Review: Green Angel

Green Angel
by Alice Hoffman

This little book has been lounging on the kids' bookshelf for a while. I bought it second-hand mainly for the cover. I could not find a pic of the back of the cover which is too bad because it is just as emotionally evocative but contrasted. Where Green, the protagonist, is lonely and searching on the front, she is transformed into Ash, someone untrusting and full of pain.

Green is the only survivor in her family of some kind of terrorist attack in a nearby town. Her world is left starkly empty and covered in ashes. Her beloved garden can yield nothing under these conditions. In self preservation Green changes her name to Ash and embodies her pain in her appearance; she shaves her head, sews rose thorns into her clothes, hammers nails into her boots and tattoos black roses with thorns and crows all over her body. Gone is the patient nurturer, drowning in her pain. But changes take place in her heart and her body as she slowly reaches out and tends to the pain of others without the strength to take care of themselves.

I thought this story a beautiful one. Green wears her pain on her sleeve literally. She desires to be someone else but, though for a little while she can pretend, she can never fully get rid of who she always was before her life was turned upside down.

I believe that this novel is written for a YA audience. The imagery, while raw and sympathetic, was laid on pretty thickly. There is no mistaking Hoffman's meaning. But for me this made no difference. I still loved it.

I can't decide if this is an allegory for the common struggles of teenage hood or if it's about the reactions everybody goes through with a traumatic experience. Green is suddenly left without her parents and she is sorely missing her sister who visits her in her dreams, a girl full of life and spirit. Could the sister represent childhood? A past self? Or maybe happiness? I suppose this is where the reader contributes to the story. For me, trauma leaves me feeling alone and self protecting, even hurting others to protect myself from being hurt again. But eventually the pain subsides and the essential person returns, worse for wear but the same in her being. This book encapsulates the transformation of innocence into experience with all it's agony. Those struggling with depression will see themselves within the pages and recognise the hope that is offered at the end.

Have you read anything by Alice Hoffman? Is her adult work similar to this? I'm hoping that it shares the same richness but adds some sophistication. Which of her books would you recommend I read next because I am most definitely reading more of her work.

With a Little Help from My Friends

So I have this friend named Cid. She's very personable and loves to share her positive outlook on life. She's one of the few people I know that is in a great mood consistently. She simply loves being happy. She has an opportunity to be a paid "Good Mood Blogger". Can you imagine that? But she needs my help and yours too. Visit this site, read she snippet about herself and vote for her. You can give one vote per day up until Nov. 6nd. I know how much she would appreciate the votes. I'll let you know if she gets the job.


Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

Review: Confessions of a Slacker Wife

Confessions of a Slacker Wife
by Muffy Mead-Ferro

It's kinda funny how I came to read Slacker Wife. It was at DogEar Diary that I heard about Mead-Ferro's book Confessions of a Slacker Mom. Jeane made it sound like a book that would affirm, in part, what I try to do with my family. It was so appealing that I went straight to my library's website and reserved a copy. But when I picked it up, the cover was slightly different. It took me a couple of days before I realized this was not Slacker Mom but Slacker Wife. Oops! No biggie. I'll read this one while I wait for Slacker Mom to come in. But when I went back to the library website to request it it said that I already had a copy of Slacker Mom, not a copy of Slacker Wife. It's a clerical error. It was their mistake, not mine.

Okay, so maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, my household runs rather traditional. He brings home the bacon and I fry it. For the most part I like it that way. So I was a little nervous that this would be a treatise on women's liberation from housework or something like that. "Let him wash his own damn underwear," and all that but it wasn't. I'd call Mead-Ferro an equalist, if that's a word. She does challenge the traditionally held ideals but only in the sense that they often go unquestioned. Don't just do things this way because mom did; do it because it works for you. She admits that in her marriage she does the laundry while he does the minor home repair but it's because that's where their talents lay. I like that idea.

Slacker Wife reads like Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman, sort of. It's like a collection of Mead-Ferro's thinking processes about various issues that relate to marriage. Everything from body image to child rearing to s*x is discussed. It doesn't come across as a woman holding herself up as some kind of expert out to teach the women of the world how to chill. It's more like chatting with a friend and learning a few things based on her experiences that are different than my own.

I do disagree with one part of her book. I think showering ought to be a daily activity for all people. I don't care if other countries aren't as hung up on cleanliness as the US is. It's not the germs I care about. I'm not overly occupied by antibacterial disinfectants. I eat food that's fallen on the floor. Shoot, I used to chew my mom's ABC gum(already been chewed). I'm not the Queen of Lysol. But a daily shower is a necessity, for me and for you too please. When I've had a shower I feel better and you don't have to find subtle ways to plug your nose in my presence. Seriously, consider those around you. Shower. Daily.

So the book was fun. Nothing really new but a nice reminder to give yourself a break. Everything doesn't have to be perfect all the time. In fact, it never will be. I think that Slacker Mom will be even better. If only I can figure out how to get the right one from the library. Maybe I should request Slacker Wife and see what shows up.

Review: The Persian Pickle Club

The Persian Pickle Club
by Sandra Dallas

I was having a hard time putting my impressions down about this book. I thought Payers for Sale by Dallas was beautifully told and entertaining. This one was more conventional, nothing extraordinary. The characters were still good, if too many to keep track of. I've heard complaints about the names (Queenie Bean, Ella Crook, Cheed Root, Prosper, Skillet) but I think they are fun, especially when the subject matter is serious or dull. They add humor and character.

But I decided that rather than write a boring old review about a book that was nice but nothing special, instead I'd use this opportunity to fulfill a leg of the Take a Chance Challenge and write my review in poetic form. Enjoy.

Haiku
Small town quilting bee
New girl solves a mystery
Happy endings abound

Limerick
There was a young lady named Bean
Who at a quilting bee was seen
She made a new friend
With a mystery to attend
In the end everyone did come clean

Free Form
Tough times
Heat and drought
Everyone struggles

Pressure mounts
Innocence doubted
Comfort not to be found
Keeping secrets kept
Loyalty is sacred
Everlasting support

The Sunday Salon

Literature
Books-Thanks in part to the 24 Hour Readathon I read four books this past week. I need to get reviews up but my mind is mushy right now. I feel a nap coming on.

Challenges-I've met my goal for the RIP IV Challenge. Yay! I'm halfway done with Take a Chance but I need to get moving. Only one month left. I'm just over 70% for Clear Off Your Shelves. I only need 50% so that gives me a little room for library and newer books. And I joined 2 new challenges that start next Sunday, The Really Old Classics & The Four Month Challenge. If you want to see my challenge books, click on the buttons on the left.

Life
Food-I did try a couple more recipes from MtAoFC. One was fab and the other failed my expectations. That post will go up sometime this week.

Music-I've been teaching myself piano since Jan. when a friend loaned us his extra piano. This week was a tough song but I think I'm finally getting it. The hard part about self-teaching is that if you don't understand something there is no one to explain it better or break it down to smaller, more digestible pieces. But playing brings me joy and that's all that matters.

Illness-The Eldest had flu this week. He hasn't been sick in years. Even when the rest of us get terrible stomach flu he doesn't catch it. Now we are all paranoid about getting it. In our area of the US they say if you have the flu then it is the swine flu, which doesn't actually bother me too much. It seems like everyone and their mother has swine flu right now. Hopefully it has run its course in this family.

Halloween is on Saturday! We don't celebrate the holiday so much as have fun designing and creating costumes from scratch. And it is the first holiday in a string of holidays that involves candy or other sweets. From now until May my largest Tupperware bowl becomes known as the Candy Bowl. We are all looking forward to a full Candy Bowl.

Readathon Wrap-Up

I like rules. I do. The boundaries show me where I can tread safely. That makes me feel secure. But on occasion I feel the need to scrap the rules and take my chances. That's what I'm doing here for my Readathon Wrap-up. I'm not sure what the risks are for avoiding the confines of the questionnaire but I'm willing to accept the consequences. This morning it's just my sleep deprived thoughts on a crazy ride that only true book nerds can appreciate.

This was my first readathon but I have read Eva from A Striped Armchair every time she has participated. She's fun and prolific, in her reading and her posting; so I wasn't completely unaware of what I was getting myself into.

I started with a good night's sleep on Friday. I highly recommend this first step. It was probably the thing that helped me the most. I was awake at 5am (and I assure you, I am not a morning person) and didn't feel tired until about 11pm, and even then I caffeinated myself a little to get me through to the end. I didn't really struggle until the 24th hour when every minute stretched to 5x its usual length.

I exercised, frequently. If nothing else I paced the room with book in hand. But mostly I did weights or stretching. The mini-challenges that involved yoga and dancing were the best.

I tried to eat mostly healthy foods. This kind of broke down around dinnertime. I skipped dinner and then kept snacking to fill myself but fish crackers and sunflower seeds just don't make up for protein and veggies. This is also when I broke out the cherry coke which helped me stay awake but also gave me the jitters and necessitated frequent potty breaks. I'll do better next time.

One thing I did wrong, in my opinion, was to skip my daily shower. Let me tell you, you don't want to get a whiff at the end of a 24 hour period, especially when your last shower was actually 16 hours before those 24 hours began. A rose I am not. My shower this morning felt luxurious in comparison.

I will participate in the future but I don't plan to do the whole 24 hours again. Though my best reading (page count) was after 10pm and I did win a prize for being awake in the 23rd hour, I now feel guilty that I sit at home, again on the computer, while my family sits in church without me. I feel as if I've cut class on a test day; my anxiety at having missed the test outweighs my pleasure in having successfully ditched. :(

I cannot think of a thing that could be done differently on the management side. The cheerleaders were awesome. My Blackberry was ringing continually with your comments and encouragements. What a nice treat! Thank you to everyone who stopped in and who tweeted. Perhaps next time I'll sign up to be a cheerleader for part of the time.

A Few Stats:
Books Read-4,
*Confessions of a Slacker Wife by Muffy Mead-Ferro
*Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
*The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle
*Playing Botticelli by Liza Nelson
Pages Read: 468
Hours Awake: all 24
New Posts in my Google Reader: 169
My #readathon Tweets: exactly 50
Prizes Won: two, a book and $10 Amazon gift card
Drabbles Written: one :D

Last Hour

One hour left. We're almost done. Keep going. Keeeeeeep gooooooing.

Hour 21 Mini-Challenge, part 2

This has been my den for the last couple of hours. Looks comfy, no?

And this has been my reading companion and lap warmer, aptly name Mr. Dickens.

Hour 21 Mini-Challenge, part 1

Four of my favorite books:

Hour Twenty Mini-Challenge

I don't have to know much about the book I just started, Playing Botticelli by Liza Nelson, to know that Botticelli is a minor-league famous arteest. Perfect timing Stella Matutina.

Eighteenth Hour Mini-Challenge

Libri Touches has come up with a great challenge that gets the grey cells moving. Have you ever heard of a drabble before? Neither have I. It's a story consisting of exactly 100 words. So here is my reading related drabble:

"When I read the short story The Eyes by Edith Wharton it brought me back to my childhood. My fear of mirrors returned as I remembered the Bloody Mary stories my friends told me. Even as an adult I have had a difficult time shaking this fear. As I walked to bed that night I ducked under pictures with reflective glass and would not use the restroom for fear of seeing a figure reflected back at me. I even tucked my feet under my comforter so nothing under the bed could get me. I will never read that story again."

I ended up having to remove all the adjectives and adverbs to get it down to 100 words but the point wasn't to create a masterpiece, thank heavens. And I want to give a great big THANK YOU to my childhood chums(that would be you Shannon and Heather!) for scaring the CRAP out of me and altering my perception of the world irrevocably. May the Eyes watch you in your sleep forevermore.

Seventeenth Hour Mini-Challenge

Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile asks us to give her five, five children's books off the tops of our heads.

1. The Monster at the End of This Book
2. Another Monster at the End of This Book
3. Little Bear
4. Stuart Little
5. Charlotte's Web


This was a favorite in my childhood home and in my adult home too. :)

Mid-Event Meme

1. What are you reading right now?
The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle

2. How many books have you read so far?
I've completed two: Confessions of a Slacker Wife & Green Angel

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Surviving a Writer's Life by Susanne Lipsett

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
I did my grocery shopping yesterday and planned easy meals for the fam.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
You mean, other than the constant need to check Twitter? Actually my family of 5 have all been very cooperative and quiet.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
My lack of sleepiness(so far) and my low page count.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, I think it has run very smoothly thus far. I'm impressed.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
Read more graphic novels and picture books, you know, to artificially up my page count and give my self-esteem a boost. ;) And I'll sign up to be a cheerleader if I can't commit to reading all day.

9. Are you getting tired yet?
Nope.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
Get a good night's sleep the night before. Eat more healthy snacks than junk. A little sugar boost regularly is better than a wallop of caffeine on an 'as needed' basis. A little exercise every hour or so will help your energy levels maintain at a steady pace.

Cheerleaders are AWESOME!

Eleventh Hour Mini-Challenge

Reading is a passion of mine, as it is for a lot of you. For me it is more than just a passion for books but a thirst for knowledge. I believe that anything in life can be learned from books. It is this belief that fortifies my homeschooling, which is fitting because it was the homeschooling that taught me what a treasure can be found in books.

I really wasn't a reader until our homeschool opened. I was nervous about schooling at home for this reason. But as I sat down and read books with my kids I realized that I was learning along side them. Not only that but it was sparking in me a desire to find out more about the topics under study. At first I picked up children's classics at random because the label of 'classic' implies a scholarliness. Even if it wasn't teaching history or science, it is likely teaching grammar, spelling, use of imagination and practice for further reading. I found myself talking about my reading constantly. And I noticed that the more I read, the more my time improved. Practice really does make progress.

Even though today I remain a very slow reader, I read every single day. And so do my kids. We are most definitely a reading family.

That's my Monkey Boy at age 3. He didn't have to read that well to enjoy a good book.

BTW, I'm on my third book, The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is quite captivating. I'm not yet needing a nap or caffeine. That cherry coke is still in the fridge waiting for the perfect moment to perk me up, though I did get into the bag of 100 Grand.

Ninth Hour Mini-Challenge

"When we'd devoured every spoonful of our dinner, my neighbor brought out a cake made of nettles. There was no icing, no candles, and the color was faintly green. A cake such as this should have been too bitter to eat, but I found I preferred it to any I'd had before. I ate every crumb, and still wanted more." ~ Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Okay, so this is taking place after a terrorist attack of some kind that has left people starving and the ground unable to yield food. But really it's about how the protagonist is moving from a place of such darkness and pain to a place of hope, where life is sprouting anew within her soul.

But where the heck do I find a picture of nettle cake? Will this do?

Seventh Hour Mini-Challenge

I've been reading, blogging and tweeting. I haven't had much need for snacking yet (thanks Honey for the bacon and eggs) but when I do I have a small stockpile lined up. I have hot cider and cocoa plus the cherry coke to get me through the long midnight hours. I have a mix of healthy and junk to suit my mood. At the moment I'm still working on that chocolate chip banana bread that the Eldest made last night. It is so good with cream cheese.


Even if you are not a part of the readathon you should check out Beth Fish's handmade lace bookmark. Stunning! I have done a little bit of every kind of craft out there but I have never done lace before. It's really beautiful, and I'm not just saying that to butter up the judges. ;)

Mini-Challenge #4

So far I have finished 1 book and participated in all the mini-challenges. This new challenge was to pick 3-4 books and create a sentence with the titles.

In case you can't read that, it says: After all these years, Lolita lost and found atonement. And I think Lolita is probably grateful for that atonement, don't you?

My next book is Green Angel by Alice Hoffman.

Mini-Challenge #2

With a great big THANK YOU SWEETIE!! to my computer ner....uh, my helpful and loving husband I got a screenshot of the readathon at Twitter. If you look in the pink column on the right (you must have good eye site for this) the readathon is in the #7 position in the Trending Topics. Yay for Readathon!

I've got one chapter left of Confessions of a Slacker Wife. See you around.

Let's Get This Party Started

There we are, ready to begin this insane adventure. That is my laptop enjoying it's breakfast of Chocolate chip banana bread with cream cheese and a steaming mug of cider and checking out Twitter(where all the cool kids are). My first goal is to finish Confessions of a Slacker Wife by Muffy Mead-Ferro. See you in a few.

OH! Today's first mini-challenge

Where are you reading from today? I'm at home in CA where the weather is going to be beautiful so I may take the books outside if the natives get a little crazy, as they are want to do.

3 facts about me … I hate mornings, I already brushed my teeth, I am a very slow reader.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 6.5 (I have one to finish)

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? To make it through the entire 24 hours

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time? I'm a noob but I have stalked past participants(Eva is my favorite) and gleaned important tidbits.

A Challenging Four Months

So the only thing I know about this challenge is that it has a really cool button and that it runs for four months(Nov. - Feb.). Well there is a little more to it than that. We are to make a list of books to fit into specified categories that are given a score. The rest of the info. will not be released until Nov. 1st when the challenge lifts off. And that's all that Virginie Says...(go see for yourself). That means I don't even know if the list that I make right now can be altered as I go. And I don't know what the point system is for. And I don't know if one book may count for more than one category(I checked the Part 1 of this challenge. It said a book only counts for one category. Darn!) This challenge may end up being challenging indeed.

I'm game. Are you? (I'll plug in my choices along the way)

Here are the categories with their point scores:

5 Point Challenges
Read a book with a proper name in the title - Because of Winn-Dixie
Read a book about a queen or king - The Song of Roland
Read a book by a Bronte - Jane Eyre
Read a book about Vampires - Dead Until Dark
Read a book by V.C. Andrews - Flowers in the Attic

10 Point Challenges
Read a book by Canadian author - Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Read a book by Charles Dickens - Bleak House
Read a book set in France - My Life in France
Read a book by Georgette Heyer
Read an ‘art’ themed book - The Lady and the Unicorn

15 Point Challenges
Read a book with a Civil War theme (any country) - Across Five Acres
Read a book with characters inspired by King Arthur or about King Arthur/Camelot
Read a biography/autobiography - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Read a book related to or something by Shakespeare - Mistress Shakespeare
Read a book by an author born in November, December, January or February - Lonesome Prairie, Montana by Ocieanna Fleiss (Dec. 26th)

20 Point Challenges
Read a book with a wintery theme (Christmas, snow, ice, freezing etc.) - The Snowflake
Read a book that was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - After This
Read a book that begins with A and one that begins with Z - Alice's Tulips and Zlateh the Goat
Read a book from The Modern Library Top 100 - Grapes of Wrath
Read a book and then write a review - The Hidden

A Friendly Blog Tour

My friend Ocieanna Fleiss has co-authored a Christian romance, Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana that will be released December 1st. This is her first book and I couldn't be more excited for her. A blog tour is being offered but they need to schedule people by this Friday(tomorrow). If you are interested in hosting go here and send an email to Stephanie. Hurry!

HURRY!!

Really Old Classics for All

In little under two weeks Halloween will mark the end of October. With the coming of the new month I embark on new challenges, the biggest being NaNoWriMo. But it will also begin 2 new reading challenges that I am excited about. Today I'll share about one. Tomorrow you get the other.

I heart classics so I had to join this one as soon as I learned about it. Listen to this:

"It’s a fairly simple challenge. To finish, you need to read one work written before 1600 A.D. That’s it. Read one thing and you’ve finished! To make it fun, though, we have an “extra credit” option (read a retelling) and a “Classicist” certification (read four works)."

Four months to read a single classic! Well, I won't be stopping there. Ima wanna be a Classicist when I grow up. You have to check out Rebecca Reads as Rebecca has not just shared some of her favorite classics with us but she typed up a titanic List O' Possibility for herself that we can easily steal from without anyone noticing. You should also go to the challenge site to make things official.

I went straight to my classics bookshelf (a whole large bookshelf just for classics. I told you I hearted them) and pulled four books off the first shelf I saw. Since these four books are titles I have wanted to read for some time these are my official list books. They are:
The Love of Books: The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury
Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
Antigone by Sophocles
The Song of Roland

I haven't yet figured out what my modern retelling will be. I have a little research to do.

So, will you join me? Pretty please with hot cocoa and a crackling fire?

Review: Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J.K. Rowlings

I warn you up front that I blow off some steam about certain religious types. As I am a religious type I think that what I have to say is important for both sides of the controversy but I understand if you don't feel like going there with me.

So I know that I am not the last person on the planet to read Harry Potter but it sure feels that way sometimes. Maybe it's just because when people like it they love it and when people don't care for it they claim it is a sneaky way that Satan is using to turn their children into witches and warlocks. Interesting how that works.

Since everybody actually knows the story I will skip the summary and move into the opinionating.

I liked it. As everyone says, it is not stunning literature. It's not that original. The character development is fairly 2 dimensional. It is 100% plot driven and in this case it works. It is a story written for kids, more for boys but girl are not excluded from the pleasure. Hermione is an intelligent and loyal character that will attract many girls. Snape isn't so convincing to me but it was still a fun story.

I was really dreading reading it. I've avoided the book for so long. I ranked it up there was an Oprah Pick telling myself that it was way too overblown to actually be good. I can admit when I'm wrong. Occasionally Oprah picks a winner and occasionally the public rallies around a worthy book. Harry Potter will go down in the annuls of time as a book that attracted the attention of millions by first, getting children, specifically boys, reading, and second, because Christians everywhere left their common sense in the closet and took it way too seriously.

I have touched on the effect of HP in the christian community for a reason. See, I am a christian. There was a time when I was ostracized for having the dreadful books in my house. People avoided me because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. After all, Christians everywhere had no problem with the Narnia books or Lord of the Rings, both of which contain witches and wizards. My family had decided that as long as good overcame evil in the stories then we were OK with our 10 year old son reading them. We used our reasoning minds instead of fear to direct our decision. But it didn't matter. Some of our closest friends claimed we were exposing and enticing children to witchcraft.

Guess what? I won't go to hell because I read a book, whether it contains witches, golden compasses, different religions or is about Satan himself. I won't go to hell for anything wrong I have done if the God of heaven and earth claims me for his own and forgives my sins. Period. I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. What a relief to know that I am secure in Christ!

Clearly this is still a sore subject with me. It hurt to be judged harshly over something so stupid(now that I've read it myself it seems even more ludicrous). But I try to release the hurt and forgive because they also are not perfect. They are trying to do what is right in their eyes and that is to be commended. Not many live by convictions anymore. I do my best to live by my convictions, one of them being the freedom to read what I like without guilt.

So I liked it. I'm told they get better as they go. I will read the rest of the series when I get a round tuit. Does anyone happen to have a spare round tuit?

I'm reposting this picture because it is magical. I wanna attend a boarding school that looks like that.

It's Tuesday...Where are you?

Has a book ever transported you to a new land or experience? Share where your reading has taken you this week. Visit An Adventure in Reading for more details.

This week I'm camped in Harveyville, Kansas, spending my time with a group of women supporting each other through the Depression. We are a quilting group known as:

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

This paisley design is known as the Persian Pickle.

Adventures in French Cooking

"Les poissons, les poissons,
How I love les poissons,
Love to chop and to serve little fish."

Actually I hate fish but my family likes it so I eat a couple of bites, mostly for show, every week. Fish is good for you. And I don't want to limit my children's tastes. So I make myself eat fish.

I had hoped that if I went into it with an open mind and a good recipe then I could overcome my aversion to fish. For now I am left hopeless. The meal was:

Potage Parmentier
Filet de Poisson Poches au Vin Blanc
Haricots Verts a l'Anglaise
Bavarois au Chocolat

That would be Leek and Potato Soup, Poached Filet of Sole in White Wine, Buttered Green Beans, and Chocolate Bavarian Cream.

The leek and potato soup was easy(Yay!). It did take an hour but it was mostly simmer time. And it was good after a liberal shower of salt. The fresh baked French bread from the grocery store was absolutely fab with it.

The buttered green beans were excellent. Seriously. I blanched them, which is apparently different than my usual method of not quite boiling them enough so they remain a little crunchy and no one eats them. There was of course a butter bath involved, but that's why we like Julia so much.

And the chocolate cream was very much like the orange cream of two weeks ago but with much more confusing instructions. But we were familiar with the process so we managed fine. The flavoring was coffee and rum instead of orange juice and orange liqueur. It tasted like mocha mousse ice cream, which probably doesn't exist but might be a good idea(Are you paying attention Ben & Jerry? I will expect a commission for sharing my brilliant ideas with you.).

And then there was the fish.

As soon as I opened the package my throat constricted. My throat never un-constricted. It is still constricted and now it hurts. I tried to avoid smelling it but it has a way of permeating everything. And don't try to tell me that fresh fish doesn't stink because you lie. I lived in Seattle once. I walked the fish market. No matter how cool the flying fish were, they still stank. And sole smells like fish wrapped in gym socks.

And then there's the sight(I can see where the backbone used to be). And the feel(like it's trying to swim out of my hands for freedom). I'm getting queasy.

I got the fish washed, dried, seasoned, and poached without puking. I even got it on the table and on my plate. I even took a few bites. Like more than two. Then my gag reflex kicked in. Yeah, no. I couldn't finish. Now I'm left with nausea, a sore throat and a house that smells like sole, which actually tastes like fish wrapped in gym socks.

Hey, you can't win them all. And maybe you, dear reader, like filet of sole. *gag* If you are a fan of fish then you might consider this meal. It was very light and only took an hour(dessert sold separately). Considering the source, that's pretty good.

The Sunday Salon

Literature
Books-I just finished reading Harry Potter. I'm surprised at how much I liked it. Review will be up this week. I'm not sure of what to pick up next. Something fun and perhaps romantic. Something happy to match my mood.

Challenges-Harry Potter counts for two of my three challenges for sure (Take a Chance & Clear Off Your Shelves) but I'm wondering if it would count for RIP IV. It's got the supernatural and mystery. What do you think?

Life
Not much to share. Not much is happening besides this. FlyLady was a flop this week. I did make a French meal but...well, you'll read about that tomorrow. My computer has been behaving for the last few days. Yay! And school was kinda boring. I'm not really sure where my time went this week. (That's a big fat lie! Facebook is an evil time suck. And now I'm on Twitter too. Somebody stop me, please!)

But I am happy. Very very happy. That's always news worth sharing. Oh! And I found this picture (I stole it from a new blog full of beautiful things) which also makes me happy. I'm wondering how I can print it so I can hang it on my wall. It matches me so perfectly.

I'm Twitterpated!

I have some really exciting news to share. At least, it's exciting to me. It's the biggest thing that's ever happened to my blog. I discovered that I was tweeted(twittered? twitted?). I'm a Twit! I know. I'm all aflutter. Aren't you?

It seems that somehow my Adventures in French Cooking post appeared on the monitors of some foodies on Twitter who passed around the link. I don't exactly know what it means but I am elated. I feel like I won a prize of some kind.

I have loved every moment of cooking in the French way and blogging about it. I am fortunate enough to have the time, energy and support of a wonderful set of guinea pigs people(Hi family!). And it seems that you like it too. The feedback I'm getting is encouraging. Your comments are saying "Good for you" and "Keep it up". And I plan to. I won't be making everything in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (calf brains anyone?) but I will be making and trying new foods. Tonight this sea food hater will make and taste(I'll try anyway) filet of sole. I'll also eat a leek for the first time in my life. I cannot wait to share with you my experiences.

BTW, if you are on Twitter I've just joined. Look me up. I'm EducatinPetunia(be sure to drop the G).

And don't forget to stop in at Book Chatter to add your own confession. (OK, so mine is more like self congratulation but it's blog related so I'm legal.)

Adventures in French Cooking

So far my family has been gracious about my adventurous cuisine but you know what they say: Real men don't eat quiche. So when the menu for the week was

Quiche Lorraine
Creme Brulee

I decided to feed my friends who have been keeping up with my cooking plans and have been anxious to try some for themselves.

Well, as you know from here and here, French cooking is a contact sport. It's a tie-your-hair-back, don-an-apron-with-big-pockets, make-a-potty-trip-first kind of activity. In other words, it takes a loooooong time to make. Thankfully it didn't take so long for this meal.

The Creme Brulee was made the night before to give it time to set. Other than the batter bath I gave myself (refer back to the apron tip) it went smoothly. Two cups of creme mixed with eggs and sugar plus homemade caramel brittle for the topping. Délicieux! And nary a blow torch in site. Hear my husband's sigh of relief.

The next day I started early on the pie crust for the quiche. I love pie crust. Especially made with real butter. Julia's recipe called for 3/4 cup butter plus 4 Tbsp. of shortening, which I didn't have so I used butter. :) She even gave me permission to blend it in my food processor. I love you Julia! While the crust was baking I whipped up more eggs and cream for the quiche-y part while my son sizzled some bacon(because I only specialize in the black kind). It wasn't until after I had added the bacon and quiche-y part to the crust and put it back into the oven that I realised that not only did I not prick holes in the bottom of the crust and baked it for 5 more minutes like the recipe said but I also forgot to add an ingredient to the crust. I've never put sugar in pie crust before. How was I supposed to know? I mean besides the fact that it was written in front of me. I figured no one would notice if I didn't tell them.

When the quiche came out of the oven it smelled like heaven and looked like Jupiter. Now I see why it's so important to prick holes in the bottom of the crust. There was a big brown spot where the crust had grown a tumor. I considered putting some silk flowers over it but those things are dirty. Then I considered making more crust cut in a pretty shape to set over it but I was running out of time. Then I decided to love it despite its looks and eat the crusty part myself.

This is the point where I pull out the Creme Brulee. I knew it didn't set right when it slopped over my hand when I took it from the fridge. Hmmm. More like Potage Brulee(potage means soup). Friends arriving in 10 minutes. Just sprinkle on the caramel brittle and set it on the table. Caramel brittle mostly sinks to the bottom. "But," think I, "it will still taste fab. Right?"

Of course it did. After all, this is Julia's recipe. Jupiter quiche is delish and Potage Brulee is still yummy. My friends ate and laughed and agreed to be my guinea pigs again sometime.

So I learned that pie crust doesn't need shortening or sugar but it does need to be pricked and baked a little longer. And I learned that the recipe for Creme Brulee will not yield what one expects but my friends will gladly drink it from a bowl with me. Tres Bon!

It's Tuesday...Where are you?

Has a book ever transported you to a new land or experience? Share where your reading has taken you this week. Visit An Adventure in Reading for more details.

I have just boarded a train in London to take me to the most renowned school to learn magic. Hogwarts is the school and Harry Potter is my name.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Review: The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer
by John Harwood

Gerard's mother is a woman with many fears and many secrets; because of it, Gerard lives a very sheltered life. His only act of rebellion is writing to a penpal, Alice, a paraplegic living in England. Soon the two are madly in love over their years of correspondence. But Alice has secrets of her own. She will not send Gerard a picture of herself. Nor is she ever around to meet him when he travels from his home in Australia. But soon Gerard must confront his family history and the woman he loves to unravel the lies that are the only truth he's ever known.

I'm trying to decide if I should start with the good or the bad. How about a sandwich effect?

The bad: that cover. It's not creepy so much as unattractive, which is fitting in some ways but mostly not.

The good: the stories within the story. I always love a story that tells many littler stories, especially if they are fairy tales or, in this case, ghost stories. I think these littler stories were the best parts of the book.

The bad: the confusion. The final story was long and interrupted and very similar to the main story so that the line between the two became very blurry. Actually, I believe this was done on purpose but my little brain hurt from the effort of sorting the two out. Then, elements of the other two ghost stories crept in. By the end I didn't know if I was up or down.

The good: it gave me the willies. As you read the little ghost stories and you start sensing that things aren't right with the characters, you do become scared of all the little sounds and shadows in your house. I reverted back to my fear of mirrors while I was reading it. Harwood built the suspense before he did anything freaky with the story. Clever.

The bad: overly descriptive. As the English Manor that is at the heart of the bigger story (and one of the littler ones) is described, all the furniture is placed in it's proper corner, all doors are put just so in the walls, all four floors are given their own blueprint, or so it seemed. My eyes glazed over. And the physical description of "the machine" was too complicated, though the explanation of what it actually was and how it was used was very interesting. But talking about pieces of metal shaped like A with tubular glass bulbs projecting out of point B wasn't at all helpful.

The bad: the ending. So I am really, really good at figuring out the endings of mysteries. All those years watching Matlock, Diagnosis Murder, and Law and Order taught me a thing or two. One of the things I learned was that everything in a story has a purpose. Did the murder victim's neighbor speak? They have some kind of useful information or they are the killer. Did the camera linger a little longer on a certain scene? There is a clue in that shot. First you gather your suspects and your suspicions and then you start eliminating them. But this book didn't do that. Gerard considered every possibility, no matter how ridiculous and threw them all out and gathered them all back up again. By the end there were so many outrageous theories running to and from that it was hard to pick which one to stick with. I believe this to be a sign of a poorly plotted mystery. It's kind of like when some poor schmuck calls you to solicit money over the phone. Instead of telling you simply what they have to offer and give you a chance to say yes you need that service or no you don't, they will bombard you with words. They will throw out compliments and act like your best friend from college. When they feel resistance they will ask you stupid questions like "don't you want to save money?" or "you honestly can't afford just $10 to join our gym?" They figure if they can keep you on the phone longer then you are more likely to give them your money. That is what this book does. It bombards you with ideas, making the ridiculous sound plausible and the logical seem unrealistic to disguise the fact that the answer is clear from somewhere in the middle. tsk tsk What a disappointment.

It looks like the bad outweighs the good but I will say that the good is really good and the bad is only partially bad. Like I said, I think the author accomplished what he set out to do, that is, making the reader as dazed and confused and second guessing their every idea as Gerard was. I just didn't like being dazed and confused. Your mileage may vary.

One Word Review
So-so

Matlock, you ruined me for mysteries.

Anyone remember Puck? He's the poppet I won in the original RIP Challenge. He stands sentry while I read, especially when I read ghost stories for the RIP Challenge.

Speaking of which, this makes the first book read (finally!) for the RIP IV Challenge. It also counts for the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge since it has been lingering on my book shelf for over six months. I'm all about multitasking.

The Sunday Salon

Literature
Books: I took way too long to read The Ghost Writer considering it was a page turner. I'm not entirely please with it. You'll have to read my review when it goes up next week. Now I'm reading Harry Potter. For the first time. It's not exactly by choice but because of a challenge. We'll see what happens.

Challenges: RIP IV Challenge? One down, one to go. Take a Chance Challenge? Four out of ten done. Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge? Two of two are off the shelves so I'm at 100% thus far. Cool beans!

Life
FlyLady: I fell off the wagon about 1.5 weeks ago. I didn't really notice until Friday when I had to do a Stash'N'Dash before company came over. That's when you run around like a crazy person hiding all your junk in the closets and out in the garage because there is not enough time to put it away where it actually belongs. But the great thing about FlyLady is that you can hop back on the wagon and jump right into the program where ever it is right now. So this week my bathrooms will sparkle.

Food: I grilled chicken. All by myself. And it didn't turn black or catch fire or anything. On the one hand, I feel more self-sufficient. On the other, now my husband will expect me to rule the range. Shoot.

Computer: I have a lovely purple laptop that the hubby got me for my birthday a year and a half ago but lately I've had reason to pull my hair out. It's been freezing up on me once a week for about 2 months now and this week it has frozen 5 times. Grrrrr! My hubby, the computer genius, hasn't been able to make the problem go away. He is thinking it is a hard drive thing, which is very, very bad. So if I disappear for a while you'll know that I'm not avoiding you. I'm being fitted for a wig while hubby makes my laptop obedient once again.

Homeschool: My daughter(she's 12) got 70 pages in to Robinson Crusoe before she begged me to let her stop. She can't stand it. I think she gave it a fair shot so I let her quit. Yeah, I'm cool like that. Thankfully she is super excited that her next book is about Mary, Queen of Scots.

I watched the old 'Romeo and Juliet' movie with my kiddos since we just learned about Shakespeare. I warned them ahead of time that there was a little peek-a-boo scene with Juliet but I had not remembered that Romeo's tush had several minutes(or so it seemed to this mom) of air time. I don't know who was more embarrassed, me or my daughter(the boys didn't seem to care). I tried to appear as if it was no big deal when she asked if she should cover her eyes but I'm sure I failed to look at ease. But we survived. When the movie was over I wanted to cry out, "Why Mercutio? Why a curse of both their houses?" I cried on and off for the next hour. I love that story.

And apparently I am not the only one who sees a resemblance between Leonard Whiting(Romeo) and Zac Efron.

There is No Word for a Dictionary Dependent

Warning! The words you are about to read are a true representation of my ineptitude from the last 2 weeks. Those with weak stomachs should avert their eyes now.

Oh Dictionary.com, how I love thee. Your uses are infinite. Your benefits are abundant. Your ability to transform me from a blathering idiot to a brilliant intellectual is unfathomable. Oh, how I long for you. Oh, how I cherish each moment I spend with you. Oh, how I should considered setting you as my home page. I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. (When did Diana Ross invade my blog?)

Without you, Dictionary.com, I would not know that apropos ends with an s, that caddywampus is actually a word, that synonym has 2 ys, that knowledgeable retains it's e, that proclamation drops the i from its base word 'proclaim', & that it's not spelled libratory, liboratory or labritory but laboratory.

I would not know how to accurately spell: dependent, dominatrix(wouldn't you like to know) :p, proclivity, rendering, sanction, & trepidation

I would not know the exact meaning of metaphysics.

I would not be able to share with my son the proper pronunciation of pangea.

I would not know the many synonyms for cheeky (a few being audacious, brazen, foolhardy, ninny, sycophant & twerp).

I would not have come across some most excellent words such as meretricious, schlemiel &
schlimazel. (I have a sudden proclivity to sew a large L on my shirt.)

And I would not have been able to make sure that a vulva really is what I think it is. *blush*

Without you, oh beautious beauteous Dictionary.com, I would just be some opinionated knucklehead with a public platform from which to display my ignorantness(wait! Is that a word?...yes it is) because I am too lazy to get off my butt and open the real dictionary. (of course I didn't mean you are not a real dictionary. You are every bit as much a dictionary as that old paper one over there. That one is so fat and unwhealdy unwieldy. And no, that browser window doesn't make your butt look big.)

And thank you Ti for giving me a second chance to prove to the public that I am in fact a blathering idiot.

(Words that Blogger's spell check doesn't recognise: caddywampus, pangea, schlimazel, ignorantness, & Blogger's(!).)

Confession is Good for the Soul

At least that's what I'm told. The creative juices have been flowing at Book Chatter and other stuff. Ti has come up with a unique and fun new weekly meme called Confessions of a Reader. Essentially you confess to anything you like relating to reading or blogging, whenever you like, and add your link to the Mr. Linky at Ti's place on Saturdays. So let's get started.

My first confession: I'm insecure. Okay, so most people are but specifically about my big mouth. While I think this meme will be fun I have some trepidation about sharing the kinds of things that will make you not like me anymore. There are two quotes that haunt me as I have proved them so many times it isn't even funny.

"For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." ~ The Bible, James 3:7 & 8

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." ~author unresolved

I have a tendency to speak faster than I can think. I have a tendency to share the wrong things in the wrong places or with the wrong people. I have lost all hope of being able to tame my beastly tongue. So I ask you to not be offended by the views I share. I value honesty and welcome thoughtful debate.

And with that bit of vulnerability I will leave you with a song aptly titled My Stupid Mouth.

It's Tuesday...Where are you?

Has a book ever transported you to a new land or experience? Share where your reading has taken you this week. Visit An Adventure in Reading for more details.

I knew I wasn't in the US when January was described as hot and sweltering. Mawson, Australia may be where the protagonist lives but he has spent all his life romanticizing Staplefield, West Sussex in Endland, the home of his overprotective and secretive mother. But I have a feeling there is something strange about about to happen in Staplefield.

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

Graveyard in Staplefield, West Sussex. Apropos for a ghost story.

Adventures in French Cooking

When I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" I did not think it would lead to something like this. I mean, I don't care to be trendy; I didn't want to be one of the millions of women (and three men) who bought all the books, including the expensive cookbook. I even said after the movie that it wasn't quite enough to make me start cooking a la francé. But here I am. And I'm loving it. Our Sunday dinner consisted of:

Poulet roti
Carottes a la concierge
Champignons a la Grecque
Bavarois a L'Orange

For the French impaired that it roast chicken, casserole of creamed carrots with onion and garlic, and mushrooms a la Grecque(?) followed by orange Bavarian cream.

I prepared for my 1.5 hour estimated cooking excursion by: making a potty trip, washing hands, changing into clothes that may be splattered on, pulling hair out of face, eating a small snack, prereading the directions for all recipes, and removing all jewelry that might get lost in the body cavity while molesting my chicken(So sorry chicky. Julia made me do it). All of this added an extra 1/2 hour to my excursion time but I planned for it so it was okay. We would be eating by 5pm.

Starting with the recipe needing the longest effort, I cleaned, salted and buttered my bird and placed it in the oven. According to direction I have to turn it on each side, then it's back, not to mention basting it every 10 minutes. EVERY 10 MINUTES?! FOR 1.5 HOURS?! Okay, I can handle that.

Doesn't he look all roasty-toasty in there?

Anyway, the bird was easy if high maintenance. On to the next recipe, creamed carrot casserole. This one takes about an hour. AN HOUR?! Okay, deal Petunia. It takes a lot of carrots; 4 1/2 cups of sliced carrots. At this point I whip out my nifty food processor. (Oh food processor, how I do love thee.) Carrots and onions chopped in a mere 2 minutes. So carrots and onions and cream and beef stock are cooking on the stove. In the spare minutes between basting I clean dishes and reread the next recipe. Thank Heavens the mushrooms only take 10 minutes. We'll save those for last, after the chicken is out of the oven.

So the carrots are done and staying warm on the stove, the chicken now comes out of the oven and it's time to start the mushrooms. Wait. I'm referred to a second recipe that takes an additional 10 minutes. That's okay. So I make the Grecque sauce(whatever that is) and then I add the mushrooms. Mushrooms done. Wait. Now I have to boil down the remaining Grecque sauce(what does Grecque mean anyway?). Another 10-15 minutes. Wait. The chicken juices need to be boiled down to make a sort of gravy. Okay. Another 10-15 minutes. It's a good thing I ate that snack earlier.

Finally the food is ready to serve. An hour later than planned but that's okay. Add a salad and a glass of Cab and we're ready to dig in.

Well the chicken just tastes like roast chicken. It still needs salt. And the mushrooms taste like boiled mushrooms. More salt. But the carrots. Heavenly! Seriously, the best of all the recipes I've tried so far. I could eat them for a meal all by themselves.

Now for dessert. I made this on Saturday so it would be completely set. It took about an hour and lots and lots of cream. When turned onto the plate it flopped a little cattywampus but it was still a thing of beauty. And it separated a bite but that added to it's charm. It was kind of like a mousse on the bottom and a custard on the top. The family all adored it. My ego expanded.
Another successful French meal. So far I have not found a recipe that takes less than 30 minutes but that's fine with me. It's the process that I enjoy. It's the learning experience and the experimenting that make me happy. We'll see if that changes when it comes time to make calf brains.

Remember folks: food is not just sustenance. It can be a joy too.

The Sunday Salon

Literature
Books: I finally finished a couple of books I've been working on for weeks. Click on the title to read my praise for Pay Attention, Say Thank You and my demolition of House of Sand and Fog. I am now working on Aspects of the Novel in preparation for the National Novel Writing Month(NaNoWriMo) in Nov. I've also just started The Ghost Writer.

Challenges: I've not yet finished any books for the RIP4 Challenge so half of my reading this month will be set aside for that. As for the Take a Chance Challenge, I'm still 3 short but not giving up hope. Then the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge has begun with 1 book under my belt. Good start.

Life
Food: I made an Orange Bavarian Creme yesterday but it will not be eaten until tonight when I make yet another Julia Child meal so you will have to wait until tomorrow to see pictures. I did, however, have some leftover egg whites so I whipped up some meringue cookies that didn't survive an entire 6 hours.
Creativity: A strong surge of creativity has been coursing through my limbs this week, a thing not uncommon among artistic and crafty folk. Since it brings me so much joy, that being something I am trying to encourage in my life, I am giving that creativity as much free reign as I can. Here is a quilt top I finished working on at my now clutter-free sewing station.
Homeschool: We are learning all about the Lost Colony. This was to be the first settlement of America for the British Kingdom but many settlers didn't survive the harsh winter weather and others were left behind while help was sought but when it finally returned, the settlers had vanished. No signs of life but also no signs of a struggle. This all happened before the Pilgrims.

In science we are learning about density and polarity of molecules. Below is a glass with three differently dense and polar liquids: oil is yellow, water is blue, and corn syrup is red. The polarity prevents them from mixing. The density(heaviness) causes some to float above or sink below the water. The kids love science time.

Did anything interesting happen to you this week? Do share.

Review: House of Sand and Fog

House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III

You know when you're watching a movie and the bad guy is just the creepiest bad guy ever and you don't even want to watch the movie anymore because he creeps you out so much? (reference: Little Dorrit) And then someone always says that that's a sign of really great acting? Well, if the same is true for books then Dubus is a friggin' genius because the writing was so good that I wanted to put the book down the whole way through. Seriously folks, if Oprah endorses it then it's bound to be amongst the most depressingly soul-sucking novels ever written.

Due to a clerical error Kathy Nicolo is given minutes to move out of her childhood home, the house her father willed to her. The very next day Colonel Behrani buys it at auction for a third of it's value with plans to flip it for a profit. The Colonel was once a well respected and rich military officer in Iran until he fled to America to avoid execution. Now he is trying to regain some of the self-respect that he lost. Kathy is an ex-coke addict whose husband just deserted her. Along for the ride is Officer Lester Burdon who falls for Kathy, to his family's detriment, and will go to any length to get her her house back.

Of course, the inevitable is looming in the distance; a clash of pride and passion. The proverbial train wreck. No matter which way the pendulum swings it cannot be good. Except somehow the pace of the book got stuck on extra slow-mo. In 365 pages only about 20 of them have any action; at least, any action that made me want to stay awake to find out what happened next. Then the what-happened-next was particularly unsatisfying.

Gosh, it sounds a whole lot like another Oprah pick I dredged through once by the name of Vinegar Hill. I was more and more horrified by the idiocy of the characters and their penchant for making matters worse with each passing minute.

Clearly I hated the thing. I've heard the movie is true to the book in regards to the state it leaves the viewer in. Though I love Ben Kingsley (Love. Him.) I will give this one a pass.

One Word Review:
Dismal

BTW, I originally chose this title for the RIP4 Challenge but there was nothing in it of any creepiness (unless you count that adulterous CREEP Officer Burdon) so I'll have to find a replacement if I want to complete my Peril the Second. At least it will give me credit in the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge so it's not a total loss.

A Funny Article with a Dose of Truth

A friend directed me to this article: The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List. If you are a homeschooler you'll get a good LOL from it. If you're not a homeschooler then you should read it and save yourself from appearing rude or foolish. Seriously.