Green Parent Chicago

Winter Fun In Chicago With Snow, Ice...and Flowers

 

What do you get when you mix young children and cold weather? Cabin fever. If your kids seem to be  bouncing off the walls with energy and you all need a breath of fresh air, check out these upcoming family events beginning this weekend and next for a healthy dose of activity.

Second Annual Snow Days Chicago:

Snow Days Chicago is a free three-day winter festival running Friday Jan 29 to Sunday Jan 31 on Michigan Avenue in Grant Park. It features a snow sculpting competition, dog sled demonstrations, a snowboard rail jam and kids activities.

Hours are Friday 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Snow sculpting will take place Wednesday, January 27 to Saturday, January 30 at 3 p.m. Visitors may cast their vote for their favorite snow sculpture during these days. The winner will be announced Saturday at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, 3rd Floor Waldorf Room.

Never tried ice skating? Now's your chance:

For those reluctant holdouts (dads) who've never learned but always wanted to give it a whirl, ice skating lessons will be held on Saturdays and Sundays at Millennium Park's McCormick Tribune Ice Rink from February 6 to 28.

Learn the basics of ice skating from IceReach and Chicago Ice Dance Foundation. These family-friendly  lessons are open to visitors of all ages and skill levels. Look for appearances by the Chicago Wolves' hockey team mascot, Skates, on February 7, 20 and 27; and guests from Radio Disney on February 6 and 13.

Beginner lessons 8 to 8:30 a.m. and 9 to 9:30 a.m.
Intermediate lessons 8:30 to 9 a.m. and 9:30 to 10 a.m.

As always, the Millennium Park rink offers free ice skating throughout the season daily until March 14. There you may rent skates on site for $10 or bring your own pair.

Late Night Ice Dance Parties

The rink will also host extended skating hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. February 5 to 27. Ice dancing demonstrations will take place at 7, 8:30 and 10 p.m.

A different dance theme will be featured each weekend with ice dancing demonstrations by Chicago Ice Dance Foundation, Shipstad Entertainment and IceTalent Inc., free giveaways and fun with theatre group Collaboraction.

Weekly schedule of ice dancing themes:
February 5: Sock Hop/1950s
February 6: Tribute to Michael Jackson/1980s
February 12: Show Tunes
February 13: Love Songs
February 19: Disco
February 20: Country Western
February 26: Twilight
February 27: Big Band Jazz/1920s

Spring is just around the corner

For a great nature fix indoors, the Lincoln Park Conservatory and the Garfield Park Conservatory will both host their annual Spring Flower Shows. Garfield Park Conservatory's begins Saturday until May 9 and Lincoln Park Conservatory's will begin February 6 until May 10. There's nothing like the sight and scent of beautiful blooms to cure your winter ills. Hours vary by location. Admission is free.

-photo credit: City of Chicago

Twelve Days: A Cake Fit for a King

To celebrate the end of Christmas, the Twelve Night, we had a little family feast with a delicious Wintery beef stew made from local beef, local vegetables and local beer (recipe to be posted later). While delicious, the star of the show was our very French, yet very local Galette des Rois.

Galettes des Rois
8-10 servings

1 sheet puff pastry, homemade or store bought, preferably made with all butter
all-purpose flour for dusting
1/3 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
pinch salt
1 teaspoon rye whiskey or bourbon
1 large egg
1 medium apple
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon heavy cream or water

Preheat the oven to 375º F. Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk to mix the egg and yolk uniformly. In the bowl of the food processor, combine the pecans, sugar, flour butter, rye, and half the beaten egg until well mixed. Refrigerate the filling for 1/2 hour.

Roll out the sheet of puff pastry to 1/8-inch thick. Using a 9-inch plate as a guide, cut out 2 circles. In one, cut out a 2-inch circle out of the center, reserving the circle. Place the intact circle on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Spread the filling on the circle leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Peel, core, and slice the apple and toss with lemon juice in a small bowl. Top the pecan mix with the apple slices. Mix the remaining egg with the cream or water. Brush the border of the base and top with the second circle. Seal by pressing the edges together. Lightly score the top in curved lines. Set the baking sheet in the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Remove and brush with egg wash - be very careful not to let the egg wash drop along the sides as it will hinder even rising as evidenced by our slightly lopsided galette. Brush the cut-out circle with wash as well. Bake in the center of the oven for 1/2 hour. Reduce the heat to 325º F and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature either unadorned or with freshly whipped cream.

The little locavore with his cake and crown.

-Melissa Graham is a former attorney and chef and owner of Monogramme Events & Catering, a boutique catering company specializing in seasonal and sustainable cuisine. She's also president and founder of Purple Asparagus, a non-profit dedicated to bringing families back to the table by promoting and enjoying all the things associated with good eating. When she’s not in the kitchen or the classroom, you can often find Melissa shopping at the Green City Market where she serves as the membership chair.

Recycle Your Christmas Tree and Get A Jump on Garden Season

Are you anxious to take down your tree now that the holidays are over? Take advantage of the City of Chicago's Holiday Tree Recycling Program. Beginning Friday, January 1 to January 17, various locations around the city will be accepting trees to be chipped and turned into garden mulch.

Free mulch will be available to residents for pick up beginning Friday, January 8 until January 17. Here is a list of locations to drop off your tree. 

• Bessemer Park, 8930 S. Muskegon Ave.
• Clark Park, 3400 N. Rockwell St.
• Forestry Site, 900 E. 103rd St.
• Garfield Park,100 N. Central Park Ave.
• Grant Park, 900 S. Columbus Dr.
• Humboldt Park Boathouse,1369 N. Sacramento Ave.
• Jackson Park, 6300 S. Cornell Ave.
• Kennedy Park,11320 S. Western Ave.
• Kelvyn Park, 4438 W. Wrightwood Ave.
• Lake Meadows Park, 3117 S. Rhodes Ave.
• Lincoln Park, Cannon Dr. at Fullerton Ave.(Parking lot east of Cannon Dr.)
• Margate Park, 4921 N. Marine Dr.
• Marquette Park, 6700 S. Kedzie Ave.
• McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd.
• Mt. Greenwood Park, 3721 W. 111th St.
• North Park Village, 5801 N. Pulaski Rd.
• Norwood Park, 5801 N. Natoma Ave.
• Portage Park, 4100 N. Long Ave.
• Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave.
• Rowan Park, 11546 S. Avenue L
• Sheridan Park, 910 S. Aberdeen St.
• Warren Park, 6601 N. Western Ave.
• Wentworth Park, 5625 S. Mobile Ave.

Note: No other recyclable materials may be dropped off at these locations. A list of city recycling facilities may be found here.

Time To Wrap Up Those Gifts? Try An Easy-to-Make Fabric Bag

Would you like a super simple pattern for making a reusable cloth gift bag? Here's one, courtesy of the Green Bag Lady, Teresa VanHatten, a college professor, artist and mom of 3 from Tennessee, who has sewn and given out nearly 8000 free reusable bags around the U.S and the globe since January 2008. It's also a good way to use up leftover fabric. Thanks, Teresa for sharing your great idea!

Green Bag Lady Gift Wrap Bag Pattern

-photo credit: jek in the box, flickr

Last Minute Gift Idea: Buy a Recycled Bike and Help Chicago Youth

(See they look jolly, don't they? )

Still looking for a great green gift for that eco-conscious adult or child? How about a bike from Blackstone Bicycle Works? These "recycled bikes" have been saved from the landfill and meticulously refurbished by kids from the Hyde Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods, under the guidance of Blackstone's knowledgeable staff. Working at the shop, kids learn valuable skills about safety, bike mechanics and small businesses entrepreneurship.

In addition to sales during the shop's regular hours, a special bike sale will be held Saturday during the ongoing 61st Street Farmer's Market, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. indoor at Experimental Station. Prices start at $25-$250, depending on the number of new parts needed to refurbish the bike and the general quality of the bike.

-Christine

-photo credit, pinguino, flickr

Latke Lust

I may not be Jewish, but I have an insatiable lust for latkes. Last year, our good friends David and Ilana hosted a delicious Hanukkah celebration with what seemed to be endless supply of latkes and sour cream - I must have devoured 20 of them.

My affinity for latkes is directly linked to my own heritage. My grandmother, of Swedish descent, married my grandfather, whose family had emigrated from Germany in the early years of the 20th century. I don't remember much Swedish food, but every Sunday, our family table was filled to the hilt with German dishes. While I'm loath to admit it, I was a picky eater until I hit high school, so my grandmother's vast culinary skill was lost on me with one epic exception: potato pancakes. I loved them, slathered with sour cream and, in the summer, dusted with sprinkles of chive from her garden.

I think of my grandma, who died several years ago, each time I stop by the Polish stand at our neighborhood street festival, who makes enormous potato pancakes lobbed with thick sour cream, and again when I make my annual trek to the Christkindlmarket where several stands serve steaming hot potato pancakes in the stark Chicago cold. And thus, I don't need to explain why my grandma was the inspiration for the following recipe.

I was contacted not too long ago by an author who's writing a children's cookbook based upon the fruits and vegetables grown in a very famous, and recently planted, garden. She had a list of ingredients for which she still needed recipes and one was kohlrabi.

Truth be told, kohlrabi isn't a vegetable that's used very often in my kitchen, so I didn't have anything in my existing file. I stopped over at our friend, Farmer Vicki's Green City Market stand, where she had the most beautiful purple kohlrabi (I do love purple vegetables). On the way home, I remembered a lone Yukon gold potato that I had in my cabinet. Hmm. A kohlrabi cake might be kinda cabbage-y, but how about one mixed with the mellow yellow Yukon? I grated the two together with a 1/2 an onion leftover from last night's dinner in my food processor (far easier than on a hand grater). Using a lint free cloth, I wrung the liquid out from the vegetable chards. Mixing these with eggs, flour, and salt in a large bowl, the mixture looked a bit beige. I remembered the last bit of chives I had in my garden, a transplant from my grandmother's garden and couldn't imagine anything better to enliven the appearance. I fried these up in a bit of clarified butter until brown and topped with a modern touch, avocado cream - half of a leftover avocado mixed with sour cream, pureed together in a food processor. It was a big hit with the little locavore who unfortuately never met my wonderful grandmother. But we now share a certain food memory about her.

Potato-Kohlrabi Pancakes with Avocado Cream
Serves 4

1 medium Yukon gold potato, peeled
1 kohlrabi bulb, peeled
1/2 yellow onion, peeled
2 teaspoons chopped chives
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
vegetable oil or clarified butter

Coarsely grate the potato, kohlrabi, and onion in a food processor. Wring out any excess liquid from the vegetables by wrapping them in a clean, lint-free dish towel and squeezing it out. Dump the drained vegetables into a medium bowl. Add the eggs, flour, and salt and mix until combined. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil or clarified butter. When hot, drop 1/4 cup sized dollops of the batter into the pan. Press down on the cakes with a spatula to flatten. Cook until browned, a few minutes. Flip and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from the ban to a plate or a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter. The pancakes can be reheated in a 350º F oven. Serve warm, garnished with avocado cream.

Avocado Cream

1/2 avocado
1/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lime juice
salt to taste

Puree together the avocado, sour cream, and lime juice. Salt to taste.

Kids Cooking Tips
Kids can peel and help grate the veggies. They'll love squeezing the liquid out of them. And of course, they can mix them together with the rest of the ingredients.

Provenance
Potato, onion, and kohlrabi from Genesis Growers (IL)
Eggs from Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm (IL)
Sour cream from Organic Valley (WI)

-Melissa Graham is a former attorney and chef and owner of Monogramme Events & Catering, a boutique catering company specializing in seasonal and sustainable cuisine. She's also president and founder of Purple Asparagus, a non-profit dedicated to bringing families back to the table by promoting and enjoying all the things associated with good eating. When she’s not in the kitchen or the classroom, you can often find Melissa shopping at the Green City Market where she serves as the membership chair.

Visit the Green Family Holiday Fair Sunday For Green Gift Options

Join Green Parent Chicago at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Sunday for a green holiday fair with over 30 environmentally minded local businesses and organizations.

The fair, organized by the museum and the national Green Parents Network online takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the museum as part of the museum's Eco-Friendly Holidays celebration.

Deck the Halls with the CTA Holiday Train

Returning once again, the CTA's Holiday Train greets Chicago's transit riders decorated inside and out with the season's finery.

The train, decorated with lights, candy canes, tinsel and more, features Santa and his helpers who pass out candy canes and season's greetings to riders. Santa waves to boarding passengers from his sleigh on an open-air flatcar that carries his reindeer and decorated holiday trees.

The train operates from about 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on select weekdays (schedules for lines will vary and may be viewed at the CTA's website) The Holiday Train will make stops at all stations along the respective routes. Normal CTA fares apply.

-photo credit: 24gotham, Flickr

Eco Holidays Coming to the Nature Museum

 
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will celebrate the season with an eco-friendly holiday theme beginning Friday.

From November 27 to January 3, visitors to the museum will find an assortment of activities to help them incorporate environmental sensitivity into their holiday.

Gifting Green lets guests create eco-friendly gifts and ornaments. The Chicago Herpetological Society will introduce visitors to snakes, turtles, lizards, and other creatures during Holidays with the Herps.  Visitors may also browse and shop The Green Family Holiday Fair Sunday, December 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from over 30 green businesses and groups featuring family friendly products and information. In addition, REI will co-sponsor Adventure Days, a snowshoeing demonstration and activity.

After Christmas, from December 26 to 31, Trash to Treasure will take place daily to help spread the idea of recycling and reusing holiday decor that might otherwise be disposed. Chicago artist Erik Peterson will transform holiday wrapping paper trash into a treasured work of art at this annual mural making event. Museum visitors can also turn their own holiday wrapping paper trash into treasure at a creative reuse station.

View a full schedule of events, dates and times here.

-photo credit: Chris J, Flickr

Chicago Homeschool Holiday Craft Fair

Members of Chicago area homeschool groups will participate in a Homeschool Holiday Craft Fair next month at the Ethical Humanist Society at 7574 N. Lincoln Ave. in Skokie.

The fair is free and takes place:

Friday December 4, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday December 5, from 10a.m. to 3 p.m.

Browse and shop handmade items crafted by both children and adults. There will also be student musical performances and baked goods for sale. Admission is free.

-h/t Northside Unschoolers