Author: peacefulreader

Wow.  I haven’t written a book review for quite some time.  I hope it’s like riding a bike.
I read Gaiman’s Neverwhere back in March and rushed through it.  My family was wowed at my ability to fly the sofa with this book in my hand.  Gaiman wrote this in 1996 and it is a perfectly dark urban fantasy.

Synopsis:

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk.  His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed.  There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them.  And he must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew.   (from the book cover)

I had trouble getting into it for the first few chapters and even sent a text to my stepdaughter to see what she thought about this title.  She is a HUGE Gaiman fan and her advice was to keep going; it was going to be worth it.  So I settled in and plugged away until I couldn’t give it up.

Richard is a wonderfully simple guy who easily morphs into a modern hero.  His only superpower is his naivete and his kindness.  He wants to believe people are what they say they are and he thinks he wants the life his overbearing fiancee, Jessica, has created for him.  Thankfully he rescues himself when he stops to care for Door.  Great name, Gaiman, because once he’s met Door he enters a completely foreign world with monsters and angels plus ordinary people who have quite literally fallen through life’s cracks.  Neverwhere is multi-layered and fantastically written.

One of my favorite sections is when Richard, after getting Door to her destination,  returns to his office, Jessica’s office and his apartment only to find his life doesn’t exist.  Wouldn’t that be a truly horrid nightmare?

“Jessica.  Thank God.  Listen, I think I’m going mad or something.  It started when I couldn’t get a taxi this morning, and then the office and the Tube and—” He showed her his ragged sleeve. “It’s like I’ve become some kind of a non-person.” She smiled at him some more,  reassuringly.  “Look,” said Richard.  “I’m sorry about the other night.  Well, not about what I did, but about upsetting you, and …look, I’m sorry, and it’s all crazy, and I don’t honestly know what to do.” 

And Jessica nodded, and continued to smile sympathetically, and then she said, “You’re going to think I’m absolutely awful, but I have a really dreadful memory for faces.  Give a second, and I know I’ll get it.” 

And at that point, Richard knew that is was real, and a heavy dread settled in the pit of his stomach.  Whatever madness was happening that day was really happening.  (61)

Brilliantly creepy.  Richard, begging for his non-life back, knows even then he wouldn’t change helping Door.  A hero who doesn’t know or want to be a hero is always the most fun to read about.

Find N. Gaiman here @ Neil Gaiman and on twitter.

Cake on my grandmother’s Spode plate

Teenage Boy’s birthday was last weekend.  Did I mention he turned 17 and how old that makes me feel?  Well it does. No gray hair to prove it thankfully but there are other less obvious scars.  A long list of joys as well but this cake conversation was not one of them.

Over the years I’ve made homemade angel food cake topped with strawberry sauce and fresh whipped cream for his birthday until he told me last year how much he disliked angel food cake.  What!? When did this occur??  I have pictures of him grabbing at angel food cake during his early birthdays.  I felt stricken.  How come you didn’t tell me this? He gave me a teenage shoulder shrug and a “I’m telling you now.”  So much for thinking you know your teenage child.

Even though he’s requested less sugar in his life he does love chocolate so I pulled out the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever know and made this cake because it oozes chocolatey-ness.  This cake was made for special occasions and church potlucks when I was growing up.  It hails from a family friend named Alice Bachman (of course) and always been referred to in my family as:

Alice Bachman’s Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and then added to 3 T. cocoa and 1 cup HOT water.

Combine sugar and flour and beat in eggs.  Add HOT water/cocoa/butter combination and continue to mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Add the buttermilk, soda, and vanilla.  Combine well by hand.  Use butter wrapper to lightly grease 9 x 13-in baking pan.  Pour batter into pan and bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting:
Melt 1 stick of butter (yes, more butter)  in small saucepan.  Add 3 T. cocoa and stir.  Add one box of powdered sugar, 6 T. buttermilk, and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Stir over low heat until smooth.  Pour over cooled cake.  Serve and enjoy.

My dad used to eat this cake in a bowl of milk. I do this now in my favorite small pink bowl in memory of him and Alice and smile, smile, smile as I scoop its deliciousness in.

On my quest to not eat sugar I will be making this rhubarb cake (Smitten Kitchen) solely based on the fact that a friend gave me a big bag of rhubarb just begging to be turned into this big crumb coffee cake.

This cake post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme.  Click her link to find many more food-related posts.

I’m off to garden now which is on my weekend to-do list right after finish WC post by 9 am.  I’m off schedule already.  Hard not to scrap it all and do give in to Heather’s temptation.

Have a blessed Cinco de Mayo!

April left a little quickly but was filled with excitement!

This young woman turned 20 on the 5th.

This young man turned 17 on the 28th.

I’m working on a graduation party for Teenage Boy. His lab school is closing which has caused him to reevaluate and graduate early.  Wow.  That’s a lot to take in.

After attending many grad parties in the past we knew we wanted to make less of an earthly impact.  We didn’t want a huge garbage can to be filled up with paper plates, cups, and streamers.  After searching local party stores I ended up ordering compost-able plates and cups from Amazon.  I feel ecstatically happy about this decision.  We are having root beer floats, Bugles (TB favorite snack-so not healthy), popcorn popped by me, and turkey hot dogs roasted over our fire pit.

I  read three good books in April:

1. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.
2. The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby.
3. Crossed by Allie Condie.

I went to only one movie, Bully,  but it was life-changing. I recommend it to everyone, 4th grade and above.  Even Groovy Girl saw it and she made it through the few bad words.  We went as a family and had a great discussion afterwards.  I cried continuously and have felt moved to talk to everyone about it.

Groovy Girl had her skating program and Spring is official for her as there are no more Saturday morning skating lessons.

Happy May.

Everybody has their favorite bowls

Cereal.  We love it at our house.  Big huge crunchy bowls of it.  We eat ours a bit differently than others do.  This odd practice of ours has even raised eyebrows from friends and family members from afar.

We mix our cereal-Lord, yes, we do!  In one bowl, we add a base such as Cheerios, Corn or Rice Chex (gluten-free) and then we build up from there.  A touch of granola or flax to the top, a generous sprinkle of raisins or dried cranberries to the top, pour Hansen’s healthy milk over the top and it is one big bowl of happiness.

We are also pretty particular about what boxes are welcomed into the cereal cupboard.  This was the first food our children learned to read the label on. My husband only let them choose cereals with a sugar content  no higher than 10-12 grams per one cup.   Not the 3/4 cup size even.

We’re not the cereal police, really-we just wanted them to have a healthy breakfast.  My husband is the one who masterminded the cereal mix and all of our children stick to it.  They’ve been reading cereal labels since they were little-it comes naturally.

Our favorite brands:

1. Mom’s Best Naturals; Sweetened Wheat-fuls, Mallow Oats are the favorites. (there is that pseudo word “natural” but from everything I can tell this brand is true to it)

2. Cascadian Farms; Chocolate O’s, Cinnamon Crunch

3. Kashi; Go Lean Crunch.  My husband and I love this sprinkled on top.  It is similar to granola and adds a good crunch.

Other brands we eat:
Cheerios, Chex, Wheaties, Rice Krispies, Kix, and Life.  Cereal is expensive and this mix-it-up method makes the expensive organic brands last longer because you’re just using a sprinkle of it ever day.

We generally buy organic raisins from the bins.

How do you like your cereal?  What is your favorite brand?
This post is loosely linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme-where many people write about their cooking experiences for the week.

He’s here for our very own Cedar Valley’s Youth Read.  He signed Schooled for me and I spoke with him for about one minute.  I generally get tongue-tied but I managed to tell him that my school book club students loved hearing his story about how he sent his first book in to the Scholastic Book Order address-he was in 7th grade at the time!   This story made him very human and less celebrity-like.

What I wanted to tell Mr. Korman was how much I love his book Schooled.  I admire the main character Capricorn  and wonder how Korman created such a wonderful hippie boy.  The story has such great themes about bullying, friendship, and being yourself that I want to share the book with everyone.  I think many of his other books are interesting also but Schooled has a very special place in my reader’s heart.  Perhaps because I think Capricorn would appreciate a blog like mine just as much as I appreciate his unique upbringing on the commune.  I’m so happy Korman agreed to do this year’s student workshops.  It was great to shake his hand.

Check out Gordon Korman’s website and blog.

Groovy Girl picked up this skinny little cookbook from the local library.  In fact she picked out two cookbooks.  Wonder who she gets this cooking thing from?

She had a friend over the other night for a cooking “play date.”  For real.  They asked if they could get together to cook something and obviously Groovy Girl had this in mind.  They read down the list of ingredients to see if
I had them all.  It was a blissful pantry moment for me when I could say “yes” to the list of ingredients. I think the packets of gelatin were pretty old and I’m not sure when I would have bought something like this-I think maybe it was a jam-making experiment.  There must be a healthier, more kind option than these packets-but I had them!

After browsing the book I liked many of the recipes (yes, several crepe recipes) and information is included on French regions, traditions, and holidays.  There is also a great beginner’s prep guide of ingredients, tools, and vocabulary for the young wanna-be chef.

Chocolate Mousse (56)

1 envelope unsweetened gelatin powder
1/4 cold water
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 square semisweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 pt. heavy cream

1. In a medium bowl, combine gelatin with water and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk and chocolate.  Over low heat, stir until the chocolate is completely melted.  Add the sugar.  Stir until it dissolves completely.
3. In a  medium bowl, use and electric mixer to beat the heavy cream until it thickens and forms soft peaks.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large mixing bowl.  Use a spoon to combine the gelatin mixture with the chocolate.
5. Use a rubber spatula to fold one-third of the cream into the chocolate.  Fold in remaining cream.
6. Pour into an attractive serving bowl or into individual serving dishes and cover with a lid.
7. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.  Decorate with whipped cream or grated sweet chocolate before serving.

Serves 4.

(We added  some crumbled brownies that were a little dry and a dollop of whipped cream made it perfect.)

They wanted it served in fancy glasses.  I said your pudding will be ready in two hours.  Groovy Girl’s response was “It’s chocolate mousse, Mom.  NOT pudding.”  Well, okay, then.  Enjoy.  I cut down on how much sugar we used because I already had freshly whipped cream with a hint of sugar from a recent pancake morning breakfast, by adding that cream in we didn’t need the other sugar.  We also tightened up the cooling time because it was an after dinner play date and bedtimes were calling.  Our beer fridge in the basement is super chill so we covered them in glass pyrex dishes and crossed our fingers.  After a walk/dog chase across the street we came back to cold mousse.  The girls tried to lick the glasses clean!

I had a great weekend and one of the highlights was buzzing into the library to return two books so as not to incur a fine and then finding a whole stack that had to come home with me.  It was also canned goods week; when the library will let your fines drop for a donation.  Love this win-win idea.

The two bottom titles, The Time Life Encyclopedia of Gardening; Perennials and Annuals, were purchased of the discarded library carts.  Both titles set me back one dollar.  The are circa 1972 but I’m not sure how much this category would have changed.  The photos alone are beautiful.

The next one is from the new nonfiction section; Edible; a celebration of local foods by Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian.  I’m sure I can find a few great recipes to try for a weekend cooking post.

The Annotated Wind and the Willows by Kenneth Grahame with an intro by Brian Jacques seemed like something I should read with Groovy Girl.  I loved this story when I was her age and remember that I was in a book club at my little small town Minnesota library and this book was one of our summer reads.  I think the annotated version will be interesting to explore.

Footprints on the Roof; poems about the earth by Marilyn Singer; ill. by Meilo So and Peaceful Pieces; Poems and Quilts about Peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines were from the library’s display of April Poetry.   Out of the many books on display these two appealed to me and I don’t have either at my school library.

And I happened to be in the library aisle looking at The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, which I just recently finished and I spotted the sequal, The Game of Silence.  I’m interested to see where Erdrich takes the story of Omakayas.  

It’s been a good week for cooking at my house.  I had minimal after school meetings or obligations and actually made it home in the 4-5:00 range every day. Teenage Boy’s soccer game (usually on Thursdays) was too far away making it possible for me to pick up Groovy Girl Thursday afternoon because I knew she’d be lugging her violin home.

Monday after school I whipped up a stir fry using these ramen noodles and a bunch of random veggies (orange pepper, celery, carrots, spinach) I picked up for under $7 at this Co-op plus onion and garlic.  Once the noodles were in hot water and the veggies were steaming in my wok I whipped up this peanut sauce:

This gem was on display the last time I visited our public library.  As a person of Christian beliefs as well as an environmentalist it was an easy decision to snap up the book and tuck it in my canvas, reusable library bag (the one I purchased at the William F. Laman Public Library because I was sure it would be where I was living always).

This book lives up to its name and would be perfect to use for home-school groups, Sunday School classes and church libraries.  There are nine chapter titles varying from “In the Beginning” to “Solar Power”.

The first chapter shares how God planned a perfect planet yet things didn’t work out as he expected.  People didn’t listen and went about their business with out paying attention to the beautiful world around them.  Just like today…

“Noah is the first of several “green” Bible stories that illustrate the book’s concern with the environment.  In tale after tale, the Bible gives us a blueprint for how to preserve planet earth.  As you read these stories and discover how you can make your world more eco-friendly, you’ll understand how the Bible planted the seeds of environmental concern.” (6)

It goes on to share Noah’s story in “Variety is the Spice of Life”, with very down-to-earth, kid-friendly language, and adds two inquiry challenges for readers to “Become a Biodiversity Detective” in your own back yard and at the zoo.  Each vignette matches a Bible story and is followed by activities to try.  At the end of the book several stand-alone sections cover topics of urban planning, vegetarian diets and blessings for nature.

We just redid the “Friendship Room” which houses our library and I’ve already recommended this book to be added to the children’s section.  This is a welcome addition to many stagnant religious texts for children.  If you have other religious recommendations that fit a more modern outlook let me know.