The future of books from a NYT writer

An interesting perspective on the future of books from The New York Times.

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/ander-monsons-vanishing-point-the-future-of-the-book/?hp

Shopping with Kids - You never know what you're gonna get

Food? Check. Water? Got it. Content child? Well, that’s for her to know and me to find out.

I took my daughter shopping yesterday. It’s a hit or miss adventure every time we leave the house, so I really didn’t know what to expect. But, we needed stuff you can’t find at Target, so I put on my game face, loaded down my at-one-time-hip leather bag, now turned kid supply dumping ground, and hit the road.

She handled the ride great. Only asking for her kid CD seven or eight times instead of the usual million. Thank goodness for me, I left it at home. See previous post on how I couldn’t get the tune “Down by the Bay” out of my head – ‘nuf said.

As soon as we entered the store, I made sure she had her snack and drink handy and forged ahead. We hit three stores in an hour and she had yet to complain about anything. I smiled, but it was a crazy-nervous smile, and watched for a meltdown.

We waited for a sales clerk looking for sizes in the back when my daughter tried to exit her stroller the wrong way. Yes, she was dangling legs and all stuck under the food/drink tray. I struggled to get her unstuck from between the seat and the tray, but she wouldn’t budge either way. Sweat broke out on my crinkled forehead as I imagined the police rescue crew coming to free her, followed shortly by a county worker to ask what kind of parent gets her kid stuck in a stroller.

I paused and reassured her that we’d get her out and she’d be fine. I screamed at myself, in my head, and tried to pull then push her tush and legs back up. She wiggled and I thought of a backup plan – tear apart the stroller with my bare hands and quickly exit the store. The clerk wouldn’t mind – especially if we saved him the pain of our debacle. I paused, she turned, deep breath, firm push and she broke free. My eyes darted around to see if anyone else had caught sight. Whew! We were in the clear. The clerk returned so we paid and got on our way.

The rest of our shopping experience was not nearly as adrenaline inducing. We snacked and chilled while we shopped some more. We stopped and looked at a rack filled with a rainbow of colorful t-shirts. I asked her to pick a color. She walked now – to avoid another stroller struggle. Her hand made a grand gesture across all the shirts as she ran the length of the rack, and exclaimed "I need all these colors, mama!” I couldn’t help myself, I laughed out loud and she did too. It was a great way to end our shopping adventure.

Eclipse Movie Trailer

Here's a new Eclipse movie trailer link. Opening June 30, it's the next in the Twilight Saga.

Um, wow...

http://eclipsethemovie.com/

It's early

Did you ever have a time when you wanted to go back to sleep, but you just couldn’t? This is one of those times. My brain turned on early this morning. I know it’s always on. But we’re talking interrupt you from a nice sleep at 5 o’clock early, and it’s Saturday.

I woke up to a not so quiet inside my head voice that told me, literally shouted at me, to get up and work. I couldn’t turn it off or down. I tried, but it kept interrupting my attempted snooze, Get up and write! Yeah, yeah, ah this pillow is nice (pulling the covers around me).

It broke in again, Spend a few moments of alone time with your husband, even though he’s busy with work e-mails. Workout or take a walk (yeah, right). Oh, write! Take the laundry that’s been in the back hall to the dry cleaners before it walks there on its own! Grocery list. E-mail. Sort, read and recycle that pile of magazines that’s nearly as tall as you kid now. Clean something, anything! Figure out your garden plan, buy planters and potting soil then get the box of plants mom sent last week in the ground before they die. And please, I beg you, do something to get that song “Down by the Bay” from the 102 Children’s Songs CD grandma sent out of our head already!

Yes, it’s been that kind of morning. The great part is that I’ve still got early morning kid-tivities before I can even think about doing most of those things. Why did I choose the early gymnastics class? I vaguely remember something about getting a jump on things and a reduced rate for the first class of the morning. Hmpf, amateur. Next time, I’ll spend the extra ten bucks so we can sleep in, or at least try.

The best thing I can do when it gets like this, if I have time, is to jot down a few notes. I’m taking a risk writing this before my first cup of coffee, but it’s already helping. My brain is quieting some. Now instead of “Down by the Bay” I have Train’s “Soul Sister” playing in my head. At least now it’s a different broken record.

Time for some coffee and a few quiet minutes (apart from my head). Enjoy your morning and your weekend!

SYOAS – See you online again soon!

Hole in the Twist-off Top

Here is the bottle pic. It's a little blurry, but you can see I drilled right through the twist-off top.

Good times :)

Risotto Photos

Here are some risotto photos. The first is the dish in progress - lots of stirring. The second is the finished dish. Mmm!

Risotto and the busted wine bottle

Appe-teaser:

Only I could jam a wine opener through the top of an uncorked bottle.

It’s true. I bored a hole in the top of a sherry wine bottle last night. Thinking it was a regular old wine bottle I drove our opener straight through the metal cap. It was a breeze and I was pleased with my work until I realized the error. See, it was a twist-off metal top, not a cork. If I hadn’t gotten so frustrated with the most uncooperative outer seal in history I would have realized this and we could have saved the wine to cook another day.

Instead, I used some for an amazing risotto and chalked the rest up as a loss. My impatience made for a real Duh moment and a few laughs. There are photos.

The Main Course:

I am not a big fan of constantly stirring anything so I typically avoid stuff like polenta (see previous post) and risotto. Last night I put my super stirring skills to the test. It turns out my efforts were rewarded with a delicious meal.

I made the Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach recipe from Cooking Light’s May 2010 issue. YUM! It was a deep delicious dish and everyone enjoyed it. Even my toddler ate most of hers. The creamy risotto got a boost from the bold flavors of wild mushrooms, bacon and Asiago cheese. If any of that makes your mouth water, I suggest you try this dish.

You can find the recipe in Cooking Light’s May 2010 issue, or search their website http://www.cookinglight.com/ for Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach.

Check back as I’ll post some photos of the meal and the busted bottle incident later.

SYOAS – See you online again soon!

Stress less

I recently read an article that listed "9 Surprising Symptoms of Stress." It was from a writer at Woman’s Day and included stuff like tweaked muscles, eye twitching, ragged cuticles, cavities and rashes. Nice, huh? Stress can really turn a person inside out so I started thinking of ways to fight back. Here’s my short list. So stop banging your head against the wall long enough to read it, it might just help a little:

Listen to the Music – I have a rule, if I listen to Kajagoogoo’s Too Shy and am still super-stressed then it’s intervention time. Music can be soothing, uplifting or exciting. Try spinning some tunes that put you in a good mood before or after a tough day and you just might turn that frown upside down.

Laugh it off – Read or watch something funny, share goofy knock-knock jokes with a kid or sing at the top of your lungs while you drive through town. Who can stay frazzled when they’re being silly?

Beat it – Take out your aggressions by beating egg whites into meringue peaks with just a whisk or ripping up some veggies and lettuce. Whip up something you enjoy cooking and forget your worries for a while.

Get Physical – Exercise can help take your mind off of or help you work through stress. Plus, you get the benefit of good for you activity and endorphins.

Phone a Friend – Call a family member or friend and discuss problems. If you aren’t ready to talk, then let them update you. You might find that listening to another person’s ups and downs helps get your mind off your own.

Escape – Sometimes we get too close to things and feel overwhelmed. You may do well to take a break or plan a trip. Setting things aside even temporarily can help you gain the perspective needed to tackle a big problem.

Write a letter – Write about your feelings in a journal or electronic document. Let it rip and get it out of your system. Just make sure you don’t send anything until you’ve had a chance to cool off and read what you wrote.

Last resort? Let out a long and loud barbaric Yawp – YAAAAWWWWP!

SYOAS – See you online again soon!

Peeling Peppers Properly...Pfft.

There’s more than one way to peel a pepper. Or, rather, there’s more than one way to slice it. My favored method is taking a knife and sectioning down the sides. Slicing downward along the outer perimeter so as not to disturb the seeds and innards. If you cut straight from the top peaks to the bottom, you can often avoid an exploding mess of seeds. All can be conveniently thrown away without a ton of cleanup.

When I’m making chicken hoagies I take the pepper sections and slice them into strips. Drizzle oil into a pan, add onion, peppers and get cooking. Cook down until onions and peppers have softened and caramelized enough for flavoring the sandwich. Place on a plate and set aside.

Heat the oven to 350° and foil line a cookie sheet (trust me, it makes clean-up easier).

Sauté sliced chicken breasts in the pan drippings adding oil if needed. Brown the chicken until it’s nearly cooked. Add the onion and pepper mix. Cook until chicken is done.

Toast hoagie rolls in a 350° oven for a couple minutes. Remove rolls. Add chicken, onions and peppers to each roll then top with provolone cheese slices.

Place hoagies in the oven. Crank it to broil and heat for a couple more minutes. Important: Stay by the oven and keep an eye out or the hoagies will burn – like black char burn that you don’t want to eat.

Take the sandwiches out, plate them and enjoy!

I can get into the bigger points about doing things more than one way another time. Right now, I have to feed a hungry house!

Stormy Tuesday

Why is it inevitable that I forget to shower or to charge any household electronic device until there is a thunderstorm? Like people I know who get knee aches when rain approaches, I must have some sense that a storm is coming. Only, it’s not a good one. I forget to run my errands on sunny days. Yep, I’m the one lined up at the grocery after the storm starts. And usually end up white-knuckling my way home through holy terror with the necessities: diapers, chocolate and coffee. Although, I forgot, I need to get battery backup for the coffee maker. Do they even make that? If not, they should.

So, it’s storming. Thunder claps. I have yet to shower. The kid is upstairs rolling and kicking, or that could be more thunder. Chargers are charging. I hope we don’t need them for at least a few hours. Although, the Weather Channel forecasts the storm will pass through by then.

I’ll grab a chocolate egg and be back.

20 minutes, three lullabies and five eggs later…

Still charging. The storm calmed. Our little one has settled too. My anxiety is leveling off, perhaps a benefit of the candy break. Maybe we’ll be prepared when the next round of storms rolls through later. But, I’d better make some coffee and ration the chocolate until then just to be sure.

Rotogravure: 7 fun things about Easter

1. The long weekend, yay!

2. Easter egg hunts, especially when all the eggs are found.

3. Easter celebrations with family, friends and food.

4. Reading the Velveteen Rabbit.

5. Easter bonnets.

6. Easter baskets with Chocolate Bunnies!

7. “Easter Parade” and the rotogravure. I like the word rotogravure. If you are familiar with the Irving Berlin song, or the movie Holiday Inn, then you know what I mean. I recently read that rotogravure describes a printing process, but that’s not all. It also refers to a magazine supplement to a newspaper (usually part of the Sunday edition) that is printed using the gravure process. Before, I just enjoyed hearing Bing Crosby sing about it in the movie. Now it makes sense. Here is a version of the Easter Parade lyrics for your enjoyment. I think you can download Bing’s rendition from iTunes. Incredible, considering it’s from the 1940s. Enjoy!

“Easter Parade”

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,

You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.

I'll be all in clover and when they look you over,

I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade.

On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us,

And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure.

Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet,

And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter Parade.