My cousin is funny. I mean, all of my cousins are funny, but this one is extra-funny. Her kid? He’s the funniest one of us all. Just turned three and I gotta say — he already knows how to grab life by the balls.

(If my friend Ralphie were here he’d say, “Is it alright to say that here? ‘Life’?”)

Did you catch this? It’s a little talk they had in the car…

wc2.3: Mama, did you know that video….? (trails off)

wc2.3: Hm. Maybe we can get one at the store.

Yes, son, that’s the first music video MTV ever aired… that’s right! It’s the Buggles with Video Killed the Radio Star.

How about this little classic, Wacky Cousin 3.0?

I was at a party with a bunch of punk rockers one time and that song came on. They all just completely lost their shit. Started singing along, doing the little Axl Rose snakey dance. I was thinking, You have all just completely lost your punk rock credentials, right there.

This next one is dedicated to Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless, who really does Give Love a Bad Name.

That’s all. Goodnight. Oh, yeah. And if you don’t start leaving me some comments, you people, I’m shutting this thing down. I mean it. Don’t test me I’m not in the mood.

xo

wm

PS — Just because I know that Wacky Cousin 3.0 is going to be a total rocker when he grows up… here’s one he’s going to love the hell out of when he’s a teenager:

PSS — I’m basically writing this thing for TOL and my cousin right now, cuz they’re the only ones who read it. My sister and mom say they’re reading it, but they’re lying.

re: Wilson screaming, You lie! at our esteemed President… I’m thinking…

“Black is the new president, bitch.” — Tracy Morgan

Ha. That’s what my late grandma would say. Ha! Yes, she voted for Obama. My Arkansas grandma voted for Obama. I have never been so proud.

I’m reading “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” right now and I’m thinking — okay, it was written in 1976 (won the Newbery Medal in 1977), is set in 1933, skillfully deals with racism, KKK, lynchings, night riders — and this book is (UNFORTUNATELY) so relevant today. Go read it. Stay educated. Speak up!

Yep. Steve is audio slave.

It really is.

The End.

xo

wm

Reviewed today:

Papi in French, Opa in Dutch and German, Dadu in Bengali… it all adds up to Grandpa. Or how about Go-Go in Haitian Creole, Lola in Tagalog, Yia-Yia in Greek? It all equals Grandma.

Tomorrow (Sunday, September 13th) is Grandparents Day, which is pretty cool. And along come these two picture books, both by author Ashley Wolff (“Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten,” “Mama’s Milk” and many others; $15.99 apiece, Tricycle Press). They’re rhyming books, and both use collage art. Sweet, and a perfect gift for the grandparents (or adopted grandparent substitutes) in your life.

The Joy of Cooking (Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker, Simon & Schuster, $35, 1,132 big pages). What do you want? Five hundred new recipes? Four thousand of the most beloved Joy classics? Sure, go for it. I’ve been fond of this cookbook since my grandma gave me my first copy (paperback, now tattered and stained) when I was in high school. The hot buttered rum recipe is one of my favorites. I bought this for Steve as an anniversary gift. (A selfish, selfish anniversary gift, hahaha.) He opened it up right to the cocktail section. Man after my own heart. Our daughter loves the coconut cake recipe — Steve turned the recipe into cupcakes for her birthday and we gobbled them up.

As Julia would say (but not of this cookbook, just… in general)…

Bon appetit!

xo

wm

Reviewed today:

“Man in the Moon,” by Dotti Enderle (Delacorte Press, $14.99, 152 pages) came out last year but got hidden away in my daughter’s room and just recently reappeared. Really good Young Adult (YA) fiction, set in Texas during the summer of 1961. Janine doesn’t know what to think. She’s worried. What if her father can’t find work? Her brother, Ricky, is sick. Really sick. Too sick to play hard, too sick to go outside. Is he going to get better? Her mother is frustrated and short-tempered. Her dog Buddy is restless. Then she hears noises coming from the corn. It’s a visitor. What does he want? Great read — a quiet book, that builds in intensity.

You know Paula Deen from the Food Network? The talk show appearances? Her cookbooks? Here is the best recipe ever for puddin’ — it’s hers, and it’s called Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding. It is just u-licious, but it is not exactly low-cal so get ready.

These guys Jamie and Bobby Deen are cuties, and they’re hers, too. They grew up in Georgia, run the family restaurant in Savannah (The Lady & Sons), do guest gigs on Good Morning America and are also on the Food Network (“Road Tasted” is their show). These two are mama’s boys for sure — they’re just as adorable as she is, and aim to please.

Their third cookbook (Ballantine Books, $25, 200 pages) is highly usable, yummy and has lots of great ideas for easy, fast meals. (They timed the release for the beginning of school, cuz they know we all forget how to get dinner on the table once the schedule changes. Again.) Look for “Speedy Mini Meat Loaves,” Chicken “Scampi” Pasta, crock-pot cooking (my favorite) and on and on and on. You know three of us don’t eat meat, chicken or fish over here. The one who eats meat, the one who’s crying because dammit, chicken is easy, please eat meat, y’all? Please? Whatever. I made the Spicy Beef and New Orleans Red Rice Skillet Dinner last night, about ten minutes after I ripped open the package of books. It was fast, easy and super-good. (I left out the beef, obviously. Added some cooked brown rice, veggie broth instead of chicken and put in extra hot sauce.)

Anybody who says you can’t cook Southern and cook veggie can just kiss my grits. Leave out the bacon grease and call it a day, would you? Thank you. I am going to experiment with the Chicken and Dumplings recipe and do a veggie soup with dumplings, instead. (Or just leave in the chicken and ask my mama over for dinner.)

I’m thinking… I can recreate Southern cooking to make it vegetarian. Can I do the same with French? Cuz you know Steve and the kids won’t eat duck. Quack, quack. Wish me luck, Julia. I’m thinking of you, up there in foodie heaven. Just ordered volumes 1 & 2 of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Will avoid aspics. Just sayin’.

Bon appetit!

— wm

“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”

“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in”
from “complete poems: 1904-1962”
ee cummings

My girl Karen V. started herself a fancy little blog, what do you know? It’s all about fashion and beauty, coming to you live from Portland, Ore.

It’s called the Neat Sheet and is rilly, rilly super-neat. Lots of tips and contests and insider info. Go stop by and tell her I said, “Hello.”

(PS, Karen here’s a tip — Debi Mazar is coming out with her own line of Italian olive oil beauty products next spring. Nice! Looking forward to those.)

Oh, yum. Just harvested cherry tomatoes, big, juicy slicers, zucchini, and about four pounds of GREEN BEANS from the garden. It rained all over me, I’m drenched now. Dripping on the keyboard. (Kidding, I grabbed a towel as soon as I came in.)

The flowers are so happy — they’re all dusted off now and shiny. Steve pruned the honeysuckle way, way back about six weeks ago, I think it was. It has rebounded like a mofo and just finished eating the fence. Nom, nom.

I love my garden.

Just got my first tuition reimbursement, too, from my work, for that Human Development/Psych class I took. This is the first time ever I’ve gotten PAID for going to school. (There was that Pell Grant, too, that one time. That was a lovely day when that check arrived, all $1,100 of it. Still remember, 20 years later, haha.) So thank you, union and school district. I feel so extra-intelligent now. That master’s degree is just going to earn itself. And my students arrive back on Tuesday, can’t wait. So many great books to share with them. When they talk-talk during library time, you know what I say?

“Shhh! Hang on! I have a lot of information to tell you and a very short time to do it!” Works like a charm.

Ahhhhhhh…

Yeah, that’s not it. Why? Cuz I don’t believe I saw any hockey in that clip. We (heart) hockey. Hawkeytown!

(ps — it really is pretty here, isn’t it? It’s raining right now — poured so hard last night that it woke me up. I had to close all the windows! Everything was blowing. Really gorgeous now — the garden and flowers are so lush and green.)

(have a good weekend, y’all.)

xo

wm