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May 27, 2004

Sweet Bun of Youth

On Saturday, May 22, my nephew Mitchell celebrated his eighth birthday. I gave him a freeze-dried and varnished frog that I purchased when I visited Brownsville, Texas earlier this year. Actually, I bought the frog in Mexico, just over the border...I drove across for a cabrito (baby goat) dinner one night with my friend Peter Wagner, the psychiatrist, his brother Stephen, and Stephen's Czech wife Katka, who actually knows how to butcher a goat on her own.

The highlight of Mitchell's birthday party was an incredible cake in the form of a giant cheeseburger and fries created by my sister-in-law Suzy. It was an astonishment, from the Rice Krispies posing as sesame seeds atop the rounded poundcake upper bun to the drizzles of red icing atop the faux frites.

In addition to Suzy, another creative guest at the party was author/entrepreneur Julie Carlson, the mom of one of Mitchell's classmates who's developed some really nifty kids' media including StorySeeds and does editing for Harvard University Press.

Here is what Mitchell has to say about GLADSTONE'S GAMES TO GO:

"The games are not too hard for kids. I can play Grandmother's House and Gourmet Grandma and Looperman and some of the others. Um, Uncle Jim, in Gourmet Grandma, why did you put those weird words like UNI and INJERA?"

The Burger and Fries Cake...as featured on ZOOM
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/cafe/burgerandfriescake.html

Julie Carlson's StorySeeds
http://www.storyseeds.com/