a peek inside the fishbowl

Have you been to the Canadian Museum of Nature lately? (FYI the Museum is Fishbowl patron and a great member of the Ottawa community if you didn’t already know.) :)

There’s some great stuff going on there right now. My top two picks: (1) The Edward Burtynsky exhibition, which I wrote about here. It’s only on until September 2 and you MUST catch it before it’s gone. (2) Mark W. Moffet’s photography exhibit called Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants. On loan from the Smithsonian, this unique exhibition features 39 large-format images from Moffett, who the National Geographic Society describes as “the Indiana Jones of entomology.”

It’s easy to understand why, with stunning images like this one:

The Hidden Life of Ants is jam-packed with all kinds of fascinating information about how ants work, hunt, live and communicate.

• Ever see a trail of ants leading into your cupboard? (Eep. I have.) That’s the work of pheromones. The workers in larger ant societies commonly lay down a trail of pheromones marking the path between food and home. With enough traffic, these trails sometimes develop into more durable systems, much like our highways
• Ant colonies, whether large or small, are extended families, with one or several mothers (the queens) and many sisters (workers and soldiers). Males are few and short-lived; they die soon after leaving the nest to mate with a virgin queen from another nest. This queen will then start her own colony.
• Did you know that ants from the same nest smell alike? Whenever ants meet, they sweep their antennae over each other to identify one another. If their scents are unfamiliar, the workers will either run away or go on the attack.
• Human societies may send their young men to war, but weaver ants rely on the oldest members of their all-female society—their old ladies—to defend their territory.

There are also two live ant colonies in the exhibition as well. You can read the back story about that right here. (It was a long journey!)

Anyway, yes. Cool stuff!

This giveaway is for a family pass to the Museum of Nature plus (PLUS if you’re keen) a family pass to a live animal show that features unusual critters from around the world:

Come Talk to the Animals
Sunday, August 25
Shows are at 11 am, 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm
Meet Winston the Wallaby, native to Australia; Shakespeare the Crested Porcupine, native to Africa; and Butter the Angora Bunny, native to Turkey!

Interested? Read on!

• This giveaway is for one family pass to the Museum as well as the live animal show as described above.
• In order for your entry to qualify, please leave a comment below. That’s it!
• This giveaway is void in Quebec, sorry.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder!
• One entry per person please! We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.

That’s it! I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on August 23, 2013. The winner will have to pick their passes up at the Museum. Over to you. Good luck!

One old brick,
and one stray chick,
is something itty,
something bitty,
something pretty,
for the garden.

Normally we aren’t the kind of family who eats dessert every night. Eating something sweet after every meal is not the kind of habit I encourage, but of course, everything goes out the window when we’re camping.

We use pretty much the same camping menu every year, and every year we must make Banana Boats. There is no negotiation on this point, and to remove it from the menu would be unforgivable. But I don’t mind making it. It’s a very easy recipe and is a great little campfire-friendly dessert.

You will need:

• bananas (one for each person)
• a 50/50 mix of mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips. (We used butterscotch chips this year but banana boats are also very good with Skor bits! Whatever you choose, mix ’em together and put them in a small container beforehand.)
• tin foil

Using a sharp knife, carefully slice through the banana peel where the banana curves inward. Then get the kids to stuff the opening with your marshmallow/chip mix as pictured below. (It goes without saying that the banana pictured below is mine. My kids crammed way more marshmallows into theirs!)

Wrap the entire banana with foil and toss it on the grill. A note of caution! Each banana contains a HIGHLY PERSONALIZE CONCOCTION and your kids will not want you to mix them up (trust me on this). I like to twist the foil end of mine so it won’t get confused with the others.

Cooking times will depend upon a few things, such as the heat of your fire or whether you’re using your camp stove, but I’m guessing that our banana boats cooked for about 5 or 6 minutes a side. Don’t forget to turn them a few times to ensure even cooking.

Take them off the fire when you think they’re good and hot. The goal here is to melt the marshmallow/chip mix and heat the banana all the way through… even cooking it a little bit. It turns into a GLORIOUS BANANA MASH. And it tastes much better than it looks. :)