Cookbook Winner

The winner of Emily's cookbook, Cooking on the Edge of Insanity, is Chrissy, who writes over at Tales From the Carpool Lane. Like me, Chrissy has recently moved, and she arrived just in time for a terrible tornado. If you want to read about the work she was a part of in the wake of the Joplin tornado go here. Have your hankies on hand.

Chrissy feeds her husband and three gorgeous kids.

But all of you, please, go buy Emily's book, either in print or in digital version.

And thanks, Emily, for letting me do a giveaway of your book. I'm honored.

Making Real Food Real Fun

The Most Fabulous Emily Rosenbaum graciously sent me a signed copy of her cookbook, Cooking on the Edge of Insanity.

Emily is passionate about feeding her family REAL food. As in food you would recognize as actual food (vegetables and fruit that are fresh, real hunks of meat, no chemicals you can't pronounce, etc) I have to admit I was a bit nervous about reading the book, because while I really like the idea of real food, and truly believe in the importance of family meals, sometimes (OK, at least a few times a week) my family dinners consist of things like frozen lasagna (I do heat it up in the oven, but you get the idea). I shop at the grocery store, not the farmer's market, and am positive the bananas on my kitchen counter were not grown anywhere near within 100 miles of my home. I was worried that the book would fill me with guilt for all the things I'm NOT doing.

Fortunately, Emily writes with such humor and grace, and an acknowledgement that being a true Real Foodie takes passion and commitment, that I finished the book laughing and thinking about what small steps I could take to incorporate more Real Food into my family meal planning. (Plus, she makes a True Confession that will quickly let all her readers know that she's not perfect. Which is good. Because if I start striving for perfection I'm toast. Toast made from Wonderbread. White Wonderbread. Full of unpronounceable stuff)

More than just a collection of recipes, Emily has filled the book with stories about how and why she developed the recipes. The stories give ideas of how to plan ahead, how to include your children in the process, how cook beans one day to use in several recipes over the coming week. The stories help to show the big picture... beyond the creation of the food to eat, the WHY of the way it's prepared. The WHY of the ingredients. The reasons WHY Emily is teetering on the edge of insanity, and the good things it has led her to create.

The first recipe I plan to try is her Bakeless Peanut Butter Cookies. First, because they have my absolute favorite food in them. Peanut butter. Yum.... Also, because Emily thinks they are healthy enough for breakfast. And if I can get my child to eat them for breakfast, I think our whole lives would be so much easier. And how hard can it be to get my child to eat COOKIES for breakfast? (Please, don't answer that)

I'm also going to try to use more fresh fruits and vegetables. To soak my beans instead of opening a can. To plan ahead so I'm not stuck pulling out the frozen pizza at the last minute.To cut down on the amount of chemicals in my kitchen (I suppose I should start in the most obvious place, by kicking - once again - my diet soda habit. Shhh... don't tell Emily)

Emily has agreed to give away a copy of her book to one of my readers. So PLEASE, leave me a comment about your thoughts on eating more Real Food, and I'll pick a winner at random on August 1st (and if you already have Emily's book, feel free to leave a comment... IF you promise to give your winning copy away as a gift. Or just tell me to leave you out of the drawing). I plan to purchase a book to give to a friend of mine, a single mom feeding her own voracious little boy as much real food as she can find and afford in NYC.

signs

So we have all these old cans of paints that the previous homeowners left in the basement... many of them colors that weren't even on the walls when WE bought the house (Like that yellow, for instance. That pink, unfortunately was. I'll have to post a picture of the pink room sometime. Even the closet door and ceiling and the CEILING FAN BLADES). We've opened the cans up to dry them out to dispose of them.

Then I thought... Hmm... we have all these random boards they left lying around the backyard, what if I used some of these old paints to slather them in bold colors, then painted fun signs to hang from the fence around our pool/yard/garden.

So I did. Paint them bold colors.

And now I'm trying to decide what fun sayings/pictures to paint ON them. Ideas?

Spring is yellow

I've celebrated May Day for the last three years, since the first May I had this blog. It only seems natural that May Day be my blog's unofficial holiday.

I didn't celebrate it this year. I still have the maypole. It's in my garage. My father even commented on it just last week.

I just couldn't summon up the energy and the joy it takes to put something like that together. It was a grey day, and I ended up scrambling to get ready for a last minute audition anyway, so in a way it's good I didn't plan something. Imagine the stress.

But I did miss it.

It's been a long winter, and signs of spring are slow in coming. Spring here is yellow. Daffodils and these yellow bushes that awaken some latent childhood spring memories in me. But, oddly enough, they are melancholy. Not a riotous, joyful feeling. A spot of yellow among the mud and grey. I miss the bright pink and purple azaleas. I miss sunshine and warm breezes. Sandals and sundresses. Spring is too slow in emerging. I don't feel like celebrating. I feel like giving it a swift kick in the pants.

(MQ did note that it was May Day by asking if Angry Birds Seasons put out a new level for May Day. Sadly, no)

Much Ado about Cyber Bulling

Follow this production of Much Ado About Nothing, via Facebook, all done in status updates and comments, and designed to educate kids about both Shakespeare and cyberbulling.

Read about the project here.

I'm interested in seeing how this will work.

Plus, it's timely, considering my recent desire to see a "Shakespeare" language option for FB.

Now is the winter of my discontent

It's holy week, but I'm not feeling very holy. It's spring break, and it feels neither like spring (it SNOWED on Monday!) nor like a break. But it looks like our insurance is pulling through for us, and the deal is still set to close on our Louisiana home next week. I have a hard time imagining how on earth all the work will get done by then and won't breathe easy until the paperwork is signed (and not even then, as it's a bond to deed, which is kind of like a lease to own, and we won't be totally off the hook with that house for up to two more years). I worry I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Other" being a loose term, as I feel like the ground around me is covered in mismatched shoes and I have more than a few lumps on my head.

I did have a good audition a few days ago and today the sun is shining through the clouds, at least. I cling to the hope that some day the clouds will dissipate and a warm breeze will blow; that sorrow will turn to dancing; that joy comes with morning.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

A friend recently posted on facebook that she wishes FB had a "Shakespeare" setting (you know, like how you can change the language setting to Pirate).

This, of course, got my brain whirling. The banner across the top would read "All the world's a stage," the status box would ask "what news on the rialto?" The "like" button would be replaced with "marry." You would click the "what say you?" link, rather than "comment." Your friends would be your "Dramatis Personae" and you would be invited to find friends with the phrase "seek new friends and stranger companies." You would be informed if someone blocked you with a message that "_____, who, like a block, hath denied my access to thee." Chat will be renamed "idle talk."

What changes would YOU make to Shakespearean Facebook? And what other "languages" should Facebook offer? What would they look like?