They’re not so rare.

Some may read Kim Ode’s story about Rob Barrett, the Eden Prairie dad who’s on the cusp of cooking celebrity with his web site Cooking for Dads, as a reminder of all the men out there who still need help getting over a mental block about cooking.

I like to think it’s the opposite: a sign of how many men are eager to don an apron and do more than punch open a carton of Kraft’s mac and cheese. After all, Barrett’s YouTube video for making Coke-marinated steak has been viewed 185,000 times. Including in China and the Middle East.

In our house, my husband Chris is the main cook. Not to boast but (okay, boasting) here is a man equally at home with spaghetti with meatballs and kung pao chicken.

And on really special nights, like yesterday, he goes all out and recruits the girls, 2 and 4.

Here they are making pork potstickers:

  Flattening the dough for potsticker skins

  Minced pork with ginger, spring onion for filling

 Get the skin thin but not too thin

  Sizzling pork pouches; garlic spinach on side

  Let’s see how this turned out…

  Yummmmm.

Here’s a little Friday fun for you…

Kara McGuire had a post on Ka Blog this week on saving money over the holidays.
She linked to a video of a baby who really appreciates the newspaper.

The title is. Why buy expensive toys?

Watch the video in her post here.

There is nothing like a baby’s belly laugh to make your day.

See? A newspaper subscription shameless plug is so much cheaper than a ride-along dinosaur - and provides hours of entertainment for parents and children alike!

As long as we’re talking gifts - how are you controlling your holiday spending on your kids?
Are there toys you recommend that have given you a lot of bang for your buck - ie: something your child plays with almost daily and hasn’t tossed aside or has learned so much from?

Mine fell off and bumped his head.

7 stitches.

It happened a few Saturday nights ago - he had to go to the ER and didn’t get sewn up until midnight.

Best part? He slept through the sewing of the sutures. Seriously. Something to be said for being triaged a long time.

Worst part? I was 333 miles away. Vivian and I had girls weekend roadtrip to Illinois for a baby shower and family visit.

Ben was spending the weekend with some friends of ours because Peter had to work both Saturday and Sunday.

Before I left him with them, I wrote down my two page list of Ben’s operating instructions. I included the “In Case of Emergency/ Insurance Card” information - thinking I was being overprotective and overcautious. But then again, I know my son.

Then Peter got the call - to meet them at the hospital.

No one is to blame, these things happen in a split second.
I’m actually surprised he hasn’t ended up in the emergency room before now.
He is a daredevil through and through. He has had many a goose egg, bumps, bruises and close calls.

I would love to put him in a plastic bubble. Or pad the entire house with bubble wrap. But he would find a way to break through it I’m sure.

Ben’s lesson was learned.

Or was it?

At bedtime last night he stood up on his blankets and I stopped him. “Remember what happened last time you jumped on a bed?”

“Yes! I got a balloon and a coloring book!”

Sigh.

Just a reminder. Have your emergency numbers and pertinent information at the ready for caregivers and yourself. You never know what might happen.

I’ve mentioned Blooma before in the blog earlier this year. Yesterday there was a lovely article in Variety by freelance writer Sarah Moran on the year old yoga studio in Edina. You can read it here.

Looks like a very nurturing and supportive environment for pregnant and postnatal women and their families - wishing this place was around when I was pregnant. Especially since it was hard to find a place that offered childcare while you take the classes.

Check out their schedule of classes and wellness services. The massages look great to me - my back is still whack after pregnancy, awkward carseat manuevers and solid toddler lifting. I’m hoping to sign up Ben to a Yoga for Tots soon.

Apparently, the gloomy economy didn’t stop hundreds of parents and kids from thronging the MOA for the opening of the American girl store Saturday.

$90 for a doll! Wow. But I was just glad to see a rare happy retail story from our retail reporter, Jackie Crosby. (Our editors must have felt the same way…they slapped the story on the front page of the Sunday paper.)

In Variety, Gail Rosenblum writes about grown women who are still obsessed with Molly, Felicity and Kit and there are cute pics of young fans by Jim Gertz at the opening.

Any Cribsheeters out there with a (not so) secret American Girl obsession?