8 • APRIL 2017 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC. Kitty Club by Gabriel A. Fraire ~ gafraire@comcast.net


Healdsburg, CA. ~ Before my oldest daughter started school she had to be tested because her birthday is in Oc- tober. The tester was a loud lady who barked at the kids. one


At point my


daughter leaned back and just me- owed, like a little kitty.


The tester said, “This girl isn’t ready for school.” We knew she was and we said so. The tester backed off and my daughter started school. But because this tester was so adamant we sat down with our daughter before she started and talked with her about school. She appeared to have no con- cerns. We asked her about the meowing, something she did


often and seemed to enjoy. My daughter said because the tester lady talked so loud and wouldn’t give her a chance to respond she figured the lady wouldn’t even notice she meowed. We fig- ured that made sense. You’re good. But we did warn her that me- owing in school might cause the other kids to tease her. She was nonplused by this. She simply said, “I don’t think so.”


When we met with the kin- dergarten


teacher later she


told us our daughter was adjusting to school just fine. The teacher said our daughter seemed to be the leader of a small group of girls who of- ten sat together. The teacher added, that they even have a club name. She said they are


the Kitty Club. The teacher continued, the girls seem to like to meow like kittens. My wife asked if that was a problem. The teacher said, “Heavens no, if anything it just shows your daughter is a natural leader.” We smiled. It affirmed the idea that one needs to talk with their children not at them. One needs to listen to their children and sup- port them. And, one has to have confidence in one’s own child rearing abilities and to not always listen to what others have to say or think regardless of the ex- pertise they appear to claim.


Gabriel A. Fraire has been a writer more than 45 years. He often writes about his children. He can be reached through his website: gabrielfraire.com


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Bunny Time & Alphabet Soup! ... continued from page 5


salted butter; six lightly beaten egg yolks; ½ tspn salt; ½ cup (about 4 oz) sour cream; grated rind of washed lemon; 1 tblspn fine va- nilla essence; 2 generous tblspns of fine rum. 3. You won’t need a gym or jog- ging when you next beat all of the above with your favorite spoon until you see the dough becom- ing shiny, then smooth and final- ly leaving the side of the bowl. (May take longer than you ever imag- ined). 4. Cover this mas- terly conquest of beaten dough (aſter removing wooden spoon) with a clean cloth. Keep in warm area until it doubles in size. Tis requires patience—about 1 to 2 hours.


(Time to rest, catch your


breath.) 5. Help the now large, fluffy mass of dough on to a lightly floured board to knead it. Use plenty en- ergy to knead it and roll it out to about a one inch thickness. Take a round cookie cutter about two inches wide, -- or a drinking glass dipped in flour works too-- to cut round circles of dough. Line these dough circles on a wooden board, or cloth covered table. Cover light- ly. Let rise again. (Patience is its own reward.)


6. Use a deep, wide pan filled with your choice of shortening (it used to be Crisco) or fine frying oil. Heat until a cube of bread meets the golden browning test. Fry doughnuts a few at a time. Tey do not like crowding. You may think they are drown- ing. Not so. Magic happens when they rise to the top and wait for you to turn them over with your favor- ite new web-like spoon tool. When golden brown on both sides, trans- fer each beauty to a paper towel-cov- ered platter.


Best


to keep in a warm (ca 215-220 F)


oven, while frying up the remain- ing ones. 7. Making your own vanilla sugar requires slicing open a real vanilla bean placed in a jar of powdered or granulated sugar with a tight cov- ering lid. Sprinkle that aromatic sugar like a snowstorm over warm golden brown doughnuts just be- fore serving. 8. Nice touch is to heat your favor- ite jam in a little saucepan to serve on the side with your new baked sensation. Sorry, to all our Vegans, but


YOLO (you only live once) and now is the time to share our fam- ily inn specialty with all you love. Blessed Springtime to all. ~Ellie


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