June Recipe: Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I've decided I really like Thai food. I love spicy. This will be my last venture into Thai food for this year. I may repeat recipes, but no new Thai recipes. The girls are requesting Italian so I will be searching for some interesting Italian recipes for July. I would rather go American.

The chicken was marinated with coconut milk and honey. Glen grilled it.

Sides were: coconut noodles, spicy peanut noodles, spicy, pickled cucumbers, plum bean sprouts and spicy peanut sauce. I forgot the garnish of lime and cilantro, but no one noticed.

It was delicious with an icy cold beer.

Glen loved all of it.

I loved everything but the bean sprouts. I ate them, but they weren't my favorite. I loved the spicy, peanut noodles.

Dakota also loved all of it except the bean sprouts. He also preferred the peanut over the coconut noodles.

Alexsei would not eat hers as a wrap. She disliked the bean sprouts. She was not a fan of the cucumbers, and she preferred the coconut noodles to the peanut noodles. She is tired of Thai food.

Savana also ate her wrap deconstructed. She ate a bit of everything. She liked the cucumbers. She liked the coconut noodles better than the peanut and she wished the peanut sauce wasn't so spicy.

Alaric was not home to try the June meal so there is no feedback from him.

I pretty much followed the recipe from this site: The Triangle

June Book: the age of miracles

For June, I read the age of miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. This was one of the two books that we are reading for the library summer reading program. It is a quick read.

The premise of the story is the Earth's rotation begins to slow. The story takes place in California. The protagonist, Julia is 12 years old. She is recalling the story. Julia, an only child, is a social outcast. The book never really explains why. She loses her best friend when the family moves to Utah after the slowing begins. When they return a few weeks later, Hanna will no longer have anything to do with Julia. This is never explained either.

This book was hard to peg because I think it is adult fiction, but reads more like a Young Adult novel. The protagonist is 12 when the story takes place. It is her coming of age story against the backdrop of the earthly changes. Also, the book is very well written, but the Walker gets away with the Young Adult plot formula. She can make things happen without explaining them.

I was fascinated by the idea of the Earth's rotation slowing down and how it would affect the Earth. I don't know if the bits of science she throws out are accurate. Also, the story takes place exclusively in California. We do not even get news stories about how the rest of the United States or the world are faring.

Also, the government encourages people to stay on "clock" time to keep the economy going. Even though the days lengthen to 50+ hours, people diligently try to stay on clock time. The outcast are the "real timers". Let's see who they are. The old hippy couple that grow pot in their house and the artsy music teacher. Cliche much?

I liked the book. It was an interesting and fast read, but I did not think it was as deserving of the praise it received. Of course, I hated The Kite Runner, another highly praised novel.

May

May was an exceptionally busy month with end-of-the-school-year activities. Plus I had to finish my school year as well. Lots of grading involved there. Trying to find a day where no one had an activity and Dakota wasn't working just didn't happen. We also had to find time to plant the garden. We barely got that done in May as well. The only goal I got completed for the month was reading a book. I read it on May 31.

I chose a Young Adult book. The book was Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee. It was a very popular book a couple of years ago at the middle school where I teach. My daughter also had it and liked the book. I knew I could finish it in a day and that was all I had so those are the reasons why I picked this book.

As a person who has always struggled with weight, I could relate to Rosemary's struggles with being overweight. Rosemary's mother was 17 years old and single when she had Rosemary. She now owns a beauty salon and is well-loved by the community. Rosemary's Aunt Mary is continually on her about losing weight.

When Rosemary's "fat" pants no longer fit and when she has hit her all time high weight, she decides to   quietly lose weight. She starts with diet drinks and then works on exercising. Along the way she picks up a former popular girl, Kay-Kay as a best friend.

She also ends up getting the boy of her dreams for her boyfriend. I know this is a YA book, but I have never met a person who got their "Jake Ryan" so the fact that Rosemary ends up with her dream guy is a stretch. Real life doesn't work that way. The weight loss and the struggle are real. 

I did like that the book did not have the perfect ending. Not everything is wrapped up neatly.