If you're in the Bay Area please visit the new Mimi the Sardine store on Friday October 14th and Saturday October 15th, for a free, 2- day celebration of food, family and fun. Come shop Mimi the Sardine's latest earth- and family-friendly, lunch bags, bibs, placemats, aprons, and spillmats for children, and beautiful eco coated tablecloths for your home. Everything for your family to eat, spill and be happy!

Petit Appetit will be on hand signing books and demonstrating easy healthy lunch ideas from 10 - 1pm on Friday. Your little ones are invited to make their own nut-free granola to take home too.

• Mimi the Sardine
• 305A Montecito Ave
• Corte Madera, CA
• 415-924-9222

For more information and a complete line-up of the 2-day festivities (art workshop, live music, wine tasting, and more),

There's been much in the news lately regarding food safety. (Nope this is not a Halloween trick). Everything from tainted cantaloupes, to food additives, to genetically engineering foods. There was one victory this week in terms of plastic safety and the use of BPA (bisphenol A). The Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act was finally signed and will go into effect on July 1, 2013. From that point forward the potentially dangerous plastic additive bisphenol A will be banned in baby bottles and sippy cups in California. This is a positive step, but there's more to learn and ways we can help pass new laws to ban these dangerous chemicals from getting into our family's foods and bodies.

Check out the Petit Appetit blog for food news and recalls. And visit the Environmental Working Group website to educate yourself, and sign petitions to make your voice heard. Currently you can sign the petition to help EWG push for mandatory labelling on genetically modified foods.

I was honored to contribute to best selling author, Elizabeth Pantley's latest no cry book - The No Cry Picky Eaters Solution, Gentle Ways to Encourage Your Child to Eat - and Eat Heathy. In it are some favorite recipes from children's food cookbook authors including myself, Missy Chase Lapine, Jennifer Carden and others. This book is full of tips and easy solutions for parents and children to come together to the table without food battles and tears.

Visit Elizabeth's website to learn more about her books and for a chance to win her titles as well as the contributing authors' cookbooks.

If you want to see something scary on Halloween read some of the wrappers on your child's candy. There you'll see partially hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, alkali, chemicals, artificial colorings and more. Many kids, mine included will be gathering candy on Halloween, but then trade it in to mom and dad for a toy/item of their choice (amount restricted). The candy is then donated to soldiers overseas thru school drives, dentists and Operation Gratitude events.

For those interested in greener, non-candy items to pass out to trick-or-treaters or bring to Halloween parties, here is an abbreviated list of suggestions from Green Halloween (www.greenhalloween.org):

• seed packets
• coins
• pencils
• stickers
• polished rocks, sea glass or seashells
• card games, tricks, jokes
• barrettes
• balls and spinning tops
• crayons
• trading cards

Looking for a fun and healthy Halloween treat for a crowd? These jack-o-lantern fruit cups were a big hit at my son's school last year, with some kids asking for seconds.

email: lisa@petitappetit.com

phone: 415-601-4916

web: http://www.petitappetit.com