Peaceful Reader

Interesting YA titles

I finished both of these in September and what ties them together is love and the power of acceptance; something most humans desire. One uses that power and the other makes it into a curable disease.

The List by Siobhan Vivian:

Filled with the craziness of high school it brought back memories of how BAD it can be. I thought it said a lot though for all that high school student’s experience-being popular is weird and being unpopular is just as weird. If only all high school students could learn to be themselves; a very difficult concept because most teens have yet to truly find themselves as it often takes years to figure it all out.

Mount Washington H.S. has this tradition of a published list plastered all over the walls right before homecoming. The list shares the prettiest and the ugliest female student in each class. At any level it is difficult to appear on either side of the list; yet both sides display negative behavior because they are on the list.

Siobhan Vivian relays the stories of all eight young women affected by the list and we learn just how being a member of this small group changes them. In order to ignore the list you’d have to be a very mighty girl! I was not a brave soul in high school and would have found it heart-breaking to be even mentioned. Even the young women chosen for the pretties side struggle with how to keep up with the image they think every one expects. My first thoughts were that the list must be written by a guy or a group of guys. The ending left me shaking my head and praying for a second women’s movement!

A quote:

She lifts her chin a few degrees. ‘I’ve decided not to take a shower for a whole week.’

‘For real?’

‘Yup,’ she says, making the p pop. ‘I’m not showering, I’m not brushing my teeth, putting on deodorant, anything. I’m wearing these same clothes, not just the shirt, but the jeans, the socks, the underwear, the bra. My last shower was on Sunday night, before I went over to your house.’ She folds her arms. ‘I won’t participate in any kind of hygiene until Saturday night.’ It feels good to say her plan out loud. Now there can be no backing out.

‘What’s on Saturday night?’

‘The homecoming dance.’ It sounds so utterly ridiculous, but she keeps a straight face. ‘I’m going as smelly and disgusting as I can possibly make myself, dressed in these clothes.’

Milo laughs and laughs, but when Sarah doesn’t join, he stops. “Wait. You’re not serious.’

‘I am.’

‘Why are you letting that stupid list get to you? You hate the girls at this school, obviously for good reason. And now you want to show up at their dumb dance? This isn’t like you at all.’ (101)

Even the young women chosen for the pretties side struggle with how to keep up with the image they think every one expects. The ending left me baffled and praying for a second women’s movement!

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (2011):

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This is a glorious look at a future world where love has been deemed a disease. Can you imagine? They make a good case for why love could be perceived as a sickness. Lena is an orphan living in her aunt’s household waiting for her treatment that will prevent her from getting the disease. Many good plans fail to work out though and Lena meets someone that makes her feel all the effects of love which confuses her. Does she feel this way because she is now sick or are the people protecting her lying to her? As love often does her life becomes complicated as she balances her quiet life at home with her new desire to break the rules and see Alex as much as she can.

I enjoyed the relationship between Lena and her best friend Hana. They are good to each other but have a few struggles and conflicts throughout the story but in the end they find they can count on each other.

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I was named after Mary Magdalene, who was nearly killed from love: “So infected with deliria and in violation of the pacts of society, she fell in love with men who would not have her or could not keep her.” (Book of Lamentations, Mary 13:1).

We learned all about it in Biblical Science. First there was John, then Matthew, then Jeremiah and Peter and Judas, and many other nameless men in-between.

Her last love, they say, was the greatest: a man named Joseph, a bachelor all of his life, who found her on the street, bruised and broken and half-crazy from deliria. There’s some debate about what kind of man Joseph was-whether he was righteous or not, whether he ever succumbed to the disease-but in any case, he took good care of her. He nursed her to health and tried to bring her peace. (87-88)

I enjoyed how Oliver twisted our own biblical stories to create and re-enforce this new history and makes a convincing argument against love.

Both books were borrowed from my local library.

I’m reading Maggie’s Stiefvater’s sequel to The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, and love it. I downloaded it to my kindle to encourage myself to finish a book on this device. I love using it as a mini-computer and as a game device but have yet to finish a book on it. Dream Thieves will be my first and I’m proud to say I’m half way through or in Kindle-speak 48%.

Weekend Cooking; Guests!

If you’re having guests you need to plan a menu and that is one of my favorite chores. My in-laws arrived on Thursday and are staying through Tuesday. My husband directed a play in town, The Good Doctor by Neil Simon, and they’ve come to see it.

Making life easier for me my mom prepared lasagna at her house then brought it to my house and baked it so we could enjoy dinner before we all headed to the dress rehearsal of the show. We came back to the house after the play and had raspberry pie made by mother as well. I did make the fresh whipped cream for the top yet the truth is the women in my life really take care of me! Last night we ate at our new local Ginger Thai restaurant making Friday night’s meal easy on me again. Whew. And the taste sensation that is Ginger Thai doubled the food joy.

This morning, though, we shopped at our downtown Farmer’s Market-always beautiful, making preparations for a few meals we will cook together. We found two fat pumpkins, a bunch of kale, an eggplant, and a big head of broccoli to use. Our next stop was Cup of Joe’s, one of our favorite hangouts. We had a warm drink and played a quick game of Candyland.

Tonight we are having a roast chicken adapted from this Ree Drummond recipe. With the chicken I am serving this Israeli Couscous recipe I made this week. It is marinating into a perfect dish and I love that I will just have to toss it and serve it! My mother-in-law shared with me several new recipes that we are also going to try. She loves to cook as much as I do! One is a recipe for baked broccoli which looks simple yet delicious.

My mother-in-law makes amazing pies which prompted me to ask her if she would walk me through making a pie crust-I suck at making crusts but love pie. We turned that crust into a ground cherry apple pie using this recipe from a Minnesota blogger. Groovy Girl helped weave the lattice pie top. My grandmother had a patch of ground cherries and was an expert pie baker. I cannot wait to eat dinner tonight. The house smells like pie and soon the farm-fresh chicken will be roasting away stuffed with lemon, rosemary and butter. Hmmm.

{Wee baker with perfect pie!}

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

Weekend Cooking; Treats.

Wow. Two weeks flew by quickly.

And in that two weeks I’ve done some baking. Just because. Baking is good. Healing. A friend from work, my “egg man”, gave me a whole bushel of apples. Un-perfect, farm apples. Beauties that my camera won’t do justice. We’ve sliced them and had them as snacks yet their numbers didn’t diminish.

{Photo Source}

I remembered back to a recent Beth Fish Reads post about an apple cake that caught my eye. Oh my. I made it last week and that cake was delicious. The frosting-heavenly. I’m waiting patiently for a new occasion to arise just so I can make it again. Looking back at the post to link it I was reminded that it came from a King Arthur cookbook which makes perfect sense. Get some apples. Eat the apples because they are so good for you raw but then make the cake to reward yourself.

The next delicious treat I made is from Katie Workman’s fantastic book, The Mom 100 Cookbook. I needed a quick treat to make for my 5th grade book club. I searched through two or three books and happened upon this one on page 328 in the Bake Sale section. The kids loved them. Very rich chocolate taste without a lot of work. Perfect when you are making them at 9:00 at night.

Fudgy One-Pot Brownies
Makes 12 huge or 24 reasonably sized brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus butter for greasing the pan
Nonstick cooking spray (I used coconut oil to smear around)
3 ozs unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar ( i know that IS a lot!)
1/2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1 T. pure vanilla
3 large (farm) eggs
1 1/2 cup (unbleached KA) flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 13 x 9-in pan.

2. Place the butter and chocolate in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat and let melt together, stirring until smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt, then blend in the vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring to mix quickly so they don’t have a chance to cook at all before they are blended in. Blend in the flour.

3. Scrape the thick batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until the edges just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

4. Let the brownies cool in the pan on a wire rack. When completely cool, cut them into 12 or 24 squares. (The side note says it is better to cut these the next day if possible.)

Brownies were so good I had to make a second batch for home and to share with the in-laws arriving this week. I have to keep slapping my own hand from taking the crumbles.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Stop over and have a look at the many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Cupcakes!

Yesterday was the big birthday party. Each year a lot of thought goes into what to do for birthday parties at our house. When our older two were younger we had kite-flying parties, bowling parties, coffee shop soirees, and sleepovers. Groovy Girl takes it to a whole new level, naturally. Her themes have ranged from a penguin party (everyone wore black and white), a tie-dye party, a fairy garden party, and an art-themed party with a scavenger hunt downtown. This year she wanted it outside (this was NO surprise as all her parties are outside) and she wanted to bike, have a scavenger hunt, and do a craft. She called it an outdoor craft party.

This year’s scavenger hunt was in a nature area that all 5 girls biked to and instead of collecting the items from her dad’s long list they snapped a photo of it with her tablet. She turned the photos into a quick little slide show so they could “prove” they found the items. Everyone worked together to find the items and within an hour they rode their bikes back to me, waiting at the picnic shelter. We had pigs-in-a-blanket, salt & vinegar potato chips, grapes, and carrots.

{Groovy Girl is in the tutu!}

Their craft was button-making as my husband has a button-maker! They were able to pull objects from the area or magazines to create one-of-a-kind buttons. Each of them made 2-3 buttons and then we ate cupcakes.

I made the chocolate cupcakes from this Martha Stewart recipe. They were very easy and I would use this recipe again. Groovy Girl picked out a lemonade frosting from her So Sweet cookbook. We didn’t like it even before we put it on the cupcakes because we didn’t know what else to do. She was frosting them Saturday morning right before the party. I want to try the recipe again with much less shortening and more marshmallow fluff.

As it was the frosting tasted like plastic with that weird shortening aftertaste. NOT what we were looking for; plastic tasting lemonade. She did decorate them nicely with lemon zest and a tiny straw end poking out like they could drink it-which, of course, a few of them tried to do. We have a few remaining cupcakes from the dozen and I plan to knock off the frosting, dollop some of the real whipped cream leftover from her pancake birthday breakfast and enjoy the cupcakes anyway.

In case you want to give it a go:

lemonade filling {73-74, Sur La Table’s So Sweet)

1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
1 1/4 cups marshmallow cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp lemon oil (I didn’t use)
1 tsp lemon juice (I used about a Tablespoon instead)
1 package (.23 oz) lemonade drink mix (optional) (we used it)

Place the shortening and the cream in the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream them together on medium speed for 4 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. Place the powdered sugar in the bowl, starting on low speed to incorporate. Increase the speed to medium and beat for an additional 4 minutes. Add the lemon ingredients and beat 4 more minutes.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click over and read other food-related posts.

Happy Sunday!

Happy Birthday Groovy Girl!

She’s 11 today! She was a 3 # baby and So full of life! She giggled then just like she does now. She’s a princess, a dancer, a gymnastic, musically-talented, an outdoor girl, a jumping on my furniture girl, a mighty girl who has big dreams for tomorrow and her future. I thank God every day for her bright personality!

We gave her a new bike with gears and hand brakes for her big day. She was thrilled as it has been on her list for awhile.

Birthdays are such a fun time to reminisce about their baby time and their birth story and Groovy Girl never tires of hearing about the day she was born.

2 Excellent YA Stories

I recently went on a YA craze so I could vote for Iowa Teen summer reads. I’ve waited all summer looking each time at the library for Eleanor and Park at my closest library and it was always checked out. I got lucky one day and found it sitting there waiting for me.

Eleanor and Park (2013) by Rainbow Rowell

What a fantastic read this is! Eleanor re-enters her family life after having spent the last year living with a family friend. She meets Park on the bus as she makes her way to her new school. Nobody else wants her to sit with them, that awful thing that happens on school buses across the nation when someone new comes to town and they are a little gawky, unusual, or overweight. She’s shunned by everyone but Park as their relationship begins with little more than head nods and small smiles. Eleanor hides her family life from him as much as possible and as a reader my heart went out to her as she attempted to feel comfortable in Park’s “normal” household, with two loving parents and food in the refrigerator. Their relationship blossoms and they are both changed by it. I loved this stark look at how a child from an abusive home and in poverty struggles to maintain just a small glimmer of hope through all that is her regular life. Every character in the story is one you will love (or hate) and you will want their lives to continue even as you turn the last page.

The Raven Boys (2012) by Maggie Stiefvater

I loved Stiefvater’s Shiver series so I’m not sure what took me so long to pick this one up off the shelf. I don’t think I even investigated what it was about yet when it appeared on my teen list to read for the summer I was anxious to read it. Once I started I had trouble putting it down. Work kept getting in the way! Blue is the daughter of the local psychic in Henrietta and their house is filled with a merry group of friends who also dabble in the magical arts. Her relationship with her mother is solid and happy until a group of Aglionby Academy boys enter into Blue’s life. The group of boys led by Gansey are all looking for a ley line that runs through Henrietta. Gansey knows who ever unlocks the ley line will hold it’s power and help him in the search for Glendower the Welsh king. I’m a fan of fantasy and enjoyed all parts of this intricately-woven tale. I wanted to sit at the table in Blue’s house and have my cards read by Maura, Persephone and Calla. I’m now very excited to read The Dream Thieves out September 17-just around the corner.

I would add both titles to my best of YA along with Ask the Passengers and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Have you read any these books? Which one resonated the most for you?

Happy Anniversary!

{Amana, IA, 2013}

It’s so nice to be married to the one that you love. My husband came home the other day and shared some interesting facts about relationships. He loves sharing tidbits with me and this time he’d drummed up some frightening facts about marriage. Did you know that 73% of long-term married couples are not with their true love! Can you imagine? And that if given the chance they would leave their partner to get back to their true love. To me, that’s a little like, love the one you’re with…

We were married 12 years ago in a beautiful ceremony in Galena, IL. At the reception at the picnic shelter my husband with some musician friends sang an original composition to me. It was lovely and made me cry. We’ve had an incredible journey and hope for many more years together. Yesterday at church an older woman that we keep in touch with said to us “12! Try 61 years!” She was smiling as she said it but there was a wistfulness as her husband of 61 years died two years ago. How sweet love is, whether you have it for 2 years, 12 years, or 61 years.

If you find someone that you can live with, that brings you joy and laughter, make them yours. It isn’t about all the sexy stuff-it’s about eating breakfast together morning after morning, listening to them slurp their huge bowl of cereal and still rubbing your foot next to his before you head off to work. It’s about being a good listener even when you’ve heard the story before. We should treat our companions with the same respect we give our co-workers and friends.

My parents were divorced when I was a young adult. No matter what age it happens it tears you a part. My parents hadn’t been compatible for years. There was strife and anger about who knows what-and frankly I don’t want to know. I think my mom realizes now that they both could have tried a little harder, been more sympathetic, patient, or thoughtful. However you look at it; marriage is a lot of work and it takes being aware of that everyday and yet everyday needs a little fun. It’s up to you to remember to bring the joy in; maybe a smile, a game of cards, a movie to share together or just a hug in the kitchen. Don’t wait for the other person to provide your happiness.

{In Virginia, 2013}

Today we’ve enjoyed working in the kitchen together as I made three new batches of pesto with basil from my mom’s garden and he cooked a hearty breakfast with biscuits, bacon, eggs, and fruit AND then as I started on the 3rd batch he cleaned the kitchen right around me! As we cooked, blended, scraped, and wiped we played a whole slew of old country favorites like Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty and this other one by Conway Twitty that my husband sings me all the time. We are not actual fans of country music yet there are some classic songs that speak to us. Like this one by George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Classic. This one by Otis Redding also makes us happy, which then led us to this interesting reinterpretation of Otis’ song.

And yes, there was a little dancing going on in the kitchen. And a lot of smiling. So much so our daughter had to leave the room.

As Maya says: “We need just three things in life: something to do, something to look forward to, and someone to love.” We heard Maya Angelou speak for our very first date together and we hold her words close to our heart.

Weekend Cooking; Tomato Risotto

Good morning weekend foodies!

I spent Friday and Saturday morning at my mother’s farm making salsa from all her farm-fresh, huge tomatoes. This was our second annual event and we had just as much fun although Groovy Girl was not as much help or even all that cheerful as she had an allergy attack.

She loves the chickens though and actually gathered an egg moments after laying. It was warm and her smile was big. My hands were full of tomatoes though so I did not get to snap a photo. If you want to see last year’s post with recipe included click the word SALSA. It is interesting to look back at old posts-I noticed Groovy Girls hair is shoulder-length, it’s grown a lot in one year.

This year I brought home three batches of salsa. The last batch I made (mostly) on my own and did a bit of experimenting. Instead of two cups of sugar I replaced one of those cups with my stepfather’s honey. If it proves tasty next year I’m going to go out on a limb and do two cups of honey. It should still add the hint of sweetness and I won’t be dumping in two cups of white sugar. It’s a salsa revolution!

{NY Times}

In other cooking news this week I made tomato risotto after an email from my sister-in-law said that her and my brother loved this recipe from the NY Times. It just happened to be the day that the Times was hacked AND I couldn’t reach my twitter page. Because I had my heart set on risotto I found this alternative recipe on Emerill’s food network page. It was delicious and Groovy Girl ate three helpings. Emeril’s has cream in it and no basil so she didn’t have to worry about picking out “green things”. I’m not including a photo from Emeril’s page as the picture is less than thrilling. Imagine the above photo with out any green. I added a heavy dose of pepper and freshly shaved parmigiano-reggiano to the top of the adult plates.

Now I’ve made risotto before but for some reason this time I really want to know if any other rice can be substituted for arborio rice? I get that it comes from a special place in Italy but in a pinch can I use another type of rice that I have in my dry storage. Has anyone ever substituted another kind of rice for risotto? I’m curious just to know.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking. Click her link to find many other food-related posts. She has an apple cake posted today that sounds wonderful. Have a wonderful Labor Day.

Weekend Cooking; A few recipes from our week

{source}

“Welcome to the weekend!”, is just what I said on Friday afternoon as I headed out of school. It is exhausting getting back into the swing of school days. Now that it is Sunday afternoon and I still have a bucket-load of work to do I’m trying to reel Friday night back. It’s okay, I’ll get it all done after a little nap.

Our oldest daughter, my step-daughter, Kaylee, spent the week with us in-between her job as a camp counselor in WI and before she heads back for her senior year at Oberlin. I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that she will graduate this year. We did have fun while she was here though and that will have to last us as we won’t see her again in person until Christmas.

The first night she arrived I made an easy taco bar with seasoned rice and black beans as the main ingredients. We had fresh lettuce, chopped tomatoes from the garden, salsa, and some shredded cheese to decorate our flour tortilla shells. This is often my go-to meal on busy week nights. I probably make a variation of this theme at least once a week. I’m glad my kids like rice and it is a perfect meal for self-expression as everyone can design their own taco ideas.

Another night we went to a new local Thai restaurant. It was packed and busy but once our food arrived we were all very happy with the flavors. I had a tofu red curry dish and Kaylee had a coconut chicken noodle dish. I have leftovers to eat today!

We also made fresh Iowa sweet corn one night using this new method my mother-in-law turned me on to through this video:

The corn does come out VERY hot so make sure you have an oven mitt on your hand. I didn’t the first time I did it and I almost dropped the ear of corn getting it to the cutting board. The corn comes out if you help it along and it tastes delicious. I think of all the years of boiling a big pot of water to feed my summertime sweet corn love.

We made my friend Stephanie’s margaritas (recipe is at the end of this long-winded post but well-worth the scroll) last night after we’d spent the day at a downtown festival. Happy hour rushed right into dinner as I sipped and pounded meat at the same time. We had the chicken cutlets from Dinner; A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. This has become Groovy Girl’s all-time favorite meal. She not only ate her cutlet but begged for the rest of her dad’s when he was resting between bites. “Can I have that?” as she pointed at his plate. He raised his eyebrows in a funny way and said, “I’ll split it with you” and she took him up on it. I’m not making this every night yet it is a delight to have her eat heartily and not pick. Find that cutlet recipe at this previous blog post.

She and I biked to the farmer’s market in the morning and we picked up a bag of green beans, a big bunch of beets, and some eggplant. We found a new type of eggplant and had to bring some home. The grower says it will be good in a stir-fry so that will be on the menu for this coming week.

{Aren’t they cute!}

{Beets, of course}

{Japanese eggplant}

Groovy Girl and I carry our own bags to the market (really, where ever we might shop) hardly ever accepting despicable plastic grocery bags. The ones we do pick up on occasion are reused to pick up doggie poo. It kind of annoys me that all these growers hand out plastic bags with every little thing, just like the big box stores. I wish they could be motivated to move beyond the bag-offer a discount-for anyone going bag free. I know not everyone comes prepared yet it seems we are enabling the customer to be lazy. In my utopia plastic bags would be outlawed. Just my little green soap box for today…thank you for listening. I’m sure I’ll feel better now. Do you carry your own shopping bags? If not, this is such an easy thing to change as so many retail places offer their own variety of canvas bags. The ones I carry around in my purse fold into their own little sack, making it easy to take them everywhere. Mine look a little like this example.

We were somewhere this summer (on the East Coast) where they were NOT giving away bags-you had to pay for a bag and I was in heaven. Enjoy the produce photos. Eat healthy this week. Try the cutlets just because Groovy Girl loves them.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click the blog link to view many other food-related posts and join in with one of your own. And now that I’ve typed about food for over an hour I find myself a bit peckish. Roasted beets or leftover Thai?

Back-To-School Story Ideas

I’ve been back to school for two days now, attending meetings, planning with teachers, and cleaning up the library. On Monday I was exhausted by 10 am and ready for a nap. No kidding. Even though I’ve worked in my house over the summer somehow back-to-school wore me out.

How do you think the kids are going to feel those first few days? Worn out. Ready for a nap. Itching for their handheld electronics or endless amounts of television viewing. Teachers have to have their game on as kids enter their classrooms. Kids might come in thrilled for the new year yet it won’t take much to lose them if we aren’t centered and focused.

Here’s a short list of books that I think are perfect for the first few days of school.

1. First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg: I love this story as it has a bit of a twist that will make kids smile, maybe even giggle and the conversation after reading it is always enlightening. Sharing this book will show your students that YOU, the teacher, has a sense of humor. Busy Teacher’s Cafe has activities for this book-click their name to pull up website. And if you want a digital tie-in here is a video clip. The video ends just short of the surprise ending which leaves a window for students to make predictions. Find more teaching resources for this book at Unique Teaching Resources.

Pete the Cat; Rocking in my school shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean: This jazzy title gives a quick and fun rundown of what the school days will be like and shares a quick trip around the school. It does not matter what your school shoes look like because once I introduced Pete the Cat last year and I plan to keep him rocking this year as well. The positive message won’t be forgotten. Video to share:

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn: This one is nearly a classic to teachers and children alike. Every year though I’m surprised by students who’ve never, ever heard the story. This is especially appropriate for pre-k, kinder, and first grade students who may have trouble letting parents go on the first days of
school. In my home copy I was lucky enough to have a page of heart stickers inside the book so every time I read it with my own kids I could grace their palm with a sticker. Make Learning Fun has activities to compliment this title. Share this collection of videos.

I hope everyone has a cheerful school beginning-we all deserve that, teachers and students alike. As teachers we have the ability to lift our students up and bring a positive message to their education.