Don't you love when you see little wheels turn?
I mostly do,
except when my son gets some bright idea
just when we are headed out the door to school...
His timing is generally off and can be quite tiresome...
But sometimes, I force myself to turn off my clean house directive
and let things run its course...
Saturday, I planned to take the kids to the Garfield Park Conservatory
to while away some hours
since Tom had to work...
The park was having its annual "County Fair"
and I thought it might be a fun thing to do...
The best part was that it was free...
That twenty dollar membership was well worth it,
just for the free admission...
There were the requisite booths about saving the planet,
one compost bin at a time,
but the big attraction were the pony rides...
Luckily for me, we were early enough to not wait in line...
Jack showed uncharacteristic generosity
in offering to walk Kate in the pony circle for five minutes...
Next the petting zoo, in its parasitic glory,
provided the next ten minutes of kid enjoyment...
As the parents frantically shoved quarters into the grain dispensers,
to provide handfuls for their children,
the kids partied with goats, ducks,
potbellied pigs, bunnies, geese and hens...
Nothing tingles the old immunity response
like a good, long session in the petting zoo...
Wipes, anyone?
Off in the distance were the expected inflatable jungle gyms...
It's like a keg at a college party...
If it's not there, the event is somehow naked...
The kids dashed off to slide, jump and flip with abandon
while I scanned the premises for the next plan of action...
I thought perhaps a snack might be in order
until I realized there was only one food stand,
with a line that snaked into oblivion...
Food: NOT....
Ok, what else?
On the other side of the trees
was the folksy band and some interesting tables,
humming with activities...
We wandered over to discover a whole world of naturific things to do...
There were two guys teaching wood working,
tables for weaving, three year old style,
and all sorts of things one could create with corn husks...
We made corn husk crowns,
corn husk dolls,
and we even made a clothing collection for Miss Corn Husk...
Jack made a cider sachet, but we missed the origami hut...
Last on the path, was an open area
where there were logs, sticks, palm fronds,
giant leaves and other debris piled up...
Here the kids looked busiest;
using sticks as weapons
(boys, of course),
using sticks as swords,
(again, boys)
and making piles or structures
with all available materials...
Jack set about making a hut of some sort
and in a rare flash of cooperative spirit,
Kate helped...
Some boys took offense to Jack's gathering of wood,
having claimed the whole area to themselves...
It had a Lord of the Flies aura to it,
so I stood back and watched dispassionately
as they worked things out and set to construction...
As soon as Kate tried out the stick teepee,
it collapsed and I saw my opportunity to head home...
Driving home, I ruminated about the whole wood working thing...
My brilliant cousin, who lives in Brooklyn,
considered starting a wood shop franchise for kids a while back...
I love the idea of teaching wood working skills to kids...
It's a lost art...
My parents' generation is so handy;
they can fix anything,
but I challenge you to find many thirty to forty-somethings
who willingly knows how to fix things,
work with wood, or cook, for that matter...
If circumstances tossed us in the middle of the Yukon
with nothing but a hook, penknife
and a sheet, most of us would be SOL...
Anyway, I would love to enroll Jack in a wood working class...
If any of you know of one in Chicago, please let me know....
So we came home, good and tired from a busy day outside...
I was expecting the kids to veg in front of the TV
while I prepared dinner, which Kate did...
Jack, however, headed outside
and I swear, it took him no more than 15 minutes
to strip branches off of every reachable tree,
snag two of the blankets
and create his own luxury sapling condo in our front yard...
I was waiting for the phone to ring from angry neighbors,
but luckily no one cared...
After about an hour of him playing Robinson Crusoe,
I made Jack clean up the shrubbery mess,
which caused him to then pull out his pup tent...
You would have thought he also blew a dog whistle,
because about ten kids showed up from parts unknown
to party in the tent...
It was like a clown car...
The tent tossed around in the yard like it was alive...
Passers-by were either amused or aghast at the commotion...
It was amazing no one got an elbow in the face...
If they did, no one cried...
Jack had so many great ideas and he put them to use...
I love seeing a kid brain at work,
even if the idea is messy and slightly destructive...
One day, they will be at college
and my yard will be perfect...
I am in no rush for that quiet day.....
And while my monkeys were tearing up the front yard,
I put Cordelia's Roast Beef in the oven...
This week is an ode to Ms. Trisha Yearwood
and her awesome cookbook,
I'll share more of her goodness this week...
but here's her yummy roast beef as a starter.....
Serves 8.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons salt
1 3-pound eye of round beef roast
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 10-ounce cans French onion soup
1 10-ounce can golden mushroom soup
Rub the salt into the meat very well. Coat the meat with flour.
In a large cast-iron Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil. Sear the roast on all sides. Transfer the seared roast to a platter and scrape the pan to loosen the drippings. Add the soups and 3 soup cans of water to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, return the roast and its juices to the pan, cover, and cook for 3 hours, or until the meat is tender.
Slice and serve with the pan gravy.
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