still won’t pick up a carrot and take a big snappy bite out of one,  but I’ll eat them cooked any old way, or raw if they’re grated.

Which leads me to another story that J just wanted me to retell at bedtime.  It was years ago–maybe M was 5 and J was 3?  The girls generally get dessert after lunch or dinner, and one day I told them that I didn’t have any dessert.  Oh, they were sad.  And they went into the kitchen to hunt around, just in case.  A few minutes later they were both giggling because they had found some yummy dessert.  Nanny-nanny-poo-poo, Mommy!  Boy did we trick you!  I came into the kitchen, fearing the worst:  the sugar bowl?  Cocoa powder?  One of those popsicles that gets forgotten and then become leaky and gooey and oozes all over the surface of the freezer (please tell me I’m not the only one who gets that)?  Mais non. They had found carrots.  Sweet, delicious carrots.  I conceded that yes, Mommy had foolishly forgotten about this luscious dessert.  Duh, Mommy’s wrong again!  And yes, it’s okay if you have two.

Phew!  I certainly didn’t mean to ramble that long, but luckily most of you know that you can always just skip to the bold-and-bullets, right?

Monday, September 27th:

• They’re showing The Goonies at the Bach Branch Library at 6 pm.
• At 7 pm there’s Pajamarama for the preschool set at Bethlehem Public Library.

Tuesday, September 28th:

• From 10 am to 1 pm, they’re taking a pretty steep hike at Moreau Lake.
• They’re showing To Kill a Mockingbird at 6 pm at Albany’s Main Public Library.

Wednesday, September 29th:

• At 4 pm, 4th and 5th graders can learn about Mexican Rice and Hot Chocolate at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library. Register for a little cultural-culinary adventure.
• At 6:30 pm, Rensselaer Public Library is having a Pajama Story Time.  Call to sign up.

Thursday, September 30th:

• At 6 pm, there’s a Banned Books Week Party for teens at the East Greenbush Public Library.
• From 7-8 pm, retired teachers will give a talk to parents of preschoolers and kindergarteners about building positive parent-school relationships at the Bethlehem Public Library.

Friday, October 1st:

• It’s First Friday in Albany.
• It’s First Friday in Ballston Spa.
• At 7 pm, there’s A Special Night for Special Needs at The Linda Auditorium.  $30/person, and it’s a concert by Matt Savage, a young jazz musician who was diagnosed with autism at age 3.