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Friday Recipe Club: Black Beans & Polenta

March 25th, 2016

The day afer

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Denver, when it’s snowing. Crazy, cuz it’s almost April, dudes.

This one is from my friend Kimi, because the girl knows how to cook!

Black Beans & Polenta, a la Kimi

“Cheap, healthy, fast and easy. Always organic.”

Black beans, fresh squeezed orange, chopped jalapeno and onion over polenta, topped with avocado, vegan sour cream and Secret Aardvark habanero sauce (made in Portland, Oregon!). Mixed greens on side with balsamic vinegar & garlic dressing.”

oh, yum.

Thursday Book Review: A Big Stack of Everything on My Nightstand (“The Accursed,” Joyce Carol Oates; Sue Miller; “The Importance of Being Little,” Teacher Thai)

March 24th, 2016

Cherry blossom concordance

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

And what’s on the nightstand this week? I’m going with bullet points, because it’s a big stack.

* “The Accursed,” Joyce Carol Oates. I love Oates, which I guess explains why it’s taken me a couple of years or so to get through this book (I bought it when it was first released in 2013). It’s a cool book — based on the “true” story of Princeton, turn of the 20th century. I like historical fiction, and this one has it all — curses and vampires, goth and Grover Cleveland. It’s crazy good. So why the forever-read? Oates is like candy to me — I nibble a little here, a lot there. I don’t want the candy to go away, see? The way my reading mind works is God’s own mystery.

* Anything by author Sue Miller. I’m starting with “The Arsonist,” and “The Good Mother” and “Lost in the Forest.” My own good mother recommended her. Miller’s very good. Different. I like her style.

* “The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need From Grownups,” by Erika Christakis. Great read about preschool child development, language, bonding, etc. Doesn’t read like a textbook, but has loads of information, stats, facts and thoughts.

* “The Four Agreements,” by Don Miguel Ruiz. Again, still, always. This is single best motivational books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot over the years. It’s astounding. You should pick up four or five copies and hand them out at parties, just sayin’.

* “Cultivating the Mind of Love: The Practice of Looking Deeply in the Mahayana Buddhist Tradition,” by Thich Nhat Hanh (I can recommend any other titles by Teacher Thai, too.)

Happy spring, my lovelies.

— wm

Tuesday Book Review with my old buddy, Harry Potter (“The Character Vault,” Jim Kay illustrated version of “The Sorceror’s Stone” & the HP coloring book)

March 22nd, 2016

Blue sky between squalls

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“Harry Potter: The Character Vault,” Jody Revenson’s astounding encyclopedia (Harper Design, 2015, $45, 207 pages), was a holiday gift to my children from their loving grandmother. Then I had to steal it from them because oh, it is so fantastic, this book. You know when a book isn’t just a good read, but it looks neat-o (that’s what the cool kids say nowadays, “neat-o”), it feels good, it makes you happy? That is this book. Loads of info about the characters, the movies, the props, weapons, special effects. Lots of great art and illustrations, plus two posters in the back of the Order of the Phoenix members and the Death Eaters. Super! So maybe I should buy my own copy and give theirs back now?

“Harry Potter Coloring Book” (Hot Topic, $10, need I say more?) I bought one for the kids; one for me. Then I donated mine to my library because the students loved it so much. There you have it.

“Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone Illustrated” (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015, illustrated by the incomparable Jim Kay, $40, 246 pages). Lovely, this book, everything about it. Quite a find. It’s like the man looked into my mind and knew what I was imagining, then drew it. Thanks, sir. Nice work!

Have a great day, reading lovers.

— wm

Sunday Recipe Club: Lemon Ricotta Poppyseed Pancakes

March 20th, 2016

azalea

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Bon appetit, babies!

— wm

Lemon Ricotta Poppyseed Pancakes

This is a great one, borrowed from Martha Stewart. Perfect for spring brunch.

Ingredients

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of coarse salt
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, plus more for serving
3/4 cup milk
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Unsalted butter, softened, for cooking
Honey Syrup, for serving

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, milk,
egg yolks, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the cheese mixture and mix until batter is just combined. Stir in
lemon zest and poppy seeds.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites
into batter.
3. Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium­high heat; brush surface with butter. Working in batches, ladle
1/3 cup batter for each pancake on griddle, leaving space as they will spread. Cook until golden and top begins to
bubble, 3 to 4 minutes. Gently turn and continue cooking until bottoms are light brown, 3 to 4 minutes more. Serve
immediately with ricotta and honey syrup.

Saturday Book Review: “Summerlost,” by Ally Condie

March 19th, 2016

shelter in the understory

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Ally Condie (“Atlantia” and the “Matched” trilogy) is a new author to me and I’m thrilled to have found her. I was sent a review copy of “Summerlost,” and what luck it was sent my way. Beautiful book, characters, setting, writing. All good. Our heroine, 12-year-old Cedar Lee, is spending the summer in Utah with her mom and younger brother, Miles, a year after her father and brother, Ben, were killed by a drunk driver in a car accident. It’s her mom’s hometown, she has extended family there, but is still so alone. Then she meets a friend… gets a summer job… and discovers a mystery that she’d really like to solve. And off she goes.

It’s an intense story, but “Summerlost” is a fantastic book. I hope readers aren’t scared off by its serious subject. Kids go through dramas and loss, large and small, just like the rest of us, and I appreciate Condie’s fearlessness as a writer. In a blurb on the cover, Brandon Mull (“Fablehaven,” “The Candy Shop War” books) called it, “A moving tale of friendship and loss. I loved these characters — I wish we could have been friends when I was a kid.”

Beautiful. I felt the same way. I don’t want to quote the whole book to you, but I could. Passage after passage that are just so concise, lovely, hard.

“When I was small I used to pretend that I had to tell my body everything it had to do or it would stop. Lungs, breathe, I whispered. Heart, beat. Eyes, focus. Tummy, digest. Legs, walk. Arms, move. I was so glad then that everything did what it was supposed to do without any conscious help from me. But after the accident I wished that my heart wouldn’t keep hurting so much. Wouldn’t keep going like this without my telling it to. Beat. Beat. Beat.”

The ending, and how we get there, is a good, healing trip.

Tuesday Recipe Club: Best Banana-Coconut Bread Ever. Also, Best Blueberry-Coconut Bread Ever, and My Sister’s Coconut Cookies

March 15th, 2016

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Pretty picture of Mt. Hood for you, by one Steve Rawley

Best Banana-Coconut Bread Ever

1 3/4 cups flour
a little less than 2/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe banana (2 to 3 medium)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1/4-1/2 milk
2 eggs
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas and stir in lemon juice. Add honey; beat in eggs; add oil. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Drizzle in milk until batter is almost consistency of cake batter. (It should be a little thicker than that.) Stir in coconut last; stir all ingredients until blended. Don’t overbeat.

Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool thoroughly on wire racks. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers (if you have any leftovers).

This recipe turned out great! Well, it’s hard to go wrong with banana bread, but still! I recreated it the next day, with 2 cups of frozen blueberries and the rest of the coconut and baked it as a cake in a 9×13 dish.

Baking temps: Start baking at 350, cake or loves, then turn down to 325 about halfway through baking. I used soy milk with the banana bread; rice milk with the blueberry cake. Both were fine. Bon appetit, babies :)

Coconut Cookies (my sissy’s recipe) (because we are cuckoo for coconut)

(Leave out the raisins and add chia seeds and coconut instead)

Ingredients:
¾ cup coconut oil, softened
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cup rolled oats
1 cup raisins, golden and regular

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In large bowl, cream together coconut oil and sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture.

Stir in oats and raisins (chia seeds and coconut). Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack.

xo me, wacky mommy)

reading list

March 8th, 2016

“Brown Girl, Brownstones” (Paule Marshall)
“Desperate Characters” (Paula Fox)
“The Fortress of Solitude” (Jonathan Lethen)

Winter on the Oregon Coast

March 4th, 2016

Evening cruise

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

green grass and high tides forever

March 2nd, 2016

Sunny and mild

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

random book list

March 1st, 2016

Winter sky
(Photo by Steve Rawley)

going through the paperwork, shredding, recycling and filing. found four! book lists, so here they are, combined into one.

happy reading, babies!

— wm

ps this is my 2,144th blog post. Huh!

anything by Carol Shields
“Notes from the Country Club” Kim Wozencraft
“Henry & Clara” Thomas Mallon
“Taf” Annie Callan
short stories by Brady Udall
Jacqueline du Pre’s autobiography
“Wild Child” Chelsea Cain
“Life Without Water” Nancy Peacock
“Second Draft of My Life” Sara Lewis
“The Answer is Yes But I Love You Anyway”
“Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage” Madeleine L’Engle
“Song of Myself” Walt Whitman
“Leaves of Grass”
“Tangiers: The Paul & Jane Bowles Story”
“The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu”
“The Rest of Life” Mary Gordon
“Composing a Life” Mary Catherine Bateson
“African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe” Doris Lessing
“Signs of Devotion” Maxine Chernoff
poetry — Rita Dove
“Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang” Joyce Carol Oates
“Girl, Interrupted” Susanna Kaysen
“Mama Makes Up Her Mind” Bailey White
Anne Rice novels
“Waiting to Exhale” Terry McMillan
“All the Pretty Horses” Cormac McCarthy
“Trouble” Fay Weldon
“A Spy in the House of Love” Anais Nin
“Mrs. Caliban” Rachel Ingles
novels by Lois Lowry
novels by Lois Duncan
novels by Sharon Flake
novels by Sharon Creech
novels by Sharon Draper
anyone named Sharon basically
“I Will Go Barefoot All Summer for You” Katie Letcher Lyle
“Greensleeves” Eloise Jarvis McGraw
“Sunshine” (Jacqueline Helton) by Norma Klein
“Fup” Jim Dodge
“Through Her Letters” Nancy Ritter Beard
“A Woman Making History” ed. Nancy F. Cott
“Daughters” Paule Marshall
“Prairyerth” William Least Heat Moon
“The Woman Warrior” Maxine Hong Kingston
“China Men”
“Tripmaster Monkey”
“Trinity” Leon Uris
“Stardust, 7-11, Route 57, A&W and So Forth” Patricia Lear
“Black Water” Joyce Carol Oates
“Not the End of the World” Rebecca Stowe
“The Golden Notebook” Doris Lessing
“Play with a Tiger”
“The Way Men Act” Elinor Lipman
anything by Joan Didion
anything by Margaret Atwood
anything by Joyce Carol Oates
“Black Looks” bell hooks
anything by bell hooks
Lynn Freed
“The Bungalow”
Christa Wolf
Sissela Bok
Alva Myrdal
“Childhood’s End”
“My Son’s Story” Nadine Gordimer
“Foucault’s Pendulum”
“Black Ice” Lorene Carey
“The Content of Our Characters” Shelby Steele
“Why Americans Hate Politics” E.J. Dionne
“Caroline’s Daughter” Alice Adams
“Almost Perfect” Alice Adams
“The Music Room” Dennis McFarland
“Low Life” Luke Sants
“A Thousand Acres” Jane Smiley
anything by Jane Smiley
anything by Anne Tyler
“Mile Zero” Thomas Sanchez
“In a Different Voice” Carol Gilligan
“Skipped Parts” Tim Sandlin
anything by Tim Sandlin