Borders Books, Half Price Books & Lake Harriet,

After a hurried morning of packing, errands, and wrapping up loose ends, we headed up to the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area. Our family has a thing for book stores. So, these spots were high on our list. Ryan had a gift card for Borders/ Walden Books that he wanted to spend. And of course, Half Price is an especial favorite.






Our evening was spent at the Lake Harriet band shell listening to instrumental and vocal jazz. The evening was warm, but not muggy; people were swimming, having picnics, eating ice cream and swing dancing. A great way to spend a summer night.

What to do in the Twin Cities?

With 5 of our children gone, we decided to take the 2 youngest kids for a short mini-vacation in the Twin Cities. We found a Country Inn hotel with not only continental breakfast and a pool, but also a slide. To help our planning, we googled "Things to do in Minneapolis" and found a number of helpful sites.

We set aside 3 days and 3 nights and decided to fill about half the time with activities. The rest of our time we wanted to spend just hanging out at the pool or in front of the TV. (We don't have cable at home, so those multitudinous channels were quite a treat.

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

If you're looking for a light, encouraging book as a good summer read, have I got the book for you! The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, by Terry Ryan. Ms. Ryan, the sixth of Evelyn Ryan's ten children wrote this biography about her amazing mother who writes jingles, poems, and 25-words-or-less compositions. She wins hundreds of contests that save her family from destitution.

In the 1950's and 1960's, "contesting" drew a surprisingly large number of housewives who used the small to large prizes to supplement their family incomes. Beginning with the roadside Burma Shave rhymes, Evelyn's contesting career required her word skills, wit, and originality. "Luck" she always said, "has nothing to do with it." (p. 22) She developed an elaborate system for filing food labels, collecting entry forms, and varying the names on the forms (variation on her name, her children's names, even fictitious names.)

A magnificent competitor, Evelyn won cash rewards, shopping sprees, automobiles, trips to Europe, gold watches, TVs, radios, a fridge AND a freezer, a washer-dryer, and a host of smaller prizes which she squirreled away in her "Closet" for that proverbial rainy day. Who knows? Someone just might need one of the 3 pairs of Arthur Murray dance shoes.

The poignancy of the story is not in the many wins by this clever, indefatigable woman, but that her humor and joy are sustained in a difficult situation. We can all agree that the task of raising 10 children on a single income is daunting. Evelyn's husband, Kelly, was the source of the growing tension in the family. Kelly Ryan's "problem drinking," dark angry moods, and resentment over his wife's success often brought the family to the edge of eviction and poverty. As the years progressed, less of his paycheck came home and his violence increased.

Suze Orman writes her forward to the book:

"How could such a woman show her children that live is not cruel, but bountiful? How could she possibly keep them, all 10 of them, afloat, much less teach them abundance, grace, and courage in the face of grinding poverty and adversity? ... Richness of spirit can dwell in the most desolate places and it pervades Evelyn's household like a healing balm." (p. 11, 13)

One reviewer of the book became an instant fan of Evelyn's and called her the "goddess in a girdle."

Not only do I highly recommend the book, but the movie by the same name is also a "winner." Starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, this film is an accurate representation of the book.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Cookbook

When I married my husband, I married into an extensive library. Among his books, was the cookbook, The More with Less Cookbook, written by Doris Janzen Longacre. Mrs. Longacre is a Mennonite with a degree in home economics who has served in this capacity in Vietnam and Indonesia. She writes in her preface:

At it's best, [the book] tells us that Mennonites -- a people who care about the hungry -- are on a search. We are looking for ways to live more simply and joyfully, ways that grow out of our tradition but take their shape from living faith and the demands of our hungry world.

As a young bride I read the first section of the book on hunger, overspending, overeating, and overcomplicating our lives. Before any recipes are given, the author shares her wisdom regarding nutrition and healthy diets. She throws in nutritional charts along with pithy sayings from Mennonite grandmothers.

My favorite part of the book, naturally, is the more than 260 pages of recipes. I learned how to bake bread, cook lentils, make a white sauce, and prepare our favorite freezer jam. I pull it out for the quiche recipe, waffles using cottage cheese and a rich oatmeal cake recipe used often for birthdays. Many pages are tagged with Post-It notes, the cover and table of contents are missing, and food spills have caused a couple of pages to stick together. One writer commented that this is her "scratch and sniff" cookbook for all of its use and subsequent spills.

In my mind, this is the kind of no-nonsense cookbook that all moms should have. I also have some of those let's-doctor-up-a-Kraft-food-product cooking magazines, but they don't teach you how to cook like this book does.

Here's my one of my favorite recipes from this book:

OATMEAL CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine and let stand 20 minutes:
1 cup quick oatmeal
1 1/4 cup boiling water

Cream toghether until fluffy:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Add oatmeal mixture. Beat well.

Sift together:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 t. soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon

Add to creamed mixture and beat well. Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13" cake pan. Bake 35 minutes or until tests done.

Coconut Topping:
Combine:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup cream or mile
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup coconut
Spread on hot cake and broil 2 - 4 minutes until brown and bubbly. Watch very closely.

Bon Appetit!

All Purpose Quiche

Not all of my family loves quiche, but they will all eat it without complaining. (which is pretty good considering my family of 9!) Quiche works for me because 1) I can add a variety of ingredients (veggies, meats, etc) and 2) I take a short cut by using pre-made pie crusts.

My original, before variations, recipe comes from the More-with-Less cookbook. Here's my recipe:

All Purpose Quiche
1 9" pie crust (I use Pillsbury's pre-made crusts)
3 eggs
2 cups milk/dairy products (at least half of it should be milk)
1 cup sauteed veggies/ meat/ etc.
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Line the pie plate with the crust. Fold under the edges. Cover the bottom of the crust with the extra ingredients. Top with shredded cheese. Mix eggs, dairy products and seasonings; pour into crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. The quiche will be done when the crust is brown and a knife comes out of the center clean. Let it cool 5 minutes before serving.

This last week I made a quiche with Swiss chard, onions, garlic, and sharp cheddar cheese. I also made one with tomatoes, broccoli, bacon and Swiss cheese. We have a lot of vegetables ready in the garden, so I anticipate more quiches this summer.

Book Report: The Yellow Mask

"Masterpieces of menace, mystery and terror by the world's greatest writer of romantic suspense."


"Here is the essence of gothic romance, menace and suspense by the master of the macabre -- Wilkie Collins."

Comments taken from the jacket of The Yellow Mask, these are pretty big promises for a collection of 3 short stories by the Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins, a writer who was a friend of Charles Dickens. In our day of CGI and special effects we may be too jaded to be terrified by this "chilling collection of sinister tales." In his day, however, Collins was a writer you didn't want to read alone in a big, dark, lonely house on a stormy night.

"The Yellow Mask" is a story of a sculptor, a hussy, a naive seamstress, a nobleman and a well-intentioned priest in 16th century Italy. The hussy is treacherous; the seamstress is "good and virtuous;" the sculptor is changeable and irresolute. At the quintessential masked ball a spectre of the dead wife appears. Hence, the mystery and suspense.

"Miss Bertha and the Yankee" reads as statements in a trial in the early 1800's. Opening for the defense is Miss Bertha Laroche of Nettlegrove Hall. The trial reveals the story of a pretty, rich, single woman and two handsome men -- an English captain and an American traveler. Both men love her and their schemes bring out the best and the worst of their characters.

"A Plot in Private Life" is a mystery told from the perspective of a man in service to a wealthy widow who marries a "hare-brained, headlong, penniless young gentleman of variable temper." This brief story of jealousy and infidelity involves a detective, a witchy woman from the tropics and a trek over the Scottish highlands. Does the dried blood on the nightgown point to foul play or misunderstanding?

I was introduced to Wilkie Collins in a college class on Victorian novels. He's written a number of novels, of which The Moonstone and The Woman in White are my favorites. His books are well-crafted and peopled with many interesting characters. Like all mysteries, the twists, turns and resolutions are carefully manipulated. That's why it's fiction!

I don't know if you can find this particular book of short stories. I picked it up at a used book store.

Kitty Kampaign

(Please forgive using a "K" in place of a "C." I couldn't help myself.)

One evening while at the grocery store we called home to see if the kids needed anything. One of them said, "No, only a kitty. But we've got that covered."

We came home to their strategic campaign for another cat. On the windows, on the bathroom mirrors, taped to our night stands, put on the railing for the stairs were pictures and posters advertising and pleading for another cat.

Some examples:






PS. Contrary to what one of the posters implies, I had nothing to do with these posters.