Necessary Chocolate

Discover!

This particular discovery and obsession started on a trip to Los Angeles. My Richins cousins were kind - so kind - and invited me to join them at a beach house in Ventura. I grumbled about it being in LA instead of Cape Cod, because I'm a Northern California girl and LA takes our water. But it's my one and only ever invitation to a beach house, and I love my cousins, so I joined them for a long weekend. 

And now I love LA. LOVE. Who knew?

The location didn't hurt.

Julie, my friend of fame and talent, now lives in LA. She introduced me to the wonder that is Lemonade. Then I went there twice, fighting traffic each time, to drool over their salads, braises, and lemonade. Luckily, the first time, my cousin Amy insisted that I try the watermelon rosemary lemonade. That's why I went back the second time. It's pretty good. Ha.

Then I bought the cookbook.

So far, I've made watermelon rosemary lemonade too many times to count. I'd make it a lot more if I didn't have to squeeze all the lemons.

 

After my mom read through the cookbook, we made lots and lots of salads.

The tomato, corn & ancho chili vinaigrette is my favorite so far in the salad category. I made the short ribs a couple of weeks ago and they might be the best meat I've ever tasted.

 It's so much fun to find a cookbook that inspires me to do discover new things! So what did you discover this fall?

 

 

Read for fun: dream

The report is out. Whew. Five years of teaching the early morning church class every day, followed by two years of this project, made for quite the character growth spurt. This weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the year, my church's semiannual conference. In my house, for this weekend, that meant watching church on TV in my pajamas and eating pop tarts. This was the first conference in seven years when I wasn't worried about a lesson or about working on the report. IT WAS GREAT.

You know what I noticed? That the class, despite the anxiety and work, has brought me so many moments of joy. Relationships with those students that will never go away; my own spiritual growth; the training that I received. It was such an amazing experience. So far, I'm not feeling a lot of joy from the report. But the story isn't over yet. There may be joy eventually, right?

Life is calmer now. I'm making lots of things. And, to bring this back to the subject, reading every now and then. I'm going to need a couple of weeks to finish. Maybe you will, too?

What have you been reading before you go to bed? I'm often too tired by that time of night, but there have been a few evenings when a book was so good that I stayed up way too late. The Hired Girl, by a favorite author, Laura Amy Schlitz, was one of those books.

It's nearly 1 AM here in NY, so I'll be lazy and copy the publisher's blurb:

"Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!), taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions."

I really loved that Schlitz doesn't shy away from the heroine's stalwart Catholicism. Joan wants to convert her Jewish employers, all the while defending them to her disapproving friends. These days, religion is often portrayed as the enemy. In this book, it's part of why Joan and her employers want to treat each other well. It's why they try to do good in the world. And since that's my experience, I liked taking this particular book to bed.

I should probably head that direction now. Keep reading! Let me know what you consider a great bedtime book!

PRIZES.

Hard to believe guys. It is, after all, only June! I am so sorry that the prizes for your reading achievements have taken this long. On the other hand, it's a prize. Any time is good, right?

For many, many years my summer list included making a book bag for the summer reading. At long last, I've made one. 

Okay, I've made many. And a few more are underway! My timing is not so bad - you can use them for your books this summer.

They fold up and fasten with velcro (as you can see in that oh-so-artistic top photo)! They're lined with colorful tickets!

I hope that you enjoy them! You should all receive them by the end of the month.

Here's the list that I compiled:

Alyson, Emma, Jen, Petria, Elsa, Glee, Roxanne, Sylvia, Mary

If I left anyone out, don't feel shy! Let me know!

This year's chart  will be out in the next couple of weeks. Or by the 1st of July, since the Arizona family is going to arrive on Friday. IT"S SUMMER!

 

 

 

Come to think of it, pretty much every book has a hero

Perhaps I should have made the goal to read about an anti-hero? Oh, well. It'll be fun to hear about your heroes.

My new favorite book this year is all about heroes and anti-heroes. But mostly heroes.

Last year I proselytized for Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now. This year, it'll be this book. Every character is a hero,especially Auggie, who's a "normal" boy behind an abnormal face. Any tears I might have shed in this book were for the triumph of kindness. Oh, and the book is fun to read. Much more fun than that particular description might indicate.

The book after that? The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. It's pure fun, and there were no tears shed at all. 

Read for Fun 2012

Happy Independence Day! Are you ready to read outside? Or with a frozen treat? Or maybe just wander through a bookstore yet again? Or maybe you just like pasting balloons on pictures of flying buses?

Then join the flying bookmobile, ignore those obviously "drawn in photoshop" balloon strings and read for fun! 

The annual reiteration of the rules:  

This chart isn't meant to make you read lots of books. This chart is all about five-minute summer vacations. There are only nine official goals. You're a grown up, so you can change the goals if you want to (except for Shakespeare - you must read some Shakespeare). Blank balloons are provided for you to add or change goals. Just cut out the balloons and paste them onto the end of the strings as you finish. At the end of the summer (which I usually extend until the first week of October), you'll need to report to me some of your favorite reading moments. Besides the fun of reading, and cutting and pasting, there will be prizes!

You can download the file here:

Download Read for fun 2012

Note that there are two versions of the balloons - pretty colored ones, and sophisticated greyscale ones. You get to pick. 

 Have fun! And don't forget to check in and share some of your favorite reading moments this summer.

Read for Fun 2011

It's time! You can read for fun in Quincy, MA.

Or you can read for fun in Oakland, CA.

I really love the Library of Congress's collection of panoramic maps. That fascination, combined with a ridiculously old-fashioned dream of summer, led to this year's design. Imagine a record of the perfect reading summer, where you mark your map with little flags (using perfect handwriting and my not-so-perfect sketches) whenever you have a fun reading experience.

As usual, there aren't many rules. This activity isn't meant to make you read lots of books - instead, it's all about five-minute summer vacations. You're a grownup, so you can change the goals if you want (there are blank flags for you to use), and do as many as you want. Except for the frozen treat one; it's always required.

I usually call "finish" near the end of summer, in September. There will be prizes!

Want to play?

Download Readforfun 2011 Quincy

Download Readforfun 2011 oakland

Ending the summer reading with the book festival

Since so many of you have shared your reading experiences with me, now that it's October I should share at least one of my fun moments...

I visited the Berkshire Botanical Garden for the first time and read on one of the artist's benches (read with flowers).

I bought and tried out "The Perfect Scoop" (and once I have heat in my house, I might make something from it again) for "read with a frozen treat."

To "read about summer," I read "One Crazy Summer," a great book about 1968 Oakland and a girl's visit to her less-than-interested mother (who sends her daughters off to the Black Panther's day camp).

I wandered through the New England Mobile Book Fair, one of my favorite bookstores.

But best of all, the oldest Arizona girl and I celebrated her 14th birthday attending the National Book Festival. We heard Suzanne Collins and Rebecca Stead and Edward O. Wilson, and two of my childhood favorites:

That's Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer of "The Phantom Tollbooth." That book saw me through many a crisis of confidence or boredom.

I also gave her the thirty-minute walk through Art of Western Civilization (as I introduced her to the National Gallery of Art).  I have fond memories of the museum, because it was AIR CONDITIONED.

Did I mention it was hot? So so so hot. Wow.

But at least I didn't have to wear the Penguin Books mascot costume.

Awards are underway, really. I'm just waiting for some ribbon to arrive to finish them up, so I should send them off in the next week or two. If you haven't let me know that you played, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail (cmjtroy at aol).

New Yorkers are so nice and (on a completely different note) breakfast menus

You don't think we're nice? Yes, we are. Here's proof.

(Courtesy of the Kiki Strike blog, my source for pure wackiness.)

The seminary class is meeting at my house for breakfast tomorrow.I haven't decided on the final menu yet. It could be sausage/potato casserole and muffins and fruit

OR

 

it could be hot apple crisp. With ice cream. My idea of a perfect breakfast food (if I don't eat the apple part).

 

Or maybe Cap'n Crunch, Pop-Tarts, and Tang. For those who live dangerously.

I sent an email with the choices to the students. We'll see what the response is, and what kind of mood I'm in when I go grocery shopping tonight.