peacefulreader

Eating and Reading

This looks exactly like the mix of tomatoes I used for the Cheeca Sauce.

I got my copy of Mockingjay on Thursday and even though I’m happy to have it in my hand it wasn’t as exciting as (the old days) getting the new Harry Potter in the late post on the same day. Those were some thrilling days, waiting in the driveway for the UPS man to hand deliver it in its brown wrapper. My son is taking his turn first since I am still enjoying Shiver. I have the third book in the Millenium series to read but maybe I’ll tuck Mockingjay inbetween.

In other household news I have gazillions of tomatoes in every size including tons of cherry tomatoes and these tiny, yellow pear-shaped ones so tonight I boiled water, made pasta and whipped up this so easy sauce from my food goddess, Giada.

Checca Saucee

Giada De Laurentis’s everyday italian

12 ounces of cherry tomatoes, halved

3 scallions (white and pale parts only), coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 ounce parmesan cheese, coarsely chopped

8 fresh basil leaves

3 T. olive oil

4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

In the bowl of food processor, pulse the first six ingredients just until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped. Transfer the sauce to pasta bowl and stir in the mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. Toss freshly cooked and drained pasta into sauce and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

I scrapped more Parmesan on to individual servings as well. I love this sauce because it’s raw and so easy!

I did make the pickles last weekend and they worked. We are letting them sit for two weeks but we had extra so we’ve been eating them like an appetizer. It was a great family project and we are going to repeat it this week sometime with 5 lbs of cucumbers from a friend’s garden.

What are you reading and eating this weekend?

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

A Place for Delta

by Melissa Walker, PhD

(2010)

272 pages, includes glossary and further reading

Every once in awhile I’m contacted by an editor, or publicist, to read a certain book because it matches my interests. You never really know if the book is going to be a good fit but this one was perfect. A Place for Delta, sent to me by Lisa Roe, from Online Publicist, is an environmentally-friendly, pay-attention-to-the-world-around-you, kind of book! It is a fast read with great details, the first book of a series, and I love when a series excites kids about reading!

Synopsis from Whale Press website:

The first book of the series, A Place for Delta, was published in June 2010, and has already been selected by International Book Awards as winner of the Best Children’s Fiction category. It is a 272-page, smythe-sewn, jacketed hardcover; a middle reader chapter book for 9-12 year-olds. A Place for Delta captivates, inspires, and empowers children. The novel incorporates current environmental concerns into the narrative of one family’s multi-generational adventures. Eleven-year-old Joseph travels to Barrow, Alaska, the most northern town in the United States, to help a group of wildlife biologists care for an orphaned polar bear. Stationed at a research center with his Aunt Kate, Joseph becomes a player in a complex web of mystery, scientific discovery and danger.

I appreciated how this book merged a great story with such deep scientific facts. As a non-sciencey-type person I enjoyed learning about the natural environment of both Georgia and Alaska. The above synopsis mentions the multi-generational structure of the book so you get a feel for how important the link is between our past and our future. Most of the story focuses on Joseph and his Aunt Kate taking care of Delta, first in the Alaska research center and later at a natural habitat on Joseph’s grandmother’s Georgian farm. Kate records data for Dr. Yu as he strives to learn more about the polar bear population and how global warming, and the local oil companies, may or may not affect their survival. He discovers a young polar bear on an ice floe one morning and later they find the mother bear dead. A mystery unravels as Joseph flies to Barrow, Alaska, to help his aunt care for the baby bear. Taking care of Delta turns out to be only part of his grand adventure.

Because my 15-year-old son has traveled to Alaska three times for fishing excursions I kept fact checking with him. “Would you actually see a moose close to downtown Anchorage?” and he would answer me (an exchange of conversation occurred-YEAH), filling me in with all sorts of his own details. Yes, it is possible to run into a moose in Anchorage and he knew of the spot Walker makes reference to in the tale. I was happy that each time I fact checked he was able to answer in the affirmative and it was a great way for me to hear more about his previous trips. I love a story that has the details correct-even fiction needs to make sense most of the time.

Melissa Walker has created a timeless tale using current issues, interesting cause and effect, problem-solving and makes it all very mysterious. It also is written in language easy-to-understand so students won’t feel overwhelmed.

Random Quote:

Inside the toy box, Joseph found a fuzzy wind-up mouse for Delta to chase, a blue ball the size of a canteloupe, and a bag of large foam blocks. Then he sat down on the floor next to the cub. For a few minutes, she was still as they looked into each other’s eyes. Joseph wondered what could be going on in her mind. All he could do was stare back, almost hypnotized by her gaze. Slowly Delta moved closer to Joseph. (97)

Kids will want their own “Delta” to feed and play with, perhaps opening their minds to the real issues facing all Arctic animals. Highly recommended for middle grade and everyone above, science read-alouds, animal lovers and earth-friendly classrooms. I look forward to the next book in Walker’s Delta series. Thank you Lisa for sending me a copy.

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Shiver for Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by the amazing MizB at Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along-just grab your current read, turn to a random page and find two good “teaser”
sentences to share.

My teasers are from Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, which has been on my stack for far too long!

I know many have already read this but I’m only a few chapters into it and I love it.

The brilliant colors of the brittle leaves all around the shed mocked me then, evidence that a year had lived and died without my being aware of it. I knew with sudden, chilling certainty that this was my last year. (82)

The book fell open to this part-amazing-now I’ve got to keep reading!

What random words are teasing your today??

Winners Announced

I’ve had a fantastic birthday month…and it’s not over yet! My birthday giveaway ended yesterday so I thought I’d take a few minutes to announce the winners!

And the winners are (heavy drum roll):

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Missy B. from Missy’s Book Nook

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow:

Nancye Davis (blog unknown)

Congratulations to the winners!!

**winners chosen by random method which involved blindfolding my husband and spinning him around 10-12 times…

I swear he’ll recover soon (he, he)

If you didn’t win I do hope you’ll take time to read both of these fantastic books anyway!!

Blueberry Dessert and friends.

I’ve been to the Farmer’s Market twice now to collect my 5 pounds of pickles and today is the day I begin the Bread and Butter process! I’ve had a really busy beginning of school week and each night we’ve had events so I’ve set aside this afternoon to start, finishing tomorrow hopefully.

Last night we had friends over for wine and homemade pizza. One of the best things ever is to whip up dough before school, come home and roll it out on my pizza stone. I made the sauce quickly from soft tomatoes from our garden and added sautee’d zucchini and garlic, with homegrown red pepper, store bought mushrooms and fresh mozzarella! Oh, it was so delicious-the crust was perfectly crisp!

For dessert we had something I made the night before using a recipe a friend gave me last year. It isn’t “healthy” but it is yummy and tastes like summer. Luckily, I had fresh blueberries to use!

Blueberry Lemon Squares

Crust:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on low to beat together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add the flour and beat just until it forms small crumbs. Press about 2/3 of mixture evenly into bottom of the baking dish. Set the remaining mix aside. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until slightly browned. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile whip up the filling.

1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
Juice and zest from one lemon
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt. Add the eggs and lemon juice, then whisk until smooth. Spread the blueberries over the already baked crust. Pour the filling over the blueberries. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the top. Bake 30-40 minutes, until topping is golden and the filling is puffed up. Let cool completely then cut into squares. Makes about 9 squares.

We ate the entire pan even after finishing the pizza. My friend Nikki is English and has served me delicious tea at her house and she brought me some Tetley English Black Tea so I can make it myself now. She says the key is to add 2 % milk-not skim.

I finished A Place for Delta by Melissa Walker this morning and hope to finish One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia Williams today or tomorrow.

I hope your weekend is filled with incredible food and friends with maybe a little reading inbetween!

This is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Take a moment to go check out the other food-related posts on her beautiful blog.

The Girl Who Could Fly

by Victoia Forester

2008

328 pages

I picked this up from out Spring Scholastic Book Fair. The cover grabbed me! Luckily, once I started reading it-the story hooked me as well. The story is a little bit tall tale mixed with Spy Kids. My daughter, also attracted to the cover, asked me to read it with her after starting it myself. Oh, what fun some books are to read aloud! I cannot do a great English accent like the rest of my family so she has to listen to Harry Potter in “American English” but I can do a Southern drawl from our three years in Little Rock and Piper and her parents have drawls!

The beginning:

Piper decided to jump off of the roof. It wasn’t a rash decision on her part.
This was her plan-climb to the top of the roof, pick up speed by running from one end all the way to the other. Jump off.
Finally, and most importantly, don’t fall.
She didn’t make plans in the event that she did fall, because if you jump off of the roof of your house and land on your head, you really don’t need any plans from that point on. Even Piper knew that. (1)

Piper McCloud is a character with big plans and great ideas throughout this delightful book. She lives with her ma and pa on a farm in Lowland County, Southern USA and discovers at an early age that she can lift off the ground and eventually by meditating on the idea of flying she can make it happen. Even beyond her flying ability she is a rare and uniquely sensitive young girl. She questions her farmer father about cow’s having feelings as she clearly watches a mother cow mourn for a lost calf!
But alas life never remains in balance and Piper’s flying ability is discovered by the townsfolk and she is ostracized for being so radically different from the norm. Enter her saviour -Dr. Hellion (great name), who whisks her away in a helicopter to a safe haven for kids who are “different.” I.N.S.A.N.E is Dr. Hellion’s school for children who are “lost” in the world because of their special abilities and Dr. Hellion runs it with a crew of minions. They’ve made it a very desirable place to live with special diets, comfy beds and clothing made-to-order. Piper, having been homeschooled, is thrilled to be surrounded by other children for the first time in her life.

As soon as Nurse Tolle was seated at the head of the table and Professor Mumbleby at the foot, the kids hungrily dug into their scrumptious food. It became immediately clear to Piper why mealtimes were such a high point at the facility. She had never tasted food quite so good in all her life. There must have been five different flavors she’d never experienced before in her first bite alone, and every part of her mouth sat up and sang. (108)

The facility introduces a whole new cast of interesting characters and we’re not always sure who is good or evil. Piper’s journey is worth traveling as she discovers the truth about the institute and stays true to herself throughout. Teamwork is a huge element as many of the students need to trust their own instincts and rely on each other’s unique skills. This would make a fun read-aloud for 4th-6th grade students, especially if you can do that Southern Drawl! 4/5 stars

Other spots on the web to read about Piper McCloud:

Victoria Forester’s website
Kay at The Infinite Shelf’s review
and another good one at
Elizabeth’s blog at Swords for Fighting

Happy Reading!!

One Crazy Summer-Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading, highlighting a random passage from your current read. It’s easy to play along.

My teaser is from One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. There are two other books I’m trying to finish up before I fully immerse myself in this one~I am intrigued from the few pages I’ve read.

I did as Big Ma had told me in our many talks on how to act around white people. I said, “Thank you,” but I didn’t add the “ma’am,” for the whole “Thank you, ma’am.” I’ve never heard anyone else say it in Brooklyn. Only in old movies on TV. And when we drove down to Alabama. People say “Yes, ma’am,” and “No, ma’am” in Alabama all the time. That old word was perfectly fine for Big Ma. It just wasn’t perfectly fine for me. (16)

She has such spunk and I love how this quote highlights the changing of an era over the word “Ma’am.” I’m excited to keep reading!

What’s teasing you today??

I want to dance like that…

My husband just arrived back this evening from the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. His youth theatre group performed there and did an excellent job. They were able to catch quite a few shows and Casebolt and Smith was the big favorite. I didn’t get to go to the Fringe-I was at home with children and the dog, preparing to head back to school (tomorrow!) but after watching several of their videos I had to share this fun!

Oh, Saturday I Embrace You!!

Patricia’s Pickles at Brownies for Dinner

I know another Saturday will roll around in 7 days but it will be just the regularly scheduled weekend Saturday, not this fantastic summer Saturday I am blessed with today. I’ve been to the farmer’s market, bought some small cucumbers and 4 red onions and I’m preparing to make bread and butter pickles, for the very first time!! I know-the thought is overwhelmingly scary-Are you just a little nervous for me…

I’m going to use this man, Drew Kime’s help. When I googled bread and butter pickles his site, How to Cook Like Your Grandmother appealed to me on a soulful level. Plus he has pictures and a sense of humor (or at least he writes with one.) I have about 10 projects I am trying to finish up to give me a sense of satisfaction for my summer: How many do you think I can complete this weekend???

1. Bread and Butter Pickles
2. Organize certain clutter zones in our house. (about half done)
3. Continue to work on alphabet book (check)
4. Finish many books on my tbr pile (hmm, could have done better but I have been reading)
5. Lesson plans (school) (not)
6. Flip charts(school) (not)
7. Yoga every day (well, that back injury got in the way but I’m back at it)
8. Laugh a few more times with my children (check)
9. Eat ice cream (almost) everyday (YES)
10. Have everone ready for school by next week and the week after that. (darn close)

Yesterday I took my kids on a school shopping adventure to the Mall where we visited many stores and had a late lunch/early dinner in between. We found a backpack for my tiny dancer at The Children’s Place-she picked from the “boy” rack of BP’s- a purple/blue choice with skull and crossbones! Hey, I’m so glad she took a step away from pink and picked something so unique. At the inexpensive shoe place she found slip-on sneakers that (almost) match. I didn’t want to mention they were boy’s as well but hey, she loves them. For her gym shoes she did pick white ones with a silvery/sparkly swoosh so she hasn’t completely gone over to the darkside.

Teen-age boy was in a good mood (you know that’s rare if you also have a teenager:) and found sneakers he could live with at the more expensive shoe place but they were on sale so it was a go! I have a new dress code policy this year (I cannot go into details because it really mortifies me that I have a master’s degree and someone far superior to me has to tell me how to dress-well, it just raised my hackles) I can say it… “I have trouble with conformity.” We cannot wear “open-toed shoes” to school so no fancy sandals to match the heat. I had to shoe shop a little and found a great pair of Merrell’s on sale. Does anyone else work in a school district that dictates what you wear?? Share with me please so I can have a little hope that this too shall pass and I will live through it unscathed! Truly it’s hard to be calm about this!

I have several finished books to discuss (The Girl Who Played with Fire, Rainbow Jordan and The Girl Who Could Fly) and have to finish That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week before our family meeting on Tuesday night.

After today I hope to cross off number one on the list; bread and butter pickles!! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! I hope mine will look half as good as the picture at the top and still be edible.

So what do you have planned for this glorious Saturday??

Book Blogger Hop

Well, it’s 9:30 in the morning and there are already 189 entries over at Jennifer’s blog, Crazy-for-Book! It’s a great list of blogs so I’m ready to start “hopping” around. I’ve had fun the last few weeks and have been amazed at how many book blogs there are….it”s downright crazy!!

Her question today via Michelle’s Book Blog is:

How many books do you have on your ‘to be read shelf’?

It’s not so easy to compile this from the many different piles around my home and the

variety of lists I keep but here goes:

113 tbr list on Good Reads

155 in my house in various locations

100 on my computer list

For a Grand Total of 368 books

Thanks you seven-year-old for helping me run around and count piles!!

This doesn’t take into account the books on my library shelves at school that

I want to read but never get around to them.

Have fun “hopping” around!!