2011 – Page 8 – a hippie with a minivan

Dehydrated Pumpkin

Did you know that I love my dehydrator? I mean really, truly love it?

We had a blast carving pumpkins at Hallow’een, but there was no way that I would let them go to waste. I mean, gnocchi, pumpkin cinnamon buns, pumpkin butter etc… How can I not make all of those?

However, pumpkin purée takes up so much space and I desperately need to unfrost my deep freezer. So I wondered… can I dehydrate it? Well… Of course I can!!!

cut the pumpkin in half and place it face down (or face up if it carved 😉 ) in a pan and bake at 350 until tender… (you can also do the same with any other squash)

(Xavier’s Pumpkin grew a chin in the oven…)

The peel will be very easy to just peel off… so do that and place the purée on your dehydrator tray and follow your dehydrator’s instructions for veggies.

I found that the easiest way it to first put it on a non stick paper on the tray first and then when it is half way done flip it onto the tray so that it can dry completely. You don’t really have to do it, but If you skip this step it will stick inside the little holes of the tray and it will be time consuming to clean up…

Tear the dehydrated purée into pieces and place in the blender and process…

What you get is a crushed dehydrated pumpkin…

See that jar? That is actually 5 pumpkins worth 🙂

To rehydrate, use 1/4 cup of powder with 1 cup of boiling water. Let sit and cool before using in a recipe 🙂

and don’t forget to do those seeds too!

Électrium

On the south shore of Montreal, on highway 30, just east of the 20, there is a hidden gem called the “Électrium” that not many people seem to know about…

Really, unless you are going there specifically, or out to one of the towns past the 20 (including where I live) you would never see it.

The Électrium is Hydro-Quebec’s “Electricity Interpretation Centre”… It is full of information, experiments and hands on activities about electricity and best of all, it is free! If you have read my blog for while or looked back in the archives you will see that I have already written about it, but another visit, warrants another post.

Last Friday the boys and I headed to Montreal for Wilhelmina’s Dr. Appointment… (btw… everything is looking good!!!) On the way back I went to the Atwater market to get some veggies and food for the week and then on the ride back home I decided to stop at the Électrium on a whim. Each time we had passed by the boys would talk about it but it was never a good time, so this time it was perfect and they got so excited when I took the exit.When we arrived, there was no else there.

We were met at the door by one of the guides and she asked if we wanted to just go around by ourselves or if we wanted the guided tour… The last time we were there we were with a french homeschooling group, so even though the kids understand french, it takes a bit more effort and were not able to really listen and follow. Of course, it was also more than 2 years ago so the age difference adds much more to comprehension also. So I said that it would be fun to have an english guided tour. We were asked to wait for a minutes in the unlikely event that others that wanted to follow an English tour may arrive, but no one did so we started…

(Waiting for the tour to start)

The first part of the tour is watching a series of clips on electricity made by the NFB.

They only showed the ones on electricity but the whole set can be watched here… (they are really fun to watch!!!)

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/science_please_1

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/science_please_part_2

After the watching the clips we were led into the next room which is about safety. The guide was great and really engaged the kids… even Willa was interested… well… somewhat…

Because it was just us and the guide, the boys were able to ask as many questions as they wanted and the guide was great at answering them. He was also very passionate about his job and about what he was talking about which made it so much more interesting and informative.

After learning about safety, it was the section on electricity in nature. Our own nervous system, our reflexes, the brain, heart etc… and of course, on of the highlights of the show is the electric eel (did you know that it is actually not an eel but a knifefish?). A blue panel next to the tank has lights that light up when the eel becomes electrified. Pretty cool of you ask me…

The next section is about static electricity and starts with a small film on the Aurora Borealis/Australis and lightening… both natural reactions of static electricity…

(making balls move though glass using static electricity)

This is of course a favourite section for all because static electricity means playing with the Plasma ball and the Van de Graaff Generator.

(Wilhelmina loved the Plasma Ball)

(Van de Graaff Generator)

The last section is on magnetism and generating electricity. The boys listed and took in as much as they could but soon started getting restless… they last about 90 min before this so it was actually pretty impressive!

Since we were getting the private tour we were able to cut it short at that point and the guide left us alone so that we could go back to the beginning and the we could play with everything again…

Again, this is a great, free, hands on place to head with the kids… If you are in Montreal it is worth the short ride and will make for a great outing. They do ask for people to call ahead to not be at the same time as a group, it is a small place so if a school group is there, it will be cramped and not much fun but if it a lazy day, like on the day we went, it is a great way to spend a few hours…

NaBloPoMo 2011

For the fourth year in a row I have decided to do NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) in which the goal is to have at least one post per day for the whole month. Each year I use it as the opportunity to get back into the habit of writing and each year I find it hard but well worth it. When I was with Willa at the hospital I wondered if I had missed it (I forgot if it was Oct or Nov) and when I got back home I was so happy to see that I hadn’t. Of course if I had missed it, I could have done it by myself but my self-motivation is at times lacking and having the added outside pressure trumps my procrastination.

So I am putting myself up for the challenge once again. Posting every day for the whole month and getting back into the habit of blogging on a more regular basis.

So… If you have any ideas for me I would love to hear them!! Questions? topics you would like to hear my point of view on? Recipes that you would like to see?

I’m open!

And if you have a blog and are also going up for the challenge I would love for you to share your link with me…

Hallowe'en 2011

Last night was one of my favourite nights of the year. An evening when you can walk in the neighbourhood and see kids laughing and running from house to house. People talk when they pass in the street or at the least say Hi and smile.

Yesterday Simon stayed home from work. We watched our favourite cartoons and had a relaxing day before getting dressed to go out…

Wilhelmina was just waking up from a nap when it was time to get dressed so we were able to get her dressed with the promise that we would be going out walking afterward which made all of the misery of getting a costume on disappear. We left a bit early so that I could use what was left of the natural light for a few pictures.

(My Fairy princess, General Grievous, Fireman, and, Harry Potter)

We headed out into the neighborhood only going to a few houses at first but mostly walking around and taking in the beautiful evening..

Simon and the kids…

Wilhelmina was way too small last year to realize anything that was happening but this year she was so excited to follow her brothers to a few doors… at first she would walk up to the door but then shy away the minute she recieved any attention from the person giving candy but then she started to think that the whole thing was a blast and the more doors they went to the more she wanted to go to. By the end of the evening she was running along side her brothers and waiting patiently with them when they knocked and said “trick-or-treat!”

After about 2 1/2 hours of walking and enjoying the evening while the kids trick-or-treated… we ended up back home where we turned on our lights for the tail end on the night and our chance to give out candy also… (the candy that we had just picked up but can’t eat) We ate some candy, watched some Hallowe’en specials and then one by one sleep overcame the kids and we headed to bed… What a great night…

Hope you also had a great Hallowe’en!!!

Autumn..

Autumn is my favourite season…

The two weeks at the hospital and the time it took to recuperate afterwards makes me feel as though I missed out on the season completely… I missed when the leaves started to change and fall and I missed Thanksgiving and making the big meals that I love to prepare every year…

When I came home last week, I felt like I had no energy. I didn’t want to do anything and I was feeling a bit depressed. I made a few meals with what was in the house but didn’t do much more… I didn’t even pick up my camera…

I needed some time to myself, I needed to recharge and reset. I needed to get out.

By Saturday, we desperately needed Groceries. Though I am thankful to my mom for coming to stay with the boys, we do not have the same system when it comes to food. With a big family, It is important for me to have a system in place, we rarely run out of things because I think it is important (and cheaper) to think ahead. She on the other hand has another way of doing things and not only did I have to go out and buy things, I had to buy many things in double to get back on track. So my plan was to head to Costco and then decided that while I was out, I would to go to supper after. I called a friend and left a message and then tried another without any success so I just planned on going alone… However, after playing phone tag with a friend all day, we finally got in touch while I was out shopping and she jumped at the chance to come.. So I picked her up and we headed to the restaurant together for some well needed time out for both of us. It felt so good and it was really what I needed. I realize that it something that I need to start doing on a more regular basis. On Sunday morning,we all slept in and I finally sat down to write and then I went into the kitchen and made a great meal.

On Monday I arrived from Willa’s ultrasound and everyone was outside playing in the leaves and making a fire… it was perfect. I finally started to feel like we didn’t miss out on my favourite season after all… I got my camera out and felt at home…