Monthly Archives: April 2012

Drink of the Week: Mojito

Posted on April 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ever since I wrote a mint cocktails story for Easter, I’ve had the refreshing spring herb on my mind. So, I popped in to Mercato today and grabbed a bunch, then I stopped off at Zyn on my way home for a bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse Silver and voila! I had the makings for a mojito.

Spring, in a glass. I heart mmmminty mojitos.

I tried my first mojito at an all-inclusive resort years ago and got hooked. I love the way mint completes this cocktail. It would be good with just rum, sugar and lime juice, but add mint and enjoy another level of complexity. It’s no wonder Cuba quickly nabbed the mojito as its national cocktail and, incidentally, Ernest Hemingway couldn’t drink enough of them.

The secret to a good mojito is the muddling. Some bartenders will utterly pulverize the mint (I had the misfortune of sampling my first and last blended mojito in Mexico last month. Truly, it was awful), but that’s overkill. Bruise it just enough to release the oils and you’re gold. Enjoy!

Mojito

  • 12 fresh mint leaves
  • 1-1/2 oz light rum
  • 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup*
  • Top with soda water
  • Mint sprig and lime wedge garnish

Lightly muddle mint in the base of a Collins glass. Add rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Half fill the glass with crushed ice, then stir with a bar spoon to bring up the mint. Add more crushed ice and stir again. Top with soda water, stir again and serve with a straw to avoid mint-tooth.

*To make simple syrup, heat equal parts sugar and water in a sauce pan until sugar is dissolved. Cool and refrigerate.

— Recipe adapted from Cocktails Made Easy by Simon Difford

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Five reasons I’d rather have real babies than ducklings

Posted on April 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

We babysat three baby ducklings from my daughter’s school last night. They were tiny, yellow, unbelievably soft and totally helpless. They chirped in alarm when the kids approached their plastic pen, but then settled down adorably on Avery’s lap to rest.

Awwww! Isn't he cute?

Right after she called me into the kitchen to witness the triple duckling love-in, one of them chose that moment to poop on her leg.

“Ewwwww! Yuck, Mommy! He pooped on my leg!” She looked at the poop in horror and I did what any parent in that situation would do. I burst out laughing. “It’s not funny!” she wailed, summoning tears to match her disgust.

You'll see a lot of this with ducklings. I calculated that they poop 12 times as much as a human infant.

Before you go thinking that’s a one-off occurence, and that maybe ducklings would make a good pet, let me just tell you: they poop A LOT. Like, four or five times an hour. I did the math and figured that’s about 12 times as much as a human baby poops. They also chirp incessantly (their noise caused another mom from Avery’s school to get up in the night to check on them — just like newborns!) and their pen gets so messy from spilled water and poop you need to change the newspaper every couple hours. They’re fairly high maintenance sleepover guests.

Cute? Absolutely, for about an hour. But thinking long term, consider that they grow into large, pecking, not-so-cute-anymore birds. With that in mind, here are five reasons I’d rather have real babies than ducklings:

  1. Human babies poop into a diaper, not on the floor.
  2. Human babies don’t step in their poop and then step into their water and food bowls.
  3. Human babies don’t poop the minute you put them into a nice clean bathtub, unless you’re extremely unlucky.
  4. Human babies eventually learn how to poop in a toilet; again, unless you’re extremely unlucky (confession: my son, age 4, still poops in a diaper. Sigh.).
  5. Human babies will one day fly away, but only when they’re all grown up and you’re ready for them to leave (so I say now).

My babies with the ducklings.

But for all their noise (and the rolls of paper towel we went through cleaning up poop), it was neat to see my babies play with their duckling babies. How about you? Have you taken ducklings home to babysit? Don’t they poop A LOT??

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The trials and tribulations of pint-sized philanthropy

Posted on April 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

My daughter has graduated from Treehouse to YTV. Along with shows like Kung Fu Panda and Kid vs. Kat come advertisements. But instead of trying to get your kid to go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, today’s ads tell your kid to visit new websites.

So one day last week Avery says, “Mommy, I want to go online and check out EarthRangers.com. I can sponsor an animal and help save its habitat and play games.”

Me: “Hmmmm.” This is something I say when I really do not feel like doing whatever potentially time-consuming activity my child has in mind. It gives me time to think and plan a strategy for saying no without actually saying no. “Where did you hear about this?”

Avery: “On YTV.” Well, at that point I should have said, “Oh, my gosh! I forgot there’s chocolate in the pantry!” But instead I sighed and said, “OK.”

Sucked in by an ad on YTV, my daughter insisted we check out EarthRangers.com

We found EarthRangers.com and before I new what was happening we’d signed up and Avery had created her own avatar. Then I did a little more reading about it.

Earth Rangers is a kid-driven conservation company that raises money to help some of Canada’s endangered species. Each child chooses an animal to protect — Avery picked the spotted turtle from Ontario — and then pledges to raise a certain amount of money. Avery was feeling generous and pledged $50. She then ran upstairs and grabbed her piggy bank.

Where's the hammer? There's $50 in toonies and loonies in here that could save a spotted turtle!

Avery: “Mommy, I have $50 in allowance money. I’m ready to donate!”

Me: “So you want me to make a $50 donation with my credit card and then you’ll give me all the money you’ve been saving since Christmas?”

Avery: “Yes. When will I get my prize?” I think she thought they’d ship her a spotted turtle or even just a cute animal stuffie, for her conservation efforts.

Me: “Hmmmm.” Pause. “You know, I don’t think you get anything. But you’ll have the knowledge you’re helping save the spotted turtles. Won’t that make you feel good?”

Avery: “No!” Cue tears. “What does that even mean?”

Me: “Well, donating money to a cause they believe in makes people feel good.”

Avery: “You mean they want all my allowance money and I don’t even get ANYTHING? That’s not fair! WAAAAHHHH!”

I explained that she didn’t have to spend all her own money to raise $50. She could ask grandparents and aunties to make donations on her behalf. This helped her feel somewhat better, but in her world, she felt a bit stung by false advertising. Helping those poor turtles for nothing! As if!

In my world, I couldn’t help but think how times have changed. Back in the day, $50 would have gotten me a year’s supply of Cocoa Puffs.

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