I know I promised a book giveaway this week, but the books still aren't here, so I don't want to give away something I don't yet have! Ack! But as soon as they arrive, I will let you know!
In case you don't know, I'll be giving away 2 copies of Wildflower Hill, a fabulous book that I just read. My mom is on vacation right now, and I loaned it to her. She keeps calling me to tell me where she is in the book! She loves it too!
Well, I must be doing something right with my blog these days, even though I feel like I haven't been blogging up to my standards! But I'm starting to get books from publishers. That's right. Free books! A dream come true! I love it! And I really loved the one I just finished--in three sittings!
Sarah woke me up on Wednesday night at 2:48 a.m. with a bad dream. At 3:16 a.m., the Handsome Carpenter made his way out of the house, and there I was, wide awake. So I decided to get Wildflower Hill off the table and check it out. Well, 223 pages later--at 5:30 a.m.!--I decided I'd best try and get a bit of sleep before the kids woke up, and I unwillingly put it down.
Later that afternoon, I did something I only do when I have a really good book that I want to keep reading! I turned on a DVD for the kids in the living room and ran back to my room to read some more! That got me up to page 372. And last night? No TV for me! I sunk into the couch to finish the book. And today I kind of wish I hadn't read it so fast. It was nice to be off in another world after weeks of company, vacation, and getting ready for the kids to start back to school.
Wildflower Hill is an old farm in Tasmania that a woman in her 30's, Emma, inherits from her grandmother, Beattie. But the twist is that Emma doesn't get it until she retires from ballet, something which has just happened after an accident leaving her unable to dance any longer. But Emma has a life in London that is up in the air, and eventually she leaves London for Australia for a visit with her parents before heading to Tasmania. And things get interesting there as she starts going through her grandmother's belongings. Letters, photos, a cross under a tree . . . Emma feels a burning need to unravel all these mysteries while still trying to sort out her own life.
I loved how this book criss-crossed back and forth between Emma and Beattie's lives. And let me tell you, Beattie did not have an easy life, but she was one amazing woman. An early feminist and breaker of rules, I loved her! I also loved the descriptions of the land and farm and the travel involved. Any book that has travelling in it will usually get me! (In fact, when we were on vacation, I bought a book called The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea.)
And me, a sucker for a good love story, I was not let down by the love stories--note I said "stories" with an "s"--in this book either! And yes, good ol' motherhood was wrapped in each of the story lines. Sometimes touching, sometimes downright aching.
I'm sure I'll be sharing this book with some of you who live nearby! It is definitely worth reading!
It's so nice to feel caught up on all my magazines! I love it when I can blog about an issue that is still on the newsstands!!!
The June 2011 issue of Sunset magazine has some fun stuff going on in it! First of all is the description of a new book called Walkabout Northern California: Hiking Inn to Inn. The book takes the European practice of "trekking to food and rest without having to lug your load" and infuses it with a Northern California environment. There are treks in Mendocino and in the Sierras. Maybe it appeals to my memories of traipsing through Europe with a big ol' backpack on my back, but I think that hiking and then having someone prepare my dinner and let me sleep in a nice comfy bed sounds like a cool way to spend a few days! Maybe when the kids get older . . .
And speaking of kids, I wish that I had taken this magazine with me when we were in Santa Cruz. There is a new ice cream place called The Penny Ice Creamery where they make their own ice cream on site And the flavors? How does strawberry pink peppercorn or cherry balsamic sound? To me, the cherry balsamic sounds amazing! And if the kids don't like it, we can always get them their favorites--strawberry and rainbow sherbet--somewhere else!
And for another unusual taste? How about Crispy grilled kale with creamy sesame dressing? Kale on the barbeque. Can you believe it? We will definitely be scouting out the dinosaur kale at the farmer's market! And sesame seeds and tahini always rock my world, so I think this sounds amazing! And there is also a recipe for grilled romaine with guacamole dressing? Doesn't that sound interesting too?
And for those of you who, like me, loved reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, you should check out Sunset's blog, One Block Diet. They took "locavore" to a totally different level! And, of course, they are Sunset, so they have access to an amazing garden space and a number of experts, but still, this blog and the teams of people who are working on this are pretty amazing and very down-to-earth! I love it. And with the additions of our chickens, we just took it to another level too! Yahoo!
The May 2011 issue of Parenting magazine has an article in it titled "The Secrets of Happy Families." Now, there was a time when I would have eaten up an article like this . . . when I was a sleep-deprived first-time mother, wondering if I was doing things right or wrong, and just plain worrying about everything. Articles like this always felt like they held the key, and if I read them, I would learn how to do things better.
Well, six years into this mothering journey, articles like this don't resonate with me as well. (And I actually feel guilty writing that statement since I am also a writer!) But I just am a lot more suspicious of articles that propose to have the answers for all of us. And even though breaking things into "8 Easy Steps to . . ." or "10 New Ways to. . . " is a writer's gold mine, it makes me leery these days--especially when it comes to mothering. Many of us already have the Bad Mother Police monitoring our moves. We don't need more material making us question ourselves.
But it really wasn't the article about the secrets of happy families that got me thinking. It was the sidebar with the question How Do I Get the Most Out of Motherhood? (Already feeling nervous.) The answers, of course, are in Parenting's new book called The Happiest Mom. (Oh, yeah!) And naturally, there are 5 easy steps. (OK, "easy" was my word, but it seems implied, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. Read the first step.)
So, none of these sound particularly "easy" to me. Maybe it's just me. But if I "aim low," I'm still going to wonder if I am aiming low enough! Maybe I'm still aiming too high. Maybe I'm going too fast. Or maybe, in my case, too slow. And maybe it's because I still have Race to Nowhere on my brain and am really questioning our definitions of success these days, whether it's motherhood, academics, or something else. Do I really need to aspire to be the happiest mom? What about a mom who is happy? Or even relatively happy? Or a mom who is in a perhaps slightly cranky?
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
So many of you know that I love to cook! My husband is the envy of his job site when he pulls out his lunch each day as guys are eating McDonald's and Burger King. "What's that?" "Where'd you get that?" "Really? Your wife made that?" "Can I have a taste?" ("Hell no!") (As I was writing those, I had that "dumb guy" voice going in my head! Try reading it again and changing the voice up. Make yourself laugh. You can see how my day is going!)
Anyway, the last few months, though, cooking has been a serious chore! And I don't really know why. But I do take solace in the fact that a good friend of mine who loves to cook has been going through the same thing. And even my mom, who makes far less food than I do, has been complaining about having to cook recently. Is it just that winter has finally ended, and we are ready to cook something less winter-y? I don't know. But I do know that I just got a fabulous new cook book from the author of the blog 101 Cookbooks, Heidi Swanson. The new cook book is called super natural every day. She is a vegetarian who makes some pretty amazing things. She uses ingredients I have never even heard of which sometimes can be daunting. But overall, she makes healthy meals that anyone can make. Plus she is great about listing substitutes as well. All in all, she is amazing.
So last week sometime I made a vow to myself to actually cook dinner every night for a week. And I am proud to say, I did it. But we needed something with no meat for Good Friday, so I pulled out my new cook book and found something that sounded amazing . . . Pomegranate Glazed Eggplant with Tempeh. Woo hoo! Right up my wannabe-vegetarian aisle! Basically it is roasted Asian eggplant and sweet potato chunks with tempeh cubes. A simple marinade of pomegranate molasses (or just plain pomegranate juicein this case), some oil and some spices, and it was practically done. Sprinkle with some feta and cilantro, and woo hoo! I made brown rice and sauteed some collard greens in garlic, and it was a fabulous meal! Everyone liked it. J.R. said I could definitely make it again, and lo and behold, my kids liked the Asian eggplant, something I adore and never cook. Never until now, that is!
Let this entice you . . .
