Mix A Pancake

by Christina Rossetti

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake, —
Catch it if you can.

Mix A Pancake (1893)

Tapuchim U’Dvash

Mr. Chocolate Milk

.en Translation

Mr. Chocolate Milk (Adon Shoko)
Mr. Shoko goes to visit
His friend, another Mr. Shoko.
He polishes his shoes, combs his hair
and he goes with a stick and brimmed hat.

Morning, a light wind,
And here –
A green house, a red door,
Gling, gling, gling rang the doorbell.

“Good morning, Mr. Shoko.”
“Good morning, Mr. Shoko.”
“What should we do?”
“Maybe we should visit
Our friend
another Mr. Shoko.”

Shoko, Shoko

Two Mr. Shoko marching in the streets,
Walking, talking to each other.

Morning, a light wind,
And here –
A yellow house, a green door,
Gling, gling, gling rang the doorbell.

“Good pre-afternoon.”
“Good pre-afternoon.”
“What should we do?”
“Maybe we should visit
Our friend
another Mr. Shoko.”

Shoko, Shoko

Three Mr. Shokos marching in the streets,
Afternoon and a hot sun.

“I am tired” says Mr. Shoko.
“I am hungry” says Mr. Shoko.
“I am thirsty” says Mr. Shoko.

Three Mr. Shokos marching to the restaurant,
Three gentlemen sitting and dining on salad,
Soup and stuffed peppers.

And they will no longer visit
Their friend,
The other Mr. Shoko.

Shoko, Shoko, Shoko.

Mr. Shoko goes to visit
His friend, another Mr. Shoko.
He polishes his shoes, combs his hair
And he goes with a stick and brimming hat.

Morning, a light wind,
And here –
A green house, a red door,
Gling, gling, gling rang the doorbell.

Ma chadash, tapuach im dvash :-)

Shana tova!

Fanny in France

Travel Adventures of a Chef’s Daughter, with Recipes by Alice Waters

From famed chef Alice Waters, a treat for anyone who loves France, food, adventure—or all three!

GAME: Gogoim

Gogo’im or אַגּ’וֹאִים if you’re from Jerusalem are apricot seeds. During the apricot season in Israel, all the school children save their apricot seeds so they can play Gogo’im.

Basically, it’s a game where you throw your apricot seed at boxes that have holes cut into them, the smaller the hole the more apricot seeds you win.

Gogoim – גוֹגוֹאִים

For kids growing up in Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, before cable TV and video games, summer meant apricots and the apricot-pit game called gogoim, mindless child’s play with political overtones.

Known in Hebrew as “gogo,” the apricot pit—resilient and shiny!—was the chief object of summer’s entertainment. When June arrived and school let out, we would collect as many of these pits as possible—the plural word is gogoim—and dash outside to play. The rules of the game were simple: You’d dig a hole 6 or 7 feet in the distance, just big enough to snugly contain a single gogo, and then do your best to throw your own precious pits into the hole; the first to succeed collected all the gogoim that fell short of the target.

Pit Stop

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My Sister and Me

by Nikki Giovanni

Chocolate cookies
Chocolate cakes
Chocolate fudge
Chocolate lakes
Chocolate kisses
Chocolate hugs
Two little chocolate girls
In a chocolate rug

No one can find us
We’re all alone
Two little chocolate girls
Running from home

Chocolate chickies
Chocolate bunnies
Chocolate smiles
From chocolate mommies
Chocolate rabbits
Chocolate snakes
Two little chocolate girls
Wide awake

What an adventure
My, what fun
My sister and me
Still on the run
Still on the run
My sister and me
Still
On the run

The Reason I Like Chocolate

by Nikki Giovanni

The reason I like chocolate
is I can lick my fingers
and nobody tells me I’m not polite

I especially like scary movies
’cause I can snuggle with Mommy
or my big sister and they don’t laugh

I like to cry sometimes ’cause
everybody says “what’s the matter
don’t cry”

and I like books
for all those reasons
but mostly ’cause they just make me
happy

and I really like
to be happy 

Potato Chips

by Slim Gaillard

Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Crunch, crunch, I don’t want no lunch
All I want is potato chips

Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Crunch, crunch, I don’t want no lunch
All I want is potato chips

No matter where it is
You’ll always find a bag around
Be it in a bar or picnic
Even a baseball ground

Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Potato chips, holy drip drip drips
Crunch, crunch, I don’t want no lunch
All I want is potato chips

Potato chips, high crunchy, crunchy
Potato chips, crunch, crunchy, crunchy
A-crunch, crunch, crunch, I don’t want no lunch
All I want is potato chips

Potato chips, how my mouth just drips
Potato chips, crunchy, crunchy, crunchy, crunchy, crunchy, crunchy, chrunch
Don’t bring me no lunch
All I want is potato chips

No matter where it is
You’ll find a bag around
I could be even in a bar or picnic
Or a baseball ground, it doesn’t matter

Chips, oh those potato-tato chips
Potato, potato, a-chippy chippo
Crunch, crunch, don’t want no lunch
All I want is potato chips

Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in 13 Bites

By Jamie Michalak and Debbi Michiko Florence
Illustrated by Yuko Jones

A picture book biography that tells the story of Niki Nakayama, a powerhouse female Japanese-American chef and her rise to fame.