Kid's Workshop at Home Depot

The first Saturday of the month is always full of fun free things to do in Dallas. Today, TheKiddo™ and I took advantage of one of them. We went to Home Depot for the Kid's Workshop.
Today, the craft is an organizer for Father's Day. We had a blast. I highly recommend it.

Teaching TheKiddo™: Lesson 7

Remember The Rules; Know When To Break Them.

Your life will be full of rules. You’ll constantly be told what to do. You’ll always have someone telling you what you should and should not be doing.

It has already started. Your Mami and Papi make rules for you. Your teachers make rules for you. Your coaches make rules for you.

There are rules for games, grammar, learning, and life.

For the most part, those rules are designed to protect you, teach you and help you grow. So learn them. There are times, however, that you’ll want or even need to break the rules.

Like now.

There are a variety of grammar rules I just broke with that two-word paragraph. I did it on purpose. I did it for a reason. And it worked.

Maurice Sendak was masterful at breaking the rules of grammar. "Where The Wild Things Are" is an opus of sentence fragments an run-ons. It's also a book that you request in both English and Spanish on a regular basis. 

I know the rules. So I know when breaking them is the right thing to do.

Learn your rules. 

Follow them. 

Brush your teeth. Wash your face. Do your homework.

In time, you’ll know when breaking the rules (or even a little civil disobedience) is the right thing to do. Just be sure you know why you’re breaking the rules.

Papi will back you 100%.

Happy birthday North Haven Gardens

We visited our favorite plant and garden store today, North Haven Garden. And we stumbled across their 61st birthday. Happily, Trailer Cakes was there with some delicious cupcakes. It made our wandering around even more enjoyable.
While TheBetterHalf® attended a class about planting from seeds, TheKiddo™ and I looked at plants, checked out the chickens, and amused ourselves by making up stories about what we encountered.
Most of the time, we're easily amused. All we need is one another and our imaginations.
For more fun, we'll need to attend one of their Garden Happy Hours. Wine and lessons about gardening sounds like a great combination.

Urban Gardening

Today we got to harvest some onions and shallots from plot #1. In fact, we harvested over 15 pounds of onions. Not sure hom many shallots we'll have after they've cured for a while. TheKiddo™ says, "A lot." So I'll go with her measurement for now.
We also planted some pumpkins and watermelons. Between the melons we put down today and the cantaloupe that is already growing, we should have plenty of fruit to enjoy this summer.

Deep Ellum Dining: Pepes & Mitos Mexican Café

Pepes & Mitos is unquestionably my favorite tex-mex restaurant in Dallas. Even if it is another one of my Deep Ellum staples that was discovered by the frosted-spiked-dbag coifed fellow on Food Network. So far, it hasn't made it hard to get a table. And that's a good thing since we've been known to wander over just because we were craving chips, salsa and beer.

Their chips are usually freshly warm and crispy. The accompanying salsa is delightfully delicious with just enough heat to get your attention.

I tend to have the Tacos Al Pastor (pork, not chicken) on every visit. I cannot help myself. They're too tasty to ignore.

The Tacos Norteños are delicious, too.

Frankly, it's impossible not to enjoy the food here.

Light reading

TheBetterHalf® has been working at a Scholastic book fair this week. That's always a good thing, because she'll come home with all sorts of books for TheKiddo™that didn't require us to dip into the bank account.

This week, however, she brought me a book too!

It's "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe" by Theodore Gray. I'm loving it. Can't wait to share it with TheKiddo™ (though at six, I know she's not ready for it).

Teaching TheKiddo™: Lesson 6

Keep Your Word

This one is as simple as it seems.

Do what you say you will. Don’t do what you say you won’t do.

There’s no need to lie, shade the truth or prevaricate. Just keep your word. The world will be a better place.

Teaching TheKiddo™: Lesson 5

It's not about you. It's about what you do. 


Sometimes it’s hard to know that there’s a great big world you haven’t seen. As much as Mami and Papi try to show you, there will always be things we don’t want you to see.

Pain. Misery. Suffering. Sadness. Madness.

We do our best to keep these from you. Sometimes we fail. This year, one of your classmates lost everything shortly before Christmas in a fire. Chances are, you won’t remember. And I know you won’t realize we dipped into the bank account to help that family. I do hope, however, that we teach you that we had to.

We couldn’t sit idly by while someone suffered.

We couldn’t sit on our hands and not extend them in comfort and aid.

It wasn’t about us. It wasn’t even about giving in the spirit of the holiday season. It was about being human and caring for those who can’t care for themselves.

There are a lot of people in this great big world. We can’t take care of them all. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Plant Sale Today

It's a beautiful day for gardening.
And Gardeners in Community Development is having a plant sale. So I know where I'm going to be.
Come join us. Purchase some plants. Harvest some knowledge.

Translating Mami: There are children starving

“There are children starving in the world. I can give this food to them.”

This is something your Mami likes to say when you’re not eating your food. It doesn’t mean that she’s actually going to pack up your food and ship it off. Not even close.

It really means that she’s worried about you. She wants you to eat and grow and be healthy. She just likes to motivate you a little bit. Or a lot sometimes depending on how little you’re eating. 

Sometimes it means you’re frustrating her by playing with your food. That, however, is most commonly a byproduct of her worry that you don’t eat enough.

Just keep eating your fruits and veggies. We’ll find other ways to help the children in the rest of the world who don’t have enough to eat. Like when we support the North Texas Food Bank.

Deep Ellum dining: Baker's Ribs

My favorite barbecue joint has a new location, and a few new wrinkles. The smoked meats, however, remain heavenly.

If you've never heard me extol the virtues of this den of divine smoke, a brief overview is in order.

I've eaten 'cue from all over the U.S. and Baker's Ribs is my favorite—hands down. It's consistently delicious and very reasonably priced. I typically head for brisket and ribs, though all their meats have been wonderful.

The brisket always has a nice crunchy exterior and the smoky, moist, melt-in-your mouth meat that dwells beneath is heavenly.

For me, however, the brisket pales in glorious comparison to the ribs. One bite and I was hooked. Like the brisket, the smoky exterior contained juicy, falling-off-the-bone-tender meat that is the perfect combination of smoke and seasoning.

The sauce, if you choose to use it, is a delightful compliment to the seasoning on the meat and provides just a slight tang rather than overwhelming you with sweetness the way so many sauces do.

As for sides, well one doesn't normally choose a barbecue joint for the sides. That being said, you must try the potato salad. And be sure to grab some bread from the counter top as you pass through. The addition of french fries to the menu after the move was a great choice, and they were delicious. They had a nice, crispy exterior, with plenty of seasoning. 

I admit, I was skeptical when I learned that Baker's would be moving. I worried that the magic would remain in the old location. Sure, my fears were somewhat abated after learning that the pits and the people would all be making the transition from one location to the next. 

After visiting the new location, I realize I had nothing at all to worry about. In fact, TheKiddo™ and I may visit even more often just to sit on the rooftop and watch the city as we dine.

We've enjoyed the fried pies since they were introduced to the menu—particularly the pecan. 

Now, we a whole new spectrum of food goodness opening to us. I severely doubt that I'll swap smoked-meat goodness for a savory pie; however, there is something appealing about the breakfast offering.

Suddenly, I'm craving. I know where I'll be later this week. See you there.