Tropical Flavors & Accidents
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Posted by Meeta K. Wolff
We've been having pretty hot weather the past few days. Tropical almost! Just the palm trees and blue lagoon are missing.
This kind of weather normally takes people in herds to our local public pool. To be honest I do not find anything relaxing about rushing to an over filled pool club, screaming kids and irritated grown-ups. We normally go to the pool when we know there is a little less "traffic". This way Soeren can enjoy the playground and use the pools and pool slides at his leisure without being pushed and shoved.
On that particular day two of my friends asked us if we wanted to join them. I said no. Because I knew the pool would be over crowded. Besides that we had already planned a bike tour with Soeren's buddy Jeremy and his mum. We wanted to go down to the soccer field, let the boys kick around a bit and then have a little picnic. After that ride down to the river and simply relax under a shady tree. No crowds and quite idyllic. It did not work that way.
On the way to the river Soeren had a bike accident. He went flying over the handle bars of his bicycle! I saw my kid flying over the bars in slow motion and landing face first on the rubble path!
I am telling you - thank God he had his bike helmet on, otherwise ... well I do not even want to think about the otherwise. By the time I got to him he had stood up and all I saw was blood pouring out from below his helmet. My heart did a turn!
My friend quickly laid out a blanket and I got the first aid kit out. Checked if his neck and head was OK to move and slowly removed the helmet. A cut on his forehead, nose and chin and gashes on his elbows and a few bruises on his chest. It looked worse than it really was. We stopped the bleeding, rested a bit and he was fine. He even wanted to get back on the bike and ride on to the river. We took him to the clinic to get the huge bruise on his head checked up, but all was OK.
What I learned here was the fact that I managed to stay so cool and keep a clear head. I always thought I would freak at the sight of my son in any kind of accident, but both, my friend Dani and I kept pretty cool and simply did the right things (as we were informed by the Doc later that evening). I also learned that even kids at this age are exceptionally helpful. Jeremy, who is the same age as Soeren, went and collected all our bikes, which were lying in the middle of the path, while we were tending to Soeren. He also got a bottle of water out for his buddy and told him to drink. Cute!
However, the most important lesson here is make sure the kids are wearing their protective gear when they are out on bikes, skateboards, roller blades etc. Soeren never goes on the bike without his helmet. This is a rule we stick to religiously - no bending. Thankfully Soeren never argues about it either. That day, after I took a look at the helmet, I knew if he had not been wearing it he would not have gotten away with a few cuts and bruises.
His remark that evening: "I finally get a new helmet!"
"Funny way of going about it!" was my comment.
Contents of the tropical flavored lunch box: Egg salad with Italian mortadella on Finnish rye flat bread, baby bell pepper. For the fruit there are chunks of juicy pineapple, organic plums and grapes. The cake is a specialty from Soeren's great grandma - a coconut crumble cake.
Prep time: 10 minutes
The egg salad is a super fast version that I made quickly that morning. I simply layered it on both sides of the Finnish bread, after toasting it in the toaster. In between I added some Italian mortadella (vegetarians should try sautéed mushrooms with onions). While the eggs were boiling I cut up the fruit and a slice of the cake. The mini bell peppers are perfect for lunch boxes as they fit in so well and they taste sweet and juicy.
Quick Egg Salad Recipe
2-3 hard boiled eggs - chopped
1-2 tablespoons cream cheese
1-2 tablespoons sour cream
salt and pepper
1-2 pineapple slices - finely chopped
Mix the cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper in a bowl until smooth. Fold in the chopped eggs and pineapple.
Variations: Instead of the pineapple add peas, carrots or bell peppers for different flavors.
A perfect tropical flavored dessert as a special treat would be the Tropicana Ceam. This can also be placed in a small container with a lid for the lunch box. Make sure you place a cool pack between the containers to keep the cream cool.
I hope you all have a safe and healthy week with your families.
Take care!
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This Post was written by Meeta from What's For Lunch, Honey?
Hope Soeren is feeling much better now, Meeta! And it's true that mothers turn amazingly calm and brave at such instances, which might be quite surprising when we think about it later. My little boy had a nasty cut in his chin early this year and had to be stitched up. I thought I was going to faint during the procedure but i acted quite sensibly!