Monkey Baby

We went to a little Halloween party on Saturday evening which gave us an excellent excuse to stuff Ella into her costume early.

I was planning to make her a costume, but then I was at Old Navy and this costume was $4.67 and. . . I just bought it. I do not regret this in the slightest.

Also, when I've tried it on her before, she won't keep the hood or mitts on for very long, but it was quite chilly on Saturday night and she wore it for nearly two hours without complaint (and Landen took all the pictures; I am very grateful).

 

The house next to the one we were at had two dogs, which meant Ella spent the entire night calling out for us to take her over to look over or through the fence.

"Da? Da?"

 

Finally where she can see the dogs

 

With Adam, who is one of Ella's favorite people in the entire world

This little facial expression kills me

Halloween as an adult with a child is SO much better than being an adult without a child because I get harassed about not dressing up much less. And really, that is a Halloween blessing.

The BeeBop

The other day it was brought to my attention that there have not been pictures of the child on my blog in many moons. And. . .this is true. In fact, the last pictures of Ella on the blog (aside from the one of us at the Gypsy Picnic) were in early September, after we returned from our trip to Dallas.

One of the reasons that pictures are becoming more scarce is that anytime I whip out the big camera, I end up with about thirty pictures that look like this:

So there is that.

But, to satisfy the one person who noticed her absence, here is my darling child in all her only-her-mother-cares glory:

 Ella was mega-grumpy this day, so Bart took her to the pool after work, while I finished dinner. Bless him.

  

Our neighbor has these funny little fake flowers and we cannot walk by without Ella stopping to touch them.

 

Dressed up for the BYU game (we didn't have the heart to tell her that BYU lost and probably will continue to do so many many times over the course of her life).

At a little petting zoo by the library. Ella was enthralled

Ella's favorite thing at the library. There are three of these little computers and she climbs up and down all of them.

A little exploring at the new downtown plaza. 

 

Trying on new shoes at Target. She was so hilariously excited about them and kept pulling pairs off the shelf for us to put on her.

 Last week, about thirty seconds before she pitched forward and scuffed up her whole face.

 Bart is a nursery leader at church now, which means Ella can go with him. This is a happy day for everyone.

 

I love this little girl.  

Vegetarian Recipe #8: Zucchini Pizza

We like pizza in our house (especially since I got a pizza stone - I think I can say that it is the best gift I have ever gotten). And this pizza is our absolute favorite. It is amazing.

Landen made it the day we came back from our Dallas trip and when I mentioned to Bart that this was the meal waiting for us at home, Bart said, "So we should stop and get dinner beforehand, then?" We were a little skeptical.

We were also deeply, deeply wrong.

You may have noticed that my food photography skills increased by 1000x overnight. That's because Ralphie took this picture.

Zucchini Pizza
(adapted from Perry's Plate)

Makes 1 12-inch pizza

1/2 batch pizza dough (this is now the only pizza dough I make. It is fantastic if you make it a day ahead, but it works great if you make it and immediately use it)
Olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
2 medium zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
2 ounces crumbled goat cheese
2 T Parmesan cheese
1/2 T dried oregano

Preheat oven to 500 degrees so your pizza stone has time to get nice and toasty.

Meanwhile, mince garlic with a large heavy knife, then mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using flat side of knife. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Stretch dough with your fingers into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle on a large baking sheet and rub with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Cover dough with plastic wrap.

In a medium bowl, toss zucchini with 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil, until evenly coated. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer and let cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned (you can flip the slices over halfway through if you'd like, but this is a big old pain and I've stopped doing it).

Roll the pizza dough out and brush the top with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle the minced garlic evenly over the crust.

Sprinkle half the mozzarella cheese on the pizza, lay the cooked zucchini slices on top of that (like pepperoni! But less likely to give you a heart attack), then cover with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle on the goat cheese, then the Parmesan cheese, and finally the oregano.

Put the pizza on the pizza stone (I roll my pizza out on a silicone liner, but you could use a pizza paddle or parchment paper too), and cook for about 8 minutes, or until the crust is brown around the edges and the cheese is bubbly.

Let cool for a few minutes, slice, and serve. Marvel that a zucchini pizza is now your favorite pizza.

A Perfect Day

What would constitute a perfect day for me? Things on sale, a nap, tasty food, books, new friends and old friends, and chocolate.

Why, hello, Saturday. Thanks for stopping by.

This past Saturday included all those things.

I got up in the freezing dark, dressed quietly and went outside to meet some friends, only to realize that I'd just assumed it was cold because it was dark and it was actually about 70 degrees. We headed over to a nearby community garage sale and I picked up a little push bike/car for Ella for a buck, a huge bag of foam blocks for 50 cents, and a set of animal fridge magnets for $2 (originally the seller was asking the outrageous sum of $5; I made Bart make the lower offer because not only am I cheap, but I'm a wimp). Bart and Ella joined me part-way through and we had a nice morning together.

Then, back home where Ella went down for a nap and Bart and I realized that, hey, we could go for naps too. So everyone snoozed for a while.

When we all woke up and realized we'd like some lunch, we headed off to Austin's 2nd annual Gypsy Picnic, where more than 40 food trucks were assembled along the river. Ella was in heaven, screaming "da! da!" every time a dog passed.

 We had a fried avocado taco from Torchy's Tacos, a quite unimpressive jerk chicken sub from Snarkys, some excellent and large eggrolls from Fresh Off the Truck (Ella was a fan too), and wrapped the whole thing up with two frozen bananas from Bananarchy. One was dipped in peanut butter and rolled in crushed oreos, the other was dipped in chocolate and then covered in toffee bits. Ella didn't mind having some of those either.

Ella was losing steam, so Bart dropped me off at the Texas Book Festival and took Ella home for a nap.

I headed into Sarah Dessen's panel where Elizabeth, Jennie, and Jonna had saved me a seat. They were all in town for The Blathering and I was so happy to get to meet them (technically, I met Jennie for all of thirty seconds this spring at BEA). I sat by Elizabeth and after years of online friendship, it was so fun to get to know her in real life. Also, it is so ridiculously easy to talk to someone who has similar (or similar-ish) taste in books. There may have been a few snarky comments about some of the books we both found completely terrible.

And then (good heavens this is getting long), Kay, my library mentor, met up with me and we visited for a little while while she waited for her ride. Oh, how I love her.

Bart picked me up, we went home to have dinner, and then I headed off to babysit for Ralphie's kids (which meant a strenuous evening reading on the couch).

Minutes after I arrived back home, Landen and Adam showed up with molten chocolate cakes and ice cream. Obviously, we invited them right on in.

And then, an hour later, collapsed into bed in a chocolate coma.

That Saturday is going to be hard to beat. But I'm willing to make a valiant effort every weekend for the rest of my life.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans

Sometimes (might I even say most of the time) you get a non-fiction picture book because you want to learn some quick facts about some topic.

But sometimes, a picture book gives you instead a sweeping overview of the feelings and emotions surrounding a historical event.

Underground is one of the latter. It deals with the Underground Railroad (as you might have guessed from the title if you are very smart person) and instead of talking about slavery, Harriet Tubman, way stations or any of the other things you generally find in a book on this topic, it describes in the sparsest of words (less than 100 words in the whole book) the actions of slaves as they escape.

"The darkness," it begins.

On the next page: "The escape."

Later, on three separate full page spreads, "We run. We crawl. We rest."

The illustrations, though, are what make this book shine. They are dark, with the houses barely distinguishable from the night sky. They're done with quick dark lines and rough pencil shading. In some images, you can hardly make out the escaping slaves in the darkness. The sprinkling of stars in many of the pictures, the frightening light of a slave catcher's torch, or the soft glow of a lantern on a way station porch is often the only bright spot in the entire page.

And then, as the slaves approach their destination and their dream of freedom, the sun begins to rise, lighting first only the barest edge of the horizon and eventually soaking the entire page (and the people) in brilliant light. It is such a smooth transition, you almost don't see it coming.

Would you want this book to be a child's only introduction to the Underground Railroad? Of course not. But it is a beautiful and moving compliment to any discussion of it.


Copy checked out from my local library

The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter

Hello, Cybils book #1. I've heard loads about The Watcher since it came out this summer, so I was glad to finally pick it up.

Unlike Me, Jane, which is a rather fictionalized version of Jane Goodall's early life, this covers the majority of her life, starting with her interest in animals as a young girl and finishing with her activism for chimps in Africa.

I find that so many biographies for young readers either leave out so much information that it's hard to have any reference point for the information they do give or that it's so complex that a second or third grader is going to be overwhelmed. This book neatly avoids both of those issues.

I knew who Jane Goodall was and that she was famous for her work with chimps, but I knew very little beyond that. I didn't realize how long it took her to get the chimps to even show themselves to her. I had no idea that she was the first person to realize that animals make and use tools. Like the best non-fiction picture books, this one made me want to know more.

And the illustrations of perfect. They are a little bit simplistic, so they don't detract from the story, but they are vibrant and full of color and life. I felt like I learned as much from the images as I did from the text. Especially when there were monkeys involved, I was sucked right into Jane's story.

The Watcher is a phenomenal example of what a picture book biography can be.

Copy checked out from my local library

Stargirl

Have you read Stargirl?

I wrote about it a couple of years ago, but the short version is that Stargirl has been homeschooled her whole life, then starts attending high school, doing all manner of crazy things (playing a ukelele during lunch to anyone who has a birthday, bringing a pet rat to school, wearing pioneer type clothing,etc). At first she's wildly popular, but then her weirdness ostracizes people. Leo, who has been enchanted with her from the beginning, begins dating her and when the shunning reaches him, he convinces her to start being "normal." When people still hate her, she eventually returns to her previous odd behavior and Leo breaks up with her.

Anyway, we read Stargirl (and the companion book, Love, Stargirl) for book club this month (for the record, I didn't love them as much as I did a few years ago).

In the course of our discussion last night, I asked who felt like they were a Stargirl and who felt like they were more of a Leo. Two of us immediately identified with Leo, while two were strongly in the Stargirl camp. The remaining seven didn't identify themselves as one way or another.

This book, and certainly others, appear to be making out people who are their own kind of unusual to be somehow better or more true to themselves than those who fit more easily into the norm.

Is there somehow a feeling that everyone would be a Stargirl if they had the bravery to face down the naysayers?

I have no desire to be a Stargirl. I don't wish to be different or feel that I'm repressing my true self in order to fit in. I just happen to be a little bit quiet in large groups (less so in small ones). I don't have a desire to wear outrageous clothing. I rarely want to be the center of attention.

I would have a hard time being in a relationship with someone who was so wildly flamboyant. I hate awkwardness.

The book makes Leo out to be the guy who is just conforming to the masses and that, if he were less the product of a strict high school social system, he too would be strumming a ukelele at lunchtime or hanging enormous banners proclaiming his love in the quad.

I just can't agree that being "weird" somehow means you are more yourself. Isn't normal considered normal because many, or maybe even most, people are naturally like that?

Can't you be yourself and still be a very average human?

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

One of the problems with reading a lot of books, especially within a specific genre like contemporary young adult literature, is that after awhile you start to feel like every book is just a repeat of something else.

Sara Zarr's books are the opposite of that. How to Save a Life, in particular, has many elements that I've seen before - dead father, pregnant teenager, to name a few - and yet this book is so unlike other books with those themes. I mean, really, it's almost like showing off, that's how well she makes it work.

Also, I've read a really huge number of books this year with multiple narrators and without fail I struggle to keep them separate. This could perhaps be due to a lack of brain cells, but I'm also inclined to think it's because many authors simply aren't strong enough writers to have two very distinct voices (note to authors: changing the font for each character is not giving a character an individual voice). 

But here again, she pulls it off with aplomb. I never once had to look at the headings to tell who was narrating a chapter. The voices of the two teen girls were as different as can be, without resorting to lazy shorthand like having a character use really obvious speech patterns/accents/phrases (so lazy!). Really, I have no idea how she made this happen - what it was that made the voices so distinct - there was nothing, to my eye, obvious about the differences except. . .they were different. It's like trying to explain how you can tell apart the audible voices of two women from similar backgrounds. You can't put your finger on it; they're just distinct.

Oh, you were wondering about the actual storyline? Forgive me, I got caught up in my love for Sara Zarr.

There is Mandy. She's seventeen and pregnant. Her mother got pregnant early and has made it very clear to Mandy that life as a single mother is pretty much the worst fate there ever was. Mandy wants better for her baby and she thinks the McSweeny family is the ticket for this baby to have a better life.

She found Robin McSweeny through an open adoption message board, so the adoption is all going informally, with no lawyers, no social works, just an agreement made between the two of them via email. Mandy is leaving the Midwest to come and live with the family in Denver until the baby is born. And then, well, the plan sort of ends there.

And there is Jill, Robin McSweeny's daughter, a senior in high school, still reeling from the death of her dad nearly a year earlier. She's always been a little on the prickly side but since her dad's death, she's become insufferably so, pushing away her mother, her boyfriend, and her friends. And now, with her mother suddenly set on adopting a baby, Jill feels even more marginalized.

She also feels angry. What is her mom thinking? Is she just trying to replace her dad? What is a new baby going to solve? And of course she is very leery of this whole unofficial agreement - she is certain this girl is just going to try to suck her mother dry financially.

And her doubts are not quenched when Mandy arrives and it quickly becomes evident that she's not actually as far along as she'd said she was. And the boy she's expecting is actually a girl (not that Robin cares if it's one or the other, but the misinformation makes Jill even more anxious).

It's a pretty tense situation all around, as you can imagine.

Jill also meets a guy at her job who went to high school with her (she has very little memory of him, as he was a few grades ahead of her and they only had a single class together), and she finds herself fixated on trying to remember who she used to be before her dad's death became the defining characteristic of her life. Can she ever be that girl again? And how, after cutting off all her friends and family, can she take steps back to repairing those relationships? She sees, quite clearly, how awful she's become, but changing that now seems nearly impossible.

And Mandy is struggling too. This new life in Denver both delights and intimidates her. How is she going to walk away from it after the baby is born? How can Jill not see how lucky she is to have a mother that loves her, to have money and a future? Can she make a life like this for herself?

One of the things that really impressed me about this book is how real and rich the minor characters are, considering that many of them are present only in the memory of others (Mandy's mother, Jill's father). You feel like you know them. And you love them (or, in the case of Mandy's mother, you find her rather despicable).

And some of the information about the past is reeled out slowly, but it never feels like you're being manipulated as a reader. I could sit back and let the characters develop before my eyes.

Like all of Sara Zarr's books, I wasn't sure where things were going to go. But I've read enough of her books to know that however things played out, it'd be a satisfying ending. It wouldn't be so perfect it felt contrived, but it wouldn't be so horrible I wanted to throw the book down in despair. Whatever happened would feel right.

And it was. 

Advance copy received from publisher

Little Cities

Sometimes I feel like big cities get all the love. All the travel guides, the focus on television shows, the tourist websites.

In Boston, we lived just south of the city and there were wonderful things about our little city. And yet, in most guidebooks, it merited just a page or two, out of hundreds. No mention at all of the best cupcakes I've ever had.

Now we live in a little suburb of Austin, and I spend a lot of time thinking about how wonderful a place it is to live.

An event on Main Street last fall

 
I love our library, the many beautiful parks, the excellent restaurants, and the friendly community. We don't need to go into Austin to have a pleasant afternoon or a fun evening; our city, though far smaller and less well-known than Austin, makes me just so happy.

One of the things I love about our city is a little Indian grocery store and restaurant a few miles from our house. It's inexpensive (Bart and I can both eat for a total of $10), the man who runs it with his wife is delightful, and it's some of the best Indian food I've ever had. The naan bread makes my heart sing.

Tell me about your own little cities or towns. What do you love there that makes you not care that you don't live in downtown NYC?

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

I know next to nothing about ballet, but when I stopped at the Little Brown booth at TLA, the rep told me that Bunheads was a debut novel by a former New York City Ballet dancer and I was intrigued enough that when they were passing out copies the next month at BEA (and Sophie Flack was signing), I stood in line to get one.

I will note, for the record, that the line took forever, because not only was Sophie Flack signing the book, but she was drawing a pair of ballet shoes in each book (and then coloring them in with pink highlighter, which the rep finally confiscated because it really was taking forever). A nice thought, but. . .perhaps not for BEA lines?

Anyway, I read this book within two weeks of getting home from New York and I just really enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun to read about a world you have absolutely no experience with.

Hannah is nineteen and dances in the very competitive Manhattan Ballet in New York City.  She started attending the Manhattan Ballet Academy at 14 (moving to NYC to live on her own, while her parents remained behind in Boston), and has since dedicated her life to her career. 

For now she "only" dances in the corps de ballet, but she is really gunning for a soloist part and a future promotion.

As you might imagine, the lifestyle involved is pretty intense. When her body finally starts developing (late, of course, thanks to the insane amount of exercise she gets), she's told she needs to lose weight in her chest (because you can absolutely control that kind of thing . . . ). Her closest friends in the corps are also her biggest competition. She dances several ballets a night and rehearses and trains all day long. There is, obviously, no semblance of a life outside of ballet. 

Then, on a rare night out, she visits her cousin's restaurant and she meets a young musician, Jacob. He's attending NYU and has four majors (he's waiting for the administration to notice and force him to choose one or two). Sophie is a little stunned by the idea of having so many interests, so many possibilities, since she has had such drive and intense focus since she was a little girl, giving up basically a normal life to pursue ballet.

She and Jacob start a tenuous relationship, but she is so unbelievably busy that weeks will go by with no contact except perhaps a text message or two.

And Hannah really doesn't have a lot of time to devote to a relationship to begin with since she feels like she is on the verge of moving up to a soloist position. And with her slight weight gain, she's working out and rehearsing harder than ever to keep her body tiny.

Of course, the tension between her personal life and her professional life is going to come to a head at some point. The question is, which one will she choose. Because it's becoming fairly obvious to her that she can't have both. 

One of the things that really impressed me about this book is how rich the characters are. I think books like this sometimes make anyone not in the inner circle a villain ("you don't understand how harddddd my life is!"), but  this one did a good job of presenting both sides of the issue. You can see and appreciate Jacob's frustration at her crazy schedule, but you also are rooting for Hannah to make soloist, to not throw away everything she's worked for in favor of a boy. And while you like Hannah most of all, you also can appreciate the drive of the other corps members and how they too deserve a shot at big parts after dedicating their lives to the company.

And while there is much exploration of the backstage drama, the intense work, and the competition, this book masterfully depicts the magic of being on stage, under the lights, in front of a transfixed audience. You can absolutely understand why, despite it all, Hannah loves (and continues to love) ballet.

Of course, after reading this book, I am so curious about what the author's experience was in her own ballet career. 

Also, on a mostly unrelated note, this book had a little business card tucked into it with a reproduction of the cover art and Ella carried it around for several days, and any time I would ask her, "Is this your Bunheads?" she would burst into giggles. I know you wanted to know.

Copy picked up at BEA

Vegetarian Recipe #7: Flatbread Wraps

In a perfect world, I would rejoice at each and every single offering from my CSA box.

But there are some foods that I just am not that enthusiastic about. When they show up in the box, I have to restrain myself throwing myself on the floor and weeping (I don't because inevitably, by the time I've unpacked my box, my kitchen floor is covered with little bits of greenery).

Worse, vegetables have an unpleasant habit of growing many weeks in a row. So just when you've FINALLY figured out what to do with something despicable, the next box appears with it AGAIN.

Arugula is that vegetable for me. It looks like innocent lettuce, but it is so peppery and . . .just too much.

The first time I used it in a salad, Bart took one bite and said, "What is wrong with this lettuce?" It has not been popular in our home.

There were various attempts to use up the bags that would not stop coming. The most successful was this goat cheese, strawberry, balsamic salad. But still. One can only eat such a salad so many days in a row.

And then, I made these Flatbread Wraps from, where else, Perry's Plate, and all was right with the world. The first  time I made them, I had to mix up a second batch of the salad - we went through it that fast.

The next day, we made them again for lunch. And just like that, the arugula was gone. It was like a miracle.

Basil & Goat Cheese Flatbread Wrap 

(from Perry's Plate)

Serves 3-4

1/2 batch of whole wheat pizza dough (I made this and used it immediately, then put the leftovers in the fridge and used them again a day later. And I still have more.)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into large pieces (I used about three leaves per flatbread for a total of about nine pieces per flatbread)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles

For the salad:

10-14 ounces of salad greens (I used a mix of baby spinach and arugula)

3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice 

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees (if you have a pizza stone. If you don't, you should go buy one. Seriously. If you don't, Natalie at Perry's Plate recommends heating your oven to 450 and putting an upside down cookie sheet in it).

Form golf ball size lumps of dough (that there might be the most unappetizing sentence I've ever written).  Roll each ball out on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper or a silicone pan liner as thin as you can (like. . .tortilla thin). I could do two flat breads on my silicone liner. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil (I used my fingers) and then sprinkle with a little garlic. Top with some basil leaf pieces, mozzarella, and goat cheese. Go easy on the toppings. . . you don't need a lot.

Bake for about 4 minutes, or until the edges of the crust begin to crisp and the cheese is bubbly. 

To make the salad, place the salad greens in a large bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice, olive oil and then salt and pepper to taste. Place a large handful of salad on to each flatbread and fold it over. Eat and die that you are actually liking arugula.

What I'll Be Doing for the Next Three Months

One of my goals for 2011 was to be a judge for the Cybils (if you're not familiar with the Cybils, they are book awards given out by book bloggers for children and young adult books in many different categories).

I was on the second round panel for non-fiction picture books in 2009, and then didn't get a spot last year, so I was incredibly happy to make the cut this year.

I'm on the non-fiction picture book first round panel, which means that I'll be reading every book that is nominated (you can see the list of nominations thus far here and you can also nominate a book if you're so inclined, in any category you choose; I nominated Falling for Hamlet in the YA category) and helping the other panelists come up with a list of 5-7 finalists that will go on to the second round panel which will select a winner.

There are some really fun books on the list and I'm enjoying all the diversity (history! biography! science! food! animals!).

Last night, after Ella was in bed, I went over to the library and maxed out my library card with non-fiction picture books. Not a bad way to spend an evening (especially because the children's section of the library is deserted at 8:45 at night).

One of the reasons I wanted to do picture books this year is so that I could read the nominees with Ella. Poor girl, she's going to wonder why we can't just read The Lion and the Mouse over and over again.

And poor you - I'll be reviewing some of the books as I work my way through them. Prepare yourself.

Wish You Well by David Baldacci

This is just embarrassing. Wish You Well was the winning title for Tell Me What to Read back in MARCH. Yes, March. More than six months ago.  But I have persevered.

And now, many moons after finishing the book, I'm finally writing something about it (you may wonder if, after all this time, I can even remember what the book is about. I am wondering the same thing).

The story begins with a car accident. Lou and Oz (a young brother and sister) lose their father and their mother goes into a coma that shows no signs of losing its hold any time soon. They are shipped off to live with their great-grandmother, Louisa, in the mountains of West Virginia. Louisa raised the childrens' father too, and he always spoke lovingly about her, but when he left West Virginia in his early adulthood to become a (quite successful) writer, he never once returned, despite the fact that his books almost always revolved around West Virginia.

Of course, being big city children, the new life on a rural farm comes as quite a shock to Lou and Oz. But, eventually, they begin to make friends and enjoy their new lives, although their mother's failure to come out of her comatose state wears on them both.

And then, it looks as if Louisa might lose the land (which is really the ONLY thing she has left - they are dirt poor up there) and a legal battle commences. The courtroom scenes were my favorite in the book and the only time where I felt really gripped by the story, but the resolution of the legal battle? Very contrived. Bah.

I still liked it, though. The characters are so nice, I couldn't even help myself. It very much has an old fashioned feeling to it, and that charmed me so much I could forgive the ending.

I've heard this is very little like Baldacci's other books, which makes me want to read some of his other things to compare. Any recommendations?

Copy checked out from my local library. About five times.

No Regrets

Sometimes, we leave Utah, and Bart and I wonder if it is a mistake to raise our baby so far away from her grandparents, her cousins, her aunts and uncles. We imagine a life where we didn't spend $700 multiple times a year to fly west for family events. Bart talks about how much he misses the mountains.

And then sometimes it snows in Utah in the first week of October, while I take Ella to the park in shorts and sandals. 

And Texas seems like just the right place to be.

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

A couple of weeks ago, I presented at KidLitCon with Kelly (a friend from grad school) and two other librarians, Abby and Julia. Abby and I both couldn't be there in person and participated on our panel via Google Hangout (have you used Google Hangout? It's awesome). 

Our panel was about critical reviewing ("critical" meaning "thoughtful and analytical," not "only negative") and one of the things we talked briefly about was whether to write your own summaries of a book or to use the publisher's copy. 

One of the reasons I like to write my own is that I often feel that the publisher's summary slants the book in a way that I feel is not really very accurate. Sometimes it makes the story appear to be about something it's not really about at all. Sometimes it skews the characters. Sometimes I feel quite certain the person writing the summary didn't actually read the book at all. 

How to Be an American Housewife is one of those books where I thought the summary was quite a bit off base. It says (thank you, Goodreads): A lively and surprising novel about a Japanese woman with a closely guarded secret, the American daughter who strives to live up to her mother's standards, and the rejuvenating power of forgiveness. 

I reread that after finishing the book and was surprised at how off-base that summary felt to me. The closely guarded secret? I didn't feel like that was the crux of the story. It came up a few times, but one of the defining parts of the book - I do not think so. Also, when the secret is finally resolved, it happens so fast that, even without remembering that it was supposed to a main plot point, I noted how brief and swift it felt.

As for the American daughter trying to live up to her mother's standards, I didn't see that at all. To me, it felt more like it was a disconnect between the two of them.

Actually, reading that summary makes me wish the book had more closely followed what the summary suggests the book is about. It sounds quite fantastic.

Unfortunately, while it was a quick and entertaining-enough read, I didn't particularly love it or have any desire to bore Bart with long detailed descriptions of it. It was a squarely three-star book for me. Fine, but not fantastic.

(For the record, I would have summarized the book as follows: "Shoko, realizing that post-World War II Japan holds few prospects for her, marries an American and returns home with him, where they live in relative poverty and raise two unexceptional children, until her hearts starts to suffer from previous exposure to the atom bomb. Fearing she won't live much longer, she requests that her daughter and granddaughter return to Japan and make peace with her brother who has never forgiven her for marrying an American.")

I read this book for the BlogHer Book Club and you can read other reviews and discussions at BlogHer.

I am paid for my participation in the BlogHer Book Club, but I choose which books to read and my reviews are strictly my own opinions. If I think a book is terrible, I'll say so. If I rave about a book, it's because it's one I'd give to Kayla or my mom.

Vegetarian Recipe #6: Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Polenta

Image from The Kitchn

This was one of those meals where you decide you desperately don't want to make what you have on the menu or in fact anything on the menu for the week, and so you pick something, ANYTHING off your Pinterest boards to make instead. Just so long as it isn't something on the menu.

This had the double bonus of using up several things that were getting old (hello, three ears of corn I bought for very cheap many weeks ago) and reviving the tomatoes I bought that were. . . not very excellent.

The triple bonus was that it was DELICIOUS. I let Ella lick the spoon because she was getting all sorts of crabby while I was finishing up cooking, and suddenly she was a happy little clam. She kept holding up the spoon to have me refill it up. This was a big winner (there was goat cheese. How could it NOT be a big winner?).

Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Polenta
(Adapted from Love and Olive Oil)

serves 2

Ingredients:

2 plum tomatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces (or 1/2 pint of cherry/grape tomatoes, sliced in half, if you are very rich or cherry tomatoes are on sale)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup milk or half-and-half (guess which one I used . . . )
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh corn kernels, blanched briefly in boiling water
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Put tomatoes and 1-2 TB olive oil in a pan and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 45-55 minutes or until tomatoes are slightly brown around the edges and all wrinkly (yum!)

While those cook, bring milk and water to a gentle boil in a sauce pan. Whisk in cornmeal (if you are awesome and can keep it from forming lumps, congratulations. If not, run it through the blender or food processor, or stick your immersion blender in so it's all smooth and lovely). Reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to thicken, about ten minutes. Add corn kernels and let cook another two or three minutes. Stir in butter and goat cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with roasted tomatoes.

Serve immediately.