a peek inside the fishbowl

The Canadian Museum of Nature has an enduringly happy history with Ottawa families, and here at the Fishbowl as a longtime patron too.

I’m VERY pleased to share a great idea for your child’s next summer camp experience. Did you know the Museum of Nature offers some really interesting summer camps? There is HUGE kid appeal here for kids 6-14.

There are four themes from which to choose: Arctic, Bioluminescence, Canada’s Creatures, and Dinosaurs & Fossils. Each day camp has lots of themed-activities, hands-on learning, and special gallery exploration (including some behind-the-scenes stuff!).

I think the Museum of Nature is a wonderful day camp destination, especially for first-time campers, don’t you? It’s so nice to be able to send them kids to a familiar place where you know they’ll have a great time.

Interested? Registration opened this week, so don’t think about it too long. :) You can read more about these day camps on the Museum of Nature website.

I was browsing the aisles at Bulk Barn when I noticed a barrel full of organic black rice, and I was intrigued.

I have eaten wild rice this colour (I confess I don’t like it that much) but never anything like this. I’m no grain aficionado. We usually stick to whiter varieties of regular rice, including jasmine and basmati, and our go-to rice is usually a stickier variety that I make when we’re having ginger chicken. (A Joy of Cooking recipe, and it’s delish.)

I decided to cook some black rice as part of a #dailylunches dish. And I’m glad I did. Isn’t it pretty?

It’s not exactly black, but it’s close. The rice has a very deep browny purple and gives this dish an unusual hue.

I like the flavour of black rice. Black rice is grainier, denser, and less flooffier than its cousin Uncle Ben, and it’s for these exact reasons I would opt to use it in a salad like this one. It’s mild and a bit nutty, and a bit chewy too, but not unpleasantly so.

Sidebar: this is why I like Bulk Barn! I can buy a cup of something to try it out. No commitment or wastage. Woot!

(Wondering how to cook black rice? It’s easy. Combine 1 3/4 cups of water and one cup of rice in a pot that has a snug-fitting lid. Add a bit of salt and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Let stand, covered, for a few minutes before fluffing and serving.)

The black rice salad recipe pictured above consists of:

• 1 cup cooked black rice
• a small splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• 3 leaves of kale, washed and chopped
• 1/2 avocado, diced and tossed with lime juice
• a handful of cranberries
• half an apple, chopped
• a smattering of pecan pieces

I prepared the kale while the rice was cooking. I took the oil and vinegar and mixed them together in a bowl and added the chopped kale to that, tossing and squashing it down with my fork. (Remember what I said about kale massage in this recent recipe!) And then I let it sit.

I added the warm rice (not hot) to the kale, and gently tossed in the other ingredients. That’s it!

Here are a few other black rice recipes that look intriguing from around the WWW, in case you’d like to try it out for yourself in a different kind of dish:

• Cumin-Scented Quinoa and Black Rice
• Easy Peanut Kale Rice Bowl
• Thai Black Rice Salad with Wild Salmon

We did a LOT of puzzles with the girls when they were small. They’re good for a whole bunch of reasons: developing hand/eye coordination, fine motor development, problem solving. We had some fun ones too; puzzles that glowed in the dark and had “heat spots” that revealed hidden pictures underneath if you pressed your hand on them.

My MIL has been a big fan of puzzles ever since I’ve known her. I’ve been slow to come around, because the idea of assembling 1000 tiny pieces into one big picture all by my lonesome never held much appeal before now. Perhaps puzzle interest develops with age, but I’m starting to see the appeal of puzzles, especially if there are other people around who are willing to help. Assembling a puzzle is an oddly meditative, isn’t it? Looking at the pieces and mulling each one over… it forces you to slow down and focus. I imagine it’s good for grown up brains too.

Related: Once upon a time I spotted a really smart puzzle/board game table at IKEA. It had wheels and was very low to the ground, so low in fact that it could actually be pushed under the sofa and kept undisturbed for the next puzzle session. Well, I should have bought that table when I had the chance because they don’t carry it anymore. (If you have one and are looking to get rid of it, please let me know.)

Over March Break, the four of us ventured out to Vanier (“why are there so many pawn shops here daddy?”) to check out the Hobby Shop. Mark bought a model rocket. (Sidebar: I sense a blog post in the near future, hopefully one that does not include a story about someone igniting his eyebrows.) While he browsed, I found myself admiring a selection of puzzles. I surprised myself and bought this one:

Cool eh? It’s a WHOLE NEW GENERATION OF PUZZLE! What do you think? Is it time to bring back puzzles? Or were they always here and I just never noticed?