Peaceful Reader

It's my birthday (well, yesterday) and I celebrated!

Beautiful hotel pool

I turned 50 yesterday. I know. It feels weird to me as well. I remember when my parents were 50 and it seemed so dang old-seriously ancient-that I never contemplated reaching the age myself. It’s here. When in doubt, celebrate or run away and celebrate. Groovy Girl attended church camp for 3 days near Des Moines and my husband came up with the idea to “whisk” me away for those few days. We stayed in a nice hotel with a very comfy white bed. This photo doesn’t even convey how soft yet crisp the bed felt.

I had a white bed like this years ago when I was single and lived in St. Paul, MN. I didn’t have kids or a husband or two big hairy dogs; just me and a simple bed with white sheets and a white down comforter. I missed it just a tiny bit as I enjoyed this one but not enough to trade the kids, the dogs, or the husband! It’s just a bed after all. Those other things make up my life.

Here’s my birthday photos to share…

Sushi at Hoshi’s

Jasper Winery

The full moon graced my birthday days

Cupcakes with our friends Rocky and Mary Kay

Love this platter from Mary Kay

Husband’s homemade monster card

Want to know what gifts I was lucky enough to receive?

My amazing in-laws (and I felt this way before yesterday) sent me a Kindle Fire!! I played with it until 2:00 in the morning. Our oldest daughter is doing an intern in NYC and she sent me a cool book bag from The Strand bookstore. Our youngest made me a very colorful collage. I gonna frame it. Teenage Boy had a jingle writer write and sing me a Happy Birthday ditty. Aren’t they creative!

Beyond the wonderful trip my husband put together for me, with lots of gifts along the way, he still had gifts at home; the new Gillian Flynn book, Gone Girl and a CD of Michael Kiwanuka (Home Again) because he heard Michael on NPR and loved his sound.

I ordered myself Planting Dandelions by Kyran Pittman because I’ve wanted it for awhile.

Groovy Girl’s “Mama” collage

My little feet dragging at check-out time

The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus

I read several books while I was on vacation in Colorado and this one was by far my favorite. About a year ago I finished One Thousand White Women by Fergus as well and loved it. My friend, Rocky, lent me the book and then gave me this one to read. It’s always interesting to me how some people hit upon an author they like; it’s like the stars and the moon aligning just right as you search a book store which is how he felt. I appreciate his trusting nature because both books sat on my to-read pile for a few months before I had the chance to read them. He’s been patient with me though because he knew it was worth the wait. Thank you, Rocky!

The Wild Girl; The Notebooks of Ned Giles, 1932 (2005) shares two separate stories that merge into one well-crafted historical fiction gem. From the point-of-view of La Nina Bronca (a Native Apache girl) and Ned Giles we can fully appreciate each angle of the story. La Nina is hunted by the evil Billy Flowers and his pack of mangy dogs through wild Mexican terrain. He is an expert tracker and she is exhausted and starving. Once his dogs tree her he takes her in to the closest town and drops her off with the local authorities. It was all about the hunt for him yet Flowers’ part in the story is not over-he’ll be back! Ned Giles encounters La Nina Bronca weeks later as he comes through town heading to Mexico for an Indian Expedition meant to bring home a young Mexican boy kidnapped by an Apache tribe.

Fergus writes well from a female perspective and it is easy to fall in love and have the most empathy for La Nina Bronca because he’s framed her with such a beautiful yet violent story. Ned also is an easily understood character as he is a young orphan out in the world searching for his way. Fergus adds in a memorable cast of characters that help both Ned and La Nina Bronca along on their journey. Tolley, a gay socialite, is hysterical and balances well against Margaret, the more serious sociology student, sent on the expedition to learn more about the tribe. Billy Flowers and Indio Juan serve as crazy antagonist’s on both sides of the clan.

I hope Fergus continues to write and that my friend Rocky will keep lending them to me. I read this one faster than One Thousand White Women so I’m improving my turn-around time-now I know that inside the pages of a Jim Fergus novel lies a good and enticing story!

Find more about Fergus here at his website.

Weekend Cooking; Market fresh produce with an easy recipe

Weekend Cooking:

It’s a busy day here in the Holt household. My husband is off doing a shoot for 3M and I’m diligently working on homework to finish my Fantasy Literature course for Fresno Pacific.We also have a casual wedding this evening.

I did sneak out early this morning to go to our beautiful Farmer’s Market which I missed while in Colorado.

I picked up two baby eggplants, a basket of okra, and a nice-looking cucumber. I’ve been making a lot of easy dishes using garden produce especially using the large box of tomatoes I carted home from my mom’s house.

I plan to make this eggplant recipe from The Chew; a cooking show my mom introduced me to. For dinner last night I whipped this recipe up created by me using lots of fresh produce.

Garden-Fresh Vegetables and Rice

1-2 T. of olive oil

1 yellow squash, diced without the inner seed section

1 small zucchini, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

4-5 soft tomatoes, diced

1 can of garbanzo beans

Several large pinches of sea salt and curry powder

Fresh ground pepper

Cooked brown rice as much as will feed your family

Saute the zucchini and yellow squash in olive oil for a few minutes and then added the garlic. Continue to saute to soften the dreaded squashes that my children despise but will eat if cut small enough. Add the chopped tomatoes which will create a nice juice. Add the can of garbanzo beans and stir to mix. Sprinkle in sea salt, ground pepper and curry. Serve in low bowls over brown rice. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, cilantro, or torn basil leaves. This is a perfect summer recipe because you can tailor it to what ever extra veggies you have on hand or what you find at the market. Spice it up with cumin or change the garbanzos to black beans for variety.

My husband just finished Ragbrai (the famous ride across Iowa) yesterday and he had three helpings. My kids each ate one bowl and the only complaint Groovy Girl had was that I hadn’t added enough tomatoes to her bowl. Enjoy!

Oh and Adam Duritz: What? Yes. He was part of my week!

The last night of Ragbrai I met up with my husband and we saw The Counting Crows together. I still love Duritz’s hair (real or not). He was fun to watch and the music was fantastic!

Happy eating.

A 9-year-old's view of the farm

(You can see which part of the farm Groovy Girl, holding Henrietta, loves the most-this one I snapped)

My two children and I just spent the last day and a half at my mom’s house in Northern Iowa. We went to relax and spend time on the farm. The basil was flowering and my mom had beckoned me to make a few batches of pesto as well. Groovy Girl ran around today taking photos of her choice on my new phone.

(the pretty girls)

(the wind tunnel)

(Herb’s Tub-my stepfather’s humor)

Thanks Mom-we had a great time! We did make two batches of pesto (now in my refrigerator), rested, ate two delicious meals, and played a great game of Spite and Malice. Great photos, right?

Friends and Salads

This is my friend Jennifer. We’ve known each other for 20 years. We’ve laughed and cried together. She’s seen me at my best and my worst. She was my maid of honor when I married Greg and she was there for the birth of my first child. We bumped bellies when our daughters were in utero-our girls are two months apart in age. I love her dearly and she truly is like a sister to me. I miss her terribly because some how we ended up in two different states; she stayed in Colorado and I moved to Iowa. We travel back there every couple of years but I’ve always wished our children could grow up together. These last few weeks I’ve been in Colorado for an extended stay and it was perfect. I hung out with her four beautiful children while she worked and when she was off we played. The photo above was taken at the Denver Zoo.

Some of my earliest adult food memories are shared with her. We used to make lunch together and one of our favorite meals was grilled cheese dipped in ketchup. Yep. Healthy. We were vegetarians together for years. We loved sushi with saki and Mexican food~usually accompanied by several margaritas. While we did make some margaritas one night our eating was a little more healthy this time around. She’s turned into a fabulous cook and whipped up several great meals while we were there.

She shared two recipes with me that we made together and I will make again soon

on my own, thinking of her.

(Our beet salad next to magazine photo)

Tomato and Beet Salad

(adapted from Everyday Food by Martha)

Roast 1# beets

Slice 2# garden fresh tomatoes

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Arrange tomatoes on platter

Remove beets from oven and run under cold water, using a paper towel to remove skin. Be careful-they are hot! Once skin is removed slice beets and add to platter.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup (or more) feta cheese crumbles over top. Add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Garbanzo Bean Salad

(We dug in so quickly we forgot to take a photo)

1 can garbanzo beans or soak your own

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced

olive oil (more)

red wine vinegar (less)

sprinkle sea salt

Mix together and eat. Yum.

Thank you Jen for such a fabulous holiday! You are courageous and even more amazing now! I love you and hope our friendship continues to grow for more years to come.

This post is linked to the ever friendly Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme hosted by Candace. Feel free to head over there by clicking on the link and read other food-related posts.

Happy Monday from sunny Colorado!

We’ve had an excellent trip to Colorado. Teenage Boy and Greg returned last week. Groovy Girl and I have been lucky enough to stay for an extended time to help my brother move into a new house and we are happily spending a lot of extra time with my dearest friend, Jen and her four kids. These photos share Teenage Boy and Groovy Girl’s trip to Grand Lake to fly fish. Teenage Boy has lots of experience as every summer he has been able to fly fish with Grandma Janice and Grandpa Dean but it was Groovy Girl’s first time. She caught a 10-inch brown trout but that didn’t get captured before being returned to the stream. You can see they saw a lot of wildlife while fishing!

A Year without Autumn by Liz Kessler

I have to admit I did expect something magical from the woman who generally writes about mermaids but the magic in this tale comes from time travel not ocean creatures.

A Year Without Autumn

Liz Kessler

2011

294 pgs

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Jenni’s much-anticipated vacation with her family and best friend Autumn goes awry when an old elevator transports her to a future in which everything has changed, and she must not only return to her time but find a way to prevent what she has seen from coming true.

Jenni doesn’t choose to travel forward in time; it just happens and what she finds is confusing and unhappy. How did all this mess occur? It takes her awhile to figure out what has happened to make her and her best friend’s life so miserable and then how to sort the trauma into something good. Jenni discovers that a missed horse riding date with Autumn causes a near-fatal accident for Autumn’s little brother, Mikey. The trickle down affect of this accident is what sheds light on a sad future for her best friend’s family and her in retrospect.

This is a wonderful book to share with a friend or a class full of students. Problem solving and cause and affect would be good discussion topics. Jenni grows as a character and I love how this makes her more sure of herself and her friendship with Autumn. You got to trust yourself first. I think young readers (probably girls) will love this time travel book about friendship. It reminded me of that famous line “There but for the grace of God go I”. You never know what circumstances can bring a family down if Autumn’s family can change in an instance.

Random quote:

I slink out of the house like a burglar, silently closing the front door behind me, and head for Autumn’s building.
The lobby is empty. It looks the same as it’s looked every day, the same as it looks every year. The marble walls, the fountain trickling out behind a glass panel, the archway to the first-floor hallway. The elevator. The one we’ve always used. And next to it, the other one: the one that’s never worked. Until yesterday. (146)

While it doesn’t have mermaids for characters this story is a though-provoking twist of fate tale. Perfect for understanding the complexities of family life and how simple moments can change everything.

Weekend Cooking; Breakfast for dinner!

Meal planning has gone out the window during this busy summer but I’ve still crafted some inspiring dinners.

I had a bag of organic potatoes and some gorgeous farm eggs from my teaching friend John. Put them all together and you can make a wonderful crustless quiche! I sliced the potatoes and cooked them with a mix of unsalted butter and olive oil in my ever-so-useful Lodge cast iron skillet. I sauteed them for about 10-15 minutes, making sure to stir a few times. You can see the whites of the potato change color as it cooks. Once you think they’ve cooked enough then your ready for the eggs.

While the potatoes cooked I cracked a dozen eggs into a large bowl and whisked them with a big splash of milk. I added large sprinkles of sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and a seasoning salt from Penzey’s.

I was so into egg whisking I forgot to snap a photo but look at those beautiful shells.

I added some sour cream to the egg mix but you could also add cream cheese or goat cheese. I poured the egg mixture over the nicely browned potatoes in the skillet and let it bubble up all together. I let it sit on a low burner for a few minutes to cook underneath and then popped it into the broiler to finish off the top. Half way through I pulled the rack out and sprinkled grated mozzarella cheese on top.

This is what it looks like after sitting on the broiler. Watch it so it doesn’t get too brown. I sprinkled more cheese on it before taking it to the table. I used my pie cutter and a spatula and it came right out of the pan in nice pie pieces. There it is all dressed up with salsa, sprouts, a dab of sour cream on the top and a slice of toasted sour dough bread on the side. Should have had a slice of bacon on the side but it was probably already eaten! The four of us ate more than half of this for dinner with just a few slices for leftover lunch the next day. Salud!

These post is linked to Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads. Click on her link about Dinner; A Love Story and see what other fantastic food-related posts she has linked to this Saturday.

Two fun non-fiction titles to get excited about…

Get Dressed! by Seymour Chwast (2012). The front of this charming book opens up from the middle for a unique twist. Clothing apparel is presented for two children from the start of their day to the end as they use their imaginations to fend off dragons, rock out in a band, build sand castles, play super hero, and then lose their clothing to take a bath and go to bed. This is perfect to share with a little one to spur their own imagination and for pure fun.

Art Panels, Bam! Speech Bubbles, Pow!; Writing Your Own Graphic Novel by Trisha Speed Shaskan and illustrated by Stephen Shaskan (2011). This cool book takes the reader step-by-step through the writing process and explains exactly how a graphic novel is written. Each page introduces one tool that will help students (and adults) move through and understand what makes a good story. Characters and plot are covered as well as how to draw thumbnail sketches, panels, speech bubbles, and captions. All children who love those drawing books will love these as well as graphic novel fans. I learned a new word “emanata“; little pictures or lines that emanate from a character or object to show emotion. Calvin always had zaggy lines bolting from his brain when he was furious. I feel a little smarter today thanks to this book.

Both of these titles will make it to my fall book list because they will attract both teachers and students. Kids would love a writing lesson based on the skills in this Art Panels and behold the teacher who would be smart enough to use it that way!

Another Outstanding elementary fiction

My friend Tina is an extremely avid reader and usually has great recommendations. Last time we were at the library together she loaded me up with several good choices. This was one of my favorites!

Something to Hold

Katherine Schlick Noe

2011

250 pages

Something to Hold takes place in 1962 on the Oregon Indian reservation, Warm Springs. Kitty’s dad works for the government forestry service putting out forest fires in the great Northwest. Her family lives on the reservation, which is fine, but she and her siblings will attend the reservation school as well. She’s unsure of how this will go as she already feels uncomfortable feelings from some of the local children. This is such a great description of what Native life would be like then and probably now as well. The story is based on the author’s own growing up experiences and as a reader I enjoyed her recollections immensely. Noe’s website has an interesting biographical information about her years on the reservation.

Quote that made me mad as Mr. Nute their teacher “teaches” them about Columbus Day as they prepare for a celebration honoring Mr. Columbus and the Native children don’t know or understand the state song:

“We are all immigrants,” he says, “And America is the greatest country in the history of mankind. It was established on the backs of those who came before us.”
Mr. Nute pauses for a second to let that sink in, then he unleashes an oration on Columbus Day and the ideals on which this country was founded. All made possible, Mr. Nute tells us, because this one man and a bunch of others who came after him had the courage and vision to seek out this empty and savage New World, to plant their flags so that civilized men could tame it, men like our country’s forefathers and the great exploreres who made the Oregon Territory safe for the pioneers, all of whom sacrificed so much so that we can have the freedom-the unearned and unappreciated luxury-to sit here and wallow in our ignorance.
“Now, let’s take it from the top,” Mr. Nute says quietly. “One more time.” (56)

This is a lesson for Native children? Yes, I know. The audacity. This attitude is still what gets our country into trouble. This story grabbed me as Kitty deals with friendship, bullying, racism, and attitudes. She learns so much about herself in this one important year. Tina said it first so I’m just agreeing and repeating but this one should be honored with an award this year.