Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice... Every Day!

Back in December, my sister-in-law asked me for my Christmas wish list. I sent her an e-mail saying that ridiculously, I didn't have any. I have always felt weird about wish lists. What if I'm wishing for things out of the budget? ...Why should I ask for anything? ...Aren't gifts supossed to be a surprise?

Anyway, I thought about it one more time and got to the conclusion that aside from the "no surprise" factor, wish lists are great. Gift givers are already confirming that they want to give you a present when they ask for your wish list. They also want to make sure they spend their money on something you will really like.

I included in my list a couple of things that even though I had wanted them for a while, I had never bought and most likely, never would. You know, those things that are not a necessity, maybe a little pricey and always tossed in the list for "some other time"... Oranges came to my mind. Yessss, oranges, a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice every morning, forever. Something that I really love and was not having, because of the amount of time it takes to clean up the juicer or to squeeze the oranges manually.

Good news!! ...I did get the juicer I wanted. A vintage looking orange juicer that just with a simple movement of its lid, it presses all the juice out in seconds and easily gets cleaned without any aggravations. Besides, as an additional benefit, the chrome finish makes it a cool piece of decoration.
It is amazing how little things can make such a big difference when they come to you at the right time. January is usually the month for successful beginnings or terrible failures. From the very first days of the month, I can foresee what resolutions will become part of my life in the new year and which ones will stay in my wish list till the next one... Dedicating time to cooking, eating healthy and providing myself and family with a well balanced diet is one of those resolutions. Definitely, a simple tool, a juicer is helping to keep up with the idea... Did you know a 6oz. cup of fresh squeezed orange juice provides 100% of your vitamin C daily requirements, plus 3% calcium, potassium and many other goodies? ...Yummm!! ...Cheers to the new year and all of those little changes that make you feel closer to success!!

OrangeX Chrome Juicer available here

Vintage Halloween

Fall is in full force right now in the Hudson Valley. All around us has turned yellow, orange, red, brown, and it looks gorgeous. Days are goings by fast and with them, the colors, those beautiful colors that so soon will be brown, more brown and gray... Ocassionally, we have been gifted with unusual October temperatures of eighty degrees and cloudless, bright blue skies. The perfect weather to forget about whatever I had to do indoors, grab my camera, my girls and get out to explore... This time, the road took us to New Paltz, where we ended up at the Wall Street Market and its antiques barn, a place packed with all kind of goodies from the past and some eye-catching, vintage Halloween favors.

What do you think? ...Aren't they awesome? It felt like we got on a time machine, strolling through so many rooms, surprisingly finding here and there, a spec of orange and black, a sign of past time Halloween... A wooden trick-or-treat basket in one corner, a tin pumpkin and horn in another, the cute pumpkin-head guy, the witch shoes, all of this reminiscence of old Halloween traditions kept me fascinated, thinking of how fast things evolve while others disappear... The world of trends... right?

... How about this owl? It kind of stole my heart!!... I admit my weakness for owls. I love them in all kind of shapes and colors, but this one screams my style. It reminds me of illustrations and postcards from the sixties... I'd love to see it on a t-shirt or a pillow.

New Paltz in the Hudson Valley area, NY, is becoming one of my favorite places... A really nice town to visit with the kids and walk around, stopping by cool antique shops, a farm market with fresh, local products and many restaurants with very interesting menus, organic, vegetarian, vegan, international fusions... The atmosphere around Water Street Market is perfect for a Sunday morning with its outdoors cafe, live music, antiques barn, good coffee, pastries and cheeses... What else can you ask for?
Can't wait to get there? Here are the directions ...Have fun!!

Summer: I Scream for Ice Cream!!

Growing up in the tropic, having a temperature of eighty degrees every single day of the year, also meant having a childhood with an incredible abundance of ice cream... In Caracas, my hometown, there never was a "hide and seek" tournament or a good match of "freeze tag" that didn't finish at the ice cream shop... I can still remember my little gang- my brother, cousins and neighbors all sweaty, licking popsicles and scooping chunks of our favorite flavors, always followed by a "colita" Grapette soda... Ahhh!! those times when a sugar overdose was not an issue...

Flavors like tamarind, passion fruit, mango, coconut and pineapple were my favorites... Of course, classic vanilla, chocolate and strawberry were always an option, but the richness of the tropical flavors was unbeatable... A bunch of years have gone by since childhood, but "ice cream" remains my biggest weakness. I'm not even sure about who gets more excited, my girls or I, when summer arrives and the ice cream parlors open doors around town... I'm always searching for new places and I have to say, the variety of texture, flavors and styles of ice cream in New York can really drive you insane.

Recently, on one of those sizzling days of summer in New York, we discovered Beacon Creamery, our latest obsession and most visited place... A colorful lilac facade with whimsical, dotted frames and bright, yellow walls inside, seemed to be calling our names. We had no idea what we were just about to shock our taste buds with, until we reached the counter... How can you decide on just one flavor, when you are tempted with such concoctions like Killer Chocolate, Dulce de Leche, Green Tea, Ginger, Cappuccino Kahlua Calypso, Pistachio, Very Blueberry or a Watermelon sorbet??

It turns out Beacon Creamery sells the wonderful confections of Jane's Homemade Ice Cream, a name that is almost a well kept secret in the Hudson Valley, extending only to some upscale restaurants and hotels in New York City. With the help of mini tasting spoons, we endulged in some of those incredible flavors until we made up our minds and picked our favorites.

It didn't matter what we chose, the ice cream was always fabulous with the right texture and the perfect flavor, truly matching the name of it. In other words, pistachio tasted exactly like the green nut and raspberry like the real fruit ...What a difference!! ...Artisan ice cream, made in small batches using fresh, local and organic products from the Hudson Valley, served in a friendly atmosphere.

I just love the peaceful, satisfaction packed time I spend with my girls, sitting at the creamery's little patio, licking over and over, till everything is gone...

By the way, if planning a visit to the Hudson Valley, Beacon is a really nice town to stop at... The Dia Art Foundation is right off the train from New York City, as well as the gorgeous park by the river and, still at a walking distance, the attractive Main Street with many interesting boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and of course, ice cream.

Did you know July is National Ice Cream Month? Do you have a favorite ice cream place? Where is it? Would you share with us and tell us about it? We'd love to visit, surely if it is in New York!!

718 Made in Brooklyn: Bringing the Train Home

Some weeks ago, we were in DUMBO, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Underpass, one of the coolest neighborhood in New York City, and the perfect setting for BRKLYN Designs, a show that every year gathers the creative work of a selected group of Brooklyn based artists. A handful of furnishing and interior designers, identified with similar concepts and their infinite variations: Contemporary art, urban inspiration and environmental responsibility. Urban, contemporary and environmentally oriented? 718 Made in Brooklyn, definitely put those tokens together and created "The Subway Series", a limited edition of furniture and lighting accessories inspired by the Big Apple's underground... The subway comes up to the surface and through the creations of designer Jeff Mayer, it becomes a modern element of decoration, a piece of art.

Mayer indeed, brings the train home by turning decommissioned lanterns and subway signs into very original lamps and light-up benches... Aren't those lanterns fabulous? They are the same LED lights used by the NYC subway engineers when walking through the underground tunnels.

...And how about The Bench? Pick your station and sit at home on an authentic decommissioned subway sign, encased in birch ply and veneer... We just love the urban touch... indoors!!
Ooohh ...Mini New Yorkers, you were not left behind!! Pick your 718 Made in Brooklyn onesie and let everyone know that You (subway) New York, even on your stroller.

...Gone With The Wind!

The last time I flew a kite, I was desperately trying not to disappoint my older daughter Naomi. I was eight months pregnant and her pre-K class was determined to prove that the month of March in fact, came in as a lion and left as a lamb. I did not want Naomi to be the only child running alone, flying a kite without mom by her side... So, there I was, tangled with the string, the kite and my big belly, running with Naomi and her little sister inside, bouncing up and down, feeeling like that baby would come out of me, either by mouth or regular delivery, at any time.
A few days ago, that pregnancy memory came back to me, so clearly... This time, I was exactly at the same place I was almost four years ago, doing the same thing I was doing before. This time, I was flying a kite again, but instead I was running with the little girl that four years ago, was a baby bouncing inside of me. This time it was Zoe's turn to learn about the force of wind and my turn to realize that time goes by, way too fast...

A strange feeling, a mix of happiness, satisfaction and some sort of sadness. The kind of feeling that makes you hesitate... Should I laugh or should I cry? A quick flashback in front of my eyes... Four very important years of my life have gone by between two flying kites!! Naomi left Pre-K and is now a second grader, Zoe left my belly and is now a Pre-K student, and me? ... I have no babies anymore. In exchange, I have two beautiful little girls who, on another turn of a page, will be teenagers, college students or who knows what...

My mind jumped off the kite and landed back on the field, where my little Zoe was struggling to keep Yo Gabba Gabba up in the air... At that very moment, I realized that parenthood is a ticking clock, constantly reminding me that there are precious moments to be enjoyed now, never later, never after. Short stages that fly away like a kite, before I can even realize they are gone.

At that very moment, a sudden urge embraced me... I must hold the string and fly more kites, I must get my face sticky and eat more ice cream, I must get my hands dirty and search for more worms, I must play and have more fun with my kids, before these simple, fulfilling moments are "Gone with the Wind".

By the way, yesterday after a month having a party, not in his tummy, but in the tree, Yo Gabba Gabba finally decided to come back down. The school garderner brought it to Zoe's hands, back to remind me that I must fly more kites.

Kidsonroof: Being Green Was Never So Cool!

Earth Day is turning forty.... Wait, fooorty? ... That really makes me think about how long it has taken to spread the message... Getting people to love and respect Earth, not only with pretty words, but with their daily actions and turning individual efforts into community habits... What an effort!! Definitely, four decades of tiny "turtle" steps.
As I remember from childhood, our environmental education was just about keeping cans and candy wrappers off the street . These days things are different. Instead, we get to be parents in a world that invites kids to "be green". The words "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" seem to be well printed in their little minds and everyday, we find more and more products with an ecological approach. Goods that don't represent a toxic threat, designs that allow us to show our children how modern life and nature can re-connect.

How about re-connecting with nature in a playroom like the one above? Eco friendly? Yees, and so beautiful... right? It's Volume Zero, the latest furniture collection from Dutch company Kidsonroof. Chairs, matching benches and tables are included in this new line, all constructed with solid beech wood and finished with waterbased paint and lacquer. The delicate prints are Japanese fabrics attached to the wood with waterbased paint.
Eco-friendly toys? Sure! Kidsonroof re-creates the traditional dollhouse and comes up with a thorough makeover. The modern version of the old country dollhouse is now a recycled cardboard mansion with the "countryside" already printed on it. The MobileHome Recycle! is the brand new addition to Kidsonroof's Casa Collection. A portable house in either color, green or purple with eight rooms, an attic and spy holes for pretend birds or maybe dolls to check on their neighbors... Who knows?

Luckily for our friends in Europe, Kidsonroof has all of its products available online and ready to ship from Amsterdam. For us, here in the USA, these new dollhouses will be available in May and the Volume Zero furniture, so sorry to tell, will probably be available at the end of this year. Meanwhile, if you really, really must have it, you can always order it from Europe.

What do you think? Isn't it true that "being green" was never so cool?

Happy Earth Day, everyone!! Tell us what you will be doing today? ...Whatever your plans are, make sure you enjoy nature, share it with your kids and help them realize how lucky they are to be here, at home, on Earth.

NYSCI: Futuristic Labs for Mini Scientists

Now that it seems safe to venture outdoors... Now that the weather is all good in New York... Now that everything seems so cool, we get another issue to bug our minds... Where do we take the kids to? Where can we go that is fun for the whole family, entertaining and educational, a combination of outdoors and indoors? Wheeeere?

New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is a place that you definitely must add to your list of favorites and please, underline it with red marker, so you don't forget about it. We were recently invited to a NYC Bloggers' Open House and spent a wonderful family day there... Really, this place is nothing, but great. There was plenty of entertainment for everyone, hands-on science experiments appropriate for all ages and outdoor areas that make you feel like you bought a ticket for a ride on "Back to the Future" ....Awesome!!Walk around two big floors filled with over 450 exhibits and get not only your kids', but also your inner Einstein awakened... Microbes, atoms, molecules, live dissections, magical rooms, tricky mirrors, so much science around inviting everyone to experiment, to touch... Isn't that great? Yeeess!! NYSCI, a place where touching is allowed and experimenting is all right... Almost paradise!!

Talking about experimenting, NYSCI took all of its "hands-on" concept outdoors and as a result, you end up exploring a very original place. The "Science Playground" has the perfect chemistry, an equal mix of fabulous design and fun learning... Science meets modern art and all of a sudden, you find yourself pushing your child on a swing that is also a wind mill, while admiring the surrounding sun catchers and kinetic sculptures... Are we on Earth?

After refreshing my almost vanished knowledge of solar energy, motion, simple machines and taking a zillion pictures at the Science Playground, my girls were ready to take a golf lesson... We walked through hallways filled with science teachers pulling experiments on the spot, until we reached the Rocket Park Mini Golf... or should I call it the Lunar Rocket Parking Lot??...One or the other, kids had a ball learning to play golf surrounded by real NASA rockets and spaceships, they could actually ride on...

Woow! Done already with the secrets of spaceflight and golf, it was time to meet Sid the Science Kid from the popular PBS Kids Show... Who else could be hanging out at NYSCI, but Sid the Science Kid?
Making plans already for the weekend or looking for a venue to celebrate your child's birthday party? Think of NYSCI. They also offer different packages and themes for parties including crafts or science activities, use of the different areas of the museum and a party room... It just became my kids' new favorite place... and I loved it too!!

Cool Events:

Math Midway :: Now - April 18th

The Great Cat Trap! Puppet Show :: Now - April 18th

Geometry Necklace, Art Project :: Now - April 18th

Super Cyberchase Day :: Saturday, May 1