It's a dreary day today, but yesterday was near perfect for the Run for the Wild: Save the Tigers 5K at The Bronx Zoo. Li'l Boo insisted on wearing his Detroit Tigers shirt for the Tiger run. (Thanks to his aunts for sending it to him.) He covered it up in the chilly morning with his zip-up Yankees hoodie, which was a great choice as we learned upon arrival for the race that the Yankees World Series trophy would be on display for photos at the end of the race.
Our mini-Ross was in paleontologist heaven today. Seriously. He had his first dinosaur encounter.
The kiddo proved his bravery yet again as we stood in the crowd of around 100 people and he PET the most realistic dinosaur we have ever seen.
For two years we've been waiting for the return of Walking with Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular to Madison Square Garden (MSG). Today, Li'l Boo got an up close look (and feel) of the smallest incredibly life-like character from the show: the baby T-Rex. It's making appearances every 30 minutes near the corner of 43rd and Madison today and tomorrow as part of the EarthFair going on near Grand Central. Check out the video to see for yourself:
To be honest, I am shocked that Li'l Boo even put his hand out to pet the baby T-Rex in the video. He later commented that he wanted to take one home, "but smaller, like when it comes out of the egg", he says (perhaps a reference to Buddy the T-Rex on PBS's Dinosaur Train). However, It was so lifelike in its skin, movements and range of motion that it looked crazily real out in the middle of 43rd Street.
It roared and whipped its tail around with such force that the crowd had to duck with amazing reflexes to avoid getting whacked in the head. It moved in close to people's faces and bags to take a look or snap at them and make everyone jump.
It. Was. Awesome.
Or, as Li'l Boo says with a fist-pump, "double awesome!"
We cannot wait to see the show in July! There will be 12 performances from July 21st - 25th and to buy tickets, head to www.thegarden.com/dinos. There is a limited time special offer going on now until May 2nd! It is 22% off tickets with code DINOBLOG.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at my laptop, cappuccino in hand, skimming through my morning emails when one from Mamaista caught my attention. The email featured a modern take on children's wooden blocks, by a company called Tegu. The blocks are produced in Honduras in an effort to stimulate the local economy with a sustainable business that employs local people in a profitable trade, using abundant local resources, and reinvesting in the local community.
I checked out the site, admired the beautiful blonde (huesito wood?) and mahogany blocks with built-in magnets, and added my name to their waitlist to learn when the blocks would become available for purchasing again. That was around 10 a.m. Monday morning.
By close of business Monday, I received a personal email from Brandon, Tegu's Chief Customer Advocate, letting me know that they had sent an email out the previous week to their customer list announcing that the blocks would be in stock and available for purchase the next day, Tuesday. Since I joined the list after the email went out, he wanted me to know so I could take advantage of their availability.
I learned of a concept for the first time last week, in the run up to Earth Day on April 22nd, that within the eco-friendly green movement, there are actually "shades" of green. I heard that 65% of people fall under the shade "light green." These people have made some earth-friendly changes to their lifestyle, perhaps commuting or taking publictransportation and recycling some of their paper, glass, plastic and aluminum products, but haven't changed eveything in their life to live completely "dark green" by living their entire lives in the most earth-friendly ways they can possibly imagine.
It made me think about how so much of the green movement is really a throwback to the lifestyle from a half century ago, and how my grandmothers' generation must be getting such a kick out of it - as a return to the life they knew in their younger years, and for the most part, never really left behind. When I visit my grandmothers, they've always done more with less, and by comparison of consuming less, seemingly accomplished more. They've continued their gardens and sewing on buttons and cooking from scratch. They're today's hipsters without trying to be.
Friday night I was successful in getting c2cDad out of work early to join Li'l Boo and me at Madison Square Garden Theater for 101 Dalmatians the Musical. Li'l Boo was so excited to have him with us! The show didn't begin until 7 p.m., but we were treated to a private meet-and-greet beforehand with DX and Rascal, two of the real dog stars in the show. DX is a show dog, and Rascal came from Second Chances Dalmatian Rescus in Ohio - as well as many of the other dogs. All 15 of the dogs in the cast were noted in the program as in need of loving homes upon retirement from acting.
I recently attended my first cook-off and celebrity chef event at the 4th Annual Manischewitz Cook Off in Manhattan. Perfectly timed before the start of Passover, the cook-off celebrated recipes that featured Manischewitz All-Natural Broth. The recipes were all certified kosher, though not necessarily kosher for Passover. (Though Manischewitz did display their new kosher for passover products and I nearly went silly once I got home hunting down the new cotton candy for the kiddo to try.) It was the first cook-off I've attended and I may be hooked!
The day began with a private media tasting with the legendary Chef Jacques Pepin. While I was familiar with him from his series on PBS Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way (and More Fast Food My Way), I learned that he began his formal cooking apprenticeship at age 13 (easy when your parents run a restaurant), and quickly earned respect for his creations, even serving as personal chef to three French heads of state - including Charles de Gaulle in the late 1950s. He moved to the US in 1959 where he made further contributions to the culinary arts and recently earned France's highest civilian honor, the French Legion of Honor.
