If you're not familiar with the Kumon program/philosophy, take a quick looksee here. It's basically a math and reading preparedness program for young kids (3 and up), and evolves into extra study for students who are behind, needing to stay afloat, or wanting to get ahead (elementary, junior high, high school). Students visit the Kumon center 2x/week, do approx. 30' work per subject, and have homework remaining days of the week. There is a master system with appropriate times to complete work and percentage of errors that calculates in what level a student belongs.

Fruit Loop started Kumon shortly after his 3rd birthday. Within 6 months, he was moving through addition tables and reading. Great! Wonderful! But, oh, it was worse than pulling teeth to get him to do his daily homework by the end of it. He and I were both at our limit. (Here is your first - and certainly not last, I am sure - example of why I could never homeschool my kids. Less than ten math problems a day, less than 6 sentences of reading, and the Fruit Loop and I were soooo not on speaking terms after just that.) So we took a break from formal classes to instead occasionally work on our own. I'm sure that has slowed his progress, but:

I. Am. Amazed. He's mentally maturing enough to recognize math problems and words, to reliably interchange a word that he's sounded out almost but not quite right for what it "really" is. It's like I can almost see, in just a few short weeks, his brain growing and nimbly grasping where before it was much more laboriously "plug and chug".

Everyone asks if Fruit Loop is in school. After the medical school disaster and time he spent in day care during that, after visiting a few preschool programs and seeing simply "glorified daycare," Hottie McHots and I decided we'd make better use of these early years in Fruit Loop's life by structuring our own schedule for him = better than preschool! (*Gasp!* Yeah, I said it. Take that, all you hoity-toity $800 Stroller Moms.) We fill his time with activities (swimming, soccer, art class) and learning. Kumon has been HUGE in that. It's intellectually challenging but NOT pushy or overwhelming - you work at the kid's pace.

Anyway, the roundabout points I'm trying to make are: Kumon is everything it's cracked up to be (as long as you get good teachers and a well-run center, which usually seems to be the case and, regardless, is easily identifiable from the get-go), and I am so proud and impressed by the fruit loop's work. And he is proud of himself, too, as he should be.

So let it be writ:

I am taking the night off. Perhaps I'll make up this post sometime over the weekend. Probably not. :)

First, if there ARE any of you East Coast folks reading this (and I think I can safely say that, no, there is NOBODY reading this), you will think I am out of my mind. Guano crazy, as it were. HOWEVER:

I want to be snowed in! Obviously I am envisioning the snowed in where the heat and electricity and internet all still work, where we are warm and dry and toasty inside our battened down, fully functioning abode - inside looking out and all. Outside = snowy blizzard of DOOM. Inside = chestnuts roasting on an open fire. You know, THAT kind of snowed in.

Really, though, it'd be great. Hottie McHots wouldn't have to work - it would all be postponed/cancelled. We would have a great excuse to watch movies, eat feel-good junk food (homemade popcorn with REAL BUTTER - oh yeah, that's right, I said it), sleep, be lazy, goof off as a family. I wish we were snowed in.

But we're not. And Hottie McHots is pushing to close a deal by Friday - well, HE'S not pushing to close it. He's being pushed to close it, per the client. While we both acknowledge the paycheck is a nice one, it's not worth the stress and health risks and selling of his soul. I think a phone call is in order, wherein I ring the managing partners, give them a good what for, and institute a curfew.

Or maybe I'll just call in and sound all official when I tell them it's a snow day.

Or Chai or whatever you want to call it. It's goooood.

Masala Tea:
(serves 4 - or 1, if you're anything like me)


3T loose tea (e.g., Wagh Bakri Premium International Blend, available at international foods stores) OR 5 tea bags Lipton, Tetley, etc.
1-2" stick of cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
9 cloves OR 1t ground cloves
7 green cardamom pods, cracked
1c. water

Put all in pot --> boil 2'.
Add 4.5c milk (the higher the fat content, the better) --> boil 2'.
Add sugar to taste.

Notes:
Lipton, Tetley, etc. are milder tasting and less caffeinated. If you use Wagh Bakri (or some other international blend geared towards Indian consumers), be prepared for a much stronger - and much more caffeinated - tea. (If using international tea, I recommend this as a breakfast or midday tea. It is way too strong to have before bed. I speak from experience - I, who am usually immune to the effects of caffeine before bed.)

After adding milk, SLOWLY bring to boil. The slower you do this, the less "skin" you'll have to skim off later.

Be careful, as milk will quickly go from barely simmering to full-on boiling over.

Once the pot has almost boiled over (but you have rescued it, you kitchen wonder you!), temper the heat so you can let the pot actively boil 2'.

After 2' of boiling, cut the heat and let the pot rest there on the burner. It will steep as it slowly stops boiling, and will also allow more of the skin to form (= easier to remove that way).

You will want to pour this into your mug via a strainer/sieve. This will catch all of the loose bits as well as much of the skin.


Having tasted the mass-produced chai, (Tazo, I am talking about YOU here!), you'll notice some companies include ginger in their tea. It's purely preference if you want to include it or not. However, I don't have any recommendations on what form or how much to use, so you'll have to 1) experiment, b) University of Google it, iii) ask me to make up some wildly unfounded guess (or ask me to University of Google it), or cuatro) go without.*



*Now I'm feeling all lazy. Here, try this: 1/4" fresh ginger OR 1t ginger (powdered spice). Don't say I never gave you anything.

This post can be taken either of two ways:

1) I am very poor at time management.

OR

2) I am a creative genius who can mastermind her schedule down to the nth minute.


When I turned 12, I already knew what my summer plans were going to be: detasseling. For those of you unfamiliar with this inhumane (yet lucrative, to a 12-year-old) form of physical labor, the long and the short of it is: you walk (or ride a machine, often both) through rows of corn, pulling off the tassel at the very top. Over. And over. And over. You leave for the fields at 4a to try and beat the heat, work through mid-afternoon, return home exhausted and barely able to keep your eyes open at the dinner table, and pass out asleep earlier than most grandparents...knowing full well that your alarm will go off far too early the next morning so that you can do this all over again.

IT IS FUN. And I haven't even mentioned the particularly unique buggy + wet corn vegetable-y smell that permeates the air...and your clothes, your hair, your skin. I haven't mentioned the layers of dirt and sweat and general disgustingness that you are caked in by the end of the day.

So you shower when you get home. And you shower again in the morning, just to try and stave off some of the disgusting that is to come.

And here (how many paragraphs - and I use that word loosely, Mrs. Michael, I know - in are we?) is my point: many moons ago indeed did I perfect the art of the speed shower. I'm talking (w/ long hair!) washing hair, face, body, all in five minutes or less. (Nowadays I - and Hottie McHots - are lucky if I shower at all! Love you, honey!)

I'm talking about TIME MANAGEMENT, people. I'm talking about valuable consolidation of activities. MULTITASKING. (Or plain old just saving time. You know who you are, Mr. Cutting Through This Gas Station Lot Because I Don't Want to Wait to Make That Turn. THERE IS A LAW AGAINST THAT, I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW.) I'm talking about all of those little tricks you do to shave some minutes off, save some time somewhere (only to fritter it away with you, dear internet, or with my Costco-sized jar of Nutella).

So you shampoo and wash your face, then rinse all together. You condition while you wash your body, rinse all together. You slip on your shoes while you're putting on your coat. You return phone calls while you're grocery shopping (and that has absolutely nothing to do w/ your phone NOT WORKING in your apartment, AHEM AT&T), you know which elevator in the building is the slow one, you know where in the hallway to the grocery store is the best place to pass SLOW PEOPLE.

It's like a game, right? See how fast I can be? See how creative I can get? See how I'm not neurotic, right? Right??

Where is the sitter?
Saturday night is date night.
We're ready. We're out!

Tried Tazo Tea's Vanilla Rooibos tea latte concentrate tonight. (No, NOT from Starbucks, Land of Burnt Tar Coffee. This was courtesy of a trip to and coupon @ Whole Foods. Yay!)

The verdict?

Grrrrreat! I am a fan of frou-frouey drinks, but there's more to it than that: this is a light, caffeine-free tea that is perfect before bed. Mix it with your favorite milk or milk substitute. You don't need to add sugar - the vanilla is sweet enough.

I don't have much more to say than that. I'm a sucker for new things, and am usually sorely disappointed, (because I get my hopes up too high? Or because the item is so underwhelming and, often, regrettable? I think the latter...). But this? No disappointment!

At some point in the future I will try posting my own Chai Latte recipe. (Or Masala Tea, Chai, Desi Tea, etc., etc., etc. Call it what you want, it's gooooooooood.)