BlogHer Book Club: Where She Went

I'm loving this time of year.  It's spring, and the gala at Mister Man's school is finally starting to wind down (it happens on Saturday, so my role of tracking donations and writing descriptions for the brochure is near an end) so I have been spending some time sitting outside reading.  It's awesome, and I love the most recent book I finished, Where She Went by Gayle Forman.  It is the sequel to her novel If I Stay, though it isn't necessary to have read that first.  I haven't read it - yet - and had no issues jumping into the story.  As much as I loved Where She Went, though, I might suggest getting both books and reading them in order.

Where She Went is about Mia and Adam and how they've reconnected via a one night stay Adam has in New York when he - the rock star about to leave for a European tour - goes to see Mia perform a cello concert at Carnegie Hall where he goes backstage to meet her again.

They were once very close, as they grew up together in Oregon and both were music whizzes there.  Unfortunately, there was a horrible car accident that killed Mia's parents and brother, leaving her in a coma.  By the time she's recovered, he made a promise to give her up and she heads to Julliard on a scholarship.  The book deals with them working their way through the minefield that is their previous relationship and asking all the questions they never did in high school.  And then, of course... there's figuring out if they have a future.

This is a beautifully written story that drew me in.  I didn't want to put the book down, which is always the sign of a good book to me.  The characters are well-developed, although Adam and his rock star attitude kept him from being a favorite of mine.  I don't have to like all the characters to like a book, and this is one I definitely enjoyed.

We'll be discussing this book over at the BlogHer Book Club over the next few weeks.  Come join us.  This week's topic is on your brain and music.  Come join us!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a copy of "Where She Went" for review purposes.  I was also compensated for participating in this campaign.  However, all opinions remain my own.

What I Learned While Under A Boil Order

Unfortunately, there's been an issue with the water where I live.  I received an email letting me know - thank goodness for citywide email alerts - and our life without constantly available hot and cold running water began.  It's amazing to me how much we rely on having clean, safe water available at our fingertips.

When the wee one went upstairs after breakfast to brush their teeth, I quickly realized that oh wait... we can't just wet our toothbrushes with the water from the sink, nor can we wash them off afterwards.  Sending them their lunches meant that I had to pour bottled water (thank goodness I just hosted a First Communion party and had some!) into their water bottles for school.  I couldn't cook anymore because washing dishes then letting them soak in a bleach solution to make them safe sort of grossed me out - and unfortunately our dishwasher does not have a functioning sanitizer cycle.

Needless to say, putting on water to boil was the first thing on my to do list; the recommendation for us was to boil water for five minutes for it to be safe, adding a little pinch of salt if it tastes off.  Needless to say, I poured the boiled water over  the toothbrushes to clean them, and I used this same water for many of the other functions we routinely take for granted.  Fortunately, we were still able to take showers, flush toilets, and wash our hands.

But I learned something completely useless during this boil order.  Did you know that there's a max fill line on your teapot?  I didn't.  I do now.  And I know why there is one.

If you fill your teapot too full, when it boils, it will start to sputter.  If you make the mistake - and I did - of opening the spout portion where it whistles to help let more steam escape, that isn't all that escapes.  The pressure and everything else instead forces gushes of boiling water out the spout and onto the stove, way more than enough to douse the flames on the burner.

Yeah.  Oops.  Fortunately, it is mostly safe to remove the top lid of the teapot to release some of that excess pressure.  So did you not know why teapots have a max fill line, or is it just me?  Either way... learn from my folly.

Tasty Tuesday - Homemade BBQ Sauce AND What To Do With It

I love barbecue in (almost) all its forms.  For some reason, I don't like brisket at all.  I could eat pulled pork all day long.  Or mmmm barbecue chicken.  Even Sloppy Joe's.  The only problem is the ingredients.  I've talked a lot before about how I care about what I put into my body. Have you ever taken a look at the ingredients on a bottle of barbecue sauce? Yikes, it’s a mile long, and I can’t pronounce most of them. And the healthy or organic barbecue sauces get expensive, so I got the easy route instead.

Yes, the easy route. I make my own barbecue sauce. I love it because it’s super quick to put together, and I’ll alter up the proportions or put in some extra ingredients or just change things around depending on my mood. This is the way I like my barbecue sauce, and you may like yours a little different, so play with it.

And yes, the base ingredients for this include ketchup, which frequently has more ingredients that I just don’t like to eat. Actually, I’m not a big ketchup fan to begin with. That said, I use the organic ketchup from Trader Joe’s (a very reasonable $1.99 by me), and this is a ketchup where I actually like the taste. Go fig. Once again, organic tastes better than conventional to me – and I did a blind taste test, in case you think I’m biased. I also use organic whole grain mustard (and sometimes yellow when I want to finish off the jar) simply because to me it tastes better and has fewer ingredients, which was the whole point of making my barbecue sauce anyway, right?

Oh yeah. And because it tastes awesome. And when you’re cooking, you always have to do taste tests, right?

So what do I do with my barbecue sauce after I’ve made it? Obviously, I store it in the fridge, but that wasn’t the question, was it? Little Miss asked for Sloppy Joe’s the other night, so I whipped up the barbecue sauce then browned ground beef with diced onion and some salt and pepper before finishing it by cooking it with the barbecue sauce. Yum. Or I’ll poach chicken and shred it, then reheating it in a saucepan with the barbecue sauce and serve it either by itself or in a flour tortilla as a barbecue taco. I’ll cook pork in a crock pot for hours on end, then pull it out and shred it and put it back in with the barbecue sauce for a half hour or so. It’s also a perfect topping for a fresh burger, especially with a good cheddar cheese and some caramelized onion.

The uses for barbecue sauce are endless. How do you use your barbecue sauce?

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups ketchup (trust me, the organic stuff makes a big difference and isn’t too expensive)
1/4 c whole grain mustard (or yellow if you need, but the whole grain or stone ground is awesome in this)
1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t pepper
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t chili powder

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a heavy saucepan. Turn on the heat and stir. Bring to a slow boil, and boil the sauce for two or three minutes. Either add to your meat immediately, or cool and refrigerate for up to a week. Uhhhh, yeah it's that easy.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Also posting now with A Southern Fairytale and her Mouthwatering Monday.

I Have A Brown Thumb

Friday was my last PTO meeting as secretary at Mister Man's school.  It's bittersweet, but it's sort of nice to be moving on to new things - and to pass all my duties and committees to a new sucker person.  At the meeting, the board presented the three of us who were moving on from the exec board with a small token gift to thank us for our tireless efforts over the past two years (their words, not mine).

We eat received a small plant, happily decorated with thank yous and the like, in addition to a very sweet card signed by all the administration and the outgoing and incoming board.  I loved the pots they chose, as they were so sunnily cheery and bright for spring.  The yellow daisies (ummm they are daisies, right?) are perfect, too.

I'm just not sure that someone didn't choose the flowers just for me or if this was a coincidence.

You see, I have a bit of a brown thumb, except for weeds.  I do my best with plants.  I truly do.  Unfortunately each time someone gives me a plant or flower, the same thing happens.  I water them as directed.  I put them in the right kind of light, but it never fails.  The plant slowly - and sometimes not so slowly - begins to fade and wilt and die.  My mom has learned to not give me plants anymore, but some of my friends still try.

I am proud that I've had an aloe plant and kept it alive for almost three years now.  Of course, it hasn't grown an inch in those three years.  One friend has a ginormous aloe plant in her house, so I asked her advice on what to do with mine.  She shrugged and blinked, as if in surprise that she had an aloe plant sitting there.  I just ignore it, she explained.  Ignoring the aloe seems to work for her.  My poor aloe plant?  Well, it's down to one green "leaf" with the rest now browned and starting to shrivel.

So what do you think?  This is how I received my PTO plant.  Do you think someone knows me, or was this purely coincidence?

Letters To The Tooth Fairy Backfire

As my husband and I drove to dinner the other day, I received a frantic call from Mister Man.

Mom!  Mom!  You'll never guess what just happened, he exclaimed.

Ummmm, you just lost your tooth? I inquired innocently.

Yes!  I said that I was about to lose a tooth and then I reached into my mouth and I pulled it out, and now I have a mouth full of blood, he declared proudly.

Oh, that's wonderful, Mister Man, I replied.

Yep, and as soon as I finish dinner, I'm going to go upstairs and brush my tooth really well.  It has a little bit of black on it, and I don't want her to throw it away.

Oh.  Oops.  Yeah, about that.  Remember how the wee ones have been writing letters to the Tooth Fairy?  And how the Tooth Fairy wrote back?  Yeah....

In the most recent letter, Mister Man had asked what the Tooth Fairy does with the teeth she collects.  She wrote back that she uses teeth to build her castle and that she has to keep getting more teeth because she needs to rebuild the walls when the dragon comes and knocks them down.  What I thought was my stroke of brilliance was adding that she was always looking for more teeth because she wanted the whitest, shiniest, cleanest teeth possible and that she threw away the dirty ones when she received better ones.

Brilliant, right?  What better motivation to brush well and keep teeth clean than that, right? 

Apparently not so much with my wee ones.  Mister Man decided to simply clean his tooth after it was out of his mouth.  Of course.

Now I'm afraid to see what havoc the most recent letter has wrought.

So what were your "brilliant" ideas that went bad?

Tasty Tuesdy - Fun With Oatmeal

Today, what I'm cooking isn't a fancy dish.  It isn't something that most of you haven't already made before.  Who doesn't love oatmeal as a great comfort dish.  So why am I posting about oatmeal?  I see commercials and advertisements and store displays more and more that advertise "oatmeal" that... really isn't.

What they're selling is instant and is microwaved and full of all sorts of ingredients that don't need to be there.  I've tried these oatmeals when they've been put in my mailbox as part of a newspaper promotion, and the stuff that comes from the pouch is powdery.  It's not oats, and it is nowhere near as good - or cheap - as what I can make at home with no effort and barely any time.

Oatmeal is a staple breakfast for us, and half the fun is deciding what we're going to do with it.  The wee ones sometimes specifically ask for something, but most of the time they like it to be a surprise.  How can you argue with a breakfast that's quick, healthy, and loved by the wee ones?

Go make some tomorrow morning.  Or now for a snack.

Fun with Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1/3 c rolled oats*
2/3 c milk*
Toppings

*Cooking oatmeal is a ratio of 1 part oats to 2 parts liquid. I find that 1/3 cup is plenty of oatmeal for a meal for me or for the wee ones, but feel free to make more or less, depending upon your appetite using that ratio.

Directions:
Place the oats and milk into a saucepan.  If you are using dried fruits as part of your toppings, add those, too.  Otherwise, it's the oats and the milk.  Turn the stove onto medium low, and walk away.

As far as toppings go, I have a variety of go to items.  I love dried cherries in my oatmeal.  Besides that, we'll do everything from coconut to mango to sliced bananas or strawberries, and sometimes we'll be decadent and add a few dark chocolate chips.  The wee ones love their oatmeal finished with a drizzle of good quality maple syrup, while I'll add a little sprinkle of brown sugar if I want something a bit sweeter.

All you need to do with the oatmeal is swirl the pan every few minutes.  You want the oatmeal to come to a very light boil - still mostly a simmer - and cook for five or so minutes like this.  It's the perfect breakfast because you can walk away and do other things.  Go put on your makeup, and come back to breakfast that's ready to go.  Simply pour the oatmeal into a bowl, and add any of your fresh toppings, then enjoy while hot.  It's truly that easy.

Promise me you won't buy any more of those packets?  What will you put in your oatmeal?

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Also posting now with A Southern Fairytale and her Mouthwatering Monday.

My Own Little World

When I was growing up, I attended Catholic school.  It was never a question; it was simply what we did.  I come from an Irish Catholic family, and I grew up in areas where the other families were very much like mine.  We attended church every Sunday with many of our neighbors, and it never dawned on me that not everyone did and believed and lived as we did.

It wasn't until I was in the third grade that it dawned on me - innocent and oh-so-naive me - that there were people who are different.  I remember very clearly my mother driving me to school one day in the winter and seeing other children playing on some huge snowbanks.  My mom explained that they were waiting for the bus, but there was more.  She warned me to stay "away from those Publics" as she termed them.  I was somewhat afraid of children who attended public school for awhile after that, as my mom had very clearly communicated to me that there was something wrong with them.

It was clear to me - intentionally or not - that the way we lived was the only right way.  That what others did wasn't valid and wasn't even worth talking about.  I remained immersed in my little world for a long time, and I knew no different.

As I got a little older - and moved to a slightly more diverse area - I realized that there were people who were different from me.  There were people who were Lutherans (I lived in Minnesota by this point).  I even was friends with some of them, as they lived in my neighborhood.  One of my best friends went to Lutheran school, and I remember being jealous that I couldn't attend her school, as it was so much larger and more beautiful than my 1950s crumbling parochial school. 

Eventually, I discovered that a neighbor three doors down who I am still friends with today was Jewish, a religion I had heretofore only known as something that existed in the Old Testament.  Go figure.  I was fascinated by the fact that she went to Hebrew school every Wednesday and by the little yellow bus that came to pick her up each week.  I wanted to learn a foreign language like she did, as much as she complained about the homework and Hebrew practice she had to do.  It was so far beyond my ken, but I was hooked.

I wonder in a way if making these friends wasn't part of what pushed me to separate from my own Irish Catholic upbringing.  As I entered eighth grade, I talked my parents into letting me attend public school (with those nasty publics, ya know).  I pushed back on the faith I'd grown up with, and it took me a long time to work my way back towards finding my place within it again as an adult.

Those friends opened my eyes to so many different parts of the world, and I'm grateful.  I think it's served me well over the years to know that the little corner of the world that I grew up knowing is just that - a little corner.  There's so much more out there, but that doesn't mean that I've abandoned that corner.  I still attend Catholic Mass (almost) every Sunday, and Mister Man just made his First Communion on Saturday.

As a parent, I don't want to do that to the wee ones.  While it's important to have a life view and to identify with a certain group - whether religious, ethnic, sports teams, or otherwise - it's just as important to recognize that it isn't the only point of view out there. I want the wee ones to have a different view on life.

I'm very glad they already know that many different corners are out there.  I enjoy explaining to Mister Man what a bat mitzvah is - something he recently read about in a book - or talking about Hindu gods or debating the merits of various sports affiliations.  I wonder if that doesn't make our own little corner of the world more treasured for the wee ones, not more valid and not more special but more treasured because we know its ours.

What does your corner of the world look like?

In the interest of full disclosure, this post is a part of the From Left to Write book club.  I received a copy of "I Am Forbidden" by Anouk Markovits for review purposes.  In this book club, we don't do traditional reviews but instead write posts inspired by the book.  I was not compensated, and all opinions expressed remain my own.