National Vegetarian Week: Sitti

 I had the treat of dinning at Sitti this weekend with a friend. The website describes it as authentic Lebanese food but honestly it seemed like somewhere between Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food.  They offered a wide variety of vegan, vegetarian, as well as carnivorous cuisine. For my dinner, I decided to order three small "mezze" or small, sharing platters in Arabic. in the top left corner is the Village Salad, in the right is the Sundried Tomato Mezze,  and the bottom right is the Goat Cheese  Stuffed Peppers.  All in all, the village salad was my favorite out of everything. It reminded me of Greek salads I grew up on. The sun dried tomtit mezzo was ok, but kind of your standard mediterranean pizza and I wasn't particularly fond of the stuffed peppers. I think I imagined them tasting differently in my mind. 

All in all it was a very delicious meal. Great for the vegetarian and vegans out there! Go give it a try and have some fun. 

The Park: Clayton Community Park

Goodmorning lovlies. Just a quick little snippet today about the Clayton Community Park located right next to the Clayton Community Center. Since my family lives outside of Raleigh this park is great for anyone living in the Clayton/Garner area. It's right behind the Little Gym in Clayton.

I love this park to take the kids to and have a little picnic and playtime. It has two playgrounds which is nice because one is a little bit bigger and geared towards the older kiddos and the other is a short walk away but slightly smaller for the slightly smaller ones. There's some great climbing structures for them to play on, slides, a large sandbox, swings and a pretty large shaded picnic area. Along with the playgrounds there is also two sand volleyball courts, baseball fields, tennis courts, and a half mile paved path that goes around the park and a large pond. 

The park isn't very shaded expect for around the pond so don't forget to pack and put on your sunscreen. Overall though, the park is great and a great way to spend a couple of hours with the kids. Sometimes I'll pack up their bikes to ride around the path while I trail behind :)

Artsplosure

 

Ok, so I was driving home from the kiddies Friday afternoon and I heard about Artsplosure, which is taking place this weekend in downtown Raleigh. It sounded fun and interesting so I talked to the boy Saturday morning and we checked it out.

Maybe I just didn't know what to expect or maybe my expectations were too high but I wasn't really impressed by the festival. Perhaps, I was looking for more art taking place, things being displayed, performance art, and all that. The festival was meant as an "explosion" of "exposure" to the city of Raleigh to all types of art.  All in all, it seemed like the craft section you see at the State Fair or any seasonal local festival. All around Moore's Square, it was lined with small booth's that local artist could sell their goods and promote their name as an artist. Spotted in and out of the booths were some food stands that offered the usual fried fair food. There were two cool areas in Moore's Square where you could play chess and see a sandcastle being built. That was the most interactive art we saw though. To me what they had planned was geared more towards families. They had at least three stands for face painting and several areas where kids could go and do crafts.

What really caught my attention on the radio was the news reporter talking about the Impressionist Sculpture Garden that sounded like the feature exhibit of the festival. Impressionist paintings are one of my favorite forms of art so this sounded like an interesting and different take on art. First, let me say that this exhibit had to potential to be amazing but it feel short. The sculptures themselves were beautiful and the portraits in the original paintings were brought to life, in life size form. However, the landscapes in the paintings were not translated very well in the "garden." Two or three of the gardens were done fairly well with plants all around them bringing out the feel of their original paintings but the rest just had one or two around them.  This was opportunity for local landscapers to show off... and well, they didn't. However, a nice touch was that they had easles set up around the area that you could try your hand at painting your own piece or art.
 

This was my favorite one, mainly because of the yarn :P

 

David's Dumpling and Noodle Bar

Yum, yummy, yum. I love David's. It's delicious south Asian style food prepared by a real chef. David even walks around the restaurant and talks to every table. Sometimes he even sends out little samples of soup.

For the prices you pay and the quality of food you receive, David's is a great bargain. It has quickly become one of the boy and mine favorite restaurants to go out to eat. Since we are both veggies our favorite dish is the sesame tofu. Light, crispy. Perfect.

Between the atmosphere of the restaurant, the great food, and David himself, you are sure to have a great night out. Actually, I might go there tonight :p

Farmer's market finds of the week

If there is one thing I love about living in North Carolina is the State Farmer's Market, located off Lake Wheeler Road. It is great in the spring in summer time for finding some great, fresh, local produce at really affordable prices. This week when J and I went to the Farmer's Market, I saw for the first time orange and purple cauliflower... and well, aside from my curiosity as to how it tastes different than it's boring cousin white cauliflower, I just couldn't resist that beautiful color. (Sorry we ate the orange cauliflower before I had a chance to get a pic of it, but it was just as yummy too!)

Also, as a random side note, I think finding colorful veggies like this is great to try on the little ones. It's so different and bright from what we tend to think of as cauliflower. Maybe, making it as whipped cauliflower will be a fun and healthy substitute to mashed potatoes. I don't know, something about bright purple veggies just seems more fun than the everyday.

Along with our colorful finds we also scored on some delicious red tomatoes, green tomatoes, spinach, spring onions, regular onions, broccoli, and carrots. And believe it or not, we only paid like $15 for all that amazing produce!!! That would cost at least twice as much in the supermarket and isn't nearly as fresh. I really do love this time of year because of the Farmer's Market and the ability to each such fresh delicious foods. I cannot wait for sweet peppers to start appearing at the market soon!

Since last night was Wednesday it was date night. Instead of going out to eat we decided to cook our delicious, fresh food at home. Now, I don't know about you guys but I love to eat any form of Asian cooking, whether that be Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. One of my all time favorites is, Tempura. So when I stumbled upon a box of Tempura Mix at the Harris Teeter, I just had to try it.

It was really easy, I just followed the recipe on the back and read a few people's tips on the internet. And let me tell you, my purple tempura cauliflower was so flavorful and delicious and the light, crunchy tempura batter around it was amazing. Please, if you like tempura try making it at home. It was really easy, just took a little bit of time more than anything. Along with the cauliflower we fried up some carrots, mushrooms, and green peppers. We paired our veggies with some steamed rice and a fresh spinach salad and it was one of the best meals we've made at home in a long time. Out to eat, this all probably would have cost at least $30.

 

It was all together a delicious meal that I will definitely repeat again!

Marble's Kids Museum

Hello lovlies, today I am going to talk to you guys about the children's museum here in Raleigh known as, Marbles. Marbles is a great place to spend the day with your kids or take a friend along for a play date. The aim of the museum is to teach kids through interactive play. It is absolutely great and the entire building might as well be one giant playground. There is literally something for every kid at any age or interest.

The bottom floor of the museum is definitely geared towards a younger audience. There is a large play area where kids can pretend to be a fireman, policeman, EMS worker, Veterinarian you name it. In addition to this there is a small stage set up where kids can put on costumes and give the adults a mini performance. Right next to here is an expansive train table that is big enough for at least 15 kids to play on at the same time.

Also on the first floor is a submarine where you can play pretend science experiments and a pirate ship to take you looting and plundering. Arrrrgh! There is more fun on the bottom floor but I can't give it all away, your going to have to go to find out for yourself.

Upstairs there is the "Money Palooza" room which aims to teach kids financial responsibility through play. Watch out for the hanging piggy bank because he will occasionally break open dropping down small plastic balls on anyone underneath. Next door to this room you can build your own car and race it down a track, build a house out of giant legos and even try your hand a little bit of woodworking. There is a great sports room (with a hockey rink) and mini basketball court, and soccer too.

The staff at Marbles is great too! They are in general really nice and are always willing to play with the kids. My favorite times to go are after lunch because usually most school groups have left by then.

Oh and don't forget to check out what movies are playing at the IMAX attached to the side of the museum. D and I have seen some really neat documentaries there.

All in all, Marbles is a great way to spend the day and for $5 a person you really can't argue for the value. Kids will play and play and play all day. C and D frequently ask me when they get to go back. It's a great reward for good behavior and good choices too.

Case of the Mondays

Ok, for those of you who know me, I hate Mondays. Not only because it's the end of the weekend and back to work, but also because most of the places to take the kids to are closed. I'm not sure why but Jumpin' Jax, Marbles, Tag Ur It, and on and on all close on Mondays... maybe they have the Mondays too. Anyways, on these days I usually struggle to find something to do with D.

We used to go to the Little Gym on Mondays for a morning class but D has outgrown them/taken most of the classes there so now I need to find a filler for that time. 

Here is just a little list of things we do sometimes on Monday and I frequently come to consult my list:

-Take it easy, relax, watch Nick Jr and snuggle for awhile and play.
- Go to the park and have a picnic lunch (if the weather is nice)
- Visit the train station or airport
- Go for a walk or bike ride
- Go swimming at the Smithfeild Aquatic Center or HealthQuest (also in Smithfeild)
- Story time at the library
- Bowling
- Go to the movies


I like to save things like bowling for when I have both C and D, that way it's a little more fun and the game doesn't go by so fast!

All in all, every Monday rolls around and I'm stuck saying the same thing every week. What to do? What to do?

Trains and Planes

With my little ones, I have the treat of working with a boy and a girl so I usually have to find activities that are fun and engaging for the both of them. However, there are days when I am with just D, who is all boy.

What I like to do on our days together is plan something that is going to be fun for him. Some of the things I like to do are plan a picnic at the train station or the airport. Since my family lives in Clayton we usually frequent the Selma Train Station and the Johnston County Airport. I really like the Selma train station, which has been restored to it's 1924 splendor. Inside there are few displays on the history of trains and the railroad.  There is a train car outside the station that you can climb and play on... but it is locked except for twice a year.

However, both of these are small and out of the way if your living in Raleigh but you do have the advantage of going to RDU and there is the Amtrak downtown and also on in Cary.

If you are going to the train station I suggest looking up the times trains are arriving and departing the station. Nothing is worse than trying to entertain a toddler while waiting for the train.

Jumpin Jax' in Garner, NC

I love this place. It is so cool and fun for the kids. There are three bounce houses and my favorite, a two-foot climbing structure that will wear those kids out! I can usually take D there on a Friday morning and he will play and play and play for about two hours. After that we get hungry and hit the Andy's down the road.

But this place is cool. They do have a little snack bar with decent prices. Watch out for the little quarter game machines though, C and D both pester me to play the games every time we go and boy is that annoying! Oh well, the place is great. Take your kids, have fun, and look forward to the nap later that afternoon.






Also, there is an Andy's right next store and is D's favorite place to eat lunch now. Kid's meals come in a cardboard car which adds that special touch while were out. 

 

Pullen Park

Alright, sorry to have been gone for so long but life has been busy around here. Today I want to talk about Pullen Park which reopened about six months ago.

IF you have kids the park is great. There is an awesome train ride that goes around the length of the park and takes about five minutes for the whole train ride. There are also kiddie boats (which are kind of lame...in my humble opinion). Both the rides only cost...$1! That is awesome and cheap. When I went with D I spent 10 on tickets and we rode the train four times and he did the boats two. Needless to say he had a blast.

Along with the trains the rest of the park is great! There are three playground areas for kids to run, climb, and slide on along with two sandboxes. And these aren't your everyday sandboxes... you can dig like your on a construction site and really make a good mountain of sand. They also have a little area in the sandboxes where you can play in a "house." When we went D and a few other kids were operating a pizza shop and slice was a low $30,000. Watch out Hermain Cain.

With the renovations Pullen Park has added a little cafe area that uses local food distributors. It was a nice touch to the end of the day. The food was pretty good and not too pricey.

Take your kids, play and have fun and wish for the nap on the car ride home. :)