This girl named Rhonda used to babysit me growing up. She lived a few doors down. I don’t remember Rhonda too much, except she had blonde hair, and taught me how to make the best at-home caramel popcorn ever. Knowing this is the last time I’ll ever be pregnant and figuring this is the last time I can eat whatever I want, I’ve been eating this a lot. If you love sweet-salty, THIS IS FOR YOU.

First step: Assemble margarine/butter and brown sugar — the best combination of food substances EVER.

Next: dump an obscene amount of margarine in a small saucepan over low heat. I’m talking, like, a quarter or more of a cup. It’s not called obscene for nothing. After it’s melted, dump an equally obscene amount of brown sugar (a little less than margarine) into said pot, and stir-stir-stir to get it all melted and mixed. (Hopefully your kitchen is like mine, and your stove faces a wall, so your significant other can’t see how much you’re dumping in the pot.)

While that’s happening, pop your corn. Air popped is best, in my opinion, because it’s fresher. Oh, and it’s better for you. You know, ’cause you should save some calories what with all the obsceneness going on above.

If you can time it right, start drizzling the margarine/brown sugar mix over the popcorn as it comes falling out the popper. This makes for maximum stickability, and keeps everything hot and fresh. Adding it after it’s a big deal, though. You may need some practice to get it perfect. The last six weeks of gestating have made me an expert.

Finally, lean over the bowl of obscene deliciousness and inhale. Don’t let your eyes roll too far back in your head, ’cause you’ll need to see the way to the couch where you’ll stuff your face in bliss.

Enjoy!

Did you hear or read or see the CTV/Globe and Mail tests and stories about bisephenol-A in canned goods such as apple juice, soup and baked beans?

Reaction to the story totally depends on which side you’re on.

The environmental peeps say Canadians are “marinating” in the chemical, and that “little by little, these exposures add up to a bigger hit.”

Product manufacturers say the found levels are well below safe levels from Health Canada, and question the testing methods.

More info for you to ponder. Read more info on BPA, sippy cups and bottles etc. here, here, here and here.

When I worked at the paper, there was a woman from another department who was pregnant. She was only the second knocked-up woman I’d ever seen really up close, on a daily basis, and I found it fascinating to watch her grow.

One morning I was in the cafeteria making a tea when she came in carrying an apple. She reached into her lunch bag in the fridge, and pulled out this metal wheel-thingine, much like a wagon wheel but with plastic handles on the edges. And much smaller, of course.

She placed the apple on a plate, lined up the middle of the wagon thingie, and heaved her girth straight down on the handles (she was petite, and probably seven or eight months along, but lemme tell you — that apple gave, people).

I stared, open-mouthed. Not at the small woman who’d exerted so much force, but at the apple. It was cored. And in eight, tidy little sections.

I loved it. I wanted it. I had to have it.

So Eric bought me one for Christmas in 2005, and now I use it pretty much every single day. I have sensitive teeth and weak gums, and get slaps on the wrist by my dentist if he hears I’m biting into things such as fruit with my teeth. I love that the corer does all the work for me, and makes apples and pears perfectly proportioned.

It’s also a fabulous tool for slicing up fruit for babies and toddlers. When I was making Lucy’s baby food, I cut apples and pears up this way before peeling, chopping and pureeing them. Now, it creates pieces perfect for her hands and has helped teach her how to take proper-sized bites.

I used to see them only at specialty kitchen stores, but now they are all over major department stores such as Canadian Tire and Sears.

Pregnant lady, baby, toddler and mom approved. Best wagon thingie ever.

Is your head spinning with trying to figure out this bisephenol-A information? Wondering what bottles, sippy cups and water jugs are safe?

From what I’ve read, polycarbonate bottles are labeled with a 7 on the bottom, for other plastics. Unfortunately, some BPA-free plastics (such as single-use beverage bottles) are also labeled 7, so it can be confusing. But at least this is a guide.

Here are some excellent resources for making sense of it all:

Z Recommends: The Z Report on BPA in children’s feeding products, third edition — I cannot recommend this site enough. This guy has interviewed almost every major baby product manufacturer and ranked them, creating a massive, comprehensive list of safe (and not safe) products. Truly the best resource on the Internet, which is why so many people have linked to it.

Plastic labeling — wondering what each little number on the bottom of plastic means? Here’s a fabulous list.

Rubbermaid BPA list — now here’s a wonderful thing to see. Rubbermaid has a list of ALL it’s products (with photos, for handy reference) and whether they do or do not contain BPA. If only all corporations did this.

Playtex BPA list — just got this via email from Playtex yesterday, a pdf of all their products, too. They’re also offering free samples of their BPA-free Nurser Drop-in system. Keep in mind that the bottles themselves contain BPA (although the food does not touch them, it does not help the process) and this creates a lot of garbage.

CBC News in-depth on BSA — richly detailed.

I was at Once Upon a Child in Ajax today, and they are back-ordered on all their stainless steel sippy cups until the end of May. Has anyone found them in Durham?

If you ever needed a(nother) reason to stop using and throw out your hard plastic/polycarbonate sippy cups, baby and drinking bottles, you have it now: Health Canada on Friday OFFICIALLY labeled bisephenol A dangerous.

Hooray! This is huge, huge, huge. Canada is the first country in the world to take this drastic step. I am so proud to be a Canadian today.

I actually did not know that retailers other than Mountain Equipment Co-op had pulled polycarbonate bottles from its shelves, but it turns out there are an impressive list of powerhouse organizations who have banned BPA products, including Sears, Shoppers Drug Mart and Canadian Tire (interestingly, CT was advertising some hard plastic water bottles on sale in this week’s flyer. Interesting to see if they are still in stores).

In case you were looking for more to worry about, my sister-in-law (hi Jenni!) shared this scary story about high levels of BPA in canned foods such as infant formula, chicken soup and ravioli. Many cans have a liner made of BPA, and the study found being exposed to it this way is even more dangerous than through bottles.

Seriously, just when you think you’ve conquered one, there is another to contend with. We don’t eat a ton of canned foods, but beans in tomato sauce and soups are consumed at Chez McDougall-Foster weekly.

*sigh* Now what?

Last week we finished off the last of the grocery store bought chicken in our freezer. So I decided it was time.

We’ve gone free. Free range, that is. I finally made it to the store.

Eric says whenever he hears “Free range meat store” he pictures opening up the door and seeing chickens and cows and pigs all clucking and mooing and oinking while they nonchalantly meander around.

My husband, the comedian.

I picked up some ground chicken and boneless-skinless chicken breasts, and the price difference is around 20% more expensive.  But when you read about hormones and water injection and all the other lovely things done to normal meat, it seems far worth it — especially feeding it to Lucy. I don’t need to link to that stuff and ruin your appetite (or mine, for that matter…) — I’ll leave it to you and Google.

In between this, the preservative-free lunch meat from our local deli, no plastic bags or water bottles, the composting and recycling and plans to harvest a massive veggie garden this summer, I’m afraid I’m pushing the line towards hippie. Jen O. actually called me a granola cruncher the other night.

If I start growing my hair to my arse and stop shaving my armpits, someone please slap me.

Lucy, being the voracious eater that she is, knows a lot of food words. One of the first ones she learned while stringing words together was “fruit strip.”

I started out buying the Sun Rype Fruit-To-Go strips for her (a long-time favourite of mine), but around four months ago made the switch to President’s Choice Mini Chefs Zippy Fruit. The first ingredient on the PC strips an entire peeled apple, and you can really tell: Unlike FTG — which are more like leather — these are chunkier. You can see the berry seeds and apple pieces in them.

They’re delicious, nutritious (goodgod, I sound like a billboard) and contain no artificial flavours or colours or added sugars. And isn’t it refreshing to be able to pronounce every ingredient on a label?!

They’re also super easy to eat on the go. I carry around six in my purse, and they have extended many a shopping trip or long car ride, saving both my and Lucy’s sanity and satiating our hunger.

We’ve almost run out, so I was adding them to our grocery list tonight and had to share. Enjoy!

My friend Lauren, with the best 1-year-old ball-tossing boy ever, is struggling with what to feed her son who still has just two (but almost four) teeth. She does lots of pureed jarred food and finger cereals such as crack holes Cheerios.

Lucy got her teeth pretty early (and even had molars at a year old), and she was chomping away on all kinds of stuff by 12 months — so I’m of little help.

(Geez, flipping through my archives reminds me of those starting-solid-food days. Didn’t it seem like they were ALWAYS eating?!)

Outside of Baby Mum-Mums, thin wheat crackers he can gum (such as Breton’s), and teeny pieces of very soft/cooked fruit and veggies, I’m drawing blanks. Mixed pureed/slightly chunky meats? Cooked pasta?

He definitely has the chewing part down, as I watched him gnaw back some wee pieces of cantaloupe this week. It was hilarious to watch him concentrate so hard on it, his jaws chomping exaggeratedly with his brow furrowed, while Lucy was shoving chunks of it, cookie and yogurt into her face as fast as she could. What a difference a year makes!

Any of you parents of teeth-less babies have some suggestions on finger foods and more?

One of the best parts about getting married was securing my father-in-law’s recipes legally. Many of his dishes are part of our regular roster, including Bisquick chicken casserole, cranberry chicken and dumpling pudding (Eric would add beef stroganoff to this list, but I do not eat cow, so do not cook cow).

(Other famous family recipes include my mom’s cheeseball, maccaroni, Aggression Cookies and no-bake cheesecake, and my mother-in-law’s tuna casserole, Smartie birthday cake and jam squares.)

Warren has hosted Sunday dinner for us, Eric’s brother (Uncle Stinky) and his wife (Auntie Jenni) for years, so not only am I slowly pilfering his recipes month by month, but I’ve taken to requesting certain meals in the weeks leading up to dinner. Because I’m bossy like that. And my belly makes me.

Luckily Warren has kept us well stocked in the oatmeal cake department lately, so I haven’t actually made this Brown Sugar Coconut Topping. But I still stole it. And by request, here it is, in all its crunchy, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

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My new journey south on Wednesday evenings to Durham Mom’s Night Out takes me past Haugen’s restaurant.

Normally passing a restaurant on a sultry summer evening wouldn’t cause a second glance, but Haugen’s on Wednesday nights holds the title of Creating Its Own Traffic Jam because of an awesome spectacle: Classic Car Cruise-In.

Hundreds of classic cars pour into the field behind and beside the restaurant. I’ve never gone to the show, but just seeing it from the road takes your breath away. So many cool cars! And the atmosphere — couples walking hand-in-hand, grease monkey-types bending inside hoods, biker dudes chatting with middle-aged white guys, all against the setting sun — is entertaining and so…summer unto itself.

The food at Haugen’s is pretty good, too, especially their seasonal pies (strawberry and blueberry notably) and butter tarts.

Maybe us Moms will have to check it out some night.

(p.s. — Thursday night is a Motorcycle Cruise-In!)