Chip Truck #4: Kelly's Kitchen

Edit 2020---Kelly's has been gone for awhile and finally another truck has moved into this location. It's a  Caribbean theme truck, I believe. I'm leaving this up anyway as it's memories for us.


I've seen this little red and white chip truck in Whitby for awhile, but wondered if it could be good, given how low key it was.  It IS quite good!

Located next to MacKay Animal Clinic, in the parking lot of a carpet store, it is easy to get to (Hickory St and Dundas St East).

 The menu is basic.  Fries, burgers, poutine, etc.  No onion rings, no deep fried pickles.  Reasonable prices.  However, the cook got our order a bit mixed up and we ended up with a medium poutine (wanted a small) and then we had to wait for our fries, which we got as a small, when originally we wanted a medium.

The poutine was quite good.  The gravy had lots of flavour; Lucy thought it was a bit spicy, but I didn't think it was spicy, just flavourful.  However, he used GRATED cheese instead of cheese curds!!!  So, it's not poutine, it's fries with gravy and melted (white) cheese.  Which is still good.  The naked fries were very good.  It was annoying to have the salt/vinegar/ketchup right at the small ordering window, but it wasn't busy.

(They'd already eaten quite a bit of the poutine before we took this picture)

Our biggest complaint...no where to sit.  Not a park bench, chair, stool, nothing.  Thankfully, I have a SUV with a hatchback, and the three kids fit perfectly in the back, LOL.  It's hard to share if we were sitting in our seats in the truck.

I'd go back here if I'm downtown and need chip truck fries.  I'd make the drive up from the lakefront too, instead of going to the chip truck there (except for their onion rings).  This truck would also be good for us to pick up fries to have with dinner at home as we can zip across the back streets!

UPDATE---over the 2016/17 winter, this chip wagon disappeared, and "Poutine Krazee" appeared.  I know they travel to events, so I'm waiting to find out if this is a permanent location or just where they store the truck. The pictures look awesome though!

Chip Truck Visit #2, Bob's Chips

My youngest and I were having one of those "run around" afternoons.  She had a couple of appointments, and one involved waiting a few hours for a radioactive contrast dye.  I had to go to the fabric store, which was close by.  Across the road is a chip truck, which was open this time!

I believe it's called Bob's Chips.  It was extremely sunny and really hard to take pictures (and I'm trying to do it kind of stealthy).  Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  

 We stuck with just fries since it was the two of us, and a Diet Coke.  These fries were AWESOME!  Soooo good!  Lots of small crispy ones for me, the big ones were cooked through and not soft in the inside.  They were hot.  The tables were freshly painted and smooth (no splinters or rough wood!).  There was a large, very sturdy step for at the window.  Again, the ambiance score is a little low, but traffic watching can be interesting.  They are accessible from both directions on Highway 2.  They are located on the north side of Highway 2 (Dundas Street), just west of Garrard Road, beside "End of the Roll".  My only comment would be another table would be nice, and perhaps, somehow, something for sun or wind.  It was very windy (it was a windy day, but this is at the top of a hill).

We will definitely go out of our way to go to this truck again, and try some other items!  We let the young man working know they're the best chip truck fries we've found!

Edit to add:

We got a medium this time, and it was $4.50.  A perfect snack for the three of us.  Pop was $1.  The actual Bob was nice, super friendly!  We asked about onion rings, and he said no, they tried once and they didn't work.  He did encourage us to come back for funnel cake, with strawberries and ice cream, only $7.  Their menu board changed, so I tried to get a better picture...but my phone must have been a bit dirty, LOL.  And it was wet from a water bottle failure.

There were umbrellas up so it was a bit shadier, but it was still quite windy.  And don't plan on turning left when leaving, unless you don't mind waiting.  The exit is directly across from the mall entrance, and it's a four lane road, so really busy.  (I hate turning left on busy streets.  Your anxiety might vary though!).

 I also hope to try the poutine soon.  But there are other trucks  to try!

Our additional tester agreed that these are the best fries yet this summer!

Another Edit:  My husband and I stopped in while we were out and about, and tried the Bacon Poutine.  It was excellent, though I don't think I'd bother with the bacon again, and I'd just get the regular poutine.  Cheese curds, great gravy and the same great fries.  I hope this truck sticks around for a LONG time!

Another Edit:  My husband and I took our older two kids one day when the youngest one was busy somewhere.  She tends to go everywhere while the older two don't as much time with us, without her along.  

Aren't they special?

The menu board has changed again, but still no onion rings

 While waiting, I knit.  And take pictures of the goofballs.  I think we got poutine and fries.  Yum, yum, yum.

Hugh had some money so he decided to try the deep fried Mars bar.  It's $5, and I do think it was priced a little high.  It also took at least 5 minutes.  When it came, it looked like fish, LOL, so we weren't sure what to expect.  Crack it open, and OMG...hot, gooey chocolate and caramel and nougat.....I could do away with the coating and be fine.  In fact, I could just stick the Mars bar in the microwave for a few seconds and be in heaven.  We won't order this again, but it was a fun treat.

2016:  I can't find Bob!!!!  We are so sad!!  The truck is gone and I don't know where.  There's a couple new truck sightings in Oshawa, so we will check them out.  In the mean time, if anyone knows Bob, find out where he went!

Chip Truck Visit #1, Miss Crispy's (Whitby)

My family loves chip truck fries.  And onion rings.  And some even like poutine.  It's always fun to visit chip trucks in the summer and find some hidden gems.  I will be reviewing them as often as my wallet allows!
Keep reading all the way down for the latest updates.

First up is Miss Crispy's in north Whitby (map at the link).  We first stopped here a couple years ago, and found out a teacher at our kid's school was the owner.  Less than two weeks later, she sold it.  LOL.  We loved the fries the first few times, but our last trip...they weren't as good.

The menu board is not huge.  Unfortunately, I can't remember if we got a small or medium.  Probably a medium.

I prefer the cardboard tray, but the foam clamshell is a runner up.  Easy for sharing and spreading condiments.  I don't like the cardboard boxes, unless getting individual servings.  We sample our fries with malt vinegar, salt, and ketchup in the corner.  These fries were good, don't get me wrong, but not as good as last summer.  They were a bit soft on the inside, and left my teeth kind of scummy.  They're not too fast to get made, but not the slowest either.  A good mix of the tiny crispy fries, and the bigger ones (I love the tiny ones).  We will visit again because they are close to us, and super close to where my daughter figure skates.

The onion rings are absolutely awesome.  They are crispy, and when you bite them, you don't pull out the entire onion.  I highly recommend them.  They are a really good value compared to other trucks we've been to since.  We did try the poutine last year, and it was good too.

This is a great place to stop if you're passing north through Whitby up to the cottage.  Just bring some gum.  Going south on Highway 12/Brock St....a little tricky to get to, you can only get in if you're westbound on Taunton Rd, east of Highway 12 (also called Baldwin St, north of Taunton Rd), or northbound on Brock St, just north of Taunton Rd.  If you're coming from the north, turn onto Broadleaf (opposite to Wal-Mart), go straight to McKinney, turn right, then right again at Taunton Rd, then enter at the Petro Can.  If you're coming from the west, you can turn north onto Highway 12, and follow those instructions for people going south.

The score for ambiance is pretty low.  It's behind a gas station, in a plaza parking lot.  There are sea gulls.  Not really any shade, but often there is a breeze.  If you're not in a rush, I'd recommend heading over to the park behind McKinney Arena.  And stop at Menchie's for dessert, LOL.

Edit to add:   We got back again for a medium poutine.  At first, I was disappointed to see the cheese curds, LOL, but they melted wonderfully this time into gooey stringy cheese.  The gravy was about the same as everywhere, plenty of it, nice and hot.  We got a medium, which wasn't huge, but good for the two of us.  The next guy after us got a large, and it looked huge...and it was just for him!

Unfortunately, it was very hot and sunny, so we sat in the back of my truck.  There was only one seagull this time LOL.  I do notice that the small fries is the cheapest I've seen, though if the ones we got earlier were a medium, then how small is the small?  The fries were much better this time.  More cooked, they didn't leave a scummy feel.  I liked that there were "naked" fries to try without the gravy (or just a little gravy).  I have renewed my faith in this truck.  Plus, he gave my girl a Freezie while we waited, and even had a blue one :)

2016:  This truck has changed hands again.  The man working there when we tried it was not the friendliest, but not "unfriendly".  Our poutine was fine, but I saw him walk by with what looked like frozen onion rings on the cardboard serving box.  They were not as good as last time! They had more of a breaded type coating, instead of battered.  More like A&W onion rings.  I also got a report from a visitor that they saw a woman with a bag of frozen Great Value (Wal-Mart brand, and WM is across the street) shoestring fries, and her fries were shoestrings and not very good.  She said her friend got poutine and got the thick cut fries.  If anyone has any updates on this, I'd appreciate it.  It's possible they hadn't gotten into the chip truck groove yet, but I can't keep spending money just to see if they improve

2017: I had some kidfree time so I stopped in for onion rings. I'm not sure if it's  the same owners as last year. The man was friendly, telling me about this shredded cheese someone recommended, and he gave me a handful to try. It was No Name Italiano shredded cheese. It was good, but you know how packaged shredded cheese has that powdery dust? Yeah. I ordered onion rings, $4.50. I was a little scared when he walked by with frozen onion rings. They were really good though. More like our 2015 visit. I know they're not a huge seller, and battering to order is probably not practical. The Diet Coke was so cold and delicious.

 It does look a little smaller than in 2015, but since it was just me, this was fine. It wouldn't be, if I had brought kids!!

I forgot to get a menu shot so I tried to get it from my truck. I don't know what the third and fourth items are "Sweet Pot Pou" and "Sweet Pot Fri". If anyone knows, fill me in. There's chicken strips, deep fried pickles, mozzarella sticks, pogos, and some things at the bottom...hot dog....jumbo sausage. I don't see much creativity on the menu, just the standard stuff.

2018:
Finally tried the deep fried pickles! I had recently seen a flyer for "The Wholesale Club", a sort of food industry Costco type store run by the Loblaws company. One item in it was breaded pickles for deep frying (or baking). McCain's, I think. They were definitely fine and quicker than doing it at home from scratch.
The other item...onion rings. Yup, they are frozen. I saw the bag--President's Choice. They were also totally fine, but not nearly as good as a couple years ago. And in comparing with my other posts, I think other trucks also use these frozen onion rings. I guess I'll just buy a bag for at home. I've made Cavendish onion rings at home, and they were okay as well.

Considering the earlier photo were a bigger serving, and only $4, and were much more homemade tasting...I can't really recommend these if you can make them at home. If you're just out and about and craving onion rings, these will do.  But I much preferred the old ones--thinner, cheaper, and more of them!!  The picnic table has seen better days, but there was an umbrella at least, and I didn't notice any seagulls this time.

The good thing about this truck is that it apparently takes Apple Pay and credit cards. Just know that you're not getting homemade, "food truck" foods, you're getting frozen, pre-made "chip truck" foods.

The Commercialization of Parenting and other Trends

Back when I had my first child, 2000, the internet was not like today!  No Facebook!  There were some forums, etc, but most parenting advice still came from magazines, books, doctors, grandmothers, the Sears catalogue and our own instincts.  Flash forward even just five years, and what a difference!  Suddenly, we can get the opinions and expertise of thousands of strangers to guide us in our parenting journey.  I noticed at the same time that parenting was becoming very commercialized.  There were gadgets, toys, tools, apps, for every parenting need you can imagine.  Look through a parenting magazine, and you'll learn through the advertising that you never need to hold your baby.  Straight from carseat to bouncer to exersaucer to Jolly Jumper to crib to stroller.  Swings came with speakers, heaters, vibrators, multi-directional and random movements to replicate being held.  Everything you need to feed your baby can be bought at Babies R Us.  Forget about the old ways, Grandma is ancient.  Get with the new century.

While new health reports have changed the way alcohol and tobacco is advertised in Canada, similar health reports have not been able to touch the formula advertising industry.  The "may cause" is too small.  People don't want to read the "may cause" concerns, because millions of babies get formula, and they're all "fine".

Let's look at marketing in another industry.

You've decided you need a car.  You open up the first magazine at the hairdresser's, and inside the front cover is a big spread for Ford.  Wow, Ford is awesome.  Look at all those models!  You must go check out Fords!  You flip through the rest of the magazine, notice there are some other car ads, but they're smaller, and not at the front and the info about safety and consumer satisfaction just doesn't catch your eye.

You go on Facebook and announce you're getting a Ford.  Which one?  You don't have a lot of money though.  Several friends say "How awesome!" and "Congratulations!".  Then "Get the biggest you can afford" or "get the cheapest; they're all the same anyway".  Then, a few more speak up.  "How about a Toyota?  They have fewer need for repairs".  You reply, "No thanks, I'm going to take good care of it so I won't need repairs, and my ex-boyfriend's sister's babysitter's cousin is a mechanic so I won't have to pay for repairs".  Someone else says "If money is an issue, about about public transportation?"  "No way, that's for poor people!".  Someone else gives the little known idea of car-sharing. "WTF is that?!  No way am I sharing a car.  I might get residue from someone else's religion!".

You go to the Ford dealer and check out the cars.  Such variety, such price ranges!  How to choose?!  Yes, your friend said they're basically all the same, so go with the cheapest.  You do.

The problems start right away.  You have to fill up with gas on the way home.  You didn't think about that...you have only a few dollars.  Gas runs out before the next pay day and what do you do?  THen it needs an oil change and you figure you can do it yourself...but do something wrong and now it needs repairs.  Then you start hearing a funny noise.  You ignore it for awhile, but it doesn't go away.  You can't get it over 80km/hr now.

You turn back to Facebook with your issues.  Friends start off "IDK, my Ford is awesome" and "Could it be this?  That?  This?  This?  This?" and that's too overwhelming so you ignore it all.  Someone suggests it could be cause it's a Ford and that was a bad choice.  "You're not supporting me and I'm blocking you!".  Then it gets worse...."should have bought a Toyota", "Bus passes can be written off your taxes", "I lost 30lb by walking everywhere".

Are these comments helpful?  The writers probably think so.  But to the poster, they're not.  They're in denial.  Ford was glossy, a big spread, obviously the best choice or it wouldn't have been at the front of the magazine!  Why would you question it?  They want your business, so they're not going to suck, are they?!


It is damn near impossible to give suggestions to others these days.  "That's your opinion!" they say when you suggest no infant cereal is needed.  "Babies are all different" they say when you suggest no cereal before six months.  "My doctor said 4 months is fine" they say when you say the current recommendation is six months.  You try to offer studies, health organizations official statements, and other data.  You remind them that baby cereal is less than 100 years old and was developed specifically for malnourished babies--not average babies. They refuse to see alternatives because they believe the advertising and magazines.  Formula and cereal wouldn't be sold so readily if it caused problems!  They were fed cereal at 2 months and are perfectly healthy.  It was good enough for their parents, it's good enough for their child.

On one hand, the internet has opened up a world of information most people could never have accessed before.  Yet, there are so many people that have narrowed down their minds like never before.  I don't get it.  People should be more critical, more investigative, more open minded, more willing to change when new info shows otherwise....but yet it seems people are putting blinders on to science, research, history, and are only open to names/brands they recognize.
True story--mom asks for other mom's opinions on when to start cereal.  You offer the latest statement made by Health Canada saying cereal is not needed.  You get told that's your opinion and everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and it doesn't help the mom asking the question.  WTF.  Sure--it IS my opinion, based on experts doing years of research.  Shouldn't research trump "I had it at 3 weeks and I'm fine"?

Another trend I hate...telling moms that they know best, they know their child better than the doctor and other moms, and do what they think is right.  Why would a new mom automatically know what's right/best?  Deciding to give cereal at 3 months is not an intrinsic, human response like wanting to hold a baby that's crying.  Why would mom be asking if she knew what was right?  People say "I knew my child was ready at 4 months!"...the biggest aspect to a baby's readiness for (any) food is the solidifying of the intestines and the production of digestive enzymes.  How the heck do all these moms know this about their babies?

I was at an OB/GYN's office.  They had a fancy tv screen with health info constantly changing.  One section was on circumcision.  It was all about what to expect, and the "pros".  NOTHING contrary or negative was shown.  I wonder what the circumcision rate of male babies born to moms at that practice is.  I'd love to compare to an office where there is no circumcision information offered.  Or, how about an OB/GYN's office that has reading material that is only pro-breastfeeding.  If the only magazines available were things like "Natural Parenting".  Would that have an impact?  Once again, Health Canada says circumcision is not necessary.  Why are doctors still promoting it?  Oh...they get paid cash when they do it.

Why are young people letting marketing decide their parenting strategies? We all want what's best for our babies.  But  how can they really think Nestle has their baby's best interest in mind when their profit depends on making parents think their products are necessary?

Should I Worry?

I often see  questions in forums/groups by moms wondering if they should worry about their child's speech.  And I get SO frustrated at the responses.

He's fine!
He'll talk when he's ready.
Boys talk later than girls.
If he smiles, he doesn't have autism.
Some kids are thinkers, some are talkers.
He might not have anything to say.
Kids develop at their own speed.
Don't worry!
He's fine!

Once upon a time, I was that mom too.  And all those answers did nothing but delay treatment.  If you're not a SLP (Speech & Language Pathologist), you shouldn't be telling a mom her child is fine.  If you're not a pediatrician or psychologist, don't be telling her he doesn't have autism.  STOP making diagnosis for kids you've never met.  Stop brushing her concerns off.  He might be fine.  He might not be fine.

When my first, Hugh, was little, he wasn't saying much.  Well, quite often he did talk a lot, but it seemed disjointed, incomplete, chunky.  I heard all those same lines.  His daddy didn't talk till he was 4. My brother didn't talk well.  Boys talk later was a popular one (my neighbour said that about Hugh, then three years later said girls talk later than boys!).  When Hugh was 2  1/2, I was starting to worry.  But I was a first time mom.  Then I had a visit from a lactation consultant to help with Lucy who was a newborn.  I've written about this visit before (but of course, can't find it right now).  She mentioned that although speech wasn't her area of expertise, she felt Hugh had some issues and that perhaps an evaluation would be good.  It's done through our Public Health office.  It took a few months  to get in, and he finally started speech therapy at 3years, 3 months old.  He progress pretty rapidly, and finished in a year or so.

Lucy came along to all the appointments, of course.  She was a girl, so she should talk sooner, right?  She DID love to talk, however it was half babble, half words...she'd talk, and if she didn't know a word, she'd just babble until the next word in her sentence.  At 2 1/2, she could tell you all the letter names, but barely put together  sentences.  She started therapy at 2y10m, with the same SLP.  She had the most unusual "f" formation the therapist had ever seen in almost 20 years of work.  I had NO clue.  It took a LONG time to get rid of that issue, and she continued therapy until she was about 5-6 (she aged out of the Public Health program and started receiving SLT at school).

So, surely, by kid #3 (Megan), we'd get it right!  We started sign language.  Some people were against this,thinking the kid will sign instead of talk.  That's rarely the case.  I learned about the progression of sounds that infants make.  Ever wonder why ALL kids' first words are momma, dada or baba and not milk, dog, or brown?  Megan wasn't making any of the sounds she should have by six months.  At 8 months, she had her first assessment.  Kids who learn signs from birth, will usually start signing around 8-10 months.  She didnt' make her first sign till 13 months, and the context was odd.  One of the signs we always did was "more", but it was usually used with food ("more yoghurt?") or activity ("more swing?").  She used it when she went in a room of 8 dogs.   Pointed to the dogs (one was ours) and signed "more".  I knew that was significant!

Megan started speech therapy at 1y10m (22months).  Some people say you can't do SLT if the child won't repeat words/sounds back to you.  Not true at all.  Kids often work better with a stranger.  Some say there's no point in therapy if they're only saying a few words.  Not true.  Therapists will figure out WHY they're not saying much, and work to build on this.  Is it physical?  Is it language?  Megan had both language and physical speech issues (also with "F", but different than Hugh and Lucy).  Language took her a LONG time to understand.

Shortly before Megan started Junior Kindergarten, at 3y9.5m, we moved, and we were set up with SLT here, without having to go through the whole process.  Megan received Public Health SLT during JK and at the end of JK was referred to the school board's SLP.  It took nearly a year for that assessment.  A year without any therapy.  When they did that assessment, they said because she was missing her two front top teeth, they couldn't get a real idea of if she needed more therapy, so was denied.

Her speech eventually caught up, but her language has not.  My mother once said talking to Megan is like talking to an ESL student (English as a second language).  She's better now, but she often has a hard time with language, sentence structure, and using the right word.  This carries over to her reading and writing.

When ever I read that a mother is concerned about her kid's speech, I write something like this:
 Look up what sounds he should be making. Babies learn them in a certain order, and if he's skipped some, or his sounds aren't up to his age, that's a concern, more so than how many words. I didn't learn that until my THIRD kid was in SLT.
With my first, we were told "boys talk later/his father and uncle didn't talk till 3/he'll talk when ready" etc. No one except a SLP should be telling you he's fine. I wouldn't worry yet, but by 20 months, if you still are concerned call for an assessment. The process takes a while, and too many parents wait to long, and then their kid gets to be too old for the OHIP covered stuff, so then they go on the school board's wait list which also has a long wait. My first wasn't in SLT till 3y3m, the second kid was 2y10m and the third, 1y10m. That kid started having assessments at 8 months cause we knew by six months she wasn't making the right sounds. I'm not telling you to worry. I' not telling you to not worry. LOL. Just that speech and language learning is complicated, and the best thing to do is do some research (not just # of words) and have a professional assessment by a SLP, not strangers on a silent forum 


Phoning to arrange an assessment NEVER hurts.  What hurts, is listening to (well meaning) moms who say the things I wrote at the top.  It could take months for the assessment to happen.  In that time, the child might have suddenly found their voice.  Or not.  After the assessment, it can take months--even a year or more--to start therapy.  In that time, the child might have found their voice.  Or not.  Once the child turns 5, they are referred to the school board SLP.  That assessment can take a year to get.  In that time, the child might have found their voice.  Or not.  The wait, after the assessment, can take another year.  

Imagine now, if you delay that very first call.  Just delay it a month, and depending on your child's age, they might miss out on SLT through Public Health entirely. 
It is totally possible that you make that call, and when your assessment time comes, you're happily able to say "Not needed now".  But imagine if you wait because "he must be a thinker and will talk when ready".  Only....he doesn't.

An assessment NEVER hurts.  Waiting CAN hurt.  If in doubt, just phone.  You'll be glad, no matter the outcome.  Wait, and you might be very upset later on.

Another Recall

Heinz has announced another recall of a jarred baby food, this time Sweet Potato and Beef Medley.  Recommended for 8 months and up.  Looking at the pictures, it looks like a puree but is probably lumpier.

My first thought is "Ewww.  Who buys this for their baby?".  Oh, wait...I probably did.  Although I could cook a nice sweet potato, I never got smooth pureed meats.

My next thought is "Food before one is just for fun; breast milk is the primary source of nutrition."  Well, we're supposed to say "Breast milk or formula" but statistics say more babies are formula fed at this age then breastfed.  But if we're trying to make breastfeeding "normal", then people shouldn't be adding "or formula".  It's already assumed, so let's leave it out.

However, formula is expensive and many parents want to get  their kids on "solids" as quickly as possible.  Current recommendations are no solids before six months, and then basically anything except raw honey, and if you have allergies in the family, avoid the allergens.  This is not to replace breast milk though.  It's in addition to.

A current "trend" is baby lead weaning.  It's not weaning in the sense of taking two weeks to get your baby off the breast or bottle.  It's more like baby lead "introduction" to solids.  The idea is that you can offer bite sized pieces of real, human food that you would eat, and if your baby is ready, they will eat it.  If they're not ready, they won't eat it.

Think back.  Waaaaayy back.  Back before the commercialization of parenting.  What did mothers do?  Take a piece of their food, squish it, flake it, chew it, etc and give it to their baby.  They didn't have the option of pureed chicken or dried cereal in a box.  Why have we fallen prey to the big companies that make us think we're wrong if we don't serve rice flakes or veal Parmesan that looks like something the cat barfed up?

I'm in some Frugal Parenting groups on Facebook.  These are geared more to giving away unneeded items, but every day people ask questions about parenting, and not always with a frugal mindset.  Like, "What age can I start cereal, baby is 3 months old now".  As well as waiting till six months for the biological reasoning of stomach enzymes, I suggest that waiting till six months is also frugal because you can skip cereals and serve real foods.  And you'll also save money on cleaning baby clothes LOL.

Yet so many parents are insistent their baby needs infant cereal!  Pablum was created by the Hospital for Sick Children during the Great Depression for babies that were malnourished.  It's less than 100 years old, a tiny speck in the millions of years of human evolution.  Is your baby malnourished?  Even if so, there are much better options.  Rice, in particular is a crappy food, without much actual nutrition, and it has great negative socio-economic and environmental impacts on tender cultures around the world.  These cereals are "fortified" so parents think that's a good thing.  What that means is that the natural minerals and vitamins were stripped away during processing (this IS a processed food!) and (lab made versions) were added back in.  The %RDA listed is not accurate because these minerals and vitamins are harder to absorb.

It's OKAY to skip baby cereal, and jarred foods, and those pouches.  Don't be a media push over.  If your great grandma didn't use it, you can survive without it too.  Somethings might just make life easier, but it's not a "need".  But is also okay to give cereal!  I would stay away from rice and wheat though.  Why start your baby out on a carb heavy diet when we know it's not healthy for adults?  A little homemade oatmeal is nice though (once in a while).

 Does this look like a happy baby?  Not really.  I waited till six months to give Megan cereal (compared to just before 4 months with child #1).  Although I knew it wasn't necessary, I fell for it anyway.  However, I was in a real learning phase around then, thanks to the boom of parenting forums and the Internet.  If I could do it over, I would.

Compare this to two months later, and eating "real" food!

What baby wouldn't rather gnaw on a cob of corn then have spoonfuls of mush forcibly put into their mouths?

Tragic

The earthquake in Nepal is tragic.  It's hard to prepare for something like that when you're barely surviving day to day.  Earthquakes and tornadoes tend to create total destruction, so even if you have a 72hr kit, you might not be able to access it, and well, it's only going to last 72 hours.

On one hand, I subscribe to the socialist Canadian view.  Help for everyone, for the good of the country.  We're all people, we all need help at some point.  What goes around, comes around.

On the other hand, I cringe when I hear that the Canadian government is contributing $5 Million dollars to the relief efforts.

"Our biggest concern for them right now is going to be access to clean water and sanitation, we know that water and food is running out."

(This quote was just grabbed from a news sidebar).

What about all the people in Canada who don't have easy access to quality food and water?  Anyone remember the  Attawapiskat First Nation crisis?  What about the children here who rely on school breakfast programs for the best meal of their day?  What about the people living in Toronto Public Housing?  Where's the money from our own government to help them?  

I know there is a lot of wastage in Canadian programs.  Attawapiskat was ordered to repay a large amount of the money the government gave them.  Many people claim there is wide spread abuse of the social assistance program.  I know people in the system, and it's not easy to get, and to stay on.  For a small number, perhaps it is easier than "getting a real job", but that's not a huge number.  You hear complaints about someone on welfare having their nails done or using a newer cell phone.  Sometimes you'll find out that the cell phone is their home phone, their computer, their TV, their only contact with modern technology.  It's pretty hard to get by without access to the Internet these days, or not having a phone number.  Sometimes someone else is paying for it.  Whatever.  I do think financial awareness classes should be mandatory.  However.

I think it's awesome Canada can send some money to Nepal.  It's "only" 17 cents per person of Canada.  Just imagine, though, what that $5 million could do to help Canadian people.  But we're all people.  Is helping those that have barely anything to start with, more important than helping those that payed into that money and could help generate more revenue for the government?  Imagine if hospitals didn't have to charge for parking just so they can buy new beds or a CT scanner.  Imagine if you didn't even have a hospital to go to.  Imagine if post secondary education was a little more affordable for all Canadians.  Imagine if you were fortunate to get educated through grade 8.  

I don't want this $5 Million to supply bottled water and nutritionless rice.  I hope Nepal has some plans in place.  Katmandu was a growing hub of business, I hope it can recover and improve. I really do hope that.  I just can't help thinking of those, though, that are squashing cockroaches in a TPH apartment, with leaky windows and no hot water, at the same time.