Stroodles!

You've probably heard me and my family talking about the delicious, artery clogging, heart attack in the making, wonderfulness that is a dish called Stroodles.  This is a recipe that my Mom learned from her Mom and so on and so forth.  It's definitely a family favorite, but it's super time consuming to make (it takes about 3 hours depending on how many people are helping and whether it's doubled or a single batch) so we only have it once or twice a year.

Please note that we are not talking about strudles, which are made of pastry dough and are usually filled with fruit.  In contrast, Stroodles consist of potatoes, bacon (and lots of it!) and little rolls of dough.  It's definitely not the healthiest dish ever invented, but uses simple ingredients that common people would have had readily available to them back in the day when people weren't really concerned about their cholesterol levels.

Anyways, I'm posting this because pretty much everyone I've ever described Stroodles to has had a blank expression on their face and had no idea what I was talking about.  So I've decided to gift Stroodles to the world (or at least to those who are reading my blog).

I was looking through my recipe book last week and decided that I was in the mood for some Stroodles, but figured that I should probably try it out with my Mom before attempting them on my own.  I'd only ever helped out with them once and my sisters were both there as well so I really didn't do a whole lot of helping.  So I fried up the bacon and peeled and sliced the potatoes on Sunday in preparation for making them on Monday.

The Big Bowl of Bacon

Bacon Grease.

Pot of Potatoes

Mom and I had a good time making the Stroodles while Paxton hung out with Grandpa and Dianne.  And then about 5 hours after we started the process we got to finish it off by eating super awesome deliciousness!

The finished product

(I forgot to take a picture yesterday so these ones are the ones I put in the freezer for later)

I know they don't look like the most appetizing meal in the world, but looks can be deceiving and definitely are in this case!  Stroodles are best with butter melted on them and salted to taste.  They are one food that's actually better as leftovers.  The next day you cut them up, fry them in more butter, and then finish them off with more butter and salt.  For anyone who's curious, here's the recipe:

4 to 5 pounds of bacon

10 cups flour
5 tsp.baking powder
1 cup milk
potatoes
5 eggs
3 tsp. salt
2 cups water

The night before, fry bacon and refrigerate. Save bacon grease. Peel enough potatoes to fill a 4 liter ice cream bucket. Completely cover potatoes with water and refrigerate.

The next day: In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Form a well in the middle of the mixture. Measure 1 cup milk, add eggs to milk before pouring. Beat eggs in with milk. Pour into well. Pour water into well. Mix together to form a dough. Slice the dough into 1 inch thick pieces. Roll out with rolling pin. Completely cover with melted bacon grease (make sure to get the edges or they'll go crusty). Beginning with the first piece, stretch dough out as thin as you can, trying not to make too many holes in it. Roll dough up into long tubes. Cut tubes into 1 inch pieces. Put 2 cups hot water, 1 tsp. salt and 3 tbsp. bacon grease in bottom of 2 large pots, . Line the bottom of each pot with potatoes, top with fried bacon, then arrange dough on top of bacon. Arrange another layer on top, according to the ingredients you have left. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook until the water is boiled away. Don't uncover until all the water is boiled away, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Anyone adventurous enough to try them?

The Sugar Cookie Fiasco

Some of you may have already heard this story or parts of it.  I apologize, but my life is lived on Facebook.  It's a sad fact.  That is not the point of this post, however.

Background info:  I LOVE Christmas.  It is by far my very favorite holiday/time of year.  I even love Christmas more than my own birthday.  That's a lot, I know.  (It's not because of the presents.  I actually enjoy watching my nephews open their presents more than opening my own presents.)  I come by it honestly, though.  My Mom also LOVES Christmas and instilled this fervor in all 3 of us girls.  Many of you know that Mom and Kelly usually puts up their Christmas decorations in the middle of November (this is not the only holiday Mom decorates early for; her Halloween stuff is usually up mid-September).  I would probably do the same but my husband is adamant that the Christmas decorations do not go up until December 1st.  I managed to get them up the last weekend in November 2 years ago but I think I caught him in a weak moment or had some stunning arguement that he couldn't resist.  Christmas to me is all about being together with family and friends.  I am slightly biased because I think Christmas with my family is the most fun of our celebrations.  I just love being surrounded by all of my Mom's Christmas decorations (there literally is Christmas oozing out of every nook and cranny at her house), eating stuff I remember from Christmases past, and just hanging out playing games or visiting.  It is also the easiest holiday for my little family because we get to spread it out.  Jay's parents are divorced so for most holidays we end up trying to sqeeze 2 families into 1 day.  For Christmas we get it spread out over the month since we celebrate with his Dad either the 1st or 2nd weekend in December (they go to Jay's Step-Grandma's house for Christmas week).  We then usually go to my parents' house on Christmas Eve and Jay's Mom's house on Chrstmas Day or Boxing Day. 

This year our traditions are changing somewhat because Kelly and her family are not able to come down for Christmas.  So I thought, "Hey, why don't we do Christmas at our house?"  I phoned Mom with my grand idea, but she said that she, Dad and Kinsey are planning to go up to Sylvan to spend Christmas with Kelly.  No big deal.  Since we only live a half hour away from them I'm sure we can get together some other day to celebrate.  But I still want to have Christmas at our house with Jay's Mom, step-dad and step-grandpa.  I think this desire is mostly fueled by the fact that we now have Paxton.  I just want to set down some traditions for our family to hopefully give Paxton some good memories (I would really like for him to love Christmas as much as I do).  This whole plan is still in the works since it is only mid-September after all and Jay's Mom and Step-Dad are currently on holiday in England so I haven't been able to pitch the idea to them.

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about Christmas?" you might ask. It probably is and usually I would only give it a fleeting thought (you may have noticed the countdown at the top of my blog telling you how far away it is.  You need to subtract an hour since apparently it's for Pacific Time and I haven't been able to find on in Mountain Time) since I'd be busy with other things in my life, namely work. But since I'm on Mat Leave I have a lot of spare thinking time. Don't get me wrong, my days are busy taking care of Paxton, but there's a lot of thinking going on during the day (as well as at night since Paxton's teething seems to be causing insomnia for me. Boo-urns insomnia!)  I also have realized that I only have 2 months of Mat Leave left.  I'm pretty sure that the last 2 weeks of November and probably all of December are going to be a giant gong show so I've decided I should try to get as much stuff done in the next 2 months as possible so that I can "relax" once I go back to work (ya right).

As part of my grand plans for Christmas I decided that I wanted to bake a bunch of different kinds of cookies (don't worry I will be freezing them so that they're still good in 3 months) both for us to eat as well as to give to friends.  My Mom does it, so since I'm the Mom now I guess I should do it, right?  I've made cookies before and have eaten a lot of cookies so how hard can it be?  So I made a list of the different kinds of cookies I wanted to bake.  Sugar cookies were at the top of the list as they are one of my faves and supposedly one of the easiest kinds to make.  Armed with my recipe, rolling pin and cookie cutters I prepared to tackle the sugar cookies.  As you may have guessed from the title of this post, things did not go quite as planned.  Since I am planning to give away a bunch of cookies I decided to double the recipe.  Mistake # 1: I did not look at the amounts required of all the ingredients before starting the dough.  I had already creamed the margarine and sugar together before discovering that with doubling I needed 10 cups of flour.  I realized that I don't own a bowl big enough to contain the 4 cups of margarine I had on the go already as well as 10 cups of flour.  No big deal.  I scooped half of my mixture out and prepared to make the recipe as normal.  Once all the ingredients were mixed together, I floured the top of my island and dumped the dough out onto it.  The dough was super sticky so I added more flour figuring that maybe there was too much margarine since cutting it in half wasn't too precise.  Mistake # 2: I then attempted to roll out ALL of the dough at once.  Picture this: my island is 49 1/2 " by 26 1/2" (I know because I just measured it).  By the time I finished "rolling" the dough out I would say that about 45" by 24" was covered in a big, sticky cookie dough mess.  The dough was sticking to my rolling pin (which I did flour by the way), it was sticking to itself and it was sticking to my hands.  Gross.  I persevered and attempted to cut out some shapes but the dough had been rolled out too thin and I couldn't pick anything up since they just smushed together.  At this point I was so frustrated that I just wanted to dump the whole concoction in the garbage.  When I informed Jay of my feelings and that I was about to cry over stupid cookies, he asked, "Why don't you let me get in there?"  (Side note: Jay does most of the cooking at our house and took Home Ec. while I did not.)  I let him and retreated to the computer to let my friends make fun of me/console me via Facebook (we've already covered this part of my life).  Jay was able to get 2 dozen cookies cut out and then gave up and wrapped the rest up in saran wrap to put in the fridge so I could deal with it the next day.  Mistake # 3: This one I don't really count as a mistake because it wasn't in the recipe so I was unaware, but it did contribute to my epic failure.  I did not refridgerate the dough before attempting to cut out the cookies because it makes it easier to work with.  Ironically, by sticking it in the fridge to deal with later I solved my own issue.  Notes have been added to the recipe for future use.  The next morning I was much calmer and ready to tackle the rest of the cookie dough.  It worked marvelously and I finished cutting out and baking the rest of the cookies.  They actually weren't too bad considering that I added about 1 1/2 cups of extra flour to try to combat the stickiness.  I think with some icing they'll be ok.  I'm also happy to report that the 2nd half of the batch worked out marvelously since I applied all of my new knowledge to making them.  I even iced some of them and they taste pretty close to Mom's I think.

Sorry there are no pictures to accompany this post.  I was not able nor did I want to take any pictures as my experience rapidly went downhill.  And I'm pretty sure Jay was fearing for his life (sort of the whole "poking a sleeping bear with a stick" thing), so he didn't want to take any pictures either.  Feel free to use your imagination and chuckle or guffaw over my antics.

Before I Forget

I've been meaning to write this down so I don't forget.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures.  I know, I get pictures of everything, but this time I didn't even think about it until after the fact.

So a week or so ago I got up in the morning and thought it was strange that I didn't hear anything from Paxton's room since it was later than he usually gets me up.  I decided I should probably check on him to make sure everything was all right.  When I opened the door I was greeted by my smiling baby boy standing up in his crib.  I was also greeted by a bunch of white ... everywhere.  It took my brain a few seconds to figure out what had happened and then I couldn't figure out whether to laugh or be mad (hence why no pictures are available).

Paxton's change table is right next to his crib and apparently he is tall enough to reach it when he stands in his crib now.  He has also figured out how the open his box of wipes and thought it would be fun to pull a bunch of them out and toss them around the room.  I guess I can be thankful that he didn't suck the "juice" out of them (I've been informed of this phenomenon by a few different moms whose children have been too quiet for a period of time).  Needless to say the box of wipes was immediately moved to the other end of the change table.

And of course I do have a few fun pictures even though they don't match the story.

Sitting on his new chair.  It's actually a plastic cover to put over your food when you're microwaving it so it doesn't splatter everywhere.  Yet another of Dad's "toys" for Paxton.

More "toys."  Paxton actually pulled these ones out of the drawer under the oven all by himself so I guess he earned them?  He sticks them together like Lego most of the time. 

Last weekend 3 neighbourhood boys were skateboarding in front of our house since it was nice out and we have new pavement.  Paxton was fascinated with them and stood like this in the window for about a half hour.

 Talkin' with Grammie.  He kept tilting his head sideways.

It was Grandpa Dave's birthday yesterday and since they're in England visiting Great Aunt Jenny and Great Uncle Pete we decided to send them a picture from Paxton.  I had to take about 6 pictures to get this one since most of them look like the one below. 

I guess it's just more fun to crumple the paper up.

A New Bestie for Paxton!

My friend, Jackie, finally had her baby on September 1st at 2:19pm.  It was pretty awesome since this was her first baby and she was induced at about 7:30 am (poor Jackie was 10 days overdue!).  He was 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long.  He's healthy and both Mom and baby are doing great.  Jackie and Craig decided to name their son Alexander Stanley Day.  Paxton and I went to visit everyone at the hospital (lucky girl got to have visitors!) and Paxton was really great.  We'd been out and about all afternoon so he hadn't really had a nap, but he was happy the whole time and didn't try to poke Alexander in the eye or hit him.  Alexander is just so cute I couldn't help but put some pictures up of him!

Dad (Craig) holding his new little guy

Duck lips!  Jackie looked amazing for just pushing out a human!

I don't really like babies.  Can you tell?

Paxton wasn't sure what to think of Alexander.

I know, I know.  Everyone keeps telling me 2 looks good on me.  Give me some time!  Paxont's only 9 months old for crying out loud!

 Alexander did remarkably well during his bath and didn't really fuss too much.

Touque and booties from the hospital. 

Poser!  Love his little chiclets!

It was a little surreal to be back at the hospital visiting since it was 9 months to the day from when I went into labour with Paxton. I was a little jealous too because the nurse did Alexander's bath in the room for them. With Paxton, they took him away to do it and Jay had already left so we don't have any pictures of his first bath!  Jackie and Alexander were discharged the next day so Paxton and I stopped by with supper for everyone after they'd settled in a little.  Craig's parents were in town and were just slightly excited to see their first grandchild!

Craig's Mom loves babies and had fun playing with Paxton while Jackie was feeding Alexander.

Now we are just "patiently" awaiting the arrival of Baby Burris sometime in October and the trio will be complete!

Paxton at 9 months

Another month has come and gone, so it's time for your update on my little man.

At 9 months, Paxton:

- is crawling on his hands and knees.  He's pretty fast when he wants to be which keeps Mom on her toes!  He's especially quick if we leave him in the living room without a barrier.  As soon as you turn your back he makes a beeline for those pesky dog bones!

- has figured out how to drink his own bottle while sitting up.  He doesn't like to tip it back to drink it.  Instead, he just sucks all the air out of the bag and then gets the formula.  Whatever works, I guess. 

- likes to bob his head to music.  He usually does this while I'm feeding him in his high chair.  Between bites he bobs his head or moves it side to side.  So cute!

- is getting all sorts of new and exciting foods.  I've started giving him yogurt and peach seems to be his favorite.  He wasn't terribly excited about blueberry but he still ate it.  We've also given him mashed potatoes with gravy, arrowroot cookies, and an assortment of baby food.  Bananas and prunes were not good choices at all, but he's been good with all the other kinds we've given him.  Mom is not super excited about the result of all this new food however. *Cough*

- can walk around the furniture now so I think walking is on the horizon.  I found ths out one day when I'd gone up to the kitchen for something and suddenly hear "rrrrrip".  I'd left the book I was reading on a table where it was out of reach, but Mr. Smarty Pants walked himself around so he could reach it.  And it was Auntie Kizzy's book.  It's a good thing she loves her nephew so much!  Sometimes he'll try to push himself up onto his feet rather than his knees, but hasn't quite gotten it right yet.  He hasn't quite figured out how to walk while holding onto someone's fingers yet either, but he's getting there!

- likes to "help" Mom with the dishwasher.  He's decided that since he can now pull himself up on things he should pull himself up on everything!  We've discussed how he's not really very helpful at this point and how I'm pretty sure in about 10 years or so when I start making him help with the dishwasher the fascination will most likely have worn off.  Ditto for the vacuum cleaner.

- is now starting to try to stand up in the bath tub.  Baths have definitely taken less time in the last month since play time has been shortened quite a bit!

- is in size 4 diapers now.  *sigh*

- tries to play with the dogs.  He'll crawl over to one of them on the floor and use them to stand himself up.  He then walks around to their head and "pets" them.  We keep reminding him that he needs to be nice and not hit them.  Good thing Maggie and Mo are so laid back!

- can crawl over things now.  This is especially annoying since he can get over the legs of the computer chair to where the modem is since it seems to be his favorite toy even though Mom is constantly telling him to leave it alone and moving him away.  If he can't get to the modem, Paxton's second favorite thing to do is open the doors on the computer that hide the USB ports.  Again, he is persistent no matter how many times Mom tells him no and moves him away.  Joy.

- has added "go go go go go" to his vocabulary.

- is getting his 2 top front teeth.  This is not a pleasant experience for any of us since they are taking WAY longer to come in than the bottom ones did.  The bottom ones didn't really phase Paxton at all.  With the top ones he's been super cranky and whiney.  The teething is affecting his sleep which in turn affects Mom's sleep.  He's also had a mild fever and a runny nose off and on.  It looks like the right one is almost in, but now the left one has decided to descend.  I really hope that they finish coming in soon and that Paxton goes back to sleeping 8-10 hours straight.  The last week it's been 2-4 hour stints starting between 10 and 11 pm.  Not fun.
 
- has decided he is too big to wear a bib for drool.  Every time I put a bib on him, he pull sit right off.  There are now more wardrobe changes during the day since his shirts end up soaked from shoulder to shoulder and down to about mid-chest.

Posing under the high chair after crawling over the bottom to get there.

See Mom!  Anything can be a toy!

After trying to stand up in the tub.

Mo thinks Paxton's crawling toy is a pretty awesome pillow.

Paxton sitting in his pool in the kitchen (sans water of course).  It was a pretty decent play pen until he figured out he could climb out.

For some reason Paxton would always knock his pool over.  Usually he would be stuck under it, but this day it got caught on something.  So he sat there and played with his toys.

We went to Grammie and Grandpa's house for a few days in August to visit Auntie Kelly and the boys.  Mom put the "Robin Hood" hat on for Paxton.

He was far more interested in playing with the big boy toys however.

And in taking the hat off so he could try to eat the feather.  That was the end of Paxton and the hat.

Playing with Grandpa's watch with Grammie.

Brock decided to walk through the very muddy garden with his crocs on, so they were removed.

He then decided that he needed to wade through every single puddle in the alley, so the crocs went back on so they could be washed off.

2 hats and a ball.  What else do you need to be happy?  I sent one of the hats out with Grandpa, but Paxton didn't want to keep it on, so I took his "swimming" hat out which he keeps on.  And since I'm lazy like that I put the other hat on top.

Why are you laying in the grass, Mom?

Modelling his new Emi hat.  Zane says Paxton looks like a DJ with his hat on.

Since his top teeth have started to come in, the tongue comes out a lot.  So does the drool.

Playing with the baby in the mirror.

What?

Up on the knees.

Not the best picture, but Paxton loves to pull himself on the banister so he can watch the dogs in the living room.  I'm fine with this as long as he doesn't put his head through it like his Dad did ...

Not quite as good as it should have been.  After yet another try at stading up in the tub Paxton ended up with bubbles down the middle of his face from his hair to his top lip.  However he refused to look at me so most of the bubbles had popped by the time I got a picture!

Allergic to Minorities

*Warning: This is yet another rant from Alisha.  It's a long one and it might offend you.*

Some of you may have seen my sister Kelly's facebook status yesterday.  If not, here you go: "Kelly Johnson is thinking that maybe there could be a different solution to nut allergies in school...like maybe the kids with the allergies could all eat together in one room...away from any potential nuts. Then my kid could take one of his favorite lunches to school. Just tired of the majority always having to bend to the minority."

Allow me to explain what has caused my wonderful sister to reach the end of her rope on this issue.  My nephew, Zane, is a picky eater.  This is not a judgement, it is a fact.  He refuses to eat sandwiches so one of the only things Kelly has been able to find that he will take for a lunch is Nutella with crackers.  However, apparently one of the kids in his class has a nut allergy so Zane is not supposed to take anything in his lunches that contains nuts.  (Side note: Kelly is currently trying to find out if Zane can have access to a microwave at lunchtime so that she can send pasta, pizza buns, etc. for him.  But last year the teacher told them that they didn't want the kids to have lunches that need to be heated up every day so if it's the same policy this year it throws a monkey wrench in that plan.)  I have no idea how severe this child's nut allergy is.  I don't know if said child must injest something containing nuts, if touching something containing nuts will set off a reaction or if just breathing the same air as someone who has eaten something containing nuts will kill this child.  (I'm not joking.  Apparently some children have airborne nut allergies.  Wow.)

Now that you have the background information, I would like to add a few more things before I start my rant.  I do not know the child with the allergy.  I don't have anything against children or people with allergies.  I think that whoever is making the decisions for the schools needs to look at it on a case by case basis as to what kind of allergy is being dealt with and how severe it is.  I think all children should get an educatoin.  I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion.  That being said, hold on to your computer chair 'cuz here we go with mine.

Why is it so commonplace for the majority to be forced to yield to what the minority wants?

This is an issue that I struggle with a lot.  I try to be open-minded and see things from other people's perspectives, but come on!  It is getting ridiculous, and this whole nut allergy thing that my sister is dealing with is just an example.  I went to school with a boy who had a peanut allergy.  Apparently if he ate something that contained nuts or had come into contact with something that contained nuts his airway would start to close up.  Scary?  Yes.  Life-threatening?  Yes.  But we never had a classroom-wide or school-wide ban on things containing nuts, and he is still alive and healthy today!  His parents taught him about his allergy and how to avoid having a reaction.  Simple: don't trade lunch stuff with other kids because you don't know what's in it.  I also don't recall that he was ever excluded from any holiday parties we had at school because of his allergies, nor were any of our parents ever told that they had to send treats without nuts because someone had an allergy to those things.

I myself am allergic to penicillin.  Granted, when we discovered this allergy I was a child and all that happened was that I broke out in hives.  For all I know I could have grown out of the allergy, or it could have gotten worse with age and it could possibly be life-threatening now.  Either way, I'm not too eager to test it out.  But, because I know about this allergy, I tell doctors and nurses about it whenever necessary.  I don't expect them to deny everyone penicillin if I'm at a clinic or hospital because I could possibly somehow come into contact with it.

Getting back to the whole allergies in school thing.  There is a bigger picture to consider with this issue.  It's not just "How much inconvenience is being caused to the other parents because of one child's allergy?" (because really, the kids probably don't care about what's in their lunch as long as it's something they like to eat)  We also need to consider what we are teaching our children by bowing to the needs of one over the needs of many.  What is the child with the nut allergy learning by having a school or class-wide ban put on nuts just because of them?  They are not learning responsibility for their own actions.  They are learning that the world should be looking out for them.  News flash: that's not how the world is.  The company I work for is large.  About 300 people work in the same building, and I work closely with people who have allergies to food, some that I know about and probably a lot that I don't.  One person I know is allergic to gluten, among other things.  Another person I work with is allergic to eggs.  We often have pot luck lunches (usually at least 1 every few months), but we don't put bans on what the food can and cannot contain.  The person with the gluten allergy just brings their own lunch and will still participate by eating with everyone.  The person with the egg allergy just makes sure to ask people if there are eggs in their dish and if so doesn't eat them.  So if this is how adults handle things like food allergies, why aren't we teaching our children this life skill?

The whole nut allergy ban thing is not where the problem has started, but it's evidence of a much bigger issue.  It goes hand in hand with the whole "suing a fast food chain because my coffee was hot and I spilled it on myself" fiasco.  As my husband likes to tell me, "Common sense isn't so common."  And he's right!  I bought a cheesecake from the grocery store a few months ago with a "may contain nuts" sticker on it.  This may not seem so bad, but it was a PECAN caramel cheesecake.  Come on people!  Take some responsibility for your own actions and choices!

Where do we stop?  If we start banning nut products, then it's only fair that we ban dairy products for those who are lactose intollerant.  And we should probably ban things containing eggs, strawberries and tomatoes since those are also common allergies.  What about those who have allergies not related to food.  My grandmother is allergic to bee and wasp stings.  If she's stung she has about a 30 minute window to get injected with an epipen or get to a hospital for an injection or she'll die.  What if a child has this same allergy?  Should the school then ban recess or the opening of any windows for fear that a bee or wasp might get into the school and sting the child in question?  What if a child has asthma?  Should the school ban running during recess and gym class so that the child in question doesn't have an asthma attack?  Or let's say a child in your community had xeroderma pigmentosum.  Never heard of it?  It's a rare genetic disorder of DNA repair in where the ability to repair damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light is deficient.  In extreme cases all exposure to sunlight must be forbidden, no matter how small.  So, if this child was in your community should the school be expected to have classes at night to accomodate the child?

It's up to the parents to educate our children on what is dangerous to keep them safe.  Just as you should teach your child that it's dangerous to run into traffic, if they have an allergy you should teach them about it.  You can't and shouldn't expect everyone else to be responsible for your child's safety.  Each parent needs to teach their child to be responsible for themselves and their actions.

As for those who are making the decisions about banning nuts in the school, perhaps they should be evaluating things on a case by case basis.  Perhaps they should consider alternatives to banning the nut products.  Like Kelly suggested in her status, maybe the kid with the allergies could eat their lunch in a separate room so they don't accidentally get nuts on their food.  If the reaction can occur from touching nuts and not just injesting them, perhaps the children should be taught to wash their hands and desks after eating so the child with the allergies doesn't accidentally come into contact with the nuts.  If it's an airborne nut allergy, maybe the parents should consider homeschooling.  If that's not an option, maybe the child should live in a hamster ball.  I know that sounds very insensitive, but it's also very selfish for the parents of a child with a nut allergy to expect all the other children to not have nut products.

Feel free to leave your comments.  I apologize if I've offended anyone with my opinion, but there need to be limits on how far the majority is expected to bend for the minority, especially when it's the severe minority as in this case.