Road Trip and Best 99

Because any stroller can be a double stroller.  Especially when you're on vacation. 

We took a little road trip last weekend to Madison, Wisconsin, land of ice cream and cheese.  Sometimes all of the preparation, planning and transportation involved in traveling with small children makes it seem hardly worthwhile. This, fortunately, was not true of our mini-trip to Madison.  We played it by ear and it was actually low stress and quite fun.  

When Emmett fell asleep on the way to dinner we went with it and discovered that he could sleep, sitting upright on his dad’s lap, in a crowded, noisy dining room - no problem. When the kids all woke up at an ungodly hour, I got them in the car and headed out to Greenbush Bakery which, thankfully, opened at 6:00 a.m.  We got there just as the doors were being unlocked and selected donuts with chocolate and sprinkles and an apple fritter the size of my head.  They were amazing.  We even made it home with one diaper to spare (I had been worried about not packing enough diapers, but when we got home and unloaded the trunk I realized we had an entire bulk box of them in the back. Go figure).  

While we were there we went to the Dane County Farmer’s Market, UW and hit up a great pizza joint called Salvatore’s Tomato Pies.  At UW, we stopped at Babcock Hall Dairy Store for ice cream.  Babcock Hall Dairy store is located in the Dairy Plant on the west side of campus. Attached to the ice cream store is a viewing gallery where you can see the ice cream being made.  Since 1951, UW has been making ice cream, cheese and other dairy products on campus.  The agricultural sciences portion of the campus is pretty cool if you have any interest in that sort of thing. Huge greenhouses occupy much of the plant sciences building and they have a whole building dedicated to dairy cows in addition to the dairy plant.

Where the magic happens. 

Of course hiding under this old desk was more fun than all of the fancy ice cream churners in the world. 

Back in Ireland, another dairy story was unfolding.  The Barry family store was basking in the glory of being named the best “99 in County Louth” as a result of a poll conducted by the Dundalk Democrat.  A 99 (I should have included it in this post about Irish slang) is an ice cream cone, usually soft-serve, with a Cadbury flake stuck in the middle. Apparently, Barry’s edged out its closest competition by 2% for the win.  It was a proud moment for the family as demonstrated via illustration below.  

Congratulations Barry's! We're looking forward to getting one of those award-winning 99s next time we are in Ireland. 

Banana Coconut Milk Pops

Last weekend Emmett and Isla performed in the Spring Performance at their school, Montessori Learning Center of Edison Park.  This was by far the highlight of our weekend and we were so proud of how they both fearlessly took the stage, singing and dancing in front of all of the parents and relatives of their classmates. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my head around how their teachers get them all in and out of costumes and up on stage to perform for us. It's truly amazing. 

Other than the french toast and bacon “power breakfast” that I made the day of the show, I barely cooked a thing all weekend.  But I did make something. Because I cannot stand to throw food away, I freeze all of our overripe bananas until I figure out what to do with them. They usually end up in muffins, banana bread or pancakes but since it’s finally warm out, this time I decided to try something a little different.

Banana Coconut Milk Pops.

I don’t think I can think of anything easier to make and, BONUS, you can feel good about giving them to your kids. The only ingredients are agave nectar, vanilla extract, bananas and coconut milk (although you could throw some chocolate chips in there if you want). The high fat content of coconut milk makes them more creamy than icy, and most of the sweetness comes straight from those super ripe bananas which you can really taste.  Much better than the banana Popsicles of my childhood - as much as I LOVED those!  I can probably think of a hundred variations of these that I would like to try. Fruit flavored, chocolate, peanut butter, or and adult version with coffee and Bailey's (wouldn't that be a fun dessert for a summer dinner party?). 

Now I'm starting to think that I might get some use out of these silicon ice pop molds I bought last year. 

Banana Coconut Milk Pops

makes 6 pops

1 can coconut milk

1 tbs agave nectar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 super-over-ripe bananas (room temperature)

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.  OR, place ingredients in a large bowl (preferably with a spout) and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Pour mixture into Popsicle molds molds and freeze until solid.

No raw eggs! Lick the bowl! 

If you're squeamish about licking the bowl when there are raw eggs involved (I'm not - must be the Japanese in me but I'll eat anything raw), this is your opportunity to get in there.  Oh yeah, and it just dawned on me, these are vegan too. So a great treat to have on hand if you're vegan or have vegan guests. Because no one should ever miss out on dessert. 

Apparently, you can purchase an "easy-fill stand" separately, but I lo and behold, I found one in my cupboard (a glass). 

Done. I felt like I accomplished something and it only took about 2 minutes. The hard part is waiting until they are frozen. 

5 Words of Irish Slang

Outside of Paul's Family's store in County Louth

The past week or so has been quiet in my kitchen and happily busy everywhere else. So no food for today.  As a lover of language (I majored in linguistics in college) I thought I’d share some Irish slang with you. Hopefully you will have a chance to use these terms on your next trip to Ireland.  

1.  Lash

This word can be used to mean a few different things.  It can be used to describe heavy rain as in “Heavy rain lashes Dublin”. It can also be used to refer to making an attempt at something, as in “I’ll give it a lash”.  Finally, it is commonly used in the phrase “on the lash” which means to go out drinking.  

2.  Jo Maxi

This term is used to refer to a taxi. This is something called rhyming slang, a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases. Jo Maxi t is also the name of a late 80’s early 90’s Irish TV show that was named after this Dublin slang term for taxi.

I'm sure everyone who has ever visited Dublin has some version of this photo in their archives.

3.  Yoke

An all purpose noun for something whose name escapes you, like thingamamob, watchamacallit, doodad, etc. Yoke can refer to an object or an indescribable person. Yoke can even replace the “thing” or the “bob” in other similar terms as in  yokeamajig, thingamayoke or yokeamabob.

4.  Jackeen

According to Wikipedia, this term is a mildly pejorative term for someone from Dublin, Ireland.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "A contemptuous designation for a self-assertive worthless fellow," citing the earliest documented use from the year 1840. The term comes from the Union Jack (As Dubliners were considered the most English of all the Irish) combined with the Irish diminutive suffix "-een" (meaning little).

Look at all that green. They don't call it the Emerald Isle for nothing. 

5.  Hames

Hames actually refers to two curved pieces of iron or wood forming or attached to the collar of a draft horse, to which the traces are attached. In Ireland, hames is used in the phrase “make hames of” which means to make a mess of something, usually due to carelessness, sloppiness or ineptitude. Often times hames is preceded by an intensifying or modifying term.  A soccer player who missed an easy opportunity to score may be said to have made a right hames of it.  Or, a complete hames of it, a fierce hames of it, an awful hames of it and so on.

For all those mother's out there. I hope you have an especially wonderful weekend full of appreciation for all that you do. If the rain is lashing down and your husband makes a terrible hames of the whole occasion, just chalk it up to miscommunication and don't let it get you down. Mother's are magic. And a special thanks to my Momma, the most magical of them all. I love you Mom!