Grab Bag Friday: Linda Urban's Bada-Bings

This week, I came across a recipe for some deeelicious chocolate cookies with a zing. In Linda Urban's smart and funny middle-grade novel, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, 10 year old Zoe's dad has a penchant for mail-order Living Room University courses. One of his courses is in cookie making.

So it may come as no surprise that on Ms. Urban's website, you can find a recipe for Bada-Bings...fudgy, chocolate cookies with dried cherries (or cranberries) to give just the perfect balance of sweet with a tang. Yum!

Kevin and I have been loving these cookies. And they're so rich, that I'm actually perfectly satisfied after one or two. Which is unheard of. Gingersnaps, for instance...I could easily eat the whole pan in one sitting. :)

(We halved the recipe and it still made two cookie sheets full.)

I suggest picking up A Crooked Kind of Perfect, whipping up a batch of Bada-Bings, and having yourself a *lovely* weekend!

As for the book, here's the jacket-flap sum-up:

Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall.

But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn't the same as mastering Beethoven on the piano. And the organ isn't the only part of Zoe's life that's off-kilter, what with Mom constantly at work, Dad afraid to leave the house, and that odd boy, Wheeler Diggs, following her home from school every day.

Yet when Zoe enters the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition, she finds that life is full of surprises—and that perfection may be even better when it's just a little off center.

Grab Bag Friday: The Six O'Clock Scramble

I've always said that if I won the lottery, the one thing I might splurge on would be a private chef. I can't stand to plan meals. I'm not a great cook (though I can *bake* like nobody's business!) and Kevin and I only have a few standard meals:

• Burritos
• Tacos
• Chicken Soba Noodles
• Soup
  
• And our tried and true fallback--popcorn and smoothies.

Coming up with a unique meal plan for the week and figuring out what ingredients we would need is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

So recently, we've been trying out The Six O'Clock Scramble. It's an online program that plans out your meals for the week and spits out a grocery list to match. We tested a couple similar programs first, but settled on The Scramble because the meals were both tastier and healthier.

Here's the deal:

You pay $1 a week. You have to pay upfront for a year, but if you don't like it within 30 days you can get your money back.

You can choose how many meals you need for a week, and this takes a little experimenting. We've found that for 2 of us, taking leftovers into account, 3 or 4 meals gets us through a whole week.

You can swap out meals you don't like. Kevin hates fish, so anytime there's a seafood meal, we choose "Custom Menu" and search through the database to pick something else.

So far so good. I love not having to think about what I'm going to make for dinner tonight. The grocery list isn't perfect (it may list things twice if you need it in 2 recipies, so you just have to be vigilant), but it still saves a ton of time. We've had a couple meals we weren't crazy about, but overwhelmingly, they've been delicious. And they've added a *huge* amount of variety to our diet.

Here are just a few of the hits we've had in the last month:

• Southwestern Cobb Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing
• Barbeque Meatloaf
• Polenta Mozzarella Melt with Roasted Red Peppers
• Peanut Beef Skewers
• Fried Rice with Tofu and Snap Peas
• Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad with Salami)

I can't believe I actually made these things. And seriously. They were easy.

So I'd say The Scramble is worth a shot. I'm certainly enjoying dinnertime a whole lot more. :)

Grab Bag Friday: Compost Update, Sustainable Household Goods

It's the last day of Earth Week and our town is abuzz with free bike tune ups, cell phone recycling drives, and even a transportation fair. In celebration, I thought I'd give you a compost update and a review of how our various sustainable experiments worked out over the last year.

The Compost Update: All I have to say is, we're ready to go. As some of you know, last year we got a Sun-Mar 200 Home Composter and ended up with zero results at the end of the summer (apparently because our composter wasn't full enough?) Well, we've been adding stuff all winter, and let me tell you, it's full enough. If we don't have compost by June, we're out of excuses, and it was a failed experiment. I, of course, remain hopeful...

The Sustainable Goods Results: Here's where I'll rate the success of our various small household changes and how well we've stuck to them over the year. Click on the titles to review last year's posts:

The Lightbulb Change
We haven't replaced every single lightbulb yet (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), but we love our CFLs. They start out a little dim when you turn on the light, but within a minute or so, they're up to speed. I haven't had to change a single one. They're awesome.


The Yogurt Change
I've been really good about this one. If you remember, the change was to bring a regular spoon to work instead of using a plastic one for my yogurt. I eat yogurt at work at least 3 or 4 days a week, so I estimate that I've saved somewhere between 140-180 plastic spoons from the landfill just since June 2007!


The Sponge Change
These biodegradable pop-up sponges were definitely my favorite change of the year. Because they're so fun to expand! My estimate: we sent 45 fewer sponges to the landfill since June. As I mentioned last year, they don't have the scraping/scrubbing action of the heavy-duty store bought sponges, but between these and a scrub brush, I haven't come across a single thing I couldn't clean.


The Leftover Change
We haven't been the best at this one. We've definitely reduced the quantity of plastic bags and saran wrap that we use, but we haven't been able to totally shake the habit. We do, however, have a ridiculous number of saved yogurt and other containers spilling out of our cupboards, just waiting to be used. Hm.


The Napkin Change
I'd say we've been pretty good about moving to cloth napkins. We use them most of the time. But after a year, I'm not 100% sure about this one. What do you think is worse--the number of paper napkins that get thrown away, or the load of laundry that you do with all the cloth napkins? The cloth napkins seem like the way to go, but then when I'm loading them into the washer, I'm not so sure. Any thoughts?

Well, that's where we stand. Over the next few weeks, I'll try to remember to post some other successes, failures, and discoveries we've made on the sustainable goods front (for instance, our disastrous experiment with earth-friendly dishwasher detergent).

If you've tried any sustainable solutions that are working in your home, please share!

Grab Bag Friday: Another Secretary Gag

Back in September, I confessed my love for a certain goofy television series and mentioned a Woody Allen bit that I couldn't find on YouTube. Well guess what I found? I *love* this woman's reactions to his dictation. Ah, high comedy.



(If you're reading from Facebook, here's the link)

Grab Bag Friday: KidVid Has a Winner!

All good things must come to an end. And so, sadly, does Zooglobble's KidVid Tournament 2008. In an exciting final matchup, Mr. Richard's paparazzi video "Cheese" took on the quirky animation of They Might Be Giants' "Seven Days of the Week (Never Go To Work)."

If you go to the final matchup page, you can view both videos, and see the gazillion voters who ushered Mr. Richard into victory by a landslide. Seriously, it wasn't even close.

Since I was rooting for the losing side, I'm going to post "Seven Days of the Week" (from their new album Here Come the 1-2-3s) as a consolation post of sorts. Of course, these days we're supposed to believe that we're *all* winners, right?

Grab Bag Friday: Climate Counts

"How You Shop & Invest Changes the World"

I recently went to a lecture by the "CE-Yo" of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt, Gary Hirshberg. At the end of the evening, as we gathered our hats and mittens to leave the auditorium, my friend Amy grinned and said, "I can feel a blog post in the making." Hehe. A couple, probably.

Beginning with Climate Counts. Mr. Hirshberg talked a bit about a new initiative that rates companies according to their commitment to reducing their impact on the environment. According to their website, Climate Counts uses a 0-100 point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have:

• MEASURED their climate "footprint"
• REDUCED their impact on global warming
• SUPPORTED (or suggest intent to block) progressive climate legislation
• Publicly DISCLOSED their climate actions clearly and comprehensively

You could browse the results for hours, so I'll skip straight to what I found to be the most interesting one. At one point, Mr. Hirshberg addressed the mostly college-aged audience and asked:

"What is the coolest company that exists today?"

After one eager-to-please voice offered "Stonyfield Farm?" the rest of the audience agreed that there was only one true answer: Apple.

Now check this out: Out of a possible 100 points (100 being "Striding" and 0 being "Stuck"), what do you think Apple's Climate Counts score is?

Two.

Really. You can see the entire report here (.pdf).

To give you some context, Sony scored 51, Hewlit Packard scored 59, and IBM scored 70. Apple scored 2.

Now, Apple has supposedly begun a review of the environmental impact of its products and processes and is due to release that data sometime this year. And that's a start. But a little consumer pressure couldn't hurt. At Climate Counts, you can go to any company's scorecard page and click a link to send an email to the CEO of that company to let them know that their environmental practices matter to you.

Here's the link to Apple's scorecard page. I sent them an email. I plan to browse around and send emails to other companies I shop at. I hope you will too.

Here's a printable pocket guide (.pdf) with a quick view of all the Climate Counts scores.

Here's a little pep talk from the Climate Counts homepage:

When you buy from companies taking responsibility for climate change, you're sending a message that climate change matters to you.

Not all companies share that sense of responsibility. But if they know you're paying attention to what they're doing (or not doing), they'll take action.

As a consumer, you have real power.

USE IT.

Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: The Court Jester

(Fair Warning: Hyperbole will follow.) I was browsing over at Educating Alice, and she posted this clip from the 1955 Danny Kaye movie, The Court Jester. My family and I used to laugh ourselves to tears watching this movie. And I still hold that it is one of the most hysterical comedies of all time. And that Danny Kaye is perhaps the most hilarious comic of all time. That's right. Of all time. :)

Now, some of you who know me may argue that I have a somewhat, oh shall we say, specific sense of humor, but that's a discussion for another day...

Here's my family's beloved "Brew that is True" scene and some fun trivia about The Court Jester from IMDB:

• Unimpressed with him in tights, producers of the film made Danny Kaye wear 'leg falsies' to improve the shape of his legs. This adds a touch of irony when Hubert Hawkins offers the princess all of him, including his legs and calves.
  
  
• Danny Kaye's daughter, Dena Kaye, said for the rest of his life, when people recognized Danny in a restaurant, they would walk up and spout the entire "brew that is true" speech.
  
  
• Basil Rathbone was a world-class fencer and it was due to his efforts that the hilarious fencing scene was filmed without injury. He later admitted that several times he was almost skewered by Danny Kaye's sword.
  

Grab Bag Friday: Obama's Speech on Race

I know clips of this have been all over the news this week, but if you haven't yet seen or read it in its entirety, it is *worth* taking some time out of your day for.

Full text of Obama's Speech on Race

Full video of the speech (thanks to my brother for the YouTube link):

Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: Charade

Since I brought up the classic Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant movie Charade, now I'm dying to see it again. This is one of those great films that is deliciously dated but never grows old. A mystery with plenty of intense suspense and drama, that manages to be light and funny and romantic at the same time.

One of the reasons I love old movies is because they unfold slowly, so you get to soak it in and take your time enjoying everything about it. Even with all the nail-biting suspense (and yes, I jump out of my chair at least once every time I watch it...Walter Mathau is *such* a creepy villain!), Charade has perfect, quiet, funny moments between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (like the one below).

And the 60's spy-classic feel of this film is worth it all. The "aha" moment at the end is just as cheesy and charming and enjoyable as the Henri Mancini music, the credit animation, and Audrey Hepburn's goofy grin when she exclaims "Marriage license?!" (one of my favorite movie endings of all time). I love this movie so much, I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the remake yet...has anyone out there seen it yet?

Grab Bag Friday: Yes, Pecan!

Just a bit of political and dessert related humor today.

This post from Slate.com yesterday cracked me up.

Creative genius.

Grab Bag Friday: Tag, You're It!

I have to admit I never really liked the game of tag. I used to hide in the tire house with a book whenever the big kids declared a school-wide game. But, this week, I got tagged by the whimsical CG ("creative genius") Amy Schimler, and this version of the game seems a *lot* more fun.

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

So here are 7 random facts about me that you may or may not already know:

1. I won the Lead Shoe Award in track. The award was for "determination". In other words, in 4 years, I only passed one person and she was having an asthma attack on the side (I felt bad passing her, but hey, I was beating somebody!)

2. My first goldfish was named Goldie, my first cat was Kitty, and my first bird was Tweety. It was pretty obvious I would go into a creative career.

3. I'm pretty handy with a hole saw.

4. One of my favorite things to do is hum to periwinkles. If you hum a steady hum, they come out of their shells and dance around. Honestly, they do.

5. I love to go to aquariums & pet the manta rays.

6. I'm a Rummy 500 card shark.

7. I'm also addicted to this game.


Here are my tags...some people worth checking out if you are interested in...

1. Stunning photos
   
2. Gorgeous illustration
3. Poignant fiction
4. Fabulous kids' music
5. Comedic relief
6. Multicultural kids' book reviews
   

This is my sister's blog on hiatus, but *worth* browsing the archives if you are interested in:

7. South America

Grab Bag Friday: Alan's Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

When we were kids, my brother used to make these cookies all the time (turtle bread was one of his other specialties). Since they have oatmeal, nuts, and peanut butter chips (practically just as healthy as peanut butter!) in them, my siblings and I all felt completely justified eating them for breakfast. I have to admit, I sometimes still do. :)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c powdered cocoa
1 t baking soda
3 c quick-cooking or regular rolled oats
1/2 c chopped nuts
12 oz peanut butter chips
12 oz chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl beat butter & sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs & vanilla. In separate bowl stir together flour, cocoa, & baking soda. Gradually add to butter mixture, mixing well. Stir in oats & nuts. (Batter will be stiff.) Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 11-12 minutes or until set. Cookies will be slightly moist in center. Do not overbake. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Grab Bag Friday: Oral History through StoryCorps

For Christmas this year, my mom got me a copy of the StoryCorps book, Listening is an Act of Love. StoryCorps is a project to preserve the tradition of oral history, or more plainly, to keep people telling and listening to stories.

There are mobile & permanent StoryBooths all over the country...where people can walk in and record their stories. Anything they want to tell. A daughter interviewing her 96 year old mother about her first date, two sons remembering their father's baseball career, a child interviewing his mentor, Hurricane Katrina stories, 911 stories, stories about miracles, stories about love, fear, and hope. Real stories from real people.

Well, yesterday, for Valentine's Day, Amy (illustrator extraordinaire) over at Red Fish Circle sent me a note that she had posted the Danny and Annie Perasa StoryCorps segment in honor of the day. There are two short clips, one recorded in 2004, and one recorded just a few days before Danny passed away. It's just a couple of regular people talking about love, but I found it so profound and moving.

You could easily spend hours at the StoryCorps site, for exactly that reason. It's the small stories, the real stories, the everyday simple stories that are the most profound. This is real life. As the StoryCorps tagline goes, it's "the conversation of a lifetime."

Grab Bag Friday: The GOOD Stuff

First off, I saw a pretty cool Balkan concert this week. The band, Which Way East?, mixed traditional Balkan music with hints of US jazz/rock influences. There is a lovely, inspiring piece about it on Cynthia Lord's blog.

It's taken me a little while to get around to my GOOD Magazine this month. February was the "Food Issue," but the pieces that caught my attention had to do more with architecture and design. Particularly the piece on Publicolor, a non-profit organization whose mission is:

"...to use color, collaboration, design and the painting process to empower students to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities."

On the surface, it's a relatively simple thing. Publicolor teaches students from inner city schools how to paint, then helps them transform their own school with bright, vibrant colors. But then again, it's usually the simple things that end up making the biggest impact.

Painting the walls isn't going to cure all the problems in our inner city schools, but I think a program like this is important on a number of levels.

It brightens up the school. Walking into a pleasant, bright place instead of an institutionalized, hospital-style building really makes a surprising difference in your mindset for the day.

It gives students a chance to be part of something. This is huge for students who often are just trying to keep their head down and get through the day. One student, interviewed in the video linked below, said "They make us, like, feel important."

It teaches students responsibility. Older students learn the process first, then they are in charge of teaching the younger students. Putting kids in a mentor role often boosts their confidence and makes them feel that they have the ability and skills necessary to accomplish things in life.

It doesn't end when the paint dries. Publicolor has after-school programs, school-to-work apprentice programs, career and college prep programs, tutoring programs, and more. Students who thrive in the painting project can move on to other, sometimes paid, positions in these Publicolor programs designed to help students in education and preparing for the workforce.

Sometimes all you need is one small change. This type of program gives the kids who want it an opportunity to re-envision themselves. It give the kids who want change an outlet and a vehicle for that change. Of course it won't solve everything, but sometimes just that first step--the belief that things could be different, that you could be different--can be the momentum a child needs to change the direction of his or her life.

I couldn't embed this, unfortunately, but you can click here to see a short film about Publicolor.

The GOOD article isn't up online yet, but here's an article about Publicolor from the New York Times.

Grab Bag Friday: Hillary's Inner Tracy Flick

Here's a video from Slate Magazine that cracked me up this week, a parody comparing Hillary to Tracy Flick from Election.

Starting next week, my February book and music posts will deal with Black History Month. If you missed last year's Black History Month posts, you can find them here.

Have a great weekend!

Grab Bag Friday: Primary Fever

Artwork: "A Caucus Race" from Alice in Wonderland

I have to admit it: I've come down with Primary Fever. I knew it was serious when I actually couldn't sleep because I was thinking about it so much. Me! Believe me, if there's anything I can do well, it's sleep. Not to mention the fact that I don't usually bother about politics too much. Especially not the primaries.

And yet, here I am, a staunch Independent, considering switching my party affiliation just so I can go have my say in the Maine caucus on Feb. 10. And yes, it is a caucus, which sounds to me like the most painful form of voting out there:

At the municipal caucus, voters may speak for their preferred candidate and urge others to join with them. Caucus goers then indicate their candidate preference, often by standing in different parts of the caucus room. The number of voters for each candidate is tallied, and a preliminary number of delegates is assigned proportionately. After this first round of voting, caucus goers have an opportunity to change their votes. For instance, supporters of candidates who may not have enough votes to get a delegate may decide to switch to another candidate. A second round of tallying determines the number of delegates for each candidate from that municipality.

Speak? Urge others? Then do it again? Eep. I would like to walk in, stand in line, mark my ballot and turn it in, thank you very much. Have any of you been to a caucus? How bad is it, really?

So, non-political as I usually am, I've been trying to figure out why I've been so caught up in this primary season. Here's what I've come up with: it feels like it counts. For a couple reasons.

1. Neither party has a very clear front runner. So where I usually have the feeling that it is all sewn up anyway, and what is one more vote going to do, swing votes like me might really mean something this year. (Speaking of, have you registered to vote?)

2. With big things like Iraq and a faltering economy in our sights, it's not really just business as usual. And the candidates are pretty different from each other for once. It seems like who we choose to take over these issues might really mean something this year.

3. There are actually candidates that I like. This was a real shocker to me. Normally during a presidential election, I have this sinking feeling when I vote. Like I'm just choosing between two really bad possibilities. But there are a couple candidates in this election and one in particular :) that I really respect and think would be thoughtful and wise and good at the job of leading the country in a positive direction. So when I go and stand in that caucus corner, instead of feeling like I'm just going through the motions, it might actually mean something this year.

You can check the primary schedule here. Happy voting!

Grab Bag Friday: Anton's Angels

It's my mom's birthday today, so I wanted to post a sweet story that will make her smile. Well, it doesn't get much sweeter than this...

Remember the video I made of Little Drummer Boy? Well, back in November, 8-year-old Anton and his father emailed me all the way from Düsseldorf/Germany. They had come across the video on YouTube (don't ask me how...there are almost 1500 versions of that song on YouTube!) and Anton wanted to play snare drum to *my* version at his school's Christmas party. I didn't have a recording of the song, so I ripped the audio from the video & sent them an mp3.

So just before Christmas, Anton sent this picture as a thank you. His father said the concert was a big success, and the poem Anton chose for his picture is about "Angels being around where you don't expect them and not necessarily having good looks." How awesome is *that*? I've put it up in my office, and it makes me smile every time I see it. (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version and all its terrific detail.)

As I always say, it's the little things that make the biggest impact. Thanks, Anton!

p.s. My friend Amy just did a rough translation of the poem for me. It goes like this (thanks, Amy!):

They don't have to be men with wings, the angels.
They go lightly, they don't have to shout,
often they are old and ugly and small,
the angels.
They have no sword, no white robe,
the angels.
He has brought bread to the hungry, the angel.
He has made the bed for the sick,
and he listens, when you call, in the night,
the angel.
He stands in the way and says: No,
the angel.
large like a stake and strong as stone,
they don't have to be men with wings, the angels.

Grab Bag Friday: African-American Boycott of L.L. Bean

This has been cracking Kevin & I up for weeks (we live just a few minutes from the L.L. Bean headquarters). My friend Andy used to work for the Onion when it was just a goofy little college newspaper out of Madison. I had a subscription delivered to Maine when I went off to school and my friends and I would gather around a table in the union, read it outloud, and laugh uproariously. Ah, I love the Onion.

(If you can't see the embedded video, click here.)

IMPORTANT FAMILY-FRIENDLY NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with the Onion, please note that, especially in recent years, much of the content on their website is highly inappropriate for children. So if you head over to browse their site, please use caution and/or be careful who you're browsing with.

Grab Bag Friday: Origami Club

Last week, when we were snowed in, I did a little internet search to find out how to make small origami gift bags for my students. I came across the Origami Club which has tons of easy-to-follow origami designs rated from easiest to most difficult.

So I made my gift bags. But when Kevin came into the living room 45 minutes later, he also found an array of hats, bears, and stars strewn about. I looked up sheepishly and said, "What? I had to see if I could do them." Kevin's reply: "This may be the biggest nerd alert yet."

Well if you and/or your kids are bored over winter break, you might wander over to the Origami Club for a little paper-folding fun. Just watch out...it can be addictive!

Grab Bag Friday: A Wish for Wings that Work

Does anyone else remember this? Oh, I *loved* it when it came out. Animated Bloom County? What could be better? I just put it in my Netflix queue to see if it will stand the test of time.

I still have the book which I love even more.