good food – Peaceful Reader

Farewell to September

I can’t believe October begins tomorrow. Summer is my favorite weather season because I like the heat of the sun, the warm days on a boat or patio, and easy summer foods and beverages. Many people love all that about Fall; the pumpkin spiced everything, the sweaters, the leaves falling. We’ve had amazing weather throughout September and I hope October brings more of the same. Truthfully all the seasons provide something to love but when we veer towards winter I dread feeling chilled all the time. As with every month I’ve done a fair amount of cooking and reading this last week. Right now I’m enjoying Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the 2nd in the series.

Last weekend I cleaned up an area of my living room and went through a stack of books. Weird right, that I would have a stack of books sitting right on the floor in any of the rooms in my house? As I sorted this particular stack of books I found a note from a friend inside the front cover that said “I’m going to want this one back” which is code for “this was very good!” so I promptly started to read it.

The Plot was amazingly good and written by Jean Hanff Korelitz, an author I was completely unaware of until now. I read the book in 4 days and while it has some creepy moments it isn’t over the top because I can’t handle scary. It has great plot twists and interesting characters. Now I want to read other stories by this author. She is a playwright and started an online book group, Book the Writer, that pairs authors with readers. Check out the EventBrite page to see upcoming authors. I would love to sit in on one of these sessions even though technical they all take place in NYC apartments. (After browsing the list I signed up for the online group with Jhumpa Lahiri and her new book Wherabouts. I’ll have to check if the library has a copy as I made a promise to myself about book buying after I moved that stack of books from one spot to another.

{Half-Baked Harvest image}

Sometimes my brain works overtime and I try to prepare something for book club that relates to the book we read. This is not always easy but reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman the food question was very clear. The characters all eat pizza together in the apartment with the bank robber/kidnapper and so I made Roasted Mushroom Kale Pizza from Half-Baked Harvest and it was delicious. There were no leftovers. Last night I made Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna and it is amazing. We had it for dinner tonight with a salad and we had to force ourselves to stop picking at what remained in the pan. Two pieces is plenty…but oh, so good! I do want to make her Vanilla Chai Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew soon as well…I mean tomorrow is October after all.

Now I’m off to do a little bedtime yoga with Adriene and get myself mentally prepared for Friday.

Hello Fresh and other news

Out of curiosity I used a coupon card and signed up for meals from Hello Fresh; one of the many subscription food services out in the world. And I found that like many things it is filled with false promises and inaccurate advertising. It was a lot of fun to look through the week’s menus and pick and choose what to look forward to for the week. The meals look delicious online and honestly when you cook them up out of their handy brown paper bag they tasted good. So the flavor and ease were a hit but there was so much waste with tiny packaging for sauces and herbs that as an eco-conscience person it was not a good fit. Also the advertising on their page is like “ten free meals…” which is just not true. You get a big discount on your first week’s order but the price goes up significantly after that. I was happy to give it a fun try at a time when it was just the two of us to cook for and we needed a mental health boost as we were trying to desperately leave winter behind. I will use the recipe cards again and again because the flavors were good – I’ll just plan to use my own pantry items here on out.

It’s National Poetry Month and I’ve worked this in to my lesson plans for some spring fun. I read a few excerpts from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I loved that many students knew many of the poems in this book and even had specific requests for me to read aloud. I had this book as a child and love Shel’s first poem inside. It’s still a great message for today.

Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer,

If you’re a magic bean buyer, come sit by the fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin,

Come in!

I discovered a series of videos with Kwame Alexander sharing his experiences with writing that are engaging and short so perfect for students. He has kids chanting after him when he repeats his “blue black, blue black, black black” and they are amazed at how his words flow. Enjoy the week and embrace the Spring weather that is hopefully here to stay. I know I need the sunshine on my face.

Hello Winter Break!

(family)

I’ve taken quite a break from blogging without meaning to but grief works in strange ways for everybody and I just took a step back from certain parts of my own life. I’ve still helped with the Mayor Pete campaign although I missed a few events and I’ve obviously headed to work every day which truly brings me such great joy. I love seeing the faces of all my students even the tough ones. School is good and now I’m on winter break which is fantastic. The holiday season is in full swing.

My shopping is almost done and I just have some local things to shop for + groceries to purchase. As my kids get older we really focus on the JOY of spending time together over ripping into tons of gifts. Last year we spent time reading all our favorite Christmas picture books to each other. Something about reading Corduroy’s Christmas or Dream Snow by Eric Carle that ushers in a warm and cozy feeling. We also love to watch Christmas movies together-Love, Actually is one of our favorites and this year we plan to watch Klaus together. We generally go see the new Star Wars movie as a family after Christmas. I’m looking forward to all of it.

Last weekend I went to a soup exchange hosted by a friend. I made this delicious sweet potato curry soup I found on my NYT cooking app. They each made a soup and we came together and shared. I brought home at least 4 jars of homemade soup; a tomato tortellini and an au pistou (a French soup) and both were delicious. And we had a drink I was unfamiliar with (shocking!) – it was We are hosting a Christmas party game night for friends on Sunday night and I’m going to make the tomato tortellini soup for them b/c it looks so festive. Enjoy this weekend, this holiday, hug all those that surround you with love and even the awkward folk who don’t love a hug but treasure your smile. Just spend time with your people. Namaste.

Rainy days

It is rainy today and this weekend it snowed. Anything is possible weather-wise right now. School is winding down with just a little over a month left. We had our last dance competition weekend and are now looking forward to recital on May 18th. Dance will be over for another year for Groovy Girl and next year will be her last at this studio. Wow. What a chapter.

(source)

Meanwhile we celebrated our son’s 24th birthday with vegan pizza at a local pizza place. He had vegan, we had vegetarian. I understand how my parents felt when as a 13-yo I gave up meat and harped on them to follow suit. Our son admonishes us for not turning vegan for the planet. I say I gave up straws for the planet and have always lived a life thoughtful of animals but of course he feels we could go that one greater leap. I say the cheese sucks. Seriously vegan cheese is not for me. I’d rather not have cheese. On the upside I always still ask for a piece of his pizza as he is king of picking great toppings.

The next night we had amazing Thai food at Exotic Thai in Davenport, IA. Yes, it can happen; delicious and diverse food flavors here. I had a pumpkin curry that was amazing. I ate the whole bowl and wanted more. My husband had a coconut curry soup that was equally as good; he ate every last drop. We had a busy two days watching dance and eating good food yet we carved out a few minutes on Saturday night to go to the mall. Groovy Girl is finding her own way to be green and wants to buy recyled/2nd hand clothes, especially jeans so we spent about an hour at Ragstock as she picked through the racks to find a few selections. I’ve always loved second hand shopping so it’s rewarding to see her make this choice on her own.

I bought three pots of herbs today at the grocery store. I’m ready for planting. It’s going to need to get just a little warmer but for now they look great on my kitchen table right near the window and they smell intoxicating. While it warms up I’ve been busy reading Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston for book club and I just started something new recommended by a student (he even gave me his copy) by Taran Matharu called The Novice~high fantasy and I’ve read several chapters tonight right after I made a delicious soup for the family.

Welcome March!

I hope March ushers in a bit of spring weather-it’s at least light later in the day. No longer do I leave work in twilight. We are still pretty snow heavy making it difficult to drive and while it was bitter cold today THE SUN WAS SHINING!! Wore my sunglasses to Cedar Rapids and back to have lunch with our son. We had pizza together and talked for a long time. Just wonderful to be with him. Wish we could have lunch with the oldest daughter-meeting in Brooklyn takes a few days prep and many miles.

I finished Stay with me by Ayobami Adebayo and loved her writing. This story tells the tale of Akin and Yejide’s marriage through both characters. How they meet at university, fall in love, and begin to break away after trying to have a baby and the problems that arise as their communication fall away. Anyone in a relationship that’s gone sour can relate to how they begin to pull apart. The story is sad yet beautifully told and I liked the backdrop of the political turmoil happening in Nigeria at the time.

And I’ve started Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones; about a family in Mississippi getting ready for a hurricane. This is an author that’s been on my to-read list and I’m glad I’m finally finding time to read her work.

In between chapters I managed to make a little food for my lovely little family. I lovingly created two recipes given to me by friends; a chicken tortilla soup and a corn casserole. Both recipes helped to warm us up last night.

Here is the soup recipe from my friend Kay:

Kathy’s Chicken Tortilla Soup (my notes)

4 chicken breasts halves (buy organic, local, free range when possible)

2 15-oz cans of black beans, drained (I thought ahead and used dried bb, soaking them the night b4)

2 cans Rotel tomatoes with chilies – do not drain (I had one can of diced tomatoes and one can of green enchilada sauce-yes, I improvised so I did NOT have to go out in the cold)

1 can shoepeg corn, drained (I used a bag of frozen)

14.5 oz can tomato sauce

1 cup salsa (I used our homemade)

Optional toppings:

Tortilla chips

Grated Cheese

Sour Cream

Directions:

1. In the bottom of a slow cooker, place the chicken breasts.

2. Open the remaining cans and pour over the breasts.

3. Add the salsa

4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Just before serving remove and shred the chicken and return to soup.

5. Stir and serve.

Even with my improvisation the recipe was perfect for a cold Saturday night. It was pretty easy compared to other recipes I love. My brother and I were both cooking at the same time in different cities; his recipes looked so amazing I could almost smell them via his texted pictures. His were more labor-intensive but you’ve got to go with what works for you on any given day.

The corn recipe from Amber was just as easy to put together, rich and textured, and that made my day. I’m pretty sure both these recipes are from church/school cookbooks from the 90’s.

Corn Casserole

1 can creamed corn

1 can whole kernel corn, with juice

1 stick butter (soft to mix)

1 cup sour cream

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 egg, beaten

onion and seasonings (opt.)

(In a bowl) mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes in a 9 x 13-in baking dish.

Variation: Can put 1 small package of shredded Mozzarella cheese on top and bake another 10 minutes or until melted. (next time I might add goat cheese; I did not add any cheese this time and I added a bit of cayenne and cumin as my seasonings, plus a whole lot of freshly ground pepper)

See what I mean-super healthy!! We have to stay entertained and warm over these long winter months. What are you reading/creating/concocting?

Freezing temps mean lots of delicious soups

The weather is still chilly here and this morning there were big fat flakes floating down. It looked lovely but I was too bleary-eyed to snap a photo. We made it through the week without one snow day though which will help us in June. We’ll see what this week brings with more snow predicted.

[From Minimalist Baker}

I made two hearty dishes to keep us all warm and full this week. On Monday I whipped up Minimalist Baker’s Rich Red Curry with roasted vegetables. We played with the ingredients and added tofu and regular brown lentils and left out the cabbage. This I will make again – the red curry sauce was delicious and would pair well with many vegetables. I used a mix of broccoli and cauliflower and swapped yellow potatoes for the sweet. We love sweet potatoes here but Groovy Girl does not like them mixed in with other ingredients. This recipe made enough that we had leftovers for the next few nights and even added it with brown rice into a tortilla for an on-the-go dinner.

[Gimme some oven]

Yesterday I was craving fish and found some raised-in-the USA cod, fresh in the glass case. It’s very difficult to find quality fish-I don’t want my fish to come from China-sorry China but you’re not known for good fishing practices and I like my food to be a little more local. I already have issues about eating fish and pollution in the ocean and depleting numbers of fish in the ocean and for the most part have stopped buying fish and ordering fish when I’m out just for this reason yet yesterday I guess I was in the mood. I bought $20 worth of nice fat pieces of cod. It was delicious, tender and flaky with a little cracker crust and a lemon squeezed over the top. I loosely followed this recipe.

We had baked sweet potatoes with our flaky cod fillets plus I made this lemon lentil soup for an appetizer but we ended up eating all at the same time. I got held up making the soup as I scoured my kitchen for my immersion blender which is missing. I love my Hamilton Beach immersion blender and I’m confused as to where it’s gone. Anyway we used the big Ninja blender instead (more parts to clean) and this soup, Lemony Lentil Soup, was fantastic.

To match with my two new recipes I also I have two books to share. Cold weather always makes it easier to lay on the sofa and read, except lets be honest, any season has me sitting/laying somewhere and reading. I wouldn’t be adverse to springing ahead to some hammock-time soon.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer ( 2017): The comical tale of Arthur Less, an accomplished author, who feels less than all the time. His current lover has left to get married in Sonoma and he takes this opportunity to plan via a few author invites for teaching abroad and odd award ceremonies to get away from his current Bay Area life. What follows is a wonderful travel journey in much the same vein as Kerouac’s On the road but with planes instead of cars and gay lovers and wine instead of copious amounts of drugs. This is my first Andrew Sean Greer novel and I’m happy to be introduced. I can’t wait to discuss this with my book group.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2017): Recently I was able to break away from dance mom week to see If Beale Street Could Talk which is a beautifully done film almost in an old noir style, slow and steady with great acting and a good background jazz beat. This book has a similar story line probably all too common in the racist world we live in. We have to realize this happens far more than we can ever imagine. Celestial and Roy, married for one year, find themselves separated by a prison door after one woman’s rapid complaint against Roy who is innocent. Jones’ writing is very easy to read and I’ll have to go back and read Silver Sparrow.

Stay warm where ever you might be. I have friends headed to Mexico today and friends who just came back from a cruise. All I can do is bask in the winter sunshine flowing through the library windows.

Charlson Meadows Retreat

As the calendar page flipped I had an out-of-the-box experience that ended November and ushered in December. Last weekend I had the most amazing experience. I took part in a writing retreat at the beautiful Nancy Nelson Lake House at the Charlson Meadows Renewal Center. My sister-in-law, Stephanie, asked me if I wanted to go with her and her writing partner/friend, Carey. To give myself space I even took Friday off so I had time to drive to Minneapolis, drop Groovy Girl with her cousins, and carpool to the retreat center in Victoria, MN.

This space is breath-taking as you enter through the solid doors where we were greeted by the program director, Nicole. After a short guided tour of the rooms, we were able to select our own bedrooms, unpack and look around at our leisure. The inside of the home is beautifully decorated with art pieces throughout the house.

The retreat center sits on 142 acres of land situated between Zumbro and Stone Lakes. It was snowy and cold for this retreat but the maps of the grounds look beautiful with three labyrinths, hiking paths, meadows, wetlands, and a beach area. I look forward to exploring the outdoors there when everything isn’t frozen (meaning any other season other than winter) yet watching the snow come down on Saturday afternoon was an ethereal experience.

Arriving on Friday afternoon we had time to relax and unwind before dinner was served at 6pm. Before the meal, we sat in front of one of many gas fireplaces and introduced ourselves to the 12 other writers in attendance and then we adjourned into the kitchen to scoop up the delicious offerings by Tena, the local caterer for most of the weekend. Each meal was carefully planned with a good attention to detail. While beef medallions were offered on Friday night the three vegetarians had delicious pasta to enjoy. In the morning we woke to fresh caramel rolls, quiche, and a large bowl of fruit. We shared some meals at the large dining room table and other meals were more casual as we gathered around the island in the middle of the kitchen. Eating was a highlight; the food was wonderfully prepared and I was filled with gratitude to have someone else cook for me. I realize how much energy on a weekly basis I use for meal prep in my house so this was pure joy. I didn’t even have to empty the dishwasher!

Between meals, we were given the gift of time to write spreading ourselves out in the various common rooms in the lake house. The house was built with solitude in mind so while you are working at one end in the library you cannot hear anyone else working or chatting in rooms across the way. My group of three gathered in the library space which had a sofa, comfy overstuffed chairs, a desk, and a fireplace.

We did one group writing activity after dinner on Friday which used prompts to get us loosened up. It was low-key and interesting to hear everyone else’s writing ideas. I headed to bed after that and felt motivated enough to write for another hour or so in the comfort of my secluded room. The rest of the weekend flew by with delicious meals, good conversations, and lots of writing time.

This is a lovely place to spend a weekend and I plan to go back for another writing retreat and I’d love to take part in one of their one-day spiritual journeys. Check out their website for more information on their offerings. Thank you to Stephanie for extending the invitation and thank you to Nicole for your seemingly effortless abilities as a host. I feel better for what I accomplished over the weekend and just simply knowing this place exists.

I did some digging after exploring their website myself and found information on Lynn Charlson, an inventor, and the benefactor of the retreat center. He sounds like an interesting character and I’m sure it is because of his creative energy that the retreat center is infused with such magic.

Reading retreat bliss

Our journey to Little Rock was a success. We drove first to Mountain View, AR for a bluegrass festival at the beautiful Ozark Folk Center. I enjoyed listening to the music and I was able to read while listening, which was important as I was desperately trying to finish Lucy Dillon’s A hundred pieces of me for our reading retreat.

From Mountain View we headed South to the Little Rock area, staying in a gorgeous and new Best Western, picked because it had an indoor pool area. Groovy Girl loves to swim and we love the hot tub. I had one lovely night sleeping there and a relaxing morning before my friend V. picked me up for the first leg on the reading retreat. We relaxed at her house for just a few minutes, waiting for A. to pick us up.

{cheers}

Our next stop was their local Whole Foods, a spectacular-looking store, basically a prettified Wal-Mart for natural food shoppers. It doesn’t give me the same healthy feeling to be in there like Whole Foods used to, it is different but it did have many of the picnic-type items we were looking for so we picked and chose carefully. Oh, to eat like this all the time! We had rice crackers, good hard cheese, a seedy hearty bread, a mix of olives, two delicious bars of chocolate, pears, apples, a box of salad greens, and two bottles of wine. Except it was a Sunday and we could buy everything BUT the wine. Drats!

A. luckily had a friend living nearby that had a bottle of wine, the funny part was that the wine had been a gift from A. so she borrowed her own bottle of wine back. We could live with one bottle of borrowed back wine and we headed to the hills of Greers Ferry. I sat in the back and pulled out my book again to continue reading. I wanted to finish before we made it to the cabin and they wanted me to finish so we could talk about the book. It seemed to be the crowd favorite.

Our cabin was lovely with way more space than we needed. The best part was the large back porch that looked out on the lake. It was a perfect spot to talk, enjoy the weather, and share a meal, family-style.

We had a great time. It was rejuvenating for me. We talked about our books, friendship, the world (and all the world’s problems). We talked about ourselves, our husbands, and our children. Everyone has joys and trials, let me tell ya’. We did a little bit of yoga. We sat outside and inside. We stayed up later than usual. We laughed. We drank just the one bottle of wine. We shared chocolate with fruit. We had 24 hours of solitude with each other; three strong women.

{breakfast}

And the morning was filled with sunshine and hanging in our jammies. And then A. got the phone call. The one where her husband told her that their borrowed cat had been hit by a car. It was a sad note to end on yet it illustrated how life just keeps happening around us. The cat was a hard loss for her family-hopefully they’ve found joy in their shared memories of their friendly feline mate.

I hope we will get to do this again in a year or two. The theme of A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon is about what’s real and important to you and the memories of our reading retreat are high on my list.