Name: Katy Fisher
Where did you grow up: Winston-Salem, NC
Town you live in now: Jupiter, FL
Why you love living there: No surprise, I love winter in South Florida. I love the chill in the air in the morning and the warm sun in the afternoon. I also really enjoy living so close to the beach. We may not have seasons but the beach looks so different every time I’m there and I love watching it evolve throughout the year. Having access to incredible seafood all year round is another reason I love living so close to the ocean.
Tell me about your kids: I have two kiddos, Molly and Wyatt. Molly is a 6th grader at Bak MSOA in the vocal program. She loves to sing, play volleyball and do anything creative. Wyatt is a 3rd grader at Beacon Cove Intermediate. He’s a sports nut and really enjoys soccer, running, basketball and recently got into lacrosse. He’s also a huge shark enthusiast. We don’t have any family nearby so we get lots of visitors and travel together when we have the opportunity. Both Molly and Wyatt are up for most any adventure we throw their way and we love to explore.
Favorite things to do with the kids locally: We like to go to the beach and snorkel at Coral Cove Beach in the summer or bike at Riverbend Park. We also enjoy trying new restaurants together and the occasional visit to Universal Studios and Disney World.
What’s your ‘day job’? How did you get started with it? Well, my day job keeps evolving and that’s absolutely okay! Right now I’m heavily involved in work with wonderful benefits but no pay. I am the VP of Events on the PTO Board at Beacon Cove Intermediate and I am also on the PTO Board at Bak MSOA. I coach girl’s recreational volleyball and I love sharing a sport with girls that encourages teamwork and also lifting each other up as players. I am the Parent on Deck (POD) at our house so I pretty much run everything from schedules, to meals to house repairs, etc. I have a business and marketing degree from UNC Chapel Hill and I am working on reentering the real estate world, which was my previous job before we moved to Florida 5 years ago.
What is your best parenting advise. Lay it on us. This too shall pass. Every time I think I have some level of parenting mastered, it’s time to move on to the next stage. We are rapidly approaching the teenage years and the COVID 19 crisis has been a blessing in disguise. I have gotten to soak up precious time with my kids while they still want to hang out with me, sort of. This is it. This is childhood so pick something that you want your kids to remember about childhood and try and make it a reality. For me, I really love the time we spend around the dinner table so we try to make dinner together a priority when schedules allow. It’s such a great time to not only talk but listen. Also, my husband travels a good bit and has a stressful job so we try to plan at least one vacation a year where everyone can unplug and spend time together, just the 4 of us. Try to be present and make memories together.
What do you do for self care? For me, running is a gift I give myself. It’s an opportunity to get outside, listen to good music, enjoy the surroundings and pray. I love to run at the beach on Saturday mornings and watch the sun rise. It fills me up mentally, spiritually and is great exercise!
Anything else you want to share? Like so many other families, spring break 2020 took a drastically different turn thanks to COVID 19. Since we had to cancel travel plans and didn’t have schoolwork our family decided to virtually travel…at the dinner table. What started out as a way to spend some QT together cooking and sharing a meal morphed into a full immersion experience with music, food, drink, and of course, festive attire.
We each chose a country and researched cultural (according to the Internet) recipes to create a menu for dinner each night. Cooking is therapeutic for me, so I poured a glass of the local drink and considered it practice in being present.
When we began cooking, we’d turn on “native” music (“Alexa, play British Invasion”) and we’d start the party. My daughter suggested we dress up, so we scrambled around the house looking for something that signified the culture of each country’s “look”. My apologies to every nation all over the world. As you can see from the photos, we all took the dress up component to different extremes. My son is a big soccer fan so he researched some of his favorite soccer players from each country. My husband on the other hand went for a more subtle approach. He was insistent that the blue shirt had the ultimate travel versatility. Previous Halloween costumes doubled as Brazilian carnival headwear and props were encouraged. Creativity awards were handed out to everyone. And of course, no family is complete without their four-legged family member and our dog Biscuit didn’t want to miss out on the fun.
Our recipes ranged from really simple dishes to more advanced than I like to accomplish on a weeknight, but frankly, all we had was time, so we gave it a shot! Did we realize we needed an ice cream maker to make a few of our desserts? Yes! Did that stop us? No!
In addition to our newfound cooking knowledge, we all came to the table with a “fun fact” that we learned while doing our evening prep. It also gave us a few new talking points.
We decided to document our daily adventure mostly because we could not stop laughing when we showed up in full dining attire. And I knew at some point in the future I would want to remember this time when the world stopped and we had to show up as parents anyway. Sitting around a table is my favorite way to hit pause and reconnect with my family, even during busy times. I started sharing the photos with my girlfriends from college and it was such a light-hearted pick-me-up each day that I thought I’d share them on social media. I hope other families get a good laugh and maybe we inspire a few other families to travel from their kitchen table too.
Our Travel Menu
Great Britain
Baked Fish and Chips
Sauteed English Peas with Garlic and Sesame
Strawberry Cream
Brazil
Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo)
Brazilian Beef Stew (Picadinho)
Brigadeiero Ice Cream
Japan
Miso Soup
Ton Katsu Pork
Goma-ae Greens
Green Tea Matcha Frozen Yogurt
Italy
Italian Caesar Salad
Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Pecorino Cheese
Chicken Marsala with Mustard and Mascarpone
Chocolate Ricotta Pudding with Strawberry Sauce
France
French Onion Soup
Sauteed Chicken in Riesling
Crepes with Nutella
Lessons learned
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Read the recipe at least 3 times before making something. Realizing something needs to marinate for 5 hours or freeze for 6 hours at the last minute is a bummer.
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Try food before you say you don’t like it. None of us were big peas fans but we all really liked the English preparation.
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Start cooking a bit earlier than usual. One day we had a 9:30 dining time because we ran out of pots and pans and started too late.
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Cooking, especially with your kids, can and WILL get messy.
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It is absolutely okay to be silly!
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Take pictures!
