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E-mail Hema Easley at heasley@lohud.com
Of late I’d been noticing my almost 3-year-old son had been eating a lot of ice. He points his index finger high in the air and says, “Just one more ice cube, please.” It melts my mommy soul and I almost always open the freezer and give him one. Once he’s done chewing the hard [...]
I have long lamented my youngest son’s limited palate. After months of rejecting anything that wasn’t pureed or cracker crisp, he’s now taken to wolfing down salami and chicken nuggets. It’s not something that makes me particularly happy. After all salami is full of nitrites and chicken nuggets are just processed chicken.
I have to take [...]
Every time I cook American/Western food, I wonder why I don’t do it more often. It’s simple, no muss no fuss, and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
The other day I made some split pea and ham soup, and let me tell you, it was one of the simpler meals I’ve made. It took [...]
After a frustrating few days trying to find nitrite-free lunch meet for my kids, I finally wrote to Trader Joe’s asking them if they would open a store in my neighborhood. I live up in Orange County and the closest store where I can find nitrite free meat is in New Jersey or Westchester. Which [...]
Every now and then, Aristu, my youngest will agree to eat a small bite of peanut butter. He’s not crazy about it; he refuses to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The last time I tried to give him one, he spat it out and exclaimed peee-uuuuu, baby speak for disgusting.
So I was quite amused [...]
As the only woman in my family of four, I’m usually the only one in the kitchen. My husband, who is happier than most men to do his share of chores and more, will avoid the kitchen like the plague. So it was a pleasant surprise when on Christmas Day, he and our oldest son [...]
Yesterday was my youngest son’s first proper Thanksgiving meal. Last year he was just over a year old and too young to really eat much of the spread. This year, though, he enjoyed his first bite of turkey and his first nibble of stuffing. And he loved the yams.
I enjoyed this Thanksgiving more than any [...]
Every Thanksgiving I seek refuge in neighbors and friends.
Having been raised outside the United States, I didn’t even know what Thanksgiving was, let alone know how to cook a turkey. Seven year after coming to the United States, I still haven’t mastered the art. Rather than struggle in the kitchen every November, my family and I [...]
With most pediatricians recommending that parents avoid cough medication for toddlers and young children, I’ve been wondering what to do when Aristu, my youngest, gets a nasty cough. For the most part I’ve made do with rubbing children’s Vicks on his chest and making sure he’s warm.
As a kid I remember my parents giving me [...]
For weeks I’ve been trying to wean my little son off these scrumptious bagel crisps we buy at BJs. Because they’re made of bleached flour and are high in fat, I try and discourage him from eating them, even while I steal a couple myself every now and then.
He doesn’t give in easily, though. He’ll [...]
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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, ConnecticutŐs 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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