Sunday, August 31, 2008

A worthy successor to Ramona



Growing up, Beverly Cleary's books were the first chapter books I remember reading on my own. There must be over 20 of them, so I have many fond memories of heading into the school library and making a beeline for the C section, knowing I'd find a great read there. (This gives me some sympathy for my patrons who head straight for Magic Treehouse without deviating to anything else they might possibly like better--who wants to fool around with the unknown when the known suits you just fine?) Through the magic of Scholastic book orders, I eventually collected all the Ramona books (most in a great boxed set), and even now I reread them regularly, particularly when I get a nasty cold or flu. I believe that these books have influenced me profoundly--just a few weeks ago I read the part where Ramona is helping her aunt unwrap her wedding presents: when she gets to the amazingly fluffy towels, she thinks now these are towels worth marrying for. And now I know why I was determined to register for the softest, fluffiest towels!

Anyway, Beverly Cleary has stopped writing, so we've been watching for emerging, spunky young heroines. While Junie B. has her place, as a person she's not easy to like, and most people (including me) aren't crazy about her writing style either.

Enter Sara Pennypacker's Clementine. She has a little brother, a great mom and dad, and she lives in an apartment building in New York. Her books (three of them to date) are hilarious, and the comedy comes in large part from her unique perspective on the world. She can't figure out why the principal stares at the ceiling while Clementine tells her what's she's done to get in trouble--are there snakes up there? She writes notes to herself on her arm--reminders of things to do and not to do, both immediately and in the distant future (some pertain to the husband she is sure she will not have). She refuses to call her brother by his name, instead referring to him using various vegetable names (String bean! Spinach!). She figures since she got stuck with a fruit name, he should get stuck with a vegetable name. Many of her problems arise at school and with friends, and young readers should have no trouble identifying with her. It does have great drawings. Read them with your family, give them to your 2nd-3rd grader, read them yourself!
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Saturday, August 30, 2008

A well-loved cookbook

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How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman was the first cookbook I bought. I used a gift certificate I got for college graduation, went to Barnes and Noble, and picked it up. My copy is thus over 10 years old, so it doesn't have any of the stickers denoting the many awards it's won since its initial publication. I'm quite proud of the fact that I "discovered" it, and it has shaped my cooking immeasurably. You can see by the open book picture that I use it often, and I can't bring myself to buy a new one! There are still many many recipes I haven't made and many sections I haven't read yet--the long narrative introductions to each type of food are great and have expanded my food knowledge. Other great features: suggested menus for various occasions, an amazingly detailed index, and, for many recipes, a list of suggested alterations (like 8 different skillet pork chop recipes).
The bright green book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, is just as massive (They each have over 900 pages!). I received this one for Christmas, and I'm excitedly working through it. I would not have thought it possible to do a vegetarian book on this scale, but he covers all types of beans, rice, various grains, tofu and other soy products, and of course vegetables.
So, if you like lots of text, or playing around with a basic recipe, or just want to learn, I'd highly recommend these books. If you can only cook with pictures and want just one recipe per page, I'd recommend his The minimalist cooks at home, currently available in Anastasia's Picks at the public library.

Friday, August 29, 2008

The recipe book, so far


So, you may be wondering how the much-ballyhooed recipe book is coming along. I have succeeded in printing out main section tabs (see lower picture). I then discovered that some sections needed further subdivision if I was going to be able to find things, and so I bought these great Post-It tabs you see in the pictures. I wanted to be able to group like recipes together so when I go look for a pizza recipe, for example, I can look at all of them at one time. As you can see, the vegetarian/fish main dish section is a little out of control--or, to put it another way, under very tight control.
I spent much of my time watching the Olympics with scissors in hand, finally cutting recipes out of the dozens of Cooking Light magazines I've been hoarding for years. I had 9 May issues, all from different years (I only subscribed for 3; the rest were freebies at the library)! (Multiply that out by 12 months, and you can guess how many magazines were on my shelf. I have started to refer to them as my "little idols.") Hopefully I will get much more use out of them as a few recipes organized in a binder! And if you're living in Ames and want them, watch at the magazine exchange; I'm bringing them in bit by bit (or just let me know).
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Friday, August 22, 2008

Minnesota vacation pictures


I have finally sorted through all our pictures from our early August trip up to Minnesota. We went camping (yes, in a tent) and did some hiking, a little biking, and a lot of relaxing. We enjoyed God's creation and spent time reading and catching up with each other. The pictures above are a taste of what we did.

***For the easiest viewing of about 20 of our pictures, click the title of this blog or click on our profile picture (upper right hand of the blog page). That will link you to our Picasa web albums, which also has other sets of our pictures, including Alex's Zambia pictures if you missed them the first time.

**You can also order prints directly from Picasa Web Album (delivered to you or for pickup at Walgreens).

And if you'd like to see pictures of the gourmet food we ate on the way back (spending some of the money we saved by camping), let me know. I'm never sure if other people like to see pictures of food as much as I do! :)

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Summer Foods


We've enjoyed lots of great summer food. Here are some highlights. Upper left: Heirloom tomato and cucumber salad dressed with olive oil and herbs (note the different colors of tomatoes). Upper right: Homemade pesto from my mom's basil bush on cheese ravioli. Bottom left: Breyer's vanilla ice cream with sliced Missouri peaches and blueberries. Bottom left: Turtle ice cream pie made with Heath and vanilla ice cream in a chocolate graham crust and topped with nuts and chocolate chips. For both of us, the ice cream and fruit was our favorite--with super high quality ingredients, you don't need to fuss and it will taste great.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Book review--Mending String

This book was a Christy Award (best of Christian fiction) winner from last year. It was great. Interesting characters, creative plot (almost hokey but not too much). The main story is about a pastor and his daughter, their relationship, and how new people in town and a troublemaker in church affect them. There's also a mysterious next-door neighbor. Definitely worth the read.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Book Review--White Chocolate Moments

White Chocolate Moments, by Lori Wick

I was sooo excited to see this book in the bookstore and sooo disappointed in it. I had really enjoyed Wick's earlier stand-alone books Pretense and Sophie's Heart, and her series books are great to speed through in an afternoon.

However, this one really dragged plot-wise and the characters weren't great either. The main characters don't become Christians until a ways into the book, and I wonder if Wick isn't good at writing interesting non-Christians.

So, unless you just have tons of time to read Christian fiction of less-than-great caliber, I'd leave this one on the shelf and go back to Francine Rivers.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

My dishwasher

For some reason, I hate washing dishes more than any other task, and piled-up dirty dishes is the one thing that bugs Alex more than me, so this is a not uncommon sight in our house:



















Note the headphones for listening to the latest sermon. (When it's my turn, I listen to the latest kids' books.)

Also note the huge pile of suds. He maintains they are necessary for getting the maximum amount of dishes done.

We are considering getting a portable dishwasher, but we have only 22# of width, so that narrows our options considerably. Until then, we'll do a lot more dishes.
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