HAPPY NEW YEAR!! TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!

I thought I wouldn't write on my blog until 2011.  My son is leaving for an internship in NYC tomorrow and since he's been helping me send my thoughts I thought I'd try to fly solo and do this myself!  So wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We had an eventful 2010.  Five out of six of my family members had a special birthday, our first grandchild was born, and our son graduated from UCSC.  It seemed like I was a party planner all year long!  KITCHEN ART helped me because I have learned to do things quickly and be inspired with the ideas and tools around me.

In December I was visiting my mom in NYC and of course one day we walked up Fifth Avenue to see the famous Christmas windows!  I enjoyed Lord and Taylor's windows which showed change throughout the decades.  Things change, but they also stay the same as what is most important is family, friends and peace on Earth.Here is one idea from KITCHEN ART to help you ring in the New Year with your family.

FUN FAVORS:

SILVER 'FIRECRACKERS':

INGREDIENTS:  recycled paper towel tube, tin foil, candies, note paper, recycled twist ties, glue.

TOOLS: scissors, glue brush, recycled jar lid, ruler

INSTRUCTION:  1. Cut tin foil to cover tube, leaving 2" extra on either end. 2.  Squirt glue into jar lid and glue tin foil in place.  Dry.  3.  Carefully twist one end closed with tie.  3.  Write out resolutions and good wishes for the New Year on your note paper.  Fill tube with candies and notes and twist other end closed. 4.  Give as a 'FIRECRACKER FAVOR' !!!

Happy New Year and hope you and your family have a warm and wonderful 2011!

Twas the Night After Christmas...

Twas the Night After Christmas...
I thought I would get to post my blog more frequently this month since KITCHENART has so many exciting holiday projects, but alas, family responsibilities have kept me super busy!  Speaking of family---blog writing has interesting side effects.  First, on a positive note, I have inspired two family members to possibly start their own blogs.  One on being raised vegetarian and the other on surfing in Hawaii.  Inspiring people is exciting! On the negative side blog writing puts you in the public eye and leaves the writer open to all comments, positive and negative.  One comment and reaction I received reminded me of the winners at the Academy Awards.  The nominees are nervous, not whether they win or lose, but, if they do win they might thank their first grade teacher before they mention their wife.  Divorce papers might end up on the night stand right next to their beloved Oscar!  Anyway either you'll fold or develop a thicker skin!

Once again in this month of holiday decorations and festivities I am reminded how simple things can become elaborate.  Decorating the outside fir tree with peanut butter rolled in bird seed will bring a multitude of birds and a beautiful outdoor scene.  Another way to decorate your tree is with popcorn and tiny balls of rolled tin foil.

One of my favorite projects, fit for every occasion, but especially ornament making is simple: water, flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil and food coloring!

ABC'S WITH COLORFUL PLAYDOUGH
Teachers tell us tactile learning, combining several senses, is the best kind of learning.  Include smiles and laughter and some holiday cookie cutters and you'll have and afternoon of educational fun.

INGREDIENTS: 1 cup white flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 1 1/2 tbsp. cream of tartar, several drops, 1 tbsp. vegetable oil.

TOOLS:  saucepan, measuring cup, measuring spoon, stove, cutting board, plastic storage bags, and cookie cutters to create holiday ornaments.

INSTRUCTION:  *Adult supervision is required.  Set up:  1.  Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar, stir, add water, oil and a few drops of food coloring.  2.  Place over low heat, stir continuously for about five minutes.  When a ball forms in the pan your dough is ready. 3.  Cool slightly, remove and place on floured cutting board.  Knead for five minutes.  TO MAKE ABC'S:  4.  Roll long snake on cutting board.  Help your child turn the snake into letters.  Now spell some words.  Store in airtight container in refrigerator for days of fun!  OR CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS use rolling pin and cut out shapes with cookie cutters or mold freehand.  Bake in oven at moderate heat for about 20 minutes.  Thickness of pieces will determine the time. 

Well, that's a rap for 2010!   You keep creating and I will try and be more responsible in writing my blog!  Have a good New Years!

Black Friday - Post Thanksgiving Fun!

The day after Thanksgiving and my family is still sleeping. There is snow on the ground, blue skies mixed with morning coastal fog and a warm fire blazing.

We had a wonderful holiday, from great-grandma Blanche to little Zora. Everyone worked together chopping and dicing and baking. Now, today, it is time for relaxation, family fun, and left-overs. For most Americans the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. SHOPPING!  Here in the country, two-and-a-half hours from any mall, it is more fun, cheaper, and far less hectic as we enjoy our view, our family, and some Kitchen Art projects.

My daughter Sage wants her daughter to be an adventuresome eater, so yesterday 7-month-old Zora ate organic yams with cinnamon plus tasted organic fresh pineapple, organic persimmon, and a quick suck on an organic onion.

I realized onion tasting might become all the rage after this past season of Dancing with the Stars when coach Tony had his star munching on an onion---the object to reduce stress and add levity to any situation.

Anyways, watching Zora eat, I realized she will be the perfect candidate for The 'Nose' Guessing Game a few years from now.


Nose Guessing Game:
This game works to  stimulate your child's senses. It increases their visual memory (seeing) and encourages their sense of smell.

Ingredients: hard boiled egg, lemon wedge, swiss cheese, pickle, onion slice, peanut butter, chocolate cake, paper muffin cups, blindfold.

Tools: knife, two or more children, cutting board.

Instruction: This is a creative game. 1. Prepare foods and cut into slices. 2. Place individual portions into muffin cups. 3. Play game: blindfold child and hold individual cups up to their nose. Have them guess what is in your hand! Object of the game: to stimulate your child's senses!

Additional Ideas: This game can be played to increase and stimulate the other senses. Blindfolded, have the children taste or touch the food. Or increase their hearing. Place objects in baby-food jars (corn puffs, nuts, tin foil balls) shake and have them guess! Try additional food and kitchen items and happy guessing! Or this game can be played with teams and become competitive!


Over the weekend I had the pleasure of Zora's nap time.  Realizing she likes music, sound, and a good beat, I knew my Oatmeal Shake Drum was the perfect project. I created the drum to play with her and help her fall asleep.


Oatmeal Shake Drum:

There are lots of different types of homemade drums. Originally Native Americans hollowed out dried logs and stretched deer skin across one open end to make their music. Today your child will use oatmeal containers or tin cans.

Ingredients: One large recycled oatmeal container (circular type), one cup dried legumes, tin foil, glue.

Tools: Scissors, glue brush, recycled jar lid.

Instruction: 1. Place dried legumes into empty oatmeal container. 2. Squirt glue into jar lid and put layer of glue around open end of cylinder and glue on top. Dry. 3. Cut designs from tin foil (stars are nice). Glue and dry. 4. Place under arm or between thighs, bang on top or shake. Make rhythm and dance!

Additional Ideas: Before you glue on top, stretch long string of bottle cap jingles across opening. Then adhere top. OR cover entire container with tin foil and add painted napkin as decoration. Beat to the music.


These two projects are fun for all ages. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Look forward to my next blog for more family fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fallen red, yellow, and brown leaves are dancing with the howling wind, as crisp autumn air reminds us the seasons are changing.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Winter Holidays--a season of expectation and family fun.  KITCHEN ART has a ton of projects to keep parents, grandparents, and children occupied for hours!

Remember in my last blog I wrote about my friend in Tarrytown who recycled brown grocery bags to create fire-people costumes for her class?  Tarrytown is also know as Sleepy Hollow.  Remember the Headless Horseman? Perhaps next year she'll stuff a small lunch bag into a pumpkin shape use food coloring to paint the scary face, attach the pumpkin bag to the bottom of a recycled grocery bag after cutting small eye holes then slip over the child's head.  Voila' recycled Headless Horseman KITCHEN ART STYLE!

I live about 170 miles north of San Francisco.  My house is fifteen minutes up a dirt road off Interstate Highway 101.  Now that my children have grown creating a venue to present my KITCHEN ART projects requires organization, driving, and networking.  Each town and school district is about thirty minutes and twenty miles from the next.  We live in the West and I am often reminded of the Wild West and the Pony Express.  Twenty miles was a day's ride in those days.  There is lots of history and much Native American appreciation in this area. 

Anyway, as I am organizing my classes and schedules I am reminded of the time I was involved with my Touchstones Discussions Group.  We had a great idea but organizing was the hardest part.  Everyone loved the concept --- discussion to create better communication.  DISCUSS not debate---wonderful.  But then the leaders would drive two hours and a class test was suddenly rescheduled or there was an impromptu assembly!  We were low man on the totem pole! 

Well, while I solve this battle with KITCHEN ART and classroom activities let's think about Thanksgiving and totem poles and your recycling bin!


ACTIVITIES FOR THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS:

TOTEM POLES

Totems are the symbols (usually plant or animal) of  a certain Native American family or tribe and their ancestral relationship.  Totem poles originated as tree posts carved with these motifs (one on top of the other).  Some Native American tribes decorated the entrance to their dwellings with these poles.  Today your child can make their own totem pole with recycled ingredients.  For additional expression they can choose an animal or natural symbol that best represents their family.

INGREDIENTS:  recycled egg cartoons, recycled paper towel tubes, large oatmeal container, glue, tin foil, tape, nine inch paper plates.

TOOLS:  Scissors, glue brush, recycled jar lid

INSTRUCTION:  1. Tape several tubes or circular containers together, standing end on end. Tape bottom tube to paper plate for base. 2.  Squirt glue into jar lid.  Cut egg carton and attach different forms to totem pole using glue or tape.  Egg cartoons make good eyes, ears, nose, even wings.  3. Cover with tin foil for extra zest!  Use your imagination!


DEVILED TURKEYS

This is an appetizer your children can make and serve.  Tasty and easy to make, your family will love 'deviled turkeys.'

INGREDIENTS:  one dozen eggs, two carrots, one cup mayonnaise, four black olives, two pickles, mustard to taste, dash of salt and pepper, water.

TOOLS:  knife, cutting board, saucepan, stove (adult supervision required), mixing bowl, fork, spoon, large plate.

INSTRUCTION:  Adult supervision required.  Prepare turkeys.  1.  Wash hands. Boil eggs for 10 to 15 minutes until hard boiled.  Cool in cold water. 2.  Peel eggs and place on cutting board. Slice in half, lengthwise.  3.  Place yolks in a bowl, add mayo, mustard and seasoning.  Mix together.  4.  Carefully spoon deviled egg mixture into white halves making mounds with yolk mixture.  5.  Cut pickles into thin, short pieces.  Cut olives into tiny pieces. Slice carrots into circles and cut each circle in half.  Make jagged line along straight edge, like a crown.  6:  Assemble your turkey.  Carrots for gobbles and crown, olives for eyes, pickles for beaks.  7.  Serve to you guests and enjoy!

ADDITIONAL IDEAS:  Be creative.  Turn your deviled eggs into other animals. Sprinkle with paprika for added color.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Happy Halloween

In my last entry I mentioned my Grandma's four ingredient Birthday Cake.  It got me thinking but first here's her recipe..

One large layer pan

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 pint heavy sweet cream
1 1/2 cups Presto Flour (baking powder and soda added)

Mix ingredients in order
if using electric mixer do not over beat
bake moderate oven @ 350 degrees
30 minutes

ICING

3 tablespoons Crisco
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
2 cups confectionery sugar
3 tablespoons cream or top milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Use pastry bag or folded paper to make designs.

This recipe is over fifty years old and it is funny how times change.  I still remember the General Electric display at the 1964 and 1965 New York World's Fair. I was delighted with the revolving circular building that displayed four periods of inventions from the first electric lamps to thoughts of the future.

Modernization!  Modern inventions making life easier. I'm sure grandma loved Presto flour and Crisco.

Modernization has encouraged people to trust and believe in the system.  A system of fast foods, fast cars and fast video games.  A system that moves so fast itself it often forgets the pitfalls and ramifications of health and emotional well being!

Today, 2010, I've learned instant foods, high fructose corn syrup, excessive preservatives and additives might not be the healthiest.  I am a vegetarian and mostly shop at our local health food store.  I make my cakes with organic pastry flour from the bulk section and try to remember to bring my own recycled bags!  Our daughter, also a vegetarian, makes her own granola while her daughter, six-month- old Zora, sits in her highchair, playing with measuring spoons and watches.

What would Zora's great-great-grandmother think watching her family move from the immediate to the simple...simple organic vegetarian ingredients.  Homemade granola, homemade baby food, homemade pizza dough. 

Michael Pollan, the U.C. Berkeley journalism professor and now food advocate, author of many books, including Food Rules An Eater's Manual also encourages simple.  Rule 2 in this book, "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"  Rule 6  "Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients"

NOW... you must be asking what does this have to do with KITCHEN ART? 

A sub-theme of KITCHEN ART is simplicity---using simple ingredients with simple instructions to create spectacular results which enrich your family's creativity.

Another sub-theme is sparking your own creativity.  Once you become familiar with my projects you will get your own creative juices flowing.

Spending time with my granddaughter and writing this blog have gotten my own ideas again flowing.  The empty water bottle partly filled with rice to make an instant rattle is just one idea.

CHAPTER THREE of KITCHEN ART is PAPER BAGS.  This chapter is perfect for Halloween.  Using paper bags and paper plates you can create a multitude of costumes.   You can also make trick-or-treat bags. 

Look around your kitchen and your recycled bin.  Paper towel tubes, tin cans, lint from the dryer,  cupcake holders. Now recycle your brown supermarket bag. Cut two holes for the arms, a hole for the head and glue on your objects.  A zombie, a robot or even make a Native American costume or Western Jacket.  Cut fringe along the bottom and draw Native American symbols (lightening bolts are good) on the entire bag.  To make a vest cut along the center fold from waist to neck and use additional fringed pieces glued to shoulders for extra zest.

A friend in Tarrytown N.Y. turned her entire pre-school class into fire-people using paper bags as the base when they went treat-or-treating to their local firehouse. 

So if you need a quick costume open those kitchen cabinets.  Red, blue and yellow icing can be painted on cheeks for war paint or stars.  Cupcake holders can be used as flowers or added to a clown costume.

And if you want a special treat for those trick-or-treaters make your own candied apples.

Use your imagination...And Happy Halloween!

 

IT IS TIME TO GET STARTED!

It is time to get started! It is time to turn to the first chapter of Kitchen Art and get your young ones creating.  Not only is it time to open the book, it is time to open those kitchen cabinets and also open your mind to get your own creative juices flowing!

CHAPTER ONE is dedicated to food coloring.  My first memory of food coloring was watching my grandmother decorate her delicious four ingredient birthday cake.  I still remember watching her skillful hands decorate the white icing that covered the cake.  We had made extra icing and we divided the remainder into several small bowls.
    "What colors shall we make the flowers, this time, Dawn?" Grandma asked.
    "Oh, let's mix lots," I excitedly responded.
So a few drops of each color, yellow, green, blue and red went into their separate bowls of icing.  Then grandma filled the pastry bag and began creating her design.  TIP: ( In a pinch you can make your own pastry bag by cutting a piece of parchment about 11 by 15 inches folding diagonally and rolling into a tube).  Green leaves, red and blue flowers with yellow centers.  Then magic as we mixed blue and red to make purple for the special flowers!
    "Voila," Grandma said proudly, "Your Dad will love his cake!"

Maybe watching my grandmother's enjoyment  as she worked in her kitchen inspired me to find my creative self.  Or watching us mix the primary colors together to create purples and oranges or deeper greens, or perhaps my own name, Dawn, was my inspiration. Whatever my inspiration I love color and I love using my imagination to create projects for kids.

EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOR:  This project teaches the first rule of color right in your kitchen.  You can create the color wheel with the three primary food colors red, blue and yellow.  You'll need the three colors plus a muffin tin, an eye dropper, measuring spoons, water, alcohol, white paper napkins.  TIP: (when you are done with the plastic measuring spoons wash them and give them to your infant to play with.  Sitting in their highchair he/she will feel like part of the group project and love playing with the colorful plastic spoons). 

Using eye dropper place several drops of each color into individual tins.  Following the color wheel create the secondary colors; red + yellow = orange, red + blue = purple, blue + yellow = green.  Add one tbsp. of alcohol plus one tbsp. water then stir with dropper and begin dropping dye onto napkin.   TIP: (Fold the napkin several times dip each corner into the dye and open for a special surprise!)  TIP: (Have kids work on parchment paper or cookie tray for fast clean up!)

So besides  experimenting with color or having fun filling pastry bags with colorful icing remember dying the white carnation green for Saint Patrick's Day.  It was a big hit in the elementary science class.
Well, now try celery.

SCIENTIFIC CELERY:  Simple and fast: partially fill several mason jars with water and several drops of food coloring in each TIP: (Neon food coloring is now available).  Clean then slice your celery stalks on an angle and place in the jars.  Wait several days as you watch the food coloring traveling up the veins of the celery.  What you are really doing is watching the celery eat and drink!

These are just a few ideas from CHAPTER ONE of KITCHEN ART.  Experiment yourself and see what projects you create!

See you soon! Dawn

ACCOMPLISHING DORMANT DREAMS

This week as summer turns towards fall and golden leaves replace fragrant roses I have begun gathering my sources to line up classes to present 'Kitchen Art' projects.  Going backward into the past to move forward with a dream.

I know it is not impossible.  One of my first classes at NYU was dedicated to  twentieth-century  authors.  At that moment I feel in love. Ever since fifth grade English and writing were always my passion, but after this class I was head-over-heels!!  We were introduced to James Joyce, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote among others.  We read only a chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses, introducing us to the world of Leopold Bloom, but I promised myself one day I would read the entire novel.

And yes---thirty years later it was the first novel our book club read;  it took us nine months and we were fortunate enough to have an eighty-plus-year-old Dubliner as our host.  Ten years later our book club is still going strong and I have learned an important lesson-- even dormant dreams can be revived and accomplished!

So as I organize these classes, the going is slow since all the teachers are still setting their own schedule and class ground rules, I'll tell you more about my book.  It is an encyclopedia of sorts,  a vast amount of ideas coming from well-stocked kitchen cabinets to fill hours of fun.

Besides what's behind your cabinets another main theme is to use YOUR OWN imagination.  Just like the idea 'a baby can be just as content with pots and pans' as $200.00 toys---my book can spark your imagination.  I have over one hundred projects but you can create more. 

The first chapter is dedicated to Food Coloring.  Like I said Neon Food Coloring is now on the shelves.  Start stocking your shelves with food coloring, muffin tins, paper towels, coffee filters, tea bags, celery, red cabbage and what else? Use YOUR OWN imagination and next week we'll do some art.

And maybe join a book club or ask yours to tackle Ulysses!  A definite challenge worth exploring.

See you next time!  Dawn

THREE STEPS BACKWARD---TWO STEPS FORWARD

THREE STEPS BACKWARD---TWO STEPS FORWARD  September 11, 2010

I was born in New York City.  We moved to the North Shore of Long Island shortly after my birth but as a child I spent nearly every weekend visiting my Czechoslovakian relatives in the city.  Besides enjoying the Czech neighborhood and the delicious ethnic foods I played in Central Park, visited the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, of course, walked along Fifth Avenue.  After high school I moved into the city and attended and graduated from both a fashion design school and New York University.  New York City and San Francisco are my two favorite places.

I had nearly let September 11, 2001 slip my mind this year.   But once reminded I felt I had a magnet pulling me and I'm reliving everything from that time nine years ago.  To console myself today I have spoken to my friends and relatives who live in New York.   We laughed, we remembered, we celebrated life.

BUT HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO "KITCHEN ART"?  Certainly much great art is political but "KITCHEN ART" is not.  Unless that is your desire.  My book's objective is to have fun with color, fun with art on a shoestring, and fun with your family.  

The correlation is PROCRASTINATION!  I have procrastinated nearly fifteen years in taking the final step in publishing my books.  New York City still refers to the crash site as "Ground Zero," not Peace Park, or Memorial Park or whatever.  I believe we need to move forward to heal. 

Now as I prepare to revisit my two books to move forward with the most difficult aspect (in my opinion)---publishing---I am revisiting another part of my past.  After thirty-four years of constant parenting, (my first child is seventeen years older than my last), all my four children have moved on into their own successful lives.  I'll always be a parent and now a grandparent but it is different.  Its "empty nest". 

Anyway this week I revisited our local elementary school and spoke to other contacts I've made over the years so I can establish an avenue for my books.  I hope to present the projects to eager hands and perhaps have my middle-grade novel read in the classroom.  I am promoting myself and my art to create a platform to reach this final goal---publication. 

So I revisited the past, so many great memories, (every Kitchen Art project has been done by my kids and their friends) to move into the future.  And can you imagine there is now NEON food coloring!

See  you Soon!

Excited!!!

In February 2010 I attended The San Francisco Writer's Conference.  An excellent event; guest speakers, a vast selection of workshops, great food, plus something called 'Speed Dating".  On Valentine's Day I "speed dated" meeting a variety of agents as I pitched my perfected craft.  I was presenting both my middle-age novel and my 'Kitchen Art' how-to-book.  Some interest was shown in my novel but greater interest was expressed in "Kitchen Art'.  But the same questions were asked: Did I have a platform?  Did I have a blog? So many years earlier, when I had completed and complied my book, procrastination and fear daunted and haunted me. Back then, even in the nineties, before technology soared, publishers promoted books.  Today authors write AND promote!

While I start again---retesting all these projects--watching little hands create and bigger hands present (your ten-year -old can instruct while your five-year-old creates and you cook dinner)---you start stacking your shelves.  Food coloring, paper bags, all sizes, straws and paper plates, just to start.

Talk to you soon!

Beginning...September 5 2010

"Uncle Teal meets Baby Zora"

Welcome to “Kids Create Kitchen Art” or “Dawn’s Blog”! Hi, I’m Dawn, a mother of four, a grandmother of one, and an expert in the creation of quick fun art projects with ingredients pulled from well-stocked kitchen cabinets.

In these tough economic times when working mothers are tired and pinching pennies, when daycare owners are on over-load with tight budgets, plus every parent wants their kids away from junk food and excessive TV. , my book “Kitchen Art” offers helpful solutions.

I welcome you to share my journey as I give you helpful hints to create pleasant artistic days with your children; as well as chuckle as I share memorable moments with enthusiastic children, all from well-stocked kitchen cabinets.

Laugh with me too, as I explore the world of publishing, blogging, and computer madness.   I first compiled “Kitchen Art” seventeen years ago when my youngest son, Teal, was still a toddler.  Now he is a sophomore at U.C. Merced and I have the time and renewed dedication to create a platform to share and publish my book.  Plus, I look forward to revisiting these projects and creating art in the kitchen with my grandbaby, Zora -- this new, delightful child.

Have fun and see you soon!