We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.
I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.
I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.
When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.
We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.
I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.
I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.
When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.
Alex caught Lil heading towards an electrical outlet with a metal screw driver awhile ago. He shouted, she dropped the tool, and there was much talk about electrical shock risks.
But Lil's mistake was an honest one. She didn't intend to put the screwdriver in the outlet - she wanted to unscrew the cover plate. She wants to take apart everything these days.
Later over the weekend, Alex provided an outlet (ha!) for her inquiring mind. He pulled a non-functioning laptop from a pile of old electronics and helped her take it apart. They used screw drivers of all sizes to discover materials of all kinds.
Lil especially likes the hard drive. She plays it like a record player. How does she even know how a turntable works?
Taking apart a machine is undoubtedly fun. It is also an exceptional learning experience. Here are just some of the skills kids (and adults!) can practice while taking things apart:
Using hand tools
Reading labels
Comparing numbers
Sorting fasteners
Analyzing shapes
Using simple machines
Examining materials
Exploring how complex machines work
Not everyone (I hope) has a stack of non-functional laptops like we do. That's ok. You can take apart a toy or trash-pick an appliance. Old lamps, furniture, and instruments are all exciting to disassemble. Sometimes, the multitude of pieces can be put back together.
Take something apart soon. It's an inexpensive, easily accessible, shhh-don't-tell-them-they're-learning good time!
PS. Do I need to tell you that adult supervision is a good idea because some materials are hazardous? There, I feel better with that warning.
When you transformed us from a couple to a 'little family', we had no idea what that would mean. We know now that the length of your labor and delivery (36 hours!) is nothing in comparison to the abundance we feel with you in our lives.
Your curiousity gives us the excuse to explore the world through new eyes. Your energy makes us wrestle, run, hike, and tickle. Your questions cause us to search for answers in ourselves.
We love to watch you grow even though we frequently tell you to "stop growing". You answer "that's scarcasm!", revealing your maturing sense of humor.
This year you taught yourself to read and opened your world to Garfield, chapter books, and street signs. We experience no greater pleasure than turning out your light after you fall asleep with a book in hand.
Life isn't always easy in a household with three first-borns. We all have big ideas and seek perfection. We are learning to listen to each other and make mistakes.
You are patient with all of the adults in your life - your aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents. When we bore you with our "talk, talk, talk" you amuse yourself with dog friends Hawise, Devie, Molly, and Ani. You are loved by your big family and many pets.
We look forward to moving into your third home, travelling, and helping you find the kitten of your dreams in the coming year. We know you will surprise us with your own plans too.
My favorite season is here! I love autumn for chilly mornings, the rainbow of changing leaves, and my birthday. I also love apples, the quintessential fall fruit.
Last night, Lil requested baked apples, a 'dessert' so nutritious that I had to indulge. The only apples we had on hand were the Freedom variety from Sippel Farm. These are tasty red apples but the skins are a little tough. I knew if I baked in my traditional way, the skins would become leathery but I had an inkling that a favorite kitchen gadget might help us out.
Apple Peeler Corer Slicer
Enter the apple peeler corer slicer. This gizmo is one I resisted purchasing for years because it has every marking of a unitasker. Indeed it only works well on apples, but it makes quick work of apples for crisp, jam, and sauce. We use it often enough to justify the $20 cost; City Folk's Farm Shop has an apple peeler corer slicer to borrow.
Lil loves to operate the peeler, as do her friends. Some of them ask for an 'apple slinky' every time they are over. Even the chickens appreciate this tool because they get to eat up all the skins and cores, so nicely cut into beak-sized pieces.
Baked Apple Recipe
Back to last night - Lil peeled, cored, and sliced our apples. I sat them upright in a baking dish and we filled with a little bit of butter, oats, nuts, and sugar. Lil sprinkled with cinnamon. Actually, Lil covered them in cinnamon as she was so enjoying making the spice rain down on the apples that she forgot to stop. Oops.
They baked in a low oven for an hour while we prepared and ate the rest of our dinner. I tipped the rounds into a spiral for service. Our dinner guests agreed that this was an improvement to the typical baked apple, as pleasing to the eye as to the fork.
Baked Apple
Makes: 1 serving Time: 1 hour
1 starchy baking apple per person
1/2 teaspoon butter per person (can substitute coconut oil)
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon rolled oats
1 teaspoon chopped walnuts or raisins (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Peel, core, and slice apples. Place with core hole vertical in an oven safe baking dish.
2. Fill core hole with butter, 1 teaspoon sugar, oats, and walnuts or raisins.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon and remaining sugar over the top of the apple.
4. Bake in 300 degree F oven for 40 minutes. Check for doneness by poking at apple. If it does not yield easily, pour 1/2 cup apple cider, hard apple cider, or water into pan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until apples are cooked to your desired texture.
This is how you harvest hickory nuts. You have to a hickory nut tree. The bark is jaggedy and there are many lobed leaves on each branch.
This is how you know the nuts are ripe: it has to be brown and also green. When it's hickory nut season you let them fall down and pick them up off the ground.
You have to have a vice to crack them. It's hard to crack the shell open. Squirrels crack the shells open with their teeth.
After the squirrels drop the nuts, they can hit the roof of the garage or the ground. It gets the ground kind of messy so watch out for that.
The meat is ripe when it is light brown. It tastes kind of like pecans. I usually eat them raw.
I like doing hickory nuts because the inside is yummy.
Note from Rachel: Encouraging your child to collect, crack, and consume hickory nuts is a most glorious waste of time learning activity.
Have you ever eaten hickory nuts? Do you like Lil writing on Hounds in the Kitchen? She wants to know!
For the past year, we have been dining with friends every Friday night. Alternating hosting with being guests, we compete not with each other but for the great dining experiences enjoyed together. Highlights have included a low country crawfish boil, the $5 Julia Child dinner, 18-hour braised pork, and the kid favorite, chicken and waffles.
Recently our friends served us Eton Mess. Neither Alex nor I were familiar with this layered dessert of crunchy meringue, sweetened whipped cream and fresh fruit. Upon a single taste we agreed that this dessert is perfection.
Eton Mess is a play of textures with simple, familiar flavors. The dessert is easy to make ahead and plate for individual servings as dinner comes to a close.
As the very name suggest sloppiness, it is perfect for a child to make. For our version, Lil picked the berries, piped the meringue, and dipped the chocolate strawberry garnish. I whipped the cream, but only because Lil was too busy playing. That component, too, is easy for the beginning cook.
Homer Simpson said "You don't win friends with salad." I add the positive "You win friends with dessert," especially if your friend happens to be this adorable two-year-old.
Eton MessServes: 8 (with a few meringues left over)
Time: 20 minutes prep, 2 hours cooking and cooling, 10 minutes plating
meringues:
2 egg whites (reserve yolks for mayonnaise, hollandaise, or another recipe)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
cream:
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons powdered or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
for the meringues:
1. Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a large clean bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Beat with a rotary mixer or whip until foamy, about two minutes. Increase the speed and continue beating.
3. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating each addition until the egg white are smooth again.
4. Continue beating until whites are very stiff. Then whip in the vanilla.
5. Transfer meringue to a piping bag or gallon ziploc bag, pressing mixture to release any air bubbles.
6. Using a one-inch round tip or a one-inch cut in the corner of the bag, pipe the meringue onto a cookie tray covered with a silicone mat or parchment in two- to three-inch rounds.
7. Bake meringue in a preheated 275 degrees F oven for 45 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 250 degress F and continue cooking until meringues are lightly brown and hard to the touch. Turn off the stove but leave cookie sheet in the oven with the door closed until cool.
for the whipped cream:
1. Place 1/2 cup whipping cream in a large clean bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Using a whisk or whip attachment, slowly whisk the cream.
3. After it becomes foamy, increase the speed a little.
4. Slowly add sugar until fully incorporated.
5. Continue to whip just until the cream stiffens into solid peaks. Whipping too long will end up with butter and buttermilk, so watch this closely.
6. Stir in vanilla extract.
assembly:
1. Select clear glass cups or goblets, one for each guest.
2. Fill the bottom with 2-3 crushed meringues.
3. Layer on 1/4 cup of sliced strawberries.
4. Top with a dallop of whipped cream.
5. Layer on more meringues, berries, and cream.
6. Top with a chocolate-dipped strawberry, if desired.
7. Serve immediately.
