The New York Menu

New York is famous for many foods so we enjoyed several NY themed meals. I cooked some New York foods and we ate others at restaurants.

New York Breakfast: Bagels

Bagels are one of the most famous foods in New York. I love bagels and cream cheese for breakfast… plain bagels, blueberry (my favorite), cinnamon and raisin, they’re all delicious! We ate bagels for breakfast several times this month and even enjoyed mini bagels with our Buffalo Wing Dinner! Yes, we know that New Yorkers don’t usually eat bagels and wings, we just did that for fun. I recommend toasted bagels with strawberry cream cheese for breakfast, they are the BEST!

New York Pizza: d’Bronx

d’Bronx Pizza in Kansas City is an authentic New York Style pizzeria & delicatessen founded by native New Yorkers. I love to go to d’Bronx! We watch the pizza chefs throw the dough in the air to make a thin crust “pizza pie.” I think it’s great fun to watch the dough flip in the air. You know it is New York Style if the crust is thin and hand-tossed and the slices are large and wide so you can fold them in half. At d’Bronx, be sure to ask for “kid dough” – a little pizza dough to play with (like play dough) before you eat. My dad loves their pastrami sandwiches. I tasted his sandwich and I didn’t really like it, but Mom loves pastrami sandwiches too. The pizza, on the other hand, was GREAT! I definitely recommend d’Bronx as one of our favorite places to eat as a family – kids LOVE it!

New York Dinner: Buffalo Wings

There are many stories about the creation of Buffalo Wings. Don’t get confused by the name – of course you know buffalo do not have wings. Buffalo Wings are fried chicken wings coated in special sauce and the recipe was invented in Buffalo, New York. We made buffalo wings as a family (I mostly watched because frying buffalo wings is dangerous) and we coated them with Frank & Teresa’s Original Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing Sauce. We followed the instructions on the bottle. They were too spicy for me, but I liked the teriyaki flavored wings we also made. Mom loved them… she likes spicy foods. The rest of my family thought they were too spicy. According to the Anchor Bar website, they are THE original location of Buffalo Wings.

New York Dessert: Cheesecake

Our Raspberry Cheesecake... before we put it in the oven

My mom and sisters and I made a cheesecake together. We decorated it with hearts using raspberry drizzle. Mom made giant dots of raspberry sauce with a syringe on the cheesecake, then pulled a toothpick through the dots to make hearts. The cheesecake wasn’t just pretty…. it was delicious!

According to The Joy of Baking, “New York Cheesecakes are creamy, and smooth, and rich, and dense, and absolutely delicious. This cheesecake has three layers, starting with a graham cracker crumb crust that is topped with a cream cheese filling, and then a layer of lightly sweetened sour cream. John Mariani tells us in his The Dictionary of American Food & Drink that Americans have come to know cheesecakes made with cream cheese as ‘New York’ or ‘Jewish’ Cheesecakes, and ones made with ricotta as ‘Italian’ Cheesecakes, with both types having their roots in immigrant New York City neighborhoods.”

The New York style cheesecake was my FAVORITE New York Food of all! But, I still like bagels too!

New York: Facts & Fun

New York is a very exciting state to learn about! I received a travel book from the state tourism bureau and it was beautiful… Niagara Falls, Adirondack Mountains, New York City… so much to see!

Facts about New York:

• Capital: Albany
• Nicknames: The Empire State
• Statehood: July 26, 1788 (11th)
• Motto: Excelsior (Ever Upward)
• Bird: Eastern Bluebird
• Highest Point: Mt. Marcy

Children’s Books about New York that we read:

• Stuart Little by E.B. White is a story about a human family that adopts a little mouse in New York City. We read the book and watched the movie. The book is quite different from the movie, but both include the boat race, my favorite part!
• Niagara Falls by Sarah De Capua. This is a book about Niagara Falls with great photographs and descriptions learning about the famous landmark.
• See the City by Matteo Pericoli. The line sketches in this book show details of New York that are often overlooked by artists. Matteo Pericoli drew every building and detail he saw on the East, and then West, sides of New York.
• The Erie Canal by Martha E. Kendall & The Amazing Erie Canal and How a Big Ditch Opened Up the West by Wim Coleman & Pat Perrin. These are two a detailed chapter books about the history of the Erie Canal.
• Erie Canal: Canoeing America’s Great Waterway by Peter Lourie. This is a story of the history of Erie Canal and one man’s adventure canoeing the canal with great photographs.
• Amazing Impossible Erie Canal by Cheryl Harness. This book is about the construction of the Erie Canal. The canal connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, making it possible for people to trade merchandise much faster than they ever had before. The pictures in this book are really terrific.
• 21 Elephants and Still Standing by April Prince Jones. This story is about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Many people weren’t sure how strong it was, so P.T. Barnum (the famous circus man) tested the bridge’s strength by parading twenty-one of his famous circus elephants across the bridge.
• At Ellis Island: A History in Many Voices by Louise Peacock. This book is a collection of memories from immigrants who came to America. There are photographs, facts, journal entries, and drawings telling the story of immigration to the Land of the Free.
• You Can’t Take a Balloon into The Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser. This is a wordless book with amazing pictures. You use your imagination to tell your own story of a balloon and it’s journey through New York. I love this book! My family and I had great fun making up stories about the balloon and we “read”  this book over and over again!
• Next Stop Grand Central by Maira Kalman. This is a really fun book about the inner workings of Grand Central Station, the busiest place on earth! According to the book, 500,000 people go through Grand Central Station, the largest train station in the world, every day! The book tells about the people who work there, passengers on trains, and visitors and all the things that happen in this very busy, but exciting place.
• Riding the Ferry with Captain Cruz by Alice K. Flanagan. This is a true story about the life of a ferryboat captain taking passengers from Staten Island to New York City.
• My Subway Ride by Paul Dubois Jacobs and Jennifer Swender. This poetic book describes the experiences of a subway ride in NYC.
• My Taxi Ride by Paul Dubois Jacobs and Jennifer Swender. This poetic book describes the experiences of a taxi ride in NYC.
• A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino. This is an excellent children’s book about a boy and his family walking NYC. They tell many interesting facts about the places they visit: Grand Central Station, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the NYC Library, and more!
• 

  New York Skyline by Emily

  I’m going to Visit the Lions in New York by Harriet Ziefert. This is a fun fictional book about a boy visiting the lions in New York City and his friend Kate guessing and guessing where the lions are. I won’t reveal the secret for you, but I enjoyed this book. It is an early reader. The pictures were TERRIFIC and they inspired me to make a picture of New York City.

• Lisa in New York by Anne Gutman. This is a fictional story of a dog visiting her uncle in New York City.
• Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson is a fictional tale of  a very mischievous girl who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The illustrations are a lot of fun.
• Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman. This is the story of a red-tailed hawk who takes up residence in Central Park and his many “moves” around town, his “marriage” and children, and the gifts a simple hawk gave to a city. The story has beautiful illustrations and it is long, but well written.
• Dodsworth in New York by Tim Egan. This is a short chapter book about Dodsworth and his duck and their adventures in NYC. The story is cute and funny.
• Broadway Barks by Bernadette Peters. NYC is famous for Broadway. This story tells of a dog being adopted by a new owner and the program Broadway Barks so people can adopt pets.
• The Underground Gators by Tina Casey. It is a legend that alligators live in the sewers in NYC. This very funny story imagines what would happen if that were true.
• Kitty in the City by Kinsley Foster. This is the story of a girl who lives in a NY Penthouse and her day shopping for her mother’s birthday gift.
• A Porc in New York by Catherine Stock. This funny fictional book tells of farm animals traveling from Paris to NYC and their crazy adventures in the city.
• The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordicai Gerstein  This is the story of Phillipe Petit who snuck to the top of the World Trade Center Towers and used a bow and arrow to shoot a cable across. He then tightrope walked between the two buildings (August 7, 1974), 1362 feet above the ground for 45 minutes. This was very dangerous and it is illegal. The towers no longer exist after September 11, and the book pays tribute to the memory of that event. You can see photos of the tightrope walk at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQCUXNo5GI&feature=related

Fun things I learned about New York:

• We watched three DVDs about visiting New York City: Travel with Kids: New York, New York: First City of the World, and Visions of New York City. It was interesting to see the city, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Times Square, and many museums. I couldn’t believe how big the toy stores in New York are! The Toys R Us even has a 3-story ferris wheel inside the store!
• We also watched Discoveries…America: New York about New York State.
• Presidents Millard Fillmore, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren, and Grover Cleveland were all from New York.
• The first capital of the United States was New York City. In 1789 George Washington took his oath as president on the balcony at Federal Hall.
• Niagara Falls is in New York. On Oct. 24, 1901 retired teacher Annie Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (at the age of 63) and she survived! Niagara Falls isn’t the tallest waterfall though. New York’s highest waterfall is the 215 foot Taughannock. Niagara’s height varies by location and season from 158-194 feet. I watched many videos of Niagra Falls, including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij7ggJsg4vc&feature=related and a terrific DVD from the History Channel, Niagara: A History of the Falls. I really enjoyed the story of Annie and her survival. I would love to see Niagara Falls someday!
• The Erie Canal, built across New York State in the 1820s, changed the history of America and helped New York City become a worldwide trading center.
• Potato Chips were invented in New York.
• New York City has 722 miles of subway track.
• Most people think of Kansas when they hear, “Wizard of Oz” but L. Frank Baum, the author of the story, lived in Chittenago. The town now features a yellow brick inlaid sidewalk leading to Aunti Em’s and other Oz-themed businesses. Every year they host a Munchkins parade. Baum was born there on May 15, 1856.
• The New York Post is the oldest newspaper in the United States.
• New York is famous for pizza! Gennaro Lombardi opened the first United States pizzeria in 1895 in New York City.
• The state animal is the beaver.

New York’s Famous Lady: The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty by Emily

We read a lot about the Statue of Liberty and watched the movie, “The Statue of Liberty: Building a Colossus” a film telling how she was built. The books we read include:

• Little Miss Liberty by Chris Robertson. This is a fictional story about the Statue of Liberty imagining that she was born as a real little girl and how she grew up.
• Liberty! by Allan Drummond. This story was written from the perspective of a newsboy on the day the Statue of Liberty was unveiled to America.
• Wonders of America: The Statue of Liberty by Marion Dane Bauer. This is an early reader about the Statue of Liberty and how she was built. I liked the vibrant pictures.
• The Statue of Liberty by Lucille Recht Penner. This book tells the true story about the creation of the Statue of Liberty.
• Liberty’s Journey by Kelly DiPucchio. This is a fictional rhyming story imagining what it would be like if the Statue of Liberty were a person and she explored America.
• Building Liberty: A Statue is Born by Serge Hochain. This is the tale of four children and their involvement in helping with the statue. One boy was apprentice to the sculptor, another worked on the ship that delivered her from France, another worked for the newspaper and raised money for her pedestal, and another was an iron worker who helped to build her frame.

Some of the fun facts I learned about the Statue of Liberty:

• She was designed by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi the French sculptor to commemorate the 100th Birthday of the United States of America and celebrate the friendship between France and the United States.
• She was dedicated in New York in 1886 and was the tallest building in the city at that time.
• The statue is 305 feet tall from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of the torch.
• She has seven spikes in her crown to represent the seven continents.
• Her book says July 4, 1776 to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
• I learned how the statue was built and how many was raised to build her from the books and DVDs. She was originally bright like a copper penny, but over time the copper now appears to be green.

Statue of Liberty Facts from http://www.statueofliberty.org/Fun_Facts.html

The Connecticut Menu

Louis' Lunch

1st American Hamburger

As I was learning about Connecticut, we read the story of Louis’ Lunch, a restaurant in New Haven, built in 1895 where they claim the American Hamburger was invented. The story according to http://www.louislunch.com/history.php:  “The beginnings of the hamburger sandwich as we all know it today was really quite simple. One day in 1900, a gentleman hurriedly walked into Louis’ Lunch and told proprietor Louis Lassen he was in a rush and wanted something he could eat on the run. In an instant, Louis placed his own blend of ground steak trimmings between two slices of toast and sent the gentleman on his way. And so, the most recognizable American sandwich was born.  Today, Louis’ great grandson, Jeff Lassen, carries on the tradition. The hamburgers have changed little from their historic prototype and remain the specialty of the house. Burgers are made fresh daily; hand-rolled from a proprietary blend of five meat varieties and cooked to order in the original cast-iron grills dating back to 1898. The Lassen family hold firm on their desire not to offer any condiments. The Louis Lunch experience is about the taste and simplicity of a fresh burger grilled to perfection. Cheese, tomato, and onion are the only acceptable garnish.”

Cooking Hamburgers

So, for dinner I made hamburgers, fries, and Boston Baked Beans (from neighboring Massachusetts, as I hadn’t cooked a Massachusetts food yet). My family loved the hamburgers and said they were terrific. To make them, I mixed ground beef, one beaten egg, minced onion, and a little seasoning. Then, I rolled lumps of meat into little balls and smashed them with my hand to make patties. My dad helped me fry the hamburgers on the stove.

Dinner and a Movie

After dinner, we watched, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” starring Bing Crosby. The movie is based on the book by Mark Twain. Mark Twain grew up in Missouri, my home state, but then spent his adult life in Connecticut. The movie is a musical comedy about a man traveling back in time during the era of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and using modern inventions to impress them. Before long the king thinks he is a magician, but he is really just a modern mechanic.

Connecticut: Facts & Fun

Connecticut is super fun because many of my favorite candies and toys were invented or made there!

Facts about Connecticut:

• Capital: Hartford
• Nicknames: The Constitution State and The Nutmeg State
• Statehood: Jan. 9, 1788 (5th)
• Motto: He who transplanted still sustains
• Bird: Robin
• Highest Point: Mt. Frissell

Children’s Books by Connecticut authors that we read:

• Yankee Doodle Numbers by Elissa D. Groden is a Connecticut counting book filled with very interesting facts about Connecticut…. my favorite was the invention of the lollipop.
• Solomon Grundy by Susan Ramsay Hoguet this book is a poem about an early colonist.

Fun things I learned about Connecticut:

• Yankee Doodle is the state song.
• President George H.W. Bush was born in Connecticut.
• The lollipop was invented in Connecticut. According to the story, George Smith had the idea to put hard candy on a stick when he watched a horse named Lolly Pop race. He and Andrew Bradley founded the Bradley Smith Company in New Haven and made the candy. In 1913, they patented the name lollipop.
• Pez candy and dispensers are made in Orange, Ct.
• Enfield is the U.S. headquarters for LEGO.
• Silly Putty was invented in Connecticut when researchers were developing products for WWII soldiers. For fun, we made some homemade silly putty (a.k.a. flubber) – it was definitely more like Flubber or Goop than Silly Putty, but it was still a lot of fun. The recipe is at: http://www.greensim.com/lemonade/concoctions.html
• Bridgeport is home of P.T. Barnum, founder of the “Greatest Show on Earth” circus…. one of my favorite family traditions every year.
• The Frisbee was invented in New Haven. According to the story, Yale college students would eat pies from Frisbee Pie Baking Company, then they’d practice flying the empty pie tins. Wham-O Corporation (a toy company) noticed this and used the idea to rename their “Pluto Platters” “Frisbees.”
• There are six lighthouses in Connecticut.
• The Beecher sisters are from Connecticut. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” a famous book about slavery, and her sisters helped start schools for women and fight for women’s right to vote.
• Adeline Gray was a girl from Connecticut. She used to jump off the roof of her house with an umbrella! When she grew up she tested parachutes for the military for WWII.
• There are three main rivers in Connecticut: Housatonic River, Connecticut River, and Thames River.
• Louis’ Lunch (opened in 1895) in New Haven, Connecticut, is the first restaurant to serve hamburgers in the United States and it is still in business!
• Some inventors from Connecticut include: Eli Terry (clockmaker), Eli Whitney (cotton gin), and Charles Goodyear (rubber manufacturer; tires).

Emily's drawing: Sperm Whale of Connecticut

The State Animal of Connecticut:

• We also learned about the state animal of Connecticut, the Sperm Whale. The Sperm Whale is the largest toothed whale in the world. We read books about it and watched videos, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djckNIMEwQo
  
• Baby whales are called calves, their mothers nurse them. Sperm Whales make clicking sounds that echo off the water so they can learn about the things around them. Whales look like big fish, but they are really mammals. Whales have blubber that keeps them warm and helps them to float. Sperm Whales are toothed whales. Whales travel in groups called pods. They hold their breath for up to 2 hours and use their blowhole (like a nostril) to breathe.

Rhode Island: Facts & Field Trips

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States and many of its attributes are similar to other New England States, so we decided to remember great family field trips we’ve enjoyed in the past year that relate to facts about Rhode Island!

1. The Flying Horse Carousel (in Rhode Island) is the nation’s oldest carousel. It is located in the resort town of Watch Hill. Last summer, my family toured the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum in Leavenworth, Kansas. We watched an artist at work carving horses and another worker restoring antique carousel horses. We also saw a variety of merry-go-rounds including the oldest operating primitive wooden carousel and even miniature carousel music boxes. Best of all, we rode a 1919 carousel (photo below)! 
2. The first circus in the United States was in Newport in 1774. In August, my family went to the Missouri State Fair where we watched a real Big Top Circus. Trapeze artists, clowns, jugglers, and a dog act were part of the show! Then, in September we went to the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus (we go every year). My favorite act is when the trapeze artists swing back and forth performing “ballet in the sky.” 
3. Rhode Island Red Monument in Adamsville pays homage to the world-famous poultry breed, Rhode Island’s state bird the Rhode Island Red Chicken. We live near the Agricultural Hall of Fame, and we visited it when they opened the National Poultry Museum. Outside the museum we took a photo with a giant cast iron chicken. Then, we saw exhibits on the history of poultry and egg processing. 
4. WaterFire originated in Providence, Rhode Island and now offers shows across the nation, including every October in Kansas City. My family attended this festival in the fall (photo shown below). Waterfire is “an award-winning sculpture by Barnaby Evans installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence,” according to http://www.waterfire.org. Also, “WaterFire’s over eighty sparkling bonfires, the fragrant scent of aromatic wood smoke, the flickering firelight on the arched bridges, the silhouettes of the firetenders passing by the flames, the torch-lit vessels traveling down the river, and the enchanting music from around the world engage all the senses and emotions of those who stroll the paths of Waterplace Park. WaterFire has captured the imagination of over ten million visitors, bringing life to downtown, and revitalizingRhode Island’s capital city.” 

The Rhode Island Menu

There are many foods famous to Rhode Island, but I really like to have “breakfast for dinner” (or lunch) so I chose to make Jonnycakes for our Rhode Island meal. Early settlers learned to grow corn from the Native Americans and found many ways to use corn to make meals, jonnycakes are still popular in Rhode Island.

According to Wikipedia, “Jonnycake (also johnnycake, johnny cake, journey cake, and johnny bread) is a cornmeal flatbread that was an early American staple food and is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica.  The modern jonnycake is a staple in the cuisine of New England and is often said to have originated in Rhode Island. A modern jonnycake is fried gruel made from yellow or white cornmeal that is mixed with salt and hot water or milk, and sometimes sweetened.”

With mom, I made cheesy scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and jonnycakes for lunch.

This is the Jonnycake Recipe we followed:

Ingredients: 1/2 cup flour; 1 cup cornmeal; 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 1 cup hot milk; 1 tablespoon shortening

Preparation: Mix the dry ingredients, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Drop or pour on the hot, greased griddle or drop in iron skillet and fry to golden brown on both sides. Serve with butter and syrup as for pancakes, or serve as a bread with butter.

Our Family Reviews of Jonnycakes:

• My sister Kayla, “It is very yummy and I hope we make them again!”
• My mom, “I think it was fun to try them, but I do prefer pancakes.”
• My opinion, “I thought they were okay, but they weren’t my favorite…. too corny.”