Monday, October 11, 2010

Hiking and tarantulas

We are very fortunate to live close to a wonderful lake for hiking and swimming.  Earlier this summer during a naturalist guided boat tour of the lake, we discovered that one of the coves was named Tarantula Cove.  Then last week I heard from somewhere that the tarantulas were out and about at the lake now.

So when we entered the park, we asked the attendent about the tarantulas.  He told us several things about the spiders so when we were hiking we were on the lookout for them.  

photo from wikipedia

The park attendant told us that if we encountered a spider with a bald spot, it meant that the spider had been disturbed.  Apparently one line of defense for this spider is to kick off hairs on its abdomen, this apparently irritates their enemies. We did encounter a squashed spider on our hike but no live ones.  Other hikers we talked to did see the spiders. Today my boys were more interested in watching a large group of great danes play in the lake.  We still have a couple more weeks for tarantula spotting so I am sure we will try again.

I did find interesting tarantula facts at wikipedia, enchanted learning,  and national geographic.




Friday, October 8, 2010

Pumpkin Pie Tarts

The other day I was walking around Target without children which was a treat and I saw pumpkin pie pop tarts.  I was seriously tempted to buy these because I love all thing pumpkins, but I thought maybe I can make something like this at home.  Lucky for me the next day this recipe was posted by picky palate and saved me the trouble of having to create a recipe.  



Pumpkin Pie Tarts

  • 1 Cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 Cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  • 2 8 in pie crusts
  • Soft (spreadable) butter
  • granulated sugar
  • Tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • Fall or Halloween themed cookie cutter
  • Melted chocolate for drizzling (optional)


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl mix the pumpkin, sugar, heavy cream, egg, cinnamon and nutmeg until creamy and well combined.
2.  Place rolled out pie crust on a parchment sheet.  Cut out pumpkin or other fall/Halloween shapes.  Place parchment sheet and cut outs on baking sheets.  Spread butter on each cut out then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Spoon about 2 Tablespoons of pumpkin pie filling around center of cut out leaving 1/4 inch border around edges.
3.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until pie crust is golden brown on the edges and pumpkin pie is cooked through.  Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to cooling rack.  Serve room temperature or chilled.  Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired before serving.

Notes:
The original recipe calls for 2 boxes of puff pastry.  I had one box in the freezer so I made some tarts with puff pastry and some with pie crust.  Both were good but I think I would make this recipe more often with pie crust because it is cheaper and I usually have the items on hand to make pie crusts. 








Sunday, October 3, 2010

Tie-dyed milk




Supplies:
  1. Pie pan or other shallow dish
  2. Milk (2% or whole)
  3. Food Coloring-several colors
  4. Dish soap
  5. Toothpicks

Experiment:
  1. Fill pie pan with approximately 0.5 inches of milk
  2. Add several drops of each color around the edge--
  3. Dip toothpick into dish soap
  4. Touch soapy end of toothpick to milk
  5. Observe what happens
  6. Repeat steps 3-5

Explanation
            When the soap tipped toothpick touches the surface of the milk the colors create beautiful patterns.   The scientific explanation is too complex for young children, but this doesn’t stop them for watching and enjoying the chemical reaction. 


Both of my children enjoyed this experiment.  My two year old was totally mesmerized by it.  I have repeated this experiment several different times now because it keeps my children occupied so I can get sometime done!