Birthday Scones!

Last time Khalil commented that we should make scones again sometime. He had obviously been pining for them, so I figured that another scone-baking session would be just the thing for his birthday.

I brought all the kitchen utensils and ingredients except for the lemon. Khalil's mom didn't have one, but she did have a lime, so we decided to try a batch with lime zest instead of lemon zest. She heated up the oven and we began the preparation. We measured out the dry ingredients, and I showed him how to use the edge chopper to chop the candied ginger. As we took turns cutting in the butter and mixing in the heavy cream with a fork, I once again told Khalil how important it is not to knead pastry any more than absolutely necessary: the pastry cutter and the fork mix in the wet ingredients with the least amount of kneading, which is what gives us the kind of light, flaky pastry that we want.

We zested the lime - Khalil's getting better at using the Microplane zester - and began adding the cream. Not one to pass up an opportunity for pastry preaching, I again instructed Khalil on the importance of moisture conten: in the summer I often only need eight tablespoons of water for a double pie crust, whereas in the winter I sometimes need twelve because the air is so much drier! Tonight I had to add much more heavy cream than the recipe called for before the dough was wet enough to hold together.

We mixed in the ginger, shaped the rounds, patted on a glaze of heavy cream, sprinkled on a bit of sugar, cut the rounds into wedges, buttered the baking sheet, put the wedges on the sheet, popped it in the oven, and set the timer. While the scones were baking I set up gmail and blogspot accounts for Khalil so that I could add him as a contributor to this blog. Soon I hope to instruct him in the basics of blogging.



Once the scones had reached a delicious-looking golden color, we took them out of the oven. While Khalil and his mother made tea, I made a small scone mountain on a plate and stuck in eleven candles. I lit them, and we sang happy birthday as I brought them over to the table. Khalil blew out the candles, I gave him his birthday card, and everyone enjoyed a scone. The general consensus was that the lime was excellent. Although I think I prefer lemon, I agree that the lime is delicious and perhaps even goes better with the ginger. Next time I want to try zesting two limes instead of just one, to make the flavor more noticeable.

All subtleties aside, Khalil had a great time making and eating his birthday scones.

Dogs and Dogs

See my Picasaweb album for more pictures from this event. Also check out the YouTube video of Khalil playing with some dogs.

On my way to pick up Khalil I drove by Roberto's and found it closed. I was thinking of taking him to the Millburn Diner after our hike, but then it occurred to me that it was a perfect day for a cookout. Khalil liked this idea, so we went to ShopRite for hot dogs and rolls before hiking up into South Mountain Reservation from the Millburn end. Many other people were out on the paved section, enjoying the beautiful day. After hearing Khalil's enthusiastic reaction to a few dogs we passed, I realized that I'd brought him to the perfect place: there's a big dog park right next to the picnic area in the middle of the park.

We entered the fenced-in area for dogs of any size, and Khalil had a blast watching, and then playing with, the dogs. His favorite dogs are golden retrievers and huskies, and there was at least one of each there. The one he really made friends with, though, was a grey "labradoodle", as his owners called him, who spent quite some time catching and retrieving a tennis ball thrown delightfully by Khalil.

Khalil probably would have played with the dogs all day, but I eventually got us moving toward lunch. We walked over to the picnic area and gathered a little wood. I started the fire while warning Khalil that it's almost never so easy; there just happens to be an abundant supply of dry wood there. I roasted the hot dogs and buns, and we enjoyed them, although I suspect that Khalil is more of a burger fan. Maybe I'll try grilling some of those next time.

Nets vs. 76ers

See my Picasaweb album for more pictures from this event.

Khalil and I reached our seats in the IZOD Center a few seconds before the game began. Both the Nets and the 76ers began scoring points immediately, and throughout the game they stayed almost neck-and-neck. Although it seemed to me that the Nets were outclassed, the 76ers never pulled ahead by more than a few points. By the fourth quarter I'd developed a theory for this disagreement between the score and my perception of the teams' skills: the 76ers have much flashier close-quarters moves when approaching the net, but the Nets have excellent teamwork and seem to do better from farther out. I think that the Nets didn't score quite as often, but they got more three-point shots.

The game was entertaining enough, considering that I never cared for group sports. I still don't understand what causes all the time-outs; they sure do draw the game out, though. By the time the third quarter was considering leaving early: I was worried about getting Khalil home so late on a school night, and anyway it seemed unlikely that the Nets would close the gap. As it turned out, we were glad we stayed; there were some big surprises in the fourth quarter.

There was a lot of exciting back-and-forth between the two teams, but generally the 76ers stayed just far enough ahead to give me little hope for a Nets win. But, literally at the last second, Devin Harris made the most amazing play I've ever seen. The story and the video interview with Devin Harris will tell you about it better than I could; suffice it to say that it was one of those sports moments that seemed to come straight out of a movie.

Hanging out at Roberto's again

It was way too cold to go on a walk, so I took Khalil's to Roberto's to grab some dinner and hang out. As usual, we talked about video games. After we got done eating we read through some of President Obama's inauguration speech. As we took turns reading I explained the subtext to Khalil. This speech has about a hundred unwritten lines to read between every two on the page, and I don't know as much history as I'd like, so this was no easy task. How the heck do you explain to a ten-year-old, in an unbiased way, what Democrats and Republicans are? How do you explain the financial crisis? I guess I'll be getting more practice.

Disney on Ice

See my Picasaweb album for more pictures from this event.

Khalil's mom had a coupon for $10 tickets, but we got very lucky and didn't even need them! Just as we got in line a lady walked up to ask if we wanted her tickets, which she was unable to use. We gratefully accepted, and found our seats about ten seconds before the show started. The basic plot of the show is that the Incredibles, some time after the events of the movie, plan a family vacation to Disney World. It doesn't go as planned. Mr. Incredible takes all the animatronics seriously, getting himself into some needlessly heroic situations. Then a robotic duplicate of Syndrome bursts onto the scene at the helm of an Omnidroid. It immediately begins monologging about its plans to take over Disney World. It takes Mickey Minnie hostage, and from there... well, it gets confusing. But hey, it's a kid's show. All we really need to know is that the Incredibles kick the bad guy's butt out of the park.

In addition to the free tickets, I think I also scored a point for good nutrition. I asked Khalil if he liked peanuts and raisins, seeing as how I'd brought a bag of them for each of us. He said "No" so we went over to the concession counters. The only remotely healthy thing they had on sale was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; I gave Khalil the choice between that and a hot dog, and thankfully he chose the sandwich. Later he got curious about the peanuts and raisins, so I gave him one of the bags. In a rather surprised voice he said "These are good!" Score!!

The Forbidden Kingdom

I'd been looking forward to showing Khalil "Wall-E" so I came over after work with the DVD in my briefcase and the inevitable Roberto's bag in my hand. We split the Italian Cheeseburger and bottle of Sunkist, and sat down in front of the TV. Unfortunately the DVD player didn't like the disc - it didn't even make it to the opening credits. So Khalil showed me one of his favorites: "The Forbidden Kingdom". It was quite intriguing: obviously not meant primarily for adults, it had story elements and special effects that were over-the-top enough for young people to really enjoy, but not enough to turn off an adult who's ready for a popcorn flick. Jackie Chan is every bit as entertaining as usual in a role that reminds me more than a little of his performance in "Drunken Master". I have to admit that, up until looking up the actors just now, I thought that was Jackie under the Monkey King makeup. Not so: it was Jet Li! It's fun watching him, as the Monkey King, being every bit as impish as Jackie. While we watched the movie Khalil once again showed me his Pokémon book. I'm still a bit amazed that the fascination with Pokémon has held on so long.

We only had time to watch about half of the movie because the season premier of "Smallville" was coming on, and Khalil and his mom are fans. Just as I got up to get my jacket, leaving became much harder. The costumes of those mysterious super-powered teenagers seemed strikingly familiar, and just before they said who they were I knew: members of The Legion of Super-Heroes! It was both weird, and a huge gas, to see a television version of those comic characters I've known since my childhood. So that's one more geek point I get to share with Khalil!

Rifles For Watie

I was trying to come up with a good Christmas gift idea for Khalil, so I started thinking of what I liked when I was his age. Then it hit me: Rifles for Watie!. I was just about Khalil's age when a teacher got a copy from the school library and challenged me to read it. Khalil is so sharp and inquisitive that I felt he could handle the same challenge, so I went to Borders and bought a copy.

I'd accidentally double-booked, so after hopping a train west to see Khalil I had to zip back to Penn Station and uptown for a caroling party. But at least I had time to share another Italian Burger with Khalil and give him his gift. I told him how my teacher had challenged me with the book, and how I didn't appreciate it at the time. In fact I thought she was a little bit nuts thinking I could read this adult book! But I rose to the challenge and finished the book, and to this day I feel proud of that. I told Khalil all this, and how I thought he could do it too. I also mentioned that I realize he might not relate to it as I did; after all, I was a country boy reading a story of a country boy who runs off to join the Union Army. I told him "It's OK for you not to read it if you don't find it interesting, but don't think you can't read it. Because I think you can."

Back on the eastbound New Jersy Transit platform there was a cold wind blowing, but I had a nice warm spot in my heart.