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Blog Love

Book Lung is hosting a fantastic giveaway with lots of fun ARC’s and other book bling.  Go check it out, admire and enter! 
I don’t really need any new books on my stacks but they all just look so interesting! 

And here’s what’s happening in my world:

My son is struggling with school work. It is very difficult to help your children through the rough spots other than just  love and patience.  I could run out of patience any day though…

My daughter, after watching The Little Princess, has decided to be our maid.  She is now upstairs cleaning her room-as the maid-not as herself.  She refuses to clean her room as herself except now somehow it is fun as a maid.  This is me, throwing my arms up in confusion. 

On Friday I have a reading conference to go to and I’m pretty excited as thee Marc Brown is the guest speaker.  My kids love, love, love the Arthur books.  No kidding.  The college teenager would have like to have been home for this event.  She would have stood in line to shake his hand.  Brown meets with several school groups at my son’s school tomorrow so my husband and Groovy Girl are going so we will have lots of signed Arthur books.  Imagine when college student girl opens up a package from us and a Marc Brown book falls out.! 

Now I have to finish typing so I can read another hundred pages in The Glass Castle-my book club book, which needs to be finished by Sunday night.  I can’t spend the weekend reading though because I have to CLEAN my house-which is close to a pig sty!

Oh, and I went to yoga tonight so I was feeling centered until Chemistry problems clashed with my son’s brain:(

Hope your day is blissful~

Peaceful Reading…

Weekend Update; Library Loot

I had a meeting the other day at the library and because it started 30 minutes after my yoga class and they are right around the corner from each other-it left me about 20 minutes to browse at the library.  Browse quietly at the library by myself, she said with glee. 

I’ve become addicted to the NEW section of nonfiction, but specifically usually  just for cookbooks.  This time though I sort of did a swoop through all the nonfiction section.  I’m not a nonfiction reader, prefering fiction hands-down almost always but for some reason I found a ton of interesting titles this week.

1. The Locavore Way; Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food by Amy Cotler (2009). This one has lots of tidbits and helpful advice.  As I paged through it there was plenty in there I didn’t already know so I had to bring it home.

2. Earth to Table; Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm by Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann (2009).  I love good farm stories and this one has beautiful photos as well. 

3. The Power of Small; Why Little Things Make All the Difference by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval (2009).  I liked the pages I read through and thought it might enlighten me a bit.

4. River House; A Memoir by Sarahlee Lawrence (2010).  A dad and his daughter build a cabin together in Oregon.  Proof that I miss my own Dad. 

5. Scout, Atticus and Boo; A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird  by Mary McDonagh Murphy (2010).  This is a collection of interviews from authors and icons…Wally Lamb, Rosanne Cash, Rick Bragg, Tom Brokaw, Scott Turow, Adriana Trigiani and Andrew Young, just to name a few.  I read part of one chapter while standing and was intrigued.  Mockingbird is one of  my all-time favorite reads.

6. Johnny Cash; The Biography by Michael Streissguth (2006).  This wasn’t on the new shelf but on a music display.  We love Cash in our house and I thought Teenage Boy might enjoy this.

7. Legendary Homes of Lake Minnetonka by Bette Jones Hammell w/ photography by Karen Melvin (2010).  When I was a kid we boated on this lake (thanks, Dad) and now my brother lives near the lake.  I recognize some of the landmarks and enjoy reading about the architechture of these beautiful homes.  My mom was here on Saturday and it was nice to look through some of it with her.

Have you read any of these?  Which section of the library do you usually frequent?

While it was strange to not have one fiction book in my stack,  I am just about to finish Moon Over Manifest,  I have to finish The Glass Castle for next Monday’s book club and I have two books to read for my 5th grade book clubs so I guess I’m fiction-full as well.

Happy Reading.
Hope you’ve had a peace-filled weekend.

Peaceful Reading…

Weekend Cooking; Not Your Mother's Casseroles

by Faith Durand
(2010)

My friend, Janice, found this cookbook at the public library read it a bit then passed it to me so I could check it out.  She was impressed by it and thought she would buy it.  I’ve browsed it and love it; am also thinking about buying it.  My mom came yesterday to watch Groovy Girl’s Strut Your Stuff skating program and lo and behold; she spotted it on my library shelf, browsed through it and wants a copy as well!  I’m pretty sure that is not exactly why we borrow books from the library but oh, well.  At least when we purchase it we know what we are getting.

This book is packed full of awesome recipes and the title is correct-they aren’t the gloppy soup-laden casseroles of my youth.  Luckily, my mother cooked with lots of variety but I did attend many church potlucks and one of my grandmother’s was in love with a particular green bean casserole.  That memory makes  me laugh as she would say “Your a vegetarian, you can eat the green beans.”  Yah, grandma, except they are swimming in a weird bacon gravy.  Thanks for thiinking of me.  Oh. She. Just. Didn’t. Know.

The first great thing about this book is the introduction.  Durand explains the philosophy of casseroles, supplies, pans, filling your pantry and her preference for organic. 

My top ten favorite recipes (haven’t tried them yet but they sound delicious)

1.  Baked Cheesy Chile Grits
2. Breakfast Brown Rice with Blueberries and Almonds
3. Lemon Brioche French Toast
4. Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Break
5. Gruyere and  Spinach Egg Puff
6. Baked Avocados with Tomato and Crab
7. Baked Eggplant Parmesan
8. Luscious Oven Creamed Corn
9. Summer Vegetable and Fresh Mozzaella Gratin
10. Sweet and Spicy Parsnip Bake

This list culls from only the first half of the book and I’ve chosen just vegetarian choices but there are many which include meat.  Durand includes helpful hints throughout the book like this one:

The Useful Mandoline

I am not a big proponent of owning a lot of fancy kitchen equipment. Most recipes in this book can be made with a good knife, a few spoons, a bowl, and a peeler (and a casserole dish, of course). but I do think that a mandoline or Japanese slicer is a huge help in preparing some of these casseroles-especially ones like this vegetable gratin, which calls for very thin, even slices of vegetables. You can find a Benriner Japanese mandoline for about $25.00 online. It will massively speed up your slicing. After I got one, I wondered what I ever did without it.(115)

I don’t have a mandolin but I’m thinking about it now!  I could easily have picked ten recipes from the dessert section as well. 

I have made one recipe from the book and it turned out okay.  My kids ate them up but next time I would make them in a regular 13 x 9 pan instead of the jelly roll pan the recipe called for.  Here it is:

Baked Buttermilk Pancakes

Casserole dish: 10 1/2-in x 15 1/2 jelly roll pan
Bake time: 15 minutes (Yeah!)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 T. sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/1 tsp vanilla extract
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
Pure maple syrup, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray. 
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a med.-sized bowl.  Add the egg, buttermilk, vanilla, and butter.  Whisk to combine.  Do not overmix; the batter will have small lumps. 
3. Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until light golden brown.
4. Slice into long strips and serve hot, with warm maple syrup.
(17-18)

Then she gives a nice little snippet of advice about why it’s best to use real maple syrup.  Our household agrees. We also love pancakes.  When I made these they were flatter than I expected.  I whipped them up the night before and baked them in the morning in a stone jelly roll pan.  This made me wonder if I could make pancake muffins with this recipe?

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme-click over there and check out all the other really excellent food-related posts. 

Faith Durand can be found at Apartment Therapy; The Kitchn.




Peaceful Reading…

Friday Feature; April = National Poetry Month

 I am lucky to have a large collection of poetry books in my library and that I have students who check out from this section even though they stick to favorites like Shel Silverstein.  I devoured Shel’s books when I was in school so I can relate.  My mom,  hip to great literature in 1974, gave me Where the Sidewalk Ends for Christmas that year and I carried it around for months.

Later I fell in love with Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Wendell Barry while I was in college and graduate school.  There is an bundle of great poetry available and every year, it seems, I discover someone new.

 A teaching friend and I developed a wonderful poetry unit about 5 years ago and I doubled our library’s 811 collection.  She doesn’t teach 5th grade anymore and poetry is  no longer in our curriculum at all. I know-it’s criminal!  I am working on poetry with 2nd grade all through April.  We are going to read poems, explore some poetry sites and hopefully, create a few of our own.  What favorite poetry books do you rely on for April or anytime you bring poetry out?

Here are my poetry picks for today:

1.  Poems in Black and White by Kate Miller (2007);  This book combines beautiful imagery with poetry about everyday life.

The Cow


Because
she wears
a bristly map
of milkweed white
and midnight black


           it seems
           as though
                  she’s
             strong enough
             to carry continents
                    upon her back


with oceans
in between


and islands  on her
                 knees.

2. Mirror Mirror   by Marilyn Singer; ill. Josee Masse (2010): This is verse in reverse and it is amazing how each verse works.  Fairy tales are the theme, which means I get to use this book in two different lesson plans this Spring. 

in the Hood


in my hood,
skipping through the wood,
carrying a basket,
picking berries to eat-
juicy and sweet
what a treat!
But a girl
mustn’t dawdle.
After all, Grandma’s waiting.

and on the other side of the page is the reverse but you can reverse it by reading back up the poem.  It makes sense both ways and makes you think!  Love it.

3. Here’s a Little Poem; A Very First Book of Poetry  collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters; ill. Polly Dunbar (2007):  The illustrations in this one steal my heart; Dunbar is magic!  The poetry inside is perfectly picked for young listeners.

This one captures my  mommy attention:

You Be Saucer

You be saucer,
I’ll be cup,
piggyback, piggyback,
pick me up.

You be tree,
I’ll be pears,
carry me, carry me
up the stairs.

You be Good
I’ll be Night,
tuck me in, tuck me in
nice and tight.

Eve Merriam
Try out these other poetry places:

Shel Silverstein
Kenn Nesbitt
Kalli Dakos
and Gregory K’s GottaBook blog is featuring poetry all month!
Poets.org

Peaceful Reading…

Ivy + Bean; What's the Big Idea?

by Annie Barrows + Sophie Blackwell
(2010)
 
From the book:

“It’s Science Fair time at Emerson School and the kids in Ms. Aruba-Tate’s class are supposed to find a way to cool down the earth.  Some kids are making litterbug-eating robots.  Some kids are holding their breath for a very, very long time.  But what should Ivy and Bean  do?  Somehing with explosions?  Something with ropes?  Or maybe something…different.” (inside front cover blurb)

Ohhh, we positively glowed and giggled while we read this book!  I won this special copy from a giveaway a few  months back (a signed copy!) and Groovy Girl and I read it together.  We’ve loved the six other Ivy + Bean books and this was no exception-and in fact this may have been our favorite.  We liked that best friends,  Ivy and Bean,  focused their attention on the science fair project and ways to help the earth.  This book is a fantastic introduction to global warming and how solutions are hard to find.  It will take more than just one or two ideas from one or two people.    It will take many of us, working together, using multiple solutions but certainly alerting future generations to the concept is a great start.
 
After a dull presentation by several fourth graders, the students in Ms. Aruba-Tate’s classroom are curious about polar bears and their habitat loss.  Taking advantage of a teachable moment, Aruba-Tate turns the upcoming science fair into a global warming fair.  Every other student team easily decides on a project while Ivy and Bean are long on ideas but none that work.  We enjoyed how they kept problem-solving, brainstorming and generally thinking outside the box until they finally come up with the coolest idea ever!  I hope Barrows and Blackwell have other books cooking as this one is a hit.  Any age person will love reading this newest addition of second graders, Ivy and Bean.

We can all help…Do what you can, one step at a time. Buy some reusable sacks and leave them in your car for grocery shopping. Even better find some second-hand canvas bags and reuse those as grocery bags.  Do your laundry at night when usage is low or dry your clothes outside now that the weather is just beginning to warm up.  Barrows includes a list of Save-the-earth ideas at the back of the book.  Highly Recommended.

Quick Quote: 

“Think-how do you cool down a hot thing?” asked Ivy, “Ice cubes!  If we could put ice cubes up in the sky, the air would get colder, right?”  “Right,” said Bean.  “But how are we going to put ice cubes in the sky?” asked Ivy.  “Well, in real life, they’d probably have to drop them out of airplanes, but for the science fair, we could just throw them up in the air to show what we mean.”  Bean slapped her hand on the table.  “Great idea!  And easy, too!” (47)

Other excellent reviews:

Kathy @ Bermudaonion
first daughter @ There’s A Book


Peaceful Reading…

Organic or Natural Food Debate-which is better?

Some of you may be able to answer this already, which is great.  I know organic is better but have always struggled trying to explain it to  people.  I know that through the certification process the word “natural” become watered down as to what it means.

Today I was thumbing through Natural Awakenings, a free publication I picked up at Whole Foods, while in Little Rock.  Inside I found an article entitled, “America’s Growing Food Revolution; An Insider’s Guide to Sustainable Choices” by Lisa Marshall.  Skimming through the article I stopped when I read  Maria Rodale’s name of the famous Rodale family.  She writes:  “If you do just one thing-make one conscious choice-that can change the world, go organic.”  In the debate between local, organic and natural I’ve often heard it is better to buy local, then organic and when given no other choices, natural.  I think when she is advocating organic is if people demand it, it could change revert farming to a more natural choice over the industrial farming that has become the norm.  I agree with this idea completely.

The article goes on:  “One 2009 survey by The Shelton Group found that out of 1,000 shoppers, 31 percent looked for the “natural”  label while 11 percent looked for “organic”  There is a giant misconception among consumers that somehow natural is the word that is regulated and organic is not.  In fact, it is actually the other way around,” says CEO Suzanne Shelton.  “Law mandates that U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) products labeled organic be free of pesticides, hormones and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and that animals be given access to the outdoors.”  I believe this part to be true but I have heard that even some organic animals are raised in cages but outside.  This is where I know, for me, it is important to know the farmer so I can ask questions about how their animals are raised.

The article then says:  “By contrast, the Food and Drug Administration vaguely describes natural as, “Nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or has been added to a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.”  With the exception of meat, it is up to the manufacturer to define what natural really means.  (In 2009, the USDA defined “naturally raised” meat as, …”raised entirely without growth promoters, antibiotics, and never been fed animal byproducts.”  It says nothing about GMOs or humane animal treatment.”

It’s confusing for many (even my mom will say “I bought the good stuff-it says natural”) but for my family I need to know animals have been treated humanely-like animal living on farms, just like the farms of our childhood.   This article makes the difference clear to me. 

Other news:  I’m in the process of making Chinoiseries’ quiche recipe I discovered while reading through Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking posts.  I couldn’t find puff pastry, even though I know it has to be there but decided to make my own crust instead.  She based her quiche recipe on this Vegetarian Times one.

Peaceful Reading…

Weekend Cooking; Salman Rushdie's Lamb Korma

Sunday Parade photo of Lamb Korma

My husband loves to read the newspaper, which is a good thing.  I like to read certain parts  but it usually depresses me so he reads and shares things with me and that way I don’t have to get bogged down by all the bad news.  He found this Salman Rushdie’s recipe at the back of the Sunday Parade Magazine and said that it sounded good.  He loves Indian food and with his birthday right around the corner I decided this would be my special dinner for him.

 I bought  local lamb at my organic store where I also found the cardamon pods.  I’ve never been able to buy safron here so that was the only ingredient I didn’t have.  It was delicious and I loved crushing the cardamon pods in my mortal and pestle which looks a lot like this one….

The recipe was a huge hit even with my daugher who didn’t eat the meat but loved the gravy and the jasmine rice.   We had some frozen naan from an Indian store in Arkansas to add to the fun!

Lamb Korma

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1½ cups chopped onion
1 cup clarified butter (melted and skimmed of milk solids)
4 to 5 large cardamom pods (available in the spice section)
10 to 12 small cardamom pods
2 lb lamb, cubed
6 to 8 garlic cloves, crushed
½ inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1½ Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp red chili powder

1½ tsp salt
8 oz plain yogurt, lightly whisked
Pinch of saffron
Directions:
1. Brown onions in butter until deep golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and pulse in a blender to form a paste. Crush cardamom; mix into paste.
2. Add meat to pan; stir over medium-high. After a few minutes, add garlic, ginger, coriander, chili powder, and salt. Stir for a couple of minutes. Mix in yogurt. Cover and cook over very low heat, 1 to 1½ hours.
3. About 5 minutes before korma is ready, add onion-cardamom paste and saffron so it can be absorbed by the meat and gravy.
Mine didn’t look like the picture above at all-I didn’t have those tiny peas and carrot cubes and mine had more gravy (I added extra yogurt)-otherwise I thought it would be dry.  We loved it and I would make this again.
This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking meme.  Click over to see her post-she’s making (my heavens) chocolate-ginger cake!  It looks yummy.
Salman Rushdie’s Parade magazine’s article.

Peaceful Reading…

Friday Feature-Book Lover's Books

Today I have three books about one of my favorite subjects…books.  Books about books! Two are new finds and one is a favorite.  I would love to hear your favorites!

1. Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile (2011) by Gloria Houston; ill. by Susan Condie Lamb

This hardcover just came in my Scholastic order and I knew from the cover I was going to like it.  Miss Dorothy loves books and people at a young age and she decides to become a librarian.  Her dream is to be the librarian at the “fine brick library just like the one where she checked out books in the center of the town square in her hometown in Massachusetts.”  She goes to library school at Radcliffe, graduates and gets married.  Her husband wants to live on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mts, far away from her hometown.  Her dream changes but she still becomes a librarian, sharing books with lots of mountain people.  The illustrations are beautiful, capturing the Appalachian countryside with great color.  I read it aloud to one class and they were quiet and thoughtful by the end.  It is based on a true story from the author’s recollections of Miss Dorothy’s bookmobile.

2. The Wonderful Book (2010) by Leonid Gore

I love many of Gore’s books-they are quirky.  This one is no exception.  Several animals find a book in the forest and invent ways to use the object.  Rabbit makes it into a house, bear makes it into a hat and the mice use it for table. When a boy comes upon the book and begins to read it the animals find out the true purpose of the book.  As the animals nestle down to listen to the story it reminds me how many children automatically tuck into your side as you begin to read.  Very charming!

3. Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook (2003) by Michael Garland

If you haven’t experience Miss Smith’s fabulous storybook you need to find it at your library.  She is a funky brand new teacher and she takes the boredom out of any day by reading from her amazing book.  While she reads (and students eyes get big as saucers) the stories come alive and suddenly the characters are next to the kid’s in class.   A perfect way to illustrate how our imaginations work as we read!  When I read this aloud last week one student said “Mrs. Holt, you need to get a book like THAT!” 

What new treasures have come alive for you this week?
Happy April Fool’s Day!  I played one great trick on a class and was delighted to pop back in to their classroom and say “April Fool’s”-they laughed and laughed!!

Peaceful Reading…

She Looks Just Like You! (Oh I hear that all the time!)

I remember the days when I had time at work or home to pull together extra minutes to write a book review. Hah!   We are experiencing a crazy schedule and I have to pick and choose what I can get done.

I did manage to finish reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves tonight after our church dinner celebrating Haitian culture.  I simply came home, laid down on the sofa and read.  I wanted it finished for my 5th grade book club meeting at school, which meets today,  and no way did I want to listen to 5 students discuss the ending without having my own insight.  Now I can shout it from the mountain top-Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson wrote an a thrilling sequel to Peter and the Starcatchers.  I wonder what Peter and the Secret of Rundoon is like….hmmm….must add to list.

But I digress because today I’m actually here to tell you about She Looks Just Like You; A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood(2010)  by Amie Klempnauer Miller.  This is a “hot button” topic right now and one that I am firmly for-and I will gladly shout this from the mountain top as well- people should be able to love who they want.*

The description of Amie falling in love with Jane while they were both at a Midwestern college could mirror my own love story.   I’m probably preaching to the choir but my wish would be if just one person who is against gay marriage read this book with an open mind and had a change of heart would be mo.  It’s about people and love and justice.  I feel without a doubt that this is the Civil Rights struggle of the 21st Century.  Same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexuals, to marry, foster and adopt children and to share health care. Amie explains how frustrating it was to have to go to court to adopt her daughter. 

Amie and Jane’s love story and their decision to become parents after an 18 year relationship is personal, heart-warming and I recommend this book  for the story it shares. Okay, for her first book she does overwrite a bit-lengthy discussions and overly descriptive at times,  but it is her retelling.  Once Hannah is born the book made me laugh and cry because parenthood is funny and tragic all at once.

Nursing, late night trips to the doctor, over guessing every dang decision, worry added to more worry is what encompasses the second half of the book and that is the dream/nightmare most parents also experience. It brought back my nursing joys and baby love.   I nursed and hated weaning Groovy Girl.  Yet I was the one who wanted to wean her because she was old enough to ask for it on demand and Spring Break and summer loomed ahead and I knew I just couldn’t take it anymore.  Ahhh, the irony of it all! 

The difficult part about reading this book is “watching” Amie and Jane’s relationship crumble as they find their new roles as mom and mamma much more difficult than any parenting manuel can ever express. Thank you to Amie for writing a book that is honest about how hard it can be for anyone to be sleep-deprived, work full-time, try to write, try to placate your partner all while the child is wailing-it’s painful but well-told. 

My favorite movie this year was The Kid’s Are All Right, which has a similar theme of a longtime lesbian couple (Benning and Moore) with children and the children choose to meet their sperm donor father.  It is realistic and hilarious! 

Amie Klempnaer Miller’s website and blog-keep up with the family!

A random quote:

“Pregnancy slaps you in the face with the knowledge that much of who we are is defined by our bodies.  On a daily basis, Jane is becoming less self-sufficient.  Her growing stomach limits the clothes she can wear, the things she can reach, and the spaces she can fit into.  Hormones course through her veins like hallucinogenic drugs, making her drop things, forget what she is saying in the middle of a sentence, and gag whenever she tries to brush her teeth.  Her body is hot and tired and beginning to swell.  And now she is surrounded by a room full of even hotter, more exhausted, and more swollen women, like perverse Ghosts of Christmas Future, presenting vision upon vision of what she will become.”  (80)

Other thoughts:
Emily reviews it at What All the Cool Kids Are Reading…

I found my copy on the new shelf at my local library!

*disclaimer-understand this to mean I don’t consider small children or young adult children to be love interest candidates for adults.  I’ve heard this argument before and clearly I know the difference between consenting adults who like each other or fall in love.  Often we don’t pick who we fall in love with-it happens.  I happened to have fallen in love with a tall, brown-haired man who slurps his cereal and drives with his knee.    I still love him and find him incredibly sexy most of the time!

Do you feel GLBT can be good parents/partners?  Let me know in the comment section…

Peaceful Reading…