Local (Ottawa and Chelsea) Birthday Party Venues for Kids

Birthday season for me is coming up...  As I did with Summer Day Camps I thought I would pile a listing of "out of the house" birthday Party Venues.

I find it such a stress having them at home...  Especially when they (the kids) don't want to do the same thing as the others (or birthday kid) and then proceed to go upstairs and downstairs and outside - how does one deal with that?   Last year I happily relied on the parents who decided to stay and helped out...

So here it goes,  a listing for me.  And if it helps you too, that's awesome!

Crafty
Paint your own ceramics Gotta Paint in Westboro.
Make your own jewelry at Sassy Bead  two locations - in the Market and in the Glebe.
Build A Bear at Bayshore Shopping Centre.
Create pottery at Mud Pies Pottery in Wakefield.
Sparkle Spa (located in Chelsea) comes to you.

Sporty
Test your climbing skills at Clip N' Climb in Hull.
Go bowling at Anik Bowling in Hull.
Play at Tubes and Jujubes in Hull.
Hang in the trees at Camp Fortune's Ariel Park in Chelsea.
Mini Putt in Chelsea at DunnD's
Play indoors at Cosmic Adventures in Ottawa

Museums
Museum of Civilization in Hull.
The Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa - they even do sleepovers!
Have a party at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
Visit the vintage planes at the Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

Educational
Ray's Reptiles will come to your home or you can go there.
Same with Radical Science - in your home or you go there.

And of course there is all the movie theatres, swimming pools and arenas.

So after all this, I still don't think its going to help me with planning my two upcoming birthdays.  I sure hope it helps you!

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

I follow so many blogs, I love them all!  I follow several on a regular basis and get tons of ideas -- too many ideas.  But some, like this one, look so good that I need to give it a try.   This one was worth it!

This recipe I found on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen.  These are amazingly yummy cookies with a hint (very strong hint) of Baileys - such a strong hint of Bailey's that I didn't give it to the kids in their school lunches for fear of what their teachers would think... Perfect for a late St Patty's Day treat or a treat at any time.

This is what you need - main ingredient is Bailey's, then all the other stuff...

Cream your butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla.  Cream some more and add your Bailey's - all 8 tablespoons!  One at a time.

Add your flour, cocoa, coffee, baking soda and salt.  Mix until combined.

Add your white and chocolate chips.  The smell right now is out of this world!   But try not to eat the batter, they taste even better cooked (don't ask how I know).  Put dough in fridge for a few hours.

Scoop out on to your pan - I smooshed them slightly.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 mins.

 

Then look at your wonderful Bailey's in a Cookie cookie.  

Enjoy!!!

 Recipe:

• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 8 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur
• 2-⅔ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Cocoa Powder
• 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder
• 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
• ½ cups Milk Chocolate Chips

Preparation Instructions

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add in Bailey’s one tablespoon at a time. Add flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4–6 hours.
Roll into balls and set on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350ºF for 8–10 minutes.

Recipe From:  Tasty Kitchen

 

Home-made Microwave Popcorn

I love popcorn!!  I love the ease of microwave popcorn, but I don't like all the chemicals included in it...  The other option is the hot air popper, which we use a lot.. but we store it in a cupboard that is hard to access.   All of this means we don't do popcorn very often.
The other day I was in the grocery store and almost bought the microwave popcorn, then I wondered if I could make it myself.   Turns out I can!
I tried it two ways

First get a simple brown paper bag (yes, a paper lunch bag) and measure out 1/4 of popcorn kernels, 1 tsp olive oil and some salt.

 Pour popcorn kernels in paper bag.

 Add oil and salt.

 Shake, then fold top of bag 3 times.   Put in microwave -- you will need to listen to your own microwave.   Mine took 2 mins.

 Carefully open up bag (there is some steam) and pour into bowl.

 Voila --  popcorn!

And for the more healthy option -- get your paper bag, and 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, place in bag, fold top and pop in microwave.

Who knew microwave popcorn could be so easy and so inexpensive (and so healthy!!)  I found the taste was very similar.   I will continue with the plain popping (no oil) -- kids didn't care, they wanted butter on top. 


Recipe:
1/4 popcorn kernels
paper bag


OR


1/4 popcorn kernels
1 tsp olive oil
salt 
paper pag


place in bag (shake if adding flavouring) fold top of bag 3 times, place in microwave for 2-3 mins.   Cooking times will depend on your own microwave.   Listen and when the pop slows down, its time to take popcorn out.  Mine took 2 minutes.
Enjoy chemical free popcorn!  

1st Maple Syrup Season -- Success!

As you may have read this was our very first year tapping the trees in our yard.  

 There was a lot of sap collecting...   We collected for 4 weeks.

 There was a lot of checking the buckets for sap.  Only one day we forgot to empty and they over flowed.

 There was a lot of this... Boiling down -- Every weekend for the last 4 weekends we did this.

 This was batch #1...  Our very first - which turned out to be a complete disaster.   We boiled it too long, using a thermometer which didn't work very well.  This one actually ended up in the garbage.

 Mmmmm, batch#2

We sure didn't want the 2nd batch to end up like the first - this one we didn't boil down enough.  But we made 6 cups of beautiful sweet light syrup.

Batch #3 

We got it!   Thick, sweet syrup.   This time 8 cups.   After the huge success of this, we boiled batch #2 down and got it perfect too.

Batch #4

Again, beautiful....   We learned the later in the season, the darker the colour.   The colour is amazing and it is sweet, just as sweet as batch #3.   This time we harvested 10 cups.

What an amazing experience.   If you have maple trees in your yard, then you have to try this!   We now have over 20 cups of maple syrup!   

I know I have said this in the past, but this summer we promise to mark all the maple trees on our property.  As a wise man once said, if some is good, more is better!

Giant Baked Pretzels

I was at home, relaxing (that is code for trying to relax while the kids go crazy beside me) reading (or trying to read while they accidentally kick the magazine out of my hands)...  Then I saw the pretzel recipe.   Mmmmm, I like pretzels.  And I haven't had one like this in years.   So, what do I do when I should be doing something else?  Bake of course.

Giant Baked Pretzels!!

I used my bread machine to make the dough...  (I will add the proper directions below)

The recipe told me to cut into 9 pieces... I cut them into 12.  I'm not sure why I don't follow recipes exactly.

Start rolling them (with a fat middle) until they are about 12" long.

Once they are rolled, take them again and roll until they are about 24" long.  (They still should be fatter in the middle)

Now the fun begins.   Make a big "U" with the dough.

Wind ends of dough twice and place back on top.  Then place them on parchment lined sheets or in my case, stoneware pans.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-35 minutes.   Then place in freezer for at least 2 hours.

In a stainless steal pot, water and baking soda.  Put frozen pretzel in boiling water for 45 to 60 seconds.  This will foam and it's ok.  Drain water from pretzel then place on baking sheet. 

Sprinkle with coarse salt, place in 375 oven.  Bake for 20 mins.

Mmmmm, pretzels.   To be enjoyed as is or with mustard.

My helpful helper asked me why I made this recipe, he thought there were so many steps (meaning the freezing and boiling....) I told him, this is the one I saw therefore this is the one I tried.   Yes, I might try a different Pretzel recipe in the future with no boiling and no freezing.  This one was a lot of work but well worth it!  Very yummy!  With or without the mustard.

Recipe:

DOUGH

3 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

2 tbsp cold unsalted butter

1 tbsp sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cold water

BOILING

8 cups water

1/2 cup baking soda

coarse salt

1. To make dough - place all ingredients in a bread machine and select "dough" or  add flour yeast and salt to bowl of stand-up mixer.  Mix briefly.  Heat milk until very hot, but not boiling.  Add butter, when melted stir in sugar and 1/3 cup water.

2.  Add warm milk mixture to flour while mixer is running.  Add additional water, if needed.  Need mixture for 3 to 5 minutes.  Leave in place and cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

3.  Turn machine in just enough to deflate dough.  Place dough on lightly floured surface.  Divide into 9 pieces.

4.  Roll each piece into a rope with a fat middle until about 12" long.   Then Roll each piece again until 24" long.

5.  Make a U, wind ends of dough twice.  Place on parchment paper.  

6.  Loosely cover with plastic and let rise 30-35 mins.  Place into freezer for at least 2 hours.

7.  Bring water and baking soda to boil.  One at a time, place frozen pretzel into boiling water for 45-60 seconds.  Remove with spatula, drain and place on parchment paper covered baking sheets.  Sprinkle coarse salt on top.

8.  Bake at 375 for 20 mins or until deeply browned.  Cool on a rack.  Enjoy

Recipe Source:  LCBO Food & Drink Magazine, Spring 2011