Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I can’t even remember what brought the Anna Wang novels to my attention; all I can say is that I just finished the third one, and The Year of the Fortune Cookie was at least as delightful as the first two.  In it, Anna works to find the right place for herself in middle school before heading off to China with her former teacher and her husband, whose adoption of a Chinese baby is finally going to happen.  While some of the situations involved seem a tad unlikely and/or on the rosy rather than realistic side, I enjoyed the book enough that I didn’t really care.  And kudos to the illustrator as well–Patrice Barton’s drawings added to the reading experience for me, even though my focus is usually on the words, just the words, and not much else besides the words.  Overall, these are gentle books that still manage to encourage readers to think outside of their experiences and comfort zones.  Our world needs more of these.

Oh, and by the way…both of my older girls are now enjoying this series.  There may or may not be conflict over who reads this one first!

Last month, we ate Christmas dinner with my parents for the first time in quite a while; as my mother and I were planning the menu, one carrot recipe came to mind.  Do you remember me mentioning, many posts ago, a carrot recipe so divine that I called my sister’s former mother-in-law to get it–not long after my sister’s divorce from her son?  This is that recipe, friends.  Getting it was worth every minute of one of the world’s most awkward conversations.  Call it carrot casserole, call it holiday carrots, call it what you will; I call it amazing.

2 lbs carrots

1/2 C chopped onion

1/2 C butter (the real thing)

1/2 C crushed saltines

1 C grated cheddar (medium or sharp)

Peel and cook your carrots in water; drain.  Mash them, but not too finely–you want some texture there.  Saute your onions in the butter; combine cheese and saltines in a separate bowl.  In a sprayed baking dish, spread half your carrots, half your buttery onions, and half your saltines and cheddar.  Repeat your layers and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

That’s it, folks.  And IT is heavenly.

Happy New Year, folks–I’m back!  (I’m sure you all missed me dreadfully.)  I hope your holidays were lovely.  We had the opportunity to spend LOTS of time with family, and that’s the best part of any holiday.  I’ve got more than one book waiting to be reviewed, however, so without further ado I give you Terrible Typhoid Mary:  A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America.  Mary is Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s latest non-fiction for young people, her earlier works of non-fiction having earned her a Newbery Honor Award and a Sibert Medal (among other things).  I’d heard of Typhoid Mary before reading it, but I was pretty vague on details, and that turned out to be a good thing; many of the “details” floating around out there seem to be creations of the yellow press of the early 20th century.  Bartoletti does an exceptional job of giving us not only what accurate details there are to be had, but the context of those details as well.  Mary Mallon, in the light of that context, is a terribly sympathetic figure.

Unfortunately, she is also a little known one; Bartoletti works hard to present as many facts as possible, but the necessity of carefully stated supposition (“Due to such and such a cultural practice of the time, Mary may have felt such and such”) in order to present the facts in their proper historical setting affects the flow of the writing.  It’s unavoidable, in my opinion, but I wish I hadn’t been reading it over the holidays.  All the activity of the season made it harder to focus on a story that was already only as smooth as it could be.  Mary, however, is still an unequivocally fascinating book from multiple standpoints.  The most obvious, of course, is a historical one, but scientifically (and legally!), it reminded me a bit of a junior cousin to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Either way, it’s a worthy addition to the world of intermediate non-fiction.

I was possibly planning on taking the week of Christmas off, but clearly I didn’t make it that far.  On the other hand, I’ve done a decent amount of wrapping, and I’ve finished more than half of my Christmas cards, so that’s got to count for something!  For whatever reason, my time is slipping away from me faster and faster, and so I’m bailing on any attempt to pick back up here until after Christmas.  (Possibly until 2017, but we’ll see.)  In the meantime, good luck with all of your preparations, and remember–be extra nice to retail employees this month!

Fellow parents–why is it that when all of my kids are outside together, or downstairs, or in another room, and the youngest starts to cry or be naughty, the rest of them don’t even register the fact? And yet, when I’m in the same room with that youngest, standing six inches away from her, and she starts to cry or get in trouble, her siblings rush to pick her up or stop her from misbehaving? What natural law governs that reaction? Because it drives.  Me.  BONKERS.

Last Saturday we went to a baptism at 4 pm, which meant that if I wanted real food (and I really, really did), a crockpot recipe was going to be the way to go.  I opted for the first one I saw that I had the ingredients for, which happened to be this Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup; thankfully, it was just as easy as it looked.  I even sauteed the onion and celery for a minute or two before adding it in, since I prefer the flavor that way, and it was still pretty fast to put together.  We all more or less liked it, too, although I didn’t add enough salt and pepper.  (I never do when it says “to taste” without giving a ballpark estimate, because I’m always afraid of adding too much.)  I intentionally left out the cup of water, since thicker soups are easier for kids, and it worked perfectly well that night.  (The leftovers thickened up quite a bit, of course, because rice.)  I’m planning on playing with this recipe a bit, but I enjoyed it, and it made a TON–it filled my biggest crockpot, which just might be a 7-quarter.  If you want easy soup to feed a multitude, go for this one!

I HAVE FINISHED A BOOK.

Okay, that sounds pathetic, but seriously.  I finished one book in November (that’s not counting treadmill books, but STILL).  Life is feeling exceptionally busy right now, and let’s be realistic–that’s not going to end until we’re done with December as well.  Which is why I’m celebrating having finished a book.

The best part is that it was a delightful book; it made me laugh out loud and want to be friends with all of the characters.  (True, Emily’s mother’s “if it’s meant to be, it will happen” attitude did drive me crazy–if she were my mom, I’d say that about my chores and then go read a book instead–but she was still actually lovable.)  Emily is named after Emily Dickinson, and her English professor mother is sure she’s meant to be a poet herself, despite the fact that she doesn’t enjoy poetry (she prefers to copy her favorite romance novel happy endings onto index cards to save and write periodic letters to Danielle Steel).  Their views on destiny come to a head when Emily’s most prized possession gets accidentally donated to Goodwill–right after she discovers that her father’s name is written inside of it.  Her wild quest to track it down involves tree sitters, bookstores, a stray dog, and a smattering of other people’s poetry before reaching its (most satisfying!) conclusion.

There are possibly some plot stretches here, although several of them work when you consider the part fate plays in the novel; ultimately, however, I enjoyed it too much to care.  If you’re a book lover, don’t miss this one!

Really, I’m making no promises, but I’m trying!  I was looking through recipes on Sunday evening and this one for BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches in the crockpot caught my eye.  I picked up a bottle of A&W at the grocery store on Monday and pulled out a hunk of pork last night; this morning I got it into my crockpot before I left for the day.  Dinner!

I have to admit, though, that I didn’t read the end of the recipe carefully.  The pork cooks for 7 hours in the crockpot, yes, but then you shred it and cook it for another hour, and THEN you drain the root beer, add the BBQ sauce, and cook it for ANOTHER 30 minutes to an hour.  The steps were quick and easy, but I should have put it in an hour or so earlier.  On the other hand, it was still easy and tasty, and the kiddos all ate it well.  I could taste more pepper than I would have preferred, thanks to the Montreal Steak Seasoning, but I’m well aware that I’m freakishly sensitive to black pepper.  (I doubt most people would even notice.)

Bottom line?  It was easy and the (very tender) meat made lovely sandwiches, so I’ll likely make this one again.  Give it a try!

I didn’t manage yesterday because it ended up being a later night than anticipated; today, instead of last Saturday’s new recipe, I opted to take the Light the World challenge and share a favorite scripture or three:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,   The Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:6)

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.  (Mosiah 2:17)

I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.  (Moroni 8:3)

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

The highlights of my son’s doctor’s appointment:

1)Pre-appointment sobbing.  Because he was miserable, AND because he got his kindergarten shots at his last appointment–four months ago.

2)The fastest positive on a strep culture I have ever seen.  The doctor hadn’t even looked in his throat yet.

3)When she DID look in his throat:  “YEAH, I can see strep there.”  Also, “Those are some impressive tonsils, there, buddy.”

4)Post-swab snuggles.

5)The token tower.  The orange ninja made his morning.

Thank heaven for amoxicillin, folks.  I cannot imagine being in this situation 75 years ago.  Here’s to less sobbing tomorrow!