Signs of Spring in Iowa

That's right, the beautiful, and the not-so-beautiful--they all show up here around the same time. It takes until mid-to-late March for the crocuses to show up here, and this year that was also the time all the snow was finally gone. Leaving us to ponder all the trash (mostly plastic grocery bags) that was buried under the snow all year!

A big shout-out to all those who participated in Stash the Trash this year (the day after these pictures were taken). Thank you!!

In other news, we've purchased a house! It's in the downtown area, closer to where both of us work, go to the gym, get groceries, etc. We're very excited. Shoot us an email if you want to know more! Our blogging may be more erratic for a while as we try hard to get our current house packed up and ready to sell, so forgive us.

What I Saw and Year of Wonders

These books really have nothing in common except that I read them at the same time. For conventional reviews with plot summaries, click here for What I Saw and here for Year of Wonders. I don't do much summary in my reviews because personally I like to know very little of the plot when I start reading. Most of the time it serves me well. With Jellicoe Road, not so much. I should've made a character map with that one.

What I Saw is a period piece; it's set in Florida post WWII. The setting is vivid, as are the characters. Most of the action takes place in a short piece of the book, but it's a good read if you like girl-coming-of-age in an interesting situation, and the building up and working out of the climactic scenes are well done. Subject matter appropriate for teens who can deal with mature themes--nothing is explicit, but much is implied.

Year of Wonders is a truly great book. Brooks is a great author, with many interesting titles to her name. This one is pure historical fiction set in a small village England in 1666, one of the worst years of the Plague. The main character is strong and interesting, observing everything that happens around her (and a lot happens) and considering what these events say about God, religion, science, and all of human nature. I highly recommend this book. It was my pick for book group this year, and I am pleased with how it went.

(For previous book review entries, click "book review" on the list of topics to the right.)

am I a parent? am I a library?

The obvious answer to these questions is, "no." No, I have no children sleeping under my roof for whom I am directly responsible. No, I am not a large brick building full of books and DVDs and rambunctious children.

However, in a very real sense I have come to accept that I am both a parent and a library.

This question first presented itself almost 10 years ago, when I was working at VBS as a recent college grad. A child said something about me being a parent, and when I protested, she said, "Yes you are. There are only two kinds of people in the world, children and parents, and you're a parent."

News to me, let me tell you!

More recently part of my job at the library has involved me doing monthly visits to area daycares and preschools. I bring library materials and do a storytime. Many of the children I see on these visits call me, "Library," as in, "Library, I really liked that book. Can you bring it again next time? Library, when are you going to bring your big blue dog again?"

It's puzzling and gratifying at the same time to be equated with the entirety of what the word "library" entails. (Then again, maybe they just can't say my name. :-) ) Really, I think what happens is their teacher says, "The library's coming today! ... The library's here! Pick up your toys and get ready for her!" So, it makes sense to me, and I'm getting used to it.

Parent, though, is harder to figure out. This week at D6 it came up again. Our small group of kindergarteners was chatting about handstands and cartwheels. I commented that I can't do a cartwheel, and one young girl said calmly and matter-of-factly, "That's because you're a parent." This time I didn't argue, merely said, "Well, even when I was a kid the best I could manage was a tripod" and the conversation moved on.

What I've learned is that, for a certain number of children, I function as a (very) part-time parent. Although society doesn't usually talk in those terms, these children made it very clear that they consider any adults that care for them to be a type of parent.

And for many more children, I am the main (or only) face of the library.

Even more sobering, to many people of this world, I am the face of Christ. Are we living up to all that we represent every day?

Chocolate orange cheesecake

For previous thoughts on presentation of cheesecakes, see this post. It turned out great for my book group as well--they all loved it, and in fact a couple people thought it was from The Cafe!

Orange Chocolate Cheesecake
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
12 servings
45 min prep; 45 min bake; 1+4 hours chill

24 Oreo cookies
2 T melted butter
3 8-oz pkg. 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 c sugar
2 T flour
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 ½ t. finely grated orange peel
1 c miniature chocolate chips
1/3 c orange marmalade

1. Soften the cream cheese by setting it out and cutting each block into 10 cubes. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Crush the cookies with a rolling pin or in the food processor. Stir in the butter. Press up the sides and across the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Set aside to cool somewhat; turn oven up to 350.
3. In a large mixing bowl, using electric mixer, beat cream cheese for 30 seconds.
4. Add sugar and flour; beat well.
5. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in orange peel and chocolate chips.
6. Pour into crust. Place in a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 45-50 minutes until center 2” are nearly set.
7. Turn off oven and open door for about 30 minutes. Place cake on rack; loosen sides of pan.
8. After about 1 hour of cooling, cover and chill for at least 4 hours.
9. To serve, melt marmalade and drizzle over cheesecake. Tuck one square of chocolate into each slice. Optionally, drizzle chocolate sauce over cheesecake as well.

Turtle Cheesecake option

1. Instead of orange peel step: Melt 2 oz semi-sweet choc—stir into half the filling. Pour choc filling into springform pan. Carefully pour plain filling on top. Gently swirl w/spatula.
2. Place in shallow baking pan in oven at 375 for 45-50 min (9” pan). Center should appear nearly set when shaken.
3. Cool in pan on rack for 15 min. Loosen crust from sides using small spatula. Cool 30 minutes. Remove sides, cool 1 hour. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.
4. Decorate with chopped toasted pecans, stripes of chocolate and caramel, and mini chocolate chips.

Seeing the future

In our connection group we talked about Jesus' series of parables in Matthew 13 and noticed how time is crucial in each one of them. Before there are various seeds, after you see which ones produce fruit. Now you see the weeds and the wheat together, later they will be separated. Now you see a small mustard seed but later you will see a huge plant. Now you see a tiny bit of yeast, later there will be a huge amount of bread. First a man had a few things of little value, and then he traded then for a treasure (or pearl) of far greater value. In each parable wisdom consists in the ability to see something and then imagine what it will some day be. God can do this as a matter of course. Whenever God looks at anything he can see its entire future. Wisdom is learning to see the world the way God sees it and one of our biggest barriers is we don't see the future value of the treasure and the way a small seed can some day be something magnificent.

not me! Monday

I wanted to do another Not Me! Monday post. (To read hundreds of other Not Me! Mondays, head over to Mckmama at My Charming Kids, who created this blog carnival originally. Hers are hilarious and involve many more pictures of cute kids than mine do!)

But today is Staff Day at the library, and this is all I could come up with.

I did NOT eat hundreds of calories' worth of snacks today in an effort to stay focused while being seated for much much longer than my job normally requires.

My mind did NOT wander during the presentations.

Nope, that's NOT that exciting. So I thought I'd give you the rundown on last Friday.

I did NOT leave my warm home and sweet husband in the late afternoon just to go out to my step aerobics class.

It was NOT snowing harder than it had in a long time.

Before I left, I did NOT subtly suggest that perhaps someone could shovel the driveway and scrape the car. Alex did NOT promptly proceed to do these things.

While I was gone, he did NOT start dinner and do the laundry.

While I was driving in, I did NOT almost skid out in my car. I did NOT think, Why in the world am I doing this??

While at aerobics class, I did NOT fall over. It was NOT during the easiest move of the night--shuffle side to side.

After returning home and finishing up supper in the same pan I had previously made grilled cheese and toasted nuts (separately) in, I did NOT drop Alex's entire portion of eggs 'n' noodles on the floor.

He did NOT pick it up and eat it. (I did NOT wash the floor that morning.)

After dinner, I did NOT find a container of homemade Chex mix that's leftover from Christmas. Yuck.

I am NOT still postponing proofreading Alex's paper. Nope, not me! :-)

Cheesecake presentation

I made this cheesecake a couple of weeks ago--partly as a practice run for my upcoming book group, partly as the snack for our connection group. Here are some thoughts from the experience.

1. Presentation makes a difference. I had individual slices on plates when the guys in our group came in, and they got so excited--"Is that for us? Did you make it? Wow!" I got the idea for the candy pieces while standing in line at Coldstone once. The reason their ice cream cakes look so fetching is because they stick a small cookie or candy at the end of each piece. I can do that!
2. Don't worry about cracks. All (2) of the cheesecakes I've made have cracked, even though I've meticulously followed the cooling instructions. Honestly, these days people are more impressed with flawed baked goods b/c they know they're homemade.
3. A sauce covers a multitude of wrongs. I learned this from Jen DB--Alex has repeatedly said to me, for years now, "Jen makes great cheesecake--maybe you could learn from her!" Well, we never got around to it, but she gave me some tips and I started making them anyway because I realized it was important to Alex. Anyway, this sauce is just melted apricot preserves. I have also used caramel and chocolate sauces.
4. Jen's other tip--it's okay to mix and match recipes. I like an oreo crust, so that's what I use (crush 20 cookies in a food processor, add 1 T melted butter, press into pan). For the filling I use a standard recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, similar to this one except simpler, I think (I'll post it when I get it typed up). Then I pick a topping.
5. You do need to let it cool for quite a long time--start at least 12 hours before you want to eat it.
Enjoy!