Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Although my oldest doesn’t turn 10 until next week, we were in charge of bringing birthday treats to dinner at my in-laws’ house yesterday (as was one of my sisters-in-law–one person bringing dessert is never enough!).  My girlie wanted cupcakes, and while I abhor making them, well, it was her day to choose.  I plopped her in front of my computer and showed her my Pinterest cupcakes board; she found a few different recipes that appealed to her and then we narrowed it down to these Very Vanilla Cupcakes (I steered her away from the Neopolitan ones because I didn’t want to deal with layers).  She and I made them yesterday afternoon, she frosted them with Daddy (I hate frosting cupcakes!), and when birthday celebration time came at her Grandma’s house, we served them up.

OH.  MY.  GOSH.

These things are amazing.  They have vanilla bean and vanilla extract in the batter and the frosting, plus vanilla Greek yogurt in the batter.  (I didn’t want to buy Vanilla Almond Milk, though, so it wasn’t vanilla FOUR ways.  It could have been.)  I doubled the cupcakes and one and a halved the frosting, and I went through FIVE STICKS OF BUTTER to do it.  (There was extra frosting, by the way.  Unless you like frosting mountains on  your cupcakes,  you’re fine to double the cupcakes and make a single batch of frosting.)  These cupcakes are worth every calorie, friends.   They are moist and rich and beautifully vanilla-y.  They are a revelation–a thing of beauty and joy (and cholesterol, but hey!) forever.

Make them today.

My hubby and I just filled out our ballots.

Sigh.

I bought a bag of red potatoes at Costco last week and I have been LOVING having it (believe it or not!).  I’ve mostly avoided potatoes in the past; I can take them or leave them, I’m allergic to peeling them (strange but true, I promise), and only my youngest has been willing to eat them as a toddler.  (My oldest has made her peace with them, but my middles still aren’t really fans.)  That oldest of mine wanted to try the cute mini potatoes at Costco, however, and so the reds were my compromise–still small, but a dollar less per pound.  Today I was trying to come up with a soup idea, since we have leftover bread bowls from my hubby’s work’s Halloween potluck, and I decided to look for potato chowder pins on my Soups board.  This Slow Cooker Potato and Corn Chowder made the cut.

I did, of course, make a few changes; that’s just how I roll.  In this case, since our family isn’t fond of thyme, I left out that AND the oregano and used 2 teaspoons of herbs de provence instead.  I also cut the broth down to about four cups and upped the amount of evaporated milk (my automatic substitute for cream in soups).  I used 1 1/4 cups and threw in a teaspoon of chicken bouillon with it, and I liked the texture.  (Another cup of broth would have tasted good as well, but thicker is easier for littles to eat.)  My kiddos weren’t exactly passionate about it–they gave it thumbs middle across the board–but they all ate it of their own accord, and in a timely fashion as well.  (That speaks volumes.)  I’m thinking I will make it again and play with the herbs; it’s so incredibly easy that it’s definitely worth experimenting with.  If you try it, let me know what you suggest!

We scored a bunch of free books at the kids’ elementary school’s literacy night, including a copy of William Steig’s The Real Thief.  (Honestly, I hadn’t even heard of it, but it was William Steig–of course I grabbed it!)  I finished it a few days ago, and now I’m passing it off to my second girlie, because of all of my kids, she’s the one that struggles with the truth.

The Real Thief is the 58-page tale of Gawain, Chief Guard of the Royal Treasury and a famously honorable goose.  When items start to disappear from the treasury, he seems guilty nonetheless–he and the king are the only two with keys!  He is ultimately convicted on circumstantial evidence, which devastates and angers him; he flees his country and is living a solitary existence in the forest when he is sought out by the real thief.  Gawain’s bitterness and struggle to forgive his accusers make an interesting contrast to the thief’s crushing guilt and desperation to fix the mess he has created.  Steig does an excellent job of examining the thought processes of both the accused and the guilty; I wouldn’t have had patience with the thief as a child, but as a parent I am thoroughly impressed at what the author has created.

Bottom line?  This is an impressive and accessible fable about guilt, innocence, and forgiveness.  Don’t miss it!

I read Emma Lesko’s Super Lexi back in February, and I ended my review with “I’m kind of bitter that our library system doesn’t have the sequel.”  My friend Britt, however, instead of nursing bitterness, filled out a ‘request a purchase’ form, which is why I have now read the sequel, courtesy of that same library system.  (I’m so sorry, SLCO Library.  I will never doubt again.  *Bonus points for the “Princess Bride” quote.*)

Super Lexi is Not a Fan of Christmas gives us another glimpse into the life of a child who struggles to relate to the world around her.  While her classmates look forward to the Christmas party/gift exchange that comes just before Christmas vacation, Lexi is dreading the “hoopla” and looking for ways to avoid it.  She is able to share some of that with her best friend, but she can’t express herself to her parents or her teacher, and so they are more or less unaware of her struggle (or at least the extent of it); I wanted to be bugged by that, except that parents and teachers don’t automatically know what children are thinking, and Lexi is exactly the sort of child who struggles to help them out in that area.  The entire situation rang true.  Emma Lesko’s ability to narrate from Lexi’s point of view is fabulous; Lexi’s idiosyncrasies are partly expressed, partly demonstrated, and her linguistic quirks add immeasurably to the overall effect.  Lexi may deal with OCD, she may be autistic, she may struggle with something else entirely.  What she IS is superbly drawn and developed as a character.

Bottom line?  Every child, every teacher, every parent, every ONE ought to read about Lexi.

On this blog, of course, those two Rs are Recipes and Reviews, and I’ve got one of each tonight!

The Recipe

Tonight my friend was making soup to bring to a Trunk or Treat, so we made two crockpots worth of this Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken Stew.  Hers went to her Trunk or Treat; mine came home with me and got served with apple muffins.  To be honest with you, although I enjoyed it, I’m a bit undecided about the stew myself–there was a good bit of fennel, which I associate almost exclusively with Italian sausages, and using a slurry to transform a broth-y soup into a stew isn’t something I do frequently.  My middles, however, BOTH gave it a thumbs up, and that is unheard of for soup.  Since my hubby and my 1-year-old also seemed to enjoy it, I will likely keep the recipe but consider playing with it a bit.  The only changes I made today were to use white wine vinegar instead of white wine (it’s what I had) and to briefly saute the celery, onion, and garlic in a bit of olive oil before tossing it in.  (I was also generous with the veggies, but that doesn’t really count as a change for me.)  If you’re needing it to be done in the four hour range, I’d chop your veggies on the small side–mine were firm but not crunchy–but if you’ve got six full hours, you should be good. Overall, this one is worth trying if you enjoy the ingredients involved.  Let me know what you think!

The Review

She Stood for Freedom:  The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is an awfully clunky title, but the book itself is fascinating in a certain kind of way.  Written by Joan’s son, it chronicles the life of a Southern white woman who believed in doing the right thing, even when it was hard; she was a known figure in the Civil Rights movement.  If you’re looking for a book on that movement for middle elementary schoolers, this one packs a lot in–Freedom Rides, Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins, and the March on Washington, among other things.  I stipulated that it was fascinating ‘in a certain kind of way’ because of the writing.  Loki Mulholland doesn’t do a bad job of honoring his mother, but you can tell that writing for children isn’t quite his forte; he talks slightly down to his target audience (in a totally well-meaning way).  He also isn’t quite sure whether he wants his book to be a true biography or a history of her role in the Civil Rights movement–he includes just enough personal information to make it more than the latter, but not quite enough to be a thorough example of the former.  Both issues are understandable when one considers his relationship to his subject and his day job, though, so I’m inclined to more or less give him a pass there, since I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

And there you have it, folks.  I’ve finished a few other short books recently, so more are coming.  In the meantime, I need to buy pumpkins to carve in the morning!

I read the last quarter of Jim Murphy’s Blizzard!  The Storm That Changed America aloud to my dad on the way to Meridian, Idaho, and ultimately, I wish I’d read the whole thing that way.  I read the first three quarters in tiny bits at the end of long, busy days, which is never ideal for my focus and a book’s continuity.  I brought it with me when we visited my parents last weekend, however, and after eating lunch in Burley, I pulled Murphy’s book out of the back of the car on a whim.  I don’t read well in the car anymore, but the freeway was straight, the weather optimal, and I knew it would interest my dad.  He was a professor of geography before he retired, teaching–among other things–a course on human response to disaster (the blizzard of 1888 changed how cities in America responded to disasters).  I never had the chance to attend any of those lectures, but he also taught a summer field trip course, and he took as much of our family with him as he could on each trip.  In fact, my parents took us all over New England and the rest of the country when we were young, building in us a love of history that I’ve never lost.  Now my father is struggling with dementia, my mother with her eyesight, and both of them are in their 70s.  They love their children and grandchildren fiercely, however, and it made my heart happy to share something with my father in a way that felt a bit like old times again.  (It also helped pass the time–for both of us!)

I put Raina Telgemeier’s Ghosts on hold before it came out because I liked the premise AND I liked both Smile and Sisters; I got the chance to finish it this weekend, and really, how perfect is that? The climax of the book involves both Halloween and El Dia de los Muertos!  (Which is apparently November 1st, and please pretend the “i” in dia has an accent.)  Talk about getting ready for the holiday…

The best thing about the book, however, was its surprises–the title gives away less of the plot than you’d think.  At its core, this is a story about facing death, facing loss, and being strong enough to accept and talk about mortality.  (That makes it sound sadder than it is, but it’s the truth.)  It’s also a story about sisters who love each other despite (or perhaps because of) their polar opposite personalities.

It’s also about tamales.  And chocolate.  And it’s funny.

Bottom line?  This is perfect for the week before Halloween, it’s perfect for those looking for a graphic novel with depth, and–really, just go read it before the 31st.

You’ll thank me for it.

I was already in bed when I realized I’d missed posting yesterday, and I couldn’t muster up enough energy to go out to my computer and do it.  AND I’m taking a week off to spend time with family again, so really, have a great few days and I’ll be back sometime next week!

Here’s the thing–Fowl Language:  Welcome to Parenting has some hilarious moments, not to mention a plethora of amusing to pretty funny ones.  Brian Gordon is a parent who knows.  Unfortunately for me, however,  he’s also a parent who’s more comfortable with casual profanity than I am.  Not f-words, necessarily, but oh, the s-words!  I got a kick out of quite a few of his cartoons–comics?–but it’s not one I can bring myself to keep.  If you have kids, however, and that sort of language isn’t a big deal for you, then rock on.  (If you don’t have kids, I wouldn’t bother.  You are not the target audience.)