While I still know how to ride a bike, I’m getting to the point where I have to teach my kids to do so, and it’s a little harder than I thought it would be. While they say you don’t forget how to ride, you don’t always remember how you learned. My son picked up the whole two-wheeler thing right away, but it’s turning out to be a bit more of a challenge with my six-year-old daughter.

I still have distinct memories of learning to ride my own bike way back when I was her age. My bike, as was the style in the mid ’70s, was a bottle-green Schwinn Stingray, with the traditional banana seat and tall handlebars replaced by my dad with much cooler BMX-style components.

I remember practicing with my uncle at the park across the street. He held onto the back of the saddle to steady me as I pedaled along. I took a quick glance over my shoulder only to see him standing about 100 feet behind me—I’d been riding by myself! Of course I promptly crashed into a heap on the grass, but I got the hang of it after that.

We bought my daughter a new bike for her birthday, and we’ve been practicing when the weather permits. She relied on training wheels on her last bike, and I’ve been told by people who know that they’re really not very good for actually learning to ride a bike. That’s why you see those cool little wooden scooter bikes all over the place; apparently they’re much better for teaching children to balance on a bike. After they figure out how to balance, they can deal with the whole pedaling issue.

The new bike doesn’t have training wheels, and my daughter insists on learning to ride without them. This is great, except for the fact that I have to hunch over and hold onto the seat to keep her from falling over as she learns. When I taught my son to ride, it seemed like we did a few minutes of this bike-holding and then he just took off on his own. But all kids learn differently, so we’re just going to have to take a little longer this time, even if it kills my back.

We’ve been practicing on the grass by the school, and while it seems like a good idea from a safety standpoint, the grass is actually more difficult to ride on due to the unevenness of the surface. We tried this for a while, but eventually headed up to the blacktop to try again there.

The smoother surface was actually better, although my little cyclist was a bit more nervous about falling. Most of the time I had to hang on, but at one point I let go and jogged along just behind her—success! It was only for a few yards, but it was progress. This spring we’ll work on it some more and she’ll be riding on her own in no time. And she won’t forget how to do it, either.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been skiing, so I was a little apprehensive about getting back on skis and hitting the slopes on our recent trip up to the mountains. I made a go of it, though, and did pretty well until it came time to actually go downhill, when I realized I had pretty much forgotten how to stop. The traditional “pizza slice” method just wasn’t working for me, and the fun of picking myself up out of the snow got old pretty quickly.

My wife on the other hand, acted like she’d never stopped skiing. She’s the athletic one in the family, and I’m the brainy, creative, and slightly uncoordinated one, so that pretty much came as no surprise to me. I gracefully bowed out of the skiing scene and contented myself in taking pictures of the kids at their ski lesson down on the lower part of the hill, (which actually was quite a lot of fun).

Yes, the kids did better at skiing than I did, too. I guess I need to take a lesson next time we’re up that way.

What we did do that we all loved—me included—was tubing. Tubing is a popular wintertime activity you can find in many ski areas that almost all ages can enjoy. Best of all, you need no skills whatsoever to have fun doing it. Now that’s my kind of snow sport. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a tubing hill with one of those neat “magic carpet” conveyor belts that carries you to the top of the hill or a cable tow that drags you and your tube up the slope, too, so all you have to do is have fun with minimal effort.

Tubing, simply put, consists of whizzing down a hill lying in a semi-supine position on an oversized inner tube-like thing. With a low center of gravity, there’s little chance you’ll fall off the thing, and you get moving pretty fast. Once you get over your initial terror and realize you’re not going to go flying out of control over the embankment and land in a big heap in the snow a few yards away, it’s a blast.

All in all, it’s a safe and fun winter activity. Just make sure your tubing hill is free from any obstacles that you could hit (ski resort and other organized tubing runs will most likely avoid this), hold on to the tube’s handles on your way down the run, and make sure you pay attention to any instructions that you’re given by the person supervising the tubing hill. Kids might also want to wear ski or bike helmets, although many places don’t require them. Most tubing hills require riders to be at least 42 inches tall, too.

In fact, we all voted tubing to be our favorite activity of our snow trip, except for my six-year-old daughter, who said she liked skiing the best. I’m not so sure I believe her, though, since she actually spent more time on the tubing hill than any of us. Several times we couldn’t find her, only to spot her and her distinctive pink hat at the top of hill ready to start another run. She’s the athletic and daring kid in the family, and yes, she probably takes after my wife.

If you’ve been reading my blog posts here, you know that I’m a dad who cooks. Chili is one of those things that I like to think of as a traditional “dad” food, and I’ve crafted a variation of my time-tested chili recipe that appeals to just about everyone. In fact, my eight-year-old always wants to pack some in his school lunch whenever I make it.

Chili is also ideal football food (which has become all the more important now that my hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, has made it to the NFC playoffs this weekend). If you have guests over to watch the big game, serve chili in mugs—they’re easier to hold while you socialize—and have at the ready an variety of condiments to choose from.

Here I’ve adapted my recipe for the slow cooker. You can put everything in the cooker in the morning and let it go and it will be hot and ready in time for the game, and you don’t have to miss any big plays while you’re working in the kitchen.

If you want to spice things up with some cayenne pepper or jalapeños, go ahead, but I figure it’s better to make the chili mild and let everyone spice it up the way they like it. While you can add all the hot stuff you want after the fact, you can’t take it out after you’ve put it in!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 2 green bell peppers
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 small can fire-roasted chopped green chilis
• 6 ounces beer (optional)
• 1 cups beef broth
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons mild California or Pasilla chili powder
• 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 16-ounce cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons masa harina (optional)
• Kosher salt to taste

Directions

Coarsely chop bell peppers, onions, and garlic, then throw them in the food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.

Now you can either toss everything into the slow cooker or let it cook, or you can sauté the vegetables and ground beef to remove excess moisture and add some depth of flavor.

If you’re doing the latter, heat the oil in a large sauté pan and then add the vegetables. Cook until soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer vegetables to your slow cooker and return pan to the stove. Add beef and cook until browned, then add to the cooker.

Add all the other ingredients except for the masa and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6–8 hours or high for 4–5 hours. Before the last hour of cooking remove the lid and turn slow cooker to high. Dissolve the masa (if using) in some broth or water and stir into the chili, along with the beans. Leave the lid off to finish cooking. You can also add a little more beef broth if the chili is too thick.

Serve chili in large mugs and offer an array of condiments like chopped white onions, cilantro, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, hot sauce, chili flakes, finely chopped jalapeños, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Hi! I’m Andrew Fox and I’ll be contributing to the Shop Talk Blog as an occasional guest blogger, where I’ll be writing about parenting and family tips and advice from a dad’s point of view. For my first post, I show how dads can help out on Thanksgiving by cooking the turkey on the charcoal grill outdoors.

Ever thought about cooking the Thanksgiving turkey on a charcoal grill? If you haven’t, you should—it’s easy, the results are spectacular, and it frees up the oven for other important things like pie. Plus, it allows dads to indulge in the need to cook a bird over an open fire. Who are we, after all, if not keepers of the flame and masters of the grill? (Of course it helps if you live somewhere where you can fire up the grill in late November.)

I’ve been cooking our Thanksgiving turkey this way for years, and it’s really pretty foolproof. You just need to follow a few simple directions, which I am about to share. My technique is optimized for a Weber kettle grill. Other charcoal grills should work similarly, but those of you with gas grills are on your own.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

• A turkey, preferably 20 pounds or less (any bigger and you might not be able to fit the lid on your grill!)
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh herbs and aromatics like onions, lemons, and garlic
• Charcoal
• Wood smoking chips—apple, hickory, alder, mesquite, or whatever you like
• A medium-sized foil pan
• One bottle of white wine (I used sauvignon blanc; something cheap like “Two-buck Chuck” is fine)

Rinse off your turkey and dry it thoroughly inside and out. Make sure you remove the giblets in their bag (I forgot to do this once… yuck). Rub it all over with olive oil, and liberally season with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the herbs, onion, and lemon.

Soak a cup of wood chips in water for 30 minutes. Build a medium sized charcoal fire, and when the coals are ready, divide them evenly into two piles on opposite sides of the grill. Scatter the wood chips over the coals. This will create the smoke that will give the turkey some great flavor.

Between the piles of coals place your foil pan, and pour in your bottle of wine. The wine will add flavor and moisture; you can substitute water or chicken broth if you want.

Put the grill grate on, making sure you position the handles over the piles of coals, as shown in the photo. Place your turkey on the grill, cover, and adjust the vents so they’re about half open—we want a fairly slow fire here.

Now go back in the house and watch football or something. You’ll want to get up every half hour or so and check on your bird, adding two or three charcoal briquets to each side if needed.

Cook your turkey until the temperature in the thickest part of the breast reads 161ºF. Our 12-pound free-range bird took about 3 hours. Remove from the grill and let rest, tented with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes. Then bring to the table and get ready for the compliments!