March for Babies: 2011 March Photos, Part 3

More Photos from the 2011 March for Babies, New York Edition

There were a plethora of cuties and a variety of conveyances to keep me amused on my solitary march through the avenues of Gotham.

It was an early morning, even for the little ones.
She's already started on the coffee.

Little kids are so cute.

Both dogs and kids agree, getting a ride makes the day more fun for little feet.
If you get a shoulder up, you get a better view.

March for Babies: 2011 March Photos, Part 2

More Scenes from the 2011 March for Babies, New York Edition

T-shirts and signs:
Check out Ethan's posse of hombres. Big tough guys sauntering through the park, tagged out in support of a good cause.

I felt like I had a little fairy keeping an eye on the proceedings, and hope that Maddie would be proud that I managed to walk all the way through.

There were lovely touches of purple everywhere,

and activities at the finish line for family and friends.

March for Babies: 2011 March Photos, Part 1

2011 March for Babies,

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Overview:

I was very pleased to participate in my first March for Babies last month in New York City. It was a beautiful spring day in the City, as crowds of families, corporate groups, and walkers of all shapes, sizes, ages, and apparently species, gathered together for a good cause.

I got to Lincoln Center relatively early, checked in at registration, got a t-shirt for Tammy, and then headed up to keep an eye on things prior to the official start. There were so many cuties there, as well as obviously invested family and friends. Equally as fun to watch were the large contingents of high school kids, NYC Sanitation workers, big burly bikers and their bitches (and excuse me, I am using the correct terminology here -- as you'll see in the next few posts), Explorers, and hombres and dudes that you would usually be more afraid of in a dark back alley.

Since I was a solitary walker, I waited until the massive wave of walkers, strollers, carts, and wagons seemed to be through the starting balloon arch. Then it was through Central Park and over to the East Side to stroll unimpeded down the center of Lexington Avenue.

Now, I know that I walk fast usually, but when you think about the average speed of little kids, or parents pushing strollers, or pulling wagons, or dealing with doggies, I was a virtual Olympic champion speed-walker. Not only that, I was taking pictures AND carrying on text conversations, while I bobbed and weaved around groups of people. I started at the back of the back at Lincoln Center, slowly dealt with the bottleneck in the Park, and by the time we hit Lexington Avenue, steadily and speedily moved up to the front third of the group.

The view looking south on Lexington Avenue

We ended up at Madison Square Park off of 23rd Street, looking north at the Empire State Building. After passing through the balloon arch, I didn't stick around for any of the family craft activities, but opted to continue my walk back up to Grand Central.

All told, I probably ended up doing a good 4 miles that day, and, thanks to a last minute donation by Amelia, raised a grand total of $640 for the March of Dimes.

Next year, I may (gasp) actually consider training for this thing, and hopefully have more people to walk and talk with me. The pace might be slower, but the important thing is the cause and company.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I definitely will be upping the fund raising goal for 2012.

Please enjoy the next few posts with some of my pictures of the day. I promise cute dogs, babies, pretty purple accents, and many signs of support.

Photos of the Day: This is just MEAN!

From time to time, the MTA decides to try and glean extra revenue by having the Times Square shuttle(s) wrapped in advertising. The interior and exteriors of the cars are shrink wrapped for travel campaigns or other marketing pushes. Some of these are better than others - in design, content, and/or timing. For example, the Lady Gaga new album campaign that's encasing one of the shuttles right now, is rather ... um ... disturbing. Thank goodness there is no audio component to the inset television screens.

For the most part, I like the travel campaigns best. It's like a 3 minute get-away. The Norway and Iceland travel campaigns during the height of the summer heat were refreshing and yet mean, all at the same time.

Like this recent campaign from Brazil - not long after the incessant winter storms.

My little cell phone camera came in handy for these quickie shots.

(What is Brazil calling me, exactly?)

Please stand clear of the closing doors.

This exit does not lead to sand and surf. Brazil is just messing around with you. Life's not a ball, or a beach.
And to just taunt you further, you are going to be subjected to subliminal messages about carnival, Rio, Ipanema, and other Brazilian delights, while you have to deal with winter blahs, summer rains, and the gritty, grimy mess that is your commute.

Brazil is calling you. Celebrate life .. you poor schmuck of a commuter.

Have a nice day!

(HA!)

Recipes from Grandma -- Grandma's Brownies

I have to be honest. This recipe isn't from one of my grandmothers, or great aunts, or even my mother.

It's a recipe from a semi-humorous cookbook I discovered long after college, entitled, Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen, which was co-written by a mother and son, Kevin and Nancy Mills. This must be one of their grandmothers' recipes.

When I have to whip up brownies from scratch rather than from a box mix, I use this one. It's really good. Of course, I make ALL kinds of substitutions, but what baker doesn't. If you look in the background of one of the photos below, you can see that this page of my cookbook has a swipe of chocolate across it from an earlier batch.

I'm going to quote the whole thing, because Kevin's commentary is funny. Such a guy.

Grandma's Brownies
Makes 15-16 Brownies, Each 2 inches*
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Rating: Easy

There is something mysterious about brownies. A hundred people could follow the same recipe and each person's batch will come out different. My first attempt came out too dry because I didn't have the right pan. I got creative, divided the batter into two bread pans and overbaked both. But even if they didn't taste as good as Grandma's, how bad could they be? They were still chocolate.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine + more for greasing pan
3 squares unsweetened chocolate (substituted cocoa/oil as on back of Cocoa Box)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour + 1 teaspoon for dusting pan
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (skipped)

Place one of the oven racks in the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter or margarine and chocolate in a small pot over very low heat. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Beat the eggs thoroughly in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer if you have one. Otherwise, a fork will do. Add the sugar gradually and mix thoroughly. Add the cooled mixture and mix again. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add the vanilla and walnuts and mix again.

Lightly rub the bottom and sides of a 10x6-inch or 8x8-inch pan with butter or margarine. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon flour and swirl it around, coating the buttered surfaces. This keeps the brownies from sticking to the pan. (I actually skip this step and just spray the pan with Pam.) Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or knife comes out clean when inserted into the center.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Cut into squares* and serve. Store in a closed container or wrapped in foil.

*Or cook in my fancy brownie pan that makes equal sized brownies, so no one has to fight over the bigger square.

One of the best part of this book are the Mom Tips/Warnings scattered throughout, like this one:

Mom Warning:
Don't confuse unsweetened chocolate with semisweet. Both types of chocolate come in flat boxes with each ounce of chocolate individually wrapped. Make sure you use unsweetened chocolate in this recipe or you will definitely have a disaster. Unsweetened chocolate is bitter to the taste. Semisweet chocolate, which is what chocolate chips are made of, requires much less sugar than unsweetened chocolate. I once made the mistake of using semisweet chocolate instead of unsweetened in a fudge recipe. The end result was so sickly sweet that I had to throw it out. It was a very sad occasion.

To that I also say, don't try to satisfy a chocolate craving by trying to eat unsweetened chocolate which you have snuck out of your mother's fridge when she is not home, which you know aren't supposed to be doing in the first place, and if you get caught you are going to be in so trouble when she gets home, and then the phone rings and your guilty conscience goes into paranoid overdrive that somehow she knows. Or something like this that I know nothing about! ~ aka NOT ME! I don't know. It was Jed. Or J.J. No... the babysitter!!! That's it.