April Book: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool is a Newberry Award winning book. It was chosen by my middle school for their One Book activities. I had planned on reading it in January when the school was reading the book, but like everything else, it got put off. I figured I would save it for a time when I needed to read a book quickly. That was April. Like the rest of the activities for the month, this one came down to the wire. I read the book in 2 days. I finished it on Tuesday, April 30 about 10:45 p.m.

The story takes place in 1936 in Manifest, Kansas. Abilene Tucker is sent to Manifest by her father while he goes to work for the railroad. She stays with a local "minister," Shady Howard. While at his house, she discovers a cigar box full of "treasures" and letters. After breaking the vase of a local "diviner", Miss Sadie, Abilene agrees to work off her debt for the older woman. She tells Miss Sadie about the box, and Miss Sadie proceeds to tell her stories of Manifest in 1917-18. In addition, Abilene, along with two friends, tries to solve the mystery of the "Rattler". The "Rattler" was supposedly a spy in town during World War I. Most of all, Abilene hopes that the box and Miss Sadie will be able to shed light on her father, Gideon Tucker.

I enjoyed the book, a coming of age story with a historical background. I was able to predict the majority of the book. I expected that as an adult reader of an adolescent book, but it did not lessen my enjoyment of the book.

More about the book.

April Recipe: Grilled Lamb Chops

The April of the recipe of the month got done on the last day of April. Dakota did not have to work on April 30, so that was my last chance to get my recipe of the month completed. I finally got the nerve to try lamb chops. I've never wanted to make them because around here they are difficult to find and extremely expensive. They were more per pound then the prime rib we had at Christmas! I told Glen he had to grill them carefully because I could not handle ruining expensive meat.

I marinated the lamb chops using this recipe Grilled Lamb Chops. I also made the lemon risotto from the same site. I could not find Meyer lemons so I used the lemon juice/orange juice combo. I did not use arugula. I made a Greek spinach salad instead. I used baby spinach, grape tomatoes, red onion, toasted pine nuts,  and feta cheese. The dressing was olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

I chose to try Apothic Rose with my dinner. I like both the red and white. Apothic's are blended wines. The Rose is sweet. I could definitely taste strawberry in it. It is a bit on the sweet side, but not too sweet. I thought it went well with dinner.

Glen grilled the chops to perfection. It took about 3 minutes a side. They are very small. There were 6 to a pound. The meat was tender and juicy. There was a beautiful sear as is evident in the photos.

The dinner verdict:

Glen liked everything. He thought the lemon risotto was strange, but it grew on him. He loved the lamb chops.

Me: I am not sure about the lamb chops. They reminded me of beef in texture, but they almost had a gamey taste. Grilled they were moist and delicious, but I found myself taking bites of my salad with it. I liked the risotto. The texture was perfect. It was even better the next day. I love Greek salad. I ate the leftovers the next day. I could probably eat this every day and be happy.

Dakota loved the lamb chops and the salad. He gave thumbs down to the risotto, then again, he doesn't like my mushroom risotto either.

Alexsei liked the chops. She thought the risotto was strange. She could not handle the lemon flavor. It was very lemony. She did not like the salad at all. She even used raspberry dressing instead of the Greek dressing.

Savana ate the lamb chop. She didn't love it or hate it. She ate the salad. She also was not a fan of the risotto.

Alaric ate 2 bites of lamb and would not taste the salad or the risotto. His dinner: Italian bread.

April Family Activity: Henry Doorly Zoo

So we double dipped the zoo for activities. Between Dakota's work and weekend activities, it was difficult to find a time where we could get together and do something. So on the last Sunday in April, we trekked to the zoo. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. One of the few in April 2013. The zoo was packed. Our mission was to see the baby lions and the baby pygmy hippo. The other reason we chose the zoo was because they are having a traveling dinosaur display.

We saw the lions first. They were in the outdoor display, but they were all sleeping. I did get a few photos.

Pygmy hippo. The photos are not that fantastic. I took them from above with my phone.

Finally, the dinosaur display. We learned a great deal that I didn't know. Dinosaurs have certainly changed since I first learned about them. They had models of some that were discovered in 2010.

This was Dakota's favorite. It looked like an elephant with a dragon head. Definitely like a mythical creature.

This was a small sauropod. Alexsei wanted a full size one.

 This bird-thing would be frightening if it were still alive today!

March Family Activity Part II: Lauritzen Gardens

The children had spring break on March 28-April 2, the weekend of Easter. Glen and I both took Friday, March 29 off to spend a day with the kids. It happened to be a really nice day so we decided to go to the Lauritzen Gardens and see the Lego sculpture display. One of the teachers I work with told me about it. We ended up being short one child, as Savana decided she did not want to go.

The 5 of us headed to South Omaha. There were quite a few people at the gardens. I purchased a season pass because we got an educator discount, and we want to go back when the flowers are blooming. We did walk around the gardens. The grounds are lovely, but in late March, there wasn't much growing.

The Lego Sculpture Display was very impressive. There were 27 sculptures of vegetation and animals that are native to the midwest. The display ends in May. There is still time to see it.

Dakota, Alexsei and Alaric were all impressed. I think Savana would have enjoyed it had she gone.

This was the first sculpture. It was an orchid sitting on the desk when you walk in the building.

The buffalo was the largest of the sculptures and used the most Lego bricks to create.

Notice the "feed" inside the feeder.

The gardener was pretty much life-sized.

This was a very large hummingbird.

We missed the bee the first time around. One of the volunteers told us to look at it from the view of the flower. The bee looks like it is flying in to land on the flower.

After the display, we looked at the two engines that are displayed in Kenefick Park, on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. If you have ever crossed into Omaha from Council Bluffs, IA, you can see the engines up on the bluff. It is an impressive site. The engines are monstrously huge and there is a nice history as well. 

I also got to get another task off my list of things to do. In 2012, the Omaha World Herald started a monthly Food Prowl series. They picked 12 food items and a team went to different restaurants to decide on the best. The first Food Prowl choice was the Rueben. Omaha claims that the Reuben was created here. The Crescent Moon Reuben was voted the best. One of the reasons why is because the sandwich does not fall apart. I was amazed. It did not. It lived up to the hype. I want to go back and try the smoked version. The children enjoyed the restaurant as well. Great onion rings! They also have lots of beers on tap so Glen was happy. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and could recommend beers based upon what we liked. I loved the comfortable atmosphere. We seated ourselves.

Here is the Reuben.