Friday, October 13, 2006
brussel sprouts, pearsauce, and howler monkeys
Today in our Greenling order we got brussel sprouts. T has been begging for them for nine months since they were last in season at Boggy Creek Farm. So for dinner T and B ate brussel sprouts quite happily. Daddy-o thinks this is weird, though Daddy-o has lachanophobia (fear of vegetables). He thinks we have the only two children in the universe who happily eat brussel sprouts.
We also got a batch of pears for making pearsauce. Pearsauce is made just like applesauce: You peel the pears, slice them into chunks, heat until they are mushy, and then run them through the blender until the right smoothness or chunkiness. So I was peeling pears before dinner, and B announced, "Make sure you don't make the pearsauce hot." We broke it to him that we had to make the pearsauce hot in order to cook the pears. That's kind of the point. But we promised that we would have some cold pearsauce tomorrow after it had spent the night in the fridge.
Today was parent-teacher conference day for T and J. We were out at their school hanging around outside waiting for their teacher when T announced that they'd heard a howler monkey on the hike today. The classes all do regular hikes as their school is on a 200 acre campus, and Friday is designated as a hike day. Last year, T swore there was a bear on one of the hikes, and we were pretty unsuccessful in talking him out of that idea. Earlier this year the class saw what they dubbed a banana spider which is actually probably a yellow garden spider that does live in Texas. We're buying its existence before we buy into the bears and monkeys running wild in East Austin.
Anyway, when the teacher met with us, we were talking at one point about our creative children. I mentioned that we had already heard about the howler monkeys on the hike today. The teacher cracked up and said it was actually last week. I know this tale isn't going to translate as well in type as it did verbally, but the teacher had me in stitches. She said that they were walking along a trail when one of their classmates, L, suddenly told everyone, "Shh! Quiet." He was asked what he had heard, and he said he heard a monkey. At that point, friend G earnestly asked, "Well, what did it sound like?" L said, "Eee, eee, oooh, aahh, ahhh." And with great sincerity, friend G confirmed, "Yep. That's a howler monkey. I saw a PBS show on them." So that trail is now known as Howler Monkey Trail; it is near Banana Spider Trail.
We also got a batch of pears for making pearsauce. Pearsauce is made just like applesauce: You peel the pears, slice them into chunks, heat until they are mushy, and then run them through the blender until the right smoothness or chunkiness. So I was peeling pears before dinner, and B announced, "Make sure you don't make the pearsauce hot." We broke it to him that we had to make the pearsauce hot in order to cook the pears. That's kind of the point. But we promised that we would have some cold pearsauce tomorrow after it had spent the night in the fridge.
Today was parent-teacher conference day for T and J. We were out at their school hanging around outside waiting for their teacher when T announced that they'd heard a howler monkey on the hike today. The classes all do regular hikes as their school is on a 200 acre campus, and Friday is designated as a hike day. Last year, T swore there was a bear on one of the hikes, and we were pretty unsuccessful in talking him out of that idea. Earlier this year the class saw what they dubbed a banana spider which is actually probably a yellow garden spider that does live in Texas. We're buying its existence before we buy into the bears and monkeys running wild in East Austin.
Anyway, when the teacher met with us, we were talking at one point about our creative children. I mentioned that we had already heard about the howler monkeys on the hike today. The teacher cracked up and said it was actually last week. I know this tale isn't going to translate as well in type as it did verbally, but the teacher had me in stitches. She said that they were walking along a trail when one of their classmates, L, suddenly told everyone, "Shh! Quiet." He was asked what he had heard, and he said he heard a monkey. At that point, friend G earnestly asked, "Well, what did it sound like?" L said, "Eee, eee, oooh, aahh, ahhh." And with great sincerity, friend G confirmed, "Yep. That's a howler monkey. I saw a PBS show on them." So that trail is now known as Howler Monkey Trail; it is near Banana Spider Trail.
Labels: around the house, at school, kid sayings
# posted by Elizabeth @ 6:40 PM 
