February Family Activity: 42

We watched this movie on a Friday night after Dakota got home from work. Alaric did not feel well and fell asleep halfway through the movie. Everyone else was completely engaged. I am always worried that since the movie is about sports that the kids will tune out, but they soon realized that the movie was about more than baseball.

Watching anything about our country's racist past is difficult. Savana, Dakota and Alexsei always get so worked up over it. Alexsei and Dakota are currently taking an American History course and they both get so mad at white people. We can only hope we continue to learn from our history.

Cast

	Chadwick Boseman	...	Jackie Robinson
	Harrison Ford	...	Branch Rickey
	Nicole Beharie	...	Rachel Robinson
	Christopher Meloni	...	Leo Durocher
	Ryan Merriman	...	Dixie Walker
	Lucas Black	...	Pee Wee Reese

It was odd seeing Harrison Ford playing an old man. I am now interested in the real Branch Rickey. I would like to know how true to his character he was portrayed in this movie. Chadwick Boseman was successful as Jackie Robinson. We all loved Nicole Beharie who portrayed Jackie's wife, Rachel Robinson.

Other than Alaric, everyone liked the movie even though it was a sports-themed movie. The uplifting end helped erase the difficulty of watching the overt racism. Overall, the family was happy with my movie pick.

Trailer

February Book: Louisa's Secret

I came across this book in a unique way. I play Words with Friends and someone randomly picked up a game with me. We chatted a bit, and he revealed that he is a travel writer and just had his first novel published. He said it was historical faction (fiction/fact mixed) which is one of my favorite genres. He is from the UK so I was intrigued. I bought the book for my Kindle reader for $2.99. I finally had a chance to read it.

The book was engaging and very easy to read. Short chapters. Not too many characters. The story is heartbreaking. You can't imagine a family going through all the hardships that they did. It starts in the early 1860s. At least there was a somewhat happy ending.

I liked to book better after I read the epilogue and realized that Chris Gough wrote this book based upon the history of his own family. The events are factual. He just padded the story and added some characters. The devastation of poverty was unthinkable back then.

February Plated Meal

For the February meal, I made a creamy mushroom pasta with caramelized onions, mushrooms and spinach. I also had cracker coated chicken breast and roasted asparagus. The chicken was seared and finished in the oven. I should have let the asparagus go just a bit longer. I have never failed on the roasted asparagus before. The chicken also needed a sauce. I should have made a creamy mushroom sauce to go with it. Live and learn. It was too dry otherwise.

I am trying to keep the meals simple with not an enormous amount of time invested. This meal was still made by me. I am working on getting Dakota to make us a meal. I have him pegged for March.

.
Everyone loved the pasta except for Alaric. Savana has requested that I make it again.

Reviews:
Glen: Liked the pasta. Always likes the asparagus. Agreed that the chicken needed a sauce.
Me: I liked it all, but also wanted a sauce for the chicken.
Dakota: Ate the chicken and the pasta. Both were fine. Never eats asparagus.
Alexsei: Loved the pasta. The asparagus wasn't done enough for her. She wanted a sauce for the chicken.
Savana: Passed on the chicken. Loved the pasta and asparagus.
Alaric: I think he tried the chicken. I left some plain pasta for him. We keep trying.

January Book: The Gold Finch by Donna Tartt

First, I really, really wanted to love this book because so many people I know absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, I did not. I loved parts of it. Some of the writing was exceptional, but I don't think the writing and the story went together. There were 2 different things going on in this long, long novel.

This book felt like Great Expectations" the modern, New York version. Hobie reminded me of Hagrid in the Harry Potter books. These were two of the problems for me.

I was debating on 2 or 3 stars for the book. I only gave it 3 because Donna Tartt writes really well.

Maybe it is because I don't have as much time to read any more, that I am more critical of books. But if I invest the amount of time that I did in this book, I expect to at least enjoy that time. Not to take anything away from Donna Tartt. She is a good author and wrote some amazing prose. The problem was, there was way too much of it in this long, long novel. This should have been edited down to 400 pages. I can't believe this book was released as is.

I was vested in the character of Theo immediately. Some of the best writing in this book were the isolation and sadness Theo felt after he lost his mother. Theo grew up a very flawed adult and yet, he was still sympathetic even with his drug addiction and shady dealings. I wanted him to have a happy ending.

One of the main problems of this book for me were all the unnecessary characters thrown in. I didn't care about their back stories, and I had to try and remember who they were. When Boris and and Theo went to Amsterdam, I was very frustrated by all the new named characters and their back stories. I really didn't care. It felt very forced.

The whole episode with Horst and the cast of characters seemed forced just so Tartt could discuss art and her impressions of famous works of art. It all felt forced and unreal.

The continual description of drug abuse and its after effects got tedious to read about.

Then the contrived, neatly wrapped up package after the debacle in Amsterdam did me in. I was waiting for an end to the book and got a 100 more pages of philosophy. Good and bad; fate and destiny, God and death, right and wrong, art and beauty, and the most convoluted: what is the meaning of life!, ugh! I was screaming in my head, "Just stop writing!" None of that had anything to do with the story. It was way over the top.

I would not recommend this book unless you enjoy plodding through prose.

The only plot line I enjoyed was Popper the Maltese. I wonder if Donna Tartt has a Maltese because she wrote his character so well.

1 like ·  flag

January Family Outing

The Joslyn Art Museum received a grant which has enabled them to allow patrons into the museum without charging an entrance fee. Prior to this, the only free entrance time were on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12:00. I decided this would be a bargain family outing, and I hadn't been to the museum for quite awhile. Unfortunately the day we went it was freezing outside. That should be expected in Nebraska in January but prior to this day, we had been having unseasonably warm weather.

We went on Monday, January 6. We should have known it would be freezing because we didn't have to go back to school that day due to the cold weather.

We went through the whole museum. I have seen the permanent collection several times. I always enjoy the temporary collection. Several artists in different mediums were on display. I think the children enjoyed that part of the museum the most. Although Dakota and I love the Renaissance works.

The Joslyn also has a fabulous gallery with Native American and Western United States works.

My favorites were two landscape paintings by Keith Jacobshagen. Having lived in the Midwest my entire life, I loved seeing the dominant sky with the amazingly detailed landscape beneath it. Both the sky and landscape appeared to go on forever. The details of the small landscape were amazing. I wanted to get really close to the paintings so I could see the detail, but the guards at the museum frown upon that.

This is one of the landscapes that is currently on display at the Joslyn. I would love to get prints to hang in my house. "Spreading Evening Sky with Crows" is an amazing work.

Dakota's favorite work was "Fallen Angels" by Francois B.-M.-E. Cibot. I also love this one. I bought a postcard with the image on it the first time I saw it at the museum.

Savana and Alexsei both liked the contemporary works the best. They both loved the upside down trees. I could not find an image to share.

Glen never game much feedback and Alaric was just happy when it was time to leave.

January Plated Dinner

This year, I am not focusing on necessarily all new recipes. I would like to just practice plating. I am also hoping I can get my children involved and have them take turns planning, shopping and cooking a meal for the whole family. I don't want them leaving my house only knowing how to make frozen pizza, Kraft macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodles. Somewhere along the way, they need to be able to cook something.

Thinking back, I started cooking at the age of 15. My mom's food was very bland so I started making spaghetti, chili, and some other foods just to add seasoning. I never did meat and potato meals. I learned that much later.

The January meal was a simple boneless pork chop with a red wine sauce, pureed peas, and garlic mashed potatoes. Pureed peas are a bit off-putting because they are such a bright green. However, they tasted delicious.

Review:

Glen loved the pork chop and the sauce and, of course, the garlic mashed potatoes. He ate the puree but didn't love it.

I loved everything. The pork chop was tender. The garlic mashed potatoes were amazing. I love lumpy mashed potatoes with skin still on the potatoes. There is actually texture to the dish. I loved the pureed peas. Peas, cream, garlic and parmesan cheese. All good.

Dakota passed on the peas. He ate the regular whipped potatoes. He loved the pork chop. He is a meat lover!

Alexsei ate the pork chop. She liked the sauce. The potatoes were her favorite and she did like the peas.

Savana is trying to go vegetarian. She passed on the pork chop. She loved the potatoes and the peas.

Alaric ate the pork chop without sauce. He likes pork so he actually liked the chop. He ate the whipped potatoes and passed on the peas. I don't think he eats anything green.

December Book

I read the latest Stephanie Plum book. Mercifully, I can read the book in 3 hours. This latest was called "Takedown Twenty". As I have said before, it is time Evanovich ends the series. Her faithful fans and readers are getting tired of the formula. Stephanie can't alway be in life and death situations. She can't continue to go back and forth between Ranger and Morelli.

If Ranger says, "Babe" one more time, I will start tearing pages out of the book! It was cute at first. Then it got boring. Now it annoys the holy crap out of me.

The charm is wearing off. The interest is waning. I keep swearing I will stop reading and yet, I keep coming back. It is only because they are quick reads. I don't even know if I care any more who she chooses or if Stephanie ever becomes a real bounty hunter. Or how many more cars will get destroyed while in her possession.

It is time to let this one go.

I went  back and looked at my Good Reads review of this book. I didn't give it a review, but I gave it 4 stars. I don't know why I gave it 4 stars. Maybe I was just that happy that I actually finished one more book before the year ended.

October Meal

I made my October meal on October 30. I squeaked it in. We did have a guest for dinner that night. Alexsei's best friend Rachel Schollaert happened to be at the house on that night so she stayed for dinner night. Dakota was not home.

I went with a total autumn theme. I had roasted pork with a sauce made with wine and apple cider. I served it with creamy polenta and roasted vegetables with apples. I made carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onion.

The loin was very tender. The vegetables were delicious. I could have doubled the amount I made. The potatoes and carrots were especially popular.

Glen liked everything. The creamy polenta was not his favorite, but he ate it anyway.

Me: I liked all of it including the polenta.

Alexsei: She thought the pork was fine. She was not a fan of the sauce. It was sweet. She also likes polenta the way I usually make it. She ate some, but did not love it. She did love the vegetables.

Rachel: Rachel passed on the pork. She loved the vegetables and ate some polenta.

Savana: Savana also passed on the pork. She loved the vegetables and wanted more potatoes. She also was lukewarm on the polenta.

Alaric: I believe he ate the pork.

October Book

So the blog fell by the way side for the months of October-December. I did read a book in October. The book was "One Word that Will Change Your Life" by Dan Britton, Jimmy Page and Jon Gordon. We were given this book to read by our Principal. I read it on a drive through Iowa. It only took a couple hours.

The premise of the book is to select a word that will guide your year. The one thing the authors challenged is that you do not think about your word. The word should come to you. Of course, after I finished reading the book, I thought about words. As we were driving along, we passed a cell tower. All of a sudden, the word "Escape" jumped into my head. So that is my word.

I have been exploring the many meanings of escape. One of the strongest themes for me is that I am ready to find a new teaching position. That is the top escape for me. I am also trying to escape things that I feel waste my time. I am trying to cut down on my internet life and spend more time with my "real life" people. I also want to escape my unhealthy habits. These seem to all be worthy goals for the word escape.

This was a very easy read. It is very religious-based. I was surprised our principal has us read it based upon the religious angle. I am eager to see my progress come October 2014.

I would recommend this for anyone interested in Self Help books. It is a quick and simple read. The idea is very simple. It is not a time consuming, life change. I just need to continue my focus on my One Word.

One Word that Will Change Your Life

September Book: Joyland by Stephen King

Once August hits, the New Years Resolution gets harder and harder to try and complete. I failed to complete any in August. With school starting for me and the kids, band for Dakota and football for Alaric, it was really hard to get everyone together. The only goal met for September was a book. Today is the last day of the month so I figured I better get my blog entry to complete. I am hoping to at least get books read through the rest of the year.

Joyland was a perfect end of summer book. I was delighted to find a Stephen King novel that was fewer than 300 pages long. Printed under the Hard Case Logo and having a cover like a pulp fiction novel, I wasn't sure what to expect. The story is about 20 year old Devin Jones, a college student whose girlfriend dumps him. He takes a job working at an amusement park, Joyland, in North Carolina. That's when the story begins.

The amusement park has a cast of 1000 interesting characters including other summer workers who become lifelong friends with Devin. King introduces carny lingo, and a great behind the scenes of how an amusement park runs.

Once again King proves he is a master of characterization. A few pages into the book and the reader "knows" Devin. And like his other book, his characters are multi-dimensional. There is no clear black and white. The book gets interesting when Devin looks into a murder that happened years ago in the parks' haunted house ride. 

A bit of a ghost story, a bit of a coming of age story. No real horror. Anyone can read this book. I couldn't put it down.

July Book: Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

I wavered between a 3 and a 4 on this book. I really wish I could do the 3.5 stars. I would give some sections of the book a 2 and some a 5 so it balanced out for me. The premise is that Ursula Todd keeps dying and gets to live her life over again. It wasn't really reincarnation since she always came back as herself. She also had deja vu about her previous lives so she was able to make different decisions and thus change the outcome of her life. 

The story is set in England. Ursula is born in 1910 over and over again. I thought the book started out very gimmicky. I got very irritated with the baby deaths and then the child deaths. Once the book focused on the adult Ursula it was a fantastic read. Both World Wars are covered in this novel. World War II is more captivating because it takes place during Ursula's adult lifetime.

Not only did Ursula's life change in each of her "lives", but so did the lives of those around her including family members, lovers and friends. The detail of the bombings in London were difficult to read because they were so realistic. The horror of war was brought to the forefront.

Spoilers: The section of her life where she marries a German could have been tossed. The section where she shoots Hitler was a complete waste of time and was sadly used as the teaser for the book. So happy that was a very short, unimportant part of Ursula's life.

It also ends as it began. That was rather a simplistic way to end this novel.

I also got confused by who some of the characters were. My favorite parts were when Ursula interacted with her family. The characters were the most developed.

Overall I would recommend the book.

Shakespeare on the Green

   This was the 27th year for Shakespeare on the Green. The company performs 2 plays every summer, and they are free to the public. I have wanted to go for a long time and am happy we finally did. The evening begins at 6:00 when different activities and entertainment are offered to the crowd. You are also able to pack food and drink. Some people sit in lawn chairs and some just throw a blanket on the ground and sit on the grass. Entertainment includes a juggler, singers and 2 minute Shakespeare where a group of actors perform a play in 2 mintues. The crowd calls out a play from the list in the program.

   The outing for July (I will call it June if we end up doing something else this month) was to go to Shakespeare on the Green. We ended up going over 2 nights. Dakota and I went on July 3. The play was Twelfth Night. I had read the review and decided I really wanted to see this. The director chose to go with modern costumes and since music is an important part of this play, the director added many modern songs. They ranged from "When the Lights go down in the City" to "Call Me Maybe". Sometimes the lyrics were changed by adding Shakespearean words to the songs. 

  I was pleased that I understood a great deal of the language even though I haven't taught Shakespeare for many years. I was able to follow the plot with little problem. Dakota was also able to follow the action. We both loved the experience. The crowd for July 3 was estimated to be 1500. 

  On July 5, Glen, Alaric, Savana, Alexsei, Rachel, Mikayla (these 2 are Alexsei's friends), and I trekked to Shakespeare. We brought a picnic lunch. The weather was remarkably nice for a July evening. The humidity was low. We also found my brother Jeff and his wife Ana. We sat by them. They left at the intermission. The crowd was estimated at 4000. It was packed. We ended up sitting in almost the same spot that Dakota and I did.

  Alaric brought electronics along, but never used them during the play. At intermission, I explained to Alaric and Savana who the characters were and what was going on. That helped them with the the second half of the production. I was shocked that Alaric actually enjoyed it. I reminded me of a Baz Luhrman production. The music worked well with the action and the actors were having fun with the production. 

  Overall, everyone enjoyed the production. I don't know that the kids would like a traditional Shakespeare production, Dakota might, but at least they got to experience Shakespeare live.

2 Minute Shakespeare

Brass Monkey!

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.

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!