So, it turns out that every time a friend or family member joined FoodBuzz to help me promote The Cluttered Pantry my name was entered into the “Foodbuzz Tell a Friend Weekly Raffle”, and I won the random drawing! Which is why, when I got the email from the fine folks at FoodBuzz saying I’d won a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker, I got pretty excited.

Years ago we owned an old-fashioned ice cream maker (big bags of rock salt and tired arms at the end of the day all for a tiny vat of ice cream.) I think we sold it in a garage sale before moving to Chicago from Austin, TX . So it’s a double bonus to actually win something that we don’t already have three of in the back of a cupboard somewhere.

The girls are still pretty funny about ice cream…really cold food and drinks still makes them make that face that babies do the first time you give them ice. I think it truly startles their senses. But now, after a moment of face making their eyes get big and happy when creamy goodness is offered up.

We tossed the freezing container into our freezer right away and as soon as it was solid cold (the first time took close to ten hours) I set to testing our new toy. Of course, it worked like a charm. Dumped in the ingredients of our first batch of citrus sorbet and in 20 minutes it was ready to eat in a bowl, and after a few more hours back in the freezer it was full on scoop worthy. Yay!

This citrus sorbet recipe was just mostly a guess on my part, and I added some vanilla because I remember having a dish of sorbet that tasted a bit like the creamsicles that we used to eat as children and I know that it was the vanilla that made it seemed creamy and not actual cream.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-1/4 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

Make a simple syrup with the sugar and water and let cool. Stir in zests and juices. Turn on Cuisinart then stand over it and marvel at how fast and quiet it is. We tossed the sorbet back into the freezer for a couple of hours before serving because we like it more firm. It went great with some of the candied lemon peel on top.

I think our next step is to get into really rich and creamy strawberry ice cream so we can break out the circa 1920′s Hamilton-Beach frappe makers and completely blow the girls’ minds, and pack on some more of those much needed calories.

The oldest one is a white enamel Hamilton model #10 from the early 1920′s soda fountain. You might think it’s just from my prop shelf for photo shoots but this is the real deal. It works great, and nothing stirs memories better than that smell of ionizing air and the whir of the metal mixer blades. The second frappé maker (don’t make the mistake of calling it a milk shake in our home, these babies were bought in New England and would take great offense at the regional slap) is a model 33, it is enameled in that fab jadeite green that I’d cover all my appliances in if I didn’t think they’d cart me away.

Now that I think of it, what in the world were we waiting for? A kitchen with two of the world’s best frappe makers and no way to make our own ice cream?! I’m glad it wasn’t a baseball this time, but it does sort of warp my brain to realize that the first prize was from an ice cream store and the second in my life is to make ice cream.

A hearty thanks to those of you that went to FoodBuzz to help me promote our blog, and helping us win the contest we didn’t even know we were in- frappes are on me! If you haven’t been to their site yet, and are interested in recipes/food/restaurant reviews take a look. It’s an amazing community of food blogger and foodies sharing the best they have made/found. (and I’m not just saying that because I won the Cuisinart!) Besides hoping that you’ll visit my profile page and “buzz” me, I’d love to recommend a few of my favorite featured publishers you’ll find on the site (i’ll add more soon, but I wanted to add these before publishing this post):

EatTravelWrite – is written by an Australian now living in Toronto, travel and food are a great combo and her photos and writing keep me coming back for more.

Southern Grace Gourmet – has found a way to make real southern cooking healthy.  Her photos are wonderful and so far every recipe I have tried has been a big hit here in Kahunaville.

Citronetvanille – Runs a personal chef service in the Bay Area and posts some of the most delicious looking photos and tasting recipes.

(For reference, the Joovy Caboose’s capacity is 45lbs in front and 45lbs in back. My younger son is 26lbs and my older son is 31lbs, well within the range.)

Assembly took about a half hour and didn’t require more than a basic tool or two.

The first thing that struck me is that the the wheels and rear seat were stiff and tough to get moving. I dismissed this thinking that things will loosen after a couple strolls around the neighborhood. In hindsight, however, I should have taken this as a sign and re-boxed it and sent it back to Texas.

The Joovy Caboose loses it for me in four areas:  the weight (26lbs), the UNCOMFORTABLE handles, a rickety frame, no access to brakes when folded, and a never-ending squeak.

Weight is weight and the Joovy Caboose is heavy. Maybe it’s particularly heavy for me because I’m used to the City Mini Double. I’m all for building  muscles, but the Joovy Caboose doesn’t balance the weight with sturdiness and it feels as if the joints are precariously put together. It is very difficult to steer for two reasons: the weak joints and the odd angle at which the push bar is positioned.

In fact, the push bar is EXACTLY like pushing one of these folding shopping carts which, as you may know, are designed to be pulled.

Living in a city I find the stroller extremely difficult to maneuver around a simple street corner and it does not take urban craters with grace.  It takes a lot of energy to push this thing and you’re never quite sure that it’s safe.

While the stroller folds easily the brakes are not accessible when it is folded.  This is particularly difficult for us because we live in a building where we must unload the kids on the sidewalk, walk up six stairs, take an elevator and walk down a hallway to our condo. It would be much easier to brake, fold up the stroller, unbrake, roll to the condo, then brake for storage.  In addition, The brakes – one on each rear wheel – are made of flimsy plastic and in order to brake the plastic piece must be aligned with a groove in the wheel and this is sometimes an issue.

Oh, and the squeak.  There is a metallic squeak from the right rear wheel that gallons of 3-in-1 oil haven’t fixed.

In short, it takes a lot of energy to push, isn’t maneuverable, is difficult to brake, is noisy and I’m never quite sure if it’s safe.

If you read the post on making limoncello, you understand that this is a house that often has large quantities of citrus on hand…once all those peels are off and into the vat of vodka we are left with a giant pile of naked lemons just begging to be turned into all sorts of excellent things.

Lemonade is obvious, and a big hit with the Wee Kahunas of course. The lemon bars I intended to make wound up being a kitchen accident that turned into a cross between lemon bars and coconut macaroons, with a candied lemon peel crust on top, that we are now calling “Lemorroon Pie”. The next batch of candied lemon peel will go into the lemon pound cake the Wee K’s and I will be making this weekend, and next I’m going to try lemon sorbet and pecan shortbread cookies with a lemon glaze (those recipes will be posted next week).

Back to the product review. It is with great joy (and a somewhat sore right arm) that I give you…The Juice-O-Mat. A thoroughly sleek and perfect invention (and there aren’t many kitchen appliances that I would call perfect). This thing does exactly what it was designed to do; it juices. It juices fast and easy and without electricity or mess and it’s even easy to clean. It has a little cup that the juice collects into and the strainer that collects the seeds and big pulp that comes right off for quick cleaning, and it’s strong. You don’t have to muscle your way through the juicing process (much); the lever action smooshes even the toughest lemons with rind and gets all the juice and none of the bitter pith.

For those of you new the O-Mat kitchen appliance world, a bit of history: The O-Mat line used to be sold by the Rival Corporation based in Kansas City, MO. They first hit the stores in the 1930’s and stopped being sold in the early 1960’s.

I found this page from a Rival Cook Book that shows the different models. Mine is the all-chrome compact table top model, but they came in enameled colors as well. You can find them in most vintage stores, cheap.

We also own, and use, a Can-O-Mat and an Ice-O-Mat (we prefer the models that fit onto the hinge you screw to your wall). I think we paid a whopping $18 for our J-O-M, and a quick search on google shows them as low as $12 in several fun enamel colors. We certainly think they are a perfect addition to our home, a Chicago – Greystone Row-House built in the 1890’s with a kitchen that is a mixture of eras but exudes the 1930’s the most. The girls still get excited whenever we use the Can-O-Mat to open something, and the Ice-O-Mat makes the perfect chipped ice for Martini’s and G&T’s.

The Juice-O-Mat. I highly recommend you pick one up the next time you see one. Slow down a bit, stand in your kitchen, and make some juice with none of the whirring chaos that a modern juicer brings.

And a post-script. This last juicing fest, from the limoncello batch of 30 lemons, made two mason jars of juice…enough for some serious citrusy yum.

The search for the perfect stroller included standing in a posh baby store (well, they sold baby items, not actual posh babies) with my best friend who was pregnant with her third child. We “test drove” (read that as spun around the isles) easily a dozen different configurations of double strollers.

The salesman chaneling a high priced car sales persona spent a lot of time listing off hilarious differentiators like torque and wheel base and shock capabilities. But mostly we were in Shock from the price tags.

Especially for the strollers that placed one child behind and slightly below the other, and a model that was impossible to turn, oh and one that looked like you needed training from NASA to operate.

But then we walked past the Jogger brand Citi Mini Double

I’m no jogger, but I’m sure if I was one I’d be using that time as a break from the kids and wouldnt choose to bounce them along with me.

But this stroller seats the children next to eachother while still only being the width of a standard stroller (29″) so it fits through doorways and turns easily. The wheels are sturdy and quiet and perfect for the urban environment of Chicago (read that as craptastic side walks.)

When we got home last October the girls weighed 21 and 27 pounds so I can’t speak to the setting for infants. But I can tell you that my two squirmy angels have tested the restraint system, stress tested the open and close then open again ease of the individual canopies (awesome that one child can have shade while other pokes her head out) and that 9 months of almost daily use here in the city have produced almost no wear and tear.

Oh! The biggest selling point for me? Besides the way more reasonable sales price of $145. Is the increadibly easy function for collapsing and opening it. It’s smoother and takes less strength than most single seat strollers.

Highly recommended!

We have a large dinning room table, it’s made from barn boards as old as our house, and seats 10 people. But the dinning room itself isn’t actually all that wide. once you get the table, the chairs, a side board to hold knick knacks and my hilariously large collection of cook books there isn’t much room for two giant high chairs with those big trays.

It also seemed to us that being able to actually sit next to us, instead of an arms/trays reach away, might be a great way of bonding with the girls, and help us transition meals for them from the orphanage assembly line experience into a social activity.

Enter the Tripp Trapp High Chair from Stokke…well, actually two of them.

They are completly adjustable, solidly built and with multiple color options, modern but without the spaceship styling of some of the other high chairs we looked at.

It slides right up to the table so no need for a tray, and as the girls grow (seriously, 10cm in five months for our oldest daughter) we just adjust the seats and feet thingy down so they still can sit comfortably.

Shipped flat like most IKEA furniture, but it took less than ten minutes to put together (not like most IKEA furniture.)

They are actually designed to let you start with an infant using a click in device that holds them from shlumping over all the way to a full grown adult to use as a desk chair.

I can’t promise that it will last until our children are adults. We keep taking them out onto the back deck so the girls can eat with us at the picnic table after playing in the pool. I’m afraid that tiny wet tushy marks are starting to show up in the paint…soon peeling seems likely to occur. But we really really like the chairs and I’d happily recommend them – oh, wait.. I just did!

The Land of Nod work/play table

The Wee Kahunas and I use this table, set at the toddler play height of 15 inches, every day.

Weekly themes start out as coloring and drawing, on the rolled out paper, to set up what we will be learning about.

Leggo building is more fun at this height and less likely to result in ouchy foot on tiny leggo piece stepping than when we play directly on the floor.

Playdoh time is sacrosanct in this house as is snack time, both done on this same surface.

The roll of white butcher/drawing paper that is attached to one end of the table is perfect for all of those functions and, thanks to the miracle grow we poured on the girls, very soon we’ll be changing out the short legs to the 23 inch height to accomodate chairs instead of the beanbag seats the tiny tushies are currently sitting on.

We also purchased the full size, 30 inch legs so that when we are ready this solidly built table can be turned into a full size desk.

The table has two good sized drawers that right now are filled wirh crayons, but I imagine will hold makeup and hair doo hickys for pre-teens if we choose to add a mirror behind it and turn it into a vanity table instead of a homework space.

It comes in several colors as well as a natural wood. We chose the white washed because it seemed likely that at some point we might re-paint it anyway.

My issue? At least once a week one of the girls bangs her head on the corner. Hard. It also makes mommy say words like $#@! and #(*&@!! when she hits her shins and knees on it, a vocabulary lesson we are trying to avoid, at least for a while.

Is it asking too much that the corners of a table built for toddlers be umm not corners? Let’s go rounded, or for goodness sake at least less pointy.