by Teddy Wintersteen |
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Childhood Lessons Teach
Us 9/10/03 by Teddy Wintersteen
"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten," author Robert Fulghum says. It isn't that complicated, he claims; he learned it in the sandpile. Robert Fulghum is a philosopher, minister, and what he calls "a refrigerator door" writer. "I may never win any prizes," he says about his writings, "but I get stuck on a the doors of a lot of refrigerators. His writing career started when he figured out what he really needed to know in life. Here is what he learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon (my personal favorite.) When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all – LOOK.
What an important task the kindergarten teacher has, to teach five-and-six-year-olds these things that are so basic so getting along in school, and in life. All we really need to know about hygiene, about getting along with others, and about the wonder of life are contained in these simple rules. Of course, Fulghum says, these rules don't just apply to us as individuals. Wouldn't it be a better world if companies and governments put things back where they found them, and cleaned up their own messes? No more nuclear dumpsites and polluted rivers. Wouldn't it be good if organizations, corporations, and countries played fair and didn't take what wasn't theirs? No more Enrons and wars over territory. Think what a better world it would be if nobody hit others, and everybody apologized when someone else was hurt. No more war between the Israelis and the Palestinians, no more bloody atrocities in the Congo, no more gang warfare in America's cities. Of course it is a worldwide goal that everyone has the water to wash his hands before he eats, and that everyone can flush. No more honeybuckets, fewer diseases. And how civilized it would be if we all had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon, then lay down with our blankies for a little nap. We would all wake up refreshed, ready for a story and a hug. If we all understood and respected the wonder of life, how could there be violence and murder? And it is still true, Fulghum tells us, that no matter how old you are, it is best to stick together and hold hands when you cross the street. As people have testified after the attacks of 9-11 and other terrible events, what they wanted most was to hold their loved ones, to comfort, and to be comforted.
Cookies and Milk
Since I'm advocating warm cookies and milk, here are some hints to help you bake a perfect cookie. Use shiny baking sheets; darkened or dull baking sheets absorb heat and may cause the bottom of the cookie to become too brown. Cool the sheets in between bakings to prevent the dough from spreading. Use baking parchment or a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil on the cookie sheet. Then just slide the paper or foil off the cookie sheet. Cool cookies thoroughly on a wire rack. Do not overlap, as this will cause cookies to stick together and lose their shape. Bake cookies that are high in shortening on an ungreased baking sheet and those low in shortening on a greased sheet. Store soft cookies in a tightly covered container. A slice of apple, orange, or bread helps keep cookies moist. Store crisp cookies in a loosely covered container. Ranger oatmeal cookies are a real family cookie. Easy and delicious, they are my son's favorites. The molasses sugar cookies are my husband's favorites. They're like a homemade gingersnap; he likes to dunk them in milk. The Northern Lights Bars come from an Alaskan cook who won a prize at the Alaska State Fair with them. They're a fancy cookie for special occasions.
Ranger Oatmeal Cookies
Cream 1 cup shortening (margarine, butter, or vegetable shortening, or a mixture) with 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed. Beat until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla. Sift or whisk together the following dry ingredients:
2 cup flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt I like to add 1 tsp. cinnamon, as well.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; mix well.
Stir in:
1 cup quick-cooking oats 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 1 cup flaked coconut 1 cup rice cereal such as Rice Krispies A cup of chocolate chips can't hurt, either.
Shape in 1" balls. Place balls about 2" apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven 15 minutes or until brown. Remove from baking sheets. Cool on racks. Store in a loosely covered pan to retain crispness. Makes 6 dozen if you haven't eaten too much of the dough before you get the cookies into the oven.
Molasses Sugar Cookies
Melt 3/4 cup shortening (butter, margarine, or vegetable shortening, or a combination) in a large saucepan over low heat. Cool.
Add and mix well.
1 cup sugar 1/4 cup molasses 1 egg
Sift together and add to the above ingredients:
2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. cloves 1/2 tsp. ginger 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt
Mix well and chill thoroughly. Form into 1" balls, and then roll the balls in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheets two inches apart. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen sugar cookies.
Northern Lights Bars
Cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine and 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed. Beat until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 cup for topping. Press the remaining mixture into a greased 8‚ square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly brown. Beat together 1/4 cup sugar and 1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 egg, 2 Tbs. milk, 1 Tbs. lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Mix well. Spread over the baked crust. Sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Bake at 350 degree oven 25 minutes or until done. Cool in the pan on a rack. Cut into 2" squares. Makes 16 squares.
A New Box of
Crayons: 8/27/03 by Teddy Wintersteen
"No, you don't need a big box. That box of 16 is plenty big enough for you." My mother, ever realistic and ever frugal, knew that I was a lousy artist and that I probably wouldn't know what to do with more than 16 Crayons. Moreover, buying one of those "big boxes" would be over-indulgent, a parental sin my mom and dad avoided like an overcoat in July. I pored over the display of back-to-school supplies at the local Ben Franklin dime store, the elderly couple who owned the store hovering discreetly in the background. Each choice was of vital concern to me, for this was stuff I'd be using every day for an entire school year. My Red Indian Chief tablet, half a dozen No. 2 pencils, a soft eraser, perhaps a new three-ring notebook, all were carefully considered. But I spent the most time yearning over the display of Crayola Crayons. How I wanted one of those boxes with row and rows of Crayons in their ubiquitous dark green and gold box, all lined up with perfect points and wonderful names like "Prussian Blue" and "Raw Umber." I was middle-aged before my husband "over-indulged" me and got me a big box of 64 Crayons. I had told him this story about always yearning for the "big box," and he proved that it is never too late to fulfill a childhood desire. Unfortunately, my artistic skills have not improved, and I still didn't know what to do with 64 Crayons except to admire their poetic names and their lovely display of colored points.
Crayons: A Happy Symbol of Childhood In an age when video games, talking dolls, and high-tech educational toys compete for their attention, kids are still turning to the magic of color to express themselves. And they are still using Crayola products to do it. Crayola is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, and it's not just about crayons anymore. Crayola produces modeling clay and markers that change colors and produce spider-web effects. There are crayons that are twistable, erasable, and washable. Crayola colors decorate children's bedding and tint the bathtub water. A new product is the Crayon Maker that melts down crayon stubs (dubbed "leftolas" by a preschooler,) and turns them into new crayons. But it's still the humble crayon made of paraffin and wax that remains the Smith and Binney's No. 1 seller. Three billion crayons a year help satisfy an elemental childhood need to create beauty. A toy consultant explains, "Kids are always drawing what's on their mind. Before they can write, before they have more sophisticated methods of self-expression, they are using crayons." Edwin Binney and his cousin, C. Harold Smith, who started out making pigments for barn paint and automobile tires, started the Crayola Company. In 1900, they opened a mill to produce slate pencils for schools. Identifying a market for affordable wax crayons, Smith and Binney produced the first box of eight in 1903. It cost a nickel, and contained red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black, and brown. The classic Crayola name was coined by Binney's wife Alice who joined the French words for "chalk" and for "oily" because crayons are made from petroleum-based wax. The poetic names given to the crayons have changed over the years with changing attitudes about race and society. "Flesh" became "peach" in 1962, and "Indian Red" became "chestnut" in 1999. Crayon traditionalists howled when Crayola retired eight traditional colors in 1990, replacing them with cerulean, vivid tangerine, jungle green, and other bright shades. Crayon names on the chopping block are burnt sienna, blizzard blue, teal blue, mulberry, and magic mint. Colors and names may change, but school children still pick their boxes of crayons and markers carefully each fall. And perhaps we adults can relive our childhoods with a new box for ourselves. Some Back-To-School Comfort Food Banana pudding is a childhood memory almost as happy as a new box of Crayons. Pudding of any kind is real comfort food, and there are many ways to dress it up or down. Here is the original nilla wafer recipe for banana pudding, popular for over 50 years. I also found an upscale version from an elegant restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. A third choice is my low-calorie favorite, made of fat-free, sugar-free instant or cooked Jell-O pudding.
The Original Nilla Banana Pudding Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and a dash of salt in the top of a double boiler. Stir in 3 egg yolks and 2 cups of milk. Stir over boiling water in until it thickens (about ten minutes.) Stir in 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Spread 1/2 cup of the custard in the bottom of a 1 1/2 cup casserole. Top with a layer of vanilla wafers and sliced bananas. Top with 1/2 cup of the custard. Layer the vanilla waters, bananas, and custard two more times. You should use a total of about 35 vanilla wafers and 5 ripe bananas, sliced. Beat 3 eggs whites until soft peaks forms; add 1/4 sugar and beat until stiff. Spread over the pudding, sealing to the edge. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold. Makes 8 servings. Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding (From the "Lady and Sons" Restaurant Charleston, South Carolina) Line the bottom of a 13-x-9 inches dish with a bag of buttery cookies such as Pepperidge Farm butter cookies. Put 6 to 8 sliced bananas on top of the cookies. Blend 2 cups of milk with a 5-oz. package instant French vanilla pudding. Beat with a hand-held electric mixer or a whisk until well combined. Blend 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened, with a 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in a 12-oz. container of frozen whipped topping, thawed, or an equal amount of sweetened whipped cream. Add the cream mixture to the pudding mixture, stirring until well blended. Pour over the cookies and bananas; cover with remaining cookies. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. The calories in this recipe could be greatly reduced by using sugar-free pudding, skim milk, nonfat cream cheese, nonfat sweetened condensed milk, and nonfat whipped topping. Teddy's Low-Calorie Pudding Non-fat, sugar-free instant pudding has become one of my favorite desserts. I blend 1 cup of skim milk and 1 cup of plain non-fat yogurt together until smooth. Then blend the liquid into a 1-oz. box of non-fat, sugar-free instant pudding. I whisk it for a couple of minutes until absolutely smooth. Chill for a few minutes before serving. One tsp. of vanilla can never hurt; rum flavoring is good in butterscotch or chocolate pudding, and almond extract is good in vanilla pudding. This is good with nonfat whipped topping and some fresh fruit like strawberries or bananas with vanilla or chocolate pudding. Vanilla pudding with almond extract is good with fresh or frozen peaches. I don't put any sugar on the fruit.
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