Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Homemade Crackers

Why would anyone make crackers from scratch? Well, for one, it's fun. Two, it's quicker than making bread. And three, I can actually pronounce every last item in the ingredient list, unlike some of the store-bought varieties.

Here is my version, but you can experiment with any bread dough. I use a bread machine on the dough setting to mix the ingredients, so I add the dry ingredients first and then the wet. If you are mixing by hand, that's fine too.

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 package)
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (yes, I'm sneaking some whole wheat in there)
2 c. bread flour or more as needed
2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c. warm water
1 T. honey
2 T. olive oil

Knead for about 10 minutes, and keep the dough a little on the dry side with extra flour. Roll it super thin 1/8" or less. We use a pasta machine for this part. Then cut the rolled dough into roughly 2" or 3" squares. Neatness does not count. Place the squares on an oiled baking sheet and brush them with either an egg or milk wash (but maybe I'll try olive oil next time) and then sprinkle on toppings. My crew likes Kosher salt and oregano, but anything is fair game: parmesan, rosemary, sesame seeds, whatever you like. I think this would work equally well with sweet toppings.

Bake at 450 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until they are lightly browned. Let cool and enjoy!

Durian Fruit Taste Test

As I mentioned in my post about H Mart, I picked up a few new foods for our family to try. When we saw the durian fruits, I just couldn't resist. Durian has had a lot of media attention lately, mostly because Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmer couldn't manage to eat the stuff. And yet Anthony Bourdain, from No Reservations loves the stuff.

My nearly 10-year-old daughter came home, took one sniff, and politely suggested we move the durian out of the kitchen. As she said, "it's spiny, it's stinky... let's try it... later." Okay, good enough.

After dinner we split the durian down the middle. The seeds are surrounded by a gooey flesh and I am so proud of my kids for trying it. Look at those faces. Absolute fear, but they all tried it, some of them twice.

So what did it taste like? I could tell you to get your own, but I won't. It's kind of like a sweet onion pudding. Actually not too bad, which I know is not a nice way to describe food. Dave liked it. I wasn't quite so enthusiastic, but I would, I admit, try it again -- on a dare.

H Mart - The Hunt for Vinegar

Cabin fever is setting in here, and any excuse to get out of the house is a welcome one. Today? Vinegar.

First a little back-story. Over the holidays, our extended family got together for a few days. Because my sister's family is hosting an exchange student from China this year, we were busy in the kitchen making homemade dumplings. I was assigned to chopping cabbage, until I was replaced by the food processor. No, I was not offended. We chopped, mixed (clockwise only please), stuffed and finally boiled wonderful little pouches filled with veggies and pork. Then for dinner, we dunked the dumplings into this amazing vinegar and devoured them all.

Now, I have absolutely no hope of ever recreating those dumplings, but at least the vinegar could be mine, right?

H Mart is an Asian grocery chain (predominantly Korean) and we are lucky enough to have one just a hop, skip and jump away, in Catonsville. Prices are low, and the place is crowded, especially on weekends. But the produce section alone is worth the trip. There are lots of fruits and vegetables here that I don't even recognize and, in the spirit of raising adventurous eaters, we picked out a few things to try.

We grabbed a few items for a vegetarian stir-fry as we wandered through the aisles. I never bothered to tell my kids that tofu is weird, so they all love it. They have dozens of varieties, including some organic ones.

The seafood selection is huge and the kids were entertained just by watching shoppers picking up live crabs with tongs and attempting to stuff them into brown paper bags. Fish mongers were ready and waiting to clean any fish to our specifications. Then on to the candy aisle (I promised). You could probably guess which kid picked out the candy based on the packaging alone, pink with a drawing of a lovely lady on it. No clue what's inside, cherry-flavored something.

And then finally, the vinegar. Actually, more varieties of vinegar than I anticipated. Why, oh, why didn't I write down the name? But there it was! $1.79. And it's mine, all mine.

443-612-9020

H Mart
800 N Rolling Road
Catonsville, MD

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Homemade Microwave Popcorn

When did popcorn get so complicated? When we were kids, it was just popcorn and oil in a pot on the stove. Then came Jiffy Pop, oil poppers, air poppers and finally... microwave popcorn. Delicious, but ever since the whole diacetyl debacle with "popcorn lung", I just haven't quite trusted the stuff. I know, the diacetyl has been removed, but what exactly is artificial flavoring and do I want to feed it to my kids?

I recently ran across Alton Brown's popcorn recipe. So easy. So simple. Oil, popcorn, and salt in a brown paper bag. Staple the bag shut and microwave. Or, if you want to make it easier, just put the popcorn in the bag and forget about the rest. It pops just fine that way too and then you can pour on the butter afterwards. Hey, I'm anti-chemicals, not anti-calories. Enjoy!

Akbar Restaurant

We've been neglecting our kids. Really. Back in the day, when we just had one little tot, we took her to fancy restaurants, and plays, and what not. We patted ourselves on the backs as our well-mannered darling nibbled on ginger at the sushi bar, or politely asked for a drink refill. But somewhere along the line, we slid into the land of chicken nuggets.

My twins think they are in a fancy restaurant only if they get a toy in the deal. Now, don't get all smug. You can only judge me if you have 3 or more kids AND if two or more are under the age of 5. Are we clear on the rules?

So, after a fun trip to the American Visionary Arts Museum this weekend, we headed up to Akbar's, one of our all-time favorite restaurants. There are a couple of things that work in favor of kids here, and one is the crispy papadum that arrives at the table really quickly. Second, and maybe the most important, is the family style of serving here. We ordered three entrées to share: palak paneer, vegetable jalfreji, the tandoori mixed grill, and a couple orders of nan. We had a slightly picky eater with us. He was pretty happy to eat multiple servings of the jasmine rice and nan, but in truth, I saw him nibbling on the tandoori chicken too.

There is enough hubbub going on in the restaurant to disguise the fact that we don't always use our "inside voices" and that's probably a good thing. Either way, by the time we headed out the door, I was holding my head high.

Note: Check out the online coupon for $5 off 2 entrées, or $10 off 4 entrées.

410-539-0944

Akbar Restaurant
823 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21210

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Stone Mill Bakery

Three words. Brown sugar lemonade. I don't know about you, but those high-fructose corn syrup people with their snazzy new commercials aren't fooling me. Yes, I know, I'm exactly who they are making fun of. I get it.

We ordered chicken quesadillas and a Greek salad to share. The "Not Just For Kids" section of the menu has plenty to offer, and check out the hand pressed thin crust whole wheat pizza too.

410-821-1358

Stone Mill Bakery
Green Spring Station
10751 Falls Road
Lutherville, MD 21093

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Tomato Canning

 

We've been in squirrel mode lately. I'm determined to be ready for winter this year. I grew up canning. My special job when I was little was stuffing the jars because I had the littlest hands. Eventually I was promoted, to chief-tomato-peeler and a few other odd jobs, but I was never in charge because I am, after all, still the baby of the family. Of course, now I am in charge (more or less) and I try to pretend like I know what I am doing as I hand out the jobs. It's okay though, because Mom is just a phone call away if I blow it.

But here is the best part. Now that my youngest ones have reached the ripe old age of 3, I've realized something that my mom probably discovered ages ago. I have my very own assembly line.

Baugher's

We pulled up to Baugher's and I knew I was sunk. A tractor pulled up, towing a trailer with rows of school bus seats. People carrying little tiny baskets of apples were climbing out. My daughter screamed, "I wanna go on that!" I didn't know where it was going, but I knew we would be on it. So I talked to the driver/farmer and found out he would take us to pick apples and/or peaches. How could I possibly say no? Mind you, I didn't come here to pick fruit. I came here to buy tomatoes, and maybe pet some animals, but really, the baskets are T-I-N-Y. What can go wrong? Off we go and I have to say that the tractor ride itself is worth the trip. The kids were loving it and I was happy and chatting with a fellow MOT (mother of twins) on the way. Farmer guy drops us off near some peach trees, and takes some time to move an old bus so that we can grab some baskets. Ahh... here's the problem. It turns out that in addition to those tiny baskets, there are also 1/2 bushel boxes, and they seem so much more reasonable in size. So maybe I can make some cobbler, or fruit leather, or well, I don't know.

We take a 1/2 bushel box and start picking. The trees are loaded with peaches. It doesn't take long before our box is full, full, full and we wait a bit for farmer guy to come back, but he magically reappears just when certain people are getting fidgety. Okay, so now what do I do with all these peaches?

1-410-848-5541

Baugher's
1236 Baugher Road
Westminster, MD 21158

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