Don’t be a MONSTER this Halloween! Use Fair Trade Chocolate!

Each year, two million West African children are sold, kidnapped, or trafficked into slavery to harvest the cocoa beans that make chocolate.  No matter how much I like chocolate (and believe me, I LOVE chocolate!) I don’t want that guilt on my conscious!  This Halloween, we all have a chance to make a difference by avoiding chocolate products that use these cocoa beans in their products.

A 2010 report by the State Department and published by Green America gave the Hershey chocolate company an F for their fair trade and labor practices.  Despite five years of consumer requests, Hershey still has no protocol whatsoever to deal with issues involving child labor or other fair trade practices (such as paying a fair wage to farmers, safe working conditions, or responsibility and sustainability when it comes to environmental issues).  The other big chocolate makers – Kraft, Mars, and Nestle didn’t fair much better, receiving various levels of D for their performance.

So you have a few options. You can either contribute to child labor and other heinous practices by continuing to buy chocolate from the traditional chocolate makers this Halloween, or you can buy with your conscious instead.  Sure, it costs a bit more, but I think children are worth it. If you don’t want to spend the extra money, you don’t have to sit in the dark pretending that you’re not home! Instead, consider forgoing chocolate altogether and use hard candies or give trinkets like temporary tattoos instead.  But if you do decide on chocolate, consider some of these options for fair trade and labor chocolate.

Please note that all the companies listed below offer products that are Fair Labor certified. According to the certifying agency, this means that:

“Fair Trade prohibits forced labor, child labor, and discrimination, and protects freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. Certified farmers are guaranteed a Fair Trade floor price for their cocoa beans as well as a social premium. Fair Trade producers are required to form democratic cooperatives that administer the social premium based on a democratic process. In order to use the Fair Trade label, 100% of the primary ingredient must be certified.”

Equal Exchange offers a box of 150 mini dark chocolate bars for $29.75.  That comes out to less than 20 cents each! If you get tons of Trick-or-Treaters, you can opt for 888 mini bars for $148.75. That’s just 16 cents apiece. Orders over $75 get free shipping. Equal Exchange also offers fund-raising items for sale to benefit your school or church.

Coco-zen offers a bag of 50 milk, bittersweet, or half and half chocolates wrapped and decorated for Halloween for $25.00. The bittersweet chocolate is vegan! That is about 50 cents per piece. Shipping is an extra $8.

Sjaaks offers a variety of flavored bite-sized chocolates in either 1.5 or 3 pound tub sizes. You can choose between flavors like almond, peanut butter, raspberry, mint, and caramel. Some flavors are vegan! Each 1.5 pound tub contains about 93 pieces and sells for $33. That’s about 35 cents per piece of candy. Each 3 pound tub of specialty candy (heart shaped or hazelnut, to name a few) contains about 100 pieces for $65.  Shipping varies, depending on your exact location.

Sweet Earth Chocolates offers a bag filled with 100 Halloween-decorated chocolate discs in your choice of milk, bittersweet, or half and half for $50. They also offer a bag of 50 chocolates (same flavor options) for $25.00.  Shipping varies according to your exact location.

You can also check out other Fair Trade chocolate retailers  or, if you want to learn more about child labor in the chocolate industry, check out the documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate.

Happy Halloween!

 

Melancholy on Motherhood

I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve written a blog, but it’s been so busy that it’s been the last thing on my list! I decided today that I would just sit down and write and see what comes out.

Jake, an honorary Jamaican for the day.

I was going to write a blog about attending the West Indies Parade a few weeks ago in Brooklyn. About how the boys felt a little uncomfortable in the beginning because they were not used to being around such a large group of people (2 million!), having moved from rural NH. About how they warmed up once the parade started and tried new foods (even liked them!). I wanted to write about how Jake decided to become a honorary Jamaican for the day, donning the Jamaican flag and hat and about how Duke wasn’t ready to make that commitment to any country.  About how bad my geography sucks because I wanted to be an honorary Dominican for the day – in tribute to my former students – but was informed that they aren’t part of the West Indies.  About the kindness of the people from Antigua – who stood next to us on the parade route.  About my mother – who has never been to the city before – mixing it up and dancing with locals. Drinking pink lemonade out of a Tupperware bowl, waving at Mayor Bloomberg, getting a free hug from a man walking by with a poster offering his services, and wishing I had brought earplugs.

But instead, all I’ve been able to think about are the kids. My two teenage boys are driving me crazy.  Duke is too busy trying to fit in at his new school to be the kind of student I know he can be.  Jake is too busy being a jock to be the student I know he can be.  It also kills me that they both aren’t into reading. As an English teacher, it’s so hard to watch.

They also haven’t stopped fighting with each other. This is especially annoying since they have their own rooms now. One solution that they’ve brought up is that one can go live with their dad.  But I have some problems with that. First, if we weren’t divorced, they’d HAVE to live together, right?  Also, I don’t think it teaches them how to resolve issues.  Instead, it teaches them that they can run away from troubles.  I also worry that they won’t be as close if they don’t live together. I’m not especially close to my brother and I wonder if that’s one of the reasons why. Then, there’s deciding who goes where. What parent wants to make that choice?  OK, it’s not Sophie’s Choice, but difficult still.  My ex husband doesn’t live in an especially good school district, either, which doesn’t help. Besides, if they didn’t live together they wouldn’t be able to watch NCIS on a continuous loops all day long (mental note: cancel cable).

In addition to this chaos, the baby has discovered her choppers, and bites everyone and everything in her way. Today, she was chewing on the toilet bowl brush. Gross. Are you supposed to disinfect them or something after that?  And Lulu is going through the terrible twos. I truly must have forgotten just how awful they were. Otherwise, there’s no way in hell I would have gone through that again!  For example, this morning I was trying to clean the house (rare, I know) and while I was vacuuming in one room, she was dumping salt, instant mashed potatoes (yes, I use them), and parsley all over the kitchen floor I just swept and mopped.  A better mom would have used that as a learning experience to teach her about textures and spices or foods and colors. But I’m not a better mother.

In fact, I have been struggling lately with being a mom.  Some days, I feel the urge to go back to work. It’s not just for the paycheck. Or for the adult conversation. Sometimes I feel the need for some freedom from motherhood. Doesn’t that sound awful? I love all my children, but now I remember why I went back to work when the boys were born. It was partially for the money and benefits, but also the fact that I couldn’t handle staying at home all the time.

Right now, I’ve got a part time gig working as an educational consultant and I do some freelance writing on the side, so it’s somewhat ideal. But every time I get a call to work an extra day or an offer to work full-time, I feel that nagging pull and think seriously about it! For now, though, I’ll just keep looking at those photos and videos I take when the kids are being cute, put them in their rooms when they’re not, and hire someone to clean every other week.  It’s the best I got!

Taking the Kids: To Chinatown!

When we moved from rural New Hampshire to the Greater New York City area in June, the idea of taking the kids into the city seemed a bit daunting.  But I’ve discovered that the key to taking kids into the city is being prepared and organized!

Two weeks ago, we successfully visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Last weekend, we decided to treat the older kids to a tour of Chinatown!

There are three things you should know before venturing into Chinatown.

1.  There are virtually no public restrooms anywhere, so make a pit stop before you go!

2. No matter when you go, there are a ton of people walking around, so prepare to be jostled.  If you are bringing a little one, consider a front or back carrier over a stroller.

3. Bring cash, because almost no one takes credit/debit cards.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

From any given point in north NJ, there are commuter bus and train stops that go into the city, but the roundtrip price of tickets for our family was going to cost at least $65.  We decided that we could probably find parking for much less, and we did using http://nyc.bestparking.com/ – a website that lets you enter a part of the city and then finds the cheapest parking.  We simply entered “Chinatown” and found a dozen places to park ranging from $10-$18 – what a deal!  Make sure you read the restrictions carefully though, because we discovered that taking our minivan instead of the sedan would have been an additional $10.  Also, some parking spots require you to print a coupon.

Once we had our parking plan in place, it took us about 45 minutes to drive 15 miles into the city.  A detour took us a bit longer than usual, but it was a pleasant and easy ride.  Once in the city, we easily located our parking site, left our keys, and walked about 10 minutes to Canal Street.  Once your enter Canal Street, you realize that you’re officially in Chinatown.  There are street vendors everywhere, hawking everything from tasty tiny mini-cakes (15 for $1!) to fresh fruit and seafood, and small animals made from straw and grass.  Venders can be aggressive, bargaining is expected, and cash is king.

As we made our way down Canal Street, I was glad we had left the girls at home.  There is no way we would have been able to get a stroller down these sidewalks. One things the girls would definitely miss though, is the food!  The smells emanating from restaurants as we passed them made us hungry.  We decided to go off the beaten path a bit and walked down past the Manhattan Bridge to Eldrige Street.  There, we found the Super Taste Restaurant.  The small restaurant has a limited menu, and nothing like what you see in a Chinese restaurant back home.  My husband and I  ordered the house special, a bowl of handmade noodles with beef and spinach. My youngest son ordered the noodle bowl with eggs and the oldest ordered it with dumplings.  We also ordered a side of dumplings to share and some Chinese iced green and black tea.  The food was amazing. The dumplings were steamed perfectly and the noodle dishes were so good we drank the broth afterwards.  I can’t wait to go again to try the duck noodle bowl! Lunch for four people, was less than $30 (cash only). What a deal!

With our tummies mostly full, we ventured back down Canal Street to the corner of Bowery and took a peek at the Buddhist Temple.  There were services going on, so we didn’t get a chance to take a peek at the huge golden Buddha housed inside, but we will on our next trip!  We continued down Bowery Street and poked around a few shops.  There were a wide variety of trinkets available, but we just looked. We were on a quest to find the popular Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.  We hung a right onto Bayard Street and saw a huge line sticking out of a small storefront.  We had found our destination, but were wary about waiting in the long line.  With the temperature nearing 100 degrees and flavors like Black Sesame, Green Tea, Avocado, Taro, and Zen Butter, we decided to take the risk.  We were glad we did!  The line moved fast and once we were up front, we got to taste a few flavors before deciding on Almond Cookie.  The ice cream was delicious and a bit pricey at $4.00 a scoop.  And yes, it’s cash only.

Buddhist Temple on the corner of Canal and Bowery.

There was one more food item we wanted to try while we were in town: the famous Bubble Tea.  If you haven’t heard of Bubble Tea, it’s a cold iced tea drink served with large tapioca pearls at the bottom.  A big straw sucks them up as you take a sip of your tea.  Chinatown is littered with tea bars offering this delicacy served in a variety of ways.  My sons opted for the green apple tea and my husband and I tried the Thai iced bubble tea.  While we definitely thought the tea was interesting, it wasn’t anything I’ll be rushing out to get – especially at $3.50 each!

While we finished our tea, we popped into the venerable Fay Da Bakery to get some goodies to take home. We sampled coconut buns, sweet rice rolls, and coconut raisin bread. Yummy!  We also grabbed some dragon fruit and lychee from street venders for home.

After spending the afternoon eating our way through Chinatown, we decided to call it a day.  By now, we were full and desperately in need of finding a bathroom.  The only public restroom in Chinatown is the McDonald’s on Canal Street.  Of course, because of this, the line to get in is about a mile long.  So we decided to hit the Starbucks near the place we parked the car. That was a good call.  We walked the rest of the way to our car, and then hopped on the highway for the ride home.  We all had a great time and can’t wait to go back.  There were so many other things to do and see that we didn’t have time for: Columbus Park, the inside of the Buddhist Temple, and of course – more food!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking the Kids: Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

When we moved from rural New Hampshire to the Greater New York City area about a month ago, the idea of taking the kids into the city seemed a bit daunting.  But despite this, I’ve been determined to play tour guide to our four kids – ages 1, 2, 12, and 13 – to help them settle in and realize that the city really isn’t so scary after all.  After taking the kids into the city on two separate trips, I have to say that it seems as though it’s helped.  In fact, I think the older kids are actually beginning to enjoy their new home.  The exciting opportunities and many places for kids to visit in NYC make it hard to be homesick. 

Two weeks ago, we checked out the Statue of Liberty.  If you live west of Manhattan, do yourself a favor: take the ferry boat from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ.  The ferry makes the same stops and costs the same as the Battery Park, NY ferry, but has about half as many people on it. 

Wherever you decide to depart from, make sure you pre-order your tickets online. That will save you a lot of time and disappointment during the busy summer months and throughout the upcoming renovations that begin in October, 2011. 

There are three different options:

- The “Reserve” ticket allows you to visit Ellis Island and the grounds of Liberty Island for $13 per adult (kids under four are free, ages 4-12 are $5, and adults over 62 are $10). 

- If you’re feeling adventurous, you may want to opt for the “Reserve Crown” ticket.  For $16 per adult (kids under four are free, $13 for seniors, $8 for kids 4-12), you can add a trip up 300+ stairs to the top of Lady Liberty’s crown. 

- There is also a “Reserve Pedestal” option which lets you take the elevator up to the pedestal and peruse the museum.  These tickets are $13 for adults ($10 for seniors, $5 kids 5-12).

*Adding the audio tour to any of the tickets options above will add another $7-$8 per person. 

Since we were bringing babies in a stroller, going during a busy weekend (Fourth of July), and visiting on a hot day, we decided to opt for Reserve ticket.  We booked a 9:00 AM passage and easily found our way to the ferry terminal, paid $7 to park, and then walked about ten minutes to the pier for departure.  Once there, we had to go through airport-type screening.  They even made us remove the babies out of the stroller and send it through the x-ray machine, so plan on arriving about an hour early to make sure you give yourself enough time to get through the parking lot and security.

Our ride for the day!

Once we got on the boat, we stayed on the bottom deck (stairs lead up to a top deck) and tried to grab one of the few available seats for the 20 minute ride to Ellis Island.  At Ellis Island, we disembarked and spent about an hour strolling around the former processing center turned Immigration Museum.  Admission to the museum is free, but there is an addition cost for audio tours or to research your family heritage.   

When you enter the Immigration Museum, a huge display of suitcases greets you.  Sadly, it reminded me of a similar display I saw at a Holocaust museum in Germany.  I’m not sure what the effect was supposed to be at Ellis Island, but I’m quite sure that wasn’t it. 

The museum offered a movie about the immigrant experience at Ellis Island that was about 45 minutes long and ran every hour.  We skipped it but plan on checking it out in the future.  Instead, we strolled through the processing center and checked out the many different exhibits.  The kids weren’t especially interested in most of these exhibits, but my personal favorite was “The Things They Brought With Them” – an exhibit which showcased different families from all over the world and the items they brought with them to their new homeland.  With such little space to bring their stuff, I was very interested to see what they cherished most.  Musical instruments, costumes, photographs, and religious icons were the most frequently seen items. 

There are shuttles every 20 minutes to Liberty Island, so when we were done, we hopped on the ferry and headed over the check out the Statue of Liberty.  From the boat, she’s impressive on approach.  In person, even more so!

Once we disembarked, we decided to grab an early lunch since there is nothing worse than a group of hungry, hot, and tired kids (or adults!).  We expected the choices on Liberty Island to be few, expensive, and not very good.  We were wrong!  The food wasn’t gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but the selection of food ranged from salads to cheeseburgers to the ubiquitous chicken nuggets, and prices were relatively reasonable.  We paid about $45 for lunch.  We figured the view alone was worth it.

Once fed, we walked around the island, taking pictures and marveling at the line to get into the Statue of Liberty.  Another security line awaited guests there and it seemed to take about 20-30 minutes for ticketholders to pass through.  It was pleasant just touring the island, listening to the music from a live Dixieland band and learning about the statue from the various plaques scattered about.  Next time, I’ll go alone with the older kids in a cooler month and go to the crown!

Lady Liberty!

When we were done, we waited for the ferry to take us back to Jersey City.  Since the ferry runs about every 40 minutes, we didn’t have to wait long.  We decided to take a peek in the gift shop but it was so crowded we couldn’t get through it.  We headed back to pier and almost got on the ferry going to Battery Park by accident! 

Back in New Jersey, we had planned to check out the Liberty State Park Science Center, but we were too exhausted to even think about it!  I guess we’ll have to save that for the next trip we take with the kids into the city!

Finds of the Week – Gorgeous Bracelets & Cheap Dresses!

Since Oprah has decided to retire, leaving her talk show spot vacant, I figure it’s my civic duty to carry on her “Favorite Things” tradition.  This week, I have not one, but two favorite things!

The first, I must confess, is made by a friend of mine: Lisa at Lily Designs.  She designs gorgeous  necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings using pure sterling silver, hand-made beads, and freshwater pearls.  Her designs are unique and stunning.  Best of all, she can customize just about anything.  For example, I ordered the Classic Lily bracelet with a dragonfly instead of a starfish for my mother-in-law (who collects all things dragonfly related)!

The beautiful bracelet and earrings I got at Lily Designs!

Since I’m moving, I decided to splurge on an Eyes of the World bracelet for myself.  It’s gorgeous.  The picture doesn’t do it enough justice.  I also received, as a gift, the Chai Latte earrings in the center.  They’re absolutely stunning, too.  In fact, I see quite a few things on her website that I have on my wish list!  And you can feel good about shopping at Lily Designs knowing that all the jewelry is hand-made on the premises using hand-made materials.  Not to mention that you’re supporting a mom-made business!

Seriously? $1.00 for each? What a steal!

My second favorite thing is more like an awesome find.  Dresses from the Hanna Andersson Outlet in Kittery, Maine for a buck each.  A buck!  And a t-shirt, too!  How can you go wrong?  Part of me wanted to buy one in every size they had so that Lulu would be outfitted until she’s a teen.  But I decided not to.  You never know how the styles will change!

Have a great week!

Lulu loves her dollar dress!