June 4 – 5: Weekend Links for Brooklyn Mamas

Come, eat, bounce, play, help out a Brooklyn school.

Keeping it short, sweet, and personal this weekend with good ideas from a few Brooklyn moms I like….

What to do:

My friend Diana — who owns fab Park Slope women’s clothing and jewelry boutique Diana Kane — is the lead parent organizer of this weekend’s P.S. 39 Spring Carnival. Join the festivities — food! games! ponies! a bouncy house, and more! — this Saturday. And support a local school while you’re at it.

What to get:

Nylon Knife Set from Curious Chef, $9

My friend Lainie — who, with her chef husband, owns South Slope eatery Sidecar — turned me on to these genius Nylon kids’ knives from Curious Chef this week. Kids can safely chop and slice right alongside you in the kitchen with blades that will handle food but won’t harm little hands. I foresee lots of tomato, avocado, mango, and melon slicing this summer. I’ve ordered my set — and a vegetable peeler, too! — J. and M. are psyched.

What to try:

You could swap your place in Brooklyn for this view. Yep. Ya could.

My friend Cay is taking her family to Yosemite and San Diego this summer — and she’s doing a housing swap with a local family there, through HomeExchange.com. I’ve thought a million times about doing this…. But have never gotten around to it. The idea of exchanging homes with another family on vacation is highly appealing, though — think of the money you could save! and think how much more accessible it could make destinations you’ve fantasized about as well as those you’ve never even considered! — so I’m snapping pics of our house, plunking down the $100 annual fee, and signing us up! Cay says they’ve had offers from families in France, the Netherlands, and more. Count me in.

I’ve already got my eye on this 3-bedroom home in the South of France, right on the beach — note the view above — and very close to where our friends Kim and Pierre live.

(FYI, you can search homes for free to get an idea of what’s available — you don’t pay the fee until you’re ready to sign up and list your place, so let the travel fantasies begin….)

Happy weekend!

Recipe of the Week: Mark Bittman’s Banana Paletas

Ice, ice baby!; Groovy Pop Molds, amazon.com, $10

As Chrissy mentioned, we are off on vacation. (And not a moment too soon.) But I thought I’d put up a post while we’re away. Wouldn’t want you to miss a Recipe of the Week!

Up now: Mark Bittman‘s Banana Paletas.

What they are: essentially, pureed banana popsicles; they’re “sweet ice pops,” popular in Mexico

First time we tried them: last summer; we got the recipe from Mark Bittman‘s column in The New York Times

Why we like them: they’re a super-easy summer treat — so easy, toddlers can actually be a help; and they require few ingredients — likely ones you’ll routinely have on hand

Special equipment: popsicle molds; here are some cute ideas from alpha + mom on the best ones out there; and here are recs for molds that are BPA-free, via nature moms blog

Reaction: Jasper talked about making these with mama, and eating them, all winter long.

Thus, they’ve been in frequent rotation in the freezer this summer.

Here’s the recipe:

2 medium bananas, about 3/4 a cup

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup sugar

1. Puree all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Pour into 4 to 6 molds (or more, depending on size) and freeze until solid.

2. Unmold by first running a little cold water outside of molds (actually, I find it’s easier with a little warm water!), then gently pulling the sticks.

Yields: 4 to 8 servings, depending on size of molds. Here’s a link to the ones pictured above.

Enjoy!