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Amy Vernon joined The Journal News in 2000 as education editor for the Westchester and Putnam editions. She came to Rockand as metro editor in 2001. Raised on Long Island, Amy is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and has worked in South Florida and the Phoenix metro area. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, two sons and very understanding mother-in-law. She watches entirely too much television, but is trying hard not to let her children do the same. She is as big a fan of Curious George on PBS as she is of many of her favorite "grown-up" shows. Reach her at avernon@lohud.com or 845-578-2425.
E-mail Amy Vernon at avernon@lohud.com
My mother-in-law just moved out of the house we shared and into a house in the Poconos, so we had a lovely first Thanksgiving in the new home on Thursday.
As usual, my MIL soaked the turkey in a kosher salt/sugar solution overnight, which keeps the entire thing moist with minimal basting and makes it so [...]
My father commented to me the other day that, gosh, gas prices sure have dropped quite a bit lately, but those food prices haven’t.
Isn’t that always the way, though? Prices always go up quickly, but don’t seem to go down nearly as fast, nor as evenly.
But add to that the uncertain economic climate and the [...]
Well, it seems that Rafaelito is enjoying greens — well, vegetables, at least — more with each passing day.
One afternoon when grandma was watching him earlier this week, he asked for green bell pepper with his “special sauce.”
Then he set about enjoying red bell peppers as well. The nice thing is that he’s been asking [...]
Our efforts to get Rafael to eat more greens have borne more fruit (vegetables?) of late. The newest victory? Brussels sprouts.
We figured the sprouts might win our picky boy over, seeing as they’re a member of the cabbage family and Rafael really likes cabbage.
So, we figured, why not try the über-mini-cabbages?
We learned long ago [...]
Just a quickie today — I got an e-mail the other day from some folks over at Grandparents.com who enjoyed my Halloween protein pus pockets post.
So I checked out the site and found a fun tidbit — the Jif peanut butter folks are holding their Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest.
The folks over at Jif [...]
I have two boys.
Let me repeat: I have two boys.
No matter what anyone says about children being children and all being the same, I can tell you, that’s a load of hooey.
Sure, there are girls who are not so girly (I, myself, was always a tomboy) and boys who are not so enamored of fart [...]
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how we were having trouble getting greens back into Rafael’s diet.
This week, a modicum of success: Green bell peppers.
Part of it, like anything with children, is the sales job.
The day before Rafael tried the bell pepper for the first time, my husband talked it up. And told Rafael [...]
I’ve seen this video before and always meant to blog on it, but kept forgetting. So when I saw it today, I knew I had to run right over here to ice cream and share it with you.
Frankly, this isn’t just for the kiddies. I know my husband would probably like this, too. And it’s [...]
The smitchiks and I spent the day at a friend’s house on Long Island, and for lunch she made pasta for the three — my two boys and her daughter, who’s almost a year older than Rafael.
Rafael, of course, declared he wasn’t hungry when asked, but my friend’s no fool and was making enough for [...]
I have to admit, my children generally eat pretty healthy.
Yes, we give them animal crackers. They get chocolate sometimes, but it’s dark chocolate. And the milk they drink is organic.
The problem is greens. In the past, we used to be able to get our children to eat more greens.
Both were really into peas at various [...]
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As most parents soon discover, feeding a family is rarely that easy, whether its nursing a fussy newborn or trying to get a hot meal into a squirming toddler (or attempting both at the same time.) And that's not even the days when work runs late, the main course burns, or your adventurous little sushi eater announces from now on she will only eat food that is pink. As parents ourselves, we've been there, done that, even learned a few tricks along the way. And we're pretty sure so have you. Maybe together we can make eating together as a family -- gulp! -- fun again.     Hema Easley has been a reporter for The Journal News since July 2002, first covering municipal government and then nonprofit agencies, women's issues and the South Asian and Muslim community in the Lower Hudson Valley. In her previous job, Hema was a correspondent for the Associated Press in South Asia. She lives with her husband and two sons in Orange County. Katie Ryan O'Connor, a Journal News editor and 35-year-old mother of three, never quite appreciated the work that went into feeding kids until she had to do it herself as a mother. If she had a food-and-kids philosophy it would be something like this: try your best to offer as much healthy food as possible, but sometimes fruits just have to be counted as vegetables and there are far worse things than chicken and spaghetti. Again. Tracey Princiotta, a 37-year-old mother of one, loves to cook, bake and eat, and is relieved that her son appears to be equally willing to chow down -- even if it's baby food and formula right now. Despite her husband's intense aversion to vegetables, she has high hopes of nurturing a true chowhound who will try everything at least once. And if all else fails, she's not above sneaking veggies into other foods. Marcela Rojas has been a municipal reporter with The Journal News since January 2003. She is a native of Putnam County and grew up eating Peruvian food. She didn't realize until she was 13 that rice did not come with everyone's meal. After several years of living in Los Angeles -- where she grew a fondness for Thai food -- she returned to Putnam County where she now lives with her husband and daughter. Zyla (rhymes with Lilah) just turned 1 in March and, so far (her mother is pleased to note), loves to eat everything. Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, a Journal News reporter, started her career as a journalist in 1999 after graduating with a master's degree from New York University. Before joining the paper in 2006, Swapna worked as a municipal reporter for the Home News Tribune in New Jersey, and took a baby sabbatical to care for her two children, now ages 7 and 5. She has currently outsourced feeding her children and husband to her mother, who is visiting from India. Her friend and colleague Katie O'Connor, informs Swapna that she wouldn't mind being fed Indian food by her mother, too.
 Randi Weiner has been a reporter with The Journal News since 1989, having covered police, government and schools in Westchester and in Rockland. An Ohio native and 1976 graduate of Bowling Green State University, she worked for daily newspapers in Ohio and Michigan before moving east. She has tended bar and danced in a beledi troup and sat on the boards of two community theaters. She plays mandolin with the Shamrogues, ConnecticutÕs largest Irish band. Randi lives in Connecticut with her husband and has three children. |
Copyright ©2009 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties in New York.
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