The Memorial Buzz - April 2023

When Grandparents Live Next Door

by Cathy Gordon

Craig and Penny Glidden and KT and Nate Smith

EDITOR’S NOTE

I love when this happens: A reader reached out and said, “History was made by a kindergartner.” We were amazed to find out a 6-year-old won River Oaks Elementary’s spelling bee – in which kindergartners don’t usually compete, much less win. Beyond his spelling talents, it’s clear Zachary Teoh is extraordinary. Writer Cheryl Ursin had the opportunity to meet him in his home and see firsthand his skills and interests, which include reading, writing, coding, and chess. It didn’t surprise us when Zachary’s story got picked up by local news and Good Morning America. We are proud to feature him this month, and what makes it more special is that Zachary is an avid Buzz reader. He has been reading since age 3 ½ and, turns out, he read our story about kids who love chess in April 2021, by Jennifer Oakley. (Zachary would’ve been 4 then.) The story inspired him to compete in chess. That anecdote speaks volumes about Zachary; in addition to his intelligence, he has a zest for learning. Whatever your interests, we hope something featured in The Buzz this month – and every month – inspires you. joni@thebuzzmagazines.com

THE BUZZ MAGAZINES

Editor-in-Chief Joni Hoffman

Publisher Michael Hoffman

Editor Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld

Editorial Assistant Caroline Siegfried

Design Manager John Duboise

Staff Writers Tracy L. Barnett

Sharon Albert Brier

Cindy Burnett

Andria Frankfort Dilling

Angie Frederickson

Todd Freed

Cindy Gabriel

Cathy Gordon

Michelle Groogan

Dai Huynh

Cheryl Laird

Annie Blaylock McQueen

Jennifer Oakley

Pooja Salhotra

Cheryl Ursin

Account Managers Andrea Blitzer

Leslie Little

Jo Rogers

Your letters, thoughts, opinions

Buzz about burgers

What a great article you put together for The Buzz [Burger Buddies: For the love of hamburgers by Russell Weil, March 2023]. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it has my mouth watering for a burger! I am now on a mission to try all the favorites you and your friends listed. Burger-Chan is also one of my faves along with Hubcap Grill (which sadly closed its Heights location). Keep up the great work!

Josh Powers

Editor’s note: Thanks for your feedback, Josh! Russell has us craving a great burger too. Find Russell’s top picks along with his Burger Buddies’ favorites, at thebuzzmagazines.com.

More burger fans

I read your article [Burger Buddies] to my husband as we drove home from Fredericksburg. So much fun to see these guys’ friendships through the love of hamburgers. My husband and I have been eating through Jon Hopkins’ list of best burgers in Houston, which was released through the Michael Berry show. We have eaten at six of the establishments and we have not had a bad burger yet.

I agree with some of the burger joints the guys also enjoy. Burger-Chan was a surprise, and the aioli was fantastic. My husband thinks True Craft is #1 but my #1 is Feges BBQ with their brisket burger and grilled onions. Thanks for adding some more we will be trying.

Stacy Cheesman

Great minds think alike

I called The Buzz to suggest a story about two lovely ladies who have been cleaning up trash on their morning walk in various West U. neighborhoods. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I was too late! The pair had already been featured in an in-depth article in The Buzz [Plogging Along: Their exercise regiment is picking up by Claudia Feldman, Nov. 2022]. The editor was kind enough to forward it to me and, subsequently, I was able to discover in a lot more detail, the wonderful background and motivation that has subsequently driven Pamela [Dwyer] and Angie [Sassard] to become extremely precious assets to our community. Two very special ladies!

Vic Graff

Editor’s note: Vic, we were delighted to hear that you thought to share this idea with us – and that you enjoyed the story that was published in our November issue. Please reach out to us with any “buzzworthy” neighborhood story ideas.

Request to reprint an inspirational story

I was so impressed by the article about Margie Jenkins [And That's Margie: Tales of love, loss and laughter by Cathy Gordon, Sept. 2020]. She's 97 [at the time the article was published]. My husband and I are both 80. To think that someone did what she did at 97 is incredible. I was so

impressed by the article; I ordered her books [You Only Die Once and My Personal Planner] and they’re so helpful. I was dreading working through the workbook but because of the way Margie is, it isn’t sad; it’s beautiful work. I don’t have her more recent book, but it was such an interesting title – I Don’t Remember Getting Old – and I’m going to have to buy it. I think more of us need to read things from Margie’s pen. The remark from her son [quoted in the article] is striking: “‘She’s a force,’ agrees Margie’s eldest son, Rick Jenkins. ‘I hope we are all doing as well at 97. She’s very determined and extremely focused when she gets something in her mind.’”

I hope we’re all doing that well at 97. I know there are other people around our age who would be able to really glean something from her workbook, so I was hoping you would reprint the article. I tore it out of your magazine to cross-reference. Margie is so inspirational.

Jeannine Bergt

Editor’s note: Jeannine, thanks for bringing this article – and inspirational individual – back to our attention. We aren’t able to reprint an article, but we hope you will all take the time to read this story; search “Margie Jenkins” at thebuzzmagazines.com.

Send letters to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address for verification purposes. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and space. Views expressed in letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Buzz Magazines, and The Buzz takes no responsibility for the content and opinions expressed in them.

What’s your stor y?

We are looking for residents for upcoming articles who:

• Have a high school senior graduating in the Class of 2023 who would like to be part of our annual “Where are they headed?” feature. (Submission deadline: April 25)

• Have a milestone life event to share.

• Know a Buzzworthy neighbor to feature.

• Have an interesting hobby.

• Have a compelling travel tale.

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please contact us at info@thebuzzmagazines.com or 713.668.4157, ext 102.

by Cindy Gabriel, contributing writer Writer

of Wrongs

There’s trouble in River City – Not a Memoir, Part 6

He had a laugh as big as Texas, and a hug that made you feel like a freshly squeezed grapefruit. He exuded confidence, maybe a little too much. I was completely under his spell.

My father, Clymer Wright, fighter for the underdog, righter of wrongs, or writer of wrongs, was the editor of our family newspaper, the Fort Bend Reporter. It was the summer of 1958 in Ft. Bend County, and in his mind, there was trouble in River City – that is, Richmond, Texas, on the banks of the Brazos.

It was no secret that a couple of bars in Richmond called Black Cat and Rosa’s weren’t operating on the up and up. In addition to gambling, serving alcohol to teens, with a “bawdy house” on the premises, the larger problem, Dad believed, was that local law enforcement and elected officials turned a blind eye to such matters, as they had in Galveston for decades.

Of course, my dad, in his mind, was the man to clean it up, with the help of his best friend, Jeff Segers, a local insurance man whose charm matched Dad’s bravado. Mom had a way of bringing Dad down a peg. When The Flintstones debuted, she started calling Dad and Jeff, Fred and Barney. Fred was always coming up with schemes and dragging Barney in with him. Conversely, she (Sandra) and Jeff’s wife Evelyn were Wilma and Betty.

Dad had managed to get the attention of Texas Special Assistant Attorney General Jim Simpson, a hero in Dad’s world of heroes and villains. Simpson had already “cleaned up” the so-called Free State of Galveston a year earlier in the summer of 1957 through a series of legal maneuvers that basically broke the Maceo family empire, which had essentially run the island since Prohibition days.

Simpson had learned the hard way not to include local law enforcement, elected officials, and even some judges, when planning a raid. Someone would inevitably tip the gamblers, who would close up and hide their illegal equipment minutes before the raid. Instead, he worked with a couple of local refinery workers, who did the undercover investigating.

Now, under Simpson’s supervision, Jeff Segers

and his business associate Bud Williams would do the undercover work at the Richmond bars. The problem was that they couldn’t tell their wives why they would be working late two or three nights in a row –until 2 a.m.

My mom, Sandra, knew what was going on because she worked at the newspaper. Mom was a world-class secret keeper, as she welldemonstrated when Evelyn got suspicious.

“Jeff’s having an affair,” Evelyn announced on the phone one evening while Jeff and Bud were working late. “Are you kidding? Jeff is crazy about you,” Mom countered.

Mom listened as Evelyn ran down a list of possible women suspects. It reached the point that Mom actually agreed to drive Evelyn around in search of Jeff’s car at fictitious women’s homes. By the time they got home, Jeff’s car was in the driveway. Things were tense. Jeff put up with looking like a schmuck until the night the Texas Rangers swooped in, smashed up some dice tables and illegal pinball machines, and slapped the bars with injunctions to close.

The front page of the Thursday, June 19, 1958 Fort Bend Reporter pictured Jeff Segers and Bud Williams as local heroes, along with the news of the raid. Everybody in town knew Jeff. Once the morning paper started hitting front yards, word spread quickly.

Downtown newspaper stands emptied immediately, resulting in a crowd outside of the newspaper office as extra issues came cranking out. Good ole Aunt Jessie saw fit to bring me up there to see the action, while she was busy signing up new subscribers. This was clearly one way to sell papers.

Soon after this, I was invited to the Segers’ house to play with Ginger, their daughter who was my age. That evening, both my parents came to pick me up and have a few drinks with Evelyn and Jeff to “talk shop” about the big story.

Dad, quite pleased with himself, was standing in their kitchen, all puffed up, proudly pontificating, drink in hand. While making some point in his usual blustery way, he reached down to pick up a cracker from a tray. The “cracker” was actually a dog biscuit. Evelyn started to warn Dad, but Jeff nudged her to be quiet as Dad took a bite, sipped his drink, then took another. When he realized what he had done, he said the biscuit wasn’t actually that bad. Everybody had a good laugh and somewhere in my young mind, an impression was made. The newspaper business is really fun. But soon Dad would learn, not everybody saw things his way.

Editor’s note: This column is part of Cindy Gabriel’s “not a memoir” series. Read the previous installments at thebuzzmagazines.com.

MR. BRAVADO Cindy’s father, Clymer Wright, did not lack in confidence in those Fort Bend County days.

by Cheryl Ursin, staff writer

Stellar Speller

Six-year-old spelling-bee champ

Kindergartener Zachary Teoh stands all of four feet even. He likes dinosaurs. And I’m pretty sure he can spell better than you.

After Zachary “blasted through” (in the words of his principal Brett Gallini) the K-2 spelling bee at River Oaks Elementary School on January 25th, he came back that evening to win the school’s spelling bee for grades 3 through 5, correctly spelling words including “caparisoned” (“to provide with … a rich ornamental covering,” according to Merriam-Webster) and “mullioned” (a mullioned window has one or more solid vertical elements between its different parts).

Zachary is the youngest spelling-bee champ River Oaks Elementary School has ever had.

As school champ, he went on to the spelling bee for the Houston Independent School District (HISD) on February 8th. He placed second on his day of the competition. About 60 HISD elementary and middle schools sent their school champions to compete. The kids were randomly assigned to compete on either day 1 or day 2. Kids can compete in such official spelling bees up until they turn 15 or graduate from the 8th grade. In these competitions, though, the children are not divided by grade or age. In other words, some of the kids Zachary was competing against were more than twice his age.

Zachary is the youngest speller Don Hernandez, who organizes the spelling bee for HISD, can recall participating in the HISD competition. “Let alone be in contention for the championship,” he adds. “He is quite an impressive young man.”

For the HISD bee, Zachary correctly spelled words including “vacuousness” (“emptied of or lacking content or marked by lack of ideas or intelligence”), “Promethean” (“of, relating to, or resembling Prometheus, his experiences, or his art … daringly original or creative”), and “cyanosis” (“a bluish or purplish discoloration (as of skin) due to deficient oxygenation of the blood”).

As of press time, Zachary is getting ready to compete in the next round, the regional spelling bee, which will be held by Houston Community College on March 25th. He will be competing against the top spellers from 920 elementary and middle schools.

The winners of regional spelling bees from all over the country and from all over the world go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in the Washington, DC area every spring. Last year, over 7.5 million people tuned in to watch.

Bees,

as they are known for short, are an American tradition.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, with its associated regional, district, school, and classroom bees, has been held for nearly 100 years.

They are part of the culture. The first fulllength Charlie Brown movie, from 1969, had Charlie Brown competing in a spelling bee. (He came in runner-up after misspelling a word everyone thought he would know: “beagle.”) Spelling bees have been the subject of Broadway musicals (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) and movies, such as Akeelah and the Bee

Last year, the 2022 and 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champions and their families were given a private tour of the White House by First Lady Jill Biden. According to People magazine, Biden had been her school’s spelling-bee champion as a sixth grader but told the kids at the bee, “I had a chance to go to the next level, but on the day of the regional competition, I told my mother that I was sick. The truth was that I was too nervous to go, so I have incredible admiration for each and every one of you.”

The national bee is covered extensively in the press, with the winner appearing on national television shows including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

An article in The Arizona Republic pointed out that this national spelling competition “has been both heralded as a pinnacle of American academic achievement and likened to a strange

form of child abuse” over the years. Elite spellers do spend hours per day for months on end studying tens of thousands of words. However, a mom in the documentary 90 Years of Champions produced by the Scripps National Spelling Bee (available on YouTube) likened her child’s discovery of the world of competitive spelling to receiving an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. These kids have found their tribe.

Zachary has long demonstrated an interest in words and reading and language. Among many other things. He also likes to write computer code and play chess.

In fact, Zachary got started in chess at age 3½ after he read a story about competitive players in The Buzz. To be clear, Zachary read the article. He was reading, fluently, by 3½. “Yes, I learned to read a few years ago,” he now says offhandedly. He loves playing word games, including Wordle. He likes to give his parents word scrambles. “He loves when he can quiz us and we don’t know the answer,” says his mom, Joanne Yeap.

When Zachary was one, Joanne had lunch with a friend whose children were a bit older. Those children had all begun to read at around 3½. “I was shocked,” says Joanne, “but also inspired. Children can be encouraged, without pressure, to have a love of

BUSY BEE Zachary Teoh – the youngest spelling-bee champ in River Oaks Elementary School’s history – placed second in HISD’s spelling bee. Here, he’s pictured on the day of HISD’s bee. The sign he holds was made by his class and has bees, made with their thumbprints, from all his classmates and teachers.

(continued from page 10)

reading. It can be fun. It can be play.”

Joanne researched the Montessori teaching method, which centers on children pursuing their interests with their adults acting as guides, not taskmasters and judges. Rather than send Zachary to preschool, she decided to provide a Montessori environment for him at home.

And when she read to Zachary and taught him phonics, things just clicked. “If you follow a child’s lead, they will show you what they love and be self-motivated,” says Joanne. “It may not be spelling; it might be ballet or something else.”

Joanne and Zachary did not focus on spelling while she was home-schooling him before kindergarten. They read and wrote. “With reading, children get to see the world,” Joanne says. Zachary says he didn’t realize he was good at spelling until he participated in the spelling bees at his school in January.

Zachary was such an enthusiastic learner that at one point, when Zachary was two, Joanne hired a babysitter, a Baylor student, just to read with him. Whether it was Joanne, her husband Michael, or the sitter, toddler Zachary could listen to 10 books a day and be full of questions to ponder for each of them.

On the first day of kindergarten, Zachary’s teacher, Michelle Liner, asked the kids in her class to write about or draw a picture of something they are interested in. Zachary wrote an essay about World War II. Still, Michelle thought, well, maybe he had overheard a conversation about World War II and just wrote that down.

When she talked about his essay with him,

she asked, “I see you wrote about D-Day. What beach did that happen on?”

“Oh,” said Zachary promptly, “Omaha.”

Which was, of course, the largest beach landing site that saw the worst fighting and the most casualties, where the movie Saving Private Ryan was set. (Okay, I just looked that up.)

“I think when people see children who are so advanced, they often wonder how much the parents are pushing them,” says Brett Gallini, principal at River Oaks. “In my experience, Zach’s parents are extremely supportive and are not pushing him to do anything he’s not comfortable with, which I think is wonderful.”

Zachary’s teacher, Michelle Liner, agrees. “It’s a fine line,” she says. “How do you support a child without pushing them? Zach’s parents are doing a beautiful job of it.”

Zachary’s mom Joanne says that she and Zachary’s father Michael are constantly reminding themselves that he’s only six. “We have a kind of slogan, ‘Just be a kid.’ We say, let’s stop, no Wordle, no word games, even though he enjoys it. Let’s just go to the park and play,” Joanne says.

It’s for this reason that they don’t want Zachary to skip grades. “Of course, he can learn and read about whatever he wants, but we want him to take it slow and enjoy his class,” she says. “I respect childhood. It’s the most magical time. It’s a time to imagine, create, make mistakes, and I don’t want to rush that.”

Many people assume that becoming a competitive speller is all about rote memorization. While some memorization is involved, of course, the kids whose ranks Zachary has joined

also learn all about words, their meanings, their origins. That is why you will see a child at a spelling bee ask for the definition, the part of speech, the language of origin, any alternate pronunciations, and for an example of the word being used in a sentence. What the word’s root, prefix, suffix are, what part of speech the word is, whether it’s from Greek, Latin, French, etc., all helps the speller know how to spell a word even if they have never heard it before.

“These kids are learning about medicine, culture, history, plants, animals as they study words,” says Joanne. “They can learn so many things through words, have their minds opened to so many things.”

Zachary is all fired up to keep learning. He has told Joanne he wants to start studying the dictionary.

There are other lessons embedded in the process as well, not the least of which is grit. The preparation top-level champion spellers go through has been likened to the kind of preparation a young athlete might do to get ready for the Olympics.

And it is no small thing to get up in front of an audience with a placard around your neck and be ready to try to spell any word that appears in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

But Zachary says he is not nervous. “There’s nothing to be nervous about,” says this soft-spoken kindergartner. He’s having fun.

To watch the national spelling bee this year, visit the Scripps National Spelling Bee website, spellingbee.com, on or after May 1st when the full schedule will be posted. The finals, for instance, will be televised live the evening of Thursday, June 1st.

BEE-LIEVING Zachary Teoh has long demonstrated a strong interest in reading and language, among other passions such as computer coding and chess. He enjoys word games and especially loves when he quizzes his parents and they don’t know the answer, said his mom, Joanne. Here, he’s pictured with some of his favorite adults. On left, with his parents, Joanne Yeap and Michael Teoh. On right, with his kindergarten teacher, Michelle Liner.

by Andria Frankfort Dilling, staff writer

Matzah

New twists on an old tradition

Matzah gets a bad rap. The Old Testament calls it “the bread of affliction,” referring to the slavery inflicted on Israelites in Egypt. During the week of Passover (this year, April 5-13), observant Jews substitute all leavened bread with the large, square crackers reminding us that, during the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites did not have time to let their bread rise.

Today, some call the bread of affliction an affliction in itself, branding it bland and cardboard-like. But through thousands of years, some surprisingly delicious matzah transformations have been invented. So delicious, we think, that you might be tempted, Jewish or not, to try them outside of Passover.

Robyn Rosenblatt and her family love matzah so much that they have rules for it. “Everyone is obsessed,” Robyn says. “We have to be careful not to open the box too soon before Passover, otherwise there won’t be any left for the week of.” Robyn’s kids – Ellie, 15, Talia, 12, and Ian, 11, all students at St. John’s – have gotten creative. “We love matzah pizza, peanut butter and jelly matzah, butter on matzah. Matzah with cream cheese is a breakfast staple, and my daughter makes matzah nachos – broken-up pieces with shredded cheese melted in the toaster.”

But the favorite, the thing they call “Matzah Crack” because “it’s so addictive,” is a recipe handed down from Robyn’s sister-in-law Tracy Kapiloff. “We started making it when, I think, Tracy’s girls outgrew the desire to make it as they got older. We’ve been making it since my children were very little.”

Talia, Robyn’s middle child, is the Matzah Crack chef. “All my kids have helped me, but it’s really Talia who loves to bake with me the most,” Robyn says. “My mother [Amy Kapiloff] is the big cook for major family meals – she’s slowly turning things over, but she’s still in the driver’s seat – and I’m always in charge of dessert. This is our go-to Passover dessert, along with fruit and chocolate strawberries. We make it, and we make too much, and we share it with friends and neighbors and send it home with people after the [Passover] seder.”

Robyn Rosenblatt’s Matzah Crack

4 to 5 sheets matzah

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Toasted pecans (optional)

½ teaspoon flaky salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, then parchment paper. Cover the baking sheet with matzah (you will need to break pieces to fit the entire pan).

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sugar, stirring constantly with a whisk until the mixture bubbles. Continue cooking and stirring for another 3 minutes until it “gets fluffy and thickens.”

Carefully pour the hot caramel on top of the matzah and spread it evenly with a spreader. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the caramel is bubbly and crackly all over. Remove from the oven and immediately pour the chocolate chips over the top. After 2 minutes or so, use a spreader to spread the melted chocolate over all the matzah. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle with flaky salt. I sprinkle half of the matzah with toasted pecans (some of my kids like nuts and some don’t). Refrigerate for at least an hour, then cut into squares. Matzah Crack freezes really well.

S’mores Matzah

For a variation on Matzah Crack, try adding

some toasted marshmallows on top.

4 sheets matzah

2 sticks unsalted butter

Pinch kosher salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Follow the instructions for Matzah Crack through baking. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the marshmallows over the matzah, leaving some space between them. Turn the oven on broil and move the rack to the top of the oven. Put the matzah back in the oven and watch it closely as the marshmallows toast, about 1 minute. Once they start toasting, remove from the oven.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips between the toasted marshmallows, and let them sit for about 5 minutes to melt. Using an offset spatula, spread the melty chocolate chips between and atop the marshmallows. This will be messy. Refrigerate for at least an hour, then cut into squares.

Matzah Granola

Another surprise is Matzah Granola. Used in place of oats, the crackers soak up a sweet mix of brown sugar and maple syrup, resulting in one more addictive matzah snack.

5 sheets matzah, crumbled into ½-inch pieces

1 cup unsweetened

BAKING BUDDIES Talia Rosenblatt helps her mom Robyn make chocolate- and toffee-covered matzah for Passover.

coconut flakes

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup chopped almonds

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/3 cup olive oil

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

½ cup raisins

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, mix together the matzah, coconut, walnuts, almonds and salt. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the sugar, maple syrup, olive oil, cinnamon, and allspice, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the matzah mixture and stir to coat.

Spread the granola evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the baking sheet, and bake for another 12 minutes. Cool, then stir in the raisins. Serve with yogurt or alone as a snack.

Matzah Brei

Matzah Brei, or “fried matzah,” is a cross between a matzah version of chilaquiles and French toast. A simple base of matzah pieces and beaten eggs “fried” in butter, matzah brei can go savory –basically, eggs scrambled with crispy matzah pieces, maybe treated like chilaquiles with cheese and salsa – or sweet – matzah and eggs topped with cinnamon sugar, jam and sour cream, or a drizzle of maple syrup.

Ruth Reichl’s Matzah Brei, from the July 2004 issue of Gourmet

4 sheets matzah

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Crumble the matzah into a large sieve placed over a mixing bowl to catch the crumbs. Hold the sieve under running cold water until the matzah is moist and softened but not completely disintegrated, about 15 seconds. Transfer to the bowl with crumbs, then add the eggs and salt and mix gently with a fork.

Heat the butter in a 10- to 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until foam subsides. Add the matzah mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the eggs are scrambled and the matzah has begun to crisp, about 3 minutes.

Note: For a unique history of matzah – and a fun dose of old New York – check out the 2015 documentary Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream (it’s free on Amazon Prime). The movie tells the story of the last familyowned matzah factory in America before it left its original, five-story factory in New York’s rapidly changing Lower East Side, where Jewish immigrants settled in the first part of the 20th century.

PASSOVER TREAT Top photo: Talia Rosenblatt samples the Matzah Crack she helped her mom, Robyn, make. Middle: Robyn and Talia stir caramel to pour over the matzah. Bottom: Matzah Crack in all its addictive glory.

by Cheryl Ursin, staff writer

Awesome Opossums

They’re everywhere

On the evening of Friday, October 25th, 2019, the Barrett family was watching the Astros play the Washington Nationals in Game Three of the World Series on television. The lights in the room were dimmed.

One of their dogs, a black Lab, came in with what they thought was a toy … at least until they heard the thud when she dropped it at their feet.

It was what seemed to be a dead opossum.

“My daughter and I jumped up onto the couch, screaming,” remembers Emily Barrett.

And then the opossum scurried away.

Emily turned to her neighbors, via the Facebook group West University Information Exchange, for help.

“Anyone know of a pest control company that will come out NOW?” she wrote.

And thus began what was soon dubbed “PossumGate,” with its own hashtags, #savepete (as the opossum was quickly named by commenters) and #rescueemily. The thread eventually had over 300 comments.

“I would have moved out by now,” said one. “I. Can’t. Even.” posted another.

Richard Beck suggested using a flashlight to peer under the couch.

“Um. Nope. Not doing that,” replied Emily.

Beck, who had never met the Barretts, remembered he had a Havahart humane animal trap in his garage. After the game, he and his wife brought it over.

“They were so nice,” says Emily.

The Barretts and the Becks set the trap with peanut butter. Thinking quickly, the Barretts also set their Ring security cameras on the floor before the family retreated upstairs.

Emily posted, “And now we wait.”

The family watched the live video feed for hours. The opossum, young, small, and cute, sniffed at, but would not enter, the trap, checked out the cameras carefully, then fell asleep on a dog bed.

Emily posted the video for Pete’s followers. Another comment popped up on the thread: Pete#wants#to#stay.

In addition to the trap, the family left a back door open, and eventually, Pete left of his own accord.

Pete was a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). Technically, the correct term for him is “opossum,” (the “o” either pronounced with an “a” sound or silent), but “possum” is used so commonly that Merriam-Webster considers it to be correct for everyday use.

There are other animals, living a world away, in New Guinea and Australia, who are also called possums because they look like the ones here in North America. Amazingly, these two groups of animals really are genetically related,

dating back to the time when most of the Earth’s continents were all one landmass called Gondwana millions of years ago.

Virginia opossums are the only marsupials in North America. Marsupials are mammals that give birth to their young but then carry them in a pouch on the mother’s belly. When opossums are born, after a gestation of only about two weeks, they are smaller than a lima bean, furless and practically translucent, with their eyes still sealed shut. The babies,

GOOD SPORTS What a difference how and where you meet an opossum makes. From left: Emily and daughter Reese Barrett were startled when an opossum showed up in their living room one night, but recently agreed to pose with Blossom the Opossum at the Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire.

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called joeys, crawl over their mother’s fur into her pouch, where they attach to a teat and are kept warm until they are about two to three months old. They stay with their mom, often riding on her back, until they are four to five months old.

They grow to be about the size of a cat, the largest males topping out at about 10 pounds. They only live for two or three years. Two other fun facts: They have the most teeth of any mammal (50), and they are one of the only species, besides us, with opposable thumbs. Theirs, however, are on their back feet and help them climb. Oh, and their hairless tails are prehensile. They can’t hang by them like in the cartoons, but they can carry things with them.

Two years ago, Guy Goodwin, then a sophomore at Texas A&M University at Galveston, was home on break when he hopped in his car to go to a store. His engine made a strange noise. He pulled over into a McDonald’s parking lot. When he opened the hood, he discovered a mother opossum with six babies. The noise was entirely coincidental, Guy says, caused by something else. The opossums didn’t harm his engine, and his engine didn’t harm the opossums.

Guy didn’t want to leave them by a busy street, so he went into the McDonald’s and asked for a box, explaining that he didn’t want seven opossums riding loose in his car.

He picked the mother up by her tail.

(Wildlife experts says that’s a fine way to pick up an opossum if you have to. Wear gloves, grasp them at the base of their tail, and hold them at arm’s length.) The babies clung to her back.

He released them a short distance away, near a creek, away from traffic.

“Don’t be scared of them,” he advises.

Opossums are everywhere in Houston. According to Eric Duran, head naturalist at the Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire, opossums probably did not live in the environment that once covered most of Houston – prairie – but stayed only around our bayous, rivers, and other areas with trees. Now, however, with our garbage, our fruit trees, our vegetable gardens, our food left out for other animals, we have provided opossums with a plentiful food supply.

And that’s okay.

Because here’s what opossums are not. They are not, unlike raccoons, foxes, and skunks, considered a vector for rabies. They don’t appear to get the disease, possibly because of their lowerthan-usual body temperature.

They are not aggressive. Though any animal will bite to defend itself, opossums don’t attack and generally don’t bite. According to a web page on the West University government site, an opossum will “open their mouth and hiss to scare you, and then play dead if it doesn’t.”

“Playing possum,” by the way, isn’t a response they choose. It is involuntary, like fainting. And they can be “out” for up to four hours. Guy

noticed his mama opossum seemed to cycle in and out of the state every few seconds in the short time it took him to put her in the box.

When they remain in this state, they look very dead. They become stiff and even their heart rate slows. They may release a foul odor meant to make their attacker think they are rotten. This is why it’s best not to run over what appears to be a dead opossum in the street if you can avoid it. That little road-kill eater may not be dead.

They won’t stay around. Opossums are nomadic.

They are not generally destructive. Like any small animal who gets stuck in a space, they might damage wiring. However, opossums, unlike raccoons and squirrels, don’t tear things apart. And the claws on their little pink toes are much like our own fingernails, too weak to dig and tear up your garden. Opossums are often blamed for things they didn’t start. It’s probably a raccoon who knocked over your garbage can even if there’s an opossum eating your trash when you discover it.

“They are little trashmen,” says Discovery Center’s Duran. They also eat cockroaches, snails, rats, and mice. Some scientists believe that the presence of opossums will cause the tick population in an area to plunge because, these scientists found, more than 95 percent of the ticks that land on opossums, who are fastidious groomers, get eaten.

Opossums also eat poisonous snakes and appear to be immune to the venom

OUR OWN CELEBRITY OPOSSUMS On left: Nature Discovery Center’s Blossom. On right: Blossom from the Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. (Opossums are kind of cute, aren’t they?)

of pit vipers, including our rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths.

Contrary to what you might think from looking at all the accounts featuring opossums on social media, opossums do not make good pets. (Some – like instagram account @itsmesesame –are run by licensed wildlife rehabilitators; not all of them are.) First of all, it is illegal to keep an opossum for a pet in the state of Texas because it is native wildlife. Second, it’s difficult to keep them healthy. They need a precise ratio of phosphorus to calcium in their diet or they develop a painful, crippling, and ultimately lethal condition called metabolic bone disease.

“On Mondays, Blossom gets smelt,” Samantha Norris, education manager of the Houston Humane Society Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (TWRC), told me. Smelt is a small fish. Blossom is an “ambassador animal” for TWRC; she would not be able to survive in the wild because she only has one eye. She also eats specialized pellets made for omnivore zoo animals and a precisely scheduled diet

of things ranging from quail eggs, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and low-fat mozzarella cheese to mice and live invertebrates.

The Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire also has an ambassador-animal opossum, theirs also coincidentally named Blossom, who also came via TWRC. Their Blossom can’t be released because she stayed too long in captivity and imprinted on humans; she is also mostly deaf.

Both Blossoms were found orphaned, too young to survive on their own. During the opossum “baby season,” from February through the spring, TWRC might have 100 to 150 orphaned opossums under its care at a time.

According to TWRC, if a baby opossum is less than seven inches long from snout to rump, not including its tail, it’s too young to be on its own. Otherwise, “if you see a baby opossum, but it’s walking around confidently, like it knows what it’s doing, it’s probably okay,” says the Discovery Center’s Duran, adding that, with wildlife, the best option is often to leave them alone. If you are unsure if a baby or an injured

adult needs help, you can always call a wildlife rehabilitation center, such as TWRC (713-4688972) or the Houston SPCA’s Wildlife Center of Texas (713-861-9453).

Samantha Norris of TWRC advises not to give an animal you find food or water before you bring it in.

Dead opossum females can often have babies in their pouches. Wildlife experts say you can look in her pouch to see, and Norris says you can bring the dead mother into TWRC and their staff will detach the babies. (Personally, I’d like to think I could do that, but I’d need to steel myself beforehand and probably have a lie-down after.)

Although, by law, professional pest-control companies are required to trap wildlife humanely and release them, wildlife experts say they prefer that animals like opossums not be brought to a distant area to be released because they may not be able to survive in an unfamiliar place.

What a wonder opossums are … especially when they’re not in your house or

car.

A PASSEL OF OPOSSUMS Top left: The Nature Discovery Center’s Blossom with executive director DeAndra Ramsey. Top right: Security-camera footage of Pete the Opossum the night he showed up in the Barretts’ house. Bottom left: Opossums are often atop our fences in Houston. Bottom right: Nature Discovery Center’s Blossom takes a water break.

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Mandilyn Cardenas

by Cathy Gordon, staff writer

A Hop, Skip, and a Jump

To grandparents’ house we go

MULTIGENERATIONAL AND SENSATIONAL Precious memories are banked daily for this group who are family, but also neighbors. (From left) Craig and Penny Glidden live next door to their son-in-law Nate Smith, daughter KT, and grandchildren Vivienne, 7, and baby Coco.

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go. Or, for little Vivienne Smith, out the back door, down a shady, hosta-lined path, and through a connecting gate that leads to her grandparents’ abode. Because, Gigi and Big, as she affectionately calls them, live right next door.

“It’s a pretty cool setup,” says Bunker Hill resident Kristen Taylor Smith, who goes by the nickname KT. She and husband, Nate, are parents of the perennially smiling Vivienne, 7, and baby sister Charlotte, 1, who they call Coco. Add goldendoodle Remy to the mix and it’s a full house next door to Big and Gigi, otherwise

known as KT’s dad and stepmom, Craig and Penny Glidden. And the really cool twist to this setup? KT’s parents still live in the house where they raised her with siblings Emily and brother Sam.

So, it’s déjà vu on steroids for this young mom when she pops next door to

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Dylan Aguilar

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borrow the proverbial cup of sugar. Well, to some extent. “My parents have done a lot of remodeling over the years,” KT explains. “My bedroom, well pretty much most of the rooms, don’t look like when I lived here. They redid a bathroom and I keep going to where the toilet used to be, which is now a closet. Whoops!”

In an age where multigenerational living is gaining traction again, KT and her parents figure they have the best of both worlds, living side by side.

“For the longest time, I never wanted to move back to Houston. I grew up here and I wanted something completely different,” says KT. She and Nate met in Houston before marrying and moving to Denver where they lived for eight years, working remote jobs, from home. She’s in international marketing, helping companies market their products on all points of the globe. He’s the sales director for a medical device company.

They were happily dwelling in a 1600-square foot house in Denver, and a nice older couple were like surrogate grandparents to Vivienne, doting on her, babysitting her. “They got the experience that Vivienne’s actual grandparents weren’t getting,” KT says.

But then came baby number 2, and the couple’s need for more space collided with skyrock-

eting prices in the Denver housing market. Hmm… ideas started percolating.

“I remember walking one day in Denver’s Washington Park and we saw a bunch of people there with their kids and families. And I remember thinking ‘What would it look like if we located closer to family?’” recalls Nate, whose parents also live in Texas, in Longview and Dallas. “That got the ball rolling.”

Thoughts turned toward Bunker Hill, and a charming Tudor house next to KT’s childhood home. Yes, another cool twist to this tale: Her folks already owned that house next door.

Craig and Penny purchased it years ago from an elderly neighbor whose wife had died. “My mom and Craig’s mom were getting to that age where we thought it would be nice to have them living next door,” explains Penny. Craig’s mom died shortly thereafter, and never lived in the house. But Penny’s mother lived there for several years, before moving to East Texas with family. KT’s sister lived there a while, too.

“It was a wonderful house to have for family that needed it,” says Penny. “And I’m so glad we bought it. We were worried that someone would buy it, tear it down and sell the land to someone who would build a McMansion next door, overlooking our property, affecting our privacy. We didn’t want that.”

The tasteful Tudor has been teeming with new life since May, when KT and family moved in. It’s had a facelift, too, with new paint and floors, roof, windows, and other improvements.

“I didn’t even know that was something they were thinking about, moving back here!” exclaims Craig. “We had no idea that they would be interested in coming back. They’d been adamant about being in Denver. But I think it was the power of attraction, this neighborhood, that got them back here. It’s a wonderful place to live. We sold the house to them at the same price we bought it for eight years ago. It has worked out great.”

Indeed, Craig and Penny were tickled pink and every other color at the thought of having their grandkids right next door. Whether it’s reading the same book six times in a row, singing about the stars or itsy-bitsy spiders, or playing some game, they’re up for it. It won’t be long before Coco is a toddler hurtling toward them with a lurchy gait, joining Vivienne in fun antics. Tender moments. Building memories.

Coming back has given me such a new perspective on why my parents chose to live here,” says KT, who remembers the charm of the neighborhood, even before her

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MEMORY LANE KT and her siblings, Sam and Emily Glidden, grew up in the Bunker Hill house where her parents still live. Left photo: In an old family photo, (top row) Penny Glidden and son Sam join (bottom row, from left) Emily, Charlotte Glidden (Craig’s mother), and KT, in the backyard of the Bunker Hill home. Top right photo: KT holds baby brother, Sam. Bottom photo: KT, Sam, and Emily (from left) pal around while on vacation in Florida.

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parents settled there. “I was riding bikes in the neighborhood with my dad when I was a kid, and that’s when he first laid eyes on his house. It was this amazing modern house, and he was immediately smitten with it.”

“I saw the house and fell in love with it,” Craig chimes in. “I wanted that house since that bike ride. And here we are. When it became available in 2000, we jumped on it.” Indeed, Craig and Penny’s modern gem, resplendent in curved walls and balconies, is a showstopper on the street.

Vivienne enjoys hanging out there. “We play Squishmallow trivia,” she says, giggling at some of the activities she enjoys with her grandparents. For those who aren’t “in the know,” Squishmallows – large, bulbous, brightly colored plush toys – are all the rage, sort of like yesteryear’s Beanie Babies craze. Vivienne is quite the Squishmallow expert and has thoroughly versed Craig and Penny on their names.

“Oh, yeah, the blue one there is Jerome, then there’s Nick, Stevie, and Jingles,” says Craig, an excellent student. As general counsel for General Motors Company, he’s summoned to Detroit periodically, where he and Penny also have a home. He’s on GM’s leadership team, helping to drive their vision for an all-electric car future. Sometimes, there’s a purple and white

powered-up pony with a unicorn horn on his doorstep in Bunker Hill, Vivienne’s favorite emissions-free ride to see Gigi and Big.

“She’ll trot over to our place,” says Craig.

“Vivienne loves going over to their place. Sometimes we have to say to her, ‘Come home!’” her mom says, laughing.

It's these small daily interactions, life’s connective tissue, that makes this setup so special, says the family.

“A lot of times when we see each other, it’s not a planned event. It’s just those little things, like bumping into each other at the mailbox, while out walking the dogs, things like that. It’s really nice,” Nate explains.

“Multi-generational living is really smart for everybody,” says Craig. “Also noteworthy, we have appropriate boundaries. It’s not like we are over here imposing on them, or they are over there imposing on us. It’s not like that. Everybody’s got their life. We’re doing our thing. But we come together in a respectable way that’s healthy.”

“Honestly, I don’t think we’ve even had to discuss boundaries. Nothing has ever been an issue,” says Nate.

KT and Penny cherish their mornings together, seeing first-grader Vivienne off to Bunker Hill Elementary. “My mom comes over and

stands at the bus stop with us every morning. Then we take a walk together in the neighborhood before starting our day,” KT says. The two households come together for Sunday dinners.

KT’s younger sister, Emily, also a Houston resident, visits often, playing with Vivienne and Coco. “She comes for dinners and it’s just such a special time, her playing with the kids,” KT says.

“It’s hard to believe that for the longest time I didn’t want to come back here. But it took coming back to get the perspective on why my parents chose to live here and how great the area is. Memorial is such a strong community. I’m seeing it with new eyes. I’m so grateful to be back.”

On this day, a soft galloping sound is coming from the driveway. It’s Vivienne on her pony, returning from Gigi and Big’s. “Here she comes. You’ve got to love it, that little galloping sound the pony makes,” says Penny, just a step behind, making sure pony doesn’t go full throttle.

KT, Coco on her hip, points to her kitchen window, reflecting on a future when Vivienne will back down the driveway in a car, not a toy pony or scooter. “The minute we were unpacking boxes here, I was standing at the kitchen sink window and picturing her one day in high school,” she says. “We’re going to be seeing lots of milestones from that window. Lots of milestones to share.”

COUPLE OF CUTIES Left: Big sister Vivienne shows baby sister Coco the ropes, on the driveway of their Bunker Hill home. Top right: It’s all giggles and sunshine for these siblings. Bottom right: The window to Coco and Vivienne’s world includes views to their grandparents’ house.

Amanda Harp, AK Photography

2023 Summer Camp Directory

Summer camps can provide a special opportunity for growth, a place for kids to discover new interests and skills, meet new friends, and flourish as individuals. Buzz-area residents are fortunate in that Houston is home to many types of summer camps, programs, and classes to choose from, including specialized sports, arts, and educational programs for all ages. Additionally, many overnight camps are located just a car or bus ride away.

Choosing the right camp for your child depends on your child’s personality, interests, summer schedule and other factors. This directory is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all camps. Instead, our goal is to provide readers with a snapshot of each camp and program, as a starting point in the research process.

Note: View the 2023 Summer Camp Directory online at thebuzzmagazines.com/summer-camp-directory. Please check back as new camps will be added frequently.

Alliance Fencing Academy Summer Fencing Camp

Est. 2004

Ages: 5-14

Co-ed • Day camp

1117 Upland Dr., Houston, Texas 77043; 1212 Cedar Post Lane, Houston, Texas 77055; 1544 Sawdust Road Suite 304, The Woodlands, Texas 77380 713-410-6655 • inform@alliance-fencing-academy.com • www.alliance-fencing-academy.com

Camp Director: Andrey Geva, U.S. Olympic and National Coach

Summer Fencing Camp at Alliance is an opportunity for your children to have fun exploring one of the original and foundational sports of the modern Olympic games while picking up technical and competitive skills that will last them a lifetime. Renowned instructor and Olympic team coach Andrey Geva and his highly trained coaching staff provide a fun, safe, and exciting setting for kids to learn the sport of competitive fencing. Houston summer camp dates: June 5-9, June 26-30, July 17-21, July 24-28, July 31-August 4, August 7-11. The Woodlands summer camp dates: June 5-9, July 17-21, July 31-August 4.

ARTS Summer Camp

Est. 2004

Ages: 6-18

Co-ed • Day Camp

114 N Live Oak St., Fayetteville, Texas 78940 979-378-2113 • programs@artsforruraltexas.org • artsforruraltexas.org/arts-summer-camps

Camp Director: Karen Vernon

For 20 years, Arts for Rural Texas (ARTS) has enriched lives through art and art education with an emphasis on children's programs. During the summertime, ARTS has a weekly ARTS Summer Camp open to all children, 1st-12th grade, for $95/week, from June 12- July 28. Our camps offer opportunities for your school-aged child to have fun while learning and practicing visual, musical, and dramatic arts. The camps are located at the Schmid ARTS Annex in Fayetteville, the Schulenburg ARTS Campus in Schulenburg, and the Lee County Youth Center in Giddings.

Battle Bots and Drones Robotics Summer Camp

Est. 2012

Ages: 4-16

Co-ed • Day camp

4007 Bellaire Blvd., Suite KK, Houston Texas 77025 713-454-7004 • KidsRoboticAcademy@gmail.com • KidsRoboticAcademy.com

Camp Director: Dee Memon

Set the path of building robots and programming for PK-12. We offer STEM-themed, hands-on activities. The week ends with a friendly battle-bots minicompetition. Join Robotics specialty camps for competitive programs. Some famous camps include EV3 BattleBot,REV-Bot, Tetrix-Bot, VEX-Bot, Arduino-Bot, Blockly, Java Programming, Python Programming. We offer options of full-week and half-week day camp, with sessions running May 30 through Aug. 18. The option of select days is available. Register by May 1 to receive a 10 percent discount on a full-week camp.

BotaniCamp

Est. 2021

Kindergarten-5th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

One Botanic Lane, Houston, Texas 77017 713-715-9675 • erin@hbg.org • hbg.org/learn/summercamp

Camp Director: Erin Mills

Enriching life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.

Camp AOS

Est. 1981

Ages: 3 years-eighth grade

Co-ed • Day camp

3600 Yoakum Blvd., Houston, Texas 77006 713-470-5600 • extendedday@aoshouston.org • aoshouston.org/camp-aos

Camp Director: Emily Benton

Annunciation Orthodox School's Camp AOS provides an enriching program for students that maintains the fun and excitement of a traditional summer camp. Between our day camp program and our specialty camps, we ensure that students return to school sharp and vibrant with long-lasting memories of connection and friendship.

Camp Young Judaea-Texas

Est. 1952

Ages: 6-14

Co-ed • Overnight camp

121 Camp Young Judaea Drive, Wimberley, Texas 78676 713-723-8354 • info@cyjtexas.org • www.cyjtexas.org

Camp Director: Mac Lindner

Since 1952, Camp Young Judaea Texas has provided life-changing summers to thousands of Jewish children. Located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, CYJ offers a fun, supportive environment where campers can explore, challenge themselves, and develop their passions. Here, kids of all abilities, backgrounds, and denominations can strengthen their Jewish identities and build their love for Israel, all while surrounded by beautiful facilities and expert staff. CYJ is a place where kids can be kids, where lifelong friendships are born, and where campers can be themselves and know they belong.

Discovery Camps at The Health Museum

Est. 1962

Ages: 5-14

Co-ed • Day camp

1515 Hermann Dr., Houston, Texas 77004 713-521-1515 • swigginton@thehealthmuseum.org • thehealthmuseum.org

Camp Director: Kennethia Rideaux

School is out, but learning (and fun) is in! Unleash the power of science through Discovery Camps at The Health Museum. Your child will engage in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities, such as dissecting real animal organs, exploring veterinarian science, simulating surgery on a patient simulator, and finding your inner chef, all while learning about medical science and the human body. Kids have intelligent fun, make friends, and make the most out of their school break.

Dyslexia School of Houston Summer Literacy Camp 2023

Est. 2021

Ages: 4-12

Co-ed • Day camp

3642 University Blvd., Suite 101, Houston, Texas 77005 832-767-0915 • tammy@dyslexiahouston.org • dyslexiahouston.org

Camp Director: Tammy Spencer

Get a head start for the new school year and join Dyslexia School of Houston for our 2023 Summer Literacy Camp, June 5-June 30! Our personalized teaching sessions include four, 45-minute rotations to help your child conquer reading, writing, grammar, and more.

Elite University Summer Camps

Est. 2005

Ages: 5-13

Co-ed • Day camp

Camp Midtown, Trinity Episcopal Church, 1015 Holman St., Houston, Texas 77004

Camp West University, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, 6802 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas 77025 832-350-6194 • contact@elitemusicfinearts.com • www.elitesummercamps.com

Camp Director: Jeré Fernandez

Elite University Summer Camps is proud to serve the Houston communities of the Medical Center, West University, Museum District, Midtown, and River Oaks with two convenient locations. EUSC provides the best in STEM, mixed media art, culinary arts, horseback riding, and outdoor sports. West U camp dates: June 12-July 21. Midtown camp dates: June 1-Aug. 25.

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Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Summer Camp

Est. 1922

Ages: 5-17

Girls • Day camp and overnight camp

Casa Mare: Seabrook, Texas; Misty Meadows Ranch: Conroe, Texas; Camp Agnes Arnold: Conroe, Texas

713-292-0300 • customerservice@sjgs.org • gssjc.org/summercamp

Camp Director: Kathy Elliot

Get ready for awesome new and returning sessions at Misty Meadows Ranch, Casa Mare, and Camp Agnes Arnold! The horses, sailboats, and lake are waiting for you!

Holy Spirit Episcopal School Summer Camps

Est. 1962

Ages: K-8th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

12535 Perthshire Rd., Houston, Texas 77024

713-468-5138 • Multisport and Basketball Camps: llander@hses.org; Cheer and Dance Camps: swilliams@hses.org • hses.org

Camp Director: Leveil Lander: Multisport and Basketball Camps; Shelia Williams: Cheer and Dance Camps

Holy Spirit Episcopal School offers a Multisport Camp, Basketball Camp, and Cheer and Dance Camps that provide fun, athletic competition, develop self-esteem, teach sportsmanship, improve motor skills, and help foster discipline. Multisport Camp: June 5-8, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; Basketball Camp: June 1215, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; Cheer and Dance Camps Session 1: June 12-15, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m., and Session 2: July 24-27, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Camps are $150 per session. Email llander@hses.org to register for the Multisport and Basketball Camps, and swilliams@hses.org to register for the Cheer and Dance Camps.

Houston Christian Summer Camps

Est. 1998

Ages: 5th-8th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

2700 W. Sam Houston Tollway N, Houston, Texas 77043

713-580-6000 • twheeler@houstonchristian.org • houstonchristian.org/camps

Camp Director: Teddy Wheeler

Houston Christian High School is excited to offer two Summer Camp programs! Camp Mini Mustang is a 5-day camp from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., where rising fifth through eighth-grade students will learn about Leadership, Arts, Innovation, Technology, Fitness, and Fun! Early drop-off at 8 a.m. will be available for an additional fee. Lunch from 12-1 p.m. will be provided. Sessions: June 5-9, June 19-23. Houston Christian Sports Camps are excited to host young athletes ready to explore interests and sharpen their skills! Houston Christian Sports Camp is a 5-day camp for rising fifth through eighth graders with two 3-hour sessions to choose from, starting from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Sessions include Girls and Boys Basketball, Girls and Boys Soccer, and Volleyball. Early drop-off at 8 a.m. will be available for an additional fee. Session: June 12-16.

Houston Elite Cheer Summer Camp

Est. 2013

Ages: 3-13

Co-ed • Day camp (all day or half day sessions)

1800 Sherwood Forest Street, Ste. B2, Houston, Texas 77043 713-464-1445 • houstonelitecheer@yahoo.com • houstonelitecheer.com

Camp Directors: Kylie Fountain, Elleana Yarborough and Dana Biggers

Join HEC for a jam packed week of exciting and challenging activities. Summer camp will include gymnastics, cheerleading, tumbling, arts and crafts, water balloon wars, obstacle courses and more! Our goal is for campers to have loads of fun while promoting fitness.

Houston Yacht Club KE Summer Adventure Camp

Est. 1957

Ages: 4-9

Co-ed • Day camp

3620 Miramar Drive, Shoreacres, Texas 77571 281-471-1255 • sailing@houstonyachtclub.com • houstonyachtclub.com/group/pages/summer-youth-camps

Camp Director: Charles Barclay

Each day of camp will be a new and exciting experience for our campers, as no two days are exactly alike! Our days begin with Hello Camp, a morning meeting where, through organized activities, campers and staff get to know each other, review the day’s schedule, and sing our special camp song. Similarly, we end our days with Goodbye Camp, a time for wrap-up activities, snacks, and “See you laters.” The bulk of camp will be spent participating in activities that may include swimming, arts and crafts, group games, Fun with Foods, STEM challenges, archery tag, and paddleboarding.

Houston Yacht Club Summer Sailing Camps

Est. 1957

Ages: 7-18

Co-ed • Day camp

3620 Miramar Drive, Shoreacres, Texas 77571

281-471-1255 • sailing@houstonyachtclub.com • houstonyachtclub.com/group/pages/summer-youth-camps

Camp Director: Charles Barclay

Sailing camps are an opportunity for youth to learn to sail (LTS). LTS sailors may use HYC boats. Racing sailors are encouraged to bring their own Opti, O’Pen Skiff, C420, or ILCA-Laser boat; some club boats will be available for season or weekly charter. Sailing camp classes use US Sailing’s Skill Up app with certified instructors. New sailors learn the basics of seamanship. More experienced sailors extend skills with weather, tides, currents, and spinnakers. Advanced classes include coastal navigation and racing. Learn to Sail and Racing classes available throughout the year. Private lessons by appointment.

iKids Camp

Est. 2007

Ages: PreK-5th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

Locations in West U and River Oaks

713-665-5200 • support@ikidsinc.com • www.ikidsinc.com

Camp Directors: N/A

iKids Inc. is your one-stop, out-of-school shop, offering the flexibility you need with the care you can trust. Providing enriching programs essential to your child’s development since 2007.

J Camps

Est. 1960

Ages: 3-16

Co-ed • Day camp

5601 S. Braeswood Blvd., Houston, Texas 77096

713-729-3200 • jcamps@erjcchouston.org • www.erjcchouston.org/camp

Camp Director: Hollie Buza

J Camps is your home for the summer! With a wide array of camp options, we have something for everyone ages 3-16. Traditional camps, as well as specialty, sports, art, dance, theater, tennis and gymnastics camps, are available throughout the summer. We have well-trained, experienced and caring staff working with the campers with a low camper-to-staff ratio. All the camps you love with all the health and safety protocols you need!

Kidventure Day Camp

Est. 1994

Ages: 3-16

Co-ed • Day camp

2501 Central Parkway, Suite B2, Houston, Texas 77092 (camp office) 713-960-8989 • houston@kidventure.com • kidventure.com/houston-summer-camp

Camp Director: Roxxi Rivera

Since 1994, Houston families have made Kidventure the summer day camp of choice for their children. Kidventure is more than just a summer of fun. It’s a summer of opportunity. That opportunity is one to grow in confidence, create friendships, and be a part of something special. And now, that’s needed more than ever. With 16 Houston locations to choose from, there simply is not a more memorable, rewarding, and convenient camp option anywhere. Pick and choose your weekly schedule from June 5-Aug. 11, 2023. We hope to see you this summer!

Kidventure Overnight Camp

Est. 1994

Ages: 8-16

Co-ed • Overnight camp

11701 FM 2244, Suite 240C, Austin, Texas 78738 (camp office)

512-263-8992 • overnight@kidventure.com • kidventure.com/overnight-camps

Camp Director: Peyton McDonell

Once you’ve been a Kidventure camper, your life is never quite the same. You’ve had fun and adventure you may have never thought possible. You’ve tried new things and grown to know yourself better. You’ve built strong relationships with your counselors and fellow campers. From all that, you’ve gained skills and created memories that you carry with you for the rest of your life. But most of all, you just can’t wait to do it all again. For 29 years, Kidventure Overnight Camp has been an experience like none other. Now, more than ever, our kids need camp, the opportunity to rebuild relationships, gain confidence, and dream big. Join Kidventure for the summer of 2023.

Montessori Learning Institute

Est. 1987

Ages: 3 months – 8th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

5701 Beechnut St., Houston, TX 77074; 5812 Maple St., Houston, TX 77074

713-771-5600 (3 months-3 years); 713-774-3793 ( 3 years-8th grade) • montessorilearninginstitute87@gmail.com • montessorilearninginstitute.com

Camp Director: JoAnn Turner

We respect each child’s uniqueness and inspire the child to develop a strong mind and caring heart. We provide a safe, stimulating learning environment with small student ratios and experienced, dedicated teachers who guide students toward high achievement and inspire respectful conduct. Camp dates: June 1-July 28, 2023.

Rice Athletics STEM Camp

Est. 2016

3rd-5th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

6100 Main St., MS548, Houston, Texas 77005

713-348-5648 • njg2@rice.edu • RiceOwls.com/STEMLetics

Camp Directors: Nancy Gealow, M.Ed.

The Rice Office of STEM Engagement and Rice Athletics offer week-long day camps during the summer for current 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade students. These day camps are designed to keep students both mentally and physically active during the summer. Students explore different forms of energy, physics, mathematics, computer science, and engineering through active exploration activities in the classroom and on the playing field.

Second Baptist School Summer Camps

Est. 2021

Ages: K-6th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

6410 Woodway Drive, Houston, Texas 77057

713.365.2310 • summercamps@secondbaptistschool.org • secondbaptistschool.org/summercamps

Camp Director: N/A

SBS is thrilled to offer a variety of arts and sports summer camps for campers entering grades K-6. Weekly summer camps are offered May 30-June 15, 2023, with morning (9-11:30 a.m.) and afternoon (12:30-3 p.m.) sessions available. Each camp will be led by our highly acclaimed teachers and coaches as they work alongside campers with excellence and expertise. We look forward to your camper joining us on campus for a fun-filled summer.

Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese & Sign Language Camps

Est. 2011 in Houston, 1995 in Mexico City

Ages: 3-5 and 6-11

Co-ed • Day camp

Multiple locations in the Houston area

281-565-1388 • info@languagekids.com • languagekids.com

Camp Director: Vanessa Simpson

Childhood is the best time to learn another language, and it has never been so much fun. Make the most of your child’s summer with our engaging immersion camps in Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Sign Language, and English. With more than two decades of language teaching experience under our belt, we are masters at teaching languages to children in fun and innovative ways. Multiple locations and extended schedules. In-person and virtual options. Payment plans are available.

SPX Summer Camps

Est. 2010

Ages: 5-17

Co-ed • Day camp

811 W. Donovan St., Houston, Texas 77091

713-692-3581 • fellerj@stpiusx.org • stpiusx.org/spxsummer

Camp Director: Jeff Feller

Summer camps at St. Pius X High School offer a variety of athletic and fine art experiences during the summer months. Coordinated by expert SPX coaches and faculty, all participants are sure to grow in skills and knowledge and make new friendships in the process. From theater to baseball camp, there is something for everyone!

St. John the Divine Vacation Bible School

Est. 1943

Ages: 4 years through 5th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

2450 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77019

713-622-3600 • dlawson@sjd.org • sjd.org/vbs

Camp Director: Deanna Lawson, Director of Children’s Ministry

St. John the Divine Vacation Bible School is here to love kids, love families, and share the hope of Jesus. Join us this summer, July 24-27, 2023, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Summer at St. Mark’s

Est. 2015

Ages: 3 years-rising 8th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

3816 Bellaire Blvd., Houston, Texas 77025

713-667-7030 • jrush@stmes.org • stmes.org/summer

Camp Director: Juli Rush

The Summer at St. Mark’s Day Camp includes the summer staples kids love so much: science, art, chess, sports, drama, thematic play, tinkerlab, and more. This year’s overall theme is Sun, Sea, and Sky, and each week of our six-week camp gives campers the chance to dive into unique experiences, water play, and “Here Trips.” Hours are 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Middle School Students can complete our popular Counselor in Training Program and receive CPR and First Aid Training and learn organizational skills. Check out stmes.org/summer for our full descrip tion of each week’s theme and to register!

Summer Camps at The Village School

Est. 1990

Ages: Pre-K3-8th grade

Co-ed • Day camp

13051 Whittington Drive, Houston, Texas 77077

281-496-7900 • vssummer@thevillageschool.com • thevillageschool.com/summer

Camp Director: Adreanna Gantt

The Village School's Summer Camp 2023 will feature 8 weeks of fun! Camp begins May 30 and runs through July 21, 2023. It is open to all students (Village and non-Village) and will include daily water activities, arts & crafts, sports, games, and awesome experiences! In addition, Summer Camp 2023 will feature weekly themes including sports, carnival, jungle, space, and cooking.

Summer@STH

Est. 2009

Ages: 3rd -12th graders

Co-ed • Day camp

4500 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77007

281-864-6348 · summer@sths.org · summer.sths.org

Camp Director: Deanna Woodlief

Our extensive summer offerings provide an array of academic, enrichment, athletic, and credit recovery (high school only) camps for students. Our mission is to provide an experience which sparks curiosity and ignites passion while improving core skills through a wide range of fun yet challenging activities in the classroom, in the lab or on the field. Rethink your summer – Summer @ STH!

Uptown Dance Summer Camps

Est. 1999

Ages: 21⁄2 and up

Co-ed • Day camp

7417 Shadyvilla Lane, Houston, Texas 77055

713-686-0334 • udc@pdq.net • uptowndance.org

Camp Director: Beth Gulledge-Brown

Our school was established in order to bring the highest quality of dance training to all our students. We are interested in training dancers of all ages and levels in order to bring them to their full potential as dancers, foster a lifelong love and appreciation of dance, and provide a quality performance experience that will instill confidence and poise. This summer we offer a wide variety of programming: Dance Intensives for intermediate and advanced dancers June 5-24 and July 17-Aug. 5 and Children’s Dance Camps for ages 2.5-8. Dates for Children’s Dance Camps for ages 2.5-4 are June 5-9 and July 17-21. Dance Camps for ages 5-8 are June 12-16, June 19-23, July 24-July 28, and July 31-Aug. 4. Please visit our website for more details.

URJ Greene Family Camp

Est. 1976

Ages: 7-17

Co-ed • Overnight camp

1192 Smith Lane, Bruceville, Texas 76630

254-859-5411 • gfc@urj.org • www.greene.org

Camp Director: Rabbi Erin Mason

Summer 2022 at URJ Greene Family Camp is going to be an exciting summer filled with incredible programs, activity offerings, and the same Jewish community that has transformed the lives of campers for 45 years. From swimming in Lake

a mural, doing Israeli dances to swaying at Shabbat services,

Jake to climbing the Alpine Tower, performing on stage to painting

there’s something for everyone at GFC. We look forward to seeing you this summer!

. by Sharon Albert Brier, staff writer

Rumor Has It

Mardi Gras Grande. An evening of frivolity ensued as the Knights of Momus (1871) celebrated Galveston’s Gilded Age. The presentation was at The Grand 1894 Opera House where King Frivolous CVII was crowned followed by a sumptuous, seated dinner and dancing to the sounds of The Jordan Kahn Orchestra. The duchesses were presented at the Tilman Fertitta Family San Luis Salute, A Gilded Masquerade Ball. Duchesses from the Memorial area included Alessandra and Gabriella Garofalo, twin daughters of Carolyn and Michael J. Garofalo; Kennedi Vaughan, daughter of Ronnie Vaughan and Kayla Sharese Shook-Salinas; Sophie Titterington, daughter of Susan and Chris M. Titterington; Marie Louise Livanec, daughter of Martha and Scott A. Livanec. They were first celebrated aboard the Fertitta yacht with a champagne salute before they danced the night away to the fabulous Mr. Worldwide Pitbull. It was the party of a lifetime.

Safari with serapes. The serapes were draped over camels before Pat and Diane McDaniel hopped on for a ride in Tierra Sagrada Ranch, a secluded sanctuary on the beach for well-cared-for camels with their daughter Angela McDaniel who joined them from Denver, Colorado. Later they took a seven-night cruise from the Los Angeles port. They took an open-air jeep tour in Puerto Vallarta, where they adjusted to stick shift driving. A highlight was the tequila tasting and lunch. In Ensenada, they took a segway past the country’s largest Mexican flag and checked out the fish tacos the city is known for. More tequila tasting ensued.

An enchilada of a time. Forty friends and fans turned out to drink margaritas and enjoy Mexican food at Guadalajara Hacienda to celebrate Phyllis Raul’s 75th milestone birthday. The Girls that Travel and Birthday Club threw the margarita and appetizer bash for Phyllis. Joanne Downes orchestrated the event that was a combination of many real estate and social friends. Toasting to Phyllis were Joanne Naponic, Rosana Scearce, Susan Huston, Missa Sutton, Yanne Moreno, Josie

Kaplow, and Fiona Thoth. Also in the crowd were Dick Bueltel, John Lakey, and Avery Fink. Movies and more movies. Childhood friends Allison McClanahan, Suzanne Williams, and Kathy Olsson, all friends from Memorial Drive Elementary School days, met up at Park City for Sundance Film Fest. Kathy lives in Bermuda part time and invited other gal pals Gigi Barit-Dunch and Kathy Lines to join in. They liked The Persian Version, a mother-daughter dramedy which won the Audience Award and a screenwriting award. Their other fave was You Hurt My Feelings with Julia LouisDreyfus about a New York couple. You might not get to see it but at least your feelings won’t get hurt.

Diamonds & Denim. The Memorial Drive Garden Club Friendship Party members blinged casually as they dined on Goode & Co Bar B Que. Seventy guests gathered at Rachel Messina and Victor Yang’s home, spearheaded by Kristi Barnhill and Susan Diehl . The creative and finger-lickin’ appetizers were provided by members Ginger Howell, Susan Braden, Jenny Blanc, Barbara Crandell, Barbara Crandell, and Jana Stiffel, Roz Cooley, Susanna Jeu, Mary Grace Landrum , and Martha Blecher Homemade desserts from Barbara Files, Elizabeth Nelson, Beverly Mattern, Sandy Hotz and Geetha Mammen and Connie Dalton were devoured quickly. Western hats and boots were de rigueur , but the surprise magician had his own accessories.

History buffs. They wanted to understand life in the 1400s, so the journey began in Southern Spain, Morocco, and Portugal for Stephen and Joyce Fadem and Mike and

Mickey Marvins. One highlight started with a gate in Tangiers that Steve photographed 112 years after Henri Matisse painted it in 1912. A real aha-baaa moment was a sight to behold in the port city Essaouira. Goats climbed as high as 30 feet up in argan trees to nibble argan fruit. No kidding! Words to the Marrakesh Express song buzzed in their heads as they visited a giant medina in Marrakesh where cats guard against flea-infested rats. Other tasty spots were the salt mines in the Atlas Mountains, port sampling in Lisbon, and a walk through history in Seville and Sintra. Handicrafts in Fez and leather at the 900-year-old Chouara Tannery had goods to “dye” for.

Galentine’s party. Amidst tea pots and the aroma of organic tea, gals sipped from unique teacups and ate heart-shaped sandwiches at McHugh Tea Room on Feb 13. Hostess Linda Suib gave a heartfelt synopsis of how she knew everyone at the party, many since school days. Clever heart boxes with delicious treats inside were the party favors. Anne Frachtman, Amy Grenader, and Liora Cohen were a few sampling blueberry tea.

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See Rumor Has It at thebuzzmagazines.com for additional photos. Have some good news to share? Email us at info@thebuzzmagazines.com.

GRANDE SOIREE Mardi Gras Duchesses (pictured, from left) Alessandra Garofalo, Gabriella Garofalo, Kennedi Vaughan, Sophie Titterington, and Marie Louise Livanec all smiles aboard Tilman Fertitta’s yacht, The Boardwalk.

Quy Tran Photography

. by Annie Blaylock McQueen

Buzz Baby

, staff writer

Baby’s first taste of sugar

Buzz Baby is a column about life with little ones. Writer Annie McQueen is a mother of four children under the age of 8.

Small children and sugar – two words that do not always belong together (well, if you ask any parent or caregiver responsible for getting them to sleep at night). Laugh, but have you ever tried to get a toddler to sleep after a trip to Baskin Robbins? We digress.

However, most people who are familiar with how children operate know candy and sugar are super-hot commodities in their vocabulary banks. Kids just love sugar. Period. There are smash cakes on first birthdays, candy during holidays like Easter and Halloween, and lollipops after a pediatrician’s visit that can help ease the pain after a shot – but is it a good idea to let your small child indulge in sugar? Some dietary guidelines state that babies and toddlers shouldn't have any added sugar at all until age two. While some parents wait longer to introduce sugar, others might be more laid back on the first sugar experience. Parents’ approaches can strongly differ.

When son Beckham turned one, mom-of-two Samantha Bravo and her family looked forward to the birthday smash cake session. Instead of a traditional smash cake, she ordered a giant cupcake covered in rainbow-colored sprinkles. They placed it in front of him and everyone gathered around with their phones ready to document the hilarious cake-eating session.

Beckham dove right in and started eating the icing. Scoop after scoop, he licked his fingers with delight. It was among his first taste of sugar ever. “He definitely had a sugar rush and his little eyes lit up when he tried it,” she said. “He could not walk yet, so it was tough letting him burn his sugar rush off.”

Samantha recalled the drive home from his first birthday dinner with his family – he was giggling and babbling the entire car ride home. “He had gone to town on the frosting,” she said, laughing.

Samantha says that prior to his first birthday, she had been strict in not allowing sugar. She had followed the popular feeding technique of baby-led weaning for Beckham. With baby-led

weaning, the child is learning how to feed themselves and during that process, what they eat evolves. Samantha says that baby-led weaning empowered her to slowly introduce sugar to Beckham’s tastebud library and wait until after he turned one.

Beckham ate more than 100 foods before his first birthday. Once he hit toddlerhood, she says, “all bets were off.” She allowed him to start to try sugar.

Fast forward, now almost 2, she says Beckham has a sweet tooth and she does let him indulge in it – with moderation (unlike the night of the first birthday). “I pretty successfully avoided sweets,” she said. “I still try to avoid them, but I definitely let him live a little these days.”

Last year, for his first Easter, he had some sugar cookies in his Easter basket. She allowed him to taste the cookies and lead the way in monitoring his sugar intake.

During her pregnancy with her newborn son Jackson, now 2 months, Samantha says she

experienced a pregnancy-induced sweet tooth herself. She would often crave certain sweets, and in turn, allowed Beckham in on the treats. They would venture to pick up cookies at Tiny’s Milk & Cookies near their house. “Now he yells ‘cookies’ when we turn into the parking lot,” she said. Another favorite of Beckham’s is Girl Scout Cookies. “He becomes a chatterbox with sweets.” She is enjoying allowing him to have sweets in moderation.

Another Buzz mom mentioned she used M&Ms as a reward while potty training her toddler. Clever until she accidentally left the huge bag out on the kitchen counter. He got into the M&Ms, smearing chocolate with his hands all over their white walls. The bribe of candy to learn how to use the potty, however, worked like a charm so she considered that a big win.

A baby’s first experience with sweets can bring some laughs, so enjoy these sweet sugarfilled moments while they last with your toddler – even if there is chocolate all over their face.

HOW SWEET IT IS Beckham Bravo, now 23 months, experienced a serious sugar rush after diving into his smash cake on his first birthday.

Lauren Bobbie Photography

. by Cindy Burnett, staff writer

Buzz Reads

Five picks for April

Buzz Reads is a column about books by reviewer Cindy Burnett. Each month, Cindy recommends five recently or soon-to-be released titles.

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (historical fiction) – In this stunning tale set in 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh leave their village in an effort to help their parents pay off debts and travel to Sài Gòn to become “bar girls,” women who, for a fee, drink and keep company with American GIs. Against her better judgment, Trang gets involved with Dan, an American helicopter pilot. Many years later, Dan, with his wife Linda, decides to return to Vietnam in an effort to make peace with his past. Meanwhile, Phong, the son of a Vietnamese woman and a Black American soldier, sets out on a journey to locate his parents and find a way to escape Vietnam. Abandoned as a baby, Phong grew up ostracized from his peers, called “the dust of life.” Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s amazing gift is her ability to portray the legacy of war from a very human standpoint – she compels readers to understand the long-lasting effects of conflict on both the land and the thousands upon thousands of people impacted by war. This is a book I won’t soon forget.

Homecoming by Kate Morton (historical fiction) – In the South Australian town of Tambilla, a delivery driver discovers a dead body on Christmas Eve, 1959, on the grounds of a magnificent mansion. An investigation ensues surrounding the shocking and mysterious death. Six decades later, Jess, an unemployed journalist in London, is called back to Australia because her grandmother Nora has been sent to the hospital. While staying at her grandmother’s house, she stumbles across a book called the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959, that chronicles the police investigation into a long-ago murder. When she delves into the book, she is stunned to discover that her family may have a connection to the decades-old killing. Morton’s prose is stunning, and the book within a book made for such a compelling read. She brings Australia vividly to life, and I was sad to leave the setting and the characters when the book was over.

I Love It When You Lie by Kristen Bird (mystery) – Houstonian Kristen Bird’s clever new mys-

tery stars the Williams sisters who are preparing to bury their grandmother after her unexpected passing. In the midst of their planning, the women are struggling with their own complicated issues and the messy men in their lives, one of whom they end up putting with the grandmother in her coffin. Told over the period of several days and toggling back and forth between characters and time, the story slowly unfolds as the reader tries to guess who has gone missing and why. This page turner is carefully and thoughtfully crafted, and I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see how it played out. I highly recommend it.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley (fiction) – This not-to-bemissed gem stars 21-year-old college dropout Tanner Quimby and 84-year-old Louise Wilt who are thrown together when Louise’s family decides she needs a live-in caregiver and Tanner’s family decides she needs to quit feeling sorry for herself. The two purposefully ignore each other initially, but Tanner begins to realize that something is amiss. The news keeps airing updates to an old jewelry heist and the wanted suspect looks a lot like Louise, and Louise keeps her garden shed under heavy lock and key. Then one evening, Louise wakes Tanner up and insists that they leave immediately (in a car Tanner didn’t even know existed) and head across the country. Over the course of their adventure, the two women begin to develop a friendship. Interspersed with the regular narrative are hilarious text exchanges between Louise’s children, interviews with the FBI, and more, which add a highly entertaining element to an already engaging story. This book is delightful from page one, and combined with the stellar ending makes this

one of my favorite books that I have read this year. I wish I could take a road trip with Tanner and Louise.

Time’s Undoing by Cheryl A. Head (historical mystery) – This dual-timeline story focuses on 1929 Birmingham (known then as “Magic City”) during its heyday as a steel supplier. Master carpenter Robert Lee Harrington relocates his family to Birmingham for a job, and with its booming economy, the city is a great place to live – except for the fact that the Klan is very active there. In the 2019 timeline, Robert’s great-granddaughter, Meghan McKenzie, the youngest reporter at the Detroit Free Press, becomes interested in his murder and why his body was never found. So she travels to Birmingham to investigate, stirring up secrets that have been long buried and that someone does not want uncovered.

Editor’s note: Southside Place resident Cindy Burnett also writes our weekly Page Turners column at thebuzzmagazines.com. She hosts the award-winning Thoughts from a Page Podcast, is co-creator of the Houston literary event series Conversations from the Page, runs the Instagram account @thoughtsfromapage, and regularly speaks to groups about books.

WHAT TO READ This month’s picks include a heartwarming and hilarious contemporary story, a twisty and entertaining thriller by a Houston author, two epic historical-fiction titles, and a historical mystery inspired by the author’s own family history.

Cindy Burnett

. by Tracy L. Barnett, staff writer

Travel Buzz

Globetrotting with the Deys

For the Dey family, global travel is an integral part of life. Suchi and husband Jayant, or Jay, are from India, and every year they try to go back there and spend time with family. That connection alone has given them a global perspective, but they’ve lived in so many places, due in part to Jay’s work in the oil and gas industry, that it seemed natural to incorporate their children into their travel, practically from Day 1. In 2012, they moved to Houston.

They were living in New York in 2009 when their son, Aarush, was born, and when he was just three months old, they had to move to Singapore for Jay’s job. “We went to Bali when he was 4 1/2 months, and since then we’ve never really stopped,” said Suchi with a laugh. Their daughter, Anoushka, was born two years later, and they took her to Tokyo at 2 1/2 months. “Having children has never really slowed us down,” she said. “They’ve been everywhere.”

Being grounded by Covid was a shock for them, but as soon as they were able, they were flying again. Recently, they shared highlights of their three most recent trips with Aarush, 13, and Anoushka, 11: Madeira, Croatia, and Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta).

Madeira: Sun, Sea, and Painted Doors

The family’s first international trip since the onset of the pandemic was in January 2022, and they chose the Portuguese island of Madeira; Forbes had highlighted the island as an ideal European destination for winter travel because of its warm southern location. The picturesque, mountainous island did not disappoint.

They flew from Lisbon to Madeira’s capital city, Funchal, and there they rented a car and explored. The rugged island was difficult to develop, and it wasn’t until the 1980s, after Portugal entered the European Union, that a network of roads and tunnels opened access to much of the island. The countryside is still pristine, with tropical forests and terraced plantations of sugarcane and sweet potato.

The food – mostly seafood – is amazing, said Suchi. “They catch the fish and they feed it to you right there.” The sushi was excellent, and Anoushka was especially charmed by the dessert sushi, made of coconut sticky rice and fresh fruits – in this case, strawberries and cream – at Sushi Funchal Restaurant Japonès e Bar.

Anoushka has a sweet tooth, says her mother, and tries the desserts everywhere she goes:

Italian gelato, chocolate mousse, and in Kolkata, the quintessential Rossogolla, a Bengali sweet, are her favorites. “Sometimes she walks for hours with us only on ice cream!” said Suchi.

Their drives were filled with breathtaking scenery, cliffs and seascapes, and magnificent waterfalls – including one that they could drive under, the spectacular Cascata Dos Anjos in Ponta do Sol.

One of the most memorable finds was the painted doors of Funchal’s Old Town. Several years ago, the city council launched an initiative of the town council to revive the abandoned old town, inviting artists to develop a series of paintings on the doors of Rua de Santa Maria. Now there are nearly 200 painted doors, and the atmospheric street, filled with cafes, has become one of Madeira’s biggest attractions.

Exploring Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia

Last summer, the family vacationed in the former Yugoslavia, mainly in the Croatian seaside cities of Split and Dubrovnik, with day trips to Bosnia and Montenegro. Both World Heritage cities are gems, with their medieval Old Towns, baroque, Renaissance and gothic architecture and sparkling

SEASIDE THRILLS IN MADEIRA Jayant, Suchi, Anoushka, and Aarush Dey pause for a pose at the deceptively tranquil-looking Seixal Tidal Pools, where the water gushes through the volcanic formations and then settles down, and after a few minutes repeats the cycle.

(continued from page 46)

seascapes, situated on the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea.

It was exciting to be on the Croatian coast, in the vivid landscapes where Game of Thrones was filmed, said Jay, and the day trips to Montenegro and Bosnia were enlightening.

“To me those trips were pretty special,” said Jay. “We got to see three different countries with a lot of history… You experience a different cuisine, and a different part of history. It’s pretty interesting to see the different viewpoints, what they thought about the war, seen from three different angles.”

They landed in Split late in the evening and what first struck Suchi was that everyone was out until late at night – including families with children. People were out walking on the promenade, listening to live music, enjoying the sea breeze. “I travel with kids, so I don’t do nightlife, but there the ice cream shops are open at 11 –so we do ice cream,” she said.

They stayed near the charming Old Town of both cities, with their views looking out over the terracotta roofs and opening out to the beach and the sparkling blue sea beyond.

Memories of the 1990s civil war still loom large in both cities. “They say, ‘Don’t talk about the war,’ but that’s all the locals talk about,” said Suchi. “It’s very real, it’s not like it’s gone – there are walls where they show the bullet holes. It’s like it just happened.”

Another stark reminder of the war is outlined on the rooftops seen from above. The terracotta tiles are of two colors – the older, mossy green tiles, which survived the bombing, are far outnumbered by their lighter replacements.

Highlights of their time in Split included leisurely walks along the city streets that usually ended on the city’s spectacular coastline, where locals and tourists alike could often be found enjoying their local beaches; a meander along the coastline of Marjan Forest Park, where they explored hidden coves and pebble beaches (a tip from Suchi: bring water shoes); and a ferry ride to the UNESCO-listed island town of Trogir, with its Renaissance, Baroque, and Romanesque architecture – “Everything is Instagrammable there –the food, the stairs, the buildings,” said Suchi.

Montenegro was spectacular as well, with its dramatic coastline along the sparkling blue Bay of Kotor; for Suchi, the highlight was Our Lady of the Lake, an island where, according to legend, two fishermen discovered an image of the Virgin Mary in the 1400s, and a chapel was built to honor her.

In Bosnia they took the day trip to the medieval city of Mostar, with its iconic Mostar Bridge. The original Ottoman bridge, commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557, was bombed during the war, a devastating loss for a proud river city the bridge had united for centuries. The bridge was reconstructed in 2004, and now the town has become a major tourist attraction.

Kolkata: Seeing the “Real India”

Most recently, they spent two weeks over the holidays in Kolkata, where Jay grew up and where Suchi also has a strong family connection. Both sets of grandparents – Jay’s and Suchi’s parents – live in Kolkata. Most years they have spent time there, mostly focused on the family, and done their tourism in other parts of India.

“For me, it’s just a time for going back to the roots, unwinding, letting people take care of you, revisiting places you grew up in – and having the kids take a look at that as well, obviously from a different lens,” said Jay. “It definitely helps them have a different perspective.”

This trip they had planned to divide their time between Kolkata and Rajasthan, but Anoushka fell ill and wasn’t able to travel much, so the trip became a sort of “staycation” to explore Kolkata more deeply.

“Usually, we’d go to Kolkata and have a very sanitized version of the trip, staying at our parents’ houses, eating in five-star restaurants, going to a sanitized mall and spending time with family. This time we did a lot more exploration of Kolkata, and I found out a lot about the city,” said Suchi.

Kolkata was a major settlement for 2,000 years before becoming the first capital of British-ruled India. Warren Hastings, the first GovernorGeneral of India, called it Calcutta and named it the capital of British India in 1772, and that remained the case until 1912, when the British transferred the capital to Delhi.

Those years as the nation’s capital laid the foundation for what would become a cultural capital, with many universities and cultural institutions. Suchi, who went to college in Delhi, finds Kolkata to be vibrant and artistic, and at the same time more relaxed, less focused on career and money and image than Delhi.

“There’s a lot of sitting around with coffee and chai and visiting,” she said. “It’s slightly more liberal; the people are happier, more concerned about lifestyle ... They’d rather

CROATIA AND BOSNIA Left photo: Suchi and Jayant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the town of Mostar. In the background is the old bridge, Stari Most. Suchi had heard of it and took the trip to Mostar just to see this bridge and the medieval old town. Top right: The iconic orange roofs of Dubrovnik. Bottom right: The family, inside the Dubrovnik fort.

(continued from page 48)

have good food rather than branded clothing, for example,” she said.

She and Aarush spent a lot of time walking through the teeming city streets, visiting the street markets and randomly ducking into small cafés or stopping at corner food stalls for a bite to eat, finding delicious food wherever they went.

Of the two kids, Aarush is definitely the more adventurous, said Suchi. She encouraged him to take his phone, and he enjoyed taking photos of their walks.

“He totally absorbed the local energy, and liked the local foods a lot,” she said. “He is very comfortable in different environments, maybe because of the way he’s always moved around.”

The streets were throbbing with life, rickshaws and bicycles and pedestrians and colorfully painted buses competing with cars. The colonial architecture of the old town was fascinating as well, a blend of European and Indian styles. Suchi was struck by the similarities with Portugal and recalled that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in the Bengal region, of which Kolkata is part, back in the 1500s.

“There is a tinge of sadness to the whole thing, though, because it’s not one of the richest states,” said Suchi. She recalled the way that Lisbon and Barcelona invested in a revival of their colonial architecture in the late 1990s, but Kolkata doesn’t have that kind of money.

“Many of the old buildings were taken over by people to whom they don’t belong, and now there are big court battles going on over these super intricate buildings decorated with flowers and birds – people had put such thought into them, but now they are just dying.

“Still, you know, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and there is a lot of beauty there,” she said. “It’s chaotic, but people are doing their work; it’s the real India.”

One place she had always wanted to visit was the Indian Coffee House, on College Street. Formerly called Albert Hall and built in 1876 across from what is now called Presidency College, the iconic coffee house has long been the hotbed of intellectualism in India, playing an important role in the British independence movement as well as other social movements over the years. The towering two-story building features waiters in vintage-style white uniforms and caps, and these days, it draws tourists from around the world.

The Deys were in Kolkata for the World Cup finals and were intrigued by the fervor for Argentina – “In India we don’t get close to qualifying in soccer, but the kids play every day in the streets, and we are huge fans.” When Argentina won there were fireworks everywhere, and the next morning, everyone was wearing Messi T-shirts, with Argentina’s skyblue and white colors flying everywhere. “On

street after street, you’d have thought you were in Argentina instead of Kolkata,” said Suchi. Their 16-hour layover in Dubai created a startling juxtaposition. “It couldn’t have been more contrasting – from a city 500 years old and dying, to a city with money coming out of everywhere and it’s sparkling, super clean, and hardly any people compared to Kolkata,” said Suchi. “It’s not good or bad – but Kolkata was way better, in my mind.”

ToSuchi and Jay, these trips with their kids are important on many levels. “For us, mostly it’s the exposure to other cultures and the beauty of the land – a lot of times it’s not just natural beauty, it’s how other parts of the world live,” said Suchi. Seeing the way that other cultures live less wastefully – using cotton napkins and buying produce in local markets, for example – has been an important lesson. For Jay, “it’s the appreciation that there are a lot of different cultures and different viewpoints and different ways of living life.”

For their family, too, the journeys serve an important role, he said. “It does create a lot of good memories – a lot of things to talk about very fondly of the time spent together and the experiences we’ve had together. You need small but powerful instances to bind you with each other – and these memories do exactly that,” he said. “They’re a good glue to bind us together as a family. I think we’ll find that it’s been money well spent.”

RETURN TO THE ROOTS IN KOLKATA Clockwise, from upper left: Evening at Prinsep ghat on the shores of Ganges river, where LED-lit boats offer rides on the river; Aarush and Anoushka on streets of Kolkata (the yellow taxi is iconic for streets of Kolkata); a hand-pulled rickshaw, once a common mode of transport in the city; an old house Suchi came across in her walks in north Kolkata.

by Dai Huynh, staff writer

Chef’s Corner Sherman Yeung

Sherman Yeung never wanted to turn his hobby into a career. He didn’t want to spoil the fun of cooking.

Instead, the self-taught chef earned a public relations and marketing degree at the University of Houston. Next, he did the sensible thing. He went to work for Ikan, a professional film production equipment corporation founded by his industrious father, Yue Kan. But Sherman found his desk job in operations and accounting unfulfilling. He started working side gigs, cooking part-time at restaurants to ease the boredom.

“I was adamant about not entering the restaurant industry since I enjoyed cooking so much. I didn’t want to risk burning out,” says the 35year-old Houston native. “It took me a while to finally decide to go for it.”

By industry standards, he was a late bloomer, Sherman says. “I didn’t get into the kitchen until I was almost 30.”

By 2019, the chef-owner bought Tobiuo, a year-old high-end sushi restaurant in Katy, TX, and ventured into the darkest days of the restaurant industry in 2020. As the pandemic caused havoc, the native Houstonian remarkably turned Tobiuo around and even managed to repay the investor (his dad). Sherman has recently taken on a new challenge, launching a new concept inside the loop – one of the most challenging and crowded dining arenas. He knows that. Still, he couldn’t resist the challenge. Money Cat joins Indian staple Kiran’s and buzzy coffee shop Slowpokes in the Kirby Grove development (2925 Richmond Ave.).

The 4,100-square-foot Money Cat focuses on modern, Japanese-inspired fare, drawing from various influences. Here, Sherman shares his latest project, how he managed to work for a James Beard-winning chef with minimal experience, and his go-to place for Chinese dim sum and the Instagram darling: xiao long bao

Sherman, you have lived many people’s dreams of turning their hobby into a career. You didn’t go to culinary school. You didn’t spend a decade learning the trade. Instead, you showed up and asked for a job at some of the most respected eateries in town, and they gave you one. We’re talking about Justin Yu’s shuttered Oxheart, Izakaya Wa, Michelin-

starred Yauatcha in the Galleria area, and Uchi. How did you do it?

Izakaya Wa was my most daring one because I had zero experience. But I just told them I didn’t care about the pay or the hours. I’m here for the experience and to learn. But not every restaurant would be willing to take that risk. In 2016, I staged (stazhjer) or interned at Oxheart, which was a very eye-opening experience. Justin Yu, as you know, is a James Beard Award-winning chef, and it was a very precise restaurant. A year later, Dory Fung, a really good friend who was the pastry chef at Yauatcha, helped me get my foot in the door. Likewise, I said, ‘I just want to learn. I speak Cantonese, and I speak English.’ That was a plus.

What was the lesson you walked away from Yauatcha?

Mental toughness, but not in a bad way. You have to prepare the same thing over and over again. You have to wrap hundreds and hundreds of dim sum the same way every single morning and every single day. But that’s the beauty of it. It is very structured. It has to be the same. The xiao long bao folds all have to be perfect.

Xiao long bao is the pork-and-broth-filled soup dumpling that is the rage on social media. So where do you go for yours?

I usually go to Los Angeles or New York for xiao long bao. But One Dim Sum (510 Gray Street, D) has good ones.

What about Cantonese or dim sum? Any favorites that you and your wife, Connie Choua, go to on your days off?

A staple is House of Bowls (6650 Corporate Drive). I get their stir-fried noodles and their runny egg shrimp noodles. It sounds gross, but the runny egg gives a very silky texture to the shrimp, and it is served over flat rice noodles. Hong Kong’s Café (9108 Bellaire Blvd.) is another one. I get their barbecue duck or baked pork chops over rice, a traditional café dish.

Fung’s Kitchen (7320 Southwest Freeway) reopened a few months ago. It is always great. The dim sum is really good. I also like Shanghai Restaurant (9888 Bellaire Blvd., No. 106), next to H Mart. They have all-day dim sum, and their barbecue steam buns are really good.

After working as a sushi chef at Uchi, you bought Tobiuo before Covid hit. But you survived. Tobiuo flourished.

This year will be four years.

Money Cat is a name inspired by your fondness for those adorable waving Japanese feline figurines displayed at your restaurant entrance to bring luck and fortune. So, when did you decide to open your second concept?

I signed the lease for Money Cat in 2021. Tobiuo, after a year, was self-sustaining. I didn’t have to be there daily, and I’ve always wanted to open a restaurant in the city. Money Cat is the same size as Tobiuo but dinner only. I have a chef de cuisine, Jiolo Dingayan. He’s the genius behind the menu, which I’ve coined “New Japanese,” like New American. We use Japanese ingredients and techniques while drawing on our nostalgia and culture to create modern interpretations of Japanese hot and cold dishes. We offer sushi. Our fish is flown in daily from Tokyo’s famed Toyosu Fish Market. But I don’t want for us to be known as a sushi restaurant because we have so much to offer with our hot-and-cold Japanese-inspired dishes. We have this amazing chutoro toast with squid ink milk bread, 12-hour cured chutoro, and burnt honey cream cheese.

Perhaps the best representation of what we’re trying to do is the chawanmushi,

CHEF YEUNG Uchi alum and Tobiuo chef-owner Sherman Yeung ventures inside the loop with his second restaurant, Money Cat.

Kimberly Park

(continued from page 52)

a traditional steamed custard. While chef Jiolo keeps it classic, he adds scallops and corn-and-chive taiyaki. Traditionally taiyaki is a sweet waffle shaped like a fish. But here, we made a savory version. Another item is the maitake karaage, which is the recipe I’ve shared with you. Traditionally, it is made with chicken. But here, we use a meaty mushroom coated in potato starch, then fried and tossed in sweet hot sauce and served with nori ranch.

Sherman, what drew you to cooking?

One of the reasons why I love food so much is that it is such a driving factor for culture. Ethnicity and culture are important to me. That is why I love this industry. It tells stories. It brings people together. For example, I had an aunt who passed away. She made really good dumplings. I remember watching her fold them a certain way. So, now and then, when I eat a dumpling or see someone making dumplings, I can’t help but recall back to that time, to my aunt in Hong Kong. That moment, through food, is preserved in memory.

Money Cat’s Maitake Karaage

For Hot Honey:

1 ½ cup Fresno pepper, chopped and seeded

1 tablespoon gochugaru Korean chili powder

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup honey

7 tablespoons butter, cubed and at room temperature

For Nori Ranch:

½ cup Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise

1 cup buttermilk

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

2 tablespoons Aonori (dried powdered seaweed)

1 pound maitake mushrooms

½ cup potato starch

Canola oil for frying

2 teaspoons chives, minced

2 teaspoons dill, minced

To make Hot Honey, toast Fresno peppers and gochugaru in a frying pan over high heat until fragrant. In a blender, combine Fresno pepper, gochugaru, rice vinegar, salt, and canola oil until smooth. In a bowl, add honey and the blended Fresno mixture; whisk until smooth. Now, whisk in the butter, cube by cube, until combined and thickened to a smooth consistency.

To make the Nori Ranch, whisk Kewpie

mayo, buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion powder, and Aonori in a bowl. Season to taste, adding more salt, garlic, or onion powder to your liking if necessary. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To prepare maitakes, remove the bottom of the fungi with a knife and pull the mushroom where it naturally wants to break. Pieces should be no bigger than 4 inches long and ½ an inch wide. Set aside.

Fill a frying pot with canola oil and place it on a stovetop over medium-high heat. While oil heat to 350 ˚F, prepare a separate sheet pan with a cooling rack or lined with paper towels. In a large bowl, toss maitake in potato starch to coat. Once the oil is up to temperature, use tongs to add a few dredged maitake pieces to the fryer. Fry mushrooms in batches until crispy golden brown, about 3 minutes. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the temperature will drop. Transfer fried maitakes to a sheet tray or plate lined with paper towel.

When ready to serve, toss fried maitake karaage in the Hot Honey. Garnish the Nori Ranch with chives and dill, and serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.

Editor’s note: Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh is a James Beard food-journalism award winner and longtime Houston-based restaurant writer.

MONEY CAT Japanese-inspired Money Cat serves fresh sushi and sashimi, but it also emphasizes modern interpretations of hot and cold classics, such as katsu sando sandwiches, hamachi gazpacho, and sous-vide short ribs.

Jenn Duncan

Enter The Buzz 2023 Photo Contest Win a Ultimate Romance for Two Package at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa

Entries are now being accepted for our eighteenth annual Photo Contest. Entry deadline May 15.

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To submit photos, and for contest rules and prize details, visit thebuzzmagazines.com/photocontest. You can also view our 2022 winners online.

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. by Todd Freed, staff writer

SportzBuzz

The St. John’s Mavericks remained a dominant force in the world of high school wrestling after winning the 2023 Texas Prep State Wrestling Championship. The victory marked the Mavericks’ fifth consecutive Texas Prep State wrestling title while capping off a magnificent season in which the Mavericks completed the trifecta of also winning the Prep Duals State Championship and the SPC Wrestling Championship. The SPC title was the seventh in a row for St. John’s.

“It’s always great to win a championship but this season’s Texas Prep State Wrestling title was probably the most remarkable we’ve had given not that one of our wrestlers finished first in his weight class,” said Mavericks wrestling coach Alan Paul. “It was the ultimate total team effort. The most significant thing is that all 14 of our wrestlers scored points. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before. Every single one of our guys contributed to the victory.”

The Mavericks received the most points from Mason Lum in the 120-pound weight class and Dax Garza in the heavyweight division, with both advancing to the championship finals in their respective weight classes. As a team, the Mavericks finished with 202 points to win the championship by a 16-point margin over Liberty Christian (186 points) followed by Dallas’ Bishop Lynch (169-points) and St. Thomas (158points.) In all, 20 schools competed for the title.

“We’ve just had an established culture that starts with our youth wrestling program (Alpha Pups) continuing into middle school and then high school,” said Paul. “The kids understand the expectations and the standards by the time they even reach the high school level. It’s truly a wrestling community.”

With a 1-0 victory over rival Kinkaid Falcons in the SPC tournament final, the Episcopal Knights captured the SPC 4A Boys Soccer Championship. Episcopal sophomore Kaden Martinez scored with 10 minutes left in the match to propel the Knights to their fifth SPC boys soccer championship since 2016. The victory also capped off a phenomenal season in which Episcopal posted a 15-1 overall

record while going undefeated in SPC play.

“We felt like we let one get away last season,” said Knights boys soccer coach Travis Smith. “We were undefeated a year ago but then lost to Dallas Greenhill in the SPC tournament. So, this group of 12 seniors felt like we left one on the table. Our motivation was to finish it off this year.”

The Knights finished off the season with a trio of shutout victories in the SPC tournament, while also avenging last season’s loss to Greenhill. The Knights landed five seniors on the All-SPC team including Connor Kuenstle, Marvin Rivas, Yousuf Saeed, Yael Gonzalez, and Careem Flores

“You win with seniors and with defense and that was definitely our formula for success all season,” added Smith. “This was the largest senior class I’ve ever had. They’ve done a lot of heavy lifting for our program since they were freshmen and sophomores. As for our defense, we allowed a mere seven goals in 16 games. It was extremely difficult for opponents to score on us.”

It was a major off-the-field honor for Memorial Mustangs quarterback Chase Goodwin who received the Greater Houston Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. The prestigious award was presented at the Touchdown Club of Houston’s

24th annual Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards luncheon, with Goodwin beating out a field of 22 finalists. All of the finalists were senior starters for their respective football teams.

“It’s pretty amazing and I was kind of in shock when my name was announced as the overall winner,” said Goodwin. “I was honored to even be a finalist. It’s a huge blessing.” With a 6.751 GPA on a weighted 6.0 scale, Goodwin is a covaledictorian while ranked number one in the Mustangs senior class. In addition, Goodwin is a National Merit finalist.

“I’m just so grateful to be in this position,” added Goodwin, a three-year letterman who’ll play football in college at Columbia University. “My mom and dad (Cynthia and Weir Goodwin) have been my biggest supporters. So, to win this award is a total team effort. I’m also very thankful to the support of my coaches and our school principal Lisa Weir.”

Editor’s note: Todd Freed is the host and executive producer of H-Town High School Sports, which airs Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on CW39 and Monday-Thursday on AT&T SportsNet SW. To submit high school sports news for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, please email todd@thebuzzmagazines.com.

SCHOLAR ATHLETE Memorial Mustangs senior quarterback Chase Goodwin (pictured, on left) received the Greater Houston Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award during the Touchdown Club of Houston’s 24th annual ScholarAthlete of the Year Luncheon. Also pictured are second-place finisher Andrew Kunz of Foster High School (center) and third-place recipient John Shaheen (on right) of Oak Ridge High School.

. by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

SportzBuzz Jr.

Welcome to SportzBuzz Jr., a column spotlighting neighborhood athletes in elementary and middle school.

POLL in full swing

Post Oak Little League’s spring season is underway and the players from the Miami Hurricanes team have come in with Cat-5 strength. The boys enjoyed opening-day Post Oak Little League festivities with teammates and families. They played hard in early games against the Sooners and the TCU Frogs. Coaches Carter Groves (pictured, left) and Reagan Kneese (right) are leading the boys in their spring season. Players are (top row, from left) Michael McNair, Cole Rayburn, James Russell, Harrison Bean, Max Croley, Ford Johnson; (bottom row, from left) Liam Nolen, Ruy Diaz, Andrew Kneese, and Harrison Groves. Not pictured are Max Ho and Edmund DeJarnette. The team is made up of 8- and 9-year-olds, including boys from first to third grade.

Sweet celebration

A group of Rummel Creek Elementary School Pre-K friends enjoyed some delicious donuts after an exciting win at a Saturday basketball game. The team played Tallowood Kingdom Basketball. Families enjoyed cheering the team, the Nutcrackers, on the sidelines each Saturday. Pictured (from left) are Teddy Wiens, Hayes Dillingham, John Yankowski, Owen Stephens, Theo Zazzi, Hank Hiller, Hayden Weiser, Hayden Rudolph, Jacob Madden, Will Casey, and Parker Lehmann. Their coaches were Eric Weiser and Mike Lehmann. The team’s winning streak was a fabulous 5-2. They were very proud of their skills, which evolved over the course of the winter season.

Rising swim champ

There is a young swimmer making waves with her swimming career. Meet Iskra Elez (pictured) – the Rummel Creek Elementary third grader competes regularly with Dad’s Club Aquatics, where she swept multiple categories at the Gulf Champ Swim Meet. As Iskra has progressed with her swim styles, the coaches have moved her up teams. She is now 8 and in the Blue 2 group, which practices three times a week. Her next goal is the Dad’s bronze training group, which meets up to five times a week. Iskra’s favorite strokes are breaststroke and 50-yard freestyle, and she loves relay swimming. This season, Iskra has already had five swim meets, which are anywhere from two to three days long. Iskra’s mother, Milica, came to the United States from Serbia with a volleyball scholarship and played at Houston Baptist University. Even though there has been a lot of volleyball influence in their family, Iskra leaned towards the sport of swimming because of the frequent summer trips to the Adriatic Sea where she learned to love the water as a baby.

Editor’s note: Send your best high-resolution photos and behind-the-scenes stories about young local athletes, in both team and individual sports, to SportzBuzz, Jr. at info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Include all contact info, names, ages, grades and schools. Featured athletes must live in Buzz-circulation neighborhoods. Items will be published on a space-available basis.

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Every weekday morning, enjoy your coffee + the buzz in your inbox. Our e-newsletter, Morning Buzz, features buzzworthy stories about neighbors every day, Monday-Friday.

Sign up to find out what we’re buzzing about at thebuzzmagazines.com/morning-buzz.

MAKING A RACKET The Kinkaid School freshman Laila Jasmine Nguyen at the 2021 USTA Texas Slam in Georgetown, where she earned two championships: the 14-and-under singles championship and the 14-and-under doubles championship (with partner Josephine Lombardi). Laila is looking forward to competing at the high school varsity level.

by Laila Jasmine Nguyen, age 15

Buzz Kidz

Fighting for every point

After four hours of battling back and forth in the scorching 102-degree heat, the match was over with a final score of 7-6(7-2); 6-7(7-9); (10-7). That match in the Easter Bowl at Indian Wells was one of the most physically and mentally challenging matches I have ever played. The only thought in my mind at the end was how exhausted I was – it could have gone either way.

I learned a lot from that experience and now work to condition and train better to survive the elements. It’s hard enough fighting the good players; imagine enduring the heat too!

As a freshman at Kinkaid this year, it will be my first time competing against other high school varsity tennis players in the Southwest Preparatory Conference. Tennis is very much an individual

sport, but having teammates cheer you on can sometimes change the momentum from losing to winning a match. In middle school, my favorite part of the season was supporting and being supported by my teammates. I think high school will be similar, and will give me that extra push.

With a full honors schedule at school, I don’t have much time to practice, but I still love playing in tournaments and seeing all my friends. I recently signed up for a local Houston Tennis Association Tournament, which was a USTA Level 3 national tournament and one of the more competitive events for juniors in Houston. I played in Girls 16U and was the 8th seed in the tournament, so I wasn't expecting much. With some luck on my side, I made it through the quarters and semis against two top junior

players from Dallas. I came up short in the finals but wasn’t upset. I gave my best effort against a very high-level opponent.

Mentally showing up and never giving up is a big part of winning. Continuing to fight is half the battle. There have been several matches where I lost the first set, was losing the second, and was even down match point, and I came back and won! The best advice that I can give to younger players is to never give up: fight for every point, respect your opponent, and just go out and have fun!

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

Neighborhood Tails

Remy, age 11, Goldendoodle, Williamsburg Ln.

Hi y’all, I'm Remy! I'm Texas bornand-bred but have spent the majority of my days in Denver. My parents moved back to the Lone Star State just last year. Thanks for bringing me back, Mom and Dad – I’m happier than ever in my new home. Most people have a hard time guessing my age because I still have the energy of a pup – so shh, don't tell anyone that I’m actually 11! I'm gentle as can be with my human sisters, Vivi (7) and Coco (1) and absolutely love some good scratches behind my ears. More than anything, I enjoy meeting all of the new faces that come over to visit us – even if I may get too excited. Next time you see me walking through the beautiful streets of Bunker Hill, come and say hi! And don’t forget about those ear scratches!

Got a cute critter? Email a picture of your pet with approximately 150 words to info@thebuzzmagazines.com or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

Yorkshire Academy ADVERTORIAL

Yorkshire Academy, a private school located in the Memorial area, was established in 1984 with its primary goal being to create an environment in which children can develop to their fullest potential at their own individual rate.

Yorkshire’s tag line, “A Little School Making a Big Impact,” rings true. Yorkshire provides top-notch academics, stellar enrichment classes, and a nurturing environment which makes students feel welcome and secure. Yorkshire strives to develop the whole person, guiding each child with experiences to enhance his or her own self image, whether it be excelling within dynamic classrooms, singing and dancing in amazing musical productions, earning a first-place academic competition ribbon in math, or mastering the latest technology in the computer lab. Yorkshire students graduate with all the tools necessary for middle school success.

Yorkshire’s after-school enrichment program offers classes as diverse as coding, yoga, chess, piano, tae kwon do, golf, and dozens more. Its summer program consists of academics, over 50 enrichment camps, theme-based camps for little ones, and full-time care. These programs are open to the community and attract families from all over the Houston area.

Visit www.yorkshireacademy.com for more information or call 281-5316088 to schedule a personal tour.

Yorkshire Academy, 14120 Memorial Dr., Houston, Texas 77079, 281.531.6088, www.yorkshireacademy.com

Charity and retirement benefits

If your estate plans include charity, consider retirement benefits to fund those gifts. Not with Roth retirement plans, but with traditional IRAs, qualified retirement plans, or 403(b) plans. The latter accounts can be worth less to an individual than they are to a tax-exempt charity that can receive distributions both income and estate tax-free.

All things being equal, it is better to conserve non-qualified assets (house, car, stocks, bonds, mutual funds) for friends and family. Non-qualified assets receive a new basis for income tax purposes on the owner’s death, equal to the date-of-death value. The effect is to wipe out all the unrealized gain. If you paid $180,000 for your house and it’s worth $500,000 the day you die, the kids get a new basis of $500,000, not $180,000. Retirement plans don’t get a new basis. Worse, the kids have to take each distribution into income. That’s why an IRA is a more efficient gift for charity than the house.

The simplest option to leave retirement benefits to a charity: name it the sole designated beneficiary of the entire account. Unfortunately, if the participant lives long enough, the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules force out so much of the plan’s value that there is little left for charity.

RMDs can frustrate other beneficiary designations too, e.g., fractional shares (to charity and kids, in equal shares), pecuniary gifts (fixed-dollar amount to charity, rest to kids), formula gifts (10% to charity, rest to kids), and disclaimer gifts (all to kids, but to charity if kids disclaim). One workaround: instead of a beneficiary designation, leave the retirement plan to charity through a tax-planned trust or will.

All but the simplest options have complications (the custodian won’t accept a beneficiary designation; lots of postmortem paperwork to avoid the 5-year payout for individual beneficiaries) that can compel the use of a lawyer or CPA. That’s fine for larger estates that use professionals anyway. For smaller estates, split the IRA now, into one for family and a second for charity, so charity can be the sole designated beneficiary of the second, typically smaller IRA. Going forward, take some or all of the RMDs out of the family IRA (sorry, kiddies).

Tax-free, lifetime gifts can be made by qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) but only from certain IRAs (not SEPs or SIMPLEs) and not from qualified retirement or 403(b) plans. The IRA owner (inherited or original) that is 70½ can instruct the administrator to transfer up to $100,000 per year to eligible charities. A QCD is not included in the individual’s gross income, even if used to satisfy an RMD.

We write wills and go to probate court. Foreign nationals and international families welcome.

Russell W. Hall, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Board Certified – Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 6750 West Loop South, Suite 920, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 713.662.3853, bellaireprobate.com/blog

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Why allergy shots don’t work

Claritin, Zyrtec, Xyzal, Allegra, Nasonex, Flonase, Singulair. All treat allergy symptoms, but none actually makes you less allergic. You stop the medicine, and it soon stops working. Allergy shots are unique in that if taken at the right dose for at least three years, they can continue to provide beneficial immunologic effects after you stop taking them. Frequently, though, people say allergy shots don’t work. Why is that? Most likely, it’s an inadequate dose. To a point, the higher the dose, the better the protection it gives you. Ask your allergist, “How many micrograms of Der p 1 does my maintenance dose for dust mites contain?” Higher doses are associated with increased side effects, but most reactions are mild –itchy arms, local swelling. Taking antihistamines before getting the shot or applying ice to the site of the shot usually works. Rarely, high effective doses of allergy shots can cause serious reactions – wheezing, throat tightness, hives all over, even anaphylaxis. That’s why we monitor each patient with a digital timer after each shot, and then send patients out with their own EpiPen or Auvi-Q to use if they have a late reaction. Why else don’t allergy shots work? It’s important to split up some components into separate vials. For example, mold extract can digest grass extract. If you are allergic to several things, but your allergy serum is all in just one vial, it is possible that some of its contents are being degraded. There is enormous variability in how allergy shots are formulated, and how they are dosed. Many allergists continue to follow recommendations made 30 or 40 years ago. At Houston Allergy and Asthma Clinic, we base our recipes on guidelines published in 2011. Maybe that is why we hear “these shots have

changed my life” more often than “these allergy shots don’t work.” Need quick relief? Look into our RUSH procedure. Don’t like needles? Allergy drops that go under the tongue may be a good choice. Though drops are not FDA approved (and therefore not covered by insurance), they are safe, effective and legal. The cost of $216/month is a lot of money, but consider the time you save not having to go to the doctor’s office to get shots, and that you can take them with you when you travel. Bootleg allergists may offer drops for less money, but you have no certainty that their recipes have any input from physicians certified by the American Board of Allergy & Immunology, or that they use doses proven to be effective in evidence-based literature.

No one nose allergies like we do.™

Note: Information contained in this article should not be considered a substitute for consultation with a board-certified allergist to address individual medical needs.

David B. Engler, M.D., The Allergy Clinic, 7707 Fannin, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77054, 713.797.0993, *1200 Binz, Suite 1400, Houston, Texas 77004, 713.522.9911, www.allergyclinic.com, *Operating as Houston Allergy and Asthma Clinic

. by Angie Frederickson, staff writer

Buzz About Town

Memorial Markettes Spring Show

The award-winning Memorial High School Markettes dance team is putting the finishing touches on their choreography for the annual Spring Show. This year’s event, When I Grow Up, features lyrical, jazz, pom, tap, contemporary, kick, and hip-hop routines set to hits from the 1990s and 2000s. Performances are Fri., April 21 at 7 p.m. and Sat., April 22 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial High School Performing Arts Center, featuring team members Isabella Allon, Ava Brosch, Goldie Chandler, Helena Christian, Adaire Cramer, Caroline Davis, Janie Frederickson, Catherine Harrison, Georgia Hash, Josephine Hutchinson, Alara Koksoken, Stella Lee, Megan McWilliams, Gwyn Parrish, Hannah Rappold, Ava Reistroffer, Eugenia Rincon, Reese Scarborough, Emily Schmidt, Juliana Siwek, Shay Svoboda, Ansley Taylor, Maya Tsai,

Emma Kate Wells, Caroline Wolfe, and Kaitlyn Zhu (pictured). For more details about the show, including reserved-seat ticket sales, visit memorialmarkettes.com.

Dinner and an aria

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) held its 35th annual Concert of Arias at the Wortham Theater Center. The event featured the finals of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers on the Cullen Stage, followed by dinner in the grand foyer. Valerie and Tracy Dieterich (pictured) were among the supporters who raised more than $660,000 to support opera and young artists. This year’s competition judges included Grammy-award winning soprano Isabel Leonard, HGO general director and chief executive officer Khori Dastoor, Patrick Summers, and HGO artistic advisor and soprano Ana María Martínez. At the end of the com-

petition, the judges awarded first prize to mezzosoprano Natalie Lewis

A sparkling celebration

Members and guests of The Junior League of Houston gathered to celebrate at the 75th annual Charity Ball. The three-day event, A Diamond Celebration, was held at the Junior League and was chaired by Elizabeth Roath Garcia. During the Friday-night event, guests enjoyed dinner compliments of the Tea Room’s very own Chef Michael Smith, and then watched an all-member show and tribute video to thank the League’s community partners. During Saturday night’s

Bejeweled Late Night, guests danced to the music of Houston’s Radio Live Band. The silent auction and live auction emceed by Johnny Bravo helped raise more than $820,000 to benefit the Junior League. Pictured, from left, are Junior League of Houston council members Sydney Goss, Courtney Durham, Emily Shushtari, Anne Sears, Tamra Wilkerson, Amanda Hanks Bayles, and Megan Anson.

Friends and field hockey for life

When six friends started playing sports together in prekindergarten, they never dreamed they would all end up signing with Division 1 field hockey programs. The lifelong friends will soon graduate from The Kinkaid School and each recently committed to

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Wilson Parish

Brad Coleman Photography

Priscilla Dickson

Houston’s Only Ocean Guardian School

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continue her field hockey career at a top program. It started when the four-year-olds enrolled at Kinkaid. The group of girls played together on the same teams for a variety of sports over the years, including soccer, softball, and basketball, often coached by Mia Abello’s dad, Carlos. All six joined the Texas Pride field hockey program and then the Kinkaid varsity field hockey team where they each served as captain. Known as “lifers,” the girls have been at Kinkaid from prekindergarten through 12th grade and will split up for the first time this fall when they head to different universities and playing fields. Pictured from left with their college pennants are: Kate Consoli (Columbia University), Mia Abello (University of Virginia), Kyle Massey (Duke University), Sarah Grace Raynes (Wake Forest University), Hope Haynes (University of North Carolina), and Claire Nockolds (Stanford University).

Moms who run

As the sun came up the morning of the 2023 Aramco Half Marathon, a group of Wilchester Elementary School moms was lined up and ready to run. Beth Ramey, Rose Ramsey, Annie McQueen, Samantha Mansur, Courtney Gloudemans (pictured, from left), and Perla Grover (pictured, in front) trained for the big event and were rewarded with a medal at the finish line. Training for the 13.1-mile challenge took time, persistence, and a positive attitude, and Courtney and Perla trained together with

increasing-distance runs through their neighborhood. Husbands, kids, and families spaced them-

genuine love of the craft began more recently. Along with her parents and art teacher Jacqui Stanley (pictured, on right), Samia received the

selves along the racecourse to give the moms a never-ending supply of applause, cheers, and motivation, helping all six to finish strong.

Champion artist

Yorkshire Academy student Samia Adeshina (pictured, on left) was named Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art Program 2023 Elementary Class champion. Samia’s painting, “Guardians of the Fields,” was selected as one of 72 finalists from thousands of entries and was ultimately awarded the champion title. Created with tempura paint sticks and watercolor paints, Samia’s brightly colored work showcased her artistic talent. Samia’s interest in art dates back to her preschool days, but she says her

award at a rodeo event, where she became the first Yorkshire Academy student to achieve the honor.

The Symphony goes to Hollywood

Symphony Ball chairs Bill King, Cheryl Boblitt, Brigitte Kalai, Fardia Abjani, and Houston Symphony executive director and chief executive officer John Mangum (continued on page 72)

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(pictured, from left) walked the red carpet at the 2023 Houston Symphony Ball: The Golden Age of Hollywood Guests enjoyed a black-tie evening at the Post Oak Hotel with an old-Hollywood theme, including a symphony-inspired Walk of Fame and “celebrity sightings” of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. The evening honored Mary Lynn Marks, Hallie Vanderhider, and Revati Puranik, and raised more than $1.1 million to support Symphony education and communityengagement programs.

The MHS Garage Sale returns

accessories to housewares and seasonal décor, along with luggage, furniture, books, toys, and much more. The public is invited to shop for treasures donated by Memorial-area families. All proceeds benefit the Class of 2025 to fully fund prom so each student can attend their senior year. This year’s event is chaired by parents Berklee Baay, Kimberly Davis, Suzanne Farrow, Trish Kyle, Shelly Newton, Kathryn Van Wie, and Laynie Vandor. The sale is located at 1297 N. Post Oak Road, in a space donated by Prologis. Early-bird shoppers can get first dibs during Preview Night on Thursday, April 20 from 5-8 p.m.with a $20 cash donation, or free with an SBISD employee ID. The sale continues, with free entry, on Fri., April 21 and Sat., April 22 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Community members are encouraged to donate items to the sale at 1297 N. Post Oak Road on March 25 (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), April 1 (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), and April 12 (10 a.m.-1 p.m.). If you have questions about the garage sale, contact MemorialHighSchoolGarageSale@gmail.com.

Pictured are members of the Class of 2025 (top row, from left): Andrew Baay, Will Van Wie, Ryan Newton, Tommy Vandor, and Jack Kyle; (bottom row): Alden Farrow

Supporting our schools

helped coordinate the annual Sporting Clay Tournament. The event, chaired by Doug Goodson and Rob Stewart, was held at the Greater Houston Sports Club, and featured 50 teams of participants. After lunch and a safety briefing, the tournament began with a shotgun start and finished with an awards ceremony for the winners. Supporters raised more than $75,000 for grants to support Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) campus and district programs, including school supplies for students and scholarships for graduating seniors.

Lifelong teacher

A community favorite is back again. The Memorial High School Garage Sale is returning to offer everything from designer clothing and

Spring Branch Education Foundation (SBEF) volunteers Monica Sanchez, Linda Dang DeBesse, and Anne Moran (pictured, from left)

Former Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) teacher Christy Engvall (pictured) joins a gathering of Afghan refugee families as they learn American games like gaga ball and cornhole and enjoy popcorn and hot chocolate. After leaving an SBISD classroom, she now teaches English to Afghan women who are among the 10,000 refugees to settle in Texas since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Christy not only teaches women to speak English, but she also provides a support system for refugees who need assistance assimilating in their new culture. To learn more about or to support Christy’s nonprofit programming, contact her at christy.engvall@eastwest.org.

Be seen in Buzz About Town. Send your high-res photos and community news to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Items are published on a space-available basis. Also share your upcoming-event listings on thebuzzmagazines.com.

. by Andria Frankfort Dilling, staff writer

Back Porch

An Easter basket primer for big kids

As a Passover veteran who now has three Easter-celebrating stepsons, daughters who enjoy celebrating the season with them, and a group of family-by-choice Easter celebrators to entertain, I was stuck. How do you fill a proper Easter basket?

Little kids’ baskets don’t feel daunting. Classic books like Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book), The Velveteen Rabbit, The Classic Tale of Peter Rabbit, or the Caldecott award-winning Marshmallow: An Easter and Springtime Book for Kids should be winners. Chunky sidewalk chalks shaped like bunnies, eggs, macarons, or the alphabet (like the ones made by Twee, found at tweemade.com) are fun and beautiful in pretty pastels. And a quick Amazon search satisfies with colorful plastic eggs pre-filled with tiny light-up toys, stickers, dinosaurs, or Lego-like sets of blocks that will keep little ones busy building construction vehicles.

But how do you fill Easter baskets for these big kids? Or for the grownups, because who doesn’t want to sit down to a cheery basket filled with springy treats?

One West U mom who has been filling her kids’ baskets for 24 years advises, simply, “Chocolate-covered malt ball eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup eggs. Why? Are there any other acceptable options?”

Maybe? Another mom of two boys in their early 20s says, “I stole this from a poster on Facebook’s Grown and Flown group. Use folded dollar bills, or larger, in place of Easter grass. And from my wonderful sister-in-law, we receive a McGregor basket! This is a basket full of different and unique vegetables from the farmer’s market that I would not buy for myself. Usually different lettuce greens, root vegetables, radishes, carrots…plus a little chocolate, of course!”

“I like to fill Easter baskets with traditional candy and a chocolate bunny,” a mother of two teenaged girls, 17 and 19, says. “Central Market has a good selection of wonderful Easter treats. I might include some pretty jewelry [in my girls’] baskets, and for my husband I fill his with golfthemed items, as he loves playing golf. A cute purse and an Easter dress makes a lovely gift to

give my girls before Easter so they can wear it to church on Easter.

“A beautiful cross makes a nice gift in an Easter basket. And I also like to include a devotional or bible or beautiful cards with my favorite bible verses about Jesus as we celebrate him being risen. This is good for children, teens, and adults.”

Another friend with college-aged children suggests supplementing traditional Easter baskets with gift cards to favorites like Whataburger, Starbucks, and Chick-fil-A.

How to create a whimsical vibe for kids and grownups? Furry bunny ears as well as all kinds of baskets – felt covered with pastel pompoms, traditional wicker, monogrammed, gingham- or floral-lined – abound at Pottery Barn Kids (Potterybarnkids.com). The sweet party line Meri Meri has wooden stacking bunnies, bunnyeared wicker baskets, and surprise-filled crepepaper chicks, carrots, eggs, and veggies (Merimeri.com/collections/easter). Paper goods company Caspari also makes party crackers shaped like orange carrots opening to reveal confetti, bunny ears, and tiny Easter-themed trinkets (Casparionline.com/collections/easter). Look here for brightly colored acrylic glassware and Easter place cards as well.

How could any kids – at any age – not thrill to open an Easter s’mores kit? Gather Hershey’s Mini Milk Chocolate Bars, small boxes of Peeps marshmallow candies, and graham crackers, and wrap in cellophane bags. I might go the distance and add marshmallow roasting skewers (Amazon has some with colorful wooden handles) and small Sterno S’mores Heat Fuel Cans (also Amazon).

Speaking of Peeps, there’s more to the pink, yellow, and purple sugary marshmallows than I realized. Did you know there are chocolatedipped Peeps, Peeps Decorated Eggs, and speckled Party Cake Flavored Marshmallow Chicks? Check out Peepsbrand.com for more. For crafts with little ones, Peepsbrand.com/easter-recipesand-crafts has some fun ideas: colorful Peeps Rice Krispie Treats; graham cracker “birdhouses” filled with Peeps chicks, tiny eggs, and green “grass;” and drinking straws festooned with Peeps bunnies or chicks are just a few.

Also, bubbles. From slim, all-in-one bubble wands to “bubble blaster” guns (which require a separate jar of bubble solution), kids and kidsat-heart will have to smile as the air begins to sparkle. Target.com and Walmart.com have big selections.

An Etsy search reveals darling bunny-eggand-chick themed cake pops, pastel and individually

and also inexpensive woven straw baskets monogrammed with colorful yarn.

To top it all off for the grownups, Tres Market Foods carries glitter-covered individual bottles of champagne. If all else fails, I’m hopeful these will bring the smiles.

I know there are tons more ideas out there and hope you’ll share…Happy Easter!

wrapped,

BEYOND EGGS The big kids – and kids-at-heart – will appreciate a sweet Easter basket filled with thoughtful surprises, such as chocolates, gift cards, bubbles (or bubbly, for the 21+ crowd).